Author's Note

yes this is the full chapter, but i still need to add the designated pictures, and music,
which i will do at a later time. most likely tomorrow night. been working on this chapter for the past three weeks, and just finally finished it and got it to where i like it. if anyone can guess the anime i used for the conversation during the fight scene, you get a prize of...umm....how about tossing an idea of how the princesses should react to the new full-fledged alicorn? :P

nice thought, but i doubt the readers will want that kind of prize.

and yer lyin about the three weeks...

FINE! one week...two weeks before that has been more watching fight scenes in animes on youtube for ideas...and...maybe alot of playing breath of the wilds on my switch...

ya mean that little screen thing with the removable gray bits?

eeyup. the very same. why?

uhhh...Dash may have...broke one of the gray bits...?

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 25: the war begins, with the ascension.

It’s been about a week since Scorch appeared in my dream, or nightmare so to speak. I haven’t allowed myself to sleep since. Fearful of Scorch coming back into my dreams to do anything else, but today is the worst day of the year for me…my Birthday…

I’ve been able to fake that I have slept this time around, using a special potion Zecora brewed for me in bulk, which I hid many of the bottles in my pocket dimension strongbox, and all throughout the day, as I was flying over Ponyville, Pinkie has been going from pony to pony, each one shaking their head ‘no’ to her. After hours of this happening I noticed she was looking frantic, and her mane was all frizzy, and strung out like she was about to go crazy.

I decided to fly down to see what was going on, worried about her mental state. “Hey Pinkie. You ok? You look really…distraught.”

She turned to me quickly and quickly grabbed my shoulders shaking me. “IT’S SOMEPONY’S BIRTHDAY AND I CANT FIND OUT WHO’S!!!”

I got her off me and held her still. “Whoa, whoa. Calm down Pinks. Slow breaths, ok?” she started taking slow breaths. “That’s better. Don’t worry about whose birthday it is. I mean, you asked everypony about it by now, haven’t you?” she nodded. “By that logic, maybe they don’t want to celebrate it today. If it’s been a bad day, a party could make things worse.”

Pinkie seemed to look around quickly. “But…I mean….they deserve SOMETHING at least…”

“Ok…think about last year. Did anypony seem sad or downtrodden the next day?” she shook her head slowly. “Maybe they just aren’t a fan of celebrating their birthday.”

Pinkie seemed to blink than stared at me. “Blaze…when’s YOUR birthday?”

I tensed up and looked around. “Uhhhh…well…I don’t know when for here, I haven’t really learned how Equestria labels their months…how many days…so on and so forth.” I actually knew, considering their calendar is very close to the human’s version of months. Pinkie quickly pulled out a calendar from her mane and explained it to me, and how it matched up from how I told Twilight, and her, with her note taking didn’t help me either. “It …uhhhh…” I sighed. “It’s today…but I don’t want a party…”

Pinkies mane and tail deflated more as they were just hanging down straight. “But…you….i-it’s…” I felt so bad for making her like this. I had to say something to cheer her up. To let her know I don’t care about my birthday without telling too much about why.

“Whoa! Whoa! It’s no big deal, really! I don’t care about my birthday, because to me, I don’t see it as anything important. It’s just another normal day, nothing special.” Pinkie looked at me confused, as I saw a few ponies looking at me.

“But ones birthday is always special.” Pinkie still looked a bit deflated compared to her usual self.

I just sighed. “You’re gonna throw a party either way aren’t you. Whether it be for my birthday or just ‘a normal party’…you’re going to make it happen.”

Her mane and tail puffed right back to normal as she smiled. “YEP!” she then ran off leaving a smoke double of herself waving to me before it faded away.

I couldn’t help but chuckle and continue my way through the town. It wasn’t much longer till a changeling landed in front of me bowing his head to me. “Sir, Queen Chrysalis has asked me to tell you she requires your audience.” He looked at me, as I could see many of the other ponies watching him nervously. “She said it was of the utmost importance, about something she found.”

I looked at the changeling and nodded. “Take me to her.” He nodded as he began to fly towards the old castle ruins, as I followed him. It wasn’t long for us to reach the ruins, but I can’t really call them ruins anymore. It looked like a genuine, old looking castle that had been taken care of.

When we entered, it still looked like it was ready to crumble inside, but not bad enough to kill anyone. I felt a lot safer than the last time I was here. “Blaze! I’m glad you came.” I looked ahead to see Chrysalis standing in a doorway. “We found a secret chamber, and...well…you should see it for yourself.” She began to hurry down a hallway as I hurried to catch up.

I reached her side looking at her. “A secret chamber and you called me here? Wouldn’t Celestia or Luna know more about it than me?”

She sighed. “They were here yesterday…or, well, last night really. They knew nothing about it, and Princess Luna’s daughter found a shocking mark.” She looked at me with a serious stare. “Your cutie mark was carved into the wall…Princess Celestia even confirmed that it was your cutie mark.”

She stopped at a stone wall pressing a stone in as it slid open. I began to slowly walk into the room hearing that voice from before me and the girl’s went to deal with nightmare moon, sounding like a whisper from a distance away. “Element…ele…tal…” I shook my head but the voice began to grow louder and clearer. “Can you……me? Elemental, can you hear me?”

I looked around confused. “Who’s there?! Who’s in my head?!” I felt a twinge of pain flow through my head. “What’s…going on?!”

“It’s alright. You just feel us radiating with you elemental. I’m so glad you’re beginning to connect with us, even if it’s little by little. You must reach the catalyst. Hurry, we don’t have much time.” I saw a glow on a wall, and looked at it to see my cutie mark, and a human hand shaped glow under it. “Quickly now, before he gets here!”

I knew who she was talking about, so I became my human self hurrying over placing my hand over the glow. “chrysalis, if you hear anything bad, come get me…immediately!” the stone wall in front of me slid into the floor revealing a staircase going into the darkness below.

“A-alright. Just be careful Blaze.” I nodded making a ball of fire form in my hand as a light heading down the stairs quickly. As I went down the stairs I remembered all the high stakes battles I was involved in. nightmare moon…distraction, discord…distraction, Sombra…distraction. No serious fight I’ve been in…I never won anything…all I’ve done is distract them. All of the duels I’ve been in I went all out in…but you don’t go all out in a duel…I never won a fight, not a single one. I tied; going all out against trained combatants who weren’t going all out because it was just a duel…I tied with them.

I stopped when I reached a large room, seeing a pedestal on the far side, with what seemed like another one of the necklaces from the element’s of harmony floating above it, but it had no gem or slot for one. “I…don’t understand.”

I approached it as my flame lit up the necklace, revealing it wasn’t gold like the elements of harmony’s necklace’s, but white. I thought Celestia’s coat was as white as possible, but this was even whiter. I then heard that feminine voice in my head again. “Take it. It is the catalyst for you to reach your full potential elemental.”

I used my free hand to grab it as the anti gravity around it faded immediately after letting it hang on my hand. “I…don’t understand. What is this? It looks like an element of harmony, but it has no gem…and white.”

I saw a glimpse of a six petaled flower shape with a different gem in each socket, while they all radiated a different aura like an element. The voice flowed through my head again as the vision faded. “It will be clear in time, for now you mu-“

I gripped the necklace gently, staring at it. “It’s incomplete...”

“Y-yes. How did…never mind, no time for questions right now. There is a room towards the back. It holds the catalyst. Hurry, he is coming as we spend time talking!” I nodded slipping the necklace on and running to the back of the room seeing a black door through a ragged tapestry. I quickly tore a large part of it off and pushed the door open heading into a small room.

I walked into the small room, to see it was completely empty except for a black ring on a horn shaped protrusion below a carving of the plant shaped gem piece. “I thought the catalyst was here. There’s nothing here but a RING?!”

“Put the ring on, and claim the catalyst. The ring is vital and connected to the cores of the elemental regalia.” I walked up to the protrusion taking the black ring and slid it on my left hands middle finger. As soon as I did, it stretched over my arm up to my shoulder, forming a black gauntlet with sharp clawed fingers. The palm of the gauntlet, and the catalyst carving on the wall both began to glow, so I placed my hand on the carving as I felt the very carving sliding out of the wall into my hand.

As soon as it came out I gripped the stone, which created a bright flash making me close my eyes. When I opened them I was in a white void, in my equine form. “We do not have much time.” I turned around quickly to see a unicorn mare with bright, vibrant red coat, and dark orange mane and tail. “What I am about to do will be temporary, and I will need Akumu’s help in this as well. Come on out Akumu.”

I looked around confused till I felt something phase out of me looking ahead seeing a Pegasus that looked exactly like me, but with a white coat, black mane and tail, and black feathers on his wings. “You never let me have any fun, do you Kaji?”

When I heard his voice, I knew who it was. “Rage…? But…I don’t…weren’t you a split personality born from my anger?!”

He chuckled and looked at with me eyes of pure darkness. “Oh come on kid, you still believe that shit?! You still felt your own anger didn’t you? How could I be your anger when you could still feel it?” I never thought of that. If he WAS a manifestation of my anger, I wouldn’t be feeling any of it. “And I hate to say it…but you aren’t as weak as you think. You deny your fear of power, but you aren’t just afraid of your power…you’re terrified. Scared of hurting others if you went all out with it. It’s why you try to follow up with your own physical strength rather than your own elemental energies. You use it for fun…to mess around. You fear magical combat, and putting too much in, hurting others with it.”

I fell to my knees as I looked at my hand seeing it was trembling. “You’re right…I am afraid…I wanted to deny that fear, but…it’s there…I’ve always known but…I didn’t want to accept it…”

Kaji approached me lifting my head to face her. “You do not need to fear it. You have much more control over it than you know. We also know about what you must do…when we give you a portion of the full elemental power of the catalyst…it will be temporary to help you repel Scorch, and severely weaken him. You must find the elemental cores...the gems, to fully gain the elemental powers.” She looked to the side. “We don’t have time to explain any more. Akumu, we must do it now.”

He nodded as he pointed a hoof at me and Kaji pointed her horn at me, as Rage…or Akumu spoke to me as they began to glow. “I’ll explain everything about why I did, and acted as I did later, but for now, you have a job to do.” The next thing I saw was the shape of the catalyst form in front of them and where the gems went, different auras filled the gaps. The symbol and aura’s flew at me colliding with me, making me snap open my eyes, and sit up holding the gemless catalyst in my gauntlet covered hand.

“Was that…real?” I looked around in the darkness able to barely see in it. I must’ve gotten used to the darkness while I was unconscious. I quickly got up, as my gauntlet become the ring again, and placed the catalyst onto the necklace, hearing a clink as it connected to the actual necklace.

As soon as they connected I felt a surge flow through me, and the same auras filled the blank spots in the catalyst. The surge faded, as I heard Chrysalis screaming my name. I quickly began to hurry to the stairs skipping steps as I went up them. “Chrysalis, what’s wrong?!”

As soon as I reached the top I saw her run out of the room. I ran after her stopping at the top of some stairs near the main entrance, and saw a few unconscious but visibly breathing changelings, and…another human. He looked older than me, and with white hair, wearing a red jacket over some kind of…muscle shirt, that seemed adorned with lines of metal, and most likely the fabric was something dense…maybe hardened, like some kind of flexible armor.

He looked at me with an emotionless gaze before…what I could call a large white kukri formed in one of his hands as a black one formed in his other. “Ah, I see I finally found you.” He was looking for me? How does he even know me, and how is he even here? Every human I met in other Equestria’s. They all had a different sensation from the differences in their worlds. Yet, this one’s sensation, his energy. It feels familiar, like it’s a part of this world, yet not. I don’t understand how that can be, but I’m hoping to find out.

I headed down the stairs making my katana form at my waist pulling it from my sheath. “Who are you? What do you want with me?” I stood at the bottom of the stairs holding my sword in front of me in a defensive stance, gripping the hilt as tight as I could in both hands, feeling a…nervousness….fear….anger…? I can’t explain what I felt, but I felt…something...something that confused me.

He began to slowly spin his weapons in his hands staring at me with an emotionless expression. “Who I am is of no more importance, than who you are…and what I want…is none of your business.” He stopped spinning his weapons as he charged at me.

I side stepped one of his strikes to move my sword to block his other sword, making me slide back from the strength that was behind his swings. When I stopped I stood there as my hands shook from the aching sensation flowing up my arms from blocking his attack. When I looked up at him I saw him start to run to the side to see him fade away, but I sensed him behind me.

I turned my sword so I could swing it as I turned around, with all my available strength just for him to block me and send his elbow into my chest making a blast of air send me flying away from him. As I was sliding on my back I rolled, stopping myself with a foot knelt down on the other knee panting. “Why…no…how are you even here? The power you seem to be using seems so powerful, and I knew of my powers early on in my existence in this world…” I slowly stood up as my sword broke, hearing the half of the blade that came off clang onto the linoleum tiled floor. “How is it you have such mastery over magic, when I’ve worked to learn to even control my own magical energies?!”

“You ask me a question like that…when you’ve done what you have…and know what you know now? Why not try to think it over yourself. Besides, if you can’t think of a weapon to make your victory certain, how can you protect anything?” he began walking towards me. “Tell me this…why is it you fight? Why do you risk your life…?”

I held up my broken katana, as my hands still shook. “The reason I fight…is to protect my home…my friends…I risk my life to protect those I love!” I charged and went to swing my sword but ducked down as he raised his sword to block me, and went to impale my blade into his gut, only for him to quickly wrap his arm around mine and embed his other sword halfway through my katana by the pommel and twist around sticking us back to back as I stood there panting.

I felt him tense his arm around mine to keep it still as I felt a wave of exhaustion pass through my body, leaving my legs shaking as I stood there, and my other arm hanging limp, feeling my fingers barely twitching from me trying to move it. I heard him sigh. “You know you don’t have the heart of a hero, like you want to believe…you can’t protect anything…nor anyone.” I tried to pull myself away with no avail, other than making my body feel heavier on myself. “See? Your actions prove that you even thought so yourself. No matter how much you wish to be some grand heroic figure, you can never be one. Tell me…one last thing. Would you give your life away…to save them?”

I stood there feeling my legs slowly begin to steady themselves as I felt my left hands fingers curling up slowly. “I would give everything to protect them…” I tried to pull my blade free from his to hear it cracking more and the steel creaking, as his was slowly digging through it.

I heard him scoff. “Fighting for others, but not oneself…is nothing but HYPOCRISY!” I felt his sword break through mine completely as he spun his blade around and stab it completely through my leg. I screamed out in pain and pulled myself away spinning pulling my leg in a way to make the blade slide from out of the wound and stumbled away falling onto my knee looking at him as he turned around to face me. “Thinking you could be a force of good…is the height of hubris.”

He walked up to me staring at me with no emotion in his face. “That’s right…you couldn’t help but admire the dream of truly helping others!” he raised his sword up, as his face began to contort with pure anger. “You can’t even imagine up a weapon to help you win! How can you dream of helping others?!” I looked at his swords, and raised a hand up as a red energy formed in it and lashed out to the side forming a red version of his kukri style swords, just in time to block his attack, giving me the chance to burn the gash on my leg closed and stand up, to move away from him gripping my weapons handle tightly.

He began walking towards me again, slowly as I raised my weapon up to defend myself. “You’re driven by this weak obsession of sacrificing yourself for the sake of others!” he swung one of his swords at me again, blocking him as I was stepping away from him. “blinded by your own arrogance!” he swung his sword again knocking my blade to the side and sending his other sword into my stomach, as I felt it sticking out of my back, making me cough up blood as I hunched over feeling blood flow out of my mouth making me choke a bit. “But in the end…you’re a fraud, and your hypocrisy can’t save anyone. How could you, when you never knew who to protect in the first place? This is the result of your hubris. You could never be a hero; you never had anything to SAVE! You want to be an embodiment of justice.” He raised his free sword up. “and justice can be CRUEL!” he swung his free sword down, as I raised my own to block it, seeing my blade shatter into shards, making me fall away from him.

I felt his sword come out of my body as I felt a shard of my own blade cut above my left eye, as I fell onto the floor, lying there, with the hilt of my destroyed sword fading away, such as I felt my life doing the very same. Was he right…? Was I doing, everything I had been doing to protect others…so I could feel good about myself? Was I kidding myself this whole time, falling into the undeniable thoughts that others feel when put at a point with such power? Thinking they were doing what was right and yet…doing everything wrong? Playing myself for a fool, by thinking I could protect them?

I closed my eyes, only to hear a feminine voice call out to me. “Blaze, you are what you believe yourself to be. No matter what is said…what you hear, all that matters is that you believe, what you want to.” I opened my eyes feeling reinvigorated. Full of energy. I sat up and looked around to find myself in a desolate wasteland, filled with ruins, and crumbling buildings. I stood up seeing my wounds were gone, than looked up a hill to see a bunch of objects sticking up out of the top of the hill, and instinctively began to head up the hill, as I heard the voice again. “Tell me…what do you see yourself as blaze? What do you feel? Deep inside your heart?”

I reached the top of the hill and saw a variety of weapons. A halberd, a zweihander, a broadsword, a long sword and a shield, a bow with a quiver full of arrows, and two short swords that looked exactly like that man’s sword were the first I noticed as I approached the broadsword looking at its golden pommel, and black leather covered handle going up to a gold handgaurd, with a blade that shined with the radiance of a diamond, as the extremely sharpened edges reflected the little light that shined on this land.

I looked at my hand than the broad sword again. “I’m not a hero…I’m not a savior…” I slowly grabbed the hilt as my hand was engulfed with flames, as were the other weapons. “I’m who I am, and who I am is someone who will give everything they have to protect the ones he loves to the bitter end.” The other weapons became balls of fire and flew into me as I pulled out the broadsword as dust swirled up from all over the land, sending me back into the darkness.

I opened my eyes to find myself on my knees and the wounds through my stomach and in my leg, were radiating with waves of blue and gold energy, as I felt such magical energy flowing through my body, that I felt invincible, but I learned something from this man, that no matter how much power one gains, or wields, they can never be invincible. After my wounds had closed I tensed my legs bending my toes so I could quickly stand up as soon as I felt able to.

I looked at the man as he manifested his blades in his hands. “this can’t be!” he threw his swords at me as I saw them spinning through the air towards me as I focused on my twin swords feeling them manifest in my hands, jumping u taking a step forward swinging my own to block his, sending them flying to my sides. I stood up and look at the man as his face held a look of pure hatred towards me, as I finally began to know who he is.

He held his hands up as his swords flew back to him as I took a step towards him. “I can’t lose…not to you. I finally understand…” he blinked as his look of anger faded and his poise seemed to relax. “You aren’t mad at me…for me. You’re mad at me, because you know I’ll succeed where you failed. We’re one and the same, but from different existential varieties of the timeline. But you know what? I’m not afraid of losing, but I won’t lose to a version of myself that failed himself!”

He closed his eyes for a second before looking at me with that emotionless gaze again. “You’re finally on the thresh hold, but what use will it do you, when you now know that your skill and mine are worlds apart?”

I moved a foot forward staring at him. “you may have broken my spirit…nearly made me see myself as a failure…an embodiment of my own lies that I was ignorant towards…but my arms and legs still work. I honestly believed you were right about me, but now I know that isn’t true.”

He narrowed his eyes as he gripped the hilts of his swords tighter. “What?”

“I see now, that you only care about being right. Well none of that matters to me. I WILL protect them, and just as you can’t accept me…I’ll use everything I’ve got…” I raise one of my swords pointing it at him. “To beat the part of me that’s YOU!!!”

We charged at each other, but when we got close I used one of my swords to block his attack, turning my free one backwards and swing it straight up, se he brought both his to block my attack. When his blades went up from my strike, I pushed forward to send my defending sword into him, but he stepped aside sending his knee into my gut sending my flying back.

I landed and rolled laying there panting feeling pain flowing through my torso, but I slowly began to push myself back onto my feet and looked at the other version of myself to see him go wide eyed, and bare his teeth angrily as I held my swords up ready to fight again.

As I was getting ready, I felt the sword in my left hand crumble away, as I felt my body on the borderline of exhaustion. I have to end this now, with one last move, but all I can do now is a simple charge, and hope I can get him with it, or this is it. “You feel it don’t you? The exhaustion. Your hopes…your dreams…it's all a mistake, made by all those shows, and games throughout your childhood, hoping for something like that…to be strong…like that.” I slid a foot back getting ready to charge as many copies of his swords appeared in the air around him. “I’ll say it again…your dream….is a mistake.”

I tensed my teeth as some of swords flew at me. I jumped back as they made a screen of smoke and dust around me, deciding to take my chance and charge running out of the smoke towards him. He began sending his swords flying at me, as I evaded or blocked them with my now chipping and crumbling sword. I began to get close to him as he raised one of his swords high above his head turning it so he could bring it down on me, as I pulled my sword back. “My dream…is not a MISTAKE!” I pushed my arm up towards his neck as fast and hard as I could, as I noticed his arm above his head flinched.

I lowered my head, baring my teeth as I felt my blade pierce his neck. I stayed still expecting to feel his go into anywhere from the back of head, down to my back itself, but felt nothing. I heard a loud clang before looking up seeing him stand there, with a…regretful expression, as he faded away.

I made my sword disappear as I let my arm drop, and sighed as I looked at the open doors leading out into the Everfree forest. I looked back to see Chrysalis running back into the room, noticing the injured changelings were removed. I guess she took them to the medical wing to get attention to their wounds.

She ran up to me looking at me than went wide eyed seeing my bloodied and torn clothes. “Blaze, are you alright?!” she looked around. “Where did he go? I don’t see him anywhere.” I went to take a step and almost fell, but she moved quickly catching me as I was leaning over her back, as every bit of strain began to hit me like a brick wall.

“He’s gone. Don’t worry.” I heard an explosion as me and Chrysalis both looked towards the door quickly. “I need your help…” she looked at me as I tried to support myself a bit more so I wasn’t putting all my weight on her. “I need you to help me get to Ponyville.” She nodded and used her magic to put me on her back as she ran out of the castle and down the path towards Ponyville, as fast as she could.

When we got to Ponyville, I saw something I hoped I wouldn’t see. I saw Scorch walking through the now burning town. I got off Chrysalis’ back looking at her. “Go help with evacuating the town. I’ll deal with him.”

As I began walking off holding my side, which still hurt from being stabbed through my gut as I heard Chrysalis speaking behind me. “Blaze, you aren’t in any condition to fight something like this! I can feel such power radiating off him!”

I waved my arm telling her to go as I made my broadsword appear in my hands, as I felt energy flow through my body. I heard her wings buzzing as she flew off, as I made the gauntlet from the ring form on my left arm tensing the hand into a tight fist. “That’s enough scorch! This ends now!”

He looked at me and blinked before an inky black aura flowed off of his body. “Who’s going to stop me? Huh?! YOU?! Look at yourself! You can barely even stand up straight!”

I swung my gauntlet covered arm pointing it at him as a sword formed above me and flew at him going past his head cutting his cheek. “I can still fight! I won’t let you harm anyone! You hear me!!”

Scorch lowered his head chuckling before he became a shadowy mass taking on a humanoid figure with long claw like fingers going onto his face as he began to laugh. “You choose to sacrifice yourself, is that it? You fool…” he took his hand off his face staring at me with his blood red glowing eyes smirking at me. “The act of self-sacrificing is naught but a lie. Being unable to see that, even now, marks you as an inveterate hypocrite. You are nothing more than fraud playing hero…”

I smirked a bit as I felt the catalyst hanging off my neck under my shirt grow warm as the energy inside me flowed, like a reservoir throughout my body, as I felt my existence becoming one with the ground beneath my feet, and the air flowing by me. “A fraud and a hypocrite, you say…?” I looked at my gauntlet seeing a blue energy fill the palm. “It’s probably because I am a fake…” I heard scorch hum in interest, as I felt his gaze on me. “But there is one thing genuine about me…” I closed my eyes as I grinned. “My will to protect others will definitely lead me to victory.”

I could feel Scorch make many swirling masses of shadowy energy form above him as he crossed his arms. “Then show me this…will…of yours.” I opened my eyes quickly as a mass of weapons, rocks, bolts of lightning, balls of fire, masses of water and ice, and large pieces of wood flew at his masses of energy dispelling them all as he looked up where they were in shock than at me as I felt more power, than I could ever imagine.

I began to walk towards him as he took a step back. “You can’t win scorch…and you know it…I have surpassed the threshold, and there is nothing you can do to beat me.” I quickly felt this power leaving my body, but I kept my poise as I walked towards him as he bared his teeth.

He swung his arm as a shadowy mass formed behind him as he backed into it. “Just you wait…the next time you see me, I won’t be as weak as I am right now. Once I’ve returned to my full potential, I’ll show you what TRUE power is!” he disappeared into the portal as I felt the power from the catalyst fade completely leaving me, as I collapsed onto my knees panting hard, feeling like I couldn’t breathe.

I heard a harsh cough and a harsh breathing, making me look up as I could barely see through the blurriness in my vision. When I could see who I was hearing, I saw a blonde mane and tail, loose and draped over…and orange coat. I felt a lump in my throat as I forced myself to stand and hurry over stumbling, nearly falling over many times till I reached her falling onto my knees.

“AJ?!” I carefully began to roll her over. “APPLEJACK!” I gasped as I saw some of her hair covered in her blood stuck to her neck. “No…no, please no.” I felt her breathing slowing down. “No, don’t die, you CAN’T die!”

I took a deep inhale to say more, but heard her give a single long exhale, before feeling her breathing stop. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, as I bared my teeth to keep from screaming out in pure rage. I hear Kaji’s voice speak to me inside my head. “Blaze…we…CAN help her but…I don’t know what repercussions it could lead to…I’m not even sure you would survive…”

I held AJ close as my voice was low and cold in response. “I don’t care…do it…” I heard Kaji sigh in affirmation as I felt a sharp pain through my body as well as feeling the catalyst burning into my chest. I carefully put AJ’s body down and I gripped my chest with both hands as I felt my heart beating so hard it felt like it was exploding with every, harsh beat. I saw a blue glow encase AJ as flames engulfed me forcing me into my Pegasus form as I fell over onto my side trying to gasp for air, to no avail.

While feeling the pain and burning from my chest grow and flow throughout my body, I could see Applejack begin to breathe again, before my vision began to blur, from the mix of tears, and lack of air, bringing me to the brink of blacking out.

I felt myself be rolled over as I looked around to see the once red blobs of flames were gone, and the blackened sky was turned into a mix of orange, red, and white blobs. I looked over to see a few blurry masses, that I could see just enough to designate as Twilight, Luna, Celestia, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. I could see some of their mouths moving but I couldn’t hear anything, as I looked towards Applejack to see Pinkie, and Fluttershy tending to AJ.

I felt a few drops land on my cheek, as everything began to grow dark, and I could see a dark blue mass appear behind Fluttershy, as she jumped away from it soon after. I was quickly left in pure darkness after that. No pain. No sensations what so ever. I looked around to see a landscape of white sand and black barked, dead looking trees form around me.

I heard a dry, raspy voice ring out from every direction. “I postponed this the last time…but not this time…” I looked around until I saw Death walk out from behind a dead tree. “It’s time, Blaze.”

I shook my head.” N-no…this doesn’t make any sense!” I felt my wings twitch as I stepped away from him. “I can’t die yet! It’s too soon!!”

Death approached me, keeping a stern and blank gaze on me. “It has to be done. You are finally…truly ready.”

I blinked as my ears perked up in interest. “Ready…? Ready for what?”

He stopped in front of me placing the end of his hoof on my forehead. “To ascend.” He pulled his hoof away slowly as I felt two small points of pain as it felt like two things were being pulled out of my head making me scream in pain. When the pain stopped everything flashed in a bright white light, making me close my eyes. “Open your eyes…and look upon your true self.”

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around to see the once dead landscape, was lush with grass, and flowers, as well as the once dead trees were covered in the brightest green colored leaves I had ever seen, and some trees had bright, and vibrant flowers blooming on them.

Everything went black as my eyes snapped open, making me gasp. I looked around to see I was in the hospital. I got out of the bed and stood up, deciding to leave the room shaking my head to shake off the grogginess. Once I left the room I heard a gasp and looks around to see nopony around, than looked down to see…nurse Redheart?

I blinked as I was looking down at her. “ umm…hi?” she ran off down the hall as I blinked confused, walking down the hall she went down, seeing ponies watch me pass as I had to look down at them when I passed. Why did I need to look down at them? I feel that I’m equine, so I should be the same height, right?

I looked ahead to see, Celestia, and the girls run around the corner to see me going wide eyed, as I smiled a bit waving to them. I saw Applejack, run at me and tackle me in a hug making me yell as I fell onto my back. “Ah’m so glad to see yer alright! When that crazy blue alicorn explained what you had done…” she sniffled. “f-for me…I….I felt…”

She brought her head up to look at me as she had tears streaming down her cheeks. I brought my hoof up to wipe her cheeks gently. “It was my choice…I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try everything I could to save you…” AJ, blinked and blushed a bit as she brought a hoof to the back of my head, and pulled my head down, pressing our lips together as she kissed me. I felt my cheeks heat up, but decided to close my eyes and return the kiss wrapping my forelegs around her.

We soon broke the kiss and looked at each other smiling. I felt my head grow heavy, as Applejack blinked and giggled a bit. “When you wake up…you and the princesses may need to talk about something important…” she smirked at me as my vision got blurry. “Mister Alicorn.”

I felt my head fall back, and sleep take me after she said ‘mister alicorn’…Wait…what?!