Wings of Fire

"Hmph. Everyone knows Ice gets melted by Fire!" Solaris chuckled, giving a false buck to show he was ready.

"True, but melted Ice is Water. Water can douse Fire." Blizzard remained in a relaxed stance, eyeing Solaris with his cold gaze. Solaris was taken aback by this statment, but it only made him more determined. After a second of waiting to see if Blizzard would make a move, Solaris charged, making a small trail of flames appear in his wake. In an instant Blizzard disappeard, then knocked Solaris to the side. He clucked his tongue a few times.

"You think too much about the attack and the outcome. You never think about anything in between." Blizzard stomped his hooves, and pillars of ice appeared in the clearing. Solaris frowned, then flew up to the top of one. Blizzard was on another, the same cold gaze held in his eyes.

Solaris began to concentrate his fire abilites, focusing so his mane and tail were suddenly crackling. He leapt, but then his mind went blank. He didn't know what he was going to do with his mane ablaze, and he couldn't do it in time if he remembered. Blizzard lept away effortlessley, and Solaris crashed into the pillar, reducing it to a puddle of warm water. He got up, dizzy, and turned. Blizzard had made large spheres of ice. He began to kick each to Solaris with his back hooves. Solaris curled up into a ball, and with one last effort, sent a wave of heat around him. The spheres melted on impact, and soon the area was not unlike a warm swamp.

"And that's a wrap." Lightblade said. He had a look of puzzlement on his face, then turned to Solarflare. "Alright. Your turn!" Solarflare chuckled, then walked out onto the field, trading places with Blizzard.

"Let's get down to business!" The Pegasus cried. He beat his wings steadily, then became faster and faster, rising like a rocket. Solaris followed, mane still smoking. As soon as he reached the same altitude as Solarflare, the older pony charged into him, sending him spinning. He caught his balance, then rose a few hundred feet. He tucked his wings, and dove. Solarflare tried to get out of the way, but he was struck, and they both hit the ground. Solaris shook the dirt off his coat and turned, realizing Solarflare had regained his senses before he did. The Pegasus was now stomping his hooves, sending up sparks. The entire field was now dried out and blazing.

Solaris didn't seem surprised or worried. He was a fire user as well. He darted around the flames, making sure his tail would catch, then slapped Solarflare with it as he passed. Seeming unfazed, Solarflare gave Solaris a small push with his wings, making him tumble to the other side of the field. Spirits gave another bird-like sound, signaling the round's end. "Not bad." Solarflare said. He muttered a few more things, but turned before Solaris could hear him.

And so on the battles went. Solaris challenged each of the other five knights. The closest he came to a victory was with Heaven Dawn, only because she wasn't very agile in a firey terrain. At the last minute, though, she fired a standard energy beam and knocked him head over hooves. Shaking his head to clear it, Solaris stood up, cutting off his magic and allowing the conjured flames to die. He noticed Light and a few of the others in a huddle, speaking to each other softly.

Light looked back to Solaris from the huddle, and spoke one last sentence to the others, before breaking off and jumping onto the charred sparring field. He stomped one hoof onto the ground, giving off a small burst of energy. "My turn." He said.

Solaris was slightly discouraged by this. He didn't know how powerful Light really was, but he was the First of the White Knights, and his mother determined him strong enough to be her royal knight at a young age. Shaking off the doubt, Solaris took his stand, ready to defend himself from any attack the older knight would launch.

However, Light simply stood there. He was in a relaxed stance, and was scrutinizing Solaris carefully. Several minutes went by, and neither combatant had budged. The younger of the two started to become impatient, but he didn't want to make the first move. "Are you going to attack or what?" He called out to Light. The latter didn't say a thing, and kept his composure perfectly.

That's when Solaris decided he didn't want to wait anymore. He ignited his mane and tail and dashed from side to side toward Light. He jumped upward and went for a strike. Light did something Solaris never would have expected. Instead of moving back, or to the sides, he jumped toward him in the air, quickly placing his hoof on Solaris' back, and with the younger one's own momentum, spun him around and threw him to the ground.

Solaris skidded against the ground before straigtening himself out and landing back on all fours. Solaris again dashed up to Light, mane and tail ablaze, and came at him from his left. He threw a punch that was immediately swatted to the side by a simple push from Light. Solaris recieved a hard kick to the back and was sent to the groud once more. Before he could recover, Light made a punch right in his chest that sent him flying back. Solaris rested on his back against the ground, his breathing was heavy, and bead of sweat rolled down his body. He was already exhausted, and not even ten minutes had passed since his spar with Light had started.

"What's the matter?" Light called to him. "I haven't even been giving it my all. Let alone I use magic, I've only been using a fraction of my physical abilities." Solarflare chimed in from the sidelines. "Come on, kid! You got more than that, right? I still want a good rematch!"

Solaris weakly stood up. A lot of his body hurt, but his back the most. "Hey, you hurting, Solaris?" Light questioned. "You know, you're not going to make it far unless you can push past the pain."

"It's not really that easy, you know." Solaris added. In response, Light simply shook his head.

"Yeah, I do know, more than you ever will. Trust me."

Solaris didn't want to keep fighting him. He was beaten up enough from the last spars as it was, and Light was definitely the toughest out of them all, by far, and if what he said was true about him using only a fraction of his actual ability, Solaris definitely didn't want to see him when he was going all out.

"You done yet?" Light asked him. "We can stop at any time." Solaris didn't want to say it, but he was just about at the limit of what he could take. He pulled out whatever strength he had left, and used it to fire a large ball of fire at Light. The white pegasus stood there as the ball of flame dissapated just before it reached him. The updraft from the heat created a breeze that made his mane and tail flow with it. Solaris sat down, completely exhausted.

"I think we should stop for now." Light said. "We can practice again later, right now, Serenity." The pale pink unicorn took the cue and trotted over to Solaris. She gently placed a hoof onto his side. Solaris suddenly felt warm as his strength returned to him. The pain of the previous battle faded away, and his magic felt back up to full power.

"There ya go." Serenity said cheerfully. She adjusted her glasses a bit before walking back to the other knights.

"You should go see the princess." Light told him. "Tell her how things went. I wont be far behind."

Solaris unfurled his wings and tested them a bit, slightly stunned at how fast and how well he was healed, but afterwards, he lifted himself off the ground, and took off to the castle, excited to tell his mother of his performance.

When Solaris arrived at the castle, all was quiet. The halls were deserted, and not a single maid was seen. He gained a look of anxiety, wondering what was going on. Axis Solaris slowly made his way to the throne room, holding his breath, prepared for the worst. When he flung the door open, there a collective sound of ponies shouting, all popping out at him.

"Happy first day of knight training!" Pinkie Pie's voice called, barely audible. Solaris sat down, shocked by the group. All of this just for his first day? Seems a bit... Suspicious, he thought. He walked through the group, now appearing much smaller than first impression, and made way to his mother.

"Ah, Solaris. Sorry to surprise you, but Pinkie Pie insisted we at least have one celebration. Besides, Zecora actually has a small quest for you. Each knight took their own version of it during their training, now it is your turn." Celestia turned to a pale grey zebra walking up. After exchanging greetings, Zecora started to explain her quest.

"Don't take this lightly, little one. It is far more than just a little fun. Once you start, you cannot stop. Or else your energy will steeply drop. To start the quest, you must begin true. Find the feathers of a phoenix blue. Three colored gems from a dead dragon's lair. Just make sure you are not caught there. Finally, you must find something you lost. Or else they'll be imprisoned in the land of frost." Zecora stepped back, a serious look bored into her face. Solaris took the information into account.

"When do I begin?" He asked, glancing at his mother.

"Tomorrow when the sun shines bright. Now, you can sleep here tonight. You shall head back to Ponyville for some quick learning. But then, For questing you'll be yearning." Zecora replied, walking away. Solaris gave himself a quick nod, then went to find his sister. After looking through the crowd for about an hour, he noticed it was dark.

"She's probably with Luna." He said. "I should find be able to find them in the observatory room."

Solaris quickly made his way up a few flights of steps, noticing it was getting darker than usual. "Odd..." He muttered, walking across a hall to the next set. Once he got to the top of those, he saw the room he was looking for. He was about to head over when he heard a crash and then a scream. The sky instantly grew black, and a chill filled the air. Solaris lit his horn to light up the area, then continued, this time at a gallop. Entering the room, he ran into Luna, who seemed very flustered. She backed up when he hit her, and prepared to strike, when she saw his horn glowing.

"Solaris! Thank goodness. I'm sorry, I thought you were another one of those...things." She shuddered, then continued. "They took Lunaris! She was watching me raise the moon, like I usually do, when the sky seemed darker than usual. We then noticed there were no stars. All of a sudden, a chill filled the room, and the first appeared. I can't remember what it looked like. But then there were a few more and they all took Lunaris!" Luna started sobbing, the shock from the attack and the cold making her lose control of her emotions. Solaris waited until she calmed down a bit, then spoke softly.

"Go tell Celestia and then see if you can find Lightblade and the other knights. I'm going to head to Ponyville to do something inportant." Luna nodded, then darted out of the room.

Solaris looked around the room for a bit, the walked to a broken window. After inspecting it, he spotted a snatch of hair. It was a pale silver-blue, and sparkled in the light. When he tried to pick it up, the sparkles faded, and a bit of water settled on his hoof. "Ice crystals..." He muttered. He turned, hearing hoofsteps. Lightblade and Solarflare had arrived, looking around the room.

"Any other clues?" Light asked after Solaris explained what he had observed. Shaking his head Solaris replied. "None that I am aware of. But I need to head to Ponyville. I have a feeling the quest I was given is important." Solaris turned to the window, and then took off.