Princess Sapphire stood outside the Royal Chamber, looking rather anxious, and trying to psych herself up.
"You can do this. You can do this. Just walk in there and tell him." Sapphire mumbled to herself.
Sapphire failed to raise a hoof to the stone door, simply frozen in place. Stomping her hooves, Sapphire hissed under her breath words unbecoming of a Princess as she tried to rationalize her situation.
"Just tell him. Tell him that mother and father have offered an arranged marriage between the two of us." Sapphire said quietly to herself.
These words only made Sapphire more nervous. Pacing back and forth in front of the door, Sapphire attempted to rationalize Smolder's response to it.
"If he doesn't agree to it, then I'm off the hook. It's not like I was keen on this idea from the start, but he turned it down. I don't expect mother and father to have me fight for this arrangement." Sapphire mumbled.
The blue seemed to drain away from her face, making her quite pale.
"What if Twilight was mistaken? What if Smolder does feel obligated to marry me? What if he realizes the importance of this union and accepts reluctantly?" Sapphire asked herself.
Her heart was beating rather fast now, her attempts to approach this with a calm mind and steady heart had completely collapsed by this point. Heaving a sigh, Sapphire let her head fall forward, thudding against the door in defeat; wishing she had stayed in the North. Mustering what little courage she had left, Sapphire pressed a hoof against the stone door and pushed it open slowly.
"Smolder?" Sapphire asked; making her presence known.
Sapphire had barely opened the door when a stone slate slammed against the door, shattering into countless rocks. Rather surprised by this, Sapphire peered inside to see what was going on.
I was sitting in the middle of the chamber, my breathing was shallow from the amount of anger I had pent up inside me as I tried to calm myself down. It was just poor timing that Sapphire had decided to enter at that moment when I lost my temper.
"Smolder?" Sapphire asked again stepping cautiously into the room.
"Hey…" I said with a sigh.
"What's wrong?" Sapphire asked curiously gently swiping the remnants of the shattered stone slate away from the door.
I had to think for a moment, realizing that having to explain what I had just seen and how I acquired this information would be rather problematic seeing as no pony else trusted the mirror as I had, so I thought it best to keep it quiet for now.
"I have to make speech tomorrow and I'm having trouble trying to figure out what I'm supposed to say." I replied motioning to the broken pieces of the slate.
"How quaint, one of the many kingly speeches you will surely have to preform throughout the years." Sapphire said reminiscing on her own appointed speeches.
"I'm not ready to be King." I said shaking my head.
Having seen what my ancestor, Lord Smoke, had to go through, condemning an entire species to be trapped for all eternity with the Void, I wasn't feeling all that confident in my abilities to make those kinds of decisions.
"I could have told you that." Sapphire replied.
Realizing her tactless response, Sapphire cleared her throat and closed the door behind her before trying to start again.
"What makes you say that?" Sapphire asked trying to sound surprised.
"Other than that I have no prior instruction, experience, or training to becoming King? Probably because I'm the youngest Flame Pony to ever be named King." I said miserably.
"Alright, you are woefully ill prepared to be crowned the next King." Sapphire replied, leveling with me.
Sapphire crossed the room, seating herself next to me and wiped some noticeable dust from her hoof.
"Taking that into consideration, ready or not, you are going to be the next King." Sapphire continued.
"How am I supposed to be a King when I've spent all my life in fear of one?" I asked bitterly.
"You take everything that the previous King did to scare you and do the opposite." Sapphire said simply.
"It's not that easy." I replied.
"Sure it is. The previous King set the bar so low, there is no conceivable way that you can underperform as the new King." Sapphire said encouragingly.
"I'm serious, Sapphire. I'm not ready." I said solemnly.
"So… what? You're going to tell your ponies you're not going through with it and saddle your Kingdom without a King?" Sapphire questioned me.
"Well I mean-" I began but Sapphire wasn't finished.
"There is an Orc with an army of Spiders coming for us but I'm sure you can handle it on your own." Sapphire said mockingly.
"I didn't mean-" I tried to speak but was cut off once more.
"Things are getting too real for me, so I'll just be sitting this one out everypony." Sapphire mocked once more.
"Shut up!" I shouted feeling my mane flare.
I could feel fire inside me start to boil over, my flames danced wildly off my mane.
"Yell all you want, but it isn't going to change the fact that you're turning your back on every pony who believes in you." Sapphire said calmly.
My heart skipped a beat. My flames died down from hearing these words.
"I couldn't understand why a Flame Pony Prince would bother speaking with such common ponies. How informal you insist them to be when addressing you, and how you entrusted them with the future of your Kingdom." Sapphire said glancing over at me; making my heart skip a beat.
Being so close to her I could see quite clearly that her eyes were indeed like sapphires and it was very hard not to get lost in them.
"The answer was quite simple really, I'm surprised that it took me so long to realize it." Sapphire confessed. "They are your friends, Smolder. You believe in them and they believe in you."
My mane flared for a moment.
"They are not your subjects or tools. They are not a means to an end or ponies for hire. They've become your family." Sapphire continued smiling at me.
My heart was beating rather quickly now.
"Where will you be when the Orc and its Spiders come to claim them?" Sapphire asked placing her hoof over mine.
Her touch was just as surprising to me, her touch reminded me of how much I have taken for granted up until now. That the connections I've made up into this point, whether they be physical or meaningful, were things I did not want to lose.
"Thank you, Sapphire." I said softly.
Sapphire nodded in agreement. Sapphire removed her hoof, taking a moment to throw her mane to the side as the billowing cloud started to trickle down.
I felt a little less nervous about becoming King; at least for the moment. Sapphire had made me realize that the best way to protect my friends was being the pony who would stand out in front of every pony else when any sort of danger came our way. I looked over at her, remembering that she had most likely come in here for a reason.
"So what did you need?" I asked, heaving a relieved sigh.
"Need?" Sapphire asked looking slightly confused.
"You came here for something, didn't you?" I asked curiously.
I watched the color in Sapphire's face drain away before a shade of purple suddenly flushed across it. She cleared her throat, straightened up but still looked quite uneasy.
"I came here to tell you something very important, Smolder. Something that I didn't want you hearing from another pony." Sapphire began sounding very formal.
"Your names not Sapphire." I replied quickly.
"What?" Sapphire asked, looking very surprised.
"So what is it? Is it really Snowflake?" I asked looking hopeful.
"This isn't about my name and don't call me Snowflake!" Sapphire snapped, her mane billowing several flakes of snow.
"Alright then, what did you want to tell me?" I asked getting to my hooves and heading over to the dresser to retrieve another stone slate.
"Well... with most royal traditions, there are certain aspects of it that fall through the cracks but at times can come up when you least expect it. With that being said, traditional methods have always worked out for the better in the long run even if the immediate situation doesn't present itself with a clear understanding of what that might be." Sapphire rattled off.
I glanced over my shoulder looking very confused by what she had just said. Sapphire took notice of it and nodded to me that she was going to try again.
"I just want you to know that this was something that my parents suggested and that I am in no way a part of. Well, technically I am sort of involved, but the initial idea wasn't presented with me being present. Rather, I was informed of this after it was thought up." Sapphire said trying to preface her point.
"It's going to look like I don't understand what you're trying to say, but just know I'm still listening." I replied taking another blank slate from the dresser drawer.
"My parents want us to get married." Sapphire said quickly.
I wasn't sure if it was my realization of what was being said to me, or my surprise to it, but the stone slate slipped from my hoof and broke on the floor. I turned around to look at Sapphire who was a very deep shade of purple and seemed very embarrassed by it.
"Y-Y-You're kidding right?" I asked nervously.
"I know that this seems to be coming from out of nowhere, but they thought it was in the best interest of our Kingdoms to suggest this union." Sapphire stated quickly.
"But I'm such a horrible choice." I replied feeling my mane flare.
"That is what I said to them but- I beg your pardon?" Sapphire asked, cutting herself short.
"Let's be honest here. You'd be getting the short end of the stick." I began rubbing the back of my mane nervously.
"I'm not sure I follow." Sapphire said looking at me very peculiarly.
"I know I'm not a pony's first choice in a special some pony, but I feel I'd be the last pony to be with such an incredible pony like you." I said quickly feeling my mane flare.
I could see Sapphire staring at me with a rather curious expression; it made me feel that I wasn't getting my point across.
"What do you mean?" Sapphire asked.
"Well for starters, you're completely out of my league." I mentioned, trying to find reasons.
"League?" Sapphire asked sounding confused.
"You're beautiful." I said abruptly.
Sapphire's face turned purple once more. I started to feel my own face flushing and decided some context would be needed to follow up my remark.
"You're a Princess of such poise and etiquette, an unbelievable fighter, and an education that rivals Twilight's. You deserve a pony that can appreciate these things and personifies the qualities that you deem necessary to be your special some pony." I said quickly, trying to put it as politely as I could.
"So... you don't think you could be my special some pony?" Sapphire asked slowly.
"I'm a horrible choice for some pony's special some pony." I said with a nervous laugh.
"Why's that?" Sapphire asked sounding rather suspicious.
"Well I've been… uh… told that… I'm not very bright. I mean, look at me. I'm hardly special pony material. I don't really have any discernable qualities other than that I'm being crowned a King. I'm just a walking talking torch that can spout a lot of nonsense from time to time." I said tapping my hooves together.
"So what are you saying exactly?" Sapphire asked curiously, seemingly becoming less and less nervous while I became more and more uneasy.
"W-W-Well… I don't think that you'd be happy being married to me." I stammered.
"Would you be happy with me though?" Sapphire asked raising a brow.
"I think any pony would be happy to have you as their special some pony." I replied, my mane flaring.
"Except you?" Sapphire questioned me.
"I wa-couldn't be… I ne- but it isn't…" I tripped over every word I tried to get out.
Sapphire looked at me rather expectantly, waiting for a response, but Wingston had always warned me about saying the wrong things around a mare.
"I would... be very grateful... to have some pony like you by my side." I began feeling my face flush. "I'm just not... you know..."
"Who is she?" Sapphire asked with a promiscuous smile.
"She? She who?" I asked quickly feeling my mane starting to flare faster.
"The pony you like." Sapphire stated, eyeing me.
"Pony? Me? Like? I don-uh… she's not really… I can't…" I mumbled, my face burning red hot.
Sapphire was waiting for an answer.
"She's just a pony I met once... you know..." I mumbled feeling very embarrassed about it.
I watched as Sapphire strolled over to me. I did my best to look at her but every time I did my stomach doubled up in knots. I found myself looking at the floor. To my surprise I felt something I've never experienced before, it wasn't for more than a second but Sapphire had given me a kiss on the cheek.
"You have many admirable qualities I look for in a pony, Smolder." Sapphire said softly to me.
I was sure my heart was doing backflips at this point.
"You may not have the fine tuning that most Prince Pony' s have, but you're more a gentlepony then all of them put together." Sapphire complimented me.
I glanced to see she was smiling at me, I smiled back with a nod.
"I'm almost jealous of this pony you have your heart set on." Sapphire said looking at me rather incriminating.
"There's nothing to be jealous about, we're just friends. Besides she's a normal pony while I'm a Flame Pony." I mumbled sadly.
"So?" Sapphire asked sounding surprised.
I lifted my hooves to show her the flames that surrounded them. Sapphire took notice of it and shrugged.
"So?" Sapphire asked again.
"I'll burn her." I said bluntly.
"Just turn it off." Sapphire remarked simply.
"I can't." I replied.
"What?" Sapphire asked looking oddly surprised this time.
"No Flame Pony can." I informed her.
"I just figured that you Flame Ponies did it to show off how tough you all were." Sapphire remarked having come to her own realization.
"Believe me, if I could, I would." I said looking at my hooves.
"I suppose Flame Ponies never had reason to do so, but would you like me to teach you?" Sapphire asked curiously.
"Teach me what?" I asked.
"How to hide your flames, of course." Sapphire offered.
I stared at her wide eyed for a moment.
"Y-You can do that?" I asked in amazement.
"I don't think it's much of a stretch from how we Ice Ponies learned to contain our own element." Sapphire said reassuringly.
"You cloud isn't…" I started to ask eyeing her mane.
"My cloud? It's a technique we utilize to internalize our frost, it allows us to come in direct contact with normal ponies without turning them to ice." Sapphire explained running her hoof through it.
"You'd think it would work for Flame Ponies?" I asked in a hurry stepping towards her.
"Well, I'm sure with practice you'll be able to do it… eventually. Although, you would be the first to achieve this." Sapphire said taking a step back.
"Can we get started now?" I asked in excitement.
"I suppose, but weren't you supposed to be working on a speech for your Coronation tomorrow?" Sapphire asked looking at the two piles of broken slates.
"I excel at last minute ideas." I said reassuringly.
"Well, alright then." Sapphire said waving her hoof for me to step back.
Sapphire whipped her mane about, her horn flashed for a moment, as large icicles suddenly sprang from her mane and hooves. I watched in amazement as it seemed to transform herself into a different pony. No more a soft and gentle looking Princess, but a fierce and intimidating Ice Pony; with really sharp spikes. It acted almost like armor for her as the rest of her body seemed to be continuously growing a thin layer of ice that broke whenever she moved.
"This is an Ice Pony's original form. It is cumbersome, rather heavy and doesn't allow us the luxury of touching anything that isn't already frozen without freezing it ourselves." Sapphire explained.
The ground around her began to ice over, slowly spreading out further and further. With another flash of her horn, the Ice exploded into millions of ice particles that showered over her and brought back her billowing cloud mane.
"We teach our foals and fillies of this technique at a young age so that the process becomes easier to maintain and switch as they grow older. I'm not sure how hard it will be for an older pony without any experience." Sapphire stated looking rather curious at me.
"Does every pony need to use magic to like you just did?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, not at all. It is merely easier for unicorn ponies. Young unicorns cannot perform powerful spells until they can control their magic, so it is a matter of just focusing for every Ice Pony." Sapphire explained.
"But you said that I had dormant magic." I said quickly.
"Well if you had a horn, I could potentially teach you how to control your magic so it would be easier for you to control your flames, but it would take some time to perfect it seeing as you would be new to magic." Sapphire replied eyeing my fore heard.
"I'm willing to try anything." I said.
I felt a sudden hoof slap my upside the head. Touching the back of my head, I quickly looked up at Sapphire who still had her hoof raised; her face slightly flushed.
"I thought I could just… you know… smack it out." Sapphire said looking quite hopeful but rather guilty.
"Does that work?" I asked looking rather unsure.
"I'm not sure. I've never met a late bloomer before." Sapphire said offering to hit me again.
"Well give it another go and let's hope for the best." I said leaning my head towards her.
The Iron Clad Orc stepped out from threshold of the tunnel, hundreds of spiders swarmed before him. With a single step forward the Spiders froze, by his second step, the Spiders had parted, creating a path for him. Shafts of sunlight found its way through the partially collapsed mountain above, illuminating his darkened world briefly. A wave of his hand sent the Spiders racing to the tunnels spotted about and disappeared from sight. The four Queen Spiders crawled over the Orc, dragging behind them the missing Obelisk in their webbing. The Orc took its time, going deeper into the darkness of the mountain, slowly traveling further down into the earth.
When I was a boy, all I knew was dragon wrath and fire. When everyone ran, my father stayed, to face the dragons alone; but it was not to be. We were driven from our homes, separated from our people. We took refuge in the mountains and hid in shadow. Our people had fled to the seas, while my father and I delved deeper into darkness.
The Orc reached the heart of the mountain; a chasm lay before him, seemingly bottomless. Raising his hand into the air, the Orc swung it to his side. Hundreds of Spiders came silently sliding down on their webbing from the high ceiling above.
Where my father could not best a dragon, he easily overcame the Spiders that populated the shadows. For years we hid underground, away from the light, from sound, from color, but we could not escape our fear. When my father learned the Flame Ponies part in the fury of the Dragons, he could think of nothing else but revenge. With one Spider Queen he raised an army to challenge them. I have four.
Among the web strings of the Spiders, the four Queens lowered themselves into the blackness. Once more the Orc took hold of the webbing lowering him down into the darkness as well.
A Name Day for a young Orc is everything to him. Through his actions, his skills, and his accomplishments, an Orc's father would present him with a name to which he would carry for the rest of his life. My father promised me a name upon his return. That I my sacrifice was paramount to any Orc that had ever lived; that my name would be legendary to our kin. My father returned blackened and charred at the hooves of his enemy, King Scorch.
The chasm stretched on deeper and deeper into the earth, more Spiders came scaling down the side of the abyss, while the Orc slid ever downward.
King Scorch had defeated my father, destroyed him, and laid him at my feet. He was surprised to see me, unaware that there would be an Orc, no less, his son waiting for his return. He had the opportunity to end it there, to do to me what he did to my father.
Down in the depths of the chasm the Spiders slowed their descent, lingering above what appeared to be the bottom of the chasm. The Orc let go of the spider's web, letting him drop into the darkness below; landing hard on the ground.
The King could not bring himself to do it. Sparing my life, but in my anger, my hatred for him, I swore vengeance on his family and kin. The King turned to me, eyes full of fire, and spoke to me the words I have never forgotten.
"Go, run." The Orc said a loud.
"Gorun! Gorun! Gorun! Gorun! Gorun!" The Spiders began to chant, their voices rising in volume; the chasm echoing their chants.
I did just that. Running back into the darkness, into the mountain, plotting my revenge on the Flame Ponies and the King's family. I spent years breeding another army of Spiders, more vicious and crazed then the ones before. Taking to heart the words the King had spoken to me, carving them into my heart and bearing them as a name. Gorun. It was many years later that the King returned to the mountain, alone, seeking something in this darkness.
Gorun the Orc stepped forward into the blackness. A sudden rush of air, so fierce it caused him slide backwards while trying to brace himself. Gorun steadied himself, raising his arm to signal the Spiders above. Withdrawing his mace, Gorun raised it as the Spider's began to chant his name once more.
Every pony took the Mad King's threat to cover all of Equestria in fire seriously. None knew how serious a claim he had made. For his Final Solution required the fire of a creature lost to time.
Slowly reaching down, Gorun dug his free hand into the ground; scooping up the dirt. The mass that moved before Gorun would have been equal to a whole separate mountain sliding by. A large eye three times the size of Gorun opened before him. Gorun let the dirt trickle through his hand to reveal several gold coins in his hand, the hole he dug up revealed even more gold beneath the surface.
The Great Dragon Char himself.
Gorun let the coins drop one by one, until he held but a single coin in his hand. The massive eye focused on him intensely, peering at the gold coin in his hand. Gorun's mace, still raised high, let it drop to his side; closing his fist around the coin.
The Spiders stopped chanting. The voices echoed for a time, the massive eye staring at Gorun's clenched fist.
When I was a boy, all I knew was Dragon wrath and fire.
The Great Dragon Char snorted, blowing a whirlwind of dirt off the surface of his gold before dragging his head to face Gorun. The entire chasm shook; countless gold coins were thrown into the air, just by Char's slow turn. Gorun remained where he stood, balancing himself against the shifting coin underfoot.
When everyone ran, my father stayed, to face the dragons alone; but it was not to be.
"Foolish Orc." Char growled.
Its breath was so hot that it caused Gorun's Iron armor to turn different shades of orange and red from the heat.
My father could not tame the Dragons, but what will you do, Smolder, if I could?
From high above in the chasm the missing Obelisk fell from the blackness, spearing the Great Dragon Char in the back. His roar shook the chasm, the Spiders bounced around on their webs and even Gorun had to cover the sides of his helmet to dampen the noise. Slamming his wings into the side of the chasm, breaking large pieces of rock from the wall, the wails of Char began to weaken, his legs giving out on him and his massive eyes began to droop.
What will Equestria do?
Gorun looked down at the gold coin in his hand. Gorun lifted free hand into the air, signaling the Spiders to move in. The Spiders started to crawl over the Great Dragon Char, draping him in webbing, biting him in his exposed flesh and working the Obelisk out slowly. Gorun stepped away, each step crunched under the gold coins underfoot.
"Gorun!" The Spider Queen screeched.
The disfigured Queen Spider lowered herself down from the web that let her hang in the air. The Queen's body was badly burned, blackened for the most part, as she limped towards the Orc. Balancing on her remaining legs, the Spider Queen lowered herself to the Orc to speak with him.
"You promised me the cursed Flame Pony!" The Spider Queen spat.
"You will have what is left of Smolder." Gorun assured her.
"What if the dragon smashes him? Dragon could consume the Flame Pony before I can sink my fangs into it!" The Queen screeched.
Gorun reached over to the Queen's mouth, tearing one of her lesser fangs from her mouth as she screeched in agony. The Queen reared up to strike at Gorun, but before she could lift a leg the sound of hundreds of Cave Spider's hissing echoed through the chasm; signaling for her to back down. The Queen lowered herself once more to Gorun, hissing loudly at him in anger.
"I will personally see to it that your fang finds its way into Smolder's heart. It would be a shame to arrive at the Coronation without a suitable gift for the new King." Gorun said waving the fang in front of her.