The Firebird

by Titan Commander Sebaste

Fire and Flames

Jade Leaf whooped as she flew through the air, her magic spreading out from her wings and tail behind her in a wave of green. “This...is… AMAZING!” She cried. Even among her siblings, the light green Alicorn stood out as being one of the best fliers of the four. She zigged and zagged through the air, her elemental affinity bringing spring to every corner of the forest. Soon, she had reached the foot of at least one of the mountains. She halted in mid-air, her jaw dropping in shock at the size of it.

‘And I thought the forest was big…’ she thought, staring at the chunk of rock and earth that towered above her as she hovered. She then shook herself out of her awed trance. ‘I have a job to do, no time to stare at a hunk of rock!’ She thought with a determined look on her face.

But as she flew upwards, she felt her natural aura suddenly cut out. “Wha…?!” She looked down at the ground to see that her magic hadn't covered the ground in grass. Confused, she landed and tried again, using her horn this time, only to see her magic sputter out and the plant life she tried to summon fail to appear.

‘What… what's going on with my magic?! It's like it is being suppressed for some reason…’ She looked back up at the mountain, finally noticing that it was different from the others. She landed and looked closer at it.

The mountain she stood on looked like it had been scorched in several places, with fragile jet-black rock peeking out near what appeared to be naturally made caves. The cloud covered peak was jagged, and was missing a good majority of its snow covered top. Most of all, it gave a subtle sense of something dangerous lurking inside, something that couldn't be controlled. This sense of dread could be felt throughout the air, causing Jade to involuntarily shiver as she stared at it.

‘It's just a mountain… nothing dangerous could live in or on it, right?’ she thought. But a small part of her screamed that she should leave immediately. Shaking her head to dispel her fears, she began to climb towards the top of the mountain.

She slowly climbed up, using her wings to fly over spots that were too difficult or dangerous to clamber over, all while an extremely strong and bitterly cold windstream threatened to blow her off course, until she was able to climb over the top of the crater, panting from exhaustion and shivering from the chill temperatures. “If I ever do this kind of thing again, it'll be too soon…” she wheezed as she rested on the narrow ledge, the wind whipping through her mane and fur as she did so. Once she had recovered enough to move, she glided down to the crater floor. Like the cave entrance floors, fragile jet black rock covered the ground and extended to the walls of the crater. A foul smell, like burning flesh or rotten eggs, also permeated the air, causing Jade to cough and cover her mouth and nose with a wing to try and block it out. The temperature inside was also much warmer than the outside of the mountain.

As she looked around, she noticed what appeared to be a large statue of a phoenix hunched over in the center of the crater. But as the light green alicorn slowly walked closer, she saw that the feathers on its stone body and wings looked… wrong, as if they had been replaced by something that had melted on it while the beak was curved like an eagle's. Cracks covered the statue, hot steam hissing out of them along with exhaling the foul odor she had been smelling. All the while, Jade had the feeling she was being watched by a malignant presence.

‘Why would a statue be steaming? Maybe there's a hot water spring or something under it? But if that's the case, why does it look like it's half-melted?’ She pondered, uneasily eyeing the sculpture. By this point, she was only several inches away from it, close enough to touch with a wing or a hoof.

The next few moments would be etched in Jade Leaf's memories for the rest of her life. She lifted her right front hoof and lightly brushed it on the beak of the statue. There was a sudden CRACK as the stone suddenly broke apart, releasing a choking cloud of steam and ash and causing Jade to leap back in shock and miss the pair of molten eyes that glared at her before vanishing into the now expanding cloud. A gutteral growl then emanated from it as writhing faces etched themselves in the ash and a tremor ran through the ground. The Alicorn quickly leapt into the air and flew towards the ledge as molten rock began to spray into the air where the statue use to be and fill the crater.

‘Oh Faust, oh Faust, oh Faust! What have I done!?’ She thought as she quickly landed on the strip of rock and looked at the now active volcano. Splashes of lava spewed out from the crater, narrowly missing her, but close enough for her to feel the heat while a searing wind now buffeted her as a wall of ash rolled out from the crater, forcing Jade to cover herself in a magical shield to avoid being covered by the grey snow like substance or breathing it in. The sound of wings made her glance up towards the source.

Her jaw swung open as the ash suddenly cleared and she saw the very same phoenix she had found erupt from the crater in a large blast of molten rock, its body towering over her as it spread its wings, lava pouring from every part of it and splattering the ground around it, except for the eyes and head plume, which was made of pure fire. It then threw back its head and let out a gurgling screech, before looking down at Jade, narrowing both eyes in anger and hatred at the Alicorn. A sibilent, crackly voice emenated from its beak, speaking only one word, “Alicorn…”

Nearby, Broken Hoof skidded to a halt on a nearby cliff face as he saw the creature for the first time. “Mother of Eques…” He gasped. His people's nightmare had now become all too real.

Jade slowly began to back away. “N-n-nice b-b-birdie, I didn't mean to disturb you!” she stammered. She halted as she felt one of her back hooves slip on the crumbling edge. The phoenix took in a shuddering breath before a pressurized stream of lava shot out from its mouth at her, causing her to shriek in fright and leap off the ledge, diving down the mountain as the lava tore through where she once stood, boulder sided chunks of rock tumbling down after her. The phoenix then fired two more jets of lava, both of which missed their target as she swayed left and right in her panicked escape, but one of the stones that had been thrown up by the super heated rock tearing through the ground then smacked into the back of Jade's head, knocking her unconscious and sending her tumbling to a stop at the base of an old oak tree at the forest's edge.

“JADE!” Broken Hoof quickly scrambled back down the way he came, but he knew that he wouldn't reach her in time. Instead, he ran ahead and sent out an alert to every creature inside the forest. Soon, there was a mass migration of creatures as they ran to high ground to avoid the oncoming catastrophe.

The Firebird let out a triumphant screech as it saw its prey lying helplessly on the ground. It then sank back down into the lava lake before oozing out of the volcano as a wave of molten rock as vast as the forest itself, eager to feast on the spawn of the interlopers that had imprisoned it for centuries.

Meanwhile, back where the Alicorn had fallen, Jade sluggishly stirred from the blow to the head. “Wha… wha happned?” she slurred as she looked around, still dazed. The sight of a wave of lava with the Firebird's glaring eyes oozing towards her and the forest quickly shook her back to her senses. Scrambling back to her hooves, she half ran, half flew away just as the head of the phoenix formed and opened its mouth to consume her. The Firebird missed her by inches, consuming the tree in molten rock instead and setting it and the surrounding area in flames as the heat from it caused the plants and trees to spontaneously combust. All around the woods, lava poured through the trees, turning everything into an inferno.

“Mother, Father, Faust, save me!” Jade screamed, her voice quavering as she ran through the forest, the growing firestorm behind her the only indication of the creature after her. She skidded to a halt beside the cherry tree, gasping for breath. Above and around her, darkness surrounded the forest as ash and smoke obscured the sun, turning day into night, the only light visible was the hellish red glow glow of the fire consuming her home. Embers and volcanic ash swirled through the air as the forest burned.

Jade's eyes suddenly widened as she saw the Firebird rise up from where she had managed to evade it. It let out a caw of frustration as it looked around, peering through the tops of the trees and trying to find its prey before taking another shuddering breath. But instead of a stream of lava, it retched and heaved out a plume of superheated ash and fire onto the ground that then, with a flap of its massive wings, it sent surging across the forest floor, shattering trees like matchsticks, and setting those it didn't knock down ablaze from the heat alone. For several seconds, the phoenix breathed out this deadly cloud, sweeping its head left to right while also flapping its wings to spread it through the forest . Jade only had seconds to put up a shield before the pyroclastic flow swept through where she was, and even then she was too slow, as some of the ash got through and scorched her body. She screamed in pain as she felt some of her feathers from her left wing and fur from her face and side burn away from the heat, her left eyelid also bearing the brunt of it before it was then cut off by a coughing fit as some of it went down her throat. In pain from her burns and half choking from the ash she inhaled, she stumbled past the now burning husk of what had once been her pride and joy, tears streaming down her seared face. Her scream of pain, however, had alerted the Firebird of where she was.

With a screech, the Firebird crashed into the ground, splattering molten rock all around the impact site as it surged forward in its liquid form towards Jade's position. “You cannot escape me! I am destruction incarnate, I consume all!” it shrieked. “Surrender yourself to me and I will make your death swift and painless!”

Jade didn't reply as she scrambled over a rocky outcropping, her hooves struggling to find a grip on the worn stones. Her left wing hung limply at her side, several feathers badly singed and a large angry burn mark marring it, while the burn on her eye made opening it a painful task. Her muzzle and barrel were scarred from flecks of hot ash that had managed to stick to her. The alicorn's chest heaved as she gasped for breath, only to start coughing as the ash inside her congested her airways. She skidded to a halt under a overpass that had once been a majestic waterfall several years back before the river it was part of had been redirected. Now it was a dusty canyon on the edge of the forest.

Jade quickly looked back to see if the Firebird was still behind her, only to be met with the absence of the telltale glow of its approach. “Wh...where did it go?!” she rasped, her voice rough from coughing. Wildly, she looked around for any sign of the phoenix. Hearing the sound of bubbling and hissing above her, she looked up, and nearly had her heart leap out of her chest as a river of molten rock with the head of the Firebird staring straight at her with its mouth open and ready to consume her began to pour down the cliff right on top of her. Lighting up her horn, she quickly teleported out of the way onto a nearby boulder as the phoenix slammed into the ground seconds later. Jade was then forced to teleport again as her persuer then made another pass at her, enveloping the boulder she had stood on in molten rock.

She quickly leapt up the cliff face, using both what little flight power she could muster and teleportation to reach the top. From her vantage point, she looked towards her home, and the sight that met her eyes made her stagger backwards from shock. A massive lake of lava had replaced the verdent green of the grass, while the trees were nothing but burning shells of their former glory. Above her, the sky shone blood red from the mix of smoke and ash blotting out the sun and reflecting the inferno below. “No…. N-n-no! My h-home…” she whispered, her non burned eye tearing up as she sat down, her face wearing a mix of grief and horror. “What have I done…?!”

Whatever thoughts she was having were soon interrupted as the Firebird rose up in its true form and lunged forward, causing Jade to scramble backwards and run as fast as her legs could take her as the phoenix crashed into the cliff and oozed after her. Soon, with her chest heaving and exhaustion making her legs feel like they were about to fall off, the alicorn reached a tree in a spot that hadn't been claimed by the lava and teleported to the top branch, her weight causing it to bend slightly and forcing her to clutch the tree with her forehooves, but otherwise it held. All around her, the forest burned as molten rock bubbled on the ground. She then gaped as the creature responsible for the destruction of her home rose to its full hight in front of her in a massive cloud of ash and smoke. Its wings spanned nearly the entire grove, lava pouring down them in an endless waterfall, while the bright yellow eyes glared at her with a seething hatred.

“What do you want with me?! I never meant to disturb your slumber!” Jade shouted.

“Your forebearers sealed me in that cursed mountain centuries ago! For so long, I have waited to have my revenge on those who had trapped me in there, and now, I can satisfy it by eliminating one of their decendents!” The Firebird hissed. “I may not have long to live, but I will always return, even if it takes millennia for me to reform! Gaia is eternal, little one, and I am her fury personified. Now be a good meal, and DIE!”

With that, it swooped forward as Jade lit up her horn. Before she could even cast a spell, she was enveloped by the vengeful phoenix, and her world became nothing but fire and molten rock.
She tried to scream, but lava poured down her throat, effectively silencing her as she soon fell into the blackness of unconsciousness.

Author's Note:

Throne above, I did not mean for this chapter to take as long as it did to complete!

But yeah, I finally got off my lazy ass and got back to work on this story. The main reason this took so long was a mix of writer's block, dealing with the rewrite of the Equestrian Black Crusade, catching up on Warframe and dealing with a personal family issue (In this case, my parents and I are currently in a bit of a war of will over the internet...)

Other than that, I hope this chapter was worth the wait!