The Wonderbolts helped all of the survivors to the ground. In the distance, the Ray of Dawn crashed and erupted in a giant ball of fire. Rainbow Dash landed with Spike and Pinkie Pie.

“Are you two hurt?”

Pinkie looked herself over. The tip of her tail was on fire, but she blew it out. “Nope, I’m fine.”

Spike just sat on grass, his arms folded and his face buried in his knees. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He said under his breath.

Luna and Cadance approached Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike. “Are you three alright?” Luna asked.

“We’re fine.” Pinkie said. “But where did those dragons come from? And why did attack us?”

“The dragon kingdom must have something to with this!” Rainbow said angrily. “I bet this is all part of an invasion!”

Spike suddenly stood up. “No! The dragon kingdom couldn’t have done this! I know Ember, she’s been trying to make peace with Equestria!”

Cadance spoke up. “Spike is right. Now is not the time to be jumping to conclusions and pointing the blame at others. Celestia and Twilight have been taken, and we need to find them.”

Luna stood silently, looking perplexed. “Is something the matter?” Cadance asked.

“I can’t stop thinking about that armor the dragons were wearing. Somehow, it was able to deflect the magical attacks I used against them.”

“You’re right.” Cadance said. “I saw Twilight use her strongest attack against their leader Torch, and he wasn’t even phased.”

“Well we aren’t going to get any answers standing around here.” Said Rainbow. “I say we head to the dragon kingdom and speak with Ember.”

“I agree.” Said Luna. “We must make haste.”

Spike stood before Luna. “I’m coming too!”

Luna wanted to object, but she knew that Spike was friends with Ember and knew the dragon kingdom better than any pony. “Ok, get on.”

Spike got on Luna’s back, and they along with Cadance and Rainbow Dash set off for the dragon kingdom. “Don’t worry, Twilight. I’ll rescue you!” Spike thought to himself.

Twilight awoke with a headache. The first thing she saw were prison bars. After getting up on her hooves, she could see that she was in some sort of cave. There were also veins of metal similar to what the bars appeared to be made of running through the walls. “What is this place?”

“A place I thought was buried long ago.” Twilight was nearly scared to death when she heard the voice. She soon recognized it as Celestia’s and turned around to see her sitting in a corner, her head hung low.

“Princess Celestia, where are we? What’s going on?”

Celestia did not know where to begin. “We are currently locked up in an old mine. You may have noticed the metal in the walls.” Twilight nodded her head. “Well, it’s called magicnanium. It can naturally repel all kinds of magic. It’s what the armor those dragons are wearing is made of.”

Twilight had a million questions in her head, and did not know where to start. “How did these dragons get ahold of this magicnanium?”

Celestia lifted her head. “Because I discovered this mine, and commissioned the armor to made.”

Twilight could not believe what she had just heard. “Wait, you gave these dragons their armor? Why?”

Celestia breathed a deep sigh. “500 years into my reign as the sole princess of Equestria, it became apparent that I could not handle everything. Raising both the sun and the moon was hard enough, but keeping everypony safe from danger was beyond my control. So, I approached the dragon lord and asked him to give me a group of hatchlings. My goal was simple: to train an elite fighting force that could do what no pony could and go where no pony dare tread. For a hundred years they were trained in the deadliest arts of combat ever conceived. One rose up through the ranks faster than the others, and so I declared him to be the squad leader. His name is Torch.”

Twilight was perplexed. “Torch? As in the former dragon lord?”

“Actually, princess.” Twilight and Celestia both turned to face the bars to see Torch standing on the other side. “Torch is actually a fairly common name amongst dragons. I bare no relation to the former dragon lord.”

“You! What do you want with us?” Twilight demanded.

“Before we get to that, I think Celestia should finish her history lesson. No, wait. She’ll just tell you more lies, like she always does. I shall finish the lesson.”

Torch leaned against the bars. “For a hundred years my squad and I, codenamed The Firebolts, secretly fought all of Equestria’s enemies. We battled changelings, griffons, minotaurs, and any nasty creature that emerged from the everfree forest. Celestia even discovered magicanium, and used it to make our armor to protect us from Equestria’s more magical fiends. And all the while the ponies across the land lived blissfully unaware that we prevented their destruction on a daily basis.”

Torch then turned and gripped the bars, a look of pure rage upon his face. “But when there were no more threats, we were left with nothing to do. We could have gone home to dragon kingdom, but that didn’t happen. And why was that Celestia?”

Celestia whispered something under her breath.

“Care to speak up Celestia? I’m not sure the whole class heard you.”

“I was afraid!” Celestia shouted. “You began starting fights with the royal guard, and you even fought each other. I was afraid you would become a threat to both the dragon kingdom and Equestria.”

Torch banged his fists against the bars. “We only did what you taught us to do! What you ordered us to do! What you made us to do! YOU MADE US!”

An eerie silence filled the air as Torch took a moment to compose himself. “You could have sent us home. But no, what you did was beyond cruel.” Torch looked right at Twilight. “Your teacher imprisoned us in a pocket universe, where time stood still. We were surrounded by an endless wall made up of hyper diamond, the strongest substance in the universe.”

Tears flowed down Celestia’s face. “I had to do something. I couldn’t risk you running around destroying anything, but you had been so loyal. I couldn’t banish you to tartarus. Exiling you to another plane was the only choice.”

Torch’s lips curved up into a smile. “My soldiers had given up. They were ready to lay down and slowly turn to dust. But not me. I just looked at that wall. And I punched it. I punched it as hard as I could, and I did not stop. Soon the others joined me. Every time we stuck that wall we grew stronger, our claws became sharper, our fire burned hotter. Then we finally broke through the wall and freed ourselves. In Equestria only 300 years had passed, but for us, it took 4.5 billion years. I know because I counted every day, every hour, every minute, and every second.”

“You have me now, so what do you plan to do with me?” Celestia asked.

Torch let out a laugh that echoed throughout the mine. “I plan on doing nothing to you. I just want you to have a front row seat and watch as Equestria burns.” Torch then turned and walked away, calling for his soldiers. “Fall out! We head for the dragon kingdom!”

Author's Note

If some of you are wondering, yes Torch's imprisonment and escape was inspired the Doctor Who episode "Heaven Sent."