Tea and I took the main road into the Ashen Fields from Ponyville. There were several vendor ponies pulling carts down the road, speaking to one another on better selling points, and possible locations for the best chance of making a bit more coin. The hood of my cloak suddenly came down over my head, while feeling Tea's hooves adjusting it so I could see.
"Can I help you?" I asked, sounding a little confused by what she was doing.
"Hiding you." Tea whispered to me.
"From what?" I asked looking around.
"From any pony that might recognize you." Tea whispered to me.
I felt her hoof lightly knock the back of my head. It brought a smile to my face as a flood of memories came pouring back. I felt Tea brush up alongside of me. She was walking very close to me know, so close that our shoulders almost rubbed together.
"What are you doing?" I asked, feeling my nerves take over.
"I'm trying to make you look less suspicious by having every pony think you're being assisted by me." Tea whispered back.
"Wouldn't a hooded pony next to a light green pony look rather suspicious anyways?" I asked curiously.
"Not if the hooded pony walks like he's got a purpose." Tea hissed at me, feeling her nudge me to move faster.
The closer we got to the canyon, cutting through the base of two connecting mountains, the more crowded it seemed to become. Many pony vendors had set up shop on the sides of the road before leading into the canyon, mostly ponies offering food or drink; while others pitched flags and other trinkets bearing a picture of flames to support the crowning of the King. Several ponies blocked parts of the road, listening to the sale pitches the pony vendors had while examining their wares. Tea did her best to snake me through the crowds.
"How much further is it to your castle?" Tea asked me in a whisper.
"We just have to get through the canyon and cross the Ashen Fields." I whispered back.
"That far?" Tea hissed sounding surprised.
"It's not that far… kinda." I hissed back.
I suddenly felt myself being pulled away from Tea, some pony hand taken me by the arm, through the cloak, and led me over to a platform.
"Hello gentlecolt! Nice cloak you got there!" The unicorn pony dressed in a blue candy stripe shirt, straw hat, with a red mustache said.
"One in every single pony tends to get some sort of stain on their clothes almost one-hundred percent of the time." An identical unicorn in a blue candy stripe shirt, straw hat, with no mustache said.
I watched the two twin ponies climb atop their platform, pulling back the curtain to reveal several bottles of some sort of blue liquid. All the ponies that had already been standing around the platform let out a collective 'ooo' at their product.
"Today's the day when you look great!" The mustache pony began to sing.
"Perhaps to a party or a really hot date!" The mustache-less pony joined in.
"You take one last look before you start to trot!" The mustache pony sang.
"But wait! What's that? Good heavens a spot?" The mustache-less pony sang.
"You try your hooves with all that scrubbing." The mustache pony continued.
"But all that hard work has given you nothing!" The mustache-less pony retorted.
"When stains are a pain and won't go away!" The mustache pony sang.
"Try Flim Flam Brothers new Cleaning Spray!" The other pony joined in.
"I don't have any stains." I said slowly clapping along with the rest of the crowd.
"Not yet you don't!" The pony known as Flim said aloud.
I watched him pick up a bucket of something yellow, drop off the stage holding it up over his head and started walking over to me.
"Watch as my brother pours mustard all over this willing and consenting pony's cloak, surely to be stained forever, but have it restored like new with our Cleaning Spray!" The pony known as Flam said aloud to the crowd.
I stepped back only to bump into on looking ponies that pushed me back towards the mustard bucket, hoping to see this Cleaning Spray in action and probably not wanting to be caught in the splash zone. Flim lifted the bucket high, ready to dump it on me, as I felt myself begin to panic. Ready to flare my fire to have every pony back off, I watched as Tea stepped past me and pushed the bucket the other way, dousing Flim with his own mustard.
"He's not interested. Thank you." Tea said promptly.
I felt her grab my shoulder, pulling me away from the now mustard covered Flim and led me through the crowd of on looking ponies.
"No need to worry every pony! I'll have my brother cleaned up in no time!" Flam announced to the crowd as Flim sat covered in mustard looking very annoyed.
Tea lead us out from the crowd of ponies, I was very relieved to have come out unstained from that ordeal but it came at a cost; Tea hit me in the back of the head once more.
"What do you think you were doing?" Tea asked in a huff.
"Me? That pony pulled me away." I said in protest; defending my innocence.
"Rarity would have killed you if you showed up with a smelly mustardy yellow cloak." Tea hissed taking a hold of my hoof through the cloak and pulled me back down the road.
It technically wasn't holding hooves, seeing as Tea was merely pulling me through the crowds of ponies, but it made my heart race all the same. We eventually reached the canyon where several Royal Flame Pony Guards blocked the main entrance, while a few other squads patrolled the outer areas of the main roads.
"Are they not letting ponies into the Ashen Fields?" Tea asked sounding a bit worried.
"Well, not all at once." I replied.
"Why not?" Tea asked.
"The canyon is prone to rock slides and with the possibility of spider ambushes we've decided to take measures to ensure every pony got through safely." I explained to her.
"So how do we get in?" Tea asked curiously.
"All you have to do is ask and a Royal Guard will escort you through the canyon." I informed her.
This time I took hold of Tea's hoof, through the cloak, and led her up to the Royal Guard Pony standing front and center.
"Would you like to enter the Ashen Fields?" Corporal Hicks asked formally.
"Hicks… it's me." I whispered lifting my hood so that he could see my face better.
Corporal Hick's doubled back in surprise, drawing the attention of the other guard ponies but motioned to them to stand down. Leaning in close to me, Corporal Hicks began to whisper.
"My Lord, what are you doing here?" Corporal Hicks hissed.
"I went to the train station in Ponyville to pick up a friend." I whispered back.
Corporal Hicks glanced at Tea who offered him a small wave.
"My Lord… how many wives are you considering?" Hicks asked in a whisper.
"Wives?" I asked quickly, feeling my face flush.
"We thought that you and Princess Sapphire were… you know…" Corporal Hicks hinted.
"What do you mean we?" I asked, sounding surprised by the idea of more ponies having the same thought.
"Well, ever since her appearance, it seemed like she was going to be the new Queen and we were all excited to have more Ice Ponies walking around; I mean a lot of those mares are probably just as gorgeous as Princess Sapphire." Corporal Hicks whispered, looking rather embarrassed himself over the idea.
"I haven't chosen a special somepony yet and I'd very much appreciate it if you didn't gossip to the others about me personal life!" I hissed feeling my face burn up.
"Is everything okay?" Tea asked, wondering what we were whispering about.
"Yep! Everything's great." I said turning to Tea with a smile.
"I only mention it because the other guards and I were taking bets on when the two of you were going to go public with it and-" Corporal Hicks started to explain.
"You need to stop talking about this right now and let me get back to the castle before Wingston kills me." I hissed quickly.
"Of course, my Lord. Right away." Corporal Hicks said nodding his head several times.
Corporal Hicks waved to one of the other Flame Ponies to come over, informing him to take his place; Corporal Hicks motioned for us to follow him through the canyon. Our walk through the canyon was in silence for a bit, once we were out of earshot from the other ponies we were free to speak normally.
"If you don't mind me asking, my Lord, why did you leave Castle Char?" Corporal Hicks asked glancing over his shoulder.
"It's Smolder, and I wanted to meet my friend Tea at the train station." I replied glancing over at Tea.
"It's not safe to be going off on your own, my Lord. Especially with the Orc and Spiders seeking to destroy us." Corporal Hicks warned.
"Have there been any siting of spiders today?" I asked curiously, my thoughts mostly concerning the small gathering of ponies near the edge of the canyon.
"None yet, my Lord. We've closed a majority of the old mining tunnels in several key areas, several patrols are scouting the areas where ponies are mostly concentrated and our flyers are watching over the main and side roads." Corporal Hicks reported.
"You seem well informed." Tea said sounding encouraging.
"General Hearth believes that every pony should know what's going on, hoping to minimize the need for questions if things start turning south." Corporal Hicks replied.
"I wasn't expecting so many ponies to be here." I pointed out.
"Don't worry, my Lord. We have everything under control." Corporal Hicks said sounding confident.
"Lord Smolder." Tea said to herself before quietly snickering.
"I don't make them say that." I said to her.
"It's out of respect for what our young Lord has done for us; it's also part of our job." Corporal Hicks said with a chuckle.
"Do you like serving under Smolder?" Tea asked curiously.
"To be honest, Lord Smolder hasn't asked us to do more then what we've signed up for when becoming Royal Guards. General Hearth has asked us to pull double shifts since the threat against the Kingdom but we're more than willing to defend our new home." Corporal Hicks explained.
"Well, at least you're not letting this whole King thing go to your head." Tea said approvingly, narrowing her eyes at me.
"If you don't mind me asking," Corporal Hicks began looking over his shoulder at Tea. "How'd you come to be a friend of our Lord Smolder?"
"Well… Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had brought him to the Canterlot Infirmary where I sort of… treated him." Tea said thinking back on it.
"Makes sense." Corporal Hicks said nodding his head.
"What does?" I asked curiously.
"Usually injured soldier ponies develop affections for the nurse ponies that treat them. I believe it's called a 'Florence Nightingale' effect, I've seen it happen many times. " Corporal Hicks mentioned.
I could feel my face beginning to flush. I could tell that Tea was also feeling a bit embarrassed about it.
"I'm no soldier pony though." I clarified trying to play it off.
"But you do have feelings for each other?" Corporal Hicks asked curiously looking over his shoulder.
Words seemed to fail me as I tried to somehow admit to my feelings while simultaneously denying it to spare Tea and I the embarrassment over having every pony know about us. Tea had taken a sort of vow of silence on the topic, refusing to come to my rescue on this matter.
"Don't worry, my Lord. Your private affairs are none of my business." Corporal Hicks said reassuringly; even thought here was a series of bets floating around concerning it.
Tea and I sighed in relief. I'm pretty sure I heard Corporal Hicks mumble something to himself about Princess Sapphire but lucky for me Tea did not hear it. Our escort through the canyon was uneventful, much to my relief and on the last turn through the canyon it opened up to the Ashen Fields.
Peanut, Cosmic and Nightshade stood outside Castle Char near the chariots that the Royal Ponies used to arrive in. Having been selected by Princess Celestia to act as their Royal Escorts to the Coronation, the three colts were head over hooves to be getting out of guard duty for a day or two. Unfortunately, instead of standing in front of Throne Room doors, the three colts stood guard in front of the chariots.
"I can't believe Princess Celestia asked us to accompany her to the Ashen Fields." Cosmic said sounding pumped.
"Technically we were the ponies on hoof to drive the chariot, so it was just good timing." Peanut remarked taking in the sights.
"Aren't you excited that we might get to see Smolder again?" Nightshade questioned him.
"It's a Coronation. Smolder is going to have every pony who's some pony here and he'll have to talk to each one. I'd be surprised if he has enough time to say hello to every pony before tomorrow." Peanut remarked still looking around.
"Well at least it's nice change of pace from having to stand in front of those Throne Room doors." Cosmic said looking rather relieved.
"Yeah, now we can stand next to empty chariots all day." Nightshade replied suddenly realizing what they were doing.
"Don't ruin this for me, Shades. At least we're outside, in the fresh air and not standing in hallway." Cosmic mumbled looking annoyed with him.
"We'll probably be sent back to Canterlot with the chariots." Peanut mentioned motioning towards the chariots.
"Nuh uh!" Cosmic snapped looking worried.
"Well, we're not technically qualified to protect Princess Celestia or Princess Luna." Nightshade mentioned.
"I'll just break a wheel! That'll keep us in the Ashen Fields for a bit!" Cosmic said suddenly, taking hold of the chariot's wheel and tugging on it.
"The chariots can still fly without a wheel, genius." Peanut remarked slapping his hooves off of the wheel.
"Hey…" Nightshade said slowly looking down the dirt road towards three ponies gradually making their way closer and closer to the castle.
"Isn't that Tea Herbal?" Nightshade asked squinting at the light green pony coming down the path.
Cosmic and Peanut were both now squinting themselves, trying their best to make out whether or not it was indeed Ms. Herbal. After a minute of hard squinting, it had become clear to see that it was indeed Ms. Herbal.
"I thought Smolder had a thing for Ms. Herbal?" Peanut asked looking surprised. "Who's this pony she's with?"
"They could just be friends, Peanut." Nightshade pointed out.
"Who is she with, though?" Cosmic asked curiously trying to make out the cloaked pony she walked next to.
"You don't think she's found some other special some pony, do you?" Nightshade asked, sounding a bit worried.
"Smolder did say he didn't want to tell Ms. Herbal of his feelings for her." Peanut mentioned.
Corporal Hicks slowed to a stop, a few feet away from Peanut, Cosmic, and Nightshade before turning to me and Tea.
"I believe this is far enough, my Lord. I wish you luck on your Coronation." Corporal Hearth said bowing his head to me.
"Thank you." I replied, awkwardly bowing my head to him as well.
Corporal Hicks nodded to Tea, signaling his goodbye before heading off back to the canyon. My eyes fell upon the three Canterlot Guard ponies standing watch over the chariots and my heart jumped at the realization of who they were. Although they did not seem as pleased to see me the closer we got.
"Hello, Ms. Herbal." Peanut said politely slightly bowing his head to her.
"Hey Tea." Cosmic said whimsically.
"Who's the colt?" Nightshade asked outright eyeing me.
I suddenly realized that I still had my hood up, keeping my identity concealed to every pony. Before I had a chance to remove my hood, I felt Tea's hoof take hold of mine.
"Just a friend of mine." Tea said in a matter of fact tone.
I could see Nightshade, Cosmic, and Peanut become uncomfortable at these words. I could feel daggers from their eyes by the way they looked at me.
"So... who is he?" Nightshade poised the question again; sounding rather unimpressed.
"Well he's a Lord from a Kingdom that is good friends with Canterlot." Tea told them, being very vague about it.
"What's with the dress?" Cosmic asked, trying to poke fun at it.
"It's a very elegant cloak that only the most important of ponies can wear." Tea replied resting her head upon my shoulder.
I could see that this made Nightshade, Cosmic, and Peanut fidget uncomfortably.
"Ms. Herbal, may I have a word in private?" Peanut asked motioning to a spot a few feet away.
"Of course." Tea said happily, leaving my side as Cosmic and Nightshade slowly approached me; looking none too happy.
Peanut and Tea walked for a few brisk strides before Peanut turned to speak with her.
"Ms. Herbal, are your feelings for this colt, well, genuine?" Peanut asked carefully.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Peanut, my feelings for him are rather genuine.." Tea said reassuringly.
"Ms. Herbal, I don't know if Smolder told you, but he thinks the world of you." Peanut said in a lower register; almost a whisper.
"Does he now?" Tea asked, pretending to be surprised.
"Indeed he does. It's because he is a Flame Pony that he feels he cannot create a functioning relationship with you. But I can assure you that he cares about you very deeply." Peanut informed her.
"He told you this?" Tea asked curiously.
"He expressed remorse for not being able to tell you how he felt when we went to the mountain to find the missing ponies. I'm sure it was to spare you from having to deal with a long distant relationship, but I feel he was more concerned with the fact that he was a Flame Pony" Peanut informed her.
"I see, I guess Smolder told you ponies before telling me." Tea said thinking about it.
"I'm sure he wanted to, but just couldn't find a way that would make you both happy." Peanut said reassuringly.
"Oh, I know that. He told me on the walk over here." Tea replied.
"He did?" Peanut asked looing rather surprised.
"Of course, he came to pick me up from the train station." Tea remarked glancing over her shoulder at the cloaked pony.
Peanut looked up to see Cosmic and Nightshade staring the cloaked pony down before realizing who that pony actually was.
"So… you think you're good enough for Tea Herbal, do you?" Cosmic asked intimidatingly.
"You don't look like much of a colt to me." Nightshade said looking me over.
"I bet you've never served as a solider pony before." Cosmic said narrowing his eyes at me.
"No." I replied.
"I didn't think so!" Cosmic said accusingly, pointing his hoof at me.
"We've got a friend who's madly in love with Tea and I'm sure he's going to be pretty mad when he hears you're dating her." Nightshade threatened; trying to play up his threat.
"You wouldn't like him when he's mad. Want to know why? Cause his dad was the Mad King! That's right! Our friend is the soon to be King and I bet he throws you in the dungeon for even going near his Tea!" Cosmic said trying to scare me.
"Nope." I said feeling myself trying not to laugh.
"Can't stand the sun? Is that why you where this cloak? Well if you can't stand the heat, you won't be able to stand up to Smolder. He's hotter than you… both physically and literally." Nightshade warned.
"You think Smolder is hot?" Cosmic asked looking at Nightshade.
"What? No. I was just doing a thing." Nightshade replied.
"What thing? You said he was hot." Cosmic insisted.
"He's a Flame Pony, he's on fire. Hot." Nightshade tried to clarify.
"Yeah, but you said physically. Like it, handsome. That kind of hot." Cosmic retorted.
"So?" Nightshade asked.
"Nothing, I just didn't know you thought about things like that." Cosmic mentioned.
"Like what?" Nightshade asked.
"Just that. You know, that." Cosmic said sounding defensive.
"No, what's that?" Nightshade asked again.
"Never mind, just forget it." Cosmic said shaking his head.
"No, tell me what you meant." Nightshade insisted.
I could help but snort a laugh at this. Which brought their focus back on me.
"What's so funny?" Cosmic asked looking annoyed.
"Laughing at us are you?" Nightshade asked sounding defensive.
"Well laugh at our faces like a proper colt before we kick your flank for it." Cosmic said, throwing back my hood.
I couldn't help but grin seeing the looks on their faces when they realized it was me. It was a mixture of surprise, delight, and confusion all at once. Eventually, Cosmic and Nightshade began to smile wide before giving me playful shoves.
"You clever colt, it was you under there all along." Cosmic said looking me over.
"I really thought you were going to have an episode seeing Tea with some other pony." Nightshade confessed patting me on the shoulder.
I felt another hoof pat me on the back. I glanced over to see Peanut patting away, laughing all the while.
"You really had us going there." Peanut said wiping his brow.
Tea strolled up next to me, leaning against me; much to the surprise of Cosmic and Nightshade.
"Wait… so you to are...?" Cosmic asked looking suspicious.
"You two are really are…?" Nightshade trailed looking at each of us.
"We're just seeing how things go… for now." I said nervously; Tea nodding in agreement.
"Oh! Sure! Of course!" Nightshade said quickly, nodding in understanding.
"We won't tell no pony." Cosmic said reassuringly.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready for your ceremony, Smolder?" Peanut asked noticing the lateness of the hour.
I still had a whole hour before the ceremony would take place, which left not enough time to get scolded by Wingston but enough time to come up with something to say in the meantime for the speech I had not written. Although, this would conclude my time with Tea, and have to say goodbye to Cosmic, Nightshade, and Peanut already.
"Would you mind looking after Tea while I'm gone?" I asked them.
"Say no more, we've got it taken care of." Cosmic said thumping his hoof against his chest.
"Aren't we supposed to be watching the chariots?" Nightshade asked, bringing up their discussion from earlier.
"We've been asked by the King of the Ashen Fields to watch over his special special some- I mean- guest; we can't deny the request of such nobility." Peanut stated.
As much as it pained me to have to leave Tea, I knew that my responsibilities came first before myself. I gently nudged Tea with my arm, smiling at her, hoping to convey, without words, that it was time for me to go. Much to my surprise, Tea seemed to understand it, nudging me back and smiling warmly.
"I'll see you ponies later." I said optimistically; giving them a smile before throwing my hood back over my head.
"We'll be the ponies in the back cheering for you." Nightshade said encouragingly.
I did my best not to look back at them, throwing up my hood again, hoping to convey some sort of stoic confidence I knew I didn't have but so that I didn't change my mind last minute. The sudden flashes of several dozen cameras started to go off in my face the moment I got near the Main Entrance to Castle Char, paparazzi ponies were asking me question after question, all of them speaking over one another. None apparently knew who I was and the question I heard most often was who the hay I was and where did I come from. Luckily, the Royal Guard ponies quickly approached me, offering me some reprieve from the paparazzi ponies and led me to the Main Entrance. There I saw General Hearth presiding over the welcoming party.
"Welcome to the Ashen Fields, my Lord." General Hearth began.
"General, it's me." I said quietly, lifting up the hood so he can get a better look at me.
General Hearth seemed taken aback, quickly motioning for the other Royal Guard ponies to take over as he led me inside quickly. Once we were well enough away from the mob of paparazzi ponies, I felt General Hearth give me a shove on the shoulder in protest of my being here and looked very concerned.
"What are you doing here, Smolder?" General Hearth asked sounding concerned.
"I went to go meet a friend." I told him.
"Smolder, there is an Orc out there looking to put you down." General Hearth said sounding disappointed in me.
"I know, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly when I left." I confessed.
"Who was this friend?" General Hearth asked, with a sigh.
"Well… she was… uh… a friend from… uh…" I started to say, unable to get past my nerves.
"She? You went to meet a girl?" General Hearth asked looking rather surprised.
"Yeah, what of it?" I asked sounding a bit defensive.
"It's… nothing. I just thought that… well, Princess Sapphire is here and… well the guards have been talking about… you know." General Hearth said looking a bit uncomfortable talking about it.
"We're just friends. Tea is just a friend and Sapphire is just a friend." I insisted, feeling my face flush.
"Okay, okay. I'm just glad you made it back in one piece, and in time for the ceremony." General Hearth said patting me on the shoulder.
"Do you know where Wingston is?" I asked curiously.
"Where ever he is, I'm sure he's looking to put you down as well." General Hearth informed me.
I reached up to remove my hood but felt General Hearth's hoof stop me.
"I think its best you leave that on until you reach your chamber. Wouldn't want you being mobbed until after you're King." General Hearth said with a laugh.
"Right. I'll go there right now." I said reassuringly.
"And stay there." General Hearth added, watching me closely.
I nodded in agreement. We parted ways, General Hearth returning to the Main Entrance while I walked the length of the Main Hall passing through the sea of all of our honored guests. I kept reminding myself to thank Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and her seamstresses for color coding the cloaks the guests were wearing; it made it so much easier to know which pony were the more important pony and the ponies I could probably make jokes around. Luckily enough, I reached the platform that blocked the staircase leading up to the upper part of the castle, which was where my bedroom was, and where I was supposed to be. Although, my luck ran out as Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor and Wingston all stood atop the platform all staring at me with curious looks. My first instinct was to slowly slip away back into crowd but I could tell that they knew who I was already.
"Welcome back." Wingston said gripping his staff rather menacingly.