-Cold Fire-

A pickaxe broke up the earth and drug out the trench in the ground. Iron Bar grunted as he swung the pickaxe again and tore up another chunk of dirt and grass. His hooves were caked in cold mud and he could hardly feel his arms anymore, and despite the chill in the air sweat foamed on his chest and arms. The sloped trench already stretched from their camp across a long string of the border between the town and the Forest.

Behind Iron Bar, Coalback poured a rusty red paste into the trench from a cement mixer, borrowed from a construction site in town. A heavy cloth covered his muzzle and his arms were stained with the red dust he’d spent the morning mixing. They had enough of the ingredients to fully surround the town with his strange concoction.

Further back still, Filibuster labored with a shovel to cover the trench. Every twenty meters he would place a long tube that Coalback had constructed into the paste as it cured and dried, the very tip of the paper wrapping stuck out of the ground when he was finished.

The day continued in a monotonous way: with Iron Bar at the lead as he dug the trench; Coalback just behind with the red paste that he constantly mixed and poured; and Filibuster just behind with his carefully stacked faggot and a shovel. The pattern was only ever interrupted when Coalback had to turn away onlookers from town.

At least, that was how it went until Pinkie Pie showed up.

“Hi, guys!” she blurted as she made her presence known. Iron Bar grunted as he had to swerve his swing around the pink blur that had just appeared in front of him. “Here you go!” she smiled as she stuffed something sweet and moist into the Earth pony’s mouth. She hopped out of the trench as Iron Bar sat confused and mute, the tray on her back somehow remained balanced even with the drinks and remaining muffins sitting on top of them. “Goooooood morning, Coalback! Have a muffin!” she said as she began walking toward the Pegasus.

“Do not move!” Coalback barked. Pinkie Pie surprised him as she followed the order instantly and, more surprisingly, by freezing in the air, mid-hop. Coalback grunted and turned around to stop the cement mixer, and pick up a rag from a red stained bucket. He wiped off his face and arms before he turned back to her.

“That was fun!” Pinkie giggled. Coalback flinched as his vision was filled with the cotton candy mane of the unpredictable pony. “But seriously, have a muffin! They’re great! And have some lemonade! I know lemonade is a summer drink, but we had some frozen from last summer and you guys looked like you could use some refreshments. You’re all sweaty, just look at you!” she rambled even as she stuffed a glass into Coalback’s hooves before he could protest.

She hopped over to Filibuster next, who happily took a glass and a muffin with his magic. He had the decency to look sheepishly back at Coalback as he glared at the Filibuster and the pink menace.

“So whatcha guys doing out here? What’s this stu- Hurk!” Coalback cut her off as he pulled her away from his cement mixer before she could shove her head into it. “Oop!” she mumbled as Coalback picked her up by the scruff of her neck in his teeth and she was forced to tuck her legs in or be dragged along as he carried her away. She hadn’t noticed that Coalback was big enough to pick her up like this before.

Coalback marched her around the front of the trench and deposited her on her rump closer to the town. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” he said, though his tone made Pinkie think he wasn’t really thankful, “but we do not need your assistance. At the moment we are working with a very dangerous material, I would suggest going home and bathing yourself well; else the next spark set you aflame.” Pinkie’s tray with two empty glasses gently floated down beside her, guided by Filibuster’s magic on the other side of the trench. “You’re … kindness … is not unappreciated, but we cannot allow anypony to come in contact with this material,” he said and began to turn away.

“Ooh! What is it?!” Pinkie said, her famous smile back with a vengeance. Coalback flinched again as she cut him off and looked to him expectantly.

“No word for it in your language,” Coalback grumbled as he circled around her to put himself between her and the trench. “Closest word is … hellfire? I think. It burns hot enough to melt steel and cannot be put out with water or smothered with sand. It could burn straight through you if you caught on fire with it in your fur, so I suggest you go home and thoroughly bathe yourself,” he insisted again. He pushed at her with a red stained hoof, gently but firmly.

“But why are you putting it in a hole? And why do you need so much? And why are you digging up the ground all the way around the town?” Pinkie asked more and more desperately as she was slowly pushed away.

“It is just a precaution. The danger is over, but I am now tasked with fortifying the town. Also, do not step beyond the trench,” he said with forced patience. “We have not set up a fence yet, but there are holes all over the field between the town and the forest now. We would not want anypony to accidentally fall into them, would we?” he asked.

Pinkie gasped. “No! We wouldn’t!” she agreed.

“Good, now please-“

“Don’t worry, Coalback! I’ll make sure nopony comes over and gets hurt!” Pinkie announced as she scooped up her tray and sped off.

Coalback only snorted, though whether it was meant to be a sigh of relief or not was unclear. He turned back to the trench and grunted; “Keep working.”

“Why do I have the worst feeling about her helping us?” Filibuster asked.

“I think that that is a common feeling associated with that pony,” Coalback agreed as he donned his cloth mask again and started to turn the mixer once more.

The hive had quickly become a huge compound with Discord’s guidance. He was the one who had taught them to grow the moss and grasses that fueled them. He was also the one who had shown them where to build, stretched across a thin gorge that extended deep into the earth where its heat incubated their young and a huge aquifer gave them all the water they needed. With his benevolent fingers guiding them they’d recovered from their defeat in Canterlot almost overnight, though this was slowed by his constant harassment of the Wolves in the mountains between them and Equestria.

Dark, chitinous towers now pierced the heavens above their newborn city. A few ambitious Changelings had even been allowed to continue their existence as they endeavored to reclaim the wasteland around them. If they continued as they were they could potentially create an oasis in the wastes.

But, of course, that would not come to be. In the backs of their collective thoughts they knew that all of this was to prepare for the coming battles and conquests. With Discord ‘helping’ the Queen, drones and warrior changelings marched through the hive day and night; and strange beasts conjured up by Discord himself stretched their already limited food supplies.

But food was not enough to sustain a changeling, so even their new farms couldn’t truly help them. Changelings needed magic, and the best place it could come from was through the metaphysical connection ponies made with the ones they loved. It wasn’t truly love they feasted on, and neither was it accurate to call the effects of their lack of magic ‘love-starvation’. Instead they used that connection to siphon enough magic off to live. On its own that was harmless, ponies have a lot of magic to spare anyway; but unchecked it could seriously weaken the one feeding the Changeling. Changelings could only pull so much magic from the environment, barely enough to survive on, and it certainly was not pleasant. From Discord they had gained a tiny amount of pure magic that was heavily rationed and shared amongst the workers, but they did not like the prospect of relying on the demon-god even if they did already owe him so much.

The Queen was quick to squash any thought of dissent among her hive, and her own hypnotizing thoughts and emotions washed over them every day. She needed the support and cooperation of her entire hive if she hoped to reclaim her glory that had been so stolen by the ponies, and she saw Discord as a stepping stone to that. After they destroyed Canterlot and the Princesses living there then they could take all the magic they wanted from the ponies and she would have her pride restored. Discord would get what he wanted, and so would she; a win-win.

But the Queen was prideful, and Discord was no fool. His goal stretched far past crushing the Princesses, not that he would tell the Queen this. No. If she knew he could find her and her hive much less likely to stand so resolutely beside him.

As glorious and powerful as he was, he was still trapped in the mortal plane and an army could have the potential to kill him. He would return, but not for many years. He refused to wait any longer for his revenge.

Far below the farthest reaches of the hive were the tunnels he himself had dug. The stone did not yield to him so easily here, and he was forced to muddy his own claws to dig them. But it was worth it.

From the chamber he had found the blood red heartstone, he dug further and had discovered something far more useful. He knew something had drawn him deeper into the rock, and it had similarly drawn this as well. A deep rumble filled the cavern and a brimstone tinged wind wafted out of it.

“Shhhh, my pet. Soon you will rise, but not yet. Dream of me now, dream of rampage and hate. You will be given treasures innumerable to feed your greed,” he whispered. Another rumble and the earth shook as something truly massive tossed and turned in its sleep.

Coalback’s camp was set up in the hills South of Ponyville, smack in the middle of the border between the forest and the town. Three tents surrounded a burnt out fire pit, and several logs sat around for seating. Water barrels were set up in several spaces, and a locked chest held their supplies when they were put away. Nopony was quite sure where they were keeping their food, as there were no baskets or sealed iceboxes anywhere in the camp.

Since they had gotten a hold of digging supplies they’d flattened out their sparring ring and it was truly bare dirt, the turned earth of the strange trench they’d built sat between the camp and the forest. And Pinkie Pie had lived up to her word; a short, pink picket fence now segregated the filled trench and their camp away from town, though Coalback did not consider it adequate as it was hardly at chest height.

A stream passed their camp nearby, one that flowed through the town and into the forest. Thin ice floated through the stream, but that didn’t seem to bother the stallions who bathed in it. The water turned red as it flowed past them, the hellfire powder had worked itself deep into their fur and the skin below. Even soaked in water they risked being set aflame by any errant spark, so they scrubbed harshly.

Coalback wandered out of the forest with ice clinging to his unshorn fetlocks, icy water shook out of his fur as he walked out of the trees. He gave a few words to the stallions in the stream who nodded eagerly before he wandered back toward his camp and readied a fire.

Rainbow fluttered down beside him just as he finished stoking the flames, flashes of intense red colored the fire and Coalback frowned as the fire hissed and grew slightly. “Yes?” he said in greeting as he extended a wing over the fire to dry out.

“Great news! We’re leaving tonight!” Rainbow said with a large grin.

“Where are you going?” he asked, a raised eyebrow and a frown revealed his confusion.

“Storm chasing,” Rainbow said incredulously. “You’re still coming, aren’t you?” she asked. She nervously cleared her throat and checked her tone, she didn’t want him to think she was desperate even if she did want him to come.

After a moment Coalback nodded, a silent ‘oh’ on his lips. “Yes. But I thought we leave tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s the crazy thing!” Rainbow said, her excited smile back where it belonged. “Coudsdale just sent out a storm warning! A huge warm front came out of nowhere and is pushing the storm right at us! It’s gonna be huge, but it’ll die out fast this far inland so we gotta catch it A-Sap if we want to have any fun!”

“Okay,” Coalback shrugged as he turned around and switched wings over the fire. “I will put on my armor and we can go-“

“No armor, dude!” she said, quick as a flash she darted back in front of him and cut him off. “Lighting and metal are not a good combo!” she explained, Coalback’s frown was replaced once again by realization. She kept forgetting that Coalback had never worked with weather before, it still seemed so weird for a Pegasus to have never worked with clouds before. “Just bring some goggles, dude. You don’t have to be naked, either; just nothing that’ll get tangled up in your wings in high winds. But don’t worry ‘cause the whole weather team’s gonna be with us, we watch each others’ backs.”

“You don’t have to convince me, Rainbow Dash,” Coalback rumbled as he tucked in his wings. His mane still hung down with cold water but he didn’t seem to mind. “I promised you I would come, and I will. I make it a point not to say things I don’t mean,” he said and turned away from the fire, toward his tent.

“Awesome! I’ll come get you before we leave. I’ll be around before sunset!” she said as she zipped off. A thought nagged at the back of her mind, however: if he always tried to say what he meant, then why did Applejack think he constantly was lying to everypony around him?

He seemed honest enough to her.

At the camp, Coalback watched her go and turned when he heard Filibuster walking back toward camp. “Filibuster!” he yelled. The stallion’s ears perked up and his eyes locked on Coalback. “What is a goggles?” Coalback demanded.

“Step forward,” Celestia said. Her presence dominated the throne room despite the many bodies that did fill it. A pony dressed in gilded armor stepped forward and kneeled, his brown wings extended in submission to her and his nose met the floor. Small scratches and dents already marred his armor, though technically he had only been at her liege for a short time.

Behind him a century of Guards stood in their own armor, halberds stood like a forest in two thick rows. A hundred pairs of eyes were aimed toward the pony standing before Celestia, each loyal to her and the stallion that would soon lead them.

Their training had been swift with Celestia at their command, and the fact that each had come from a prestigious background. Many were previous members of the Royal Navy, or Army Regulars, or from Guilds that upheld the art of warfare. And though it appeared they had only been in her steed for a very short week, magic had made the time feel like months and had allowed months of training and selection to take place in no time at all. Celestia had expended much of her power to achieve it, but the result was far from dissapointing.

“You have shown me unwavering Loyalty,” she began, her gentle voice projected through the throne room. “You have demonstrated complete Honesty, Laughter in the face of danger, Generosity in defeat, and Kindness to your fellows. Most of all you have made each of these ponies your personal friend. Such aspects befit a hero of our time, and a hero you will be.” Celestia’s wings extended and she drew the attention of the crowd up to the fresco behind her that depicted the birth of their kind.

Ponies helped each other emerge from the clay of the earth. Pegasi groomed the clouds out of each others wings as they were shaped from them. Unicorns shook off stardust as they stepped out of the heavens. And all the while two Alicorn sisters watched them with loving eyes from the frame of the scene.

“You will protect your fellows, and the common pony from the forces of darkness that would see you destroyed. The miracle of your births breeds hatred inside them, and you must help Us extinguish that dark fire in their hearts.”

Her eyes dropped down to the pony that kneeled before her. Her horn lit with the golden radiance of her magic and a long claymore drew itself from the scabbard at the side of her throne. Its filigree shone in the light cast from the stained glass windows in the throne room, and the fiery jewel in its hilt shimmered with barely contained power.

“I knight thee,” Celestia said as she gently laid the tip of the deadly masterpiece on one side of the stallion’s withers and gently moved it to the other, “Sir Dumbell.”

Author's Notes:

New (very short) chapter. I will make up for it by uploading another short interlude at the end of the week. And I'm already well into the chapter after that. Sorry I didn't upload them sooner, I've been extremely busy and writing has been difficult.

Tell me your thoughts and I will see them. See you at the end of the week.