Previously on “My Little Pony: Elements of Equestria”:

Princess Twilight and Dragonlady Ember have both been kidnapped late at night by the mysterious Count Scorch. The following morning, Starlight and Spike found Twilight missing and a ransom note in her place. When about to go get their friends, Starlight bumped into a Dragon who claims he might be Spike’s father.

Starlight had gathered all her friends into the throne room of Twilight’s castle. Each of the Mane 5 sat on their respectively thrones, including Spike in his smaller throne. Since Twilight wasn’t here, Starlight took Twilight’s throne. The Dragon stood next to one of the walls.

“What do you mean Twilight’s been foalnapped?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I mean Spike and I found this note on Twilight’s bed,” answered Starlight, levitating the ransom note over to her rainbow-maned friend.

After reading the note, Rainbow said, “Okay, now I understand. This is very bad.” You could almost hear in her voice that she was starting to freak out.

“So, if Twi’s been foalnapped, an’ we have no idea where she is, how are we s’pose to save ‘er?” asked Applejack.

“I agree,” said Rarity, “If there’s no way of knowing where Twilight is, then how can we even begin?”

“I have a plan,” said Starlight.

“This ought to be good,” said the Dragon. This caused all the ponies to look towards the Dragon.

“And who might you be exactly?” asked Rarity.

“Uh, duh. That’s Spike’s might-be father,” said Pinkie.

“Uh Pinkie, how did you know that?” started Starlight.

“Haven’t you read the last chapter. It was only one of the prologue’s big cliffhangers.”

“Pinkie, what are you even talking about?”

Pinkie was about to answer, but Rainbow interjected. “Starlight, it’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.”

“Point taken,” agreed Starlight, “Anyways, I do believe Pinkie is right, even if it is hard to understand her antics sometimes. Care to introduce yourself, Mr…”

“Vulcan. My name’s Hephaestus Vulcan,” said the Dragon, approaching the table, “But you can just call me “Heph”.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Vulcan. So, what do you mean when you say you might be Spike’s father?” asked Starlight.

“What I mean is there’s a possibility that Spike is my long lost son, but I don’t know for sure. I was hoping Princess Twilight might be able to use some sort of DNA-scanning spell or something, but it appears I’ve come at an inconvenient time,” Heph answered.
Starlight thought for a moment, then came to a conclusion. “Okay, well, I can probably do the scan for you, but finding Twilight is our top priority.”

“Understood. I’ll help in any way I can, whether it be morally, physically, magically, or even emotionally.”

“Hold the phone! You can you magic?” Rarity asked.

“Of course. I’m a Mage Dragon.”

“I didn’t know Dragons could use magic,” said Fluttershy quietly, “Wait, what’s a Mage Dragon.”

“Yes, well, there are two kinds of Dragons: Goliaths and Mages. Goliath Dragons tend to be more brutal and aggressive, while Mage Dragons, like myself, are of a better, more calm nature. We’re more rational and and we only grow as big as Goliath Dragons when we embrace our inner greed.”

“So much about Spike is starting to make sense,” said Pinkie Pie ironically, “Wait, what about wings?”

“Glad you asked. You see Mage Dragons aren’t born with their wings like Goliath Dragons, Mage Dragons go through a form of puberty and their wings literally grow in over night. I’m sorry, I think I got carried away. I believe we should be worrying about Twilight.”

“Right. So Spike, did you sent Princess Celestia that letter?” Starlight asked.

“Yep, I did. Just waiting for her to get back to me.” Suddenly, green flames burst out of Spike’s mouth and a letter materialized out of the flames.

“Well, speak of the devil,” said Rainbow.

“Yeah,” agreed Pinkie Pie, “That was very convenient timing.”

“Agreed,” said Starlight, “So, Spike.”

“Already on it.” Spike cleared his throat and started reading, “Dear Spike, I received your letter and I too am concerned. I have already sent word to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. If you would please come to Canterlot as soon as possible, I think I could shed some light on the situation (no pun intended). Sincerely, Princess Celestia.”

“Alright, I guess we know where to go next,” said Rainbow.

When Twilight came to, she couldn’t see very well and she felt like she was melting. And rightfully so as the heat of the place where she was was practically unbearable. It was as if the surface of the sun was only a few feet away.

After a few seconds, Twilight’s vision cleared and she was able to see her surroundings. She appeared to be in a hollow volcano. She noticed that she was tied to a large brimstone column, high above a large pool of lava. To her left, there was a tunnel which probably led out of the cave, and to her right was a throne made of rubies and red granite. Next to the throne stood an obsidian statue of a creature Twilight had never seen before. It looked like an Alicorn stallion crossed with a dragon. Straight across from her was another brimstone column, and tied to it was an unconscious Dragonlady Ember.

Twilight tried to use her magic to untie herself, but she found that her magic wasn’t working.

“Don’t even try,” said a feminine voice, “We placed a magic suppressor on your horn the moment we got you.”

Twilight looked towards the cave entrance to see the Unicorn and the Dragon that had abducted her. “Who are you? Where am I? What do you want with me?”

“Woah, slow down there, Princess. One question at a time,” said the Unicorn, “Firstly, my name’s Inferna, Royal Advisor to the Count. This is Blaiz, my husband. Secondly, welcome to Mt. Furnace, prison of the Count himself. Thirdly, I don’t want anything from you, but the Count does.”

“Wait, who’s this Count you keep mentioning?”

The Unicorn raised an eyebrow at this. “You don’t know? I’m surprised. I would have thought Celestia would have told you about the Count, considering their history.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Well…”

(Sung to the tune of “In the Dark of the Night” from “Anastasia”)
Sung by Inferna and Blaiz

In the heart of the fire we were burning and searing,
And the heat of the flames were as hot as can be,
It scorched our skin into ash,
Our bones to cinders in a flash,
Then the flames subsided,
And the fire was He!

He was once the most magnificent stallion in all Equestria.
When the Royal Sisters betrayed Him they made a mistake.
In this mountain He was locked away,
His anger growing to this day.
Celestia beware,
Count Scorch will awake!

In the heart of the fire evil will burn her,
In the heart of the fire just after dusk!

Revenge will be sweet,
When His curse is complete!

In the heart of the fire,

She’ll be gone!

We can feel that He will soon awaken,
All He needs is Alicorn power to be free!
As the pieces fall into place,
He’ll see her burn in the blaze,
Then so long, Celestia, your grace,
Farewell!

In the heart of the fire the inferno will smite her,
An inferno’s is the least He could do!
In the heart of the fire evil will brew!

Soon she will feel that her nightmares are real!
In the heart of the fire,
She’ll be through!

In the heart of the fire evil will burn her!
Burn her.
In the heart of the fire terror comes true!
Doom her.

Celestia, here’s a sign,
It’s the end of the line!

In the heart of the fire,
In the heart of the fire,
In the heart of the fire!

We, His minions,
Loyal to our master,
Let our evil shine!

Find her now,
Yes, burn Celestia!

In the heart of the fire,
In the heart of the fire,
In the heart of the fire,

She’ll be His!

“So this Count Scorch guy is your boss?” asked Twilight.

“I thought we made that clear. Didn’t we make that clear?” asked Inferna to Blaiz.

“I thought we did,” answered Blaiz.

“Anyway, yeah, he’s our boss. And if you ever want live to see your friends again, you will help us free him.”

“You’re crazy if you want me to help you! I won’t do it!” said Twilight.

Inferna smirked. “So you don’t want to live to see your friends again. I thought you were smarter than that, being Celestia’s star pupil and all. I was apparently wrong.”

“You can do whatever you want with me. I’ll never betray my friends.”
Inferna’s smirk got even more sinister. She’d figured out exactly what to do. “Very loyal, I see. I suppose we could make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Yes. How’s say you help us free Count Scorch, and in return we will spare your friends.”

“How do I know I can trust you’ll keep your word?”

“You can’t,” said a new voice. Twilight turned her head and saw the Unicorn that foalnapped Ember. On her back was the same saddlebag as before.

“Wild, sweetie, you’re here,” said Inferna with fake enthusiasm.

“Hey mom. As I was saying, there is no way you can trust any of our words, but either way, your friends are likely to die and you will free the Count.”

“Wildfire, what are you doing?” asked Blaiz.

“I got tired of waiting. We need Count Scorch free and I’m not going to wait any longer.” Wildfire walked over to Twilight and fired up her horn.

Wildfire took a flask out of her saddlebag, and took the magic suppressor of Twilight’s horn. She then placed the flask on the tip of her horn. “Feel free to use magic, princess.”

“With pleasure.” Twilight tried to use a teleportation spell, but it failed. “Wait, why isn’t my magic working?”

“Your magic is working, it’s just not able to escape this bottle.”

“What? How is that possible?” asked Twilight.

“This bottle was doused in Tempestic Acid, making the bottle magic-proof.” She took the flask off Twilight's horn and quickly sealed it with a cork. The she walked over to the statue. “Today will mark the end of of the beginning and Count Scorch will be free!”

She emptied the flask on the statues and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then a small crack appeared on one of the front hooves. The crack then began to grow and quickly traveled up the leg, down the other front leg, up the neck, down the back, down the tail, and down the back legs. Then a second past and the obsidian fell off the statue, leaving a roaring Dragon/Alicorn hybrid in its place.

The Hybrid had black fur mixed with purple scales, leathery, black Dragon wings, a black Draconic tail, a mane that was literally green flames, blood red eyes with slits for pupils, razor sharp, pearly white teeth, razor sharp claws on his front hooves, and purple smoke rising from the corners of his mouth.

“Celestia!” roared the now free Count Scorch.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Oh man, Scorch is awake! This is bad! What plans does Scorch have in store for getting revenge on Celestia? More importantly, what's Celestia's history with Scorch even about? How will Twilight and Ember escape Scorch and his minions? What information could Celestia have about Scorch? These questions and more answered next time on "My Little Pony: Elements of Equestria".

Also, I'd just like to say that as of today it has been 6 months since I started my Fimfiction account.