A Tale of Something New

The wind begins to howl louder as Starlight and a troupe of soldiers arrive at what was possibly the largest chasm in the Frozen North. “If this isn’t the right one, then I need to figure out someway to find it fast.” Looking around for a way down, she spotted a small staircase made of ice which caused her to blink a few times. “Either that’s the most amazing naturally made staircase ever, or we just found Conflagration’s lair.” A few of the soldiers nodded but went largely unnoticed as they all followed Starlight down the stairs.

Princess Twilight? Came a voice from inside Starlight’s head. She immediately knew who it was.

Sorry, Cherry, you got the wrong mental wave. Her teacher responded in a slightly annoyed tone. What’s so important you need to call Twilight, anyway?

Nothing, Teacher, good luck taking on Conflagration! The filly replied back in a hurried tone.

Now hold on, Cherry Blossom don’t you dare-

But it was too late as her student had severed the mental link in favor of trying again to find Twilight’s. “That filly is getting an even harder training regimen when we get back to Ponyville,” she spoke to herself in a mumbled tone. The rest of the climb down was rather uneventful aside from the constant rise in heat from getting further down into an active volcano.

At a certain point, the pegasus and earth pony members of the soldiers had to be sent back as they had no defense against the rising heat. The unicorns, Starlight included, were able to keep themselves cool using a spell to regulate the temperature around them.

Once they got down to the bottom, they were confronted with several ponies whom could only be described as identical in every way. While these ponies proved to be easily defeated, they would dissipate upon being beaten. “Fire Golems?” Starlight pondered. “What kind of magic is this guy packing if he can just summon an army as easily as a foal pulls toys out of their toy chest?” No pony seemed to notice that as more conflict arose, the ice would begin to harden or the faint whinnies coming from it.

Several victories later, the group finally arrived in what could only be described as a chamber of ice and fire. The entire chamber was round, and magma could be visibly seen rising from underground, but seemed to have no effect on the ice as it rose up. At the center of it was Conflagration. His fiery mane and tale burning brightly as he looked at the group with a wicked smile on his face. “Welcome. Isn’t it beautiful?” He asks as he directs their attention to the deadly magma surrounding the chamber.

“Conflagration,” one of the unicorns spoke as he and the rest of them, save for Starlight Glimmer, teleported surrounding the flaming unicorn. “You are under arrest on the grounds of attempting to cause harm to the Crystal Empire and its citizens.”

Conflagration's smile faded as he looked around at the soldiers. “Vermin,” he said in a low venomous voice. “You dare surround me?” The flames of his mane and tale began to grow and engulf him, as he let out a vicious roar. All the soldiers were launched back to the walls. If not for Starlight’s quick thinking on teleporting them to the entrance, all the soldiers would have fallen into the molten magma surrounding the edges of the room. “Why do you protect those pathetic creatures? I can see a great power in you, Starlight Glimmer. Why not join me, and together we can bring this world back to the beauty it once had? Fire is the only true road to perfection.”

Under her breath Starlight turned to the soldiers, “Listen, he’s probably getting more powerful while we’re in this make shift volcano. I’ll distract him for as long as I can. Can you all focus on a teleportation spell, for all of us, him included? I just need him away from this heat to weaken him.” As they listen, they begin to look among themselves. After the request is heard in full they all nodded and got up with raised morale. Starlight teleports to the center of the room keeping a few feet away from Conflagration as she glares at him.

“That’s the look I was hoping for,” he said, “you of all ponies know what it takes to get something done. Even when you have to destroy something to do it.”

“You don’t know anything about me, I’m putting a stop to you and whatever sick plan this is here and now.” In a moment, silence befell the room as the soldiers waited for the fight to begin before they began charging their spell. In the next moment, the two unicorns in the center began their conflict. Conflagration’s mane and tail flared, and a stream of magma came at Starlight from her side, but it was telegraphed enough that she was able to teleport out of the way. Reappearing to his side, she created magical binds to hold him in place.

“Not bad,” he said as the flames of his tail cut the magical binds, “but not good enough.” His horn began to glow with a bright red aura, and in the next moment a dragon made of magma was floating behind him while staring down Starlight. “Here’s a present from me to you.” He raised a hoof to point to her, “Get her.” The Dragon roared then charged. Starlight teleported out of its path, but it turned around and charged at her again. After dodging two more times, the fiery beast let out a fiercer roar, and opened its maw towards Starlight.

“That can’t be good.” As soon as she let out those words, the dragon's mouth began to glow brighter before unleashing a torrent of flames at her. Thinking quickly, she cast a spell and created a pillar of ice from the arena. The flames collided with the pillar but could not penetrate or even melt it. Instead, a ghostly whinny could be heard from all around the entire room, as the air around every pony began to slowly cool down. "What?" Was all Starlight could muster from the current events that just transpired.

"Do you see now why we must act? The very ice we stand on is part of those horrid monsters," was Conflagrations answer to the current situation. "I have been studying the Frozen North since arriving at the Crystal Empire and have found that the very land that surrounds it is made up of hibernating Windigoes."

"Hibernating?" Starlight repeated as a question. "Are you telling me that the entire Frozen North is just a large sum of Windigoes?" But before Conflagration could answer they were all engulfed in a bright light. The next moment they noted that the opposition against Conflagration had grown and they were no longer inside the volcano, but instead close to the Empire. Conflagration's face began to shift to some kind of combination of rage and horror when he finally took note of what had just transpired.

"You, moronic vermin!" He shouted with such a passion that Starlight quickly teleported back near her companions. "Do you have any idea what you've done now that I am no longer near the heart of the volcano!" The silence on his audience was the only answer to his question. "Without me there the enchanted magma now roams free in the volcano, and any pony or anything can claim it for itself. Lest I forget that I chose that particular spot because it was the heart of Frozen North as well."

"You're not implying that..." Starlight's voice trailed off and Conflagration's horror dawned on her as he nodded to her unfinished question. A sudden and loud whinny could be heard all around. From every part of surrounding the Crystal Empire. The sky returned to its normal color and suddenly the storm clouds all around began to gather. Louder and louder the whinnies rung as the very land could be felt moving. "Every pony, back the Empire! We need to get off the snow, now!" No second shout was required as every pony, Conflagration included, heeded Starlight's call to retreat.

As they reached the safety of the Crystal Empire an even greater whinny came from behind them followed by the sound of an explosion. All who heard it, quickly turned to the direction, and spotted a giant hoof of ice and lava extending from the land. "Twilight, I hope whatever Cherry needed you for is over quickly. We are definitely going to need you all very soon," Starlight said to herself as she fearfully watched the scene before her unfold.