A Blaze Brought Forth Again

by Tyler-the-Brony

Part 4-2

The Gathered and the Sabrei

Chapter 2: Journeying with Unknown Beings

Those that would defend Canterlot, not that any of them knew that yet, were gathered at the Ponyville train station. The Ponyville Repair Ponies, The Elements of Harmony, Feather Blaster, and many other well-known ponies had been called to aid Canterlot now.

There was Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon, the Element of Magic and her first Assistant. Owlowiscious, Twilight’s Second Assistant, would remain in Ponyville and keep Golden Oak’s Library organized while Twilight and Spike were in Canterlot. Twilight and Spike had brought as many books as Twilight thought might help them while in Canterlot, despite having no information whatsoever about what Princess Celestia was calling her for to go on.

Next was Fluttershy and her husband Breeze Rider, the Element of Kindness and the godson of Celestia. Breeze Rider and Fluttershy had been in Canterlot mere days ago to tell Princess Celestia of Breeze Rider’s latest visions, which surely had to have boded some of the elements of the current situation Canterlot found itself in within them. Fluttershy had left Angel in charge of all the other animals, and hoped he would be willing enough to keep them all fed and happy for as long as they would be gone.

There was also Rarity with her sister Sweetie Belle, and Sweetie Belle’s friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle had come to find Apple Bloom and Scootaloo upon returning to Ponyville, and then gone straight to Rarity with them after hearing about her summons to Canterlot from Vinyl Scratch and Octavia. The letters had specified to bring as many supplies and other ponies as a lengthy stay might require, so Sweetie Belle insisted Apple Bloom and Scotaloo join the rest of them in Canterlot. Rarity had not brought any of her fashion supplies, as she doubted very much so that she’d have any time to work on new fashion while in Canterlot for such important sounding business.

Pinkie Pie and Bam were there too. Pinkie had successfully convinced Waffle to remain in Ponyville and manage Sugarcube Corner for her while she was gone, but Bam had not backed down from insisting on accompanying Pinkie to Canterlot in order to make up for the current cancelation of the Octave Swell and Feather Blaster Finale. Bam had convinced her school friend Character to watch over The Glowing Hoof in her stead, as Character didn’t like the sound of going to Canterlot from the way Bam described the reason she was going. Pinkie promised she’d brought her Party Cannon, but nopony could see it or understand how she might’ve accomplished that feat so sneakily.

Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Skeptic, and Violet Melody had formed a sort of improvised group as each of them was missing one of their numbers to other gather groups. Octavia was extremely happy to see her sister again, but she truly wished it had been under the original circumstances. Skeptic was practicing his guitar, seemingly unaffected at all by the sever nature of the gatherings around him. Vinyl was trying to cheer up Octavia and Violet, who’d hoped that Diamond Bolt’s temporary removal from the band might be her chance to get closer with Skeptic. Vinyl wasn’t faring overly well, but she was making a slight difference in everypony’s demeanour difference by openly suggesting that Octave Swell and Feather Blaster form one band after all this mess was over.

Clockwork Sprocket, Nova Fusion, Quick-Fix, and Diamond Bolt had successfully reformed into the group others had christened the Ponyville Repair Ponies. Diamond Bolt was enjoying being able to be around Clockwork again, and Clockwork was happy to just see him again. Nova was trying to explain his computer to Diamond Bolt as best he could, explaining it was sort of like his robot the Adamant Cerebellum, except without the Artificial Intelligence and in a box shape instead. Diamond Bolt had also surprisingly managed to bring AC with him after a quick stop at his house that very morning, so it was a quite useful explanation. Quick-Fix entertained herself by fixing up AC’s frame during Nova’s explanation.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Shift, and Cream had formed a very impromptu group upon seeing that everypony else was in one, and then recruited Spike and Twilight to their group as well. Applejack and Twilight had made quick friends with Cream upon finding out she had not only had brothers, but that one of her brothers was a Royal Guard Lieutenant. Rainbow Dash was overly thanking Cream after finding out she had been one of the innovators of the Cloud Walking Spell that had allowed her friends to see her first Sonic Rainboom. Cream was blushing and muttering throughout all this, being a little star-struck by some of the Elements of Harmony being star-struck with her ironically. Shift was simply talking with everypony generally, wondering why exactly he could almost feel as though something bad was about to happen.

Eventually, thanks to the energetic greetings of Bam and Breeze Rider, everypony at the train station had gotten to meet everypony else and learned a little bit about each of the others. Just as Breeze Rider finished introducing Diamond Bolt and Fluttershy, the train at last arrived.

On board the train already were Zuli Archer, Rafiq, and Peach, who had been selected by Princess Celestia to greet all the ponies that had been called to Canterlot and guide them to the Castle as quickly as possible.

***

“Greetings everypony. I am Rafiq, a Captain of the Royal Guards of Canterlot. I and my fellow Guardsmen here have been asked by Princess Celestia to personally escort all of you to Canterlot as quickly possible, and the to the Castle as soon as we can afterwards.” Rafiq spoke up, his opening speech having been rehearsed during the train ride there.

Everypony present looked from Rafiq, to Zuli, to Peach, wondering now even more so how desperate Canterlot was to send out 2 Captains and a Lieutenant of the Royal guard to escort them.

“Nice to meet you Rafiq and others who I currently don’t the names of. I am Breeze Rider, and this is my wife Fluttershy,” Breeze Rider spoke up as he stepped beside Fluttershy. “I understand time is clearly of the essence, but perhaps if you introduced yourselves to all of us and we did the same, it would make the escort easier?” Breeze Rider suggested, hoping his understanding of the Royal Guards hadn’t faded too much in his years away from it in Canterlot.

“A good idea Breeze Rider. I am Zuli Archer, also a Captain of the Royal Guard. I was assigned the same duty as Rafiq here, but I was requested to specifically focus upon the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” Zuli added, looking out upon the gathered ponies and wondering which 6 were the current Wielders.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my dragon Spike,” Twilight responded, pointing out Spike as she introduced him. “I am the Bearer of the Element of Magic, and my friends Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie are the other Bearers.” Twilight concluded, hoping she could streamline the process slightly like this.

“Aw come on Twi. Where’s the fun if we don’t introduce ourselves?” Rainbow Dash asked as she landed near Twilight with a dejected look on her face.

“I’m afraid we don’t have a lot of time for this Ma’am. We were told to get you all on as quickly as possible. I suggest we continue our introductions once you all are onboard the train. Are there any objections?” Peach called out, sweeping the crowd quickly to search for any sign of an objection.

Once it was clear nopony could argue Peach’s logic, everypony quickly set about moving themselves and their logic onboard the Friendship Express. It took a surprisingly short time with added assistance from Rafiq, Zuli, and Peach. In less than 20 minutes, all the ponies from the Ponyville station were successfully onboard the train and it was beginning to move.

“I apologize for that, but circumstances are quite grave in Canterlot. I am Peach by the way. I’m sorry for not introducing myself sooner.” Peach spoke up again once everypony was settled on the train.

“It’s okay Peach. I’m Cream to everypony that doesn’t know. Peach here is my brother. If you want to know a little about me, then I’m a surgeon at Ponyville General as well as one of the innovators of the Cloud Walking Spell, along with Clockwork and Diamond Bolt.” Cream explained as she stood up and indicated Clockwork and Diamond Bolt.

“Guess that’s my queue eh? I’m Clockwork Sprocket. Many of you don’t personally know me yet, but I’m a Ponyville and Cloudsdale Repair Pony. That’s about all that you guys need to know about me for now I suppose. Wanna add anything in here Diamond Bolt?” Clockwork added as she turned to Diamond Bolt beside her.

“Hey everypony. I’m Diamond Bolt. I’m a Repair Pony too, but I’m also a member of the Band Feather Blaster and this lovely mare here’s coltfriend.” Diamond Bolt quickly added as he kissed Clockwork’s cheek, making Clockwork blush quite profusely.

“Buck it Diamond. You didn’t need to tell everypony that.” Clockwork hurriedly said before sitting back down and hiding her face in her hooves.

Everypony chuckled for a moment or so before Skeptic, Shift, and Violet stood up to continue the introductions.

“Gonna be hard to top that introduction, but I’m doing mine anyway. I’m Skeptic, lead Guitarist of Feather Blaster. This colt here is Shift, our awesome manager, and the mare here is Violet Melody, our incredible sax player.” Skeptic explained, not noticing at all how Violet turned away and hid herself behind her mane as he mentioned her.

Bam jumped up immediately after Skeptic finished, and proceeded into her introduction almost immediately.

“Hi everypony! I’m Bam, Pinkie’s sister. I run The Glowing Hoof, Equestria’s best party store ever! That’s basically all from me, but thanks for listening!” Bam finished and sat right back down, shocking everypony at just how quickly she’d done everything.

Quick-Fix stood up slowly, not wanting to appear too quickly after Bam had finished her spirited introduction.

“Well, that’s a hard intro to top too. In any case, I’m Quick Fix, and this colt here is my friend Nova Fusion. We’re Repair Ponies too. Our work speaks better for us than we do, so I’ll let you make your opinions of us after we’ve finished a project or two around you.” Quick-Fix stated to the group, sitting back down as she did so.

Vinyl Scratch and Octavia stood up next, now some of the last ponies to introduce themselves to everypony.

“Hey. I’m Vinyl Scratch, though some of you might call me DJ PON-3. This mare next to me is Octavia. We’re part of a band we formed called Octave Swell. I could go on and on about how awesome me and Octavia are, but like Quick-Fix there said, we prefer our work to talk for us. So give our songs a listen and then come back to us.” Vinyl finished quickly, sitting back down as Octavia smiled and shook her head at the actions of her band-mate.

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo stood up last, having held out for this moment intentionally.

“Ready girls?” Apple Bloom asked Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

“Ready!” Sweetie Belle answered, jumping up a little as she did so.

“Let’s do it!” Scootaloo added, bracing herself for maximum liftoff from her upcoming jump.

Most everypony looked quizzically at each other for a moment, while others covered their ears. The latter group was far more prepared.

“WE ARE THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! And we won’t stop until we get our Cutie Marks!” Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all yelled in unison, causing most everypony to keel over laughing at their antics once they could properly hear themselves again.

***

“Please! We can help you! We can remove the Zebrikan Seal from your body! We can return you to the way you used to be! Just please spare us!” The new Zebrika Leader since the Lost Era, Raki, pleaded with Blaze Bringer.

“You plead for mercy from me now? When your nation refused to surrender a few long years ago and nearly destroyed half of Canterlot’s population with that blasted Seal? I think not.” Blaze Bringer spat at Raki as he laid there on the ground before him.

“We will give you whatever you wish! Please! Spare my citizens! I promise I can make you as you once were!” Raki beseeched Blaze Bringer, tears flowing free from his eyes as he heard all the screams of the citizens he could not protect.

“I do not wish to be as I once was. I far prefer this form and its power.” Blaze Bringer smiled maliciously as he heard Raki completely break down at his words.

Zebrika lay in ruins before Blaze Bringer, the work of his first Sabrei. Their power was not near as great as his, but their numbers allowed more wide-spread destruction at a far greater pace than Blaze Bringer could alone create. Homes burned and citizens fled before the power of the Sabrei and Blaze Bringer himself.

Blaze Bringer knew the time was ripe to again create Sabrei. He would enjoy creating them from the Zebra’s far more than he had from creating the Sabrei from Changelings.

“You ask what I wish of you Raki? Then bear witness to the true reason I have not slain any of your numbers.” Blaze Bringer laughed as he expanded his wings and took to the sky, wanting to test the flow of his power through air instead of land this time in preparation for Dragaria and Griffalon.

Within seconds of Blaze Bringer willing his power forth, the dark flames had spread forth from his body and set about spreading across the small nation of Zebrika. The Zebra’s attempted to flee the flames, but none were successful. Blaze Bringer’s laughed echoed across the nation as the flames at last settled and reformed about his body.

“And now my Sabrei, only two lands remain between us and Equestria. Onward to Dragaria and Griffalon!” Blaze Bringer decried, the Sabrei answering him in one solid yell as they rose and began to march anew, their numbers now greatly increased.