The Tale of Hellfire

by Ceehoff

Chapters

I Had Everything...
Now, It's Gone...
She Will Pay...

I Had Everything...

The Tale of

Hellfire

Chapter 1

Written and Drawn by Ceehoff

"STOP! All of you! STOP!"

The brown cloud of dust from the combat ring fell back down to the ground, revealing a group of four, unarmored unicorn stallions, all carrying blunt combat staffs with their magic. However, one of them was on the ground with his hoof reaching toward his fallen weapon. The top of his torso was ornate with purple bruise marks and red lines of blood. One of the other stallions was standing over him with his staff hovering over his head, ready to strike again, but stopped short.

Then, an orange, armored unicorn stallion walked into the ring in a fast, abrupt pace. His face was written all over with major disapproval. His jaw clenched tighter as he neared the four stallions.

"Ten-HUT!" he barked as he marched.

They all hopped to--.

"Not you! You stay down there!" he barked again, shooting a commanding glare at the fallen unicorn.

Correction, the three stallions hopped to their hooves, upright as perfectly perpendicular nails in a wooden board. The orange stallion immediately stopped in the middle of the group, slowly turning his body around to scan his surroundings.

Three stallions still standing...

One on the ground...

Two teams of two...

"Private Iron Clad!" he barked, shooting a glare at one of the stallions who were still standing.

"Sir!" the grey stallion responded.

The armored stallion marched directly up to him, staring directly into his eyes.

"What are you doing?" he snarled.

"Sparring, sir!"

"I said, what are you doing?!"

"Fighting my opponent, sir!"

"No, you're not, Private Clad!!"

"I don't understand, sir!?"

"You're not fighting your opponent, Private! Could I not be any clearer? You are not fighting your opponent! Not by yourself!" With that, he pointed a firm foreleg at the fallen unicorn. "You're just fighting away while your comrade is getting the living daylights beaten out of him by your opponent's teammate! You can't beat both of them, Private! Do you think you're some hotshot?! Do you think you've got the guts to take on two of them at a time?! Do you think you have the balls?!"

"No, sir!"

"No, you do not!! Listen well, Private! Listen well, everypony!" he shouted, turning to all of the stallions that were watching as they were standing near the combat ring. "What keeps our nation proud and strong against our opposers is the nation's army, the Royal Guard! And an army is a collection of the nation's finest fighters, willing to risk his or her life for the sake of keeping our nation standing! A collection! One pony is not a collection! You will not be one-pony-army and take on everything all by yourself! You need your comrades to help you fight the fight. And, that's another thing!"

He snatched the staff out of Iron Clad's magical grip, not taking his eyes off of him as he resumed to glare into his soul.

"When your teammate has fallen into the grasp of another..."

CRACK!! The orange unicorn whipped around and swung the staff mightily against the hind stallion's head, which sent him twisting and turning in the air and landing roughly on his side. The platoon of stallions outside the ring flinched in surprise. The fallen stallion could only stare in amazement as he saw his opponent roll on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Avenge him!" the stallion resumed. "You will not allow your teammate to be humiliated by anypony! His or her dignity is important as well as his or her importance to keep you alive! If you don't defend your comrade's honor, then yours will diminish just as quickly. As long as you are in the Royal Guard, your honor will be steadfast..."

He turned to the platoon. "Do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes, Lieutenant Hellfire, sir!" they all confirmed.

"Now..." he said, returning the staff to its original owner. "Resume sparring! As you were!"

He turned and marched out of the ring, but not before he helped the downed stallion up to his feet. He left the one he just struck on the ground, so the platoon would soak in the information.

Hellfire stood at a distance, watching his platoon resume their sparring.

"You didn't have to do that..." said a voice behind him.

"There is nothing else that would enhance my point further," he said without looking back.

"Just don't hurt my soldiers. They get injured enough through conditioning."

"As you command, Captain Shining Armor..."

The white, blue maned unicorn walked up further next to him, watching the platoon of stallions spar. His eye crept to look at Hellfire, who was intently focusing on the activity in the sparring ring.

"Still, other than that little show of violence, I thought your speech was quite inspirational," the captain spoke, breaking the silence.

"They have to learn. Dignity is vital. If we didn't have any dignity, then we would only make all of Equestria look undignified, as well as Princess Celestia. However, I'm not just talking about that; I'm talking about my comrades. They have still yet to learn, yet I am damn proud of them. I won't allow myself to see them humiliated by the hooves or claws or paws of another. They have much more worth than that."

He felt the weight of a buff forearm lie on top of his back. He turned to see the grinning face of Shining Armor looking at him.

"This is why you are one of the finest Lieutenants in the Royal Guard, as well as my friend," he smiled. "You have a lot of devotion and heart to the things you love."

"I would fight to the death for them," the orange stallion grinned nobly.

"Hay, you even got into the Royal Guard faster than I did because of that devotion. It was your dream. It would take me a long time to become a Lieutenant like you."

"How come I'm not a captain already, though?"

The white stallion sighed uneasily through his nostrils. "Well, to be honest, friend-to-friend, you do have a tendency to jump ahead more than you could think. Leaping before thinking. That is the leading cause of ruin, you realize. You don't want to be ruined don't you?"

"Of course not. I want to be the best," Hellfire grinned, though hurt by Shining Armor's honesty.

"Good! As your Captain, I personally command you to think before you leap. I don't want to lose one of the Royal Guard's best soldiers. I don't want to lose my friend, either."

The orange unicorn returned a grateful smile.

"Excuse me, Captain," he said, gently pushing the white unicorn's foreleg off of his back. "I've got to get back to my platoon. Training is nearly over."

"Of course," the captain nodded. "And when you get back home, tell Golden Dune I said, 'hello'. It's been a while since we've last met."

"Will do, sir."

The silence that resided in the vast chamber filled Hellfire ears to the brim, except for the metal clanking of his locker and the unzipping of his duffelbag. His orange fur coat stood out in the dull blue and purple colors of the lockers.

An orange aura of magic emerged from the polished surface of his purple and brass helmet. The helmet lifted off from his head, revealing a mass of long, black, straight hair that fell onto his back and shoulders. A few damp, sweaty strands stuck onto his slender and piercing face with stone cut cheek bones. His eyes were an ethereal blue, but not distracting enough to drive one's eyes away from the rest of his features.

TUNG!

As he turned to place his helmet neatly down on the bench, he felt a violent and sudden vibration beat against his side. Surprised, his head zipped around toward the culprit of the surprise.

"Pfft!" he chortled through his closed lips. He leaned his head toward the other side of his body and unbuckled it with his magic. However, he did not let it drop onto the ground. This item was too precious to him. He lifted the object up to his face, gazing closely at its features.

It was a scabbard with its sword sheathed into it. The scabbard's surface was black, tough leather. So tough, a Minotaur would have trouble trying to rip it apart.

The handle of the sword grew bright with his magic, causing it to be slowly drawn out from its protective case. When the tip of the blade seperated from the lips of the sheath, the chromatic, lustrous blade sung like sparrows. He whirled it around, careful not to cut himself. The ends of the brass and chrome sword handle vanished to sharp, fine points. The grip was ornate with navy, patterned rubber, with sewn strings of gold twirling down the shaft like a whirlpool. He pointed the tip into the lip of the sheath.

ShhhhhCHANK! With the support of gravity, he let the sword slide back into its sheath.

Then, he loosened the belt strap of his torso armor. He allowed the armor to slowly slide off of his body and down his legs. The armor softly landed on the ground with a metallic "clunk!". He removed the leg pieces from his legs and placed them into the locker as well as his torso armor. He glanced into the mirror to look at his bare self. His chest was buff, but not overwhelmed with vast muscles. His black hooves peeked from behind his unshorn fetlocks. He shifted his flank to one direction so it could be seen in the reflection. There, his cutie mark shone like a burning fire, of course, that was what was on his flank: an image of a burning fire. His eyes shifted up to his face.

Then, to his body...

Then, to his cutie mark...

Repeat...

He raised an eyebrow in approval as a small grin cracked in his lips. He knew was not that bad looking. He was very stone cut and charming. It was his own style of attractiveness. He did not desire to be like those supermodel stallions, all bleached, shiny, flawless, and... plastic.

He shuddered at the latter thought.

Suddenly, he heard a door open, and a Royal Guard marched in. This Royal Guard was carrying a large banner with the image of Celestia's Sun and Luna's Moon. A pair of brass wings spread out from his helmet. He tapped the banner firmly onto the ground.

"Lieutenant Hellfire. Princess Celestia has requested your presence in the Throne Hall. Come as you are."

"Am I in trouble?" the orange stallion coolly asked.

"No. She only wishes to speak with you. Come as soon as you can."

Without another word, the Royal Guard stallion turned and left, leaving Hellfire alone in the chamber once again.

He turned to leave, but he stopped himself in his tracks. He turned to see his helmet subconsciously stare at him.

He chuckled in his breath.

His horn glowed, and the orange aura engulfed the helmet once again. He lifted it into the air and into his duffelbag.

He zipped it closed, shut his locker, and went out the door.

"She's going to love this," he murmured.

An orange pony knelt on top of the red rollout carpet in front of a golden throne.

"Princess Celestia," he said. "You have requested my presence?"

"Lieutenant Hellfire," the white alicorn stated happily, yet regally. "Yes, I did. Thank you for coming."

"One of your guards told me that you wished to speak with me?"

"Yes. I was talking to Shining Armor earlier."

"What did he say?" he subtly raised an eyebrow, not looking up.

"Oh, he was just enamoring over your speech about unity and brotherhood and sisterhood. He found it intriguing and inspirational."

"Thank you, Shining Armor..." he said in his breath, grinning.

Her expression suddenly faltered into seriousness. "And then, he mentioned about the hit you laid on one of your soldiers."

"Damn it, Shining Armor..."

"I believe that might have been over-the-top."

"With all due respect, Princess, I thought it was necessary to get my point across."

"There are other ways, Lieutenant," she stated sternly. "You can't go striking your own platoon just to get your facts straight. They would be able to learn without having to be struck."

Hellfire frowned deeper in disgust. It was his own platoon. Aside from her being the ruler of Equestria, since when did she have the authority to tell him how to run his own platoon? The willpower and strength of a platoon depicts the stallion leading it. Whether she liked it or not, he wanted his platoon to be relentless, intimidating, unfazed, but most of all, the best out of many.

He suddenly saw a shadow creep on top of him. He lifted his head to see the princess stand directly in front of him. Her eyes and smile were calm and gentle. She lowered her head to speak to him while he was still kneeling.

"I understand that you wish the best for your platoon... For yourself... But the best comes from being patient and level-headed, regardless of the situation. You have talent, Hellfire, but you don't have control over your emotions."

Hellfire sighed through his nostrils, reluctantly admitting his fault.

"You are one of the best soldiers here, Hellfire. You're valuable to us just like every other one. We can't lose you," she said in console.

He sighed again, but this time with content. It was an honor to be called the best by a great and loving ruler. He appreciated her for noticing his elite abilities.

"So, just do me one favor," the white alicorn said with a gentle grin. "Keep yourself level, regardless of situations. Corruption is not an option."

"Yes, Princess..." he replied.

The regal alicorn grinned, pleased with his loyalty. "You may leave now. Have a wonderful day."

"You as well, Princess, have a nice day."

Hellfire stood up slowly, keeping his loyal and polite stature in front of his deity. He smoothly turned himself around to face the tall doors leading out of the throne room. His hoofbeats were muffled by the velvet carpet.

He took a quick look behind himself to glance at the smiling Princess Celestia.

Such a kind and wonderful pony, but her nosiness made his brow cringe in disapproval. She had no business to tell him how to lead his platoon, nonetheless. However, he did not feel like getting a dishonorable discharge because of disobedience. Being a Royal Guard was his lifetime goal. There was no way he was going to be stripped of it.

He heaved a heavy sigh through his nose.

It should not be a problem to keep a level head. He believed he was capable, just like he was capable of being a Lieutenant at a fast rate.

No problem...

"I'm coming home, my love..." he muttered to himself.

"Mommy! Daddy's home! Daddy's home!"

A little sand-colored unicorn filly with black and grey short hair was hopping in a beeline toward the front door. Her black-colored eyes were twinkling with excitement and longing to see her father return home. As soon as she turned the corner, her eyes widened in joy to see the orange stallion standing in the doorway.

"Daddyyyyyyyyy!" she cheered as charged at him like a bull.

"Heyyyy, Obsidiaaaaa!" Hellfire exclaimed with a goofy smile on his face. He squatted low and opened his foreleg widely to catch his little daughter. He snatched her into a warm hug as soon as she bumped into his firm chest.

"Rararararararrrrhh!" he playfully growled as he nuzzled her small neck. The little filly shrieked in laughter.

"Welcome home, daddy!" she said.

"How's my sweet little girl doing? Hmm?" he said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"She did a speech about you in her class today," said a voice coming from the hallway in front of the door. He looked up to see a sand-colored earth pony with golden-blonde, wavy hair that fell gracefully over one side of her head. Her golden-yellow eyes gazed warmly at him.

"Oh, did she?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes! It was about why you're the best daddy in the world!" Obsidia exclaimed.

"That's so sweet!" he smiled, flattered. "Oh! I almost forgot. I got you something, baby."

"Whatwhatwhat?" she asked, barely containing her excitement.

Hellfire's horn glowed orange, and the zipper of his duffel bag opened. His gleaming helmet erupted from behind the teeth of the zipper.

"Whoaaah!" she exclaimed as her eyes grew wide with utter amazement. "This is your helmet?!"

"Mm-hmm," he nodded smugly.

"It's soooo cooooolll!" she gawked, stroking her little hooves over the glossy, smooth, multicolored brass surface. "Can I wear it? Can I?"

"Oh? Are you sure you want to?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" she squeaked, barely containing her excitement.

The orange stallion raised a teasing eyebrow.

"Are you really sure? You think you can handle it?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"It's pretty heavy."

"That's nothing! C'mon, daddy! I wanna wear iiiiiiit!" she groaned, getting increasingly desperate to wear her father's helmet.

"A little frail filly like you? You'd have to be pretty strong and tough to wear this," Hellfire cheekily smiled.

Obsidia stomped a firm hoof on the ground. "Look at me! I'm strong! I'm tough! I can handle it! C'mon, Daddy, pleeeeeeeze?!"

"Oh, I dunnooooo," he grinned coyly. "I'm not convinced."

"Hellfire," the mare from the end of the hallway said pleadingly, but sternly. "Don't... Not right now..."

What a killjoy, he moped in his mind. He turned back to his daughter, who was hopping in her spot. "Okay, you can wear it."

"Yay!" the little filly cheered. She hopped firmly onto her hooves, bracing her legs, ready for her father's headpiece.

He slowly lowered it onto her head. As soon as he released it from his magic, the helmet's full weight weighed down on top of the little filly's head, causing her to slouch and sway left and right.

"(Oof!) Wow, it is heavy!"

"Told you so," he chortled.

She sniffed the warm air inside it. "It smells sour in here..."

"Ooh, guess I forgot to wash it," the orange unicorn shrugged.

An exasperated sigh expelled from the sand-colored mare at the end of the hallway. "Hellfire..." she groaned. The last thing she wanted was a smelly helmet.

"No, Mommy! It's okay! It's fine," Obsidia raised a hoof before she nearly tumbled over. "I can deal with it. A true Royal Guard can deal with anything!"

She trudged up to the nearest mirror she could find. What she saw in the reflection was a small head engulfed by a large shell of armor. It was like looking at a church bell with a body of a small pony. However, Obsidia did not care about the size. The overall, cutting edge design was all the mattered to her.

"Whoaaaa!" she gasped in amazement. "Look at me! I look sooo cool! This is definitely much better than the cardboard helmet I made in class today."

"You made a helmet in class today? That's cool!" Hellfire exclaimed. "Where is it? I would like to see it."

"Later, Daddy... It's up in my room. Right now, I just want to wear this for something," she said as she walked toward the living room with a cardboard shield, a wooden sword, and a stuffed dragon lying on the floor.

The stallion smiled, understanding her motive. "Okay, baby. You have fun. Make sure you give it back before I go to work tomorrow."

"Oh! Are you going to go on a mission??" she whipped around in excitement, causing the helmet to spin slowly on top of her scalp.

"No, it's just training."

"Aww..." she pouted sadly before her ears perked up in hope. "Oh! When you do have a mission, can you take me with you?"

"Oh, uhhhh..." Hellfire hummed, shifting his eyes uneasily to and fro.

"Pleeeaaaase? Do you promise? Cross your heart?" she asked.

Hellfire believed it was a foolish idea to bring a small filly to a mission. Who knows if the mission was going to be extremely dangerous, or flirtatious with death? He could not risk losing his little daughter. The little filly was fatally precious to him. He would not live another minute without her.

However, the little filly's eyes were glaring, strong and full of determination. She did not want to hear a "no".

The orange stallion sighed, chuckling at her determination. "I promise," he answered.

"Yyyes! Thank you, Daddy! Well, I'm going to go play now," she said, resuming her way to her toys.

"Have fun, baby!" he said.

He turned to notice the sand-colored mare looking at him from the end of the hallway. Her quizzical eyes were staring into his soul, reminding him of what he just promised her.

Hellfire chortled and rolled his eyes. "You know I'm bluffing, darling," he said quietly.

The mare smiled, even though she did not appreciate the fact that he was playing with her daughter's mind. She just wanted her safe from danger, nonetheless.

The orange stallion walked slowly up to her, eyeing her lovingly.

"Hello, darling," he said before warmly kissing her.

"Hello, Hellfire," she cooed. "How was training today?"

"Same old, same old. However,today, I had to enlighten them with a lesson about unity and dignity."

"What happened?" she asked, showing concern.

"I just cannot tolerate the thought of soldiers believing he or she is a one-pony army. That's not what an army is."

"No. No, it isn't. You're certainly right about that. You..." she paused before looking into his eyes again. "You didn't have to hit somepony, right?"

Hellfire sighed. His wife was so keen.

"I can't lie. I did," he said, looking away in guilt.

"Darling!" she exclaimed in hurt, backing away a little bit. "You can't do that!"

You, too?? he thought before he spoke. "I had to get the message through to them faster. What I just said to you is fatally important, darling. They had to realize the vast importance of unity and dignity. Besides, it's my platoon, Dune. I shall lead them how I want."

"I know that, Hellfire, but if you even get a little lick out of that, then you would become drunk with power and lose yourself! You would lose your soldiers, too! They wouldn't want to be lead by a leader who abuses them. Would we want to be lead by Princess Celestia if she abuses us?"

The orange stallion stared into his wife's eye before he nodded his head toward the ground. His eyebrows lowered as he sighed through his nostrils, feeling hurt after having the word "abuse" thrown toward him.

"No... No, we wouldn't," he replied simply as he shook his head.

Noticing his somber expression, Golden Dune walked up to him, slung her forelegs around his neck and pressed her forehead onto his. She tilted her head upward, causing her husband's head to tilt up as well to look at her.

"I love you, Hellfire, with all of my heart. That is why I'm saying all of this to you. I'm helping you. We work together, so we could live the best. Look at her."

She turned her head to look at the little filly, swinging her wooden sword at the stuffed dragon with her magic. However, the weight of Hellfire's helmet on top of her head made her lose balance, causing her to lurch forward and land flat on her front. Her wooden sword fell on top of the helmet, causing it to ring like a bell.

"Our daughter..." Golden Dune began. "She's beautiful. She's still a sapling, though, and it's up to us to help her bloom into a beautiful flower. We both make mistakes, but we can't allow them to affect how our little girl is growing up."

"Most certainly not," the orange stallion responded. "It would be disastrous..."

Golden Dune's eyebrows bunched sadly together. She nodded, confirming the fact of what kind of worst possible things that would happen if they let their mistakes linger.

Hellfire's lips tightened in determination as he nodded. "All right, darling... I'll remember next time. I'll do my best to keep my composure and not flirt with blind power. I'll do it for you..."

The graceful earth pony smiled before kissing him gently on the lips. "Thank you, dear..."

She slid her forelegs slowly off around his neck, still gazing lovingly into his eyes. She turned around, walking toward the kitchen. Hellfire could not help but be enchanted by the hypnotizing swaying of her hips as she walked. Whether she was doing it on purpose or not, he was deeply enjoying it. His eyes trailed up from her hips and up to her head full of blonde hair. Each thick, bountiful, wavy strand of hair curtained over each other into a ocean of golden gorgeousness that fell seductively along the curves of her body. The best part about her hair, there were no black roots. It was all natural, yet it had looked as if it were dressed by the most experienced and talented hairstylist in all of Equestria. The most popular of all supermodel ponies would kill to have hair like Golden Dune's.

A content smile stretched across his face as he gazed upon his lovely wife.

Hellfire sniffed the air that was slithering out from the kitchen. It filled his nose with warm, buttery saltiness.

"What's cooking?"

"Carrot soup with garlic bits and basil leaves. You might want to get seated. It's almost ready."

"Ooh!" he exclaimed. "My favorite. Don't mind if I do."

"Ten-HUT!"

Hellfire stopped in his tracks. His ear perked to his side, picking up the sound. He turned to see a closed door leading into Obsidia's room.

He slowly placed his ear against the wood of the door. He breathed silently.

"At easssezzz..." he heard her voice again, sounding crisper, yet sleepier than before. He heard snoring escape from a small pair of nostrils.

He bit his lip, barely containing his laughing grin as he slowly turned the doorknob with his magic. He pushed the door open slowly, careful not to make it creak loudly. His nose poked into the crack, and the rest of his head followed. His ear turned toward the sleeping filly from around the edge of the door.

"Yuh...Ya call that a push-up, Private? My guh... Grandmother could do better than thuh...That! Oyy..."

A stifled snicker wriggled out of Hellfire's nose, which caused the little filly to stir. The orange stallion's hoof slapped over his muzzle, praying to Celestia that she would not wake up.

"More coffee, Mr. Squirrel?" the little filly slowly said before her little voice was lost in snores.

The stallion's throat muscled tensed up from the urge to laugh along with the urge to coo from the overwhelming adorableness of the filly's sleep-talking. Her little, smooth voice...

Obsidia moaned as her little foreleg pawed around her head to reel in her plush rabbit. As soon as her hoof felt the brush of cotton, she immediately grabbed a hold of it. A long, stretched moan of content rung in her throat as she hugged it tightly against her cheek.

He briskly closed the door, still being careful not to wake her up. His cheeks were burning painfully from the huge grin that grew on his face.

He chuckled to himself as if an invisible cherub pony had given him a huge hug.

"Good night, Obsidia," he whispered.

He resumed his way down the hallway, walking closer to a plain, white door with a spectral, warm orange light leaking out from the bottom crack.

Just before his magic engulfed the door handle, he heard a loud hiss of smooth breathing coming from a pair of feminine lungs. He turned the handle slowly and pushed the door slowly open. The ethereal orange-ish yellow light spilled onto his face and chest, as the door revealed a lean and slender body lying on its side facing away from him. The cream colored sheets covered it from the apex of its wide, supple hips and below. He sneaked further inside to look past the head post to see a head full of golden-blonde hair scattering gracefully over the pillow like a silk curtain.

A warm wave of enchanting pleasure tickled up his spine and up into his cranium as he saw the beautiful earth pony recline in the vast, cream-colored, king-sized bed.

He raised his a hind leg up onto the mattress and slithered it underneath the sheets.

Soon, he was fully in bed, all without waking up his sleeping wife. A scent slithered into his nose.

Ah, the warm scent of a lovely presence with just a hint of lilac perfume. Hellfire's eyes slowly shifted to look at Golden Dune. A patch of her smooth, swan-like neck peeked out from between the strands of her hair draping over her back.

He smirked in thought...

Maybe just for a little while...

He rolled over to his side until he was in a spooning position with her. He carefully placed his hoof over her abdomen while using his other to gently push the strands away from his target. A stronger, lilac-scented breeze filled his nostrils, which drove him wild with content and pleasure. He breathed gently as his lips drew closer to his wife's neck until they made contact. Half-open, he brushed them up and down along her swan-like neck, throwing in a kiss at random spots.

"Getting frisky, aren't we?" her voice purred.

Hellfire froze in his place. "Oh... I-I didn't mean to wake you..."

"I was never asleep," she replied with a smile that he could not see from behind.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Hellfire rolled over back onto his back, blushing as he stared at the ceiling.

"I never said to stop, darling," she purred.

"Gladly," he replied, his spirits perking back up. He rolled back over and resumed what he was doing. This time, he was met with hums of relaxation and pleasure.

"Mmm, Hellfire," Golden Dune cooed. "You really know how to make a mare feel loved."

"I'm just really glad that I finally have you," he replied in between kisses. "Ever since I laid my eyes on you..."

"It was during Pferdegarten, right?"

"Yes, yes it was. You were beautiful even as a little filly."

The blonde mare giggled in response.

"Come to think of it, I believe I still remember that very day."

"Hellfire? Hellfire? What're you looking at?"

"There! Over there! You see, Shining Armor? See?? Right there!"

The little, white unicorn colt turned to look toward the direction of young Hellfire's pointing hoof. He saw a small filly with blonde hair with a small, pink bow fastened at the end, a sand-colored coat, and yellow eyes playing in a sand box. Her little hoof tapped at the bottom of the bucket before she lifted it up, revealing a polygonal mountain of sand.

"Who? Her? Golden Dune, the new filly?" he asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

"Mm-hmm! Mm-hmm!" the orange unicorn nodded, not taking his eyes off of her.

Shining Armor's head slowly turned back around to face his friend, skeptical over what was actually happening.

"Wwwwwhat about her?" he asked slowly.

"She pretty..." the young Hellfire sighed.

His friend shot a quizzical look at him.

"I mean, she's prettyyyyy good... at making sand castles," the orange colt corrected himself.

"Well, this is new."

"What?" Hellfire asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"You're hitting on a filly?"

"N...No," he blushed.

"You, the one who goes around, saying that fillies are disgusting, prissy, and annoying?"

"I still do! Ugh, fillies... Bleah!" he shakily argued.

"Yeah, suuurrre!" Shining Armor coyly smirked.

"Stop that!" barked the orange colt. "I do not like fillies! They're just so... Girly!"

"Hellfire and Golden Dune, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" the white colt sang.

"Shut uuup!" the orange colt shot back on brink of whining.

"You were quite the rascal, Hellfire, yet you were so chivalrous," she smiled.

"Yes, something really flickered inside of me that day... Something I had never expected."

The blonde filly used her teeth to grab the handle of the bucket and scoop more sand into it.

"Juscht one more, and thisch schand caschtle isch done!"

Poof! A tubby, navy blue hoof crushed her sand castle to oblivion, causing her heart to flinch in shock. Then, it sank in defeat.

"Heyyyy!" she groaned, looking up to a tubby, navy blue unicorn colt with orange hair. "You crushed my sand castle!"

"Oops," he said before purposely twisting his hoof on top of it. "What do you think you're doing here, kid? This is my sandbox! See? My name is scratched on it."

"It is not!" she argued. "This sandbox is meant to be for everypony!"

"Yeah. It was, but not anymore! It's mine! Now, get lost, non-unicorn!"

"Hey! What's wrong with me not being a unicorn?"

"You're in Canterlot, dumb blonde! Only unicorns can come to this school, and you aren't. So, beat it! You can't be here! Unicorns only!"

"I'm not moving," Sandy Dune said, stomping her little hoof into the sand.

"Well, if you aren't going to move," he said, cracking a menacing grin. "Then I'll make you!"

With that, he snatched the full bucket with his magic and poured sand on top of her.

"Hey!" she squealed, rubbing her eyes. "Don't do that!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I ruin your pwetty hair?" the tubby jerk jeered.

"It hurts my eyes!" she yelped. "I can't see anything!"

"Oh, can't you? Well, I bet you can't see me doing this!"

Pah-TOOEY! He spat a huge ball of saliva onto her sand-speckled hair. The little filly shrieked in disgust after realizing what he did.

"Heyyy!" she moaned sadly, tearing up.

"Ha-ha! Non-unicorn's all dirty! Eww! Get away from me!" he laughed in jest.

"Stop it!" she squeaked, choking up. "Stop being so mean!"

She sank to the ground, quivering in pent-up humiliation and tears. She looked nothing more than a lamb being towered over by a lion.

That was, until an orange blur knocked the tub of lard down to the ground.

"Ow! What th--?" the blue colt stammered, looking up to see a snarling, orange, raven-haired colt standing three feet away from him. "What do you want, Matchstick?"

"For you to apologize! To her, Lard-Flank!!"

The navy blue colt stood up. "Why should I?"

"Because if you don't, you're going to get a free trip to the dentist's office!" Hellfire barked.

"Oooh! Look everypony! Little Matchstick is acting all high and mighty! I'm soooo scared!" he said with a response of foals laughing with him.

In the distance, Shining Armor could only stare in amazement at the act of chivalry the young Hellfire was displaying. A small, scrawny, orange colt facing a tubby, heavy, navy blue colt? Suddenly, the white unicorn thought the world was turning upside down.

"Wait... Are you actually defending her?? Haw! Check it out, everypony! Little Matchstick loves Dumb-Blonde! Haw, haw, haw!"

"THAT'S FINE BY ME!!!" Hellfire hollered as he pounced, enraged at the nickname the tub of lard gave the sand-covered filly.

To the navy blue colt's surprise, he suddenly found himself on the ground, having his face being pelted mercilessly by Hellfire's hooves, which did not seem so small and feeble anymore. The young Golden Dune wiped the tears and sand from her eyes until she saw the orange colt in clear sight. Her eyes shot wide open, not believing what she was seeing.

She did nothing but stare until the schoolteacher had separated the two fighting colts.

"I had never forgotten that day," the blonde mare smiled. "You were so brave and just."

"I still had to go to principle's office, though," sighed Hellfire. "He was the one who was causing trouble, yet I still had to pay for it... Oh, well. Doesn't matter now. That was years ago. Oh! And you transferred to another school just when we hit middle school."

"Yes, I did," she sighed. "My father had lost his job. He found a new one in Manehatten, so we had to move... again. Poor father."

"Then, we met again at high school," Hellfire remembered. "I know that ponies have been saying that ponies change over the years, but with you, you were the same as before... Beautiful and stunning. Come to think of it, you were even a little more than that. I was a mumbling, nervous wreck whenever I was around you."

"But you still protected me dearly. Because of you, Bench Press never dared to bother me again with his rude forwardness."

"I'm glad. I hated him."

"Who wouldn't?"

A brief silence loomed in the entire room before Hellfire spoke again.

"Do you remember that night. At the prom?" he slyly asked, caressing his wife's neck with his lips.

"Mmmm... Oh, yes. It was so magical..." she replied with a flutter of her dreamy eyes (even though Hellfire did not see it, because they were still spooning).

"We danced for hours, hardly ever stopping for a break. I was afraid somepony would snatch you from me."

"Darling, that's silly."

"No, I 'm serious! Every male eye was on you that night. I never wanted any of them to steal our dance. You were very precious to me, and you still are now."

Golden Dune smiled. "And I think the same for you. You weren't like any of those other stallions. The ones I had encountered were rude and shameless. Only a few were kind and caring. Still, out of those few, they never compared to you."

She lifted her bedside hoof up and placed it warmly on top of Hellfire's hoof.

"And now... You are mine," she smiled brightly.

Hellfire began to kiss deeper into her neck. "I am so blessed to be wed to you, my love. For the first time in my life, I have never felt happier. I had finally made as an officer for the Royal Guard, married the most beautiful mare in the world, and am the father of a beautiful daughter."

Golden Dune hummed and giggled in glee as her husband lovingly gnawed and kissed her neck.

Suddenly, Hellfire stopped. His wife squeaked in disappointment from being suddenly stripped of her pleasure.

"Hey," he exclaimed silently. "I've never seen that before."

"Seen what? Is... Is it a mole??" her tone rose in worry.

The orange stallion laughed. "No, no, no, darling. The necklace you're wearing right now. I have never seen this kind of chain before."

"Oh... Oh, yes! I made a new one because my old one broke. While Obsidia was playing with the Pen family foals next door, I took the time to craft a new chain. It's own style and structure."

"It looks beautiful," he said, giving her a kiss directly on the back of her neck directly underneath her scalp. "The finest work by the finest gold-crafter."

"Thank you, darling," he said, shivering in bliss from his kiss.

He craned his neck, so he could caress her on the side, until he saw a unusual pendant hang on the front. It was shaped like a football, and it had a silver disk in the direct middle. A decorative prong stuck out from the two angular sides and underneath the silver disc.

"And what's that?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, this?" she replied as she held it up with her hoof. "This is kind of a tradition we had in my family. More like an heirloom. It is called "Fate's Eye."

"Does anything happen when you wear it?"

"It's said that if one wears it, then you are wearing a piece of Fate's eye. It watches you and everything around you, guiding you to a good, bountiful, fortunate life ahead."

Hellfire's eyebrows rose on his forehead. "Hmmm... I guess it worked after all."

"That's right, my love," she said as she twisted herself around to face him. "It did. For both of us."

"Praise the sisters," he said. "I am the luckiest pony ever."

"It's about to get even better. Even from here," said the sand-colored mare with her face inching closer to his.

"I can't wait..." Hellfire smiled back.

The orange stallion leaned his head toward her and kissed her gently on the lips.

They separated, but kissed again, only a little longer than the first one. Each new kiss they made, it became deeper, longer, and more passionate until their tongues were gliding over each other in long, steady, lustful strokes. When they separated once again, their breaths became deeper. Their half-open eyes stared into each other, shimmering with lust.

"Obsidia's bedroom door is closed, isn't it?" asked the glittery-eyed wife.

"Yes... Yes, it is."

"Good. I don't want to wake her up. Especially at this time of night. Shall we get started?" she asked, stroking his muscular, yet lean chest.

"Gladly," he panted from his rising need for intimacy.

Their lips met again, sliding further onto each other until their tongues were fully in each other's mouths, stroking deeply, not missing a single inch of flesh. Moans of pleasure and longing erupted from their throats, which felt very relieving to let out after keeping them in for so long.

The rising and sinking mountains of bedsheets...

The symphony of pleasuring moans...

The rising heat in the air...

It was a night neither of them would ever forget.

Celestia's sun poured in through the cracks of Hellfire's eyelids when he felt something soft and moist press against his lips. His eyes opened to find a pair of large, closed eyes directly in front of his at a slight tilt. He could feel silky strands of silky hair tickle his cheeks. He felt her lips separate from his, but her half-open eyes was all he could see in front of the sun.

"Good morning, my love..." Golden Dune said soothingly, looking deeply into her husband's awakening eyes.

"Good morning," he said with a sleepy smile.

Her face descended upon his, kissing him again. "Last night was incredible. I never felt so alive."

"I should say the same for you," he said, returning the kiss.

"You're too kind, Hellfire," the mare giggled, stroking her husband's cheek.

"Mommy? Daddy?" said a small voice next to their bed.

"Obsidia! Good morning! How did you sleep, baby?" she exclaimed.

"I slept okay," the little filly said, rubbing her eyes. "But last night, I heard something."

"You did? What did you hear?" asked the orange stallion.

"I don't know," she yawned. "All I know is that it sounded like, 'Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thu--!"

"Rodents... Big rodents. Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me... Guess we'll have to, uh... Call the Pest Control."

"I could do it! I could clear them out! I will guard this house with my life!" the filly said, snatching her wooden sword from her bedroom with her magic.

"Nnnnnnno, honey," Golden Dune shook her head, blushing nervously. "We'll take care of it."

"Aww..." Obsidia moped. "Well, I gotta get to school soon. I'm hungry, too."

The blonde mare smiled. "Of course, dear. Let's get you a nice breakfast."

"Ooh! Ooh! Can we have hay bacon??"

"Of course!"

"Yesss!"

"Oh, darling," she said, turning to Hellfire. "Do you want some, too?"

"Yes, but I'll have to leave soon as well. I don't want to be late for training."

After the entire family had eaten their breakfast, they all made their way to the front door.

"Just in time!" Golden Dune exclaimed. "The school carriage is here. What good timing."

"I'll say," said her husband.

"Bye, Mommy! Bye, Daddy!" Obsidia called as she lively galloped up to the carriage. "See you after school!"

"Oh! Honey?" Hellfire called over to her. "Where did you put my helmet?"

"In the living room!"

"Oh, okay! Thank you! Have a nice day, baby!"

With that, the little filly disappeared behind the door that lead inside the carriage. However, that did not stop her from running up to a window and wave to her parents as the carriage rolled away. When the carriage was fully out of sight, Hellfire turned around to head back inside. Golden Dune remained where she was standing.

She sniffed the clean, morning air that loomed around the regal house, made of white bricks and golden flourishes. Directly next to the door was a small banner with an image of a regal, swaying pony head underneath an image of Princess Celestia's crown, which resembled the Royal Guard. Enclosing the banner was a royal purple border with silver lining.

She heard hooves going down the stairs. She turned to meet her husband, who had just placed his helmet in his duffel bag. As he neared her, his smile grew until he was close enough to kiss her.

"Goodbye, darling," Hellfire said as he nuzzled her. "I'll see you tonight."

"Tonight," she nuzzled him back, smiling warmly.

The orange stallion slowly descended the stairs, up to a special military taxi cab that coincidentally rolled up in front of the house.

"Good morning, sir," saluted one of the ponies pulling the carriage.

"Good morning," he breathed back before hoisting himself and his bag into the carriage.

The last thing he saw was his shrinking wife as the carriage rolled away back to the military base.

"Ten-HUT!"

"SIR, YES, SIR!" shouted the platoon, standing at attention and fighting their excessive panting and wheezing from trotting laps.

"At ease. Gather around, stallions. Just want to say a few words before you are dismissed from training today," Hellfire stated.

The panting soldiers trotted up to their leader, forming a half-circled cluster just in front of him.

"Take a knee," he stated again. "I just want to say 'Good work' with today's training. There are still many crucial things we need to improve on, though. We cannot afford to give only an average effort when it comes to battle. War shows no mercy to the average. Survival of the fittest, as they say. That is why there is no tolerance in being average. I expect each and every one of you to push yourselves even further. So far, that you would puke. (Speaking of which, only two of you puked during training. That's a new record.) The more you push yourself, the more you will survive..."

He paused, staring into the eyes of his platoon.

"I want every one of you to survive. You're a damn good platoon. The best platoon a stallion could ask for..."

...

"Prove to me that you are..."

He could see their jaw muscles tense in determination.

"That is all I have to say. Dismissed, gentlecolts. Now, hit the showers. You all smell worse than Tar Pit's farts."

They all exchanged laughs. Even Tar Pit did before he broke wind again.

SNAP!

"Agh!" Hellfire yelped in pain.

His exposed flank felt like a drop of lava splashed onto it.

"Wh--?! Who--?!" he sputtered in anger.

"Looks like you got rat-tailed, Lieutenant," said a familiar, cool voice behind a mischievous smile. Flying over the voice's head was a damp towel that was twirled into a rope.

"Dammit, Shining Armor! That's not funny. That hurt..."

"Oh, come on, Hellfire! It's all in good fun!" the captain said in a pal-like tone.

"Not much fun for the one being hurt," the orange stallion snapped back with a disapproving glare in his eyes. "Get that towel away from me..."

The white unicorn shrugged, turning back to his locker (which was directly across from Hellfire's).

"Okay, fine. If you're not going to find a sense of humor, then you might as well--."

SNAP!

"AGH! Son of a mule! Wh--?"

"Now, it's funny..." the raven-haired stallion grinned cheekily, holding his twirled towel up with his magic.

"Touché..." the captain mumbled.

They both returned to their lockers, squinting through the steam skulking out from the showers as it coated their muscular bodies in its warmness. The walls echoed with masculine voices and laughs along with clangs and snaps of other flanks being whipped by rat-tails.

Hellfire's ear perked up at the sound of a peculiar, long-winded sigh escape a pair of nostrils. His head turned toward Shining Armor, who was staring at the inside of his locker door with a picture of a beautiful pink alicorn with long, maroon, lemon-yellow, and violet hair. Her half-open eyes combined with that alluring smile was enough to catch Hellfire's attention.

"So," he spoke. "How's Cadence holding up?"

His captain snapped out of his romantic trance. "Oh! Oh, she's doing great."

A chortle escaped the lieutenant's nose. "So, you finally did it, huh?"

"Yes..."

Hellfire turned his head fully around like an owl. "And...? How was it?"

"She said, 'yes,' of course," he said with a happy exhale of breath.

The next thing the white stallion felt was a firm punch on the side by a smiling unicorn.

"Excellent!" Hellfire laughed in bliss. "You're finally riding the marriage carriage!"

"Yes, I am!" Shining Armor smiled.

"I am really happy for you! Hey, everypony!" his voice echoed throughout the entire chamber. "Our Captain, Shining Armor is getting hitched!"

In less than a millisecond, the entire chamber was filled with clapping and shouts of applause from fellow officers.

"Whoooo!!"

"Yeaaahhh!!"

"Awww, yeaaaaahh, Captain!!"

"You feelin' lucky tonight!!"

"Ow!"

"Congratulations, Captain!"

The white groom-to-be smiled as he blushed in his place.

"Congratulations, Shining!" Hellfire exclaimed, slinging his foreleg behind his friend's back. "When are you going to get married?"

"I don't know yet," he replied. "But, I'm kind of hoping it would be around April or May."

"Just when the flowers blossom... I like it!"

Just when the cheering died down, the orange unicorn bowed his head toward the captain's, reeling him in closer.

"As a wedded pony myself," he began. "Let me give you some tips and advice about marriage."

"Go right ahead," the white pony nodded, confirming that he was listening.

"First of all, you'd better have a pocket chock-full of bits, because arranging weddings are expensive."

"Mm-hmm, I've been told that before."

"Good. Second, you've got to stay loyal to her. Being tempted by another mare is bad news. That's why, in my opinion, stag parties involving strippers are extremely risky and should be avoided. It would be bad to have her realize that you have been fooling around with a lower-than-dirt mare."

"That'll be no problem, Hellfire," the white unicorn smiled. "Cadence is so beautiful, that it would be impossible for me to be tempted by any other mare."

"Excellent. Third... I know I this might have been emphasized many times, but always be there for her. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice! Protect her at all costs. She is your life, and you must keep her up and alive."

"Okay, Hellfire! Easy!" Shining Armor exclaimed. "It's going to be fine. Cadence and I are really tight. We understand and know each other perfectly. We are both willing to face the risks head on and fight through them."

"All right. Just making sure... It's just... Marriage is crucial," the orange stallion said with a slight bow of his head. "One cannot afford to make any mistakes during a marriage. I know I have made mine, but Golden Dune was always there to help me through them. Because of that, she is precious to me. I can't let her go. I can't let anything happen to her. You must do the same with Cadence, like I did with Golden Dune."

"I will. For you, Hellfire."

"Thank you, friend," he said before eyeing the orange sun shining through the window. "Whoa, I'd better get home. She's waiting for me."

"All right. I'll see you later," the captain nodded.

"Hellfire placed all of his gear into his duffel bag, slammed his locker shut, headed toward the exit. However, he did not leave before he had one final thing to say.

"Shining Armor..."

"Yes?"

"In short, be the best damn husband a mare could ever have."

"The damn best," he grinned in determination.

To be continued...

Now, It's Gone...

The Tale of

Hellfire

Chapter 2

Written and Drawn by Ceehoff

"Ten-HUT!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Alllll right, troops! This is it! The opportunity to show me what you can really do! A dragon is running amuck, and it's terrorizing Ponyville! We've got to kill the beast before the beast kills them! Failure is not an option! Give 'em he--!"

"Obsidiaaaa," Golden Dune said with a increasing, stern tone of warning. "We do not tolerate that kind of language here."

"Sorry, mommy..." the little filly hung her head. She turned back to her troops. "I mean, give 'em the ol' left-right! Do I make myself clear?!"

She quickly leapt from her place and next to her little toy soldiers, lowering her voice, as well as minimizing it.

"Yes, Captain Obsidia, ma'am!"

She leapt back to her original spot, and lifted her wooden sword with her magic.

"All right! CHAAAARRRRGE!!"

The little filly hopped onto her rump, grabbing her toy soldiers with her magic. "Yaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" she whispered.

Then, she grabbed her stuffed dragon, rocking it back and forth. "Rargh, rargh, rargh!"

"There's the dragon, ponies! Give it to 'im!"

Her toy soldiers repeatedly bumped into the stuffed dragon's large belly. "Whoosh! Ka-ching! Whoosh! Ka-ching! Whoosh! Clang! Clank!" he mimicked sound effects, causing little droplets of saliva to fly out of her mouth.

"Raaaaaargh!! Whoooooshhh!" she mimicked the sound of a rushing column of fire, as well as the sound of burning villages and ponies. "Sizzle, sizzle! Ahhhhh! It burns!"

"Oh, no! The dragon's scales are too thick to puncture through! We're all doomed! Ohhhhh, the agonyyyyyyy! Agonyyyyyy!" she wailed before she accidentally tipped over one of her soldiers.

"No time for sleeping, Private!"

Sitting next to his wife on the couch just a few feet away from Obsidia, Hellfire sat and watched as his cheeks began to ache from his smiling. He watched every little move his little daughter made, from the vibration of her little lips, her franticly waving forelegs, the faces she makes when she mimics voices, and the little cardboard Royal Guard helmet that rattled around her head like a bell. Hell, who needed a stand-up comedian just to be entertained?

"BWOOSH!!" the little filly hissed, knocking down a Lincolt-Log house. "Oh, no! There goes town hall! What'll we do?!"

"We have to retreat! The beast is too powerful! Retreat!"

"Are you crazy, Sergeant?! We can't turn back now! If you are all going to be wusses about it, then I'll defeat the beast myself!"

She hopped up and grabbed her wooden sword with her magic. "Have at thee, behemoth!" she hollered before she began whacking the stuffed dragon like a dirty rug.

"Yah! HA! Whooo-CHA! Snack on this! Too slow! Annnnnnnd, thrust home!"

She slide the blade between the stuffed dragon's pear-shaped body and the inside of its stubby arm.

"Rarrrrrrrrghh... Yaaaarrrghh... Bleaaaaaahhhh..." she mimicked the dragon's death rattle before pushing it over onto its back. Then, Obsidia ran out of the room and ran up the stairs. When she came back down, she was carrying crumpled sheets of red construction paper. She dumped them on top of the "dead" dragon.

"Ha-HAAA, you vile creature! Your bloodshed has ended, because your blood has been shed! VICTORYYYY!"

She leapt and crouched near her toy soldiers. "Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!"

Hellfire chuckled to Golden Dune. "An imaginative little one, isn't she?"

However, his wife had other thoughts. "It seems all so violent. It's like she has been bringing up every single little detail about battles. Have you been telling her stories about your missions?"

"Mmmmmaybe," he coughed coyly.

"Honey, please!" she groaned. "Look at her! Don't you think that she is a little young to be exposed to that kind of detail? She's only a little foal."

"She was going to find out eventually, darling. Better early than too late. I don't want her to think being a Royal Guard is all a game to be played. It's much more than that. Being a Royal Guard means sacrifice. It means bravery, more than one would imagine to acquire. It means being ready to be greeted by death every single day."

Golden Dune winced at the mention of "death". She hugged around his collar area tighter. Hellfire could easily sense her uneasiness.

"Calm yourself, darling," the stallion said soothingly, giving her a consoling smile. "Everything will be all right. She will do fine, I promise you."

"I'm not just worried about her, though," she said, not releasing her grip from her lover.

He was slightly taken back by what she said. He smiled again. "Don't worry, love. I'm still alive and breathing. I always will be. It would not take a thousand enemy soldiers to allow death to separate me from you or Obsidia."

"But..." she asked before looking up to him. "What if we did get separated by death? What then? I mean, all the possibilities! I... I-I-I couldn't possibly imagine the pain and suffering that we would go through without you! Obsidia would grow up without her father and I would be a mere, weeping widow and--."

"Darling!" Hellfire barked, forcefully, yet gently turning her head to face his. "Darling... Don't imagine such horrid things. You needn't worry about it. Everything will be okay."

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! The door resounded mightily by heavy hooves from behind, startling the entire family of three.

"I'll get it," Golden Dune said when she hopped off the couch.

She walked toward the window of the living room, which was directly next to the foyer. Pushing a curtain slightly to the side, she peeked through the window to see two Royal Guards standing at the front door. Their hooves shifted hastily over the welcome mat, and their faces were tense with action. Their chests were expanding and deflating at a fast rate.

"Hellfire? I believe these two are meaning to see you."

The orange unicorn's eyebrows rose on his forehead in interest. "Really? Who are they?"

"Royal Guards."

This time, the orange unicorn's eyebrows lowered in concern. He hopped off the sofa and trotted quickly up to the door so he would not keep them waiting. He opened the door and was immediately met with salutes.

"Sir! We (pant) come with some (pant) crucial news!" one said while trying to regain his breath.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A dragon," the other said, trying to regain his breath as well. "Fully matured. It's on the loose."

"A dragon? Where?" Hellfire said as his expression deepened.

"The last we saw it, it was heading towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. Plus, it was heading directly toward Ponyville!" one of the two guards said.

"And its attitude isn't faring well, either," said the other.

"You two stay here," the orange stallion said, eyes fully responding to the call of duty. "I'll be back."

He ran up the stairs to his bedroom, where he saw his duffel bag lying in the already open closet. He snatched it up with his magic and threw it onto the bed, unzipping it. All of his protective gear erupted from the open seam of the bag like magma and engulfed him completely like a snake wrapping itself around his body. He grabbed his sword from underneath the bed and held it up to his face. He pulled at the sword handle, and a shimmering, chromatic section of his sword peeked out, reflecting the sunset from outside onto his face.

"It's nice and sharp. Excellent," he said to himself.

Sheathing it back into the scabbard, he quickly strapped the sword onto his left side. He glided down the stairs in full armor. He was facing the door leading out, but he did not leave before he placed a hoof on his wife's cheek.

"I've got to go, Dune. Once we get this predicament settled, I will return to you," he said, staring intently into her moist eyes. "I swear upon the Sisters."

The blonde mare threw her forelegs around her husband's neck, pressing her muzzle into the crook of his neck, which was partially protected by his armor. "Please return safely..." she whispered, muffled into his body.

"I will."

"All right, Daddy! I'm ready!" said a small voice just below them.

The hugging ponies looked down to see Obsidia, wearing her cardboard Royal Guard helmet and holding a kitchen knife with her magic. Her small chest was pressed out in front of her proudly.

"Let's go!" she cheered, thrusting her kitchen knife up into the air.

"No, Obsidia," Hellfire said without hesitation.

The filly's eyes shot open and her proud posture suddenly dropped into a whining, defeated mess.

"What??" she squeaked in utter disbelief, dropping her kitchen knife and cardboard shield. "Whyyy?"

"It's too dangerous! You have to stay here with your mother."

The filly's mouth hung open and her eyebrows bunched together as her head looked back and forth between her father and mother. "But, Daddy! You promised that I would come with you on your next mission! You promised!" she cried, stomping her hoof loudly on the ground.

A sharp knife stabbed through his conscious, leaving venom of guilt in its wake. However, his expression was unchanged. He lowered his head to meet hers. "I know I did, but this is out of the question. Dragons are dangerous and relentless creatures when they are fully matured. They will kill anything that stands in its path when it is enraged. I don't want you to be killed, Obsidia."

"But... You promised..."

"I know I did!" he barked, startling his daughter. "But you can't come. That is final. I have spoken."

"But... But--!" she sputtered, nearing the brink of tears. She turned to Golden Dune. "Mommy! He promised me that I would go with him!"

"I know he did, baby, but you have to stay here this time," she said, loyal to her husband's wishes. "It's too dangerous for you to come along with him."

Obsidia gasped as tears steadily began to fill her eyes. "Nothing is too dangerous for a Royal Guard! Nothing!"

"But, you're not one," her mother said bluntly and abruptly.

That did it.

The filly gasped even louder. Never in her life had she felt so much betrayal. Her own parents? The two ponies who raised her, fed her, clothed her, cared for her, and loved her were betraying her? Worse, they were denying her dream?? It was not like that to Hellfire and Golden Dune, but to Obsidia, it was just like that. She could only gawk sadly at her parents, gasping in hurt. Then, she mightily pounded her hoof into the ground, expelling a loud grunt that was deeply brewing in her chest.

"How could you?!" she shouted with her voice being shaken by angry tears. Then, she whipped around back to Hellfire. "You broke your promise! I trusted you! How could you do this to me?! I... I will never talk to you ever again, you--! You--! You big meanie!!"

In an eye blink, she was darting up the stairs, trying her best to conceal her tears. Her sniffling was silenced by the distant "slam!" of her bedroom door.

Then, it grew quiet, except for the breathing of the four ponies standing in the foyer of the house. However, one's breathing was noisier than the others. Hellfire's jaw was tight with his clenching muscles. As young as Obsidia was, she had the fury of a grown mare, enough to make the burliest stallion meek and silent. He felt a warm hoof slither over his slender cheek.

"You did the right thing, Hellfire," Golden Dune softly said, coaxing him out of his guilt.

"Even the smallest of kittens still has sharp claws," he blankly replied.

"She'll get over it, darling. She might thank you later."

"I hope so."

"Sir," one of the guards said with urgency. "We've got to move now."

"Right," Hellfire nodded to him before turning back to his wife. "Stay here and be safe. Lock her bedroom door. We never know if she is ever going to make some daring escape again."

"She will be safe with me. She is not going to leave my sight until you come home."

She slung her forelegs around his neck for a tight hug in case if was the very last time she would be able to see him. They both knew when it came to rampaging dragons, anything could happen, most likely the worst.

He never wished to, but he had to separate the embrace. There was no time to lose. He turned to the two guards and placed his helmet on his head.

"Lead the way," he said.

"Sir!"

And just like that, they were gone, running toward the military camp, leaving the golden mare behind to worry and pray for the best. She never looked away from the direction the three stallions ran to. She leaned onto the doorway, lightly stroking it, trying to calm herself from imagining the worst possible scenarios.

She never noticed the rope ladder snaking down from the second story window of the house around the opposite corner. A small, tan pony easily slid down to the end, landing on all four hooves. After adjusting her askew cardboard helmet, she crept up to the corner and craned her neck around it to see Golden Dune still standing there. The moment she saw her, the little filly crawled up behind the shrubbery and sat there for a good full minute until the mare slowly went back inside the house.

"Go ahead, mommy," she mumbled. "Lock me in my room but, that's not going to do any good. Whether you or Daddy like it or not, I'm helping with the mission! I will be a Royal Guard! I will! I'll prove it!"

Then, she ran toward the military camp as well.

Meanwhile, Golden Dune was slowly ascending the stairs. She walked down the hall until she was directly in front of Obsidia's bedroom door. Out of motherly and curious instinct, she placed her ear against the door to hear any sort of crying, loud sniffling, or other outcries of frustration and disappointment.

She heard nothing. She gripped her chest with her hoof and swallowed. Sometimes, silence is not a good thing, until she heard a smooth hissing of oxygen. She sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank the Sisters!" she praised their name quietly. "She's fallen asleep. Poor thing's wasted a large chunk of energy from that fit she had earlier. Bless her heart."

She turned the lock into the locking position, until she heard an even longer, louder hissing of oxygen. In fact, she swore she heard something whistle drearily. Then, she felt something cold blow past her hooves. Since when did Obsidia's room temperature grow so cold?

And windy?

And... silent?

"Oh, no..." she peeped.

She flicked the lock back into its unlocking position and threw the door open, which was being pushed by the wind going through the open window. A rope ladder was fastened around one of the posts of the bed and the other end crept out of the window, limply hanging over the end.

"OBSIDIA!" she screamed in fright.

She began to hyperventilate until she saw one of the little filly's hoof paint cups on the floor, spilling bright yellow paint onto the floor. Near the puddle of paint were yellow hoof-prints that led up to the window, made a small cluster on the wall and fade on the edge of the windowsill. Running up to the window, she looked down at the end of the rope ladder and saw more of the yellow hoof-prints making a trail around the corner of the house.

She pushed herself back off from the windowsill, scrambled down the stairs, and pushed through the front door to see more hoof-prints cutting in front of the house and up the street towards the military camp.

"Oh, no, no, no!" she fretted in her breath, running like the wind.

"Do you see it yet??" shouted Hellfire over the wind blasting past him as he was riding a flying carrier wagon heading to Ponyville.

"Not yet, sir! It should be near the edge of the Everfree Forest and Ponyville! Only when it breathes fire would its position be given away!" answered the pegasus driver. "I've got a report saying that this one is bucking pissed off, so it should be any second now!"

"'Bucking'... Never heard of that word before. I wonder what that means. Maybe I should ask Mrs. Quill next class," muttered Osidia, who was tightly gripping on one of the axles underneath the wagon with all four legs.

However, none of the guards on the wagon heard her. Furthermore, they did not know that she was even under there, because she was able to sneak up and grab onto the wagon the second it launched.

"INCOMING!!" she heard a guard shout.

The next thing she saw at the corner of her eye was a torn out tree trunk flying at the wagon like a missile. When it collided, the entire wagon violently jerked to the other side, causing her to slide along the pole and hit her head against the inside of the wheel. Nearly losing her consciousness, she lost her grip on the axle.

However, she managed to grab it again, only this time, with one hoof. Her cardboard shield and her kitchen knife were still tightly strapped onto her waist. She squeaked in fright when she saw how high she was, higher than the towering trees of the forest. She swung back and forth as the flying wagon swayed, trying to keep a straight course.

"What the hell was that?!" Hellfire shouted.

"That'd be the dragon, sir! See!" the pegasus driver pointed, pinpointing a bright orange glow in the distance.

"Damn! That thing has arms like cannons!" another guard exclaimed.

"Well, no kidding, Private Bucking Obvious! It's a matured dragon, for buck's sake!" said the guard sitting next to him.

"INCOMING!!"

Another torn tree trunk launched at them, but this time, they were able to dodge it. The pegasus drivers violently swerved down, avoiding a brutal headshot.

"Watch those trees below! Veer up! Veer up!"

The tips of the trees below them brushed and whipped the underside of the wagon.

One tree tip managed to knock Obsidia clean off the axle.

Screaming, she fell towards the darkness of the forest with branches and other foliage whipping against her body relentlessly, fortunately slowing her fall. In a small cloud of flying leaves, she finally landed into a bush. She crawled out, spitting out the leaves that crept into her mouth, along with some unripe berries. She craned her head around to inspect her body. Other than the scratches, sap, and smudges of dirt, she was fine. Plus, her cardboard helmet was still in one piece.

The sound of a rocking tree caught her attention. Through the leaves and branches, she saw the wagon flying overhead, still trying to veer back into a straight flying path. An orange glow illuminated among the thick trunks of the tree toward where the coach was flying.

"I'm coming to help, Daddy," she said before she ran off.

"OBSIDIA!! Oh, my Goddess!" shrieked the hysterical Golden Dune the moment she saw her little filly fall into the darkest reaches of the forest. "You've got to land the chariot now! In the forest!"

"Yes, ma'am," replied the chariot driver.

She thanked the stars that there was one chariot left in the hangar after the rest had launched off toward the mission objective. The moment she saw her little filly fly away, hap-hazardously hitching herself on the axle of the carrier wagon, she had nearly dropped to her knees and collapse into a fretful, defeated mess until she saw the extra chariot.

"Around there!" she pointed to the trees that were still rocking back and forth from the carrier wagon's near-accident.

Her blood suddenly flowed up to her head as the driver sharply dove toward the area where she pointed. The driver leaned to one side, circling around it as he descended.

Finally, the chariot landed. The branches knocked off by Obsidia's fall snapped and sprung from underneath the metallic-painted wheels. The blonde mare leapt out of the carriage.

"Thank you so much, sir," she said with an urgently thankful curtsy.

"You're welcome, ma'am," he said with a nod. "Should I remain here until you return?"

"That'd be great," she hastily replied before dashing off into the darkness of the forest. She could see the orange glow in the distance from the dragon's fire along with the yellow hoof prints that lead straight to it.

"Obsidiaaaaaaaaa!" she called, running like there was no tomorrow.

"Landing!" the driver pegasus of the carrier wagon called to the soldiers in the back. "Ten seconds!"

Hellfire turned to his platoon. "All right, stallions! You know what I had said to you earlier today? About proving to me that you are the best damn platoon a stallion could ever ask for? Well, now is time to prove it! Give up or give him hell!"

"Four seconds!"

HURAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGHH! Each spine sitting in the wagon cringed in discomfort after the air-piercing roar of the infernal beast waiting for them outside.

"Two seconds!"

They felt the wagon bounce over what felt like burnt twigs and rubble. They jerked briskly to one side after the abrupt halt of the carrier wagon. They could hear the click of the latch sealing them in open.

The door swung open and their eyes were instantly harassed by a bright, orange, hellish glow of a roaring inferno surrounding them. The air waves emitting from the inferno stung the flesh under their coats like acid.

"GO, GO, GO!" Hellfire shouted, forcing them to charge forward.

One soldier ran out, until a huge boulder bounded on top of him as it flew by. Only a large patch of blood and a splintered helmet remained in its wake. The rest jumped, startled at the sudden, swift, and highly unfortunate death of their comrade.

"WHOA! HOLY SHIT!" one of the soldiers shouted in shock.

"Move, move, move! Keep moving, dammit!" the orange leader coerced his platoon.

They scrambled out of the wagon like cattle. As soon as they got out, they saw their target towering over them behind a flock of tall, burning towers of what used to be trees. It scales glowed a deeper, hellish red against the flames and its razor sharp, jagged claws were stained with tree branches, sap, and blood of unfortunate ponies. A swarm of flying spears cut through the air, deflecting off of the behemoth's yellow, scaled belly, leaving hardly any scratches.

"Aim for the head! Aim for the head!" Shining Armor screamed from behind a line of unicorns soldiers. "FIRE!"

Another swarm of spears lanced through the boiling air, flying swiftly toward the dragon's head.

The dragon read their strategy like a book. Its massive, muscular chest expanded as it inhaled a massive ball of air. As soon as the spears were about one fifty yards away from its face, the behemoth expelled a massive maelstrom of a seething inferno from its mouth. The spears burned into ash instantly like feathers. However, the beast did not let up its pillar of fire just yet.

The massive column of fire expanded, engulfing an unwary platoon of pegasi soldiers, who were circling the monster.

The painful, agonizing wails of the unfortunate pack of pegasi were flooded by the whooshing of the airborne inferno. Seconds later, they fell out of the cloud and landed onto the ground, twisting, turning, screaming, retching until they were nothing more than a burning pile of flesh.

Just seeing the ghastly sight nearly made Hellfire sick to his stomach. However, that was not the time to act squeamish. He knew that a Royal Guard must not give in to ghastly sights of brutality.

He lead his soldiers to join Shining Armor's platoon.

"Captain! What's the report?!" he shouted over the commotion.

"We've lost twenty seven of our troops, including Lieutenant Hammersmith! He was leading this platoon before I had to jump in and commandeer it! That dragon had torn him up into a bloody mess!" he replied as he pointed to the fallen lieutenant.

He was lying in a pool of blood, which was leaking from the gaping, crescent wound that revealed small bits of his rib cage underneath. A long, deep gash slanted all the way down his face, running over his eye.

"Damn! Has there been any progress in stifling this beast?!"

"Horn magic! That was able to stop the beast for a while, but it takes more than seven unicorns to take him down!"

"All right, Captain! That's good enough! My platoon and I will back you up!"

"Couldn't have asked for anything better myself!"

Hellfire whipped around, pointing out to different stallions.

"You seven! Take a lance and wait for my signal! The rest of you! Back up the captain's line and use your magic against that dragon! Move!"

"SIR!" they replied.

They dispersed in an eye blink. The seven unicorns joined the line and their horns glowed brightly in union with the other platoon's. The dragon's torso was engulfed in a rainbow of mixed auras as it was being vicious tugged down. It roared in strain and defiance, trying to pull itself out of it. However, the magic was too strong, having it being annexed to by fresh reinforcements. It was yanked down onto its massive chest, causing the ground to shake from its hard fall. Its back was being mercilessly scratched and hacked by the spears swung and hurled by the swooping pegasus troops. It twisted and clawed on the ground, growing angrier and more irritated by the incessant beatings of the troops.

"We got you now, you bastard!" Hellfire grinned in triumph. "Now! Skewer its brain!"

The seven unicorns armed with spears charged toward the beast with the sharp ends pointing straight at its eyes.

However, somehow, the orange stallion knew in the back of his mind that this would probably be too early to celebrate.

The dragon roared mightily against the charging troops, blowing them away with the gust, mixed with its putrid breath. To the dragon's luck, the unicorns blown away by its roar had collided into the line of unicorns, wiping all but three unicorns out onto the ground.

However, it did not stop there. It kept roaring until black smoke escaped its throat, shooting it directly at the pile of dazed troops, including Hellfire and Shining Armor.

Hellfire felt as if his lungs were filled to the brim of the aerial filth as he cough and gasped for a lick of fresh air. His eyes burned as the smoke made contact with his teary eyes. He pawed through the smoke for a telltale sign of a nearby soldier.

His hoof finally made contact with another groping hoof. He tried shouting to him, but his ears were ringing furiously from the dragon's loud roar.

It took about a quarter of a minute for the ringing in his ears to slowly diminish. He began to hear the soldier's coughing in front of him.

He also heard the sound of air whistling past an vast, incoming mass.

Suddenly, a giant, tree-trunk-thick mass landed directly in front of him, making him bounce on top of the ground. He felt hot, pasty liquid splatter against his outreaching hoof. The flying debris diminished and Hellfire could see his hoof still holding the hoof in front of him, covered in fresh blood, which trailed from the mouth of the hoof's owner. He looked up to see the soldier with the entire lower half of his body crushed flat into a bloody pulp, a mess of broken bones, and exploded organs.

He cried out in shock as he scrambled away from the squashed corpse.

Suddenly, his shoulder was violently grabbed, forcefully turning him around to face the screaming face of Shining Armor.

"C'mon! Get up! The dragon crushed most of the unicorns who were trying to pin him down! It's a no-win! We've got to retreat!"

"What!? Are you crazy?! We can't turn back! It'll destroy Ponyville next!"

"We don't have any other choice! We need to re-crop and regroup! If we stay here any longer, we are all dead! You hear me?! Bucking dead!"

Hellfire's head turned to see the twisted, mangled bodies that were crushed by the dragon's massive tail. He saw the burning corpses scattered over the ground like torches. He could only see a small number of troops trying to vend it off. One was snatched up by the dragon's maw and was gnawed to bits. Raining drops of blood and torn pieces of armor rained in his wake.

He snarled in frustration.

"Dammit!" he growled before he pushed himself up and ran alongside his captain. He saw the carrier wagon land fifteen yards in front of him.

He climbed on, calling for the remaining troops to climb on after. "Come on! Come on! On the wagon! On the wagon!"

Then, amongst the bobbing, armored heads of the guards, Hellfire saw something that he wished he would have not seen at such a time like this.

The glow coming from behind the trees glowed brighter. Plus the sounds coming from behind them were growing progressively louder and clearer.

"There they are!" Obsidia exclaimed, darting quickly toward the lights.

He unsheathed her sharp kitchen knife sword from her belt and ducked into the bushes that resided on the edge of the border of the empty patch of the forest.

"Retreat!" she heard a soldier shout amongst the clamor.

"They have ordered the retreat?" squeaked Obsidia from inside the bush. "Not on my watch!"

She leapt out of the bushes, crying out the loudest battle-cry her small lungs would allow. She landed majestically onto the ground, facing the commotion with a confident grin.

"Come on! Come on! On the wagon! On the wagon!" she heard her father in the distance.

She thrusted her knife into the air, silently hoping that some light would dramatically reflect from her weapon and into her father's eyes.

However, he seemed to have seen her anyway. His eyes grew wide in utter terror just two seconds he laid them onto her.

"Don't worry, Daddy! Royal Guard Obsidia is here to--!"

"NO! OBSIDIA, GO! RUN! NOW!"

"I will do no such thing, Daddy! A Royal Guard never runs aw--!"

A loud crashing sound erupted next to the filly, which wiped her face clear of the confident grin she just had on and substituted it with a look of sudden terror.

Her eyes slowly shifted toward her side, careful not to make any fast movements.

She saw a massive, scaly foot, ornate with razor sharp, gleaming claws. They clawed viciously into the earth, tearing up the dead grass that was burnt in the fire.

Her eyes trailed up the scaly foot, up to it muscular legs, its massive chest, its long, red, neck, and finally, its head, which was high above the treetops. She gasped loudly at the newly found terror. She had told herself many times that she was not afraid of dragons, but at that very moment, she realized that had underestimated reality.

The dragon was so... Big... and...

Scary...

"OBSIDIA! GOOOO!" Hellfire shouted, throwing his forelegs to the side.

The dragon recognized the look of fright residing on the orange stallion's face. Curious to see what he was looking at, the dragon lobbed its heavy head toward his side until he found the small filly standing ten yards away from its foot. Seeing that the filly had a look of fright on her face as well, its eyes squinted, subconsciously grinning in black, sick, evil humor. It bared its long teeth, emitting smoke and sparks from behind them. It pushed out the lowest and most menacing growl it ever growled.

Frozen and crippled in fear, Obsidia dropped her knife and shield. Her breaths were more labored and shallow with fright as she slowly inched back.

"Obsidia!" cried another voice from behind the foliage of the forest.

Hellfire's spine suddenly grew bitterly cold the moment he heard that voice.

Golden Dune leapt out of the foliage like a frightened deer and ran up to Obsidia, gripping her forcefully by the shoulders.

"Obsidia! What in Princess Celestia's name do you think you're doing?? You can't run away from me like--!"

She was cut off by a tearful squeak and a terrified hug from her daughter.

"Obsidia, what--?"

GRRRrrRrRRrrrrrrrrrr...

The mare turned to the hellish sound. Seeing the monster's eyes fully focused on them with a fierce passion for sealing doom, she cried out in terror and hugged her child tighter.

"GOLDEN DUNE!!" Hellfire shouted in terror piled on from the last one. "OBSIDIA! GET OUT OF THERE NOW! RUN!"

The dragon grinned evilly inside. Its luck could not have been any juicier. It snarled in hellish delight.

Golden Dune threw her daughter into her back and darted toward the forest, but was blocked by the dragon's tail. It snaked around the two ponies, creating a small area enclosing them in. The blonde mare's head whipped around, desperately searching for an opening.

It was hopeless. The beast had covered all areas. Plus, the tail coiled on top of itself, creating a wall that was impossible to jump over. She heard growling overhead. The dragon's head was looking down at them like a vulture ready to make its dive. She pulled her whimpering daughter off of her back and hugged her close to her chest.

The dragon roared directly at them, foreshadowing the worst kind of fate they would face together...

"Obsidia... Obsidia, listen to me..." Golden Dune tearfully whispered to the crying filly.

The dragon inhaled...

Hellfire leapt out of the wagon...

"Listen to me, baby... Hold on to me... I've got you..."

An orange glow emerged from deep within the maw of the beast.

"I'm here... Don't you ever leave my side..."

Sparks emerged from inside its mouth...

"I love you, my baby girl... I love you so much..."

Its head thrusted forward...

...

"Hellfire... I lov--."

The dragon's fiery column engulfed them both.

Bursts of shrieks and screams were flooded by the rush of the inferno.

Two silhouettes slowly evaporated inside the rushing pillar of seething rage...

Then, it was all over...

...

A victorious roar from the dragon cut through the air, echoing for miles...

...

Another roar was heard...

It was full of anguish and an apocalyptic rage.

Hellfire was running at full force, more than his muscles had ever pushed him. He blindly pulled his sword out of his sheath.

"NNNRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!" he roared, blindly pushing toward the dragon.

"Hellfire! What are you doing?!" Shining Armor shouted after him.

However his voice feel upon deaf ears.

"Attack! Attack! Charge forward! Kill the beast!" the orange stallion snarled.

"After him! Get him back over here!"

Two pegasi launched toward him, but were immediately met with retaliation. One was struck in the jaw with the end of Hellfire's sword. Then, the other was met with the blade, slashing him on the side of his body. He continued to charge forward while the two ponies were rolling on the ground.

Shining Armor cursed in his breath. "Get him back here!"

Four pegasi charged at Hellfire and were able to pin him down. He tried to hack at them with his sword, but one of them stood on it, pinning it to the ground.

Hellfire thrashed, groaned, snarled, and cried out in anguished rage as he tried to break himself free. His hooves tore into the earth, still furiously pushing toward his target. Past the shifting legs of the troops pinning him down, he saw the dragon looking at him. Its half-lidded look and its venomous sneer made it clear that the beast was taunting him. It snorted and it turned toward the foliage of the forest.

"YOU!! YOU BEAST FROM TARTARUS! YOU FIENDISH BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FOUL CREATURE! YOU WILL RUE THE VERY DAY YOU HAVE CROSSED PATHS WITH ME! YOU WILL PAY! YOU! WILL! PA--!"

A sudden surge of magic shot through his cranium and down his spine. Suddenly, his body went limp with crippling fatigue. Hellfire could not find the will to fight it. He roars of vengeance simmered down to weary, incomprehensible moans.

His eyelids felt heavy as lead.

A pair of white, smooth, slender, hooves, ornate with golden shoes were the last thing he saw before all was lost in blackness.

"Golden Dune... Obsidia..."

To be continued...

She Will Pay...

The Tale of

Hellfire

Chapter 3

Written and Drawn by Ceehoff

We're certainly glad you came, Princess Celestia. Things would have been plenty difficult with him if he were still awake."

"Think nothing of it, Captain. I had to jump in before he was going to start a debacle. He's reckless, letting his emotions get the best of him. I warned him specifically of this, but it appears that my words have reached deaf ears."

"With all due respect, Princess, he had just lost his wife... His only child, too... He loved them and cared for them with all of his heart."

"Yes... I know... As tragic as it is, it's just... With somepony as easily instigated as Hellfire, such overdose of emotion would lead to calamitous results. Corruption is not an option. It is my sworn duty as a princess to prevent corruption polluting this land, whatever the cost. He has given so much to us. Losing him would only take that away."

"He's been my best friend since as long as I could remember. This would affect me more than anypony."

"Hmm... You should get going, Shining Armor. The dragon is still out there."

"Actually, Princess, we had just gotten the latest report from our recon that the dragon is no longer causing threat. It flew away, far from Ponyville. It looked like it did not wish to wreak havoc any further. Must've had its fill of bloodshed for the night."

"Then, the mission is off. No need to go after it. It is done... Many lives were lost tonight. We will need to set up funerals and memorials, commemorating the ones who lost their lives, fighting for the safety of Equestria. Let's go, Shining Armor."

"What about Hellfire?"

"The spell I had just cast on him is effective for three hours. There's enough time for me to go back and accompany him."

"You alone, Princess? I'm not sure if I agree with that. Hellfire's rea--."

"It'll be fine, Captain. I assure you. Don't worry. He'll be just fine with me."

"Huhh... As you wish, Princess..."

"Hellfire! Help us!" screamed Golden Dune.

"Daddyyyyy!" cried Obsidia, secure in her mother's forelegs.

A gargantuan shadow loomed around them, stretching its neck high up into the sky. Its eyes were a blinding orange light.

"No!" the orange stallion cried out, running after them as fast as his legs could carry him.

However, he never neared them. Every stride he made stretched him farther and farther from them. He whimpered in despair, reaching a hoof toward them, praying that he would at least touch them.

"PLEASE!" his weeping wife screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I don't wanna die... I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna..." the little filly sobbed, pressing her tear-stained face against her mother's chest.

Suddenly, the huge, black, ethereal behemoth opened its oily maw and flames, filling the entire space with seething flames.

It was a pain that Hellfire had never experienced before in his entire life. Every section of his body was filled with broiling heat. He thrashed and twisted, screaming in agony like he had never screamed before. His joints cramped from the overwhelming pain as he pitifully kicked and thrashed in empty space. He opened his eyes to see his daughter and wife far in front of him in the distance, swirling helplessly like feathers in the wind. Bit by bit, he could see their husks burn, revealing their coal-black skeletons.

The black shadow whirled around, perching itself above the two burning ponies. Its eyes squinted in humor as it saw the burning pony in the distance.

"pUNY sTALLION," it grumbled.

Hellfire cried out in despair, reaching hopelessly for them before they were devoured by the shadow.

"NO!!" the stallion shouted.

His eyes were met with the periwinkle glow of Princess Luna's moon shining through the window. His nose was filled with the musky scent of his sweat-stained bedsheets. Everywhere he looked, he saw stoned walls, darkened by the night. A short stool was sitting next to his bed, looking as lonesome as he was.

What was he doing here?

He shouldn't be here...

He should be at his home, lying in bed with his beautiful wife and his little filly resting between him and her.

Yet... He couldn't...

They were gone. His only family. The family he had started. Gone forever...

He was alone.

Hellfire's breathing quivered, shoulders shaking in grief. His eyes squeezed shut and his jaw clenched as he crouched miserably over his hind legs underneath the sheets. He shakily gasped for air from his silent weeping.

The ghastly images in his head keep coming back to torture him.

Their frightened faces... How closely they were hugging each other... The tears streaming from Obsidia's eyes... Their dissipating bodies in the rushing pillar of fire...

The dragon's snide, spiteful expression...

Hellfire's shaking had come to an end. His eyebrows furrowed deeply. A snarl formed on his mouth, annexing to the small growling that sounded in his sinuses.

That damned dragon...

Suddenly, a bright light flickered over his head, rudely interrupting his train of vengeful thought. He heard the sound of the door handle being handled by magic. It creaked open to reveal a two guards, wearing full armor. They walked slowly in. The moment they walked in, they stepped to the side, creating an opening between them.

Then, from between the two guards walked in Princess Celestia, looking as beautiful and regal as always. Her expression was blank, only slightly saddened. She stopped in her place and took her time to look at Hellfire in his sweat-soaked sheets. The orange stallion could only silently look back at her.

The alicorn avoided the gaze when she shut her eyes.

"You two may leave us alone," she said.

"Ma'am," one of them muttered as he nodded. The two guards whipped around and exited the room, shutting the door quietly behind them. The two ponies in the room could hear the two guards stomp their hooves onto the ground, meaning that they were standing just right outside of the door.

The princess slowly stepped up closer. She shifted the seat with her magic behind her and took a seat right next to Hellfire. Her concerned eyes were fixed on him.

"How do you feel?" she asked with much concern.

The stallion never looked up to meet her gaze. HIs head hung over his shoulders, gazing at the white sheets that laid over his hind legs.

"Not well..." he replied.

Silence loomed between the two solitary figures. The princess' eyebrows bunched together, hearing how bluntly he answered her. She heaved a depressed sigh through her small nostrils, knowing that this was an unfortunate time for him.

Before she was about to speak, Hellfire cut in.

"What news of the dragon?"

"It... It flew away," she replied, internally bracing herself for any outburst. "It had ceased threat upon us. It's no longer attacking anypony. The mission is off."

A snarling sigh flew out of Hellfire's nostrils, shaking his head. "No... Not yet... It is far from off."

Oh, no... Just as she feared...

She spoke softly. "Hellfire, you can't..."

"'CAN'T'??" he barked. "That infernal beast has murdered my family, and you say I can't?"

"The dragon has disappeared. It's over."

"No! It has not disappeared! It's still out there! We can kill it! Make it suffer for the unforgivable crime it committed in my presence!"

"No, Hellfire, you can't! It's too dangerous! The dragon was too powerful. We were only lucky that it had decided to quit its rampage. It's foolish to go chasing after it. Even if you did approach it, you will die!"

"That will not stop me! Nothing will! My family's honor must be withheld! I will not lie here while that damned beast is mocking them! Mocking me!" he snapped back, kicking his sheets off.

"Calm yourself right now!" Celestia's voice grew more irritated.

"I will not!" he said, grabbing his sheathed sword. "There must be retribution! I will end that bastard's life! Send the hellish fiend back to Tartarus from whence it came! By then, justice will prevail!"

"You're not talking about justice, Hellfire, you're talking about revenge. Seeking revenge is dangerous! If you even allow one smidgen of it into your mind, you will lose yourself! You will lose everything! You are important to us! To your brothers and sisters in arms! You can't take that risk! If you lose somepony who matters to you, you have to move on. You can't linger in the darkness."

"Then so be it!!" he snapped back, as he was strapping on his armor. "As long as that beast is lying in it own river of blood, then my goal will be accomplished! It takes my family's lives, I take its life! Nopony will stop me! Not even you, Princess!"

"You will not go anywhere! You must remain at your post, Lieutenant!"

Hellfire's head whirled around to face the alicorn. "What good will that do?! What good will sitting around, doing nothing but worrying about it do?! Nothing! Only with revenge will things be settled! Revenge! Something you know so little of! You know nothing of how I feel! You nothing about losing a family! You know nothing about losing somepony who meant the world to you! You know nothing of--!"

"ENOUGH!" her rarely-used Canterlot voice bellowed, nearly deafening him.

Hellfire flinched, startled by the sudden outburst. He saw the alicorn princess standing up with the stool tipped over behind her. Her lips were cracked open, showing a small portion of her baring teeth, and her eyebrows were deeply furrowed.

"This is exactly what I was warning you about yesterday," she said grimly. "Your lust for revenge and violence has corrupted your mind, causing you to act so brutishly. You've even struck one of your own comrades with your own blade! Not only is that a sign of disorderly conduct, it's also a sign of treason! Families die all the time, Hellfire! You are not the first who lost somepony who mattered the most to you!"

She paused as her mind traced back to that fateful day one thousand years ago. She saw Luna's defeated and betrayed expression the moment she had dissipated in a smokey aura that flew into the night sky. She could see the tears from her own eyes that puddled on top of the chamber floor which she collapsed upon. Her ears echoed the sound of her own bitter weeping.

She did not wish to mention it, because the sad memories would only grow worse, feeling that she had been insulted enough. Hopefully, Hellfire would remember that story.

"You will not go out and seek revenge! Otherwise, you can forget about being promoted! In fact, you could forget about being part of the Royal Guard!"

Hellfire's angry expression suddenly faltered to shock.

"If you believe being a Royal Guard allows you to have full authority to swing your sword at anything that moves, then you are gravely mistaken! You would not deserve to be a Royal Guard anymore if keep believing that," she said before turning to the door and snatching Hellfire's sword from his grasp with her magic. "Now, you are to remain here until further notice. Your family is dead. You'll have to move on, or move out."

She shut the door, not saying another word.

Outside, she heaved a great sigh, fighting back her tears and rubbing her forehead with her hoof.

"Princess," one of the guards standing by the door asked her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm... I'm fine," he fibbed, trying to regain composure. Once she had regained it, she turned to them. "I need you two to stay here. He must not go anywhere. Keep this with you."

She levitated the sword to him, strapping it around his torso.

They exchanged nods and Celestia turned to walk down the hall, leaving them in charge of guarding the door.

The hall was silent, except for the sound of a pair of hooves clopping against the stone floor.

The further she had walked, the calmer she became.

She looked back toward the door, which was growing smaller in the distance.

Her eyebrows bunched together.

How that meeting turned out, she wished it could have turned out better. Sure, Hellfire was acting brash, rude, and reckless, but... Did she really have to yell at him? Especially while he was still feeling traumatized by the murder of his family? He must have felt devastated. Defeated...

Just like how she felt when she had banished Luna...

"Next time..." she muttered to herself. "I'll have to be more patient with him. More sensitive... I'll come back for you, Hellfire."

She disappeared in the dim hallways.

Back in the room, the stallion stood in front of the closed door. Ever since Celestia left the room, he had hardly moved a muscle. He blankly stared the door as numerous thoughts came rushing into his mind, each one of them making him feel more bitter than the last.

Relieved of duty as a Royal Guard? She had threatened him with an dishonorable discharge if he sets out to restore his family's honor? Making him decide between his dream and his family? Did she really think that his family was so easy to forget and abandon to pursue his dream? Did she really think that his family was nothing of value? Did she think that he was going to choose to be a coward? Did she think of him as nothing more than a brute, an animal, or a unruly foal?

She knows nothing... he thought, clenching his jaw tightly. She... knows... NOTHING. Golden Dune and Obsidia have much more worth to me than she will EVER imagine. She thinks that lowly of them?

His breathing grew louder, until they hissed through his nostrils.

He heard wind brush past the panes of the window behind him. The sound of the creaking reminded him much of the vicious growling the dragon emitted when it sealed his family's doom. The dragon's invisible smile was stilling mocking him.

Oh, how he was embracing the sweet, sweet notion of feeling his blade sink into the beast's forehead, wiping that grin off of its face and substituting it for a look of defeat and humiliation.

However, he knew he was not going to experience that feeling if he was going to continue to be Celestia's captive.

"Very well, Princess..." he softly growled. "I will be the brute..."

The two guards stood, erect and silent as statues as their vigilant eyes scanned all nooks and crannies of the hallway. It took only an hour for their eyes to feel dry and sandy and their limbs clench in discomfort.

At least, that was how long it felt. They had no clue exactly how long they were standing watch. There was no clock present in the empty hallway.

As much as they were trained to be patient, they could not help but wonder when the sun princess will return, just so they could finally find the time to stretch out their limbs and quench their drying eyes.

One of them gave in too early. He was levitating Hellfire's weapon in the air in front of him. His horn magic enveloped the handle of the sword and it slowly pulled the chromatic blade out of its sheath. The blade hummed as it flew in the air.

"Hoo!" he hooted in admiration. "Lt. Hellfire sure has a sick sword."

The other guard's focus turned to his side to look at the soldier admiring the regal weapon. At first, he was going to reprimand him of tampering with somepony's property, but after seeing the blade, he could not help but grin, impressed.

"Hmm, yeah," he nodded, gazing at the sleek, glimmering blade. "I heard that he crafted it himself."

"This??" his voice rose in surprise. "By himself?? Damn! I want one of these."

"Good luck with that," the other huffed in sarcasm. "You've gotta be pretty elite to wield one of these at such quality."

"I can be."

"Then don't be such a wuss at push-ups then."

CRASH!

The sharp, writhing, loud sound of a broken window resounded behind the closed door sealing Hellfire in, which startled the two guards.

"What the hell?" the sword-wielding guard gasped.

"Put that thing back in its sheath now!" the other hissed. "That sound came from Lt. Hellfire's room. Breaching!!"

The stallion bucked the door open and his face was immediately cloaked with the cool wind that rushed out from the room. They automatically pointed their spears in front of them, readying themselves for any sort of combat or action. However, they were only met with an empty, dark, moonlit room. Twinkling shards and shrapnels of glass lay before the large window, which opened up nature behind its broken panes. They lowered their weapons once they realized that the stallion they were guarding was no longer in sight.

"Lt. Hellfire!" the sword wielding guard called. "Lt. Hellfire, please respond!"

The other guard's face softened in shock. "Oh, no... Don't tell me he's--."

He trotted past the bed and up to the shattered window, poking his head past the panes to see the tall trees of the forest spear up toward him. He leaned further forward to see the steep slope of the mountain underneath, the bottom disappearing into the thick foliage of the dark forest. The wind was filling his ears.

"Luna's mane, he bucking topped himself! Oh, jeez, this is not good! Not good at--!"

He felt a hoof grab his back and yank him around with great force. With his mind foggy from the sudden turn-around, he failed to see a large shard of glass spear directly at him.

His mind awakened too late. The gnarly, jagged shard of glass lanced into his neck, tangling itself between the muscles and tendons underneath. He saw a dark face glare fiercely into his shocked eyes. His mouth was instantly filled with his own blood, preventing him from saying anything other than a gurgle.

"WHOA! HOLY SH--!" the other guard screamed, aghast and greatly unprepared of what just happened.

After shoving the downed guard out of the window, the dark figure lunged at the other with great speed. However, spurred by shock, the guard lifted his spear to meet it. He swung at it repeatedly until it was gripped by clasped hooves. It yanked at the spear, causing the guard to lurch forward uncontrollably. The dark figure veered past him, unsheathing the sword from the guard's side.

Then, the guard recovered from his lurch and whirled around, lifting his spear for a thrust kill. The dark figure crouched low over the floor, lifting its sword in front of its dark face.

"The hell you're taking that thing!" the guard shouted. He charged forward and lanced at the dark figure with all of his might. However, the dark figure read him like a book and struck the spear shaft, causing the guard to tip to the side.

Then, metal had met flesh and organs.

The sword had escaped the other end of the guard's chest with blood freshly gushing down the tip. Blood instantly squirted up the guard's throat, slowly trailing out of his mouth like a chocolate fountain.

The dark figure lifted the handle of the sword to its eye level, making the skewered stallion fall to his forelegs. It leaned into the periwinkle moonlight, revealing the blood-dribbled, orange, glaring face of...

"Lieu--..." the guard gurgled, praying that his eyes were deceiving him. " He--... Hellfire?"

The orange unicorn's nose wrinkled in spite and he thrusted his sword deeper into the guard's body, silencing him.

The guard's eyes widened, trying to fight the blackness that was clouding them. However, the piercing glare of the rebel towering over him overwhelmed him, losing his grip with life. His breathing gurgled into silence. His dead eyes were still wide open, holding the expression of shock and despair.

Hellfire yanked the sword out of his prey and stood over it like a prize pig. Using his horn magic, he unbuckled the sheath from the husk and strapped it on himself.

He surrounded the corpse with his horn magic. After much strain, the corpse was engulfed with orange smoke. It cleared to reveal an exact replicate of himself, still ornate with the sword wound. He grabbed a large shard of glass, similar to the length and girth of his blade and stuck it inside the wound.

"This will distract her from hunting me down long enough..." he said grimly to himself.

He lifted the limp, bloody body up with his magic and levitated it outside, dropping it like a trash bag. His ear twitched, hearing the sound of flesh and bones bound off of the mountain slope followed by the snapping of tree branches, which was a more distant sound than the last.

He looked up from his work, gazing into the forest, hissing in the night breeze.

"I'm coming for you, beast..."

Among the blowing blades of grass and the wide, dark tree trunks, a lone, armored stallion sauntered.

However, he was not completely engulfed in its darkness, because his horn was glowing a fiery-orange light. The forest's humidity projected a vast ball of light enveloping him, reaching twenty-five feet high into the air. Normally, it would be advised for a Royal Guard to keep the light down to a flicker because it would give away his or her position, but Hellfire ignored it.

He wanted to be found, unless the dragon was found first by him.

Either way, blood would be spilt.

Hellfire squinted through the bright light emitting from his horn. The thick moisture in the air turned the area where the light glowed the brightest into an light-orange cloud. What he saw in front of him was a mess of black and orange with faint silhouettes of grass blades and tree trunks. However, he kept walking forward with a burning passion for vengeance. His hooves trudged carefully over the ground, careful not to trip over anything.

Suddenly, he stopped.

His head whirled to his left, seeing a bright color flicker from behind the trees.

He heard something coming from the right like a sound of bushes being quickly brushed by.

The color on his left flickered past the trees again. The sound reappeared to his front.

Either it was in his head or not, he could hear the soft growling of the doom-sealer reverberate around him. Hellfire pulled his sword out of his sheath halfway, giving his stalker a glimpse of what kind of pony it was messing with. His eyes shifted gingerly to his left and right, not missing a single inch of what was around him.

"Come out, you scaly bastard," he growled, lowering his body into a combatting stance. "I have a score to settle with you..."

The growling rose louder, snaking around him.

"Come out..."

He was only met with noise.

"COME OUT! FACE ME, YOU COWARD!" he roared in outburst. "I AM NOT FINISHED WITH YOU! COME OUT, AND WE'LL SETTLE THIS LIKE CREATURES WE ARE!"

The growling increased, filling his ears.

"FACE MEEE!"

Then, the growling stopped. The leaves in the trees were stilling hissing in the gentle wind.

The orange stallion sneered.

Oh, yes. He figured out the dragon's plan: intimidating his prey with its fierce growl while it hides in the shadows, and then it silences itself, deceiving its prey into thinking it had left before it gives its prey the element of surprise. It was all too predictable.

He pulled his sword further out.

The hissing of the trees disappeared, completely silencing all of what surrounded him.

He waited, never releasing the grip of his sword.

The moment he heard a noise, he whirled around, fully unsheathing his sword.

However, he was not met with force. Nothing leapt out at him. The tip of the sword, shining in the moonlight, met thin air, pointing at a wide tree.

Something appeared from behind it. A sand-colored foreleg stepped gracefully into the soft grass. Behind the hoof, followed a slender, smooth body, ornate with golden-blonde hair falling down to one side of its head. Its large, shimmering, crystal eyes gazed lovingly at the armored stallion.

Hellfire lowered his sword as he felt his jaw slack in surprise.

"G..." he stammered. "Golden Dune."

The blonde mare responded with a warm smile and a slow blink of confirmation.

Then, from behind her, a small, raven-haired filly leapt out like a happy lamb.

"Obsidia," he said with a growing smile.

She responded with a happy giggle before she launched herself at him.

Hellfire automatically shut off his magic, instantly dropping his sword to the ground, threw his helmet off his head, and opened his forelegs to the little filly. As soon as their bodies touched, his arms wrapped around her tightly like a venus fly-trap. A joyful whimper escaped his mouth as he rocked her in his forelegs. Obsidia rubbed her face into his collar, happy to be with her father. She pushed away gently to find the perfect time to happily and playfully bound around him, still giggling like the happy filly she was.

He twirled around, engaging in his daughter's playful bounding. However, as soon as a large, tan blur reached his eye, he stopped, seeing his wife walking slowly toward him, still smiling warmly at him. Her half-open eyes gazed lovingly into his, never breaking away. She stopped directly in front of him. Her foreleg lifted from the ground to push away a loose strand of her husband's long, black hair from his face. Her hoof trailed down to his cheek.

The stallion was speechless from the joy that was overfilling his heart. Her soft touch and her crystal gaze warmed his soul like it hadn't been warmed for a thousand years. He felt her hoof push his cheek down, exposing his forehead to her. He felt Golden Dune's moist lips press onto it, which made everything below his head tingle in content. Her soft, hot breath poured onto his forehead, making it dampen with sweet moisture. His eyes shut his eyes as they rolled back into his head, blissfully embracing his wife's tender touch.

After releasing the kiss, he pressed her forehead against his, staring half-liddedly at him. Hellfire's fur was being combed by the fur of both of her forelegs, wrapping around his neck. He stared back, never daring to look away.

However, he gaze broke when he saw a jagged tip of a flame flicker underneath his chin. Looking at his hooves, he saw flames grow, consuming the grass that he was standing on. He flinched, automatically lifting his hoof. However, he felt no pain. No burning. The fire brushed past his hooves, causing no chance or harm on him. However, Golden Dune was being effected by it. He saw her forelegs slowly dissolve and float away like burning paper. He looked up at his wife, confused over what was going on, but he found that some of her heavenly features were burning away. Obsidia stopped bounding, looking sad as she began fade away like her mother.

The flames grew taller, up to Hellfire's chin level.

No! He was not going to let this happen to them! He reached out to grab his wife's hoof, but it disintegrated, crumbling away like scorched paper. His breath grew more uneasy as realized there was nothing he could do to prevent them from fading away. He saw Golden Dune shut her eyes and tilt her head up, allowing the flames to fully consume her.

Hellfire saw that not only was his wife dissolving away, but the area around him.

A breeze licked past him from behind, and everything was gone. Scorched, smoking trees towered over him. Dead, burnt grass crinkled and snapped underneath his hooves. His lungs were breathing a mixture of air and the smoke that lingered.

He saw piles of ash and trails of blood belonging to bodies that had been dragged off of the scene.

He knew where he wandered off to. It was the grounds of the dragon attack...

The deaths of many of his soldiers belonging his platoon...

The grave of...

Something shimmered at the corner of his eye. His sight turned to a pile of ash that had a peculiar object resting in it. He walked up to it and immediately fell to his haunches. His hoof clawed at the gold chain that was sticking out of the pile and dragged it out.

A golden eye was dragged out behind the golden chain. Its luster had faded, but not enough to destroy its shimmer completely. Brown, tarnished patches tainted its previously smooth surface. The eye stared into his soul, screaming images of his deceased family and the neck of his wife that he kissed the night before, plus the other nights he kissed it before.

His lips quivered violently and his breath shuddered when he realized that that pile of ash was the ghastly remains of his family. HIs tears moistened the slope of the pile, running down to the burnt grass below. He fell onto his stomach, hiding his weeping face. Mournful hiccups were muffled behind his strong forelegs.

"I'm sorry..." he weeped. "I'm so sorry... I wasn't quick enough to save you... If only I had reached you in time, I... I could have saved you... I have failed to protect both of you... I have failed as a husband and a father... Forgive me..."

Then, his jaw clenched, gasping for air.

"It's that dragon's fault... It's its fault... It has impeded your honor... And Princess Celestia expects me to sit and do nothing to restore it?? She knows nothing! Nothing! I couldn't just remain and allow both of them to defile you!"

His weeping reduced to a bitter snarl.

"Damn you... Damn you, you vile beast... Damn you, Princess Celestia! Damn you both to the deepest pits of hell!"

Suddenly, something heavy landed directly behind him.

His eyes widened from behind his forelegs. He slowly looked up to the pile of ash in front of him, which was being blown away by the massive wall of wind emerging from behind his reclined body.

A deep growl vibrated through the earth he lied upon.

That jeering growl...

That, vile, vile growl...

Hellfire slowly rose to his hooves.

He turned around, and crouching behind him was the damned beast whose claws were coated with the blood of his family. A seething rage boiled inside of Hellfire's muscles, summoning a rage that he had never encountered in his life...

...But, at the same time, felt really soothing.

"You..." he snarled.

He was responded by the jeering squint of the dragon's eyes.

"I've been waiting for you... So you have finally come out of your grimy hole to face me..."

He placed his helmet back on his head. He lifted his sword with his magic, pointing the blade at his target. His eyes were screaming with the wild lust for battle.

"You have caused great pain and despair onto me and my family. For that, I will punish you by sending you back into your hole in HELL!"

The dragon growled fiercely, emitting menacing sparks from inside its maw, eagerly accepting the challenge.

"COME!" Hellfire roared.

The dragon slammed one of his massive claws into the earth, taking a menacing step forward. It shot its head forward at the unicorn, opening its maw, filled with razor sharp teeth. However, Hellfire veered to one side, dodging it. He swung around, instantly hacking at its neck with his sword. Instead of blood, sparks flew from the scaly mass, bouncing the sword off. This stunned Hellfire, because of the massive energy he put into his swing.

The dragon blinked in confusion after it bit down into air. The stallion was quicker than it thought. It whirled around to see its opponent, trying to gain his center of gravity again. Angry and irritated that he had made a fool out of it, the beast snarled as it lifted its claw from the ground, ripping out chunks of earth along with it. Hellfire read the dragon's next move and dove out of the way, avoiding the claw, crashing into where he was standing before. It shook the area, nearly knocking the stallion off of his hooves.

However, the dragon was not finished. It lifted its claw and flung it toward the downed Hellfire again. He seeing the massive claw drop on top of him again, he saw he had no time to stand up and dive. He rolled to the side, and the claw had missed him again, only this time by three inches. It repeatedly attempted to crush him again and again, but the orange stallion kept finding maneuvers to dodge its attacks.

Snarling in aggravation, the dragon flung its claw down at him once more. Hellfire could feel his brain swirl from all the rolling and dodging he did for the past attempts. He saw the beast's claw closing in fast on him. Knowing that he had less of a chance to dodge it, he used a last-minute surge of magic from his horn, holding the scaly hammer four feet above him.

The dragon growled. It knew this kind of strategy. However, it was more difficult to break out of if more than one unicorn was casting this magic. The dragon pushed down against it. Hellfire brow furrowed furiously, trying to push his magic to push back. However, his dizzy mind betrayed him, making him currently feeble with his magic. The heavy claw was inching closer and closer, nearing itself to seal Hellfire's fate.

However, the unicorn had a backup. He saw his sword on the ground beside him. If he was going to do this, then he would have to shut off the magic holding the dragon's claw. It would mean instant death.

Then again, death was not an option for the stallion.

He had to be quick.

He took a strained breath and shut off the magic holding the dragon, and quickly focused it on his sword. The claw was closing in on him. Grabbing the entire sword, he yanked toward himself and lifted its point up to the palm of the claw.

The claw fell on top of the blade, and the top half of the blade disappeared into the palm with fresh blood leaking out from it. Plus, it had stopped just two inches from Hellfire's nose. Apparently, he had hit the bone to make it stop like that.

The dragon roared before it wailed in pain. It lifted its claw, seeing the sword stuck in it like a skewer. The dragon did not know that Hellfire was still attached to it, because this telekinetic magic was strong in a limited range, and it would reel him in with it. The unicorn scrambled onto the dragon's wrist and twisted the blade in its fleshy sheath. The dragon roared in pain again. It shook its claw furiously, flinging Hellfire off, along with the sword. The unicorn landed near some large boulders protruding from the ground. His sword landed twenty feet away from him. Hellfire sprang to his hooves, smiling with pride, seeing that he was able to hurt the beast. Its pain pleased him.

The behemoth looked at the open, bleeding wound in its palm. It belched a blood-curdling growl, getting angry at the orange stallion.

Hellfire dashed toward his sword.

Though, already, the dragon learned that if he was to get a grasp of that sword again, defeating him would be more difficult. It inhaled deeply and sparks erupted from its maw. It breathed a massive pillar of fire in front of the stallion, stopping him in his tracks. Hellfire sprung back, avoiding the wall of the rushing inferno. However, the dragon's head turned to face Hellfire, shifting the pillar of fire toward him. The unicorn scrambled to avoid. Just before it touched him, he crouched behind one of the boulders protruding from the ground.

Licks of fire curled around it, making Hellfire's sides hot. His eyes shifted left and right, trying to find an opening, but the flames curling around the boulder sealed the way. His sides grew hotter, and the flames protruding from the boulder's sides began to near him. Droplets of seething, melted rock dripped down from the top, drooling down on him.

Hellfire cussed in his breath, believing that this was going to the end of the line, until something shimmered four feet in front of him.

Squinting through the brightness and heat of the flames, he saw that the shimmering object was a spearhead, which had fallen off one of the Royal Guards' lances.

He enveloped it with his horn magic and reeled it toward him. His turned his head, pressing his cheek against the boulder. He levitated the spearhead up to his face. If he even so much as inched his head around the boulder, his face would melt to the bone. He looked at the flames flying past the boulder. Determining the direction they were blowing, the dragon had to be right...

...THERE!

He shot the spearhead up past the flames and hurled it with all of the power his horn could carry.

The dragon noticed the flying dart, but dodged too late. The spearhead shot by, slashing deep into its the side of its nose, tearing the cartilage.

The pain startled the beast, shutting off its fire. It brushed at its nose crazily with its forearm, driven wild by the stinging pain, the nose being a sensitive and lightly armored body part of a dragon. It wailed, smearing its face with its own blood.

Hellfire peeked around the boulder to see the damage he had done and he huffed in victory. A great and lucky shot! His sword was lying on the ground, waiting for him to wield it. He pushed off of the boulder, sprinting to it at full speed.

The dragon saw him and snarled loudly, maddened by Hellfire's missile. It slammed its blood-smeared claw into the earth and shot another pillar of fire at him.

The stallion saw the wall of the inferno zoom in on him, and he dug his hooves into the ground, skidding behind another boulder. He pushed against the ground to prevent him from sliding out the other side. He nearly lost his balance the moment he stopped and lurched forward. The wall of the inferno kissed his nose, nearly burning off the fur that resided there. He responded quickly by shooting a bullet of magic from his horn, using the blowback to his advantage. He fell onto his back, safe behind the boulder.

He scrambled back onto his hooves, pressing his back against the stone shield. He could see the handle of his sword peek out from the wall of fire that blew past his shelter. He cussed in his breath. He was so close to getting it, and now the blade would have already melted in the fire.

However, after a lurch of the dragon's head to one direction, he found out that he was wrong. His blade was still intact and sturdy. Because it was able to withstand the temperature of the fire, the blade had also absorbed the scalding heat, making it glow a bright orange-yellow.

Hellfire's eyebrow rose as a gruesome battle tactic crossed his mind.

The fire consumed it again, because the beast had rocked its head back into pinpoint position to seal away the unicorn's escape.

Through the flames, Hellfire enveloped the handle of the sword with his magic, reeling it in toward him. He lifted his sword, meeting the blade with his eye level. The blade sizzled and sung a high-pitched, continuous ring.

Now, to find another opening.

Still holding the sword with his magic, he lifted his helmet off of his head. He calculated the direction the fire was blowing and locked on his target. This time, he aimed higher.

He shot his helmet up past the fire and launched it at the dragon.

However, the dragon had grown wise of Hellfire's strategy, and ducked its head to avoid the missile.

Back at Hellfire, he looked up to see the fire wall parting above him. He leapt up, darting out the opening. As he was in the air, he saw the dragon's head, still ducking low.

It wasn't long until the dragon noticed him in the air. It hurled another pillar of fire, directing all of it at him. However, the stallion's horn glowed brightly, and he immediately disappeared in an orange flash, avoiding the dragon's fire at the dot.

Another orange flash flashed just to the side of the burning column and closer to the dragon's face. Shooting out of the magic smog was the orange stallion with his sword hovering at his side. He closed in on the dragon's head, twisting his body in the air, preparing to hurl a huge, heavy hack.

"HHRRYYYYAAAAAAAAAH!"

He swung with all of his might, and the blade sank into the monster's eyeball, running out of the other side like a knife slicing into an orange.

The dragon's wailing roar of pain pierced the night sky. Blood squirted out of its wound like a fountain, raining onto the ground. Hellfire still flew, running into the dragon's wing. He punctured the blade into the paper-like tissue and glided down, tearing it apart in his wake.

He landed on the ground, avoiding the dragon's wild, staggering movements. Hot blood speckled onto his face. He snarled in bliss, seeing the glorious damage he had caused onto such a large creature.

"And Princess Celestia believes that I couldn't hold this beast out on my own? Think again, Princess!" he sneered to himself.

The dragon's staggering had stilled. Smoke leaked out from its nostrils along with the cut that he had made. It whirled its head around, shooting a hellish glare at the orange unicorn stallion, who was gloating at it.

Hellfire smirked as he lifted his blood-stained sword in front of his face, looking past it.

This battle was far from over.

It had begun.

A white, graceful, regal, yet weary alicorn sauntered slowly in the long hallway. She could feel her horn throb and pulsate throughout her skull. Her eyes were wrinkled below, displaying bags. All of this was as a result of her finishing sinking the sun over the horizon. However, the gleaming beauty that looms all over the rest of her body overshadowed her weary expression, making it look less noticeable. She was still as beautiful as a white rose.

She sighed sadly through her nose. She knew the reason why she returned to the hall. She still had to apologize and show more sympathy to Hellfire. The last visit was less than what she wished.

She lost her sister one thousand years ago.

He lost his family a few hours ago.

She had been through such an event before. Only she had the power to console and sympathize with him.

The darkness that loomed near the torches of the halls were merciful on her weary eyes.

However, something struck her, making her more awake than she was. She noticed that the guards were no longer standing by the doors. This struck some frustration in her. She had given them specific orders to remain where they were until she had returned. However, she did not bother. She was too tired to show frustration. One the other hoof, who knows if the two guards were needed for an important call of duty?

Whatever the reason, she remained with her goal.

The door was closed, unknownst to her that it was shut by the wind blowing through the broken window. She walked up to it, and knocked it gently.

She did not enter, though. Hellfire was an emotional wreck. Learning from his attitude from earlier, she believed it would be best to stay clear of him.

"Hellfire," she spoke softly, but loud enough to be heard from behind the door. "It's me. Princess Celestia."

She waited for a sound. Nothing came.

"I have come to apologize for the attitude I had displayed from earlier. You... You just lost your family. You must feel so traumatized, and... and defeated... grief-stricken... It was pretty foolish of me to grow impatient of you, using my old-fashioned 'Canterlot Voice'."

She giggled lightly at her small joke, trying to lighten the mood. She faltered back into sympathy.

"Trust me, Hellfire... I have been through this pain before. I had to banish my dear sister, Luna, for a long, long time. It felt as if she really was dead inside my heart. I wanted more than anything to bring her back, but there was no way to make it possible. I just wished I had done something more to calm her, to prevent that sad event from happening. I'm sure we all have done something in the past that we could have done better at."

She could feel her dry eyes moisten with tears.

"I understand your pain, Hellfire. You have to listen to me. You mustn't let this corrupt you, no matter how much it hurts. I know I had almost slipped into that one thousand years ago. I had nearly lost my subjects' loyalty because of my moodiness. Instead, I had moved on. I want you move on, too, Hellfire, because I love you, just as I love every single one of my subjects. It would hurt me so much lose even one of them. Even you..."

She stood in the dim hallways silently. She inhaled sharply, fighting back the urge to burst into tears. She swallowed the thick saliva in her mouth, which pained her straining throat.

"Please, Hellfire," her voice began to croak. "Let go of your lust for revenge. Let me help you. We could get through this together, you and I."

...

"Please," she whispered beckoningly.

Whooooooossssshh...

She could hear the wind hiss from the opening between the floor and the door. She also heard the slight tinkle of what sounded like broken glass.

Her face softened, growing in confusion, which then transformed into disbelief.

"H-Hellfire?" she spoke near the wood of the door.

She turned the doorknob of the door and pushed it open. However, it was pushing against her and the cool wind wrapped around her, spilling onto her white coat of fur. She pushed harder against it until it was fully open and angled away from the doorway.

The scattered broken glass...

The blood on the floor...

The gaping window...

Celestia gasped, praying to the stars that her eyes were playing tricks on her. However, her prayers were for naught. This was what she was seeing in reality. The empty window panes creaked, calling for her to take a look outside. Her gold-decorated hooves carefully walked over the broken glass and blood until she was standing right in front of the large opening. She leaned forward, poking her head out from past the empty window panes. She looked down to see the treetops lancing up towards her like a pit of spikes. She could not see through the foliage because of the darkness. She spread her wings and leapt graciously out of the window, careful to avoid the jagged edges of the window. She swooped down, hovering over the slope of the mountain.

Once she reached the bottom at the edge of the forest, she spread her wings to brake, giving her a soft landing. She saw bits of glass sparkle among the blades of the grass. She neared them, only to find some blood diffuse in the grass as well.

She gasped loudly, automatically covering her gaping mouth with her gold-capped hoof. Her eyes began to strain, pushing out tears.

"Oh, no..." she whispered.

There, in front of her was the orange stallion, on his back with his legs splaying up into the air as he lied in his own puddle of blood. He was covered in scratches and other punctured bit of glass. His dead eyes gazed into the night sky.

She slowly walked up to his corpse, kneeling on all fours next to it. A tear dripped onto its blood speckled coat.

"I'm sorry, Hellfire," she whispered in tears. "I'm so, so sorry... I wasn't fast enough to help you..."

She bit her lip, realizing the cruel coincidence of this event. What she said earlier...

Her chin wrinkled as her wet cheek nuzzled the dead orange stallion's belly. Her shoulders trembled from each silent sob she made.

"Forgive me..." she shakily whispered. "This is all my fault..."

She remained with his silent body for five minutes until she taken her cheek off of him. Her long horn glowed, spurting yellow sparks and an aura. Another yellow aura reappeared, concealing the body, lifting him up gently. She spread her wings and beat them slowly, summoning a slow take-off, carrying the body with her as well with her magic. She landed back into the shattered room and walked past the broken glass up to the door. She walked out, still carrying the corpse and into the room next to it.

She placed the body gently on top of the bed. The remaining blood on the body stained the white sheets. She grabbed the covers and slowly drawn it over the body. She lifted the flap of the sheet to cover his face, but she stopped to look at the orange stallion's silent face.

His eyes were still gaping open. She pushed his eyelids down with her white hoof.

Now, his face looked peaceful.

Celestia swallowed the pushing urge to weep. She shut her eyes and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead.

"Forgive me, Hellfire..." she whispered before unfolding the sheet over his face.

It felt as if hours had past.

Hellfire crouched low to the ground, panting heavily, squinting through the sweat that rolled excessively from his brow. Every inch of his fur coat was dampened with excess sweat, nearly dripping onto the earth he stood upon. Huge chunks of his armor were torn off by the dragon's vicious claws. He was lucky enough to avoid instant death when those claws struck him, but he hardly managed to escape their wrath. Deep, damp, dripping cuts were bare on his body where the armor used to cover. The entire left-front of his chest piece was ripped off, leaving a large, gnarly, deep cut starting up the top-right of his neck, crossing over down to his right collar bone. One of his left leg piece was torn off, leaving a deep, bleeding cut in its wake.

Blood flowed plentifully from his wounds, but Hellfire took no effect from the blood-loss. He expressed no weaziness, no weakness, no simple sign of giving in. His rage was what was keeping him alive.

Pure, seething, bloody, hellish rage...

His heavy panting reduced to growling, eyeing his roaring opponent in front if him.

The dragon dug its bloodied and scratched claws into the earth, tearing viciously into it. Air hissed repetitively out of its nostrils in the growing fatigue it was experiencing. Deep wounds were visible past the broken and knocked-off scales that used to reside on its body. They were covering its arms, parts of its belly, its legs, the neck, and even its head. Hot, scarlet blood leaked from them like rivers, wedging and passing between scales and dripping off its elbows, chin, and underbelly.

It snarled in irritation. How could one, small, measly pony weaken a massive and dangerous beast like itself? Alone? It did not make any sense!

However, the dragon believed it was no excuse to be slain by the likes of him. Sparks erupted from its maw.

"You still persist, heathen?" growled the orange stallion. "THEN, FINE BY ME!!"

"FINE BY ME!!" the little colt shouted, launching himself at the fat, navy-blue colt.

Hellfire launched himself at the dragon.

The dragon swung its bloody claw at him, only met by a leaping dodge by the orange stallion. He leapt onto its torn wing, bounding off of it toward the dragon's head.

The little colt shot landed a hard hoof to the bully's eye.

He slashed the other eye like a hot knife through butter. The dragon screeched in pain as blood squirted out from behind its eyelid. The stallion twisted around in the air to see the success of his damage.

However, he was far from over.

After a bright glow shining from his horn, he vanished in into thin air and reappeared, perched on top of the dragon's head.

He landed on top of him, pinning him down. Seeing his opponent open and defenseless, he let out a barrage of hard punches onto his face, strike after strike...

With all of his might, Hellfire began to hammer the top of the dragon's scaled head. The dragon roared in defiance, trying to brush him off. However, the stallion kept slamming his blade down onto its head with sparks dancing from the blade. Each strike stroke a heavy, harmonic bang.

The scales being beaten down by Hellfire's strikes began to dent and chip, which was not fast enough for the unicorn. He hammered down on them harder, expelling angry growls from behind his baring teeth.

Now, the scales were being flung off and broken by Hellfire's chipping blade. Bits of metal and broken scale flung into his face.

The dragon underneath his hooves snarled, reaching the slippery end of its rope. It raised its mighty claw into the air, aiming for the top of its skull.

Hellfire saw bare flesh past the dented and broken scales.

The beast extended its claws, exposing the sharp edges.

The unicorn lifted his blade high above his head, pointing the tip straight down.

The claw began its heavy descent.

"RRYYYYAAAAAAHH!!!" Hellfire roared, spearing the blade down with all of his might.

The tip of the blade cut through the flesh, broke past the shell of the skull, and punctured down deep into its brain.

The dragon wailed over the excruciating pain, knocking its claw off-course. However, the claw did not miss much of him. Two of the tips of the dragon's natural weapon struck the armor covering his rear. The sharp tips punctured the armor and dug into his right flank, tearing viciously down to his first joint.

Hellfire bared his teeth against the pain and tightened his grip of the handle of the sword sticking out of the dragon's head.

Underneath him, the creature's head whipped around uncontrollably. Its legs fumbled with the grip on the ground, making it swerve and sway. Its large, torn wings flapped wildly, creating a tsunami of wind. Balls of fire spasmodically shot out from its mouth.

Then, all of the dragon's movements were at rest to make way for the tip-over. After its final wailing roar, it swayed backwards and crashed onto the ground, creating a huge earthquake in the area. Dirt and debris shot up into the air.

Then, all was silent, except for the hissing smoke from the dragon's open mouth.

Hellfire opened his eyes after shutting them from the floating debris. Seeing that everything was silent, he yanked his sword out from the dragon's head. Blood dripped from its chipped surface as well as chunks of metal that still hung on.

He panted heavily as he climbed up the dragon's long neck and up to its belly. A soothing wave of bliss coated his innards as he saw the dead beast, under his hooves, ornate with numerous wounds and splotches of blood.

His breathing grew louder, relishing the his victory.

He rose his sword into the air and with the remaining energy that remained in him, he summoned a battle cry, echoing loudly past the towering trees of the forest.

Celestia's ear twitched, whipping around to catch the sound from behind the window beside the stairway that was leading up into her royal bedroom.

"What in the heavens was...?" she mumbled.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she squinted through her own reflection, seeing a gargantuan, warped tower of smoke rise from the forest.

Not looking away from the tower, she turned to descend the stairs, but was stopped by a hoof pressing onto her chest.

"No, sister," a navy-blue alicorn said in a serious tone. "You must get your rest. I'll see to this."

Celestia was surprised at her sister's sudden appearance, but she was also surprised at her determination. She had never seen her little sister go off into a conflict on her own.

"Luna..." she said softly.

"It's all right, sister. Don't worry about me," the smaller alicorn nodded.

Celestia automatically reeled her into a hug, holding her tightly against her chest.

"Please be careful," she whispered.

"Nnf! 'Tiaaa! I'm going to be fiiiine!" her sister groaned. "I'm not a little filly!"

The white alicorn hugged tighter. She already lost Hellfire; she could not bear to lose Luna either. She was suffering enough from sadness.

After ten seconds of being held in her older sister's embrace, Luna gently wriggled out of Celestia's arms.

"I must go, but I will return, my sister."

The night princess shot a beam of magic at an area of a window, and its surface became wavy like water. She flapped her dark wings, hovering in the air. Then, she passed through the window, splashing through it. Dark chariots and bat-winged troops dove from the night sky and followed behind their leader.

"Be damned, beast..." Hellfire sneered in spite. "Your blood has been shed."

He pawed his hooves into the dragon's dead hide, climbing down. However, his weak legs gave in, causing him to tumble and fall roughly onto the ground, landing on his shoulder.

He groaned in pain, also feeling his energy diminish. His muscles felt weak and feeble when he tried to stand back up. He lurched forward, falling onto his front. His head felt like it was dropped into the wall of a whirlpool and had been shot out of it again. His vision began to blur, seeing two of everything in his path. Blood dripped noisily onto the ground, making small sounds. His breathing sounded rattly, wheezing deeply.

He took a slow step forward, lethargically walking forward. He lifted his sword handle, but the tip toppled over, touching the ground. The tip of the sword drew a line in the earth, leaving a bloody line in its wake.

He did it.

He killed the beast.

All by himself.

He avenged his family.

But, why was he still feeling unsatisfied?

He killed the killer. It should have ended right at the moment the dragon drew its last breath, but it didn't.

No, the dragon was not the only one who tainted his family's honor.

Suddenly, the energy that resided in his body from earlier had resurrected inside his soul. He raised the tip of his blade from the ground. It shined in the moonlight.

This was the time of night when the Princess of the Sun slumbers.

"Now, Princess Celestia," he said menacingly. "I'm coming for you..."

"Guard the princess," Shining Armor said to two Royal Guards standing in front of him. "Apparently, some strange things are happening tonight. Plus, with that dragon still on the loose, we'll never know if it ever picks up where it left off. We will not take any chances after a debacle like that."

The two guards nodded in understanding.

"All right. Your orders have been given. Guard her with your life."

"Sir!" they said in unison.

The white unicorn turned away, walking with heavy hooves and a hanging head. Princess Celestia's voice kept echoing in his head from the last conversation they shared.

"Shining Armor..."

"Yes, Princess?"

"I... I'm so sorry..."

"About what?"

There was silence.

"What's the matter, Princess?"

"I... I was walking back to visit Hellfire again. I wanted to make amends for the last visit, but when I got there..."

Shining Armor's breathing tensed up.

"He was gone..."

"What?! Gone?? That selfish son of a--! Well, we can't just stand around and do nothing! We've got to find him! I'll send in some recon scouts to--!"

"But, he's already been found."

"Then, what--?"

"He was found... Dead..."

He could hear his own breath being cut short.

"Threw himself out of the window... Stories high... He... He was impaled by the glass that met him below... It was too late to save him..."

Silence crawled in again. Shining Armor was silent as the corpse.

"I'm so sorry, Shining Armor..." she said tearily. "I wish it wasn't true, but..."

She could not finish, feeling guilty as she was.

"He was your best friend since foalhood," she said, swallowing the saliva that built up in her mouth. "You have my deepest condolences..."

The sound of departing hooves followed by the sound of a shutting door echoed throughout the chamber.

His eyes were dark from the shade of the helmet as he hung his head.

A pink hoof slithered underneath his chin and lifted his face to see a pink alicorn wearing a gold tiara and a long, lemon-yellow, maroon, and purple mane. Her large, violet eyes looked into his, expressing sadness.

"I heard the news..." she said to him.

Shining Armor's eyes shifted downwards, avoiding his fiancé's gaze. He tightened his lips, stifling the will to tear up. However, it was too stubborn. His eyes began to moisten.

"He..." his words slowly came out. "I was going to ask him to be my best stallion..."

Bitter tears trailed from his eyes, dripping slowly onto the marble floor.

"That selfish idiot..."

The pink alicorn's eyes fluttered, feeling teary herself. She slid her hooves around her lover's neck, pulling him in for a sympathetic hug. "I'm going to miss him, too..."

"One more than others, Cadence," he whimpered, tightly hugging her back.

Celestia could not sleep.

Screaming images of Hellfire and his stunned expression polluted her mind.

Why did she have to grow impatient with him? Why didn't she act more sympathetic with him earlier?

He would still be alive.

She pulled the covers farther up to her neck. Periwinkle squares of light crept up from windows of balcony door and towered themselves up to the middle of the princess' mattress., warping along with the curves of her body. All of her room was dark, being overshadowed by the violet night sky. She saw the silhouettes of the two guards vigilantly standing outside on her balcony. On the other side of her room was a red cloth banner, which was hung in memoriam of the soldiers who died tonight, defending his or her nation. The color resembled the blood that had been spilt on the field of battle.

She shut her eyes, trying to calm her mind from the tragedy of earlier. She imagined her mother singing a lullaby to her when she was a little filly. Her sweet, soothing voice... Her gentle hooves stroking her mane...

Her breaths elongated relaxingly. Her mind had settled down, finally grabbing ahold of much desired sleep...

...Not noticing the single, towering shadow creeping over her curved form.

The balcony door slowly creaked open, leaking a weak breeze from the crack. As it opened, a figure silently walked in. Two pairs of white and gray hooves fell to the ground limply behind it, lying in puddles of blood. A pair of eyes glistened in anger as they spotted the sleeping entity, open to attack.

As it walked into the squared of light, the figure's coat glistened an orange color, revealing symmetrical patches of dirt like it used to wear armor. Its black hair blew past its head. A sword slowly slid out of its sheath, and its blade lifted up, reflecting moonlight onto the figure's face, full of spite and grim intention.

"May your eyes awaken the moment this blade strikes, Princess..." Hellfire sneered.

He used his magic to slowly push the covers down past the sleeping alicorn's shoulders. He lifted his sword up into the air, pointing the tip at the base of her neck.

"...I want to see the look of irony and despair in your eyes as they gaze upon the one who has slain you tonight."

He lifted it up higher, readying the kill.

"Hm... The irony..."

"SISTER!!" screamed a voice behind him.

After a flash of blue magic shooting at his back, Hellfire was launched over Celestia's bed, flying into the red banner and crashing the furniture behind it.

Celestia had woken up with a start, gasping in surprise. She saw her sister, Luna, perched onto the railing of the balcony with her glowing horn pointing forward in combat. To the other side of her room was something shifting underneath the banner.

"Luna! What's going on??" the awakened alicorn asked.

From under the red cloth, the orange stallion could see the navy-blue alicorn. He cussed foully in his breath. He could not believe he had forgotten about her meddling sister. He stood up, pulling the banner over his face to prevent them from seeing his identity.

"That scum had just attempted to slay you in your sleep!" the moon princess said. "Have at thee, whelp!"

Hellfire tugged out two tongues of the cloth at his neck and quickly fastened a pin onto them, making a spur-of-the-moment cloak. He reeled his sword back to him and lunged at the sun princess. Luna acted fast and shot at him again. As it hit his body, the little arrows of magic dispersed, circling around him. The small beams wove themselves into a floating sphere, barricading him inside.

He hammered his blade against the barrier, only to be bounced off with every strike he made. Through it, he could see Celestia stare stupidly at him. He growled viciously, trying to near himself toward her, still adamant of doing her harm.

"Have you forgotten that I am here, pony?" Luna smiled tauntingly at him. "You NEVER slay my sister when I am around! Your foolishness is what had given you away."

Because of the pesky sister's jeering, the stallion's rage only quadrupled. His horn began to glow brightly, summoning magic of brute force. He crouched low to the bottom of the barrier, obtaining all the energy within him. An orange barrier expanded around him, pushing against Luna's blue barrier.

"Ha, ha! You think you could break out of this, whelp? Well, you are wrong!" the princess of the night laughed in jest. "You are combatting against alicorn magic, which is far too strong for the likes of--!"

After a loud growl of strain, Hellfire pumped all of the strength into his expanding barrier, cracking the surface of the blue barrier. Luna's face faltered. She had underestimated the power of rage that resided in one determined pony.

"What? Impossib--!"

Luna's barrier cracked open, showering a bright maelstrom of light, blinding both of the sisters.

When the light cleared, the two alicorns were alone.

"But... That's impossible!" the navy-blue alicorn exclaimed. "Nopony had ever escaped my bubble barrier! Or is it that I did not add enough strength? Oh, curses!"

She noticed her sister, staring comatosely out the balcony door. Luna dashed over to her, craning her neck to inspect her sister of any wounds.

"'Tia! Are you all right? Are you hurt?" she asked.

"I... I'm fine," she stammered.

"Oh, thank the stars!" Luna sighed. "I was so worried about you! I was on my way back from investigating the premises when I saw your slain guards. I was deathly frightened for your safety."

"My guards?" she asked cluelessly.

She looked down to see her two guards lying in their own blood. She gasped in fright. If her sister hadn't come, then she would have suffered the same fate as they did.

"He was going to stab you through the neck! That fiend! How dare he tried to take your life!" her little sister ranted, pacing angrily. "This will not stand!"

However, in the midst of the moon princess' active ranting, Celestia continued to gawk at the two dead guards. They were slain with such gruesomeness, vulgarity, and brutality. Yet, above all of that, it was all executed so stealthily that not even she had been woken up by it.

Her eyes traced up to the sky.

The killer had to be somewhere out there.

"But..." she whispered. "Who is it? Who would do such a thing?"

"Oh, I almost forgot, sister!" Luna stopped her pacing, floating back over to her sibling. "I have seen something that you would not believe."

"What is it?"

"During my investigation, I saw the dragon that had attacked from earlier. It's dead."

Celestia's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates when she had heard this. "Wh--? What?? Dead?"

"Yes, my sister," Luna nodded. "It was killed."

"Killed? But, I didn't send anypony to chase after it! I concluded that it was over!" she shook her head in disbelief.

"I know. Apparently, somepony had different opinions."

Celestia stared at her sister, raising a questioning eyebrow. "'Somepony,' you say? Come now, Luna, that's ridiculous! One pony could not have done this all by his or herself! It had to be a group."

"I hate to disagree with you, sis," the moon princess took a deep breath. "But it was one pony."

The sun princess was stunned. She gawked at her in shock, hardly believing what she was hearing.

The navy-blue princess continued. "I found a single trail of bloody hoof prints and a long line of dribbled blood. Even if it was done by a group of ponies, I would've seen bodies of ponies down there, too. Plus, for logic's sake, there is no way an entire group of ponies would easily mimic the tracks of their leader, making it look like there was only one."

She paused to think. Then, with a look of anger, she stomped her hoof. "I had just thought of something! Those tracks were heading directly back to the castle. I think the dragon's killer is connected to the one who had tried to kill you, sister."

The white alicorn was silent. She should feel relieved that a threat had been removed for the sake of her subjects, but at the same time, it was bewildering. She had not expected it to be ridden of so soon. What also bewildered her was why this somewhat abnormal pony would kill off a massive threat to Equestria, and then turn right around and attempt to take her life as well.

The thought of the dead dragon made her think of Hellfire. He was the one who had desired to rid the world of it. Would he be mortified to find out that somepony else had done it for him?

Unless...

No! That was impossible! Hellfire was dead. She had seen his corpse right in front of her eyes. There was no way that...

She gave up. The whole situation explained by her sister was too wild for her to comprehend. She did not know anymore.

"But... Who? Who would do all of this?" she asked herself.

Outside of Canterlot, a red speck was climbing up on a flat surface on the slope of the mountain.

Hellfire lifted his body over the edge, rolling himself onto the stable landing. His entire body felt as if all of his energy was suckled out by a monstrous leech. His limbs felt foamy and feeble, nearly trembling as he stood himself up. His head was as heavy as a large rock that had been washed up on the shore. He panted heavily, on the verge of wheezing. He coughed twice from his clenching chest. Looking under his newly-found cloak, he saw that his wounds were dried up, but damp in little parts. They glittered, maroon-red with oily patches of blood. He saw his cutie mark, nearly defaced off of his flank by the two gnarly scratches.

After twenty seconds, his breathing returned to normal. From where he was standing, he could see Celestia's bedroom below, just about a one-third of a mile in front of him. He saw her white coat, still reclining in bed, looking out of the balcony. He squinted, sneering at her presence.

He pushed one side of his cloak away, revealing a pouch strapped onto his hip. He unfastened the button, opening the top of it. Something inside of it glowed orange from his horn magic. It levitated out of the pouch, hovering in front of his face and lowering itself into the hollow of his forehoof.

Golden Dune's necklace shimmered in the moonlight. The Fate's Eye medallion stared back into his soul, once again putting images of his wife and child into his corrupt mind. Tears filled in his eyes.

"It is said that whoever wears this is wearing a piece of Fate's eye, watching everything around you, guiding you toward a good life," he heard his wife say.

"But, it didn't..." he muttered, choking back sobs. "You're dead... Obsidia, too... I couldn't save you quickly enough..."

"I love you, Hellfire..."

He could not fight it anymore.

His chin quivered and his brows bunched together. He gasped and choked, being cruelly beaten by tantalizing memories of his family.

Why him?

Why must he be the one to be alone?

If only he could get them back...

...

"Mommy, why is Daddy crying?"

...

"Oh, my poor Hellfire..."

He entire mind shook awake.

"Obsidia?? Golden Dune??" the words crept out of his mouth.

However, they were not there. His mind was continuing to beat him senselessly.

Unless, their spirits had just accompanied him for the last time before departing into the heavens.

Either way, he was on his own.

He glanced at the Eye again.

His breathing loudened in rising anger.

"No... My fate will be proliferate... All of Equestria's fate will be proliferate... However..."

He yanked the medallion off of the chain. He unfastened the safety pin that held the cloak slung on his body, hooking the loop of the medallion onto the needle. He fastened the pin again, showcasing his new mark.

"...It will not be under her rule. A leader who disrespects the family of one should not be allowed to be known as 'Our Kindly Leader of Equestria'. They will get a leader who cares for them like his or her family was his own. Plus, they will get a leader who will always protect them from death, so they will never experience the pain of loss ever again. More than their last leader."

He stared down at the sun princess through the window once again.

"And I will not stop until that fate has been met. However, I won't do it alone. I will have followers."

The light in her bedroom had shut off.

"You have made a grave mistake, Princess Celestia..."

His cloak flapped in the wind.

"You will PAY..."

Celestia opened her eyes, seeing a certain, tall, cloaked shadow creeping over her.

"You will die... by Dragonfire."

She whipped her head around to see nothing but the side of the mountain.

When she returned to recline on the bed once more, the shadow was gone...

END...