The train's whistle cut through the air, wheels sliding across the tracks, lurching forward, and the locomotive pulled away from the Ponyville station. Tea stepped down from the platform, my smile never left my face as she stood in front of me giving me a quizzical look.
"What are you doing here?" Tea asked curiously.
"I-I-I-I came to meet you." I stammered.
"I can see that." Tea replied raising a brow.
"A-A-And escort you to the castle." I added, feeling my heart drumming away.
"Isn't that a job for your Royal Guard Ponies?" Tea asked with a laugh.
"I-I-I thought that I'd do it." I replied nervously.
"So why would his Majesty go out his way to come and ingratiate himself on my behalf?" Tea asked teasingly.
Tea leaned closer to me. She was just inches away from my face but I'm sure she could hear how loud my heart was beating; I could feel it all the way down to my hooves. My mane flared under my cloak, I could feel my face burning and my knees shaking.
"I was… the thing… it was… the…" I mumbled unable to find anything to say.
Tea laughed to herself. Brushing her mane from her face and smiling warmly at me.
"I'm touched that you'd come to see me, Smolder. Seeing as you're the King now." Tea said appreciatively.
"I missed you." I said feeling the words slip from my mouth.
Tea's face flushed a slightly darker green. I was pretty sure my face was already lit up like a torch so I couldn't tell if I was getting more anxious or if I was in my flash step.
"I-I-I missed you too, Smolder." Tea said quickly, suddenly finding the edge of the platform very interesting.
"I… like what you did with your mane." I said awkwardly, grasping at anything to alleviate myself from my nerves.
"I let it grow out a bit." Tea replied, pulling on her mane with her hoof.
"It looks cool." I said, already mentally kicking myself.
"Thanks, I like you're… cape?" Tea said, looking at cloak unsure.
"It's what I'm supposed to wear for the ceremony tonight." I said, lifting up my hoof to let Tea see it better.
"Then why are you wearing it now?" Tea asked, suddenly sounding less nervous and more confused.
"Well, I, uh, kind of made up my mind to come get you after already putting it on." I said, watching Tea shake her head in disappointment.
"Aren't you worried it's going to get ruined or dirty by being outside?" Tea asked, almost scolding me.
"Well it, uh, it's, um… fire proof." I said, my heart pounding away.
"Does that make it dirt proof?" Tea asked looking at the hem of my cloak that hung just barely off the ground.
"No, but it's fire… proof." I restated, feeling like my face was going to melt off.
Tea noticed my insistence on it being fire proof, looking rather curious, she reached out her hoof to me cautiously.
"Can I…" Tea began looking at me, her hoof hovering near my shoulder.
"Yeah." I said feeling my voice crack.
Tea's hoof touched my cloaked shoulder, cautiously drawing it back but realizing that she didn't get burned. With a smile, Tea patted me on the shoulder a few times, which only made her smile wider.
"So you can kind of touch ponies now, huh?" Tea asked, amusing herself with patting me on the other shoulder.
"We didn't want any pony accidently running into us by mistake tonight." I mentioned.
I watched Tea's hooves come around my neck, I my heart thumped wildly, I froze on the spot as Tea's came face very close to mine; although her attention was behind me. I felt the hood of my cloak come draping over my head, Tea adjusting it with her hooves to make sure it looked just right. She stepped back with an unsure look as she examined me. My heart took a nose dive after having thought Tea was going to hug me.
"You kind of look like a suspicious pony, with the hood up and all." Tea mentioned.
"It's just for today, Rarity said she'd be willing to make me some more regal looking outfits later on down the road when she had the time but-" I stopped short feeling Tea lean into me.
I felt her hooves on my shoulders, pulling me in closer to her. Her head resting on the side of mine as she hugged me without much reservation, and stood frozen on the spot. It took a few seconds before I lifted up my hoof, draped with my cloak and rested it carefully on Tea's back; giving her a one hoof hug. Although my cloak was rather thick, I'm sure Tea could feel my heart beating relentlessly in my chest.
Tea stepped back, letting her hooves slide down my shoulders which pulled my hood off my head. My expression was a mix of happiness and confusion which made Tea laugh once more; my heart jumped.
"We should get going before we get in trouble." Tea said turning around on the spot.
I'm was fairly certain it was just my imagination but I could of sworn Tea's tail motioned for me to follow her as it whipped in the breeze. Needless to say I didn't need to be told twice as I hurried after her.
Princess Luna was sitting upon the large circular granite within the Royal Chamber with several small piles of parchment surrounding her. Princess Celestia sat at the dresser with two stacks in front of her, a pile for the letters she had read and a pile for the ones she had yet to read.
"Have you had any luck, Luna?" Princess Celestia asked, not looking up from the letter she was currently reading.
Princess Luna did not respond to her. Princess Luna's muffled laughter reached Princess Celestia's ears, prompting her to look over. Princess Luna had one hoof over her mouth while her other hoof held a journal as she tried to silence her laughter.
"What is that? What are you reading?" Princess Celestia questioned her.
"N-Nothing, sister. Continue with your search." Princess Luna insisted, waving her hoof at her while hiding the book behind her back.
"Relinquish that book, Luna!" Princess Celestia demanded; leaping towards her as Princess Luna struggled to keep it away from her.
With her magic, Princess Celestia was able to pry it away from Princess Luna who attempted to snatch it back but was shut down by how tall her sister was as she kept it high over her head.
"Luna, is this Queen Sunbeam's diary?" Princess Celestia asked in a gasp.
"It clearly states 'journal' on the inside cover, sister." Princess Luna replied.
"To invade the personal and private thoughts of a diary is completely unthinkable." Princess Celestia scolded her.
"She mentions you several times." Princess Luna replied still reaching for the journal.
"What page?" Princess Celestia asked quickly, lowering the book down to Luna as they both pressed their heads together to read.
"Page one-hundred and four is where she references your ability to look elegant even when you look like something a diamond dog dragged in." Princess Luna said turning pages with her magic.
"I beg your pardon?" Princess Celestia asked her face flushing.
"I believe it is referring to the assault you led against the spiders following the events of the Black Winter." Princess Luna explained trying to preface the remark.
"Oh, understandable." Princess Celestia replied, no longer scorned.
"Understandable?" Princess Luna questioned her.
"It was rather muddy and grimy in those spider caves. I was covered from head to hoof in dirt when returning the captured Flame Ponies. I see now that it was meant as a compliment rather than a crude remark." Princess Celestia explained.
"She also mentions her jealousy of your cutie mark." Princess Luna informed her turning the page again.
"Of my cutie mark?" Princess Celestia asked looking humbled.
"She writes '…Lady Celestia's cutie mark is so eye catching that it has every colt looking her way…' and proceeds to say '…what sort of pony gets a cutie mark of the sun with the name Celestia… at least I have sun in my name.'" Princess Luna read aloud.
Princess Celestia looked rather surprised, as well as flattered by it.
"I had no idea that Queen Sunbeam admired me in such a way, I always thought that her cutie mark depicting a ray of light was so deep and reassuring." Princess Celestia remarked.
"Unfortunately, it appears that Lady Sunbeam did not write any further into her journal after the Smolder's birth." Princess Luna mentioned revealing several blank pages near the end of the book.
"Smolder's birth?" Princess Celestia asked curiously, using her magic to turn the pages back to the last of the entries.
Princess Celestia's eyes skimmed over the page for a few seconds before she started to read aloud.
"Let me see, let me see '… Scorch refused to see his newly born foal, but I cannot say that I blame him. Neither of us planned for more children after the twins. Although it being an accident, Scorch feels that this foal would cause problems down the line, and told me to send him away. I did not want to bring in another child into these trying times, to have this foal be raised in the madness that is consuming his father…'" Princess Celestia read aloud.
"Smolder… was a mistake?" Princess Luna asked quietly.
"I prefer an unexpected blessing considering the events that ultimately played out." Princess Celestia said reassuringly.
"Does she say anything further?" Princess Luna asked.
"She goes on to mention how far Scorch and she have drifted in the recent years and she... she mentions her choices for godmother!" Princess Celestia said aloud in surprise, her eyes quickly reading.
"What does it say?" Princess Luna asked curiously leaning in to read along.
"She says '…in these unsure times I thought it best to have a pony that this little foal could reach out to and consider family. A godmother he could be left to if Scorch ever sent him away. My first thoughts were of Princess Celestia, Canterlot would prove a suitable place for the foal to live and be educated while under her tutelage and protection. Sadly I fear Scorch has burned any such bridges with Celestia now, having outright attacked her, I feel that such an offer would be met with hostility and suspicion from her…'"Princess Celestia read on.
"The Mad King attacked you?" Princess Luna asked in surprise.
"Scorch had seized land to the North of the Ashen Fields, dislocating several villages and communities. I came here to appeal to him, to demand that he cease his needless aggression but I was met with violence. This was the beginning of the war against the Flame Ponies." Princess Celestia explained.
"So Lady Sunbeam felt that you wouldn't accept her offer after what had happened." Princess Luna commented.
"During the time I would have declined it, I didn't know who I could trust and the battles that followed made me even more distrusting of Flame Ponies." Princess Celestia said sounding rather sad.
"Would you decline it now?" Princess Luna asked curiously.
"If things had been different I would have considered it back then." Princess Celestia replied.
"Does she say anything else?" Princess Luna asked looking back at the book.
"There is only her final entry. It was written several weeks after her last entry'… Scorch continues to call out to me in my dreams. He is in pain. Wingston assures me that it is my grief that has me dreaming of a Scorch that had long since been forgotten; I believe that Scorch… my Scorch is still in there somewhere. Every day I look into the Void Mirror, expecting to see Scorch staring back at me, but all I see is darkness. I've made up my mind to search for him, I won't abandon him to this madness alone, there is good in him I can feel it trying to find its way back. I'm leaving Wick and Pyre in charge, under the supervision of Wingston, and I'm leaving our youngest foal with a name; Smolder.'" Princess Celestia finished reading.
"Lady Sunbeam must have entered the Void shortly after." Princess Luna remarked somberly.
"We know the rest from there." Princess Celestia remarked snapping the book shut with her magic.
"It would seem that Lady Sunbeam did want to ask you to be Smolder's godmother, sister. Only that time and events caused her to withdraw from it." Princess Luna said optimistically.
Princess Celestia looked rather disappointed all the same.
"What is the matter?" Princess Luna asked sounding concerned.
"I feel that I have missed an opportunity, to have had a hoof in helping Smolder grow. I cannot change what has happened but it saddens me to know that I could have done some good for him in the past." Princess Celestia explained.
"You have done a great deal for Smolder when it mattered most to him, sister. You allowed him the opportunity to recede the ban of Flame Ponies, allowed the chance to prove himself to every pony, and stood by him against the return of the Mad King. I feel that you have lived up to your roll as godmother, even if you are not formally so." Princess Luna said reassuringly.
"When did you get to be so wise?" Princess Celestia asked with a smile, narrowing her eyes at her.
"I learn from the best." Princess Luna remarked resting her head against Princess Celestia's shoulder.
Tea and I walked around the outskirts of Ponyville, it was mostly empty from every pony being in the Ashen Fields and it meant that I had more time alone with Tea.
"So ponies have two-hundred and five bones in the body, but are different to every pony. By that I mean Earth Ponies have a stronger bone structure which makes them naturally stronger than any other pony. Unicorn Ponies have a slightly weaker bone structure as they have magic to assist them in most cases, eliminating the need to be very physical. While Pegasi Ponies have the lightest bone structure, and even more bones as they have wings, to help them fly." Tea explained to me.
Upon leaving the train station, I had asked Tea about her studies in becoming a doctor and she pretty much talked the rest of the time.
"Only certain doctor ponies are chosen to learn how to treat Alicorns. With the mixture of a dense but light weight bone structure, magic, and wings, Alicorns are the most interesting ponies to study." Tea said sounding very excited.
"Are you going to be studying Alicorns?" I asked curiously.
"It all depends if I can pass all the tests and what I base my thesis on." Tea replied.
"The cease cist?" I asked looking confused.
"Thesis. It's like a report that I study, write, and present to the professors at the academy. The more interesting it is, the better chance I have of being selected." Tea explained sounding a little nervous.
"What are you going to write about?" I asked.
"Well… I don't know yet, I have another three and a half years to really think about it but the longer I take to choose a topic, the shorter time I have to research it." Tea confessed looking a little disheartened.
My mind immediately started to race for ideas, but nothing came to mind. I knew next to nothing about medicine or anything that was remotely interesting. I shut my eyes tight, trying to think of something really hard when the feeling of Wingston's staff and Sapphire's hoof came floating back to me.
"What about me?" I asked suddenly.
"Well that's very kind of you Smolder, but there are a lot of students who are already applying to the Ashen Fields to study medicine there. Seeing as Flame Ponies are all the rage these days, students are hoping to write the book of Flame Pony medicine in the next few years." Tea explained looking annoyed.
"No I meant me, as in me." I said again, pointing to myself.
"You want me to right a thesis on you?" Tea asked looking confused.
"I'm an Alicorn." I said promptly.
Tea eyed me very closely; she seemed very unconvinced at my statement, looking right at my forehead.
"So I'm guessing your horn is just really small then?" Tea asked sounding sarcastic; I could feel my face burning.
"Well, it's not, well, out yet. It hasn't technically grown sort of speak, or at least it doesn't want to make an appearance." I said quickly touching my forehead.
"Uh huh." Tea said looking unconvinced.
"I have the wings." I added.
My cloak was thrown back, my wings whipped open, spreading them wide for Tea to see as she was very surprised. So surprised that she jumped back in fright at the sudden appearance of them, and stared wide eyed at me.
"When… when did you get… wings?" Tea asked in amazement, stepping closer.
"The same day we overthrew my father and freed the Ashen Fields." I informed her.
I folded my wings back under my cloak; I could see Tea's eyes almost shimmering with the possibility of writing a thesis on a late blooming Alicorn.
"You'd… let me… study you?" Tea asked trying not to sound too excited.
"If it will help you become the doctor pony you want to be, you can study me all you want." I said nervously.
"I mean it would be a series of observations, check-ups, and other sort of invasive things." Tea said sounding concerned but the look on her face was all smiles.
"Like what?" I asked looking a little lost.
"What you eat, how you exercise, how you sleep, where you sleep-" Tea started to list a few things off the top of her head.
"Would you get to stay with me?" I asked, almost blurting it out.
"What?" Tea asked looking a little surprised.
"Would you… get to stay here?" I asked again, finding it hard say it once more.
"Well, I'd probably have to stay for a week or two. Then I'd go back to put all the information together, then come back some other time to see what's changed and what's new I suppose. I guess during the summer would be best as it would be when we're in between terms." Tea replied thinking about it.
"That would be cool." I said, finding myself smiling wide.
"I don't know, Smolder. I don't want to get in the way with all your Kingly duties or have you feel uncomfortable with me using you like some sort of experiment or something." Tea said looking rather unsure of it.
"Well I'm not technically the King yet, but I will be by tonight." I mentioned.
"Are you nervous?" Tea asked curiously.
"I'm only going to be in front of every important pony in all of Equestria tonight, promising not to mess things up and hopefully not sound like a dork when I'm giving the speech I haven't even started yet." I said with hints of sarcasm.
"You haven't started?" Tea asked sounding surprised.
"I've just been really busy… well it's more like distracted with a lot of things lately." I confessed thinking back on everything that had gone on this week.
"Distracted? By what?" Tea asked sounding curiously.
"Some of our Flame Ponies came across an Orc in the old mining tunnels with any army of Spiders who has sworn to wipe all of us out. That was after we had a mystery assassin pony running around, and that was around the time an Obelisk came spearing through our new dam." I explained to her trying to remember what came first.
Tea seemed to be at a loss for words.
"And I was asleep for three days." I added just having remembered that last bit of events.
"You were asleep for three days?" Tea asked in disbelief.
"Apparently an entity from the Void Mirror, that my father had been using, entered my dreams to try and get me to see what my ancestor, Lord Smoke, had done to a race of Void Walkers many years ago. I haven't told any pony that I've been talking to it but she doesn't seem all that bad." I replied.
"She?" Tea asked looking very puzzled.
"I'm not entirely sure who she is, but her name is Mira and she lives in the Void." I explained.
"Aren't you worried your father will try to come back through it?" Tea asked trying to piece together what I had just told her.
"The Void Mirror is broken now; it only has a shard left, which is not big enough for any pony to get through." I said reassuringly.
"So then your father is gone for good, right?" Tea asked trying to get a simple answer from me.
"Yeah, trapped in the Void for all time." I said nodding my head.
"I only know what the Times said in Manehatten." Tea said sounding a little embarrassed.
"Times?" I asked looking confused.
"It's a newspaper. Ponies write about current events from all over Equestria for every pony to read." Tea explained, smiling at the thought of me being unfamiliar with it.
"What did it say?" I asked curiously.
"Well…" Tea began thinking back on it.
"It said that the Mad King had returned, that Princess Celestia and the youngest Prince of the Ashen Fields had succeeded in overthrowing the King, and that Flame Ponies had been forgiven." Tea said, summing it up.
"Is that it?" I asked feeling surprised by the lack of information.
"At the time it wasn't all that important to the rest of Equestria, not until Flame Ponies started traveling outside the Ashen Fields. After that, every pony was looking to make a bit from the resurgence of the Flame Ponies." Tea explained.
"It didn't mention anything about my brothers or Twilight and her friends?" I asked sounding disappointed.
"No, when ponies started to become interested they wanted to know more about where the Flame Ponies were going as a Kingdom rather than where it had come from. Why, what happened?" Tea asked sounding concerned.
"No, no, Twilight and her friends helped out a lot when my father returned. Not to mention the Crystal Empire and Canterlot. They helped protect all the Flame Ponies and sealed my father back into the Void." I explained feeling that they deserved recognition for their assistance.
"What about your brothers?" Tea asked quickly.
"They… um…" I felt my heart wince at the thought of them and swallowed hard.
"…aren't here anymore." I said walking a little faster.
"Smolder?" Tea asked sounding concerned as she walked faster beside me.
"They… uh… came back to… uh… help stop the Mad King and…" I had to pause several times to keep myself from getting worked up.
"…they ended up saving me and… getting lost in the Void with our father." I finished biting my lips and taking a deep breath.
"You've been all by yourself?" Tea asked sounding very sympathetic and concerned.
"I've had Wingston to help me through this." I said reassuringly.
"Who else?" Tea asked quickly.
"Well… there's General Hearth." I said trying to think of another pony I see often.
"And when they're both busy, who are you with then?" Tea asked.
"I'm fine, Tea. I don't need a pony to watch over me all the time." I said reassuringly.
"Because you've accepted it or because you can't?" Tea asked sounding worried.
"I've learned to deal with this and-" I began but Tea wasn't finished.
"When was the last time you talked about your family with some pony?" Tea asked promptly.
"The problems of the Ashen Fields come first before-" I started, but Tea jumped in again.
"Do you miss them?" Tea asked promptly.
"What? Of course I miss them." I replied feeling surprised by her question.
"Does any other pony know that?" Tea asked.
"Wingston does… Princess Celestia does too." I said slowly.
"So no other pony knows you miss your family, and you won't tell any pony because their problems come first?" Tea asked sounding annoyed.
"I have a responsibility to every pony in the Ashen Fields Tea." I said trying to sound confident.
"You're responsible for yourself, Smolder. Sometimes pain can be on the inside, most ponies can't see it unless they've been through it too." Tea said sternly to me.
It was the same thing she said to me my first night at Canterlot.
"Flame Ponies do that flaring thing with their manes when they feel strong emotions, what does it do when you're feeling sad or depressed, Smolder?" Tea questioned me.
"I… I don't know." I said, having never really seen it do anything when I was feeling either of those emotions.
"It's because you're used to feeling like this, Smolder. I bet every Flame Pony is. That's why you need to tell some pony when you're feeling sad, or you're never going to feel better." Tea insisted, putting her hoof on my chest stopping me from walking.
"It's hard talking to ponies I don't really know." I confessed; feeling like it was an excuse.
"You can talk to me, Smolder. I want you to tell me how you're feeling, I want to help you." Tea said sympathetically.
"Tea, I'm…" I felt myself stop short as Tea stared at me. One of those stares that knew I was going to lie, because I wasn't in the mood to talk about it; but this time I wanted to.
"I'm sad because… I'll never get to see my brothers again. I'm sad that my mom… isn't here… anymore." I told her, her hoof still on my chest.
"I'm sad that I'm a dork." I added.
"Why are you sad about that?" Tea asked sounding surprised.
"Because the one thing I really want, the one thing I want a pony to know is that…"
I could feel myself wanting to say a multitude of things, things that if I ever said aloud would probably kill me dead on the spot from embarrassment but Tea looked at me expectantly and I couldn't back down.
"… you're important… to me." I said slowly, feeling my face start flush again.
Tea's face started to turn a dark green, quickly pulling her mane behind her ear and looking away.
"Why am I important… to you?" Tea asked curiously, stealing a glance at me.
"Because… because…" I started and stopped again, feeling my heart pounding, my stomach tightening.
I could feel myself wanting to say it, to tell Tea she was my everypony, my special some pony, that if she'd ask me I'd postpone the whole coronation just to spend the rest of the day together. I wanted to say it so much that I could feel the words slowly slipping through my lips.
"Because I… I like… you. " I said slowly, feeling my heart go spelunking down into my stomach.
Tea flushed furiously at this. Doing her best not to look me in the eye while messing with her mane.
"I've wanted to say it since Canterlot, but it's a selfish thing for a Flame Pony to say when he can't reciprocate physically." I explained looking at my burning hooves.
"You…" Tea mumbled, pulling on her mane and rubbing it between her hooves.
I felt like the fire within me had been pulled out from my body, as if it was slowly floating away and every word Tea spoke was bringing it closer or further away.
"You are a dork." Tea said quickly, throwing her mane over her shoulder and turning her head away from me.
I felt a sudden rock land in the pit of my stomach. I stared vacantly out over the green fields of Ponyville feeling that a strong breeze could knock me right over. Slowly lowering my head, I could feel my heart aching and my smile fading.
"I kind of like you too." I heard Tea whisper in my ear.
I perked up. Tea's face was still very flushed but she seemed to have the warmest smile waiting for me. I smiled back at her, feeling my heart make a strong comeback, dancing in my chest.
"Really?" I asked, hearing my voice crack once more.
"Nope." Tea said with a smile, turning to walk down the dirt path once more.
I stared after her, feeling myself smile, and wondering if Tea had come down with a bad case of the Nopes on our walk together.