A/N: we grow closer to the end now, let's see what happens next.
The Flaming Dawn: chapter 12: master vs. apprentice
After flame had killed arrow, the remaining forces under his command, had no choice but to surrender, much to flame and shining armor's relief.
As they again packed up the airships, they had accessed the damage, and again boarded the ships, much to their surprise; all three ship's received very little damage, due to the strong shields, produced, solely from unicorn magic.
Flame and shining armor had been really anxious to get back, after flame received the news from arrow, before he died, they knew they didn't have much time, and wanted to get back in the sir, as soon as possible. Before they knew it, the ships had already cleared the mountains, and were headed in the direction of canterlot.
"Sir, we are approaching, canterlot airfield" the lieutenant, said as he turned to the captain, flame and shining armor leaned forward, as the ship cleared the last corner, of the mountains, and what they saw after that, shocked them, beyond anything they could have imagined.
The first thing they saw, was indeed the equestrian capital of canterlot, but not as they left it, the city lay in ruins, as multiple fire's spread from the city to the castle, when they saw that, the whole ship fell silent, "oh no…twilight, cadence, they're still there" shining armor said in a shocked tone, as tears fell from his eyes.
"Shining armor, calm down, something tells me he wouldn't kill them, not yet, we still have a chance, we can save them, but we need to focus" flame said, trying to calm, the captain down. Shining armor, turned to him, and knew he was right.
"sir, we are detecting enemy aircraft over the capital" one of the soldiers said, after he did, flame and shining armor, turned their attention, back to the city, and saw two massive, battleships, hovering over the land, "sir, they're locking weapons on us!, what are your orders?" the same soldier said, with panic in his voice.
"order the rest of the fleet to engage, and fire at will" shining armor said, turning to the soldiers, in the bridge, quickly flame turned around, and started to walk out, but was stopped by shining armor, "whoa, where are you going?" he asked, impatiently, "I am going to stop skyfall and save twilight, this is all my fault" flame said pushing past him.
"well I'm coming with you, she's my sister, and plus my wife is there, so we are going together" shining armor said, as they walked back together, flame smiled as he stopped, and closed his eyes, suddenly they were covered by a white light, and they disappeared, in a flash.
(Canterlot castle, courtyard)
Flame and shining armor had appeared in the courtyard, behind some bushes, when they peaked out, they saw the area swarming, with soldiers, from the guild.
Something that angered flame even more, but he held it in for now, "there's too many of them, how will we get in?" shining armor asked, he got his answer, when flame pulled him back into a bush as, a guard passed by, suddenly flame pulled the guard into the bush, and brought the knife around his neck.
"no talking, or I will kill you, I just have one question, where the prisoners" he asked the guard, he allowed him enough, breath to speak, but barely above the whisper, "they are in the library, but you won't get to them, you will fail" the guard said, flame looked to shining armor, who nodded, flame then, constricted the guards throat, and he passed out due to lack of oxygen.
Flame looked from the guard to the captain, and turned around, they waited for the right moment, and ran for the entrance, thanks to flame's sneaking skill, and shining armor's knowledge of the castle, they managed to make it inside, without being spotted.
(Canterlot castle, main library)
Applejack, was pacing back and forth, in front of her friends, and the princess's, trying to figure out all that happened, she could hardly believe they were nothing but prisoners again, "I can't believe, we didn't see this coming, they hit us so fast, it's still a blur" she said as she finally stopped in front of her friends.
"Calm yourself, applejack, have faith in flame and shining armor, I am sure they will be here" princess celestia, said in her usual calm tone, despite the situation, "but how can we be sure, maybe the lost" she replied sadly, "we just have to remain patient, for now" Luna said, speaking for the first time.
Suddenly they heard a strange noise, coming from outside the library, to them it sounded like a fight, after a mere few minutes, the room fell silent, and nothing happened.
Quickly the door opened, revealing two ponies, that they knew, all too well, "did somepony, order a rescue mission" flame said with a smile, as he ran forward, and helped them all up, shining armor, immediately, went to his wife, and started asking her questions, much to the other's amusement.
But flame noticed one, particular unicorn was missing, he turned to applejack and said, "Wait, where's twilight?" he asked fearing the worst, applejack sighed sadly, and walked up to him, "flame, he took her, up to, the throne room, I'm sorry flame, we did all we could" she said, trying to comfort him.
Flame looked down, and turned away from them and began walking towards the door, but was stopped again by shining armor, "hey, you aren't going alone, he'll kill you" he said, trying to stop his friend.
"sorry shining armor, but I have to do this, none of us would be here, if it wasn't for me, this is my fight, I may not survive, but I will bring her back, this is between me and him, I have a personal score to settle" flame said as he walked past him, and through the door, shining armor and the other's watched him, as he disappeared, hoping it wouldn't be the last time, that they would see him.
(Canterlot castle, outside the throne room)
As flame approached the massive door's, he knew deep down, that he wouldn't be able to defeat skyfall, but he had no intention, to do so, his only goal was to save twilight, and apprehend him, so he could face justice, for his crimes against equestrian, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.
He breathed in a heavy breath and exhaled, he drew his crossbow out, and gently opened the door, enough for him to squeeze through, when he looked inside, he saw the room only lit by torches that were placed on the wall, the light from the torches' created just enough for him to see, his surroundings, he saw no sign of skyfall anywhere.
He made double sure to check behind him, but still nothing, then he heard a strange noise from in front, when he turned, he saw a tied up twilight at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the princess's throne, he rushed over to her, and unsheathed his knife, and cut the rope's around her hooves and mouth, she gagged as she tried to breath, finally she looked up to him.
Flame was so happy, he pulled her into a warming hug, "are you okay?" he asked her looking in her eyes, "you shouldn't have come, it's a trap" twilight said, and before he could answer, they both heard a bone chilling laugh come from behind them, when they turned around, they saw a familiar face, one that made twilight's blood run cold, but to flame, his anger flared, at the very sight of this pony.
"ah, such a happy reunion, it brings tears to my eyes" skyfall said with an evil grin, as he approached them, flame got up, and helped twilight up as well, flame turned and fully faced him, an equally evil glare in his eyes, if you could look into them, you could see the anger and hate in his eyes.
"skyfall, stop this now, there are innocent ponies dying out there, all because of your selfish goals" flame said to his old master, that comment surprised skyfall, but he smiled none the less, "selfish? I have plans to rebuild this world, make it better, a world where all ponies, live in peace and prosperity, I hardly think, that is a selfish motive" he said standing in a calm position.
"You're willing to go through this, by killing anypony in your path" flame said, with twilight cowering behind him, skyfall simply just laughed, "no victory is without it's sacrifices" he said with a grin, "oh, and I received the news of arrow's death, how can I ever repay you" skyfall said, looking into flame's now shocked eyes, "oh come now, you really didn't expect me to share the power did you, there can be only one ruler,…now that that's out of the way, I'm actually glad you are here, because I am willing to give you the chance, surrender now, and I will give the order, for my fleet to spare the other's lives, and even yours and your little mare-friend, join me, and I will gladly share the power with you, the choice is yours" skyfall said with a serious face.
Flame, looked away and back at twilight, when he looked in her eyes, when she looked at him, he knew what he had to do, so he turned and faced skyfall again, "sorry, I can't live a world, with you running free, as long as you are free, equestrian, and the whole world will be in danger, and I came to stop you, and that's what I'm going to do" flame said with confidence, but skyfall's face remained the same.
Skyfall looked to the side, and sighed, he turned back to flame, "I had hoped you would have made the smarter choice, I'm sorry for this" skyfall said, as he shot a blast of energy from the tip of his horn, and went straight for flame, he pushed twilight out of the way, and turned back to face it, only to be hit, and sent flying up into the throne itself.
Flame tried to shack of the blow, and rise, but found that he couldn't move, suddenly he was thrown in the air, and brought down to skyfall, it was then that he realized, skyfall had him, in a magical grip, one that was too strong for him to break out of, skyfall simply laughed, "you see flame, I may be old, but I am the best fighter in the guild" he said as he threw flame, all the way at the wall, and slammed him into it at full force.
Flame again fell to the ground, and tried, to get up, when he saw skyfall walking up to him, he unsheathed his knife, and jumped, at him, skyfall simply caught him in midair, "come now, do you really think you can beat me" he said as he hit him in the gut, hard enough to break his ribs, and as a result he hit the wall again.
"you would have had, a great future with us, but you choose the wrong path" skyfall said as he picked flame up again with his magic, and threw him all the way across the room to the other side, where he again collided with the wall, as he landed the pain racked his body, he tried to get up, and speak, but fell down.
"but instead you choose to be with her, it sounds like something out a cheap, romance novel, if you ask me" he said she came up to him, and punched him in the face and stomach repeatedly, until flame coughed up blood, and collapsed to the ground, all the while twilight was watching her friend die, she knew she had to do something but what.
Again skyfall used his magic, and threw flame into the middle of the room, "let me tell you how it goes, the common good guy story, bad guy does something bad" he said as he kicked flame in the stomach, "good guy tries to save the day" he said as he repeated the same motion, "bad guy gets defeated" he said as he picked up flame and punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground, "and sometimes if he's lucky the hero gets the girl but let me tell you something" skyfall said as he picked flame up by the collar, and punched him in the stomach again, causing him the spit blood out.
He could see that flame barely had his eyes open, blood tricked from his nose and mouth, "I'm changing the rule's" skyfall said as he threw flame to the ground and walked up to him, and unsheathed his own knife, and raised it above him, "say hello to your family flame" he said as he watched flame turn his head, flame looked up through his blurry vision, and saw the knife.
Fortunately for him, he never felt the blade, pierce his flesh, instead he heard skyfall cry out in surprise, when he looked up, he saw that twilight had jumped on his back, and was doing her best to distract him. As she did that flame tried to get up, and when he did, he looked over, and saw that due to twilight's inexperience with fighting, skyfall shook her off, and she skidded across the ground and slammed hard into the first step, of the staircase.
"Nooo!" flame shouted, as twilight fell limp, he unsheathed his knife, and charged head first at skyfall, blinded by rage, unfortunately for him, skyfall expected this, and turned around, in doing so caught flame's hoof, and brought his own knife firmly in flame's chest, time seemed to slow, as flame gasped, he felt the blade pierce his chest, he looked up in skyfall's eyes, as hot tears spilled down his cheeks, skyfall, just scoffed and pulled the blade, out and let flame drop to the floor, clutching his bleeding wound.
Twilight had awaken, and see the whole thing, her eyes filled with sheer terror and tears an flame fell to the ground, she looked up at skyfall, who was looking over his body, he then turned to her, and walked calmly over to her, "oh don't cry for him my dear, you will be together soon enough" he said as he walked over to her, with twilight to scared to move.
Flame himself, was doing his best to stop the bleeding, he tore off a section of his cloak and tied it around the wound, temporarily stopping the bleeding, lucky for him, the blade missed all major organs, he looked up and saw skyfall walking towards twilight, suddenly he felt new strength as he grabbed his knife, and stood up, despite his injuries.
"Hey!" skyfall heard from behind, when he turned around, he saw, a wounded flame standing up, "I'm not dead yet" he said getting in a battle position, the new found strength, dulled the injury, and allowed him to fight, but he knew he didn't have long, skyfall saw the wrappings, and just laughed, "well, it looks like all the years of you training paid off" he said as he turned back to him, now ignoring twilight, who had been overjoyed to see her friend alive and standing.
Flame and skyfall approached each other, and began to circle each other, with twilight watching helplessly on the side lines, suddenly believing flame couldn't defend himself due to the injury, skyfall charged forward, but now it was flame's turn to expect this, as he caught skyfall's blow, much to his amazement, they looked each other in the eyes and flame smiled.
"yeah, my training did come through for me, and I also remember, one move, you personally taught me" flame said, and with one hard movement, slammed his head into skyfall's, causing him to go backwards, trying to get his focus back, but he could see nothing but a blur, suddenly skyfall felt a sharp pain, in his face, one that sent him flying to the ground.
He tried to get up, and when his vision cleared he was stopped by flame pointing a crossbow, straight at his face, he looked into flame's eyes, but he simply laughed, much to flame and twilight's surprise, "what are you going to do, kill me, yes that's it flame, do it, kill me and you will become no better than me, you think you can walk away from your past, but it will always find you, no matter what," he said laughing, but was silenced by flame hitting him across the face, with the blunt end of the crossbow.
When he looked back at him, he was still laughing, "why don't you tell her, huh, tell her how many ponies you have killed, in your life, that's something you can't get away from,…you think by killing me it's over, no, there are things in this world that you don't know about, if you kill me, you can expect a bigger storm, one that will destroy you, and everything you know, so make your choice flame" he said staring flame in the face.
Flame hesitated killing him, he looked up at twilight, who just returned his look, he then looked back down at skyfall, who was patiently waiting for him to make his choice, deep down, flame wanted to kill him, for everything he had one, not just to him, but other ponies, but another part told him, to spare skyfall.
Flame made his choice, when he lowered the weapon, much to skyfall and twilight surprise, "no, I'm not going to kill you, but you will face trial for the crimes you have done" flame said as they slowly walked away, but skyfall wouldn't have that for an answer, he slowly unsheathed a secret knife, that was concealed under his cloak.
He yelled as he jumped at flame, from behind, but flame on the other hoof, he spun around, and caught his weapon; he brought his own knife across skyfall's throat, his eyes widened, as he grabbed his throat, and tried to stop the breathing, he looked up at flame and tried to say something, but couldn't, he fell to the ground, dead.
Flame looked at his dead body, "come on, flame, let's get back to the other's" twilight said, as she turned and walked away, but flame stayed there, suddenly he fell to the ground again, clutching his wound, his adrenaline rush he got had now faded, and the weakness from the wound caused him to collapse, when twilight realized her friend wasn't following, she turned around in time to see him collapse.
"flame!" twilight said as she ran to his side, and used her hoof to cradle his head, she looked at him, and saw that he was breathing fast and heavily, she turned her attention to his wound, fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, a she looked at her friend, "twilight, go…get out of here, your brother is waiting, leave me here" flame said in a hushed tone, tears began to form in his eyes, in his mind, he knew it was goodbye, but twilight wouldn't accept that.
"No…I'm not leaving you, not now, you're going to be fine" she said trying to convince herself, flame turned his head to hers, and looked her in the eyes, "you know that's not true, save yourself, I deserve this, after all the things I've done my life, I'm finally going to pay for them, I'm going to see my family again" flame said as his voice got weaker.
Twilight had lost all control, of her emotions, then she cried helplessly, s her fried died in her hooves, "no please, we need you,…I need you, please don't leave me, I can't live without you" twilight said, in a tone that broke flame's heart, "no twilight, you deserve better than me, you will find somepony, in your life, you can settle down, and have a family" he said as his voice, grew ever more weaker.
"no…I don't want just somepony, I want you, please don't leave me,…I love you" twilight said with tears spilling down her cheeks, and hitting flame's wound, when she said that, flame turned his head back to her, and looked her deep in the eyes, and whispered, "I…l-love…you…t-t-too" he said with hushed tone.
Twilight cried even more at this point, as she listened to her friends last words, "ever since I first laid eyes on you, you are the best thing that's happened to me, I should have told you how I felt earlier" he said as his breaths became more labored, "t-t-twilight, goodbye" he said as he drew his last breath, and his hoof fell from her grasp, "twilight couldn't believe it, she wouldn't, "no…no, no!, please come back, I need you, I can't live without you, I love you!" she cried, but she knew it was useless, and she cried into his shoulder, but then she remembered something, she looked up at his wound, and removed his hoof, she looked at his wound, and decided she would try to save him, she moved her horn, to his wound, and closed her eyes to focus.
She had remembered reading about a healing spell, one that could heal any wound, she focused all her magic and energy, into this spell, her horn started to glow, and she pushed herself to bring him back, but sadly it was all for nothing.
Trying to preform that spell, left the caster, very weak, only a unicorn, who mastered their magical capabilities, could still be conscious after the spell, she felt all her energy leave her, twilight felt the energy cease, and soon she fell back, and could barely keep her eyes open, the injury she received from skyfall, didn't help the matter, she fell to her side, and could barely keep her eyes open.
Suddenly she heard, what sounded like her friends calling to her, the last thing she remembered seeing, was, the shadowy figures, coming straight for her, and then darkness took her.
A/N: Ah, man, even I got teary eyes writing the last part, but hope you all enjoyed, the last chapter will be up soon.