Fire of the Flame Ponies

Back at Canterlot Castle...

Celestia sighed. She groaned. She hoped the Elements of Harmony were suceeding with their quest. She knew what they found out so far. The Princess then chuckled. The fact that Flame causes pain on the right side of Equestria, and Frost caused pain on the left side didn't even make sense... Then again, what fun is there in making sense?

Celestia tuffed part of her flowing mane to the side, then kindly said, ''Moon Charmer, please take a letter.'' Her assistant, a young hot pink Alicorn with a golden mane named Moon Charmer. The assistant levitated a quill out of a jar, a jar of ink out of a fancy drawer, and a blank scroll out of a shelf.

Celestia requested her to write the following words:

Dear Fernflow and Spellements of Charmery,

The Elements of Harmony are on a quest to stop the Flame Ponies I have told you about. They are on their way to defeat Shredder Boom. Unfortunately, Flame Ponies are hard to defeat. We need back-up magic. I have checked in with the Tellements of Farmery, Repellements of Armory, and the Bellements of Alarmory. None of them are available. I realized that you are the only ones left available. If you are, please meet me here in Canterlot Towers.

Your Princess,

Celestia.

''To Fernflow?'' Moon Charmer asked.

''Yes, please,'' Celestia replied while she sipped her cup of coffee. With a bright aura, purple light took the letter's place and flew out the window.

''I can't imagine why we send so many letters,'' Moon rolled her eyes.

''Well, no matter,'' Celestia said. ''This is important. Equestria is gonna be destroyed if they don't make it blah blah blah blah blah...''

While Celestia chattered away, Moon Charmer looked at Princess Luna, or Mare in the Moon, or Nightmare Moon, or Princess of the Night, or... Whatever you call her. Princess Luna sat in her royal throne and was playing Ponopoly with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadance as she preferred it.

''Hi, guys!'' Moon said as she trotted to the two ponies. ''You two haven't seen the Spellements of Charmery anywhere, have you?''

''I have, in fact,'' Princess Luna answered. ''At the Wonderbolts show last Saturday. Why?''

''Oh,'' Moon said. ''I, uh, heard that the Elements of Harmony are trying to defeat the Flame Ponies and-- Well, they need back-up magic and the Spellements of Charmery are the only Elements available.''

''Spellements of Charmery? Aren't those the Elements that activate with 'Spells?' Those Spells, those really tiny charms?'' Cadance asked.

''Yup, I have one myself,'' Luna said. She held up a blue and purple charm, ''Every Princess has one. I thought you had one, Cadenza.''

''Oh, well... I don't have mine yet,'' Cadance answered. ''I thought you had to be 30 to have one.''

''I thought you were 30!'' Luna replied. Cadance giggled.

''Oh, Auntie! I'm 29!''

''I knew that.''

''Guys!'' Moon broke in. ''Why, of all times, are we talking about age here? What's important is that the Elements succeed, you two stop talking of age, and Celestia stops talking!!!''

Everypony stopped talking and looked at the small Alicorn. Moon's ears drooped.

''Sorry, I--'' Moon said, almost whispering. ''I didn't mean to lose control.''

''It's fine, Moon Charmer,'' Celestia said happily. ''What matters is that the Elements of Harmony don't fail, like you said.''

Moon's horn glowed and from a window came a scroll. Celestia levitated the scroll into her hooves and read it out loud:

My dearest Princess,

The other Spellements and I are available. We will come at about... Midnight. Right now we are getting on the train and are going to ride to Canterlot Ponds. Can you meet us there at twelve?

~Fernflow

''I didn't know the train only went to Canterlot Ponds,'' said Moon.

''Every train does,'' Celestia said. ''Except the 'Canter-ville Train', which Twilight calls the 'Friendship Express.' ''

''What Canter-ville Train?'' Princess Cadance asked.

''The one with 100 cars,'' said Celestia. Luna and Moon smiled.

''Um, why is it called Canter-ville?'' Moon asked.

''It is called Canter-ville because it's a special train that can go from Ponyville to Canterlot without running out of gas or stopping and you don't need to pay as much,'' Celestia answered. ''3 bits a seat.''

''Sounds cheap,'' said Cadance. ''As in inexpensive.''

''It is a very special train,'' Celesia's smile turned into a frown. ''For a reason.''

''What reason?'' Luna, Cadance, and Moon Charmer asked.

''Well, a long time ago, the Spellements of Charmery... They...'' Celestia's tone usually meant she didn't want to talk about it but did anyway. ''The train belonged to them. They built it, hour after hour. Eventully the hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. After 5 months, they built a train that could not run on gas as much as other trains. The Flame Ponies stole the train. And the Spellements were not happy.''

''What did they do?'' asked Moon.

''Well, they had to travel across Equestria, searching for the thieves. Eventully they found a Flame Pony name Scortchfire who cheated them.''

''How did he cheat them?''

''Well, a Flame Pony named Fireflight asked for a crystal called Shredder's Crystal. The crystal was guarded by Scortchfire, and he let them get away with a FAKE gem.''

''I wonder if the Elements of Harmony have faced Fireflight and Scortchfire,'' Luna commented.

''Maybe,'' Celestia said. ''Maybe they'll face Flamecatcher.''

''Flamecatcher?'' Cadance said. ''I've heard of her.''

''Isn't she Shredder Boom's sister?'' Luna asked.

''Yes,'' Celestia said. ''A powerful sister, indeed.''

''Really?'' Moon asked. ''I thought she was just a regular Flame Pony.''

''Oh, no no no,'' Celestia chuckled. ''There are, uh, quite a lot of unusually powerful Flame Ponies.''

''And we need to see the Spellements of Charmery,'' said Moon Charmer. ''It's almost midnight.''