Chapter 1

                                                                          The Birth of Pyrequill

“Betrayal. It’s something I often ponder. It starts wars or ends them and gives even the most gentle soul a thirst for vengeance."

                                                                                                    Spike Pendragon

The moon was full and luminous in the cloudless night sky over Canterlot.

‘Wonderful night for an escape’ Moondancer thought with a contented sigh. From her vantage point atop a building overlooking Canterlot Castle’s courtyard she could see a few royal guards dotting the grounds here and there performing their rounds.

‘They’re none the wiser to the fun in store tonight’

The fuchsia unicorn mare deactivated the Farsight spell  she was using and pulled the hood of her grey cloak over her head, hiding her auburn mane. Moondancer brought a gloved hoof up to the comcrystal secured to her neck by a leather strap. “Whooves you in position?”

After a moment static buzzed in her comcrystal. ”Yes. No. Wait maybe. Hold on.”

The mare rolled her silver eyes at the response she got.

“OK yes we are in position.”

With that she raised a hoof above her head brought it down swiftly Prompting the twenty cloaked unicorns behind her to rush the roof’s edge. Each of the ponies jumped into the air and extended shadowy magic wings and glided down silently into the courtyard.  Moondancer followed suit extending her own pair of shadow wings to join her fellow Shades. A guard looked up just in time to see the cloaked mare descend upon him and slide a long blade through his helm’s eye slit killing him instantly.

Moondancer retracted the ebonblade back into its slot on her glove and brought her hoof to comcrystal.

“Sound off. We clear.”

After several affirmatives she gave a nod to the unicorn beside her and said “Start laying the runes.”

‘Yes ma’am,”  he said with a light bow.

“Whooves we’re in position here how are things from your end.”

In a tunnel just below the castle’s dungeon a group of eight ponies had just broken through the brick walls of the foundation. The leader of these ponies Dr. Whooves, a brown earth stallion with a dark brown mane and tail brought a hoof up to his own comcrystal to reply.

“We are just about to enter the dungeon from the tunnel. I’ll give you the word when the MC (Magic Cancelling) charges are in place.”  

Dr. Whooves stepped into the corridor they had just opened and turned to his companions

“You blokes secure the target,” He said pointing to the three Shades that were in the group. Each gave a nod and galloped down the corridor. “Alright gents lets disrupt some shield crystals.” And they started down the hallway as well.

In the crystal caverns below Canterlot Castle a large purple scaled dragon was hard at work carving runes into the his chamber's stone floor with her razor sharp claws.

‘It’s almost time.’

The massive dragon had been waiting for years for this moment and here he was with freedom in his grasp. Once finished with the runic circle Spike Pendragon sat back to admire his handiwork. It was a teleportation circle, one he had been working on and perfecting for a year now and it was finally ready. Its twin was already underway in the castle’s courtyard. He then took a look around the cavern that had been his prison for the last thirteen years. He had been placed here and artificially aged physically as to deter any would be attackers of Canterlot against his will. The experience had traumatized him  and made it seem he had the mind of a child. But the mind of a dragon was resilient a fact that had allowed him to recover slowly over the course of two years. Once recovered he began to improve his use of Runic Dragon magic, a skill that came naturally to him, as well as instinctual. Fromo the guards that brought him food to the one who had sealed him here he put up a front that his mind was still that of a child. Over the course of his imprisonment he had come to hate Twilight Sparkle, his once best friend and adopted sister. Then by the purist stroke of luck, or fate as he often mused, a thief had stumbled into his cavern, in hopes it was filled with gems and gold. Spike identified this thief as Moondancer, his onetime friend before he had moved to Ponyville all those years ago with Twilight. The purple dragon was surprised that the fuchsia unicorn, who had come from a prestigious family, had become a thief. He had always figured she would become a dancer given her natural talent for acrobatics and illusion. Soon their time was cut short and she promised to return and return she did as they began concocting a plan to free the massive drake. It wasn’t until Moondancer ran into Dr. Whooves, an eccentric inventor who ran an underground railroad of sorts that strove to get slaves out of Moon and Stars’ territory. When Moondancer had brought Dr. Whooves to Spike’s cavern the two instantly recognized each other from Ponyville. It was then that Spike learned that the peaceful town had been flooded by Rainbow Dash leader of the House Stormwing. The flood had killed many of Ponyville’s inhabitants including Dr. Whooves’ adopted daughters Dinky and Sparkler. Their deaths had broken his wife Derpy and she disappeared shortly afterwards. This had broken the stallion and sense then he had himself to see to it families weren’t broken apart like his had been. This goal brought him to Canterlot and there he worked freeing slaves  for the past few years. Dr. Whooves had sympathized with Spike’s situation and agreed to help any way he could.

Spike was shaken from his reminiscing when he heard the doors to his cavern above him open. Three grey cloaked unicorns then glided down to the cavern floor on shadowy wings. Upon landing the leader of the trio, a green mare, stepped forward and bowed deeply to the drake.

“Lord Pyrequill all is ready.”

“Good step into the circle and give the word.” Spike rumbled

The mare brought a hoof to the comcrystal around her neck and said, “Target is secured and ready. Do it.”

She and the two others stepped into the circle as the cavern trembled.

BOOM.

The runes then began to glow with a green like and they disappeared in a burst of emerald fire.

Twilight Sparkle awoke from her slumber as an explosion from somewhere in the castle rocked her bed chambers. She threw off her covers and quickly put on the blue robe on her night stand.

“Starswirl what was that?” she said as she pulled her dark purple mane into a rough ponytail.

The crystal ball suspended in the center of the room glowed with a blue light as an ethereal unicorn stallion with a flowing beard appeared before her.

“I know not Archmage but it has caused the castle’s barrier to deactivate.”

Twilight’s horn glowed with a pinkish hue and the runes on her lavender coat glowed as a magic circle sparked around her. She was accessing tie mana network that flowed through the castle that powered its wards and barriers. She found the flow had been disrupted what was more the was a large residue of magic in the crystal caverns where spike resided.

GRAAAAAHH.

Twilight gasped and galloped to her balcony blowing open its doors with a telekinetic blast. Down bleow in the courtyard was Spike. The massive dragon, easily two stories tall and 14 feet long, stood with his powerful wings stretched to their full length as he roared in triumph of his newfound freedom. His Purple scales seemed to glow in the moonlight and magic sparked along his razor sharp dorsal spines.

'How can this be?'

Spike turned his attention to the ponies surrounding him.

“Good job Moondancer.” He rumbled.  

The mare in question stepped forward and pulled her hood back. Her silver eyes shone with admiration. “Could you be any louder my lord?”

“ Missed fresh air is all,” Spike said chuckling deeply. He turned his gaze to Dr. Whooves who had just trotted up to stand beside Moondancer. He and his team had rendezvoused with Moondancer's team in the courtyard before they set the charges off.

“Excellent work Doctor.”

Dr. Whooves  beamed at the praise.

“Thank you my good drake. Was a bit worried about the charges working but alss well and all that.”

The dragon chuckled again as he turned his attention to the assembly of guards that had gathered in the courtyard. Many had gotten over their initial shock and were now charging spells. Spike growled menacingly and his emerald eyes narrowed into slits as he brought a claw up. A rune appeared before his claws and a green barrier appeared around him and the ponies around him causing the spell cast from the guards to bounce of it harmlessly. Spike then turned his glare on the balcony Twilight occupied. The lavender mare was still in a state of shock unable to form intelligent words.

“Archmage Twilight Sparkle, this night I, Lord Pyrequill, declare war on you and yours. I will bring down judgment upon you and any foolish enough to stand with you. I will see House Moon and Stars burn and Equestria purged by dragon fire of the fools that have caused Her to rot . Tonight you witness the birth of House Brightflame. Now my followers!” Spike roared.  

With that the massive drake dispelled the barrier and reared up and into the air with a pump of his powerful wings as the ponies surrounding him took out green gem and smashed. Spike’s followers were then engulfed in green flame and disappeared in a green mist that Spike inhaled. The drake then began pumping his wings flying high above the city of Canterlot and over Canterlot Mountian out of sight.

Next Chapter: Repercussions Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes