Devoran Chronicles: Fire of the Phoenix

“You must be mistaken, child.  I’ve never killed anyone,” Celestia answered, having regained her serene appearance after her initial shock of me accusing her.

“I am not a child!” I yelled back at her.  “And it was not only your actions that killed my parents, but your inactions.  You crushed everything I had lived for as a child!  I had dreams of becoming a great and powerful mage!  I used to want nothing more than to be a protector of Equestria.  And what happened?  You signed my life away.  It was the simple stroke of a quill for you, but it was everything to me!  A denial letter to your precious school. And in my desperation, I used the artifact you gave my father, not knowing what it would do”.

“Ember Weaver’s son........” the princess said softly in disbelief.

“I’m glad that you remember him, because it was you that caused his very death,” I replied coldly.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret what happened to your parents, child, but I didn’t......”

I cut her off.  “I AM NOT A CHILD!” I exclaimed.  I whipped a nearby end table at her with extreme force.  She artfully dodged and used a counter spell to push it away before it struck her over the head.

“How DARE you attack a Princess of Equestria!” came a booming voice, this time from Princess Luna.  She picked the object back up and tossed it back in my direction.  However, her aim was much worse and the table breezed past my head and struck the wall behind, breaking into several large pieces.  Princess Luna’s cheeks were starting to flush red with anger, seeping through her normally cool blue skin.

“What’s the matter, Princess?  Afraid you’ll get a scratch on that perfectly pampered little coat of yours?” Chrysalis taunted.  Luna snorted and her head lowered as her face became glowered toward Chrysalis.

“I’m afraid your accusations and taunting will no longer be entertained.  You have no place here, Chrysalis.  Leave this castle now, peacefully, or suffer the consequences”.

“If she goes, I do, Princess.  And I would march through the gates of Tartarus before walking out of here with my intentions unfinished, Princess.  You’re going to have to kill me like you did my father and mother before I’ll leave this castle”.  I tramped my front legs against the marble floor.

“Very well.  I had hoped you would both be reasonable, but I’m afraid you leave me no choice”.

Princess Celestia began to charge a spell.  A restriction spell, from the looks of it.  Princess Luna, on the other hand, was out for blood against Chrysalis, charging a destruction-type spell.  Princess Celestia blasted a containment spell at my location, attempting to restrict me into a small field of magic.  However, I was well prepared, having practiced counters to such spells with Chrysalis for many months.  I flash transported behind the Princess, charged up a repulsion spell, and fired.  The Princess, completely caught off guard, hurled several feet through the air.  She recovered by extending her wings, slowing her tumble, just before striking a bookcase and lamp stand and then teleported herself back onto her feet.

“Impressive reflexes.  I must admit, I’m not accustom to combat in recent years.  However, if you think beginners tricks like that are going to finish me off, you are sorely mistaken,” Princess Celestia said cooly.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty more than that, I can assure you”.

I charge and fired another spell, this time an ice beam.  The Princess quickly materialized a ward to reflect the spell, and it slashed fiercely against the protective field.  Ice formed into a perfectly round ball, encasing the Princess inside.  She remain silent for a moment, before a glow from inside the sphere erupted and shattered it.  This was enough time, however, to teleport to another location once again.  This time, using an invisibility spell to cloak my approach.  The Princess scanned the room, confused at the sudden change of the game.  Using an illusion spell, I spawned several copied shadows of myself around the room.  They dodged around and ran at my will, causing the Princess to spray spells at them.  It took her only a few tries to realize what was going on.  The spells shattered the illusions when struck.  It was then that I made my approach.  Spawning 20 or so copies, I positioned myself among them, but behind the Princess and out of her view.  I commanded them all to simulate a spell charge.  She began to systematically eliminate them one by one, but before she could, I struck her with another ice attack.  It struck her side with such force that she gasped as air exited from her lungs by the shock of it.  All of my copies de-spawned, as I was unable to continue to maintain their appearance, but they had performed their task.  The Princess fell to her side, her coat frozen.

I peered over to check on Chrysalis.  She was handling Luna quite gracefully, but they were stuck at a stand off.  I fired a few spells at Princess Luna that she wasn’t expecting, and Chrysalis managed to pin her to the ground.  Luna bucked her off, sending Chrysalis sailing into a pillar.  She quickly recovered, however, and charged right back in.  I attempted to assist her from afar once again, but a restriction spell struck my legs, binding them to the ground with magically formed chains.  They began to grab me more and more, continuing to grow and weave around my body like Boa Constrictors wrapping around its prey.  Princess Celestia was standing again, approaching me with a smug grin on her face.

“Did you think I would go down after just one hit?” she goded.  “You seem a bit tied up at the moment”.

Her voice was like nails to my ears.  Her slightly superior tone made me want to take a cheese grater to them.  Finally, I shouted out to Chrysalis to inform her of my next move.

“Chrysalis!  Get out and restrict the window!” I barked.  She peered over for a second, trying to discern my intentions.  Finally, it clicked after a short couple of moments, and she darted from the room, narrowly being missed by a few spells Luna spat at her.  Princesses  Luna and Celestia both looked back and forth between each other and me.  Then, Chrysalis hovered outside while spawning a containment spell around the window and door to keep in what I was about to unleash.

“And what exactly do you plan to.....” Celestia started to say.  However, I had already begun charging to perform the spell necessary.  Within a few seconds, the room began to shake slightly.  Fire burst from my horn, growing into a dragon-esque form, spinning into a spiralling wall.  The Princesses both gasped as my Fire Spin spell took a well formed shape and began to pull everything towards it.  Tables caught fire, scrolls danced around the room as they were swept up in the moving air and fire, and the Princesses braced themselves against whatever they could grab ahold of.  My chains cracked and sparked as they fell away and I was once again free.  I was going to burn everything in the room and if it took me with it, so be it.

Princess Luna hugged a marble pillar for dear life a few dozen feet away as the room swirled harder and harder.  Princess Celestia was hanging onto a bookshelf’s inner shelves as part of her body swayed around.  Finally, larger objects started to shift, and a large coffee table ripped itself from the ground it was once rooted too.  Without any way of stopping it, the flaming wooden object struck Princess Celestia, breaking her free from her grip, and she began to spin with the other objects.  Objects smacked her and Princess Luna repeatedly.  Princess Luna looked as if she managed to get behind the marble pillar, guarding herself from the bulk of the flying objects, but Princess Celestia wasn’t so fortunate.  She flew around the room like a rag doll, knocking into objects both on the ground still and in the air, all the while getting burned by the flaming tornado.  She continued to try and right herself with her wings, but another object would come along just as she was almost there and strike her again, knocking her around.  Finally, when I could hold the spell no longer, I gathered up my remaining strength, concentrated the spell onto myself, and let it then explode outward, sending a flaming wave throughout the room that pushed everything far away from me and into corners and walls.  Princess Celestia fell in the middle of the floor, near where the coffee table had once sat.  Using a spell to quell the flames, I extinguished the room and moved a few objects out of the way for a direct walking path to Celestia.  I was exhausted and that spell had drained almost all of my strength from me, but it had done its job.  Princess Luna looked singed around the edges and laid dazed on the floor.  Princess Celestia, however, had taken a much more severe beating.  Red gleamed parts of her coat and noticeably bruised and burned portions of skin were showing bright black, blue, and pinkish-red splotches.  Her crown laid several feet away and her chestplate had broken into two pieces and melted.  Many of her feathers had been ripped from her wings and were scattered throughout the room and one of her legs was quite obviously broken.

I heaved breathes in and out of my chest, trying to catch my breath from the over-exertion.  However, I could not help but grin maniacally.  Princess Celestia was down for the count.  No way she could fight me in her state now.  I had won against her.  I walked over to her as she groaned from the pain.  She seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness, with moments of consciousness resulting in wincing on her face from the pain and her drifting back out.  I reached out to touch her coat when I heard a cry from the other side of the room.

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!” Princess Luna screamed.  Chrysalis was back in the room, however, and subdued her with a containment spell of her own.  Luna struggled under the same kind of chains Celestia has tried to us on me and she cried out as they bore down on her, scraping against her partially singed skin.

“Not so fast, Princess Looney,” Chrysalis taunted.  She looked over in my direction and gave a nod of approval.  She had the biggest grin on her face I had ever seen in the several years I had known her.

“We did it, Crissy,” I said.

“As much as I hate it when you call me that, I could honestly care less right now.  We did it,” she replied back.  She turned and tightened the chains around Princess Luna, who was still trying to struggle her way free.

At that moment, I felt a light touch on my right hoof.  I snapped my head back around to see Princess Celestia, now partly awake, charging a spell as her horn was in contact with my leg.  I began to do the same, trying to ensure that whatever she was about to do, I’d be ready for.  However, before I could counter it, the floor of the world fell away and I began to fall into a black hole.  The light of the world shone strong from above the pit that I fell hopelessly into.  It felt strangely dream-like and before long, I spun right side up very slowly as my hooves touched solid ground in the blank abyss.