Author's Note

Hi folks! I wrote this chapter by myself but my lovely assistant Flusk Flurry helped aid in grammar correction! This chapter was doozy to write! As always, this fanfic contains gore and profanity so if you are not a fan of that stuff. Please leave the fanfic.

The only part in this chapter that Flusk has written was the scene directly when Annual's flashback starts and ends.

Also, you're cool if you get the reference in the this chapter title

Hope you like this one because this contains some sad stuff along with more scenes with Solar Dots being a provoker.

Chapter 7: Through the Fire and the Flames

Flusk was running quickly with Crescent and Heartstrings as they were now in Stone Hedge. Quickly galloping as fast as their hooves could go, they stopped at the castle where the two princesses resided only to find that the castle’s appearance had now changed. Flusk’s eyes widened.

“What is this? Why does the castle look different?”

Crescent looked over at Flusk. “You can’t guess? It’s obviously his doing.”

As Flusk and the group panted heavily from all the running and fear, Flusk spoke. “I guess.. Do you think we should try to look for any of the royal guards? Are any of them still around?”

Crescent put her hooves in the air, seeming to be frustrated. “The castle is a fiery living hell now! Do you seriously think that we’re going to find any of the princesses royal guards in this castle now that it belongs to him?!”

The castle now had light orange walls with translucent dark orange flame like patterns pasted on the walls of the castle. There seemed to be fire surrounding the frames of the windows with orange flags on the top of the castle roofs. Each flag had a blacked out picture of Solar Dot’s on them. The drawbridge to the castle was now hanging over a lake of lava instead of water. The drawbridge had flaming torches that led up to the door which entered into the castle.

“Yep, he definitely took over it.” Flusk said.

Crescent looked at Flusk with squinted eyes and a dull tone. “Jee, ya think?”

Flusk and the group looked up at the burning sky of fire, exhaustion on their faces. The flames slowly moved along with the clouds. Most of the water that once filled the lakes around River Breeze and the waters that filled up Stone Hedge were nothing but molten lava now. It was clear that the entirety of their state of Ifera ByFlame was in a roaring heat now. The ponies could feel the heat and sweat on their backs. There seemed to be no hope left for them, so they thought.

Flusk started to zone out due to her overcoming anxiety. Just by looking up at the flaming sky, she felt anxious and dizzy. Crescent slowly took a hold of her shoulders trying to snap Flusk out of her anxiety filled trance.

“Flusk, Snap out of it! We have to stay focused! There is no time to doddle around!”

“I know that but.. I can’t help but worry about the others. Does Drizzle Dot’s sister even know about this?!”

“I’m pretty sure that she knows something horrible is going on but, we need to find her as well. If we don’t find any guards here, we will go straight to her.”

Flusk started to panic and hyperventilate. “What do we do with his children? What about Lance, Bliss, Honeysuckle or Sea Biscuit?!”

“Snap out of it Flusk..We got work to do and we’re losing time.”

“Fine..”

Flusk took a deep inhale of breath, attempting to calm herself in this drastic situation. “Let’s go..”

Flusk and the rest of the group ran off to the castle which now belonged to Solar Dots. They searched around the castle which they knew was empty due to Solar Dots being in River Breeze at the moment. They ran around the castle quickly, looking for any signs of guards. In a long search across the castle, they found no guards. Except...They did.

Flusk inhaled sharply as a spear came swinging to her neck but avoided touching her skin. A pure fire like form which seemed to take the form of a pony had a mouth and eyes which were like black holes. The entire body was nothing but fire. It finally spoke.

“HAULT! What are you three doing inside the throne of Solar Dots? You’re not supposed to be here..”

It was clear to the group that these beings of fire were some magical creation of his. The tapestries were hanging down in the throne room that was once the throne of the princesses. Flusk looked over to the throne which was now a bright orange to symbolize Solar Dots. She looked back at the guard of fire.

“This isn’t his throne room! This is the throne room of-”

She was cut off short of her sentence as the guard of fire levitated their spear closer to her neck.

“Don’t you DARE speak about the princesses in the presence of this castle. This belongs to lord Solar Dots now.”

Flusk gritted her teeth in fear as she did the unthinkable. Flusk screamed and shot a blast of her magic at the fire like guard which only blasted right through the flames and seemed to have no effect.

The group started to run out of the castle while being chased by the guards of Solar Dots creation. It was almost like fireballs shooting around them as they were running out of the castle while screaming in terror.

They were stopped by a lake of molten lava which seemed to have no drawbridge. The group screamed due to them having no powers of any kind to deal with fire, unlike Solar Dots. They knew that as soon as they touched a drop of it, their hooves would melt.

As the guards were seeming to catch up to them, Heart screamed out. “I’m a pegasus! Grab onto me!”

Heartstrings spread out her wings as Flusk and Crescent grabbed onto her hooves. They were flown across the lake of lava which luckily spared them their hooves and their chances of being captured.

Flusk soon conjured up a huge bucket of water and levitated it over to the guards, dumping it on them. She cocked her head and squinted in a cocky manner while having a huge grin.

“As easy said as done. Why didn’t we think about that earlier?”

Crescent waved her hoof around to acknowledge Flusk’s words. “We could have also just teleported across…”

“Hmmm.. Guess you’re right.. Well, no time to focus on that now! We have to get to Gem Paws, pronto!”

Little did any of the group know, the princesses were trapped deep underneath the castle.

Aphrodite exclaimed underneath the castle walls. “Well..Great..Sister..Were doomed.”

Regalia sooner after nudged Aphrodite. “No we’re not.. Do you believe in miracles?”

“Oh shove it.”

The group finally made their way up to the house of Gem Paws in her town of Robins Wings. They saw explosions going off into the distance. Most of Ifera ByFlame seemed to be in an apocalyptic state.

Flusk banged on Gem Paws door roughly, screaming out. “Gem! It’s Flusk! Open up!”

The door swung open quickly and inside, she could see four of the children. Lance, Bliss, Honeysuckle and Sea Biscuit were all inside, hiding behind a couch. They were shaking in fear due to the explosions and fires outside.

“Gem, you do know who is doing this right?!”

“No, I don’t sadly. Who in the world is doing this?! Do you know?!”

Flusk paused on her words. She put her hoof to her chest as she shook in fear. “It’s...Your brother..”

“My brother?! What are you talking about?! How could he possibly do something like this?!”

“I think I have an idea..”

Gem Paws cocked her head in curiosity as Flusk and the group told Gem Paws what they saw on the night of the gala. Flusk even told her about Apate.

“I just saw some weird shadowy.. Creature.. Thing. I didn’t even know what in the world it was.”

“Shadow creature thing? What in the wide world of-”

“At the night of the gala, he lost control on me and everypony else. All I know is that he had this book that he levitated above his head and he used it for a spell, I believe. He got that book on the mountain named Mooncaster when we went hiking up it.”

Gem Paws eyes shot open as she grabbed Flusk by her shoulders. “Are you kidding me?! You both went up Mooncaster?! You’re not supposed to do that and you know that! Didn’t you read the signs and the books about it?! Didn’t you heed the princesses warnings?! Why would both of you do something so irresponsible?!”

Flusk started to feel guilty because she knew that she was the one who dragged him along to the mountain and she was the one who invited him to the gala. Tears started falling down her face.

“I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! I never meant for any of this though!”

Gem Paws sighed slowly. “It’s nopony’s fault..”

Gem Paws pulled out a book with her wing. She was a pegasus unlike her brother. She had gotten the pegasus gene from her father and Drizzle had gotten the unicorn gene from his mother.

“This book is also about Mooncaster and it explains some of the relics that could possibly be found. You need to read it, Flusk..”

Flusk opened up the book quickly as she levitated it over to Gem Paws couch. She sat down, flipping through the pages with her magic. She spoke out the words from the book in her voice as she murmured them.

“Some of the books in Mooncaster can be of danger if touched. These ancient relics are buried deep down, they should not be picked up by any creature. Some of the legends say that if one of these books are touched, the carrier can become irrational and/or see things that others can not.”

“There is an ancient demon that goes by the name of Apate who possesses the carrier and uses their body for physical damage or her own play. Some of the other books inside the mountain can either be a sin or a blessing. The reason these books were buried in Mooncaster were because of the carriers idea to bury them inside the only mountain that would possess any kind of magical ability for them to be hidden at night.

“The unicorns inside Mooncaster, just like how the mountain only glows at night, the unicorns would become invisible inside the mountain which helped aid their study or power inside the mountain. After the carrier was defeated, the books would respawn in their birthplace. The books were created inside of Mount Mooncaster by the ancient demons of the past therefore, this was their birthplace.”

Flusk’s head suddenly spun a million miles an hour as she touched her hoof to her forehead, trying to keep from falling off the couch as she became dizzy.

“I’m so stupid.. I should have read this before any of this ever happened. Why did I choose to get myself in trouble and ignore the words of the princesses.. Because of me.. Ifera ByFlame is now up in flames...Because of my stupid mistake..”

Gem Paws wrapped her wing around Flusk. “Don’t fret on that now, you have to find some way to defeat Apate..”

As the stay at Gem Paws went on, Flusk got busy with taking care of the kids. Gem Paws and Flusk, along with the rest of the gang tried their best to be there for the children.

Explosions were going off throughout the towns across all of Ifera ByFlame. Everypony was scared of what was going on and were not sure how to help.

In the town where Deku’s daughter resided, Annual knew that she couldn’t sit still and do nothing.

Annual stared up at the fiery sky. “It’s been weeks now.. Daddy’s gone and I can’t sit here and do nothing.. I need to find Flusk.”
Annual ran outside and teleported to Flusk as Annual’s grandmother screamed out. “Annual stop! Where do you think you’re going!”

Annual was already gone sadly. She had a tough girl attitude and she wanted to do something to help. She couldn’t just sit back and let the creature who killed her father win. She was a rebellious and angry teen because she knew her father was one of the only ponies that really and truly got her. Annual started to tear up as she reached Flusk's house.

Flusk's house was burning up in flames and of course Annual must have assumed that Flusk was in it.

Annual then teleported back to her fathers grave sight as she stared at his picture with tears streaming down her face.

The wind blew furiously at Deku and Annual’s manes as a long train passed by, chugging across the track at a fast speed. Annual’s eyes lit up, watching it pass by in awe. Deku laughed at her admiration for the train as he gently rubbed her long mane with his hoof.

“You remind me so much of myself, it’s crazy.”

“I do?..”

“Yeah.”

“No, not at all. I mean, it’s up to you really.” He smiled at her softly.

She smiled back at him and then looked back at the passing train. The only thing the two could hear for a while was the train moving across the tracks and the wind furiously passing by them from the speed of the train.

“I don’t mind being like you.” Annual finally said as she giggled a little.

“Good, if the first Deku goes then there will be another to take over.”

“Huh?..”

Deku frowned a little, looking towards the starry sky above them. “What I’m saying is.. I want you to continue doing what you like to do. Even if I’m not there physically to share that with you.”

“But daddy, you’re not going anywhere. We can still watch trains and play!”

Deku smiled at his daughter and wrapped his arm around her. “Yeah.. I guess so..”

The rain poured down heavily around the fire lit sky. Annual stared down at her father’s grave, recalling the conversation they once had when he was alive. She picked a small flower near his grave and sniffled, placing it down on his grave. It was a green flower somewhat resembling his green color scheme.

“I’ll keep train watching.. I promise.”

Solar Dots laughed in a ruckus roar as his voice echoed loudly throughout the town. He slowly walked through his hometown of River Breeze as his mane flowed in the wind and rain drops were lightly dripping down.

“You little ponies are so.. Weak.. It’s fun to play with you..”

Solar Dots picked up a tiny bit of blood with his hoof, bringing it to his tongue. His fangs were baring themselves openly. He dragged his tongue across the blood on his hoof, licking it. He gently panted while smiling. His fangs were razor sharp as he displayed them for anypony to see. One of the stallions was staring at him in fear as he saw him do things that were horrid and only something that a true beast of nature would do.

Solar Dots stared back at the stallion as he chuckled softly. The stallion seemed to have creases under his eyes solely from the sheer terror he was experiencing. As Solar Dots approached the frightened stallion, the stallion didn’t even bother to run. Solar reached in and lifted his chin with his blood stained hoof.

He panted heavily while chuckling. “My little pony…You are so.. Smart. You didn’t even bother running from me. You knew that wouldn’t help anything.”

The stallion only stared at him in terror, visibly shaking as he noticed all the dead bodies around him.

“Please.. You don’t have to do this.. You can be a better pony.. Please think about what you’re doing..”

His eyes flashed a bright orange as he laughed roughly. His voice seemed deep and demonic.

“You think that saying that will help your fate? That’s priceless! It’s always the same sayings with you ponies.. Why are you doing this? You don’t have to do this. Please don’t hurt me. You can be a better pony! How priceless and predictable, little one.”

Solar Dots lit up his horn suddenly with an evil grin as his horn sparked.

The stallion put up his hooves in front of his face suddenly. “NO! Don’t do this!”
Solar Dots didn’t seem to show mercy. He blasted the stallion down with his magic. Within a couple of seconds, the stallion had died. He took his last breath, using his last words to speak to Solar.

“I hope you find peace.. One day..”

As Solar stared down at the dying stallion, he cocked an evil grin. “I don’t need peace, I got revenge and none of you will take it away from me.”

Solar Dots not only had his own powerful magic that was gifted from his lessons and Apate. He had also taken the magic of the two princesses so it was impossible to take him down.

He slowly walked off smiling. The screams of ponies burning alive and taking in injuries could be heard throughout the village. It was visibly seen in the background of him, ponies were running around on fire. Explosions were going off in the distance. Solar Dots was able to withstand any of the fiery temperatures due to his magical being of carrying on a form of fire.

As he walked off into the distance and the wheels from carriages were flying off, the carriages in the distance which were also on fire, he stared up at the flame like sky and smiled happily.

“So, this is what it’s like to feel powerful. I would never want to miss this.”

He laughed in a ruckus tone to himself after just destroying a village or two.

He silently spoke to himself as tiny bits of rain dropped around him. “I’ve never felt so alive..”

As Solar Dots teleported back to his castle after leaving several villages to suffer, he slowly walked up to the drawbridge and stared down at the molten lava, smiling at it like he had just accomplished something huge. He made his way inside his castle only to see his guards of fire, put out.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

He shot a magical blast at the sunken melted fire. It reformed back into it’s pony like form.

Solar screamed at his guards as his hair flared up suddenly as he raised his voice. “What happened here! What is the meaning of this shit?!”

The guard stuttered in his presence. “Um..A pony by the name of..Flusk..”

Before the guard could finish his sentence, Solar stomped his hooves roughly on the ground as the marbled ground cracked a little under the pressure of his stomp.

“Flusk?! You let her go?! You incomprehensible fool! Do you want to be erased from this world right now because of how fucking useful you are?!”

“I’m sorry Lord Solar..We will find her!”

He walked off slowly. “You better find her or else you die.”

Solar Dots made his way down to the lowest depths of the castle as he approached the cage that was holding the princesses hostage. He shot his magic suddenly at the torches under the castle which suddenly lit up the room.

“Did you miss me princesses? You couldn’t stand to be away from me?” He laughed loudly, his fangs were visibly shown.

Regalia spoke out loudly in an angered tone as Solar Dots face approached hers. “You wish! In your fucking dreams you sick little bastard!”

Solar Dots laughed loudly and grabbed Regalia’s chin with his hoof as Regalia ripped her chin away from his hoof. “Oh come on little princess, don’t be so feisty with me. We all know that you’re the feistiest of the bunch but come on!”

Aphrodite screamed out suddenly as she rattled the bars in rage. “Don’t touch my sister you pig!”

“Oh, well if it isn’t the princess who has the hots for Flusk! My, my, my, princess. I didn’t realize just how unprofessional you were.”

Solar Dots was clearly trying to egg on the princesses and have some fun with them in their prison which was impossible to escape. He was laughing in a loud cocky tone. He loved to torment and tease ponies.

He wanted to piss off Aphrodite and bring out her angry side because Aphrodite was usually the soft, timid and shy type. He took Regalia's chin in his hoof and looked at Aphrodite with an evil grin.

“You know, Regalia. If you want, you could be my queen. I have always thought of you as the pretty sexy type. Leave this cage and rule with me.”

Regalia screamed as she rattled the bars in a very angered tone. “I would never touch you! In your fucking dreams you fucking swine! I hate you! Don’t touch me, don’t you ever touch me!”

As Solar cocked an eye at Aphrodite, he went over towards her and ripped her out of the cage, proceeding to lock it again. He held Aphrodite by her waist, pulling her into a tight hug as he ran his hooves down her mane. Aphrodite began to scream.

“Oh, now what about you? Do you want to accept my offer? You want to leave Flusk and get with me, little princess?..”

Regalia shook the bar and screamed loudly at Solar Dots in nothing but pure rage as Aphrodite was terrified. Aphrodite was timid and shy, she knew there was nothing she could do that would help this situation.

“Let my sister go you fucking pumpous little piece of shit! Let her go! I swear to the heavens that I will rip your fucking hooves off if you don’t let go of her now!”

Solar Dots quickly grabbed the bars of the cage with his hooves and got close to Regalia's face.

“Oh? And just what are you going to do princess? You have no magic or strength to do so.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do but I know if you don’t let her go that I am going to do something bad to you and you won’t like it.

With a sarcastic pouty face, he laughs. “What? Are you going to take my favorite toy away from me? Are you going to take my lollipop away from me? You small insignificant little child.”

Solar Dots knew that he could rattle the princesses up and he would succeed in a big way. He threw Aphrodite back into the cage and laughed as he put the lock onto it, once more. He slowly walked off out of the room that he kept them prisoner in. He turned his head back at them and slowly smiled.

“By the way, It’s always much more fun when you get mad. It’s entertaining really.”

He smirked and walked off out of the room. Making his way to his throne room, he sat down in his orange throne chair. He grinned widely as he lazily slung his hooves across the arm chair and leaned back into his throne chair with his legs spread out lazily and his cape draped over to the side of the arm chair. He pointed with one hoof to signal his guards.

“Find her and if you fail me, you will die as well.”

“Yes, my lord.”