A Blaze Brought Forth Again

by Tyler-the-Brony

Part 5-1

The Council Formed

Chapter 1: Discussion

Once off the Friendship Express, the group of ponies called to Canterlot took a very short amount of time to reach the Castle thanks to Rafiq, Zuli, Peach, and Breeze Rider’s intimate knowledge of Canterlot and the various paths to the Castle.

Once all had reached the Castle, Princess Celestia herself appeared to greet the group, though she appeared malnourished and exhausted beyond what anypony had ever seen on her before.

“Thank you all for coming as quickly as you could. You have my eternal gratitude.” Princess Celestia spoke quietly to the gathered ponies quietly, her voice appearing to be almost raw.

“Princess Celestia! What has happened to make you like this? You were not like this when we departed last night for Ponyville.” Rafiq worriedly asked the Princess, worried over her deteriorating condition.

“It is best I explain it somewhere else. Follow me kindly.” Celestia nearly begged the gathered ponies. Twilight and Breeze rider both immediately galloped forth and set about supporting one side of the Princess each.

“Thank you both.” Celestia whispered to Twilight and Breeze Rider, her true emotions and condition only being shown to the two she trusted as much as Luna.

It was slow going to the Guard Tower with Celestia as weak as she was, but eventually through their combined willpower, everypony had made it into the Tower and had taken a seat.

Shining Armor and Sky Wing were both already present in the Tower, and both assisted Twilight and Breeze Rider escort Celestia to her seat so that she could at last rest from her journey. Once Celestia was settled, the 2 pairs of Siblings took their seat, but not without one set of questions from each of the younger siblings.

“Shining. What’s going on? Why is Princess like this? Why were we called?” Twilight whispered to Shining Armor hastily.

“Brother! Why are you here? Why is Fluttershy? Why is Rainbow Dash?!” Sky Wing nervously asked his brother, curiosity over riding all other thoughts for the Lieutenant.

Though both Shining Armor and Breeze Rider received different questions, they shared one answer for them;

“Not now. Later.”

Once the last one to take a seat, Twilight, had settled in, Celestia began her explanation.

“Again, I thank you all greatly for coming here on such short notice. Now, I shall explain the reason I have called you all here. In short, Canterlot needs your help gravely.” Celestia began, choosing to pause there so as to allow questions from the gathered ponies.

“What do you mean ‘Canterlot needs our help greatly’ Princess?” Twilight spoke up, her worry for what could do this to Celestia after Twilight had seen her during both Chrysalis and Discord’s attacks.

“Canterlot is under threat of attack. An attack with far greater potential than the Changelings was. This threat has already afflicted Luna.” Celestia explained, her head falling slightly as she remembered the pain Luna was still in.

“Princess Luna?! What’s happened to her?” Bam asked, hoping she was welcome to voice worries or questions here.

Zuli chose to explain this particular part to the Group so as to save Celestia some energy for the remaining explanations.

“An old weapon long thought gone from Equestria has somehow afflicted Princess Luna with its abilities. This weapon is called a Celestial Blade,” Zuli elaborated, eliciting gasps from Cream, Breeze Rider, Clockwork, and Twilight. “I trust by that reaction, some of you are already informed of the Celestial Blade. I ask that you explain their powers to the other then.” Zuli concluded, looking to those who had reacted to explain further.

“A Celestial Blade is…an evil thing. They were created long ago by an ancient society to stop the most powerful of Equestrian fighters from battling against them.” Cream began, her medical training having taught her all about the Celestial Blades and how to recognize their afflictions.

“How does one of these things work? Judging by the name, I’m assuming it’s a sword of sorts. How does a sword stop a pony from fighting though?” Violet spoke up, curious as to why there was such fear for what sounded like nothing more than the average weapon.

“There are numerous steps needed to make a Celestial Blade function properly. First of all, you need hair or fur from the pony you intend to stop. You rub the hair or fur on the edge of the Blade, and it will take on the image of that ponies Cutie Mark all along it.” Breeze Rider began, his Developed Premonitions having taught him all this.

“Next, you need to be able to strike the pony in question. Once you strike them, whether it be a graze, a slash, or a simple stab, you need to impale the Blade into a strong piece of ground, rock, or jewel as a base for the Blade.” Clockwork continued, her Engineer training having taught her about the mechanics of the Celestial Blades and even how to build one.

“Finally, the b-blood of the pony has to touch the seal on the Blade to bind the pony. That pony is then bonded to wherever they are at the time of the completion of the seal. The seal can’t be removed or undone by any except the being that originally bound the pony there. The sealing causes immense pain through all the cells of the pony if they so much as try even minute movements like breathing.” Twilight concluded, her hooves shaking as she remembered what she had learned about the Celestial Blades.

“And Princess Luna was hit by one? How? Did anypony somehow sneak in and strike her?” Diamond Bolt asked aloud, hoping there would be some sort of logical explanation to this situation.

“That’s exactly the problem for why we called you here. We believe we know who might have hit Princess Luna with the Celestial Blade, or at least who the Blade originally belonged to. We still don’t know how this is possible though.” Rafiq answered Diamond Bolt, his urge for action against the one that caused Luna such pain growing ever stronger in him.

“Who is it? Who could have done this?” Skeptic demanded from the gathered ponies, wanting any answer at all.

Silence followed Skeptics words for a few moments. Finally, it was Celestia who would answer Skeptic’s question.

“We believe it to be…,” Celestia began, swallowing part way through as she still dared not believe it of him. “…My older brother, Blaze Bringer. My believed formerly deceased older brother.” Celestia finished, a great silence following her every word.

Nopony knew how to respond to that for quite a time, so silence permeated every inch of the Guard Tower for a time.

***

“So you wish to willingly join me hm?” Blaze Bringer questioned the Griffon before him, wondering why such beings had not been against them in the War.

“Yeah. What has Equestria ever done for us? Better off without it I say.” Gilda told Blaze Bringer, her need to survive outweighing her former friendship with Rainbow Dash at the current moment.

“So you have nothing you wish to preserve in all of Equestria from destruction?” Blaze Bringer asked Gilda, attempting to weed out what he wanted from her.

“Nothing at all.” Gilda told Blaze Bringer, sweat silently running down her feathers.

“You lie Gilda. The one called ‘Rainbow Dash’ holds a place in your heart. You would not destroy her as you are now.” Blaze Bringer spat at Gilda, six of his Sabrei springing forward to hold Gilda to the ground as she attempted to flee from him.

“I-I don’t care about Rainbow Dash! Let her burn! Let me help!” Glida screamed at Blaze Bringer, fear at last apparent in her eyes as she beheld the alicorn.

“I know all Gilda. You cannot hope to hide your true thoughts and feelings from detection. You are no use to me as you are now while you harbor hope to save one from me. That can be rectified however…” Blaze Bringer smiled as Gilda screamed upon remembering what had happened to the last Griffon Blaze Bringer had said those words to.

Blaze Bringer laughed, the fear he inspired from the beings he conquered being the sweetest joy he could ever imagine. Blaze Bringer again brought forth his dark flames as Gilda continued to fight the Sabrei’s hold in a daft attempt to escape. Within another few seconds, Gilda was no longer the being she once was.

“I still have particular use for you. You are the one that will destroy the Element of Loyalty. You will identify yourself by your former identity. Do you understand my Sabrei?” Blaze Bringer instructed Gilda, her eyes glazing over with darkness as he did so.

“Yes my Master. I shall heed you every word.” The one once called Gilda spoke as an individual with the Sabrei’s voice.

Blaze Bringer smiled again at Gilda, before moving to leave the High Chambers of Griffalon so as to gather his Sabrei for the march against Dragaria, and then against Equestria.

***

“Your…brother? But…how?...why?” Twilight was unable to truly gather her thoughts as she tried to absorb what it was that Celestia had just said to everypony.

Celestia looked to Shining Armor, knowing he would be the best pony present to explain about Blaze Bringer.

“Blaze Bringer was indeed the elder brother of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. He ruled many years ago, but not ever over Canterlot and Equestria as you now know it by its boundaries. Blaze Bringer ruled over the Lost Lands of Equestria as you might know them. Primarily Zebrika and the Crystal Kingdom. Blaze Bringer did not often involve himself publicly with our Equestria, preferring instead to be a Silent Ruler of his Lands. That changed about 11 years ago however.” Shining Armor began, pausing as he saw fit to allow his words to sink in.

“About 11 years ago, Zebrika declared itself a sovereign nation from Equestria and declared war on us for supposedly subjugating them to our rule for so long before then. They managed to recruit Dragons to their side and set about marching upon Equestria. Upon hearing of this, Blaze Bringer encased the Crystal Kingdom in a Protection Spell and flew to Equestria in order to guide the Royal Guards and any others who wished to fight against the Zebra’s and Dragons.” Rafiq paused, knowing that at last questions would begin to come.

“But…why would somepony who did all that for Equestria want to hurt it now?” Sweetie Belle asked slowly, as confused as anypony else present.

“During the Final Battle, the Zebra’s revealed a new spell. It was truly dark magic, intended to decrease Equestria’s fighting force by more than half, making it impossible to stop their advance from that point onwards. Blaze Bringer sacrificed himself to contain the Zebrikan Seal, and then used his contained magic to destroy the Charred Mountains, the only known path at the time between Equestria, Griffalon, Dragaria, and Zebrika. We originally believed Blaze Bringer to have perished in that battle. By further examining information now though, we believe that Blaze Bringer survived, though severely scarred and hurt by the Zebrikan Seal.” Peach breathed, his explanation becoming harder by the second to properly explain.

“In order to further protect Equestria in case the Zebra’s or Dragons ever decided to return, a Protection Spell was created to repel the Zebrikan Seal once we had discovered how it worked. If Blaze Bringer had indeed ever found a way to return home, we would never have even been able to make it within 50 miles of Canterlot. It is believed he may have taken this as a personal banishment directed at only him and may be intending to take revenge on Equestria for that reason.” Zuli concluded, wishing avidly that things could have turned out very differently.

“We must find Blaze Bringer and attempt to rectify what has already happened and prevent anything further from happening. For that purpose, we have called you all to Canterlot.” Celestia added on, a few silent tears falling from her eyes as she imagined her elder brother now.

“What can we do? We’re not the best idea for a Search Party if that’s what you were thinking.” Nova spoke up, truly wondering why they were called now after hearing most of the reasoning.

“We understand that. You will not be searching for Blaze Bringer. That is the duty of the Royal Guards. Blaze Bringer is powerful though, so we must send out our strongest to search for him in case he proves himself to be dangerous now. We ask that you effectively replace us for a time with your respective skills in order to protect Canterlot while we cannot be here.” Zuli answered Nova, looking about at all the other ponies present reactions after seeing Nova’s.

“You want us…to protect all of Canterlot with our respective abilities?” Twilight spoke on behalf of the Elements of Harmony, all of them simply nodding or shaking their heads at her words.

“Correct. You all are the best at what you do, whether that be repairs, creations, or wielding the Elements of Harmony. There are no others that could protect Canterlot as best as you can in our absence. We beg you to please help us.” Rafiq answered Twilight and the bowed his head before all the ponies present in order to show his true gratitude and need of them.

Silence permeated the Guard Tower again, though this time it was hastened. Every pony present looked to those they most trusted, and then back towards the Princess and the Royal Guards Leaders.

“What do you need us to do?” Cream spoke up, fear gone from her voice, replaced now by determination to help Canterlot as best she could