Every story has a beginning, and sometimes that beginning may not be beautiful at all. In fact, some stories have horrifying beginnings, which would terrorize anypony just by reading the first paragraph of them; but in the end, the last chapter is concluded with harmony and peace. However, some other stories can begin beautifully, but in the end, hatred and fear shall be the responsible for the fate of the tale. The story I am about to tell you, is of a village hidden under the depths of the Everfree Forest, almost forgotten by those who live in nearby towns such as Ponyville. Fallen was once a big and prosperous village, the extension of its limits going incredibly far, and the market and political system there being almost perfect. It seemed that the ponies who lived there hadn't any kind of problem, except for their rulers, the two pony princesses known as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The Royal Order already knew about the potential of the village and they feared that Fallen would turn its back to Equestria and start a revolution, so the princesses did not recognize the village as an official town. The inhabitants of Fallen didn't listen to any Royal Orders and continued to expand, until they grew up almost as big as the size of a country, however, at this point the Royal Sisters were extremely angry. The princesses ordered their guards and soldiers to attack Fallen and turn the village into ruins, and so the Royal Order did. Regardless of knowing how strong the Royal Army was, the residents of Fallen did not leave their land and made a Resistance Army constituting of one hundred fighters. Despite the strong resistance and the advantage of the terrain, the forces of Fallen could not resist the mighty of the Royal Army, which made the village fall into defeat. After the departure of the Royal Forces from the destroyed village, there were survivors who tried to rebuild the damaged structures and carry on with their lives. They also made sure that Fallen could never be found again by planting trees all round the village to hide it from the sight of the Royal Princesses. The remaining villagers swore that both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would taste what they had, and that one day, they'll wipe out the Royal Forces from the face of Equestria and establish a new government led by leaders, not tyrannical rulers. So, after this brief introduction, let our real tale begin. A black coated Pegasus with a fiery mane and tail was pacing back and forth while thinking about how to return Fallen to its former glory. His eyes were the color of flames and his Cutie Mark depicted an ancient rune; his name was Flame Trail.
It is about time for that so-called cake-eating ruler and her sister to get off of their throne; not only they caused this village an atrocious amount of damage, but they also hurt the heart of the ponies that lived peacefully in those woods, only wanting to make honest profit and live happily. These ponies were many and prosperous; they were almost the size of a country, but Celestia and Luna… Those Princesses had to appear in the front of innocent and hard-working villagers and mercilessly attack them, and for what? For security reasons? That I don't know, but she probably did this to other villages and I am pretty sure that she seized the ancient cities of Frozen Isle and Duskland.
Flame's thoughts were making a whirlpool in his mind.
After several long years, the damage caused by Celestia and her sister was repaired by the remaining villagers who preferred to stay and build everything again. All of their wealth was gone; nothing was left except for their knowledge and wisdom. I have to admit that I was expecting everyone to leave, but they were stronger and didn't submit themselves to any "royal order". They resisted the attacks from the royal guards and staid at their homeland regardless of how powerful those guards were; that was a quite honorable decision and I won't let a good and so prosperous village go down just because it's one of the "Royal Sisters'" orders. I had been born from the Elder Altar especially to guide those ponies and bring back what they had in the past: Honor. I won't let their sacrifices go in vain.
The fiery Pegasus remembered the early days when he first met the residents of Fallen.
I can still remember when I first met them; they wore confused looks on their faces as if they didn't know anything about the Elder Altar nor about the history behind the Legendary Blazing Pegasus. It was really unexpected, the village holds an Elder Altar, and still those ponies don't seem to know anything about it. However, I think it's mostly because of fear and uncertainness, they probably decided that it was for the best to forget about the Altar, since they had already enough trouble with the Princesses. Even after my mentor, Sparkling Ruby told them that there wasn't anything to worry about and that I wasn't an enemy, they still guarded their unsure thoughts to themselves.
By the way they tell the story of the village; it seems that the Princesses didn't have mercy on them; as far as I know, Celestia and Luna just dumped their "royal anger" on them and ordered them to leave. Those "royal sisters" thought firmly that they had the right to do whatever they wanted to. They destroyed and ruined the many lives of the ponies around this village and because of that; this nice and peaceful community has got a bad reputation to travelers. Nice and peaceful, but formerly attacked and turned into pieces. But the most sad and intriguing thing, is that Princess Luna actually doesn't seem to be truly supporting the actions of her sister, she is rather forced to do what the Princess of the Sun wants or else, she would be declared a traitor and banished again.
I always knew that Celestia isn't as sweet as what she truly is. She masks her tyranny with "kindness" and faked words, and when a threat appears she just sit on her throne and watch the entire land of Equestria rumble in panic. Where was she when Nightmare Moon returned? What was she doing while Discord unleashed his chaos? These are only small questions that I want answered, the real question is: If she is the most powerful being in Equestria, why can't she use her power for something good instead of ruining prosperous villages or taking immature decisions?
But what truly worries me is that one does not simply defeat Celestia. I have no idea on how I am actually going to defeat her; I guess I'll need to do a research about counter spells or find a magical item that could help me to fight against her. I once read a book that focused in describing and telling histories about the Elder Altar here in Fallen, and after a few pages that flew by, I found a passage that said: "A gift waits for the one who had born in the flames of the Elder". I think that the passage can be referring to the "Injury of Fire", an ancient amulet that has the capacity of conjuring a protective spell. I am not sure if this is just a myth about my ancestors, or if it's indeed the truth; furthermore, the book I read also said that the one who had born in the flames of the elder has to become a "full-grown" pony before receiving the gift. I am already an adult so I guess it is time to end this mystery since I know that there is no other "born-in-the-flames" kind of pony around here, except me.
But however, before I go to the Altar, I think I need to practice my fire manipulation skills, something tells me that the Altar will test me before giving me that "gift". I'm not a Unicorn, but I can still use flame spells thanks to the nature of the Legendary Blazing Pegasus. Because of that, I have been studying and practicing those kinds of spells since I was young, and surprisingly, I got to the Advanced Level very quickly. With such knowledge and a quest to join, I think it's more than clear that it's time to go out for some practicing before facing whatever is inside the Elder Altar, and I think I know the right pony to train with. If I do remember, my ex-colleague Ariston have mastered the same spell casting level as I and maybe he will be pleased to train with me. Since he's a Unicorn, he might know more about fire manipulation spells than anyone else around here and after all, I studied with him, I think he is willing to give me a hoof.
As the fiery Pegasus finished his thinking process, he trotted out of his "House Temple" located near the villagers' houses to begin the search for the Unicorn called Ariston. However, Flame Trail only knew that Ariston's house had a Watermill as a reference and didn't know exactly where it was. Trusting his instincts, Flame Trail looked around the village and spotted a house which seemed to be the only one that had a Watermill besides it. Thanking heavens and as quick as possible, he began galloping towards the supposed residence of the Unicorn whilst thinking about the gift that the altar was supposed to hold inside itself. Upon approaching the house, Flame Trail knocked on the door expecting Ariston to open for him but instead, an unknown mare did it. She was an Unicorn with a light lime green coat and light beige mane and tail, her eyes were like her mane and tail and her Cutie Mark was a closed book with a feather on it. While starring at the mare he took a deep breath and said:
Flame Trail: Is Ariston home?
Unknown: Yes, he is! Do you want to talk with him?
Flame Trail: Yes please, can you ask him to come here?
Unknown: Sure, I'll call him. And by the way, if you want to know, my name is Olive Tyler.
Flame Trail: It's nice to meet you Olive, are you Ariston's relative?
Olive Tyler: Nope, I am just his assistant. I help him on his experiments and he helps me on writing Spell Books. If you are interested, you can test a spell that I made just for training with Ariston, I am pretty sure it will work fine with you; after all, you're a special pony!
Flame Trail: Training is exactly what I need right now and… Hey, how do you know about that?
Olive Tyler: Ariston always mentions you while we're crafting spells.
Flame Trail: Fine, I will give it a try, just call Ariston and we shall begin our training.
The mare, happy about meeting Flame Trail, seemed that she wanted to know more about his abilities as a Pegasus who can manipulate fire. She hoofed Flame Trail a book that had a strange symbol on its cover.
Olive Tyler: Good! Hey Ariston! Your Pegasus friend is waiting for you down here!
After Olive had spoken that, a silver coated Unicorn with brown mane, tail, and eyes and who had a staff as a Cutie Mark rushed downstairs to meet Flame Trail.
Ariston: Oh, hey there mate! How are you going?
Flame Trail: Fine, and you?
Ariston: More than fine! I'm very glad that you came to visit me as I don't usually get too many visitants, only my assistant comes to help me with my experiments.
Flame Trail: Good to know, now listen, I need to put my skills with fire manipulation to the test and train them before going to the Elder Altar, as I am going to investigate it. I know that the Altar will not merely let anyone step on its sacred floor, I need to be ready, and so I thought I could train with you before going there. Only, of course, if you want to, I don't want to make you feel obligated to.
Ariston: No problem! I was just reading a book, I think I can finish it later, just let me get my scrolls and we'll get started!
Flame Trail: Oh, I almost forgot.
Ariston: What?
Flame Trail: Is there any problem if we use this Spell Book? It's one of your assistant's works. She said that she's pretty sure that it'll work fine with me.
Surprised at the sight of the book, Ariston wondered why his assistant would hide it from him. Olive, just standing besides them, watched as they discussed about the training with a smile on her face.
Ariston: Well, why not? I didn't know about this book until now, but is unlikely that something wrong is going to happen if we use it; Olive is a very talented spell writer after all.
Flame Trail: Thanks, now can we get started?
Ariston: OK… Oh, mind if I ask you a question?
Flame Trail: What question?
Ariston: I always wondered what these things embracing your hooves are.
Flame Trail: Oh, you mean the "Bonding Chains"? I had been born with them; it's almost as if someone wanted me to wear them when I came to life. It's a characteristic that belongs exclusively to the Legendary Blazing Pegasus, is what gives us the fire manipulation power. They cannot be removed; they are like a part of us.
Ariston: I never heard of an artifact that cannot be removed from the owner except for the Alicorn Amulet, but that's enough information already; let's go to the training field!
Flame Trail: Let us burn ourselves then.
End of Chapter I
A/N: It's almost impossible to believe that I'm writing a fan fiction. Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter of When Flames Rise. Please, leave a comment or a suggestion below so I can use it to improve my story and make it look better. I mean... If that's okay with you. Also, don't forget to keep things clean when you leave your comment, I know I may not satisfy all of you guys, but that's not a reason to insult or bash someone's work. Criticism, however, is always welcomed. That being said, until next chapter!