Age of Inferno: Part 1

Twilight

The Mane Six and Cadence were enjoying their conversation when a guard burst into the room, echoing with a large bang. The guard ran up to Princess Cadence,

"Princess! Celestia has requested that you, Princess Twilight, and her friends all come to Canterlot as fast as possible!"

"Did she say why?"

"No, she did not, but she did make an emphasis that she needs all of you immediately."

Cadence stood up and jumped off of her throne,

"We'll leave right now, tell Flash Sentry to ready a chariot."

"At once, Princess.", the guard bowed and then ran out of the room.

Twilight was excited, Finally! Something was actually happening!. She could tell that her friends were eager for another adventure, another challenge; things were getting boring lately. All of them got up from their chairs and followed Cadence out. Twilight stayed, holding the door open. Spike was still lingering at the table, looking back at the food. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Spike, aren't you excited?"

Spike snapped out of his food-trance, grabbing a ruby on his way out.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

Twilight closed the door and glided after the others.Once they were out of the palace, a crystal chariot was outside, with two crystal pegasi hitched up to the front. Flash Sentry stood next to it.

"M'ladies," he said with a bow. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity climbed into the chariot, the rest of them could fly. Spike hopped on her back again. Cadence gave the order and they took off.

The flight was mostly uneventful, but everyone was buzzing with excitement and questions. "What was wrong? Who did it? What do we need to do? Why is it so urgent? " they all asked each other. Twilight found herself flying alongside Flash, again thinking of what to say. It had been so easy in that world! All I had to do was trip on something and he was there! But now it's so hard to get his attention! Luckily and unluckily for her, Flash decided to say something first.

"It's a beautiful day, is it not, Princess Twilight?"

Twilight jerked, startled. Flash was talking to her!? What did he say? What should she say? Twilight was so suddenly at a loss for thought that there was an awkward pause before she answered.

"Uh...yes, yes it is."

"And I agree"

Twilight looked over and saw Princess Cadence glance at her, then Flash, and then wink at her. There was a break in the clouds and Canterlot loomed out below them. Princess Cadence pointed to the road just outside the gate.

"We'll land there."

The chariot swooped downward in a descent, Twilight heard Pinkie yelling "Woo hoo!"and raising her arms, and Rarity trying to stifle a small scream.After the chariot landed, the flyers began their descent and they all landed behind it. They started walking through the gates with a nod to the guards.

Twilight stopped to talk to one of them.

"Excuse me, but do you know why the Princess has called us here?"

"She did not tell the reason to anyone but I think I know something about this meeting." the gray unicorn answered. Twilight was getting excited again but calmed herself, she had to learn how to control herself in public like the other Princesses.

"And can you tell me what it is?"

"Your brother's patrol returned a couple of hours ago, they were carrying two ponies in stretchers. One of our guard and the other I did not recognize, they went straight to the infirmary."

Twilight thanked the guard and continued inside the gate, she just hoped that her brother wasn't the one in the stretcher. So when Shining Armor met them on the steps to the castle, Twilight was relieved. She galloped up the steps and they embraced each other in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said to Shining Armor.

"And I am too, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to the brunch this morning, I had to go on border patrol."

"That's fine, your just doing your job."

Shining Armor turned to the rest of their party.

"Please, come inside, the Princess is waiting for all of us."

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity got off the chariot, which stayed outside the palace with the two crystal pegasi. Everyone started up the steps, the halls were big and empty, like they were expecting someone or something to happen. Twilight trotted up to Shining Armor's side.

"So...what's this all about? Is Discord out of control? Have the changelings returned?" she whispered. Shining Armor glanced around them before answering.

"No, and no, I would normally tell you but the Princesses have ordered us to silence outside of their throne room."

The rest of their walk was silent except for whispers between friends and acquaintances. Twilight was puzzled, why wouldn't the Princesses tell whatever was happening? It had to be very important and urgent to need all of them there so fast and only talk about it in their throne room, she was eager to find out what it was.

As they approached the large doors to the Princesses throne room, Twilight noticed that there were probably triple the amount of guards along the hallway to the doors. Whatever it was, it troubled the Princesses deeply. Some of the guards opened the doors for them when they came close.

Inside, Twilight and her friends look at the stained glass windows, reflecting each of their and the Princesses adventures and accomplishments for Equestria. It made them proud to see all the great things they've done. As Twilight expected, there were way more guards than there usually were, and it started to trouble her too. What could make the Princesses so paranoid?

Both of the Princesses were nervous, Twilight could tell.  Princess Celestia was slowly pacing, obviously lost in deep thought. Luna was standing off to the side of the throne, nervously fidgeting. But, after they entered the room, both of them returned to their controlled, regal selves. Princess Celestia sat on her throne, Luna stood close by. Princess Luna was having her own throne constructed alongside her sisters, but it wasn't finished. The dais had been extended and centered again, and a carpenter had been assigned to design the new throne.

"Ah, Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence," Princess Celestia said, turning to each of the younger alicorns. "I am glad that all of you could come so urgently."

"I am too, Princess Celestia, shall we start the meeting?" Twilight said, containing her anxiousness.

"Certainly. Shining Armor, would you like to give your account of what happened as the firsthand witness?"

"At once, your majesty."

Her brother stepped forward in front of the group, chairs had been arranged in a semi-circle around the thrones, everyone sat down, they were going to be here a while. Shining Armor began speaking,

"I was on western border patrol with five others of the guard when we were attacked."

"By whom?" Flash asked, Shining Armor thought about his answer for a bit.

"They are, kind of hard to explain. They were like ponies, but not."

"In what way?"

"It didn't look like they had skin or bones like we do, their entire bodies were made of fire, and they wore this blackish-gray armor-"

Everyone was suddenly on the edge of their seats,

"Wait...what!? They were made of fire?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"Yes they were, and-"

"That is SO awesome!!" Rainbow Dash fluttered above her chair, with a glance from several other ponies she sat back down, embarrassed.

"There were about a dozen of them or so, they didn't even try to communicate, they just launched an attack. They soon began to overpower us, they smashed our spears and badly injured one of my troops. I put up a shield to cover us for a while, but I underestimated their magic, they quickly broke the shield and I almost loss consciousness. After I couldn't fight anymore, they dispatched the rest of my patrol, I thought I was going to die."

Shining Armor looked at Twilight briefly, she could barely believe what he was saying, but when he made eye contact, she could tell that he was truly scared for his life at that point, and probably hers too. Twilight was wondering, if these fire ponies almost killed her brother, how is he back here? Her question was soon answered.

"All of a sudden, this white unicorn jumped down from a ledge above us, he stood up on two legs and used twin swords, something I had never seen. And even more surprising, he killed several of the fire ponies, then they managed to burn him, badly. I thought it was all over again, but this unicorn kept surprising me, he did this ultra-powerful spell that killed the rest of them and healed us, and after that he lost consciousness."

"So where is he now?" Twilight asked, she wanted to meet the unicorn who saved her brother.

"We had to carry Daring Snow and the white unicorn back with us, we tried to wake him up but nothing worked. We brought both of them back to the infirmary in Canterlot, the nurses expect he should be able to come to our meeting very soon. I'm sure he could tell you more details, the Princesses and I would like to ask him several questions too."

A voice cam from the back of the room,

"And what questions might those be?"