//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Smolder's Inversion // Story: The Phoenix King // by Turtlehaus //------------------------------// Walking around in my own mind wasn't something I was used to. Granted I've had several visions that took place within my mind, I never really got the chance to explore it. Whatever fleeting thought I seemed to have terraformed the blackness around Mira and myself, bringing back vivid memories and familiar faces, but none of which I seemed to be able to interact with. It was like reliving my past, but merely as an observer to the events that took fold. It was close to dreaming, yet I controlled everything and nothing at the same time. "It's very empty in here." Mira remarked, shaking her head at the black emptiness before us. "It would help if I knew what I was looking for." I remarked, with a frown. "This is your mind, you stupid flame pony!" Mira shouted at me, already frustrated. "You're supposed to be figuring this out, not me!" Mira was viciously poking me in the forehead, trying to get her point across. "I'm not even sure where to start!" I hollered back, brushing her finger away from my face. Mira grumbled a bit, floating a ways away from me. Crossing her arms and thinking to herself. As Mira pondered, I noticed the markings on her arms start to diminish in its glow. I could see her blue star dust like hair beginning to fade. Azimuth was already leeching Mira's power, and I could only assume that mine was also being drained, but it was not yet noticeable to me. "Okay, okay, okay…" Mira said repeatedly, miming little shoves with her hands as she turned back to face me. "Okay?" I responded, unsure of what she had come up with. "Try remembering the day you got your wings." Mira instructed me. "Alright." I said, thinking back on it. No sooner had I thought of that particular day, the blackness that surrounded us was whisked away by the sudden emergence of color and space that came rushing in. Castle Char sprang up from the ground, the Ashen Fields rolled out like one giant carpet, the sky pouring itself in, and several familiar faces started to appear out of thin air. "Hey! That's me!" I stated in amazement. I felt Mira slap the back of my head as she floated by. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, the Wonderbolts, Wingston and myself were standing amongst each other; frozen within this frame of memory. Mira examined each battle worn pony to some degree, sneering at Princess Luna more than any other pony, but she eventually came to the memory of myself and looked me over carefully. "Go back." Mira instructed me. "What?" I asked feeling confused. "Think back, to some point before this, before you got your wings." Mira clarified. Exhaling a flustered breath, I tried to remember what had happened before, how that morning had started off. The world around us started to speed away, nothing but blurs passing around us, colors streaking and storming about. I thought of how we came up with a plan to trick my father, using Discord disguised as the Elements of Harmony, but that train of thought ended up leading me to remember my confrontation with my brothers. The dark walls of Castle Char rose up around us, the stone floor patterning itself underhoof, the Throne Room's high ceilings stretched itself high as three immense lights filled the room. The memory of myself was standing before Wick and Pyre, our flames blazing at one another, squaring off to fight. There was a sudden weight that seemed to fall upon my heart. The flames being cast by Wick and Pyre's manes seemed to blur their faces, making it difficult for me to see, or remember, what they looked like. I strode over to them, standing in front of these blurred memories, trying to reach out and touch Pyre's face, but watching my hoof pass through it. "Who's that?" Mira asked sounding confused. I turned to see what she was referring to and saw that she was pointing to the memory of myself. "That's me." I replied. "That's you?" Mira asked, looking very surprised. "Yeah, that's me, who did you think it was?" I asked, feeling somewhat offended by her look of disgust. "Why are you red?" Mira asked looking befuddled. "Red?" I asked. It suddenly dawned on me that not only did I acquire wings later that day, but the colors of my flames had also changed as well. Flames on a Flame Pony is the substitute for hair on a normal pony, to us, we don't pay much mind to our flames as it has a life of its own, but to other's it must be more disconcerting. "I forgot that I used to have red flames." I said to her, noticing how much more intimidating it made me look compared to the soft yellow flames I had now. "You never thought to question why you changed color?" Mira asked in disbelief. "There were more strenuous things taking place at the time." I remarked, feeling like I was being ridiculed. "Okay, okay, okay…" Mira mumbled, massaging her arms. "You're a little red stupid flame pony that gets turned into a statue, and then reemerges as a little yellow annoying and stupid flame pony with wings." "Hey!" I barked, feeling my mane flare. It was at this moment that I noticed my mane had flared very little, that I felt rather tired having done so, and Mira seemed to feel it too. I looked at my own hoofs too see that my flames had decreased in their intensity, and that soon I would be without flames completely. "Judging by the color… of the Queen's flames… you probably…" Mira said through shallow breaths, squeezing her arms tightly and bearing down her teeth in pain. "Mira?" I asked with concern, moving over to her. "I'm fine! Just…" Mira doubled over in pain, dropping out of the air. I caught her easily, with my wings, lowering her gently to the ground as she wheezed trying to catch her breath. The markings on her arms were almost completely darkened; her starlight hair was turning an ashy grey, pulsing with each breath. "We need to get out of here." I said quickly looking around helplessly. "I just… need… some… light…" Mira wheezed to me. With her hand shaking, she lifted it to me, as if beckoning for me to bring my face to her. I lowered my head, letting her hand touch my face; I suddenly felt a surge of my strength leave me as I nearly lost my footing. The markings on Mira's arms lit up once more, the blue starlight of her hair flourished again as she sat up in a start. I, myself, felt like I was training under Rainbow Dash again, out of breath and exhausted. "Your transformation was much more severe than I had first thought." Mira remarked, continuing her earlier train of thought. "It wasn't so much an upgrade, but more so a limitation you set upon yourself." Mira looked quite enthralled by her deduction, floating up into the air once more as I struggled to stand up straight. I was still feeling rather worn out; Mira must have taken quite a bit of my power, as I was now feeling my strength fail me bit by bit. "What… did you… do…" I mumbled, trying to stand up. Turning back around, Mira's face flashed an expression of terror as she quickly flew to help me. Taking hold of my arm she lifted me back onto my hooves, petting me gently atop my head, slapping me softly against the sides of my face to keep me from falling unconscious. "My… my kind used to feed off of light…" Mira muttered, sounding guilty. "There was so much in abundance, so many stars. So many that we just naturally absorbed it through our skin. That was until the Storm came, and devoured everything that shown." Able to catch my breath, I could feel my body beginning to surge with heat in its attempt to keep my flames burning strong; it was equivalent to adrenaline in any other pony, but ours just made our flames burn hotter. I wasn't feeling too much better, but it was enough to keep me standing under my own power. "I must have taken more than I thought…" Mira mumbled, sounding very regretful. "Don't… don't worry about it." I mumbled with a tired smile. Mira looked at me with such sorrowful eyes, a look I've seen before from Princess Celestia, Tea, and even Princess Sapphire, it was the look of worry about what was to happen to me. "Smolder…" Mira whispered to me taking my face in her hands. "This is going to be difficult for you, what you've done to yourself is… is not easily fixed." "What are you talking about?" I asked, confused by her words. "Your transformation wasn't complete. You should have come out with wings and your horn, but didn't." Mira started to explain. "Why not?" I asked curiously. "Because you didn't want it to." Mira emphasized to me. "What?" I asked feeling lost at this point. The world around us started to stretch, my memory starting to fade, I could feel my body starting to burn hotter, as flames started flaring up from the ground beneath us. Mira and I looked about, I didn't seem to be in control of this, my memory was beginning to dissolve into the blackness, being replaced by fields of black sand and fire. Mira looked very panicked at this point, once more grabbing my face and staring straight into my eyes. "I should have seen this from the start! You have to accept it, Smolder! You have to come to terms with it! You have to realize that what you've told yourself is a lie!" Mira shouted at me quickly. "What lie?" I asked, noticing the endless fields of fire raging more violently around us. "That you're just like your father!" Mira shouted, shaking my head trying to drive her point home. Those words were like knives, stabbing at my heart, causing my rage to fester, and my anger to rise. I jerked my head from her hands, stepping back, feeling my face turn up into a scowl. "I'm nothing like him!" I shouted angrily. The black sand beneath us spewed columns of fire into the darkness above, the flames raging about, roaring into an inferno as Mira looked about in terror. The flames proceeded to concentrate themselves into a single spot, forming into an intense sphere of fire, burning brilliantly like the sun before it started to mold itself. Mira floated away from it, her hands raised; ready to defend herself as I watched the raging ball of fire shape itself into a fiery colt. "Father?" I whispered staring at it. A part of me felt that this was my father, but this was all too familiar. I started to realize that this wasn't the memory of my father. I had seen this fiery colt before as it was my own soul staring back at me, my own fire confronting me once more as it did the morning after the Orc had attacked Wingston and the others. "You will die protecting this world." The fiery colt's voice echoed. Mira hissed angrily at the fiery colt. Slamming her hands together, Mira's shadow magic summoned dark hands to spring up from the ground beneath the fiery colt, wrapping themselves tightly around it; the same attack she had used on me from before. Without warning the fiery colt had appeared before us, mere inches away, Mira's shadow hands seeming to have no effect on it. With a swipe of its wing, the fiery colt struck Mira away, as she slammed against the ground hard with a shriek. "Mira!" I shouted in fear. The fiery colt opened its mouth, blasting me with a sudden surge of light, knocking me across the black sea of sand and fire before landing hard on my back. I felt the wind get knocked out of me; rolling over onto my side I wheezed trying to catch my breath. "You should not have come here." The fiery colt said aloud. I looked up to see the fiery colt's attention directed at Mira, who was already floating in the air once more, an angry scowl on her face and her hands clenched into fists. Mira hissed at the fiery colt, crossing her arms into an 'x' across her chest, Mira conjured two large shadow like spikes above the fiery colt. Swiping her hands apart, the spikes struck the fiery colt from both sides, staking it to the ground. "You are little more than a leech." The fiery colt remarked. The fiery colt's wings fanned, causing the spikes to wither away instantly. Mira staggered back, looking frightened as the fiery colt's flames started to surge. Mira shrieked in agony as streams of light were pulled from her body and reabsorbed back into the fiery colt. "Stop it!" I shouted in terror, watching Mira's blue starlight hair turn ash grey. Mira's body fell from the air, slumping to the ground, unmoving. I scrambled to my hooves to reach her but felt another blast of energy strike me and send me sliding even further away from her. "Were you so desperate for power that you would risk death to achieve it?" The fiery colt's voice echoed around me. "This wasn't exactly my idea." I mumbled, finding it rather difficult to stand. "Yet you sought it. You sought me." The fiery colt replied. "I suppose I did." I mumbled, feeling my legs shake as I tried to stand. "You've doomed us to die here." The fiery colt said to me. "I didn't really have a choice." I remarked. "There is always a choice. You have elected to choose the path that has led you to this moment." The fiery colt's voice echoed again. "I made a promise to Mira." I replied, feeling my knees start to give out. "You've made similar promises in the past, each nearly ending your life. Each time grasping for more power to overcome your enemies, each time inching ever closer to what you were always meant to become." The fiery colt's voice replied. "What would that be?" I asked, feeling a bit annoyed by this lecture. "Your life echoes that of another, the promises of good, the desire for power, and his inevitable fall into madness." The fiery colt's voice answered. "I am nothing like my father." I remarked with a sneer. The fiery colt fanned out its wings, a sudden burst of power exploded from it, throwing me back a few feet as I crumpled to the floor. I was already feeling exhausted and whatever energy I was saving had been used to pick myself up off the ground. The fiery colt approached me once more. "It is always the same lie." The fiery colt remarked. "It is not a lie!" I shouted angrily. The fiery colt's wing struck me hard across the body. I slid a couple more feet before trying to stand once more. The fiery colt approaching me again. "You have always feared your father, for one reason or another, but once he was gone your fear remained. Working its way into your heart, forcing you to question who you are and what you are destined to become." The fiery colt stated. "I… am not… a mad pony." I breathed hard, trying hard to pick myself up off the ground. "Every pony fears you, none dare say it, but your anger gives you power, just like it did your father. It was made painfully clear to every pony when you faced the Great Dragon Char; you are very much the Mad King's son." The fiery colt stated. "I am not a mad pony." I repeated through clenched teeth. "Your hate is swelling in you even now, and yet you lie to yourself. You deny that you are like your father, that you are somehow different, but the truth is you are the same. That is why you cannot summon me." The fiery colt stated. I looked up from the ground, seeing the outline of a horn upon the fiery colt, realizing that this wasn't really my soul speaking with me, but my dormant magic as well. Forcing my leg underneath myself, I forced myself up, staggering a bit across the black sand, trying to steady myself. I stood before the fiery colt, feeling my rage boil within me, but my flames no more than simmer upon my mane. "I am nothing…" I began angrily. "…like my father!" The fiery colt roared in anger, charging me in its rage, striking me across the face with its hoof. It pummeled me with its hooves, before blasting me with a bolt of light that sent my sprawling across the sea of black sand again. "Why?" The fiery colt shouted. "Why do you persist?" Feeling my back legs go numb, I did my best to lift myself with my forelegs, turning to the fiery colt with a faint smile. The fiery colt flared its wings at me, roaring in its frustration. "I'm just a… stupid flame pony." I whispered. These words sent the fiery colt into a frenzy, the black sea of sand exploded with fire once more as it roared in anger. The fire emerging from the black sand was absorbed by the fiery colt, increasing its size to that equivalent to the Great Dragon Char. Its roar shook the world, blowing a storm of sand past me as I shielded myself from it. "ALL OF YOUR ANGER STEMS FROM YOUR FATHER! JUST ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE THE SAME!" The fiery colt titan demanded. "We're not the same." I whispered, feeling my rage swell once more. "WHY?" The fiery colt titan cried raising its hoof and bringing it down upon me. "Because he stole them from me!" I shouted; my voice filled with pain. The hoof of the fiery colt titan was knocked to the wayside, striking the black sand with massive force. Reeling back the fiery colt titan watched as I stood up. My own fire raging about me as each passing moment my flames grew stronger. "The ones that I wanted to protect! The ones that I loved! He took them from me!" I screamed angrily. The flames from the fiery colt started to leech out from its form, snaking its way to mine, fueling my flames, giving me strength as the fiery colt began to shrink in its size. "Every day I've woken up hating him! Wishing that I had finished him before he was able to take my brothers away!" I screamed, my flames striking the ground around me causing the sand to explode. The fiery colt's titanic size was decreasing rapidly, it was stepping back, trying to keep its distance from me, but it was growing weaker by the second as my rage increased. "Every day I wonder why I stopped! Why I didn't go through with it!" I roared, the force of my power sending a shockwave across the black sea of sand. "Because I've been told that im not a King, or a soldier, or even a hero!" The fiery colt was back to its normal size, raising its wings to defend itself from my inevitable attack. "I'm just a stupid flame pony who's learned to forgive!" I shouted, stopping in front of the fiery colt. The fiery colt froze for a moment, unsure of what I had said. The intensity of my flames started to diminish, my anger starting to waver, as the fiery colt lowered its wings slowly; staring at me with its vacant eyes. My face was no longer full of anger, it was more solemn now, but I was smiling weakly. "You're right, I must be a mad pony. Why would I forgive my father after everything he's done?" I whispered, my voice trembling from my sadness. "Because I have that choice." The fiery colt remained still; almost captivated by what I had said. "I get angry… that's all. I'm no different than any other pony." I said slowly. "It's no different from being happy either. They're just feelings we are meant to feel." The fiery colt remained silent, listening to me. "But I've learned that… I can forgive the things that make me angry. That feeling angry is alright, as long as you take the time to forgive because that opens up room to being happy again." I continued, speaking quietly. I held out my hoof to the fiery colt, a small smile on my face. "I've been angry for quite a while now, far longer than I should have been, but I'm ready." I said, feeling strength in my own words. "I'm ready to be happy again… I want to be happy." The fiery colt flourished in its flames, statuesque in its silence, its vacant eyes staring into mine. It raised its hoof, closing its eyes as it took my hoof, nodding silently in its understanding. Its fire spreading across my arm, the fiery colt losing its shape as I felt it pour over me; consuming me within its flames. I felt renewed, like the sun bathing me in its light. I could see that my flames had changed once more, this time it was a mix of both red and yellow; the flames of my parents. The remnants of the fiery colt faded into the blackness, I took a moment to watch the last of the embers disappear. The embers drifted away, turning my head to follow them, I saw Mira's colorless body lying against the black sand. Hurrying to reach her I could see that she was unconscious but still clinging to what little light she had left. Coming up alongside of her I lowered my head to nudge her but found that I poked her instead. Lifting my hoof to my forehead I found myself with a horn, it was smooth, hard like bone, a pointed tip, and I was crossing my eyes trying to see it. "…Glow…" Mira whispered weakly. Realizing that we were still inside the hands of Azimuth, I quickly scooped up Mira with my wings and placed her upon my back. Not sure of what to do next, I tried to think back on how I had tried to focus my magic earlier. "I need to get us out of here." I thought to myself. I focused on the black sand that we had first touched down on in the chasm. I tried to imagine myself, as well as Mira, being there once more, free from this prison. These thoughts of mine seemed to slip from my mind, a sudden flash of light startled me, stepping back a few steps only to realize that I had not run into anything. I looked around, my eyes wide open, my flames softly illuminating the clenched hands of Azimuth several feet away. We were free. The hands of Azimuth fell to the ground before her with a crash, her head slumping forwards, no longer draining us of our light. "Mira! Mira stay with me!" I shouted, cradling her with my wing. Taking her hand with my hoof I placed it on my face, only to feel nothing. "No, no, no, no, no…" I whispered to myself in fear. "Come on, Mira! You can't die, not here; you haven't slapped me for taking so long to finally get my horn!" Mira was unmoving. I could feel my heart plummeting at the idea that I was too late to save her. I felt a swell of magic reach my horn. I could sense my magic responding to my desire to help her. I lowered my head, pressing my horn against her forehead, unsure of what to say or think, but closing my eyes wishing that she would wake up. "I don't want to lose you too." I whispered. I felt a small tap on the side of my face. My eyes shot open, seeing Mira's hand fall weakly to her side, the blue starlight of Mira's hair trickle through the feathers of my fiery wings and the soft glow of the markings on her arm lightly pulsing, Mira looking up at me with a scowl of all things and hissing softly at me. "What… took… you…" Mira whispered weakly. Chocking a laugh, I could feel myself smile. Mira's dim yellow eyes started to flutter closer, no doubt exhausted from the experience. I got to my hooves deciding it was best to get Mira far away from this place as possible. "Thanks…" Mira whispered to me. "… stupid…" I looked down to see that Mira's eyes were closed, resting, as I felt a great sense of relief wash over me at these words.