Chapters Luna awoke from her sleep. She brought a hoof to her face and rubbed her eye. Oh great she thought, Another lonely night . She kicked the covers off herself and attempted to get out of bed. Her body begged her to stay, not willing to give up the sweet release that is sleep. Groggily she stumbled around the room looking for the door. She bumped into a dresser along the way.
"Mother bucker" she whispered. She turned her head to examine the bruise on her flank, "what an excellent start to a beautiful night", she glanced through the window to the cloudy night sky. Her stomach growled and she rushed down the stairs for some breakfast, or dinner for most ponies.
She was greeted by a large feast spread out on a massive table meant to accommodate dozens of ponies, but only housing four. Celestia was at the front, too busy trying out the new recipe they got from a Germane visitor to acknowledge her sisters existence. Two seats down sat Cadence and Shining Armour. Opposite from them was Blueblood, whose face was frozen in shock as he watched Armour wolf down an eclair.
"These cream puffs are awesome" Shining proclaimed.
"Their not 'cream puffs' their eclairs, meant for the rich and privileged among us" Blueblood huffed.
"Really, because I remember Donut Joe selling a dozen for 3 bits" Shining replied, obviously annoyed by Blueblood. Blueblood just stuck his muzzle up and walked off.
By this time Celestia noticed Luna standing in the door way.
"Hello, Luna" she smiled, "Sleep well?". Luna just shrugged and sat down beside her sister.
"So, Luna, doing anything for Hearths Warming Eve?" Cadence asked, not even trying to cover up the fact that she was trying to pry into Luna's love life.
"No, just staying alone in the castle, like always" Luna replied, with a hint of sadness.
Cadence got the hint and remained silent. Luna scanned over the sea of goodies trying to decide which one to eat first. Eventually, she settled on a tomato sandwich, apple strudel and a salad.
"Uhhhhh" she sighed "Why do nights have to be so long this time of year". Celestia looked up from her meal and said
"Tis the season" jokingly.
"I better go raise the moon", Luna said as she began trotting to the balcony.
Luna leaned against the balcony railing thinking about her life. Were all her days doomed to be the same routine of loneliness. She glanced over to the rest of the city. Perhaps a nice flight would clear her mind. As she suspected, all of Canterlot was asleep save for the drunks at the bar. She let out a sigh, maybe Ponyville will be different. It wasn't, the town was as dead as a cemetery. Perhaps Manehattan? Luna turned in the direction of the city. She glanced downward. The Everfree Forest, and a clearing just ahead of her. She was getting tired so she landed for a quick breather, only to break down into tears. I'm all alone she thought, staring at the ground in front of her. Her weeping was interrupted by something falling from a tree behind her. Luna leapt to her hooves, prepared for anything, or so she thought. Her eyes widened as the creature stepped out of the shadows.
There, was a bright red alicorn, with a flame cutie mark, staring back at her with the same curiosity as hers.
Luna took a few steps back, the red alicorn followed, tilting its head slightly. They just stood there for what seemed like an eternity, staring at each other. Luna looked over him. He seemed... familiar, but she couldn't quite tell from where. Cautiously she took a step towards him.
"Who- who are you?".
The red alicorn adjusted his gaze a bit then spoke "My name is Blaze, and you are?". Blaze... the name seemed familiar.
"Luna, what are you doing out here, and at this hour?".
"I have lived out here nearly all my life." Blaze responded "And I only come out at night".
"Why?" Luna asked.
"Fire is best seen at night" he responded. No, it couldn't be... Luna thought as the memories came flooding back.
Luna remembered to when there were other alicorns, each one standing for something in nature. Then she remembered her best friend, a red alicorn... Blaze. They did everything together, tag, hide and seek, practicing magic and flying and even chores. Other ponies would always comment on how cute they were together, the most popular of these comments being "Fire is best seen at night". Then the other alicorns left, and she assumed he went with them.
Luna slowly approached him "Blaze...".
"Its been a long time, Luna", Luna pulled him into a tight embrace.
"I missed you so much" she sobbed with tears streaking down her face. Blaze returned the hug
"Me too". Luna pulled away. "What happened", Blaze sighed.
"My brother... Spark. He invented electricity, light bulbs, electric stoves and ovens. See, fire is not like the sun or the moon, its living. It breathes, it eats and most of all... it hates. Fire used to be a symbol of life and warmth. It kept our homes lit, kept us warm and cooked our food. But electricity replaced all that and fire became our play thing. Fireworks bon fires, birthday candles, you name it. Fire wasn't handled with respect any more, for it wasn't part of our day to day lives. And fire made them pay, it destroyed their homes and killed their families, and who did you think was blamed for their faults? Fires name became tainted, it was no longer life, it was destruction. And with fires name tainted, so was mine. They cast me out, shunned me, labelled me 'evil', some even tried to kill me. So I ran, ran and never came back".
"I'm so sorry" she said, "but could at least have visited me at the castle".
"Just because you're forgotten, doesn't mean your forgiven" he replied.
The winter sun started to pierce the horizon and Luna felt a chill go up her spine. To tired to fly back to Canterlot, Luna asked.
"Is there a place I can sleep?"
Blaze showed her to a cave. He lit a fire and showed her to a double bed.
"I'll sleep on the ground" he said.
"Nonsense" Luna protested, "Its about time someone showed you some kindness".
Luna patted the bed right beside her. He climbed in beside her and instantly fell asleep. He instinctively wrapped his forelegs around her. She smiled and fell asleep in her friends arms.
Luna awoke from her sleep. Uh, what a dream she thought. She was about to get out of bed when she noticed something... strange. This isn't my room! , she stared at the damp ceiling, where am I!? . She shifted her view to the rest of the room. It was a small cave illuminated by two candles on either side, there was a dresser, table and of course, the bed she was sleeping in.
"But how...?" she whispered under her breath.
Her train of thought was broken as something stirred beside her. She looked down only to see a unicorn staring back up at her. I didn't... am I really that lonely?
"Good morning" He said.
"Uh, hi..." she nervously replied.
The unicorn got out of bed, and to Luna's surprise stood eye to eye with her. She glanced down, scanning over the unicorn. He was an orange-ish red with a long ethereal tail, a flame cutie mark adorned his flank and so did a rather large pair of wings on his sides. She continued up to his nec-. Wait, WINGS. Luna took a step back, the dream... She looked up to his head, sure enough there was a horn on his forehead. Above that was his dark red mane, it was short and spiky, also ethereal and the way it flowed it looked like a fire atop his head. His face was like any other, the only thing out of the ordinary was his hypnotizing red eyes.
"B-Blaze!" Luna said, shocked
Blaze's happy face morphed into one of confusion, "what?"
Luna remembered to last nights "dream". Her pupils dilated the moment she realized she wasn't insane. Last night she passed off as a dream. Even when he spoke she thought it was just her subconscious making up excuses, but still she couldn't hold back her emotions, which were invoked by seeing him again. But it wasn't a dream, there infront of her stood the stallion she so desperately tried to forget, and she almost did.
She pulled him in and hugged him tightly, as she did the night before. Blazed gasped as she crushed all of the air out of lungs.
"L-L-una, your c-crushing me" Blaze gasped.
"Oh, huh, sorry" she said as she backed off. "So, I was wondering, how did no pony find you? I mean, wouldn't somepony notice an immortal fire deity roaming around in the forest?"
"No pony dares travel this deep in the forest, and even the few that do travel this deep are here when I'm gone."
"Gone? Gone where?" She asked.
"I usually stay with the dragons when they migrate to Equestria, they treat me like they're own, after all I can breathe fire just like them. You just happened to catch me between migrations, I stay here when the dragons leave." Blaze answered.
"But don't you get lonely?"
"The Phoenixes keep me company. I send them out every week to Canterlot to collect newspapers for me so I can keep up to date on current events."
"Oh" Luna looked down at the ground. "So you know about my... temper tantrum?"
"Yes, I am well informed on what happened to you, I cried for days upon hearing what happened to you, sweet, sweet Luna, turned into a monster."
"Are, are you mad at me?"
"No" blaze replied "We all have our own demons". A fireball engulfed Blaze. Luna had to look away as the blinding light illuminated everything in the dark room. The flames receded and there stood the the flaming skeleton of an Alicorn.
Luna took a few steps back.
"wh-what are you?"
Blaze, or what was once Blaze took a step forward and began too speak, but instead of Blaze's usual voice, it was a demonic one.
"It's still me."
A fireball once again enveloped Blaze. Bone began to fill with flesh and fire turned into dust. The Blaze Luna knew had returned.
"What the hoof was that?" she asked.
Blaze simply said "me".
"I'm serious, that thing was evil and I want to know what the hell it was!" Luna yelled.
"Try to get a better understanding of things before you make your judgement, what you saw there was my, so called dark side. He is much like Nightmare moon, he is my deepest desires and my darkest fantasies. But, he is different, my deepest desire is to be accepted and loved. I know it sounds weird, but what is power or fame if there is nopony to rule over or to look up to you. Without other ponies, we are nothing. And as for my darkest fantasies, I'm not going to go into those." Blaze said as he started to blush.
Luna perked her head up a bit and started walking towards him. She stopped when her muzzle was right next to his ear and said.
"Come, lets go to Canterlot, if not for you then for me. It's time to come home"
Celestia had just woken up and was preparing to raise the sun. With a simple glow of her horn the sky started to lighten, and was soon its iconic light blue. She was heading down the stairs to the dining room when she passed by a hall. She stole a quick glance down the hall, her eyes landing on a familiar red Alicorn.
"Oh, why hello Blaze" she said without giving it any thought. "BLAZE!"
Celestia came screaming around the corner with such speed that Rainbow Dash would have been put to shame. She stopped a meter in front of him and began to scan over his body. Only after a few more moments of being awkwardly surveyed did Blaze break the silence.
"Hi, Tia"
"By my own beard it is you!" she screamed as she danced around him. "I can't believe it, what happened to you? Why are you here? I want to here it all!"
Celestia raised her head to look over him, and, as she suspected, there was Luna.
"Of course it would be you to find him, fire is best seen at night. Come down to breakfast, we have so much to talk about."
When Blaze arrived down stairs, he was not greeted by the other three ponies you'd expect, but rather nine.
"These are the representatives of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle who represents mag-" Celestia said before being interrupted.
"I am well aware of these ponies and their Elements, as I am with Cadance, Shining Armour, and Blueblood over here." said Blaze.
"How?" Celestia asked.
"I send my phoenixes out to fetch me some books to read"
"Yes, well, Twilight and her friends here have just arrived from ponyville. They're here to put on the Hearths Warming Eve play."
Twilight slowly walked up to Blaze and asked.
"Um, yes, Blaze was it? I was wondering, how are you an alicorn, and why haven't I heard about you?"
Blaze smiled.
"Sit, please. Allow me to explain."
When Blaze was finished, everyone was silent. Cadance shot Luna an approving look.
"He's just a friend" she whispered.
"So" Shining Armour sighed. "When will we make this public"
Upon hearing this, Blazes eyes opened wide. They must not reveal me!
Blaze jumped atop the table, his fire mane quickly growing to extreme lengths. He snorted a large ball of fire out of his nostrils, which rose to the ceiling in a large ploom of smoke. Slowly he trotted over to Shining Armor, looking him dead in the eye. Shining quickly felt a deep fear of the Alicorn as his iris' turned into flames.
"I would prefer you not make this public" he said as menacingly as possible.
Shining Armor was at a loss for words and only managed to squeeze out the words, "but...but".
Blaze's glare intensified as he moved in closer, locking his forehead with the stallion. He was about to udder something, but Luna intervined.
"Blaze!" she screamed, "Sit down, now!"
Blaze reared his head towards Luna, an obvious look of annoyance on his face. He gave a quick glance back at Shining Armor before turning around and making his way back to his seat. Everpony, except Luna, had a shocked expression on their face. They all stared at Blaze, who returned a gaze completely divoide of emotion. Finally, it was Luna that broke the silence.
"Blaze..." She said with a calm and soothing voice. "If you would so kindly let us announce the discovery of an Alicorn, it would be much appreciated. Otherwise you'll just be held up in the castle all day long."
"Discovery?!" Blaze barked "I'm not a object that was lost in the woods, or a scientific breakthrough! I am a pony, forgotten by everpony and shunned by his loved ones! I chose to remain hidden, I revealed my self to you! You did not discover me, it was me who discovered you!" his voice suddenly gave way to one of sadness. "For millennia I waited to be accepted. If you truly think they'll accept me than fine, you can announce my existence."
Blaze got up and walked towards the door,"I'll be in the room you gave me"
Luna knocked on Blaze's door, there was no answer. Disregarding whether she had an invitation or not, she stuck her head through the doors. Blaze was standing on the balcony, overlooking a snow covered Canterlot. Luna walked up beside him and also stared at the panoramic view of the city.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to" she said.
Blaze stared at the city, watching the foals playing in the snow, the couples having coffee and the parents caring for their young. A life he wanted, a life taken from him.
"No, I want this" he said, his eyes never breaking from the sceen he was watching.
"Very well, I will make the announcement during the hearths warming eve play tomorrow. I assume you will be joining us?"
Blaze nodded. "Also, Luna." Blaze finally turned his head to look at her. "Afterwards, would you care to have dinner with me?"