The windshields of the mechs had shattered from the temperatures, and inside their mech, Rainbow was freezing. Parts of her body had been frozen over from the ice. Twilight immediately noticed the mare's condition, and stepped down from the destroyed pod. She gently rested her hooves against the mare, small flames surrounding them. She massaged each of the spots encased in ice, melting it away slowly and helping warm the mare up. Rainbow sighed, finally beginning to relax as the cold dispersed. Twilight glanced to the side, and stopped what she was doing when she noticed something through the mist her flames and the ice had made. She shook Rainbow's shoulder, and pointed to the figure that was somehow still standing in the wreckage... Her laughter filled Twilight with dread.

"You ponies... you ponies are something else!" The mare cackled. "You want me dead so badly, I can just tell. Well, you've destroyed my mech and you've stopped my plans! Why don't you finish the job?"

"Is that an invitation?" Twilight hissed, flaring her wings and stepping to the edge of the cockpit.

"Twilight, don't," Rainbow put her leg in front of the mare's chest. "Don't give in."

"You have your chance!" Celestia continued to egg the mares on, even being so bold as to step forward a few paces. "I'm weak and powerless now, aren't I? Without my big bad machine? There's nothing protecting me now. And since you just hate me sooo much, surely you want to finish the job, right?"

Twilight recalled when she was levelling the city. She wanted nothing more than to finally kill Celestia and put an end to the torment. She had the opportunity. Her flames were always at her disposal. She blinked, anger flaring up in her eyes...

"Your ponies are suffering," Celestia continued again, making Twilight flinch. "Listen, Twilight Sparkle. Can't you hear them crying out for you? Can't you hear their agony echoing off the walls inside of this ship?"

She could. When Celestia had mentioned it, Twilight could feel their pain. She could hear their cries bouncing off metal and into the breaks in the ships. They fell into the open air, their chorus of pain breaking her heart. Her body began to shake, and once more her veins wanted to pop. The leather against her coat felt tighter than ever, clenching down on her tense muscles. She grew a snarl onto her face, and threw a death glare in the princess's direction.

"Celestia..." Twilight hissed to herself, spreading her legs in preparation to run.

"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled at her, trying to snap her out of it.

Twilight didn't listen. She shoved the mare's leg out of her way, and pushed her away from her. She ran down the slope the wreckage had created, and her horn was swallowed in bright flames.

"I'll never forgive you!!" Twilight shouted. "Never!!"

When Twilight was finally close enough to Celestia, she lowered her head. The flames she expelled from her horn were hotter than lava freshly spilling from a volcano. She was beginning to sweat within seconds of using magic this intense, and she could even feel her horn burning. She wasn't used to using this much magic, and to be fully honest, her body hadn't properly recovered after her destruction. She could truly feel the aches now, but with any luck, she had done her job... and the pony was dead.

"...Is that it?" She heard the mare's voice say.

"What..?" Twilight gasped in shock, flapping her wings and pushing herself back as she stopped her onslaught. For a moment she had wondered if she was simply hallucinating. She blinked rapidly, shaking her head and staring through the flames as they began to die.

"I said, is that it?!" Celestia yelled up at her when the flames cleared.

She had... changed. Slit eyes stared at Twilight with more fury than ever seen before. Her mane had transformed from its beautiful and bright pastel colours, into a raging torrent of sunset orange flames. The flames fell around her body just like the silky mane of Nightmare Moon, and blazed with life. Her white coat that had always had the faintest pink sheen now glimmered with flecks of gold. She held her head high, eyes cast down on Twilight, nearly bright enough to make the mare cast a shadow behind her tangled tail.

"H-how are you..." Twilight spoke in shock, unable to fully finish her thought. Her ears pinned back as the flaming mare spoke again.

"You think your flames can hurt me?" Celestia taunted her, adjusting her stance. She lifted a hoof, the familiar teal and fuchsia flames sparking to life above her shoe. "You and I are not so different, Twilight Sparkle. I, too, have been cursed with this... disgusting infliction. For years I have held back, and unlike you, I have been able to control my flames. The urge to destroy the world around me can not keep me from my duties... as the saviour of my city!"

"You make it sound like you're so different," Twilight snapped, her teeth clattering together as she barked out her retort.

"That's because I am!" Celestia laughed, her voice silky again. Though she had regained her regality, the madness that flittered in her pupils was ever brighter. "I've had a horrible time containing these flames... but I've only gone back on my vow against destruction once. And it involves that mare's story too."

As Celestia pointed to Rainbow Dash, the blue mare blinked in surprise. Celestia's story involved hers? What was that supposed to mean? Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, leaving the confines of the mech's control pod to approach the scene. She stood on the wreckage nearby Twilight, meeting Twilight's concerned expression with one of her own. The mares focused on Celestia as the shock passed, and a serious look overtook her features.

"Before I became princess, I was just like you," Celestia sighed, lowering her head and staring at the rubble beneath her hooves. "Though not nearly as regal as I am today, I was but a poor pony who had happened to become victim to the Burnish Spasms that destroy my city day by day. I had held the urge back for so long, and to finally break was a world shattering experience. The force of the flames I expelled shattered my horn, and through the agony I had barely noticed what I'd done."

Celestia turned away from the ponies, flapping her wings and flying up to some of the wreckage around her mech. She pressed a hoof to the cold metal, a certain softness in her body that the two mares were more than used to seeing. Though her slit eyes contained nothing but fury, her eyelids had fallen half-lidded, and she looked at her creation with a sadness in her eyes. She closed her eyes, and lowered her head, sighing. She lifted her head and focused on the mares again to continue her story.

"When I looked up, the poor shop I had been walking past was in flaming ruins," Celestia said, pausing when the ponies gasped in shock. "...It was a horrible sight, for all eyes. No pony had seen what had truly happened, or known that it was my fault, but what happened then might surprise you. Because then... a little filly tumbled out of the wreckage. I had never seen a dull rainbow in my life, and that was the first time I ever did. She came to me, and she collapsed, unable to utter a sound."

Rainbow Dash began to recall the events as Celestia spoke them. Now she knew what Celestia had meant; that filly was her. Rainbow Dash blinked, the memories beginning to flow. When her family's shop had burnt down, she had been too young to even attend kindergarten. She could barely remember it, but Celestia brought back the events so clearly to the front of her mind. Tears sprung in her eyes, and her ears pinned back as she looked from the ground to the mare engulfed in flames.

"I picked her up, and only then did a crowd begin to gather," Celestia continued, leaping back down to the ground before the ponies. She stared at Twilight when she backed away, but chose to continue the story over belittling her. "I was hailed as a hero for rescuing the poor filly from the flames, at the cost of my horn. No pony knew the truth, but I knew I had a wondrous career ahead of me. I never again let my flames destroy the world, and I began to make a name for myself as I developed specialized weaponry to deal with Burnish flames. Who better to understand them than I?"

"But you didn't develop them," Twilight hissed, her wings raising off her back. "Princess Cadance did."

"Oh, you know about that?" Celestia mumbled to herself, but with the deafening silence after their battle, it wasn't hard to hear her disproval. "Lovely. Well, after our battle, I suppose I would have no reason to hide it from you anyways. While Cadance began the initial research, it was myself and my dear sister that continued it."

"After you stole it," Rainbow snorted in annoyance.

"I wouldn't call it stealing," Celestia said, slowly turning her head to glare at the rainbow maned mare. "I would call it... a transfer of ownership."

"You're sick," Twilight barked.

"So you didn't save me," Rainbow Dash continued their earlier topic. "You were just capitalizing off the moment."

"Somewhat..." Celestia purred joyfully. "You were just a very sweet convenience for me. If it weren't for you I never would've become the ruler of Equestria and this city. For that, I can thank you graciously... only by sparing your life. I had originally planned to kill you, but I find this revelation amusing, so you can live for now. But Twilight Sparkle..."

Twilight felt her heart beating when Celestia said her name. She cautiously stepped back, only to yell out in shock as Celestia's flames coiled around her body and lifted her into the air. She struggled against the mare's might, her wings pinned underneath the tight, crystallized coils, and her legs pressed tight together.

"You'll make a perfect addition to my project!" Celestia laughed, pulling the mare forth. "You're almost as strong as me... with you, I'll be able to use my engine even with it being broken. Your magic will be our vessel, and your comrades our offerings. With you as part of my project, nothing can stop me."

"Fuck-!" Twilight hissed, continuing to struggle against Celestia's might. "I refuse to let this happen!! No matter what, you can't make me take part in your vile schemes!"

"I didn't say you had a choice, did I?" Celestia chuckled, brushing a hoof through her fiery mane.

"That's enough!" Rainbow Dash shouted suddenly.

The two mares paused as a small ice bullet melted against Celestia's magic. They glanced between eachother, and looked to Rainbow Dash. She cocked her gun, her wings spread wide behind her back as she prepared herself to fire again.

"Put her down Celestia," Rainbow Dash demanded. "Or else."

"Or else?" Celestia snickered. "Hah! Listen to her... as if she thinks she can stop me when I already have everything I want! I find your insistence cute, now get out of my sight."

"Rainbow Dash, run!!" Twilight yelled as Celestia lowered her head.

Celestia held her head parallel to the ground, magic spiraling around each indent in her horn before it was expelled. Twilight wasn't ready to let this happen willingly. She tilted her head, firing her own blast of magic to shield Rainbow Dash from the onslaught Celestia had unleashed. Despite Twilight's efforts to shield the mare, Rainbow Dash was launched back from the force of Celestia's magic, and sent plummeting over the edge of the cold metal that made up the Eclipse. Twilight watched in horror as Rainbow fell over the side, and tears sprung in her eyes once the mare's blue figure had finally disappeared from her view. Rainbow Dash's silence as she fell over the edge could only signal the worst, and it made Twilight shake with fear. She snapped her eyes shut, and her ears pinned back as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"And you said you'd spare her life..." Twilight gasped. "You sick, lying, son of a bitch..."

"It was coming to her anyways," Celestia mused. "I had planned to have her executed today anyways. Might as well get it over with.

"Fuck you!!" Twilight shouted, trying again to force her way out of Celestia's grip.

"Cute, but no," Celestia cackled, flapping her wings and carrying herself into the air. "We have business to attend to, Twilight Sparkle. You're going to take us to the last leg of our journey, whether you like it or not! And I... oh, the things that I have planned are going to be just wonderful!"

Celestia's laughter filled the air as she dragged Twilight with her into the wreckage at the top of the ship. She dove through the holes in the ground, and made her way to the engine of the ship. She only had one goal in mind... and Twilight felt sick to her stomach knowing what it was.

Meanwhile, on the ground...

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie shouted, continuing to shake the mare. She had fallen quite a distance, and hadn't even bothered to catch herself with her wings. She was out only when she hit the ground, surely? Pinkie began to panick, still unsure of how to wake the mare up.

"Pinkie!" Marble waved a hoof to alert the mare. She nosed over a bucket of cold water to the pink mare.

"Oh, thank you Marble!" Pinkie clapped her hooves together happily as she lifted up the bucket.

"Mhm," Marble nodded, trotting over to stand by Rainbow Dash's limp figure.

Pinkie lifted the water bucket and took a deep breath. She poured the contents out over the unconscious blue mare. Within just seconds of the water slipping through her coat, Rainbow's eyes flew open, and she thrashed. She sat up, coughing and sputtering from the water. She rubbed her eyes and blinked, looking around at the ponies gathered around her.

"Oh Dashie you're alive!" Pinkie shouted, throwing her hooves around Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, I-I guess I am," Rainbow laughed. She pulled one her hooves forth, unclasping them and showcasing a small flame that had budded to life between them. "Twilight's fire protected me... she's the only reason that I'm down here."

"You're lucky," Limestone snorted. "If I had found you after you left your cell, Tempest wouldn't have hounded me all day! Thanks for that, by the way."

"Oh yeah, sorry..." Rainbow Dash laughed nervously. "If I hadn't left, Twilight probably would've levelled Whinnyapolis. I wasn't going to stand by and let it happen."

"So what's the plan now, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked as she approached. "Where's Twilight?"

"Celestia has her." Rainbow Dash stood up and sighed, holding Twilight's flame close to her. "She's going to use Twilight to power the engine."

"B-but I destroyed it!!" Marble shouted, something uncharacteristic of her. She quickly quieted again, but kept speaking. "T-the engine shouldn't work... e-even if somepony powers it..!"

"If Celestia succeeds, bad things are sure to come," Rainbow Dash said with a firm stomp of her hoof.

"Bad things are already happenin' sugar cube." Applejack pulled a tablet from her saddlebag, and turned it to face Rainbow Dash. She pressed her hoof on the screen, and a live video screen appeared. It seemed to be from one of the top rooms in a skyscraper, though Rainbow Dash couldn't tell if it was in Whinnyapolis or not. A volcano was erupting outside the city, with hot teal lava spewing out of it, and Burnish flames swallowing up the forest outside.

"The volcanoes are erupting," Rainbow Dash gasped. Her ears pinned back and a firm look took over her expression. "We need to stop Celestia, and fast."

"But how?" Pinkie asked. "If Marble's already destroyed the engine, what else are we supposed to do to keep them from warping?"

"I have an idea, but I'm going to have to ask for your help again." Rainbow Dash nodded to Pinkie. "You need to get me back inside that ship, and I need to go straight to the engine. If Celestia's already started her work... I-I'd hate to imagine the pain that Twilight's experiencing right now."

Just as Rainbow Dash mentioned it, the ground began to shake. The ponies struggled to stay on their hooves as the air around them warped. They were blown off their hooves as the Eclipse began to sail into the sky once again. Rainbow Dash looked up in horror as the warp gate began to open above the ship once again. She could already imagine the screams of the ponies inside, and the thought of Twilight's ringing so clear in her mind made her want to vomit.

"We need to go, now!" Limestone stomped her hooves as she barked the order. "You, orange mare, that truck of yours has a cannon doesn't it? Get Rainbow Dash in there and send her in, we don't have much time!"

"Right, c'mon Dash!" Applejack began to run off before Rainbow Dash could give her an answer.

Limestone, Rainbow Dash, Marble, and Pinkie each raced after Applejack to get to the firetruck still in the street. It had been pushed away by the force of the Eclipse taking off, but thankfully it hadn't toppled. The ponies climbed into the back, and Pinkie pulled a metal crate free from the wall. She forced open the plates with all her might, and Limestone's assistance helped pull back the restraints that held it down. Rainbow Dash climbed into the seat in the center, and the ponies worked to shove her into the loading area for the cannon. Pinkie stood in front of her computer, adjusting the angle of the cannon once she was able to pinpoint the engine's location to the best of her abilities, with some advice from Marble.

"Hold on Twilight," Rainbow Dash said quietly, clamping her hooves around the flame that had protected her. "I'm going to save you, even if it's the last thing I do."

She shut her eyes, clutching the flame close, and feeling its warmth in the cold that made up the crate and the cannon. She felt the force as the cannon propelled the crate through the air, though she was surprised she was still in the dark. She flinched, hearing the sound of drilling, and it took her a moment to realize that it was the crate making the noise. She pushed up against the ceiling with her hooves, trying to use her energy to help push through into the ship. The drilling noise ceased suddenly, and she rolled inside the crate as she finally hit her target, and collided with the ground inside the Eclipse.

Author's Note

Hooh boy this chapter was a doozy to write. Sorry for keeping you guys waiting so long, my Promare binge ended a while ago, but I wasn't going to abandon this story when I'm so close to the end! Hope you guys are enjoying it anyways!