//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Thin Ice // Story: Rise of Char // by Turtlehaus //------------------------------// Princess Sapphire Flurry stood at the doorway of the Infirmary looking rather unconvinced at the fuss I was making about the scratch on my face. Wingston stood upon a small stone block, tending to me as I sat patiently looking very annoyed. Wingston didn't seem to have an opinion about it either way; he was more interested about how the Princess of the Frozen North ended up in my room last night. "So let me get this straight." Wingston began carefully applying a thin layer of ointment on my cheek. "Something of grave importance, to the Kingdom of Ice Ponies, was stolen and was last seen being brought here to the Ashen Fields." Wingston stated. "It's an Obelisk, similar to the one currently spearing your dam." Sapphire spoke up. "So Princess Sapphire took it upon herself to track down this thief, and came to the conclusion that King Smolder was responsible for this crime." Wingston continued wiping the excess ointment from my face. "Prince. He made it a point to tell me that he isn't officially crowned a King just yet." Sapphire corrected. "So believing that Smolder was responsible, you infiltrated the grounds through means of the old mining tunnels, attacking a few of our Flame Ponies and eventually ended up in Prince Smolder's bedroom?" Wingston asked looking over at Sapphire. "That's a gross over simplification of the events that transpired!" Sapphire snapped flushing slightly. "Perhaps you can, in detail, explain what happened in the Royal Chambers last night? The Night Watch had their own thoughts on the matter." Wingston asked looking back and forth between Sapphire and myself. "We had a disagreement about who stole the Obelisk." I stated simply. Wingston raised a brow in curiosity, glancing over at Princess Sapphire who turned her head in a huff, flushing slightly. I felt Wingston's staff knock against my head, catching me off guard. "What was that for?" I asked holding the top of my head. "For the sake of everypony, please keep your hooves to yourselves." Wingston replied climbing down off the stone box. "If you are insinuating that there was some sort of romantic affection being shown towards-" Princess Sapphire approached Wingston looking flustered but was cut short when his staff knocked her against the head as well. The knock to her head had knocked Princess Sapphire on her flank. Clutching her head, Sapphire looked up at Wingston, her face full of surprise. "That was for breaking the sundial I gifted to Smolder." Wingston explained limping towards the door. I offered a hoof to help Sapphire up, she took it reluctantly, getting back to her hooves and holding her head. "He grows on you." I mumbled to her. "You'll forgive me if I don't believe you." Sapphire replied pulling her hoof away from me and glaring at Wingston. "Speaking of forgiveness, I suggest you make peace with ponies you attacked." Wingston mentioned turning back towards them from the threshold of the Infirmary door. "I hardly touched any of them! I merely-" Princess Sapphire began. "I will send word to the Lords of the North to inform them that you are in our care for the duration of your visit. Smolder will see you around the Kingdom." Wingston interrupted. "Me?" I asked sounding confused. "It is your Princely duty to show the visiting Princess around the Kingdom." Wingston explained before bowing his to them and taking his leave of the Infirmary. Sapphire stood fuming, flakes of snow drifted off her mane as it swirled around her. It was rather surprising to me but even when she was angry or upset Sapphire still looked very beautiful. I watched as Sapphire whipped her mane to the side, the snowy clouds slowly billowing off one side of her head, exhaling a large breath looking rather annoyed. She suddenly turned to me, catching me staring. "What?" Sapphire asked flatly. "Nothing." I said quickly, heading towards the door trying not to look guilty. I could feel Sapphire's icy stare burning a hole through the back of my head as I got to the Infirmary doors. "Come on then." I said awkwardly motioning for her to follow. "Are we going to look for my missing Obelisk?" Sapphire asked apprehensively. "Uh… no?" I replied walking out of the Infirmary. Stepping into the corridor I found a group of Night Watch Ponies coming off their shift. Looking very down trodden, the group of Flame Ponies spoke amongst one another. "This feels like a walk of shame." Murmured a Guard Pony. "It's not every day a squad of Flame Ponies gets their flanks handed to them." Replied another Guard Pony. "If I could just get my hooves on that Oblivion Pony, I'd-I'd-I'd…" Another Guard trailed off rubbing his hooves together. "You'd what?" I asked aloud. "Lord Smolder, good morning." One of the guard ponies spoke up as the others quickly bowed their heads. "Every pony okay?" I asked curiously. "We've already spoken with General Hearth, my Lord; we were ambushed last night and knocked out cold." Another guard pony replied. "It was a cheap shot, my Lord; the pony came at us from behind!" A different guard pony spoke up looking rather annoyed by it. "Cheap shot?" Sapphire asked aloud stepping out from the Infirmary. It came as a great surprise to every pony to see a rather breath taking Ice Pony step out from the room. The Royal Guard Ponies stared wide eyed, jaws slowly falling open as the Ice Pony looked at them inquisitively. "Every pony, may I introduce Princess Sapphire Flurry of the Frozen North, the pony responsible for knocking you out last night." I announced. "You do seem rather familiar, which one of you ponies screamed like a little filly?" Sapphire asked curiously looking at each one of them. "That would be Corporal Hicks, my Lady." A guard pony spoke up pointing to the pony on his left. "I did not scream like a filly!" Corporal Hicks snapped looking rather embarrassed. "Quite right, I believe you were the first pony I hit with my Ice Breath before making short work of the rest of your companions." Sapphire said thinking back on it. "This is where you're supposed to apologize." I whispered to her. "Apologize?" Sapphire asked taken aback. "No apologies necessary, my Lady. It didn't hurt at all. Consider it an honor to have fought such a beautiful and skilled pony, right guys?" Corporal Hicks asked looking back at the other guards. There was a sudden flare of from every Royal Guard Ponies mane. A swell of pride overcame the guards, their tough pony acts coming to fruition, throwing out their chests, and doing their best to impress. "Yes, no trouble at all, my Lady. It would have been rather troubling if we had harmed you even in the slightest." Another guard pony stated as every pony nodded in agreement. I rolled my eyes, realizing that I wasn't the only pony who got stupid around pretty ponies. "If you'll excuse us gentle colts, Prince Smolder and I have some rather importance business to attend to." Sapphire stated stepping past them. The Night Watch ponies eyes were glued to her, one pony even tried to catch a small snowflake that fell from her mane. After she had passed the group of Night Watch ponies turned to me nodding in acceptance, patting me on the shoulder and congratulating me; whispering to me of how lucky I was. I felt my mane flare, my face starting to flush at the idea. "Prince Smolder, we haven't got all day." Sapphire said tapping her hoof impatiently. I felt one of the guard ponies push me towards her, more whispers of encouragement as the group of Night Watch ponies quickly moved away from us. Sapphire looked rather confused by their peculiar behavior but I didn't question it. "So about my Obelisk." Sapphire began striding alongside of me. "What is it with you and this Obelisk?" I asked looking at her in disbelief. "It was a very important component to our research into the Void; I've spent years studying the effects of the Void and its history with Equestria." Sapphire explained. "Oh." I said understanding her relation to it. "My research began right after my graduation from the Ice Pony Military Academy but before my dissertation of the effects of the Void to my professors at the Northern Institute of Magic." Sapphire continued. "Cool, cool." I replied feeling very small at this point. "What did your studies involve?" Sapphire asked looking my way. "Studies?" I asked looking surprised. "Your field? What sort of education did you pursue?" Sapphire asked rephrasing her question. "I always liked reading." I replied feeling almost ashamed at my answer. "Who was your mentor?" Sapphire asked curiously looking at me with a raised brow. "Wingston?" I replied not too sure if that counted. "The bat?" Sapphire asked looking surprised. I could feel my mane flaring. For the first time I was feeling embarrassed about being a Prince, because I had some other pony to compare myself to. I had no real training, no advanced education, no military experience, and it made me feel that I was very under qualified to be named King; Sapphire seemed to realizing this as well. "I do realize that you were oppressed by the Mad King for a majority of your life but did you never try to pursue an education or learn to become a soldier pony?" Sapphire asked looking rather disappointed. "I... didn't have time for much of anything. My Flame Ponies were suffering and needed help, so I went looking for some." I said feeling my face burn with embarrassment. Sapphire didn't reply. I refused to look at her. There was an awkward tension walking the rest of the corridor in silence, it wasn't until we reached the branching staircase that led to the Main Hall was the tension broken by Fluttershy and Mr. Tutor at the bottom of the staircase surrounded by foals and fillies. "Good morning, Smolder." Fluttershy said softly. "Alright every pony, just like we practiced." Mr. Tutor said to all the foals and fillies. "Hello King Smolder!" Every foal and filly shouted before having a fit of laughter. "Hi." I replied back finding it humorous as well. "Oh my, who is this?" Fluttershy asked looking at Sapphire. "Every pony, this is Princess Sapphire Flurry from the Frozen North. She's going to be our guest here for a few days." I said introducing her. Every foal and filly stared at her in amazement. Wide eyed and awestruck. Even Mr. Tutor seemed to be rather fixated on her, but probably for the same reasons the guards were. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Fluttershy said softly. "What is every pony doing here?" I asked curiously. "I wanted to stop by to see if the guard ponies from last night were alright, before going on our trip to Ponyville." Mr. Tutor explained tearing himself away from Sapphire. I watched as Sapphire lowered her head to the foals and fillies, letting them touch her mane and nudging her nose against a rather shy foal. Sapphire seemed very happy around them. I saw her smile genuinely for the first time and it made my mane flare. "The ponies say it was the Oblivion Pony." Fluttershy whispered to me. "Oh, it wasn't the Oblivion Pony, it was Sapphire." I said motioning over to her. "What?" Mr. Tutor asked in surprise looking over at her. Sapphire lifted her head, looking at Mr. Tutor, squinting rather hard at him. "You're that pony at the edge of the marsh? You had a little foal with you." Sapphire stated looking surprised. "Y-Y-Y-Yes, my Lady." Mr. Tutor stammered. "From the way you carried yourself I thought you were another guard pony. Nothings broken I assume?" Sapphire asked curiously looking at him. "No, my Lady. I'm fine. So is Lionel, you gave him quite a fright last night." Mr. Tutor said putting his hoof on Lionel's shoulder. "Did not." Lionel said folding his arms as the other students snickered. Sapphire leaned over to Lionel, giving him a kiss on his head, which set his mane sparking and his face a bright red. "I was worried that I had hurt you last night, I'm sorry I scared you." Sapphire whispered to him. Ever foal and filly all gasped at once. Lionel did his best to hide his face from every pony by leaning against Mr. Tutor's leg but his mane stilled sparked something awful. Mr. Tutor chuckled at the sight. "Sapphire traced a stolen item back here to the Ashen Fields and was mistaken in thinking that it was one of us that had taken it. We're working together now to try and get it back." I explained, leaving out the part about her trying to turn me into an ice cube. "Oh my, I hope you get whatever was stolen back soon." Fluttershy said softly. "I hope that you ponies have a good time at Ponyville." I replied to all the foals and fillies but they were occupied with Sapphire giving them her undivided attention. "We'll take good care of them Lord Smolder." Mr. Tutor said. "Just Smolder." I replied with a smile. "R-Right. Of course. Smolder." Mr. Tutor said nodding in agreement. "Alright every pony, say goodbye to Lord Smolder and Princess Sapphire." Mr. Tutor said aloud. "Bye!" Every foal and filly shouted at once. Mr. Tutor herded his students towards the main entrance; Fluttershy gave a small wave goodbye before following them. Sapphire looked on with a smile, letting out a small sigh before whipping her mane back with her hoof. The clouds billowing from her mane danced through the air before settling in behind her. She caught me staring at her again. "What?" Sapphire asked. "You're... pretty good with the foals and fillies." I mentioned. "I used to volunteer to read to the foals and fillies back at the Academy. My obligations and responsibilities have kept me busy, making it difficult to find time to read to them anymore. Seeing these young ponies have brought back some rather… special memories for me." Sapphire replied looking somewhat disappointed. I smiled apologetically. Twilight Sparkle and Alex Papyrus climbed up out of the dungeons, having heard the news of an Ice Pony in Castle Char, and came up hoping to catch a glimpse. Luckily for them we were already several feet away and Alec began marveling at the sight of Sapphire. "I cannot believe we have an actual Ice Pony here with us." Alex whispered to Twilight. "I had no idea that there were Ice Ponies here in Equestria." Twilight whispered back. "They're not very social with other ponies, keeping mostly to themselves and having minimal contact with the Yaks." Alex quietly explained to her. Sapphire and I turned to greet them. Twilight offered me a smile that eased me out of my insecurity. Mr. Papyrus was already bowing his head to us, but before Twilight could follow suit I waved it off. "Twilight Sparkle, Alex Papyrus, this is Princess Sapphire Flurry from the Frozen North." I said introducing them. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Sapphire." Twilight said. "Truly, to see the Princess of the North up close has confirmed all of the rumors of her legendary beauty. I am beside myself to even be in the same room as you, my Lady." Alex said his head still lowered to her. I'm glad I wasn't the only pony rolling me eyes as I saw Twilight rolling hers over Alex's compliment. "At least some pony knows how to treat a Princess." Sapphire said looking over at me. "Wait until you tell him you're the Mystery Pony that knocked him flat in the dungeons." I replied. Alex's head shot up in surprise, Twilight looked rather surprised herself. "You're the pony that attacked me?" Alex asked mouth a gape. "You were the pony that smashed our etching?" Twilight asked finding it hard to believe. "You were the two ponies down in the dungeon?" Sapphire asked pointing at the two of them. "Well, yes we were but I don't understand-" Alex began but was cut short. "Relinquish to me the rubbing you took of the etching immediately." Sapphire demanded it holding out her hoof to them. "We're not giving you anything until you apologize to Alex and explain to us why you destroyed our etching." Twilight stated. "You dare speak to a Princess in such a way?" Sapphire asked stepping up to Twilight. "I'm not daring you, I'm telling you." Twilight replied not backing down. "Now ladies, I'm sure we can talk this out in a calm and rational manner." Alex proposed trying to step between them. Sapphire whipped her mane to the side, stepping back from Twilight trying to compose herself. Twilight seemed to relax a bit as well, but still looking rather annoyed. "I'm sure that Princess Sapphire has a good reason for smashing our etching. Princess Sapphire, if you would be so kind as to enlighten us?" Alex asked still being the buffer between her and Twilight. I thought to myself of asking Alex to teach me how to speak so formally to ponies; he seemed to be quite good at it, even it did seem cheesy at times. "The etching depicts a certain event that happened in Flame Pony history many years ago, one that if any pony were to duplicate could spell the end for Equestria." Sapphire explained tossing her mane once more. "How much do you know about Flame Pony history?" Alex asked sounding amazed. "It really depends, I only minored in Equestrian History, but the Flame Ponies were always up to something as I remember it." Sapphire replied. Sapphire recoiled a bit seeing Alex approach her rather quickly, his mane flaring from excitement. "Lady Sapphire, I have not right to ask you for a favor but if you could find it in your heart to humor with me an hour of your time by telling me of our history I would be forever in your debt." Alex said quickly bowing his head at every other word respectfully. "H-H-Have you no record of your own history?" Sapphire asked looking surprised at his sudden outburst. "The Mad King pretty much destroyed everything." Twilight replied. "Perhaps it would be best if you were to just visit to the Northern Institute's Library for yourself and study your history for yourself." Sapphire offered only to see Alex's mane flare from her words. "Lady Sapphire! I cannot thank you enough for this invitation!" Alex exclaimed taking her hoof and lightly kissing it. Sapphire didn't seem to mind it; in fact, she looked rather pleased at the gratitude being shown to her. "Lord Smolder, do I have your permission to travel north?" Alex asked turning to me, unable to contain his excitement. "Uh yeah sure, if you don't have anything to do here." I said shrugging. I barely finished my sentence as Alex went racing off towards the dungeons, but he didn't get very far before Twilight's magic took hold of him and slowly dragged him back. "We've still got a lot of work around here to do, Alex." Twilight said dropping him beside her. "Of course! You're quite right, Ms. Sparkle." Alex replied straightening up; still looking very excited. "I've answered your question, now give me the rubbing." Sapphire demanded holding out her hoof once more. "You didn't apologize to Alex yet." Twilight stated. Sapphire rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I am sorry for knocking you out, Pop-Pop Rust." Sapphire said with a sigh. "It's Papyrus." Alex corrected her. "Yes, yes. Now may I have the rubbing?" Sapphire asked. With a burst of purple light, emanating from her horn, Twilight magically retrieved the rubbing and unfolded it to her to show her that it was the real thing. I found myself looking at it, the world around the rubbing started to fade out of focus. The rubbing started to peel away, revealing a window it a world behind it, and I found myself standing on the balcony once more overlooking the Ashen Fields. The portal opened once more revealing the creatures that stood upon their hind legs, the storm in the darkness raging in the distance, and the Castle collapsing at its fury. A sudden bump to my head made the world go dark, I felt myself hit the floor as the Main Hall came back into focus. Twilight and Alex stood off to the side, looking at me with great concern as Sapphire crouched over me getting right up to my face. "What was it? What did you see?" Sapphire asked urgently lifting my head up off the stone floor. I felt dazed, as if I had just woken up from sleeping, and the things that I saw were quickly fading from my mind. Sapphire shook her head in disappointment, giving me a few slaps to the face to wake me up before I got annoyed and started to push her away. "How long have to you been having these visions?" Sapphire asked promptly. "What?" I asked rubbing my cheek. "Your eyes rolled back up into your head, Smolder, and you weren't moving." Twilight said stepping over to me looking me over. "I will ask again, how long have you been having these visions?" Sapphire asked sounding more urgent. "I don't know, and even if I did I don't remember anything from it." I replied giving Twilight a smile to let her know I was alright. "I've seen Lord Smolder go into a sort of trance just yesterday, he claimed it was hunger and I thought nothing of it since." Alex mentioned aloud. "Hunger?" Sapphire asked looking puzzled. "He was asleep for three days." Twilight explained. Sapphire stared blankly at Twilight, glancing up at me to which I nodded in agreement. "Is Lord Smolder going to be alright, Lady Sapphire?" Alex asked curiously. "Does it have something to do with the Void?" Twilight asked still holding onto the rubbing. "It is only a subset of the cause." Sapphire said approaching me. "Subset to what?" Twilight asked stepping aside to allow Sapphire to get to me. "Magic. The line of Alicorns span back many centuries, at times an Alicron can experience past memories of their ancestors lives through strong magical bonds." Sapphire explained taking a hold of my head and pulled it closer to her. "But I don't have a horn." I said feeling her touch my forehead. "Not yet, your magic is beginning to awaken. I'm rather surprised it's taken this long for it to appear." Sapphire replied; I felt my mane flare. "So what does this mean?" Alex asked looking over Sapphire's shoulder at my forehead as well. "The rubbing is resonating with Smolder's dormant magic, giving him a glimpse into the past." Sapphire explained still holding onto my head. "How come he isn't able to remember it?" Twilight asked now joining in at looking at my forehead. "The connection probably isn't strong enough. The rubbing offers a sort of relay for the visions to engage, but it isn't enough to ground him to it." Sapphire continued. "There are several relics down in the dungeon that might offer the grounding that Lord Smolder may need." Alex offered. "No, it will need to be something that his ancestor owned. His magic will resonate with it and handle the rest." Sapphire said shaking her head. "Can I have my head back?" I asked growing rather tired of staring at the floor. "What of the Royal Crown? It has been in Smolder's family ever since the Lord Smoke, the Dragon Rider." Alex pitched. "It could work, where is the crown now?" Sapphire asked, letting go of my head. "Probably in the Throne Room." I replied. "What do you mean probably?" Sapphire asked looking surprised. "That's where I last left it." I answered. "You just leave a priceless family heirloom where ever you feel like it?" Sapphire asked sounding appalled. "It's heavy." I replied. From the dungeon, General Hearth, Ray, Solar, Wisp, Flare, and Rainbow Dash came racing out in a great hurry. I felt rather relieved to see that the pegasi Flame Ponies had made it back in one piece, although, having caught sight of me seemed to send them into a mad dash in my direction. "Lord Smolder!" General Hearth shouted coming to a halt before me. "What? Is every pony okay?" I asked unsure of what the urgency in his voice was for. "Lord Smolder, the task force sent to find the Mystery Pony have uncovered something most unsettling." General Hearth explained. "Mystery Pony?" Sapphire asked looking puzzled. "What is it?" I asked bracing myself for bad news. "Smolder darling!" Rarity's voice echoed across the Main Hall. Every pony turned to see Rarity galloping towards us with a bundle of parchment under her arm and Stitch, Crow, and Rose following close behind her. "Smolder, darling, we found something that I believe you'll want to see." Rarity said trying to catch her breath. "Can it wait, Rarity? General Hearth was about to inform me of something rather important." I asked motioning to the ponies behind me. "It's about your mother, Smolder." Rarity said holding up the bundle of parchments. "My… mom?" I asked slowly taking a step towards her. "Hey Ash!" Applejack's voice had me looking towards the castle doors again. Applejack galloped up to us, one hoof on her hat while Tiff was a few yards back, leaning against a pillar trying to catch his breath. "I'm not sure if this is a bad time but we need to talk." Applejack said sounding just as urgent. "Applejack I've got a lot of ponies trying to talk to me and-" I began. "I'll just cut right to the chase; the Obelisk just flew itself across the fields and planted itself just out back." Applejack said interrupting me. "What do you mean the Obelisk flew?" Sapphire asked stepping forward. "Who the hay are you?" Applejack asked looking at her awkwardly. "You said it flew, like literally flying through the sky?" Sapphire asked still not believing her. "It shot out of the dam like rabbit on a hot date, before turning end over end and planting itself right side up at the back of the Castle." Applejack explained as Tiff shakily walked over nodding in agreement; still breathing heavy. "Smolder, we need to check this out at once!" Sapphire demanded turning to me. "We need to discuss the Orc we found in the mines!" Flare spoke up. "Orc?" I asked whipping my head around. I watched as every pony spoke over one another, I wasn't able to make out much of what they were saying. My heart was starting to race, my ears were throbbing from all the shouting and I could feel my stomach tighten. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to deal with all of this. There was a very loud clang of metal striking the floor as every pony stopped speaking at once. Every pony turned to see Wingston standing at the top of the stairs looking down at us. "Come along every pony, we have much to discuss with King Smolder." Wingston declared pointing his staff towards the Throne Room doors behind him. Every pony nodded in agreement. Climbing the stairs, proceeding into the corridor that led the Throne Room as I purposely hung back to pick up Wingston. "Thank you, Wingston." I mumbled to him as I lowered myself for him to climb up. "Don't mention it." Wingston replied patting me on the shoulder.