Flame, Soul, Rage, and Draconis

Spirit: A royal break

‘Oh crap oh crap oh crap!’ I bolted through town with Kyle right behind me, every pony we pass stopping to gawk at us. ‘I can’t believe I forgot about Applebloom when we let AJ hold Bryan’s stuff! FUCKING GREAT!’ We passed building after building, Kyle taking the lead as we head in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. As soon as we’re able to see the first of the apple trees, Kyle looks over his shoulder at me. “We gotta find AJ and fast, grab Bryan’s stuff and get it to him. If her sister got ahold of those weapons, shit is going to go down!” “No shit! Keep running!”

Despite our new bodies and obvious new limits for endurance and agility, I could feel my breath getting more ragged, and my hooves heavier as we neared the barn. When we got within 50 yards of the bright red barn, I slowed down and ultimately stopped, panting. “Wow….I need to get out more…” As if the day couldn’t get worse, I heard a masculine voice with a heavy southern accent. “Well well. I was wondering when ya’d get back, Pendragon.” Kyle and I looked to the barn to see a tall and muscular earth pony stallion with a blond mane, green eyes, and a crimson coat smiling at us. He was wearing a yoke around his neck and had a piece of, hay I think, in his mouth. His cutie mark was half of a green apple. ‘Ho-o-o-ly shit. Big Macintosh.’ Kyle grinned and nodded once to him. “Yeah….I’m back again.” Kyle caught his breath before approaching Big Mac. “Hey Mac, remember those weapons AJ brought in early this morning?” Big Mac nodded, his face neutral now. “Eeyup.” ‘Ah! The famous one-liner!’ Kyle puts his hands on his hips. “Yeah, well our friend, the owner, just woke up and got released from the hospital. I want to surprise AJ with that note, but he kinda freaked when he noticed his family weapons missing. Know where AJ put them?”

Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup. Wait here, I’ll go get them from the loft.” We waited a few moments as Big Mac went back inside the barn. It wasn’t long though until we heard the line we hoped to NOT hear. “What in the-!? The weapons are missin’!” Big Mac came out a surprised look on his face. “But AJ didn’t move em, she’s been buckin’ apples all day! Where could they-Ah horse apples…” Big Mac looked at us with a straight face. “Ah think mah little sister and her friends got their hooves on em….” ‘No FUCKING breaks huh?’? I sighed and stepped forward.  Mac started eyeing me immediately. “Mister Macintosh, we need to get those weapons fast. I can’t imagine what your sister wants with those items.” Mac waved his right forehoof at me. “Don’t you start with that mister stuff. Just Big Mac or Macintosh, ya hear?” I smiled and nodded. ‘I thought he was only a one word pony…Meh. I shouldn’t complain. Other bronies would KILL to be here.’

              Mac sighed before looking around. “Ah haven’t seen hide nor tail of those Crusaders all day.  Ya’ll follow me, we’ll check their clubhouse.” I nodded and watched Kyle move up to keep in step with Mac, hands stuffed into his back pockets. With a heavy sigh, I jogged up to them, staying at the rear. It was a silent walk for about five minutes until we hit a clubhouse in a tree, painted a variety of colors and in great looking condition, with a ramp leading up to it. The one distinctive thing was the undeniable ring of Bryan’s bayonet being torn from its sheathe. Kyle heard it to. “AH SHIT! Mac, we gotta get in there FASTER!” Mac blinked, obviously having heard the sound as well. “What? Why? What was that sound jus’ now?” Kyle and I both looked at him with glares. “Our friends deadliest weapon being pulled out…” Big Mac’s reaction was immediate, him charging up the ramp with us tailing behind, the ramp groaning under our weight. When we go to the door, I looked in the window, seeing what I feared. Applebloom had Bryan’s bayonet in her mouth, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle staring at the deadly weapon with awe.

That is, until Big Mac bucked the door, shattering it. “GIRLS! WHAT IN THE HAY ARE YOU DOIN’!?” ‘Holy shit he is PISSED!’ I watched the Crusaders jump with fright, Applebloom letting go of the bayonet, which wen tip first into the floorboards and stayed there. I looked to the door. It was so small I was pretty sure I would never fit in it. Looking back into the window, I watched the girls respond. “We’re gonna use these here weapons to be….CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS EVIL SLAYERS!!!” Kyle and I covered our ears. Groaning, I looked back inside to see Big Mac unfazed. “The hay ya’ll are! Ya don’t have training, ya have no idea how to use yer weapons, AN’ they ain’t even yours! The stallion who owns these happens to be out of the hospital now, an’ his friends are here for him to get his stuff! Now grab anything ya’ll took and bring ‘em outside!”

The Crusaders mumbled their agreement, and Mac bit down carefully on the handle of the bayonet before yanking out and walking towards the door. I walked down the ramp while Kyle jumped down, landing in a crouch, his claymore hilt banging against the ground. He came over and joined me at the base of the ramp just as Big Mac walked out of the clubhouse, gently carrying Bryan’s favorite weapon. Trotting down towards us, I outstretched my left hand slowly. When he got close enough, he dropped the weapon into the palm of my hand with the utmost care. With a nod, I grabbed the slightly slippery handle with my right hand and held it at my side, pointing at the ground. Big mac went to the right of the ramp as the Crusaders came out and gasped, with the acception of Applebloom, at the sight of Kyle and I. Course, with Big Mac clearing his throat and nodding to us, they got some encouragement. When they hit the base of the ramp, Kyle took Bryan’s Longbow and quiver of arrows from Sweetie Belle and I took the sheathe to the bayonet from AB, sliding the weapon into it quickly, before carefully taking the unsheathed Katana from Scootaloo.

With that all done, they stared at us, me mainly, in awe. “Woah….Big Mac….Are they ponies…Or Humans? I mean, they’re standing like that Khawl guy.” I frowned at the name, but Kyle chuckled. “Silly filly! We’re Anthromorphs! We fight Khawl!” He giddily added, causing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to widen their eyes to unbelievable widths. ‘Smart.’ Looking to Mac, I nod before turning in the barn’s direction. “Come on. Let’s go find Ignition and Efyu.” HE nodded before waving goodbye before walking with me. As we left, we heard the sounds of Big Mac lecturing the CMC. Chuckling, I picked up the pace, turning it into a jog, Kyle naturally following suit. It wasn’t long before we got to the barn, David waiting in front of it with crossed arms. “There you assholes are! Did you get his shit?” I responded by holding up the sheathed bayonet. He grunted at me and nodded to Kyle. We stopped in front of him. With a grin I jabbed his shoulder. “What’s got your panties in a bunch?”

His response was to glare daggers at me. “We are in a world of colorful, talking fucking horses with no idea how to get home, and an obvious homicidal maniac after us! We could have died this morning, and you ass holes are just being giddy bitches!” ‘Ouch. That hurts.’ I frowned at him. Kyle sighed and walked forward. “I know man. We all miss home. We WILL get back somehow. I’m sure the Princesses will know how. As for dying…..Well we didn’t do so bad.” David got in his face. “ONLY BECAUSE BRYAN WAS THERE, AND HE GOT FUCKING STABBED!” Kyle sighed and pushed him away. “Yeah, I know. That’s why WE are going to train. We need to be able to REALLY help Bryan when he needs it. Agreed?” I nodded at Kyle. “Yes.” David sighed and threw his hands up in the air. “Fine!”

It was an awkward five minutes until we all burst out laughing at the seriousness of the situation. “Hahaha! I know I’m the third wheel now, and the brony here, but even I have to admit, this entire thing is kinda ridiculous!” Well. Happy times stopped when we heard a familiar explosion, and voice amplified beyond belief.

BOOM!

“NIGHTMARE FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!”

Several minutes earlier…

Walking up to the library door, I politely knocked several times. Within seconds, I heard the clacking of claws growing louder from the other side of the door. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal a small, bipedal reptile. ‘Heh. Spike. What are the odds?’ He stared at me in shock before crying out in fright and slamming the door in my face. ‘Well, he sure is pleasant.’ ‘Spike. Baby dragon. Age unknown, Twilight’s assistant.’ ‘Oh your good.’ ‘I’m a professional. By the way, look through my memories, I’ll make sure to show you shit that will make you wish you didn’t.’ ‘Fiesty bastard aren’t you?’ I didn’t respond. That whole conversation took mere seconds. Soon I heard, “TWILIGHT! THERE IS SOME SORT OF PONY MONSTER THING WITH RED FUR AT THE DOOR!” “RED FUR!?” There was a flash of light, and then it burst open to show Twilight standing there. She. Was. Furious. ‘Fuck.’ I was suddenly levitated inside, with the door shutting behind me. “IGNITION! WHY DID YOU ATTACK ONE OF CELESTIA’S GUARDS!?”

As soon as I was dropped, I turned to her and put my hands on my hips. “Because he was attacking a friend of mine for no reason?” “I OUGHT TO—Wait, he was?” I sighed. “Yes, now can you stop yelling? I came here to ask if I could read a book. AND I’LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS LATER.” She ignored my last statement, focusing only on the word ‘Book.’ “A book? You read?” I smirked. “Yup. Problem?” She just giggled. “No. I just never thought—“ “I’LL SAVE YOU TWILIGHT!” ‘Oh ho ho. Assistant is back.’ ‘Mhm.’ I was suddenly assaulted by a ton of flying books, which were magicked into a pile nearby. Twilight casted another spell, which levitated the baby dragon over to us. “SPIKE! Stop that! He’s a friend!” Spike looked between me and her, confused. As soon as Twilight dropped him, I held out my right hand. “Ignition. Pleasure to meet you Spike. You’re a dragon, right?” Spike’s reaction was priceless. He smiled at me and shook my hand. “Same here! Finally, somepony who doesn’t call me a lizard!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his antics, pulling my hand back. “So, where were we? As yes! Book! I was hoping to see about researching Equestria’s history?” Twilight immediately scanned the library with a spell, pulling out an old tome titled, ‘Equestrian history.’ Levitating it infront of me, I grabbed it out of the air and smiled. “Thanks. You got a balcony upstairs. I saw it on my way here. Mind if I read there?” She smiled and nodded to the stairs. With a bow of my head, I headed up and ducked through the doorway, shutting the door behind me before going to the balcony, sitting cross-legged with the book in my lap. As soon as I opened it though, I was interrupted.

‘Somepony teleported into the downstairs library. I recognize the magic residue, it’s Princess Luna. I’m tuning your hearing, alright?’ I blinked and nodded. In an instant, I was able to hear the downstairs conversation.

“Princess Luna! What a pleasure to—“

“No time Twilight Sparkle. We and our guards are here to apprehend the one called Ignition!”

‘Well that’s great. I’m a criminal now. What else can go wrong?’ ‘SH! Listen!’

“Apprehend? What did he do Princess?”

“We know he is working with the Nightmare. He defended the foul creature from one of our sister’s guards, and so we believe either the Nightmare is controlling him, or he is working with the creature willingly.”

‘….Are you mind controlling me?’ ‘WHAT!? NO!’ ‘Ok ok. Sheesh, can’t take a joke.’

“I….That would make sense then. He’s upstairs, on the balcony reading.”

“Thank thee. We will be quick. GUARDS! Apprehend him now!”

‘SHIT!’ I jumped to my feet, the book falling from my lap and clattering onto the floor. ‘What do we do? We’re trapped and I’m not armed!’ ‘Give me a moment!’ My right arm moved on its own, pointing at the door and enveloping it in a midnight blue glow. ‘There! It’s locked! NOW JUMP!’ My arm returned to my control when she finished. ‘Don’t need to tell me twice!’ I ran to the end of the balcony and leaped as the guards started pounding on the door. When the ground got too close for comfort, I leaned forward with my left shoulder, managing a sloppy shoulder roll landing, ending up flat on my back. Looking to the balcony, I saw the guards pointing and yelling at me. I jumped to my feet and ran in the one direction I knew by heart. The Forest. While running for my life, I let my hatred start to ‘charge up.’ Dawn took notice. ‘So this is the source of your fire….it’s overwhelming….’ ‘Yup. And for some reason, I love it. Takes too long to get to the max point though.’ ‘Well…Let me help. Trust me?’ ‘Trust ya. I still owe ya for saving the guys. Now do it!’ As I ran, the guards gaining on my tail, literally, I felt Dawn pooling some of her magic into my growing hate, causing it to rise at a startling rate. It made me feel weird, and the usual orange around my vision became pitch black. That’s not what bothered me. What did was the fact that as soon as I did, ten royal guards in a darker form of the Royal Armor appeared in front of me, glaring daggers at me. Another flash went off behind me. I turned to see Luna and thirteen more guards surrounding me in a complete circle of twenty-four. At this point, I was ready to burst. And boy, burst I did. ‘Cover your ears.’ With a primal roar, the fight REALLY started.

BOOM!

“NIGHTMARE FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!”

We all turned to the sound and saw a black pillar of fire at the edge of the Everfree forest. I was shocked. “Nightmare Flare? What the fuck is going on!? Gah! If he’s in trouble, we won’t be able to help him! We won’t get there in time!” I kicked the dirt angrily. Then David cleared his throat. “Actually, we can.” Kyle and I turned on him in an instant. He was staring at me. “Evan, Vinyl came by Sugarcube corner earlier when I went back there while you guys were still in the hospital. I asked her how magic works. She told me by using teleporting as an example. All you gotta do is THINK of the place you wanna go, and imagine yourself there. Go to Twilight’s library. I’ll be there.” And with that, David’s horn glowed red briefly before engulfing him in a flash of light. Wasting no time, I grabbed Kyle’s arm and thought about the front door to the library, imagining me and Kyle there. There was a flash of brown, and then we were there with David. Kyle was heaving, poor bastard.

Wasting no more time, we ran to the sound of fighting. What we came upon was shocking. Bryan was fighting against several royal guards with midnight blue coats, manes, and tails in darker blue armor while covered in black fire, and Princess Luna watching. Next thing I know, Bryan’s weapons were snatched out of my hands my David, who bolted into the fray, dodging several guards. When close enough, he threw the katana and bayonet at Bryan. “BRYAN! CATCH!” The reaction was instant. Bryan threw a guard, turning to the weapons. Outstretching both hands, they flew to his hands, Katana in his left, Bayonet in his right. The sheathe on the bayonet was torn off by an invisible force and attached to his side. I was shocked. Bryan was using magic. Kyle and David were shocked too. So shocked, we didn’t notice the three guards, one each, who tackled and restrained us while Bryan kept fighting, dual wielding the blades in a deadly dance, but never harming the guards. Just knocking them out or disarming them. It was like he was dancing, leaving a scorching patch of earth wherever he stepped. In the end, eleven guards were knocked out or disarmed until Luna intervened, blasting him with a large beam of pure magic. The result was him being launched towards a nearby tree and then vanishing.

Luna grunted in frustration, scanning the area of which he disappeared in with another beam, before turning to us. “You three have just aided a fugitive in escaping custody, and are such his-“ She blinked when she got a good look at us. Regaining her composure, she glared at us. “Helping him or not, you are all with him, and therefore under arrest!” I let my jaw drop. “What!? What did we do!? What did our friend do!? ANSWER ME DAMN IT!” She casually trotted up to me and spoke with pure hatred in her words. “You all aided Nightmare Moon.”

I struggle to keep my poker face up as I glared back. It worked, cause she soon turned away. “Take them to Twilight Sparkle’s abode, lock them up in her basement with chains. We will go after Ignition.” And with that, she vanished, and we were just dragged away. ‘I hope Bryan can fix this….’