//------------------------------//
// Chapter 35: A Shadow & Its Flame 
// Story: The Phoenix King 
// by Turtlehaus 
//------------------------------//

I drew a picture of a flame within the black sand, drawing a circle around it, doodling a rather unflattering picture of Mira throwing several things at the circle. I had spent several hours trying to contemplate how to stop an object with fire, and nothing was coming to me; at least nothing practical.

“How can I stop something with fire?” I asked myself again and again.

My first answer was to simply melt it before it was able to reach me. Although, my flames would have to burn so hot that I did not think I could reach such temperatures quickly. The next idea I had was to simply dodge from the rock, but that wasn’t what Mira had asked of me. The problem was difficult for me to figure out, having been a Flame Pony all my life I assumed I knew everything there was to fire, but it becoming apparent that I was still discovering its possibilities.

It was easy to flare my mane, throw my fire in every direction, but that was before my magic had started to emerge. With the battle of the Orc, my flames had taken the form of a phoenix, and after my horn had emerged I was able to do it at will. What I wouldn’t have given to have Twilight here helping me research this, or even coach me through my magical studies, but Mira had said I wasn’t much of a studious pony to begin with. I never went to school in my youth, Wingston had tutored me, but I was on my own now trying to work out how and why my fire acted the way it did.

I pressed my hooves against my head, closing my eyes and trying to think of what I was missing. Fire wasn’t a solid, so it couldn’t protect me from a rock being thrown my way, but Mira had said that I needed to figure out a way to make it work. It just didn’t make any sense to me.

Letting my hooves drop to my sides I hung my head in defeat and sighed. I watched the black sand scatter from my breath. Amused by this, I took another breath, and blew a concentrated stream of air through my pressed lips through the dirt. The sand scattered, the drawing being erased with the shifting sands, and in that moment it had dawned on me.

“Wingston’s Fire Breathing for Beginners.” I mumbled feeling enlightened.

“A Flame Ponies power comes from the breath it takes. It breathes life into the flames, makes it stronger, fiercer, and hotter.” Wingston’s words began to echo in my mind.

Getting to my hooves I began to realize that I had done this before; several times in fact. For every spider I had pushed aside with a blast of my flames, when I knocked the Orc from the balcony, and even my Flash Step that allowed me to run faster. I just needed to breathe.

My fire surrounded me once again, letting it settle around me as I focused on my breathing. I drew a deep breath, feeling my fire flare powerfully from my body. The air around me began to howl, the dirt on the cave floor was thrown into the air, being swirled around with my flames, and my fire roared violently in its power. 

The air I breathed filtered through my lungs, but also my flames, the air passing through every pore of my body and fueling my fire. It was the amount of pressure from the air that I threw with my fire that had pushed things, it had propelled me through my Flash Step, and now it could surround me like a small typhoon that would prove difficult to breech.

Mira had been taken by surprise by this stunt. Holding up her arms to her face, Mira felt the winds of the small typhoon I had created, as well as the heat of my fire. The stone jars upon the table clinked together, shaking from the winds, as one of her stone jars was pulled off the table and was sent sailing through the air. It swung around, colliding with my fire dome, and violently being redirected across the room where it shattered.

Having heard the sound of the shattering jar I dropped my flames, the wind died down, the dirt scattering about the edges of the cave while a smoldering ring of fire sizzled around me. I wasn’t winded at all, it was very much just a different form of my Flash Step, but I wasn’t doing much with it other than directing where the air was flowing. Glancing over towards Mira, I could see the look of surprise and perhaps the hint of amazement with what I had achieved. I couldn’t help but smile knowing she would be happy with my results.

“You did it?” Mira asked curiously.

“Didn’t you try to throw something at me?” I asked curiously, remembering the crash I heard just moments ago.

Mira floated off to the side of her cave to retrieve the smashed stone jar, as if to show me what I had managed to deflect.

“Try not to break any more of my stuff.” Mira mumbled, narrowing her eyes at me.

“But I did it!” I said happily.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Mira mentioned tossing the pieces of her broken stone jar over her shoulder; it being beyond repair.

Even though Mira tried to seem indignant towards my accomplishment, she did smirk with satisfaction.

“You picked this one up faster than the others.” Mira mentioned to me.

“I remembered something Wingston had taught me a long time ago, which helped me also remember how I was able to race against Hotshot for as long as I did.” I began to explain with her.

“What’s a Hotshot?” Mira asked looking unsure.

“He’s… it’s not important.” I muttered quickly, brushing it aside. “I’m ready for the next lesson.”

“You seem… rather eager.” Mira said curiously.

“You said you needed me to get stronger, and that’s what I’m going to do.” I said to her confidently.

Mira pulled on her fingers looking rather anxious now. Everything up until this point was to improve Smolder’s proficiency with his fire and magic. To minimize the use of his energy, while maximizing his ability to fight longer and harder, but that’s all Mira needed him to learn; she had what she needed now.

“I… could teach you… summoning.” Mira offered.

“Summoning? Didn’t we already do that?” I asked looking confused.

“This isn’t simply bringing an object to you. This is offering your power to enter a temporary contract with a creature or familiar. This technique has many different forms in which you can summon weapons, environments, and potentially summon things from another dimension.” Mira explained to me.

I didn’t really seem to grasp the idea, and it showed on the unsure look I carried. Mira knew that a demonstration was needed, and decided that it would need to a good one to really get her point across. Taking a deep breath, Mira pressed her hands together, her blue stardust like hair began to glow brightly. Dragging one hand upwards while the other down, Mira palms left a thin line of shadow magic. Rotating her arms, drawing a large circle with the thin line of shadow magic, Mira quickly waved about her arms drawing a complicated pattern within the circle.

With a final flourish, Mira’s arms were outstretched with a complicated rune drawn out before her, it was similar to the markings I had learned when attempting to summon the rock from previous lessons. With her hands becoming engulfed in black flames, Mira shoved her palms against the seal, causing the runes to spin rapidly before her.

I stepped back in amazement watching the runes glide from the circle, pouring itself out onto the floor before me; it was like watch a glass be filled with liquid. Mira seemed to struggle to keep up the effort it took to accomplish this summoning, but the mass of darkness was already beginning to take shape. It was a wolf of massive size, nearly reaching the roof of the cave, it was like a living shadow; it was as if some pony had simply dumped a bucket of black paint upon it.

Lowering her arms, Mira was breathing rather hard from having put a lot of energy into this summoning. The massive wolf stepped towards me, growling menacingly at me, baring its enormous fangs, its fur standing on end.

“It’s okay, Rok.” Mira reassured it; petting it behind its ear.

I watched the massive wolf begin to relax, sitting down and leaning its head towards Mira; nuzzling her gently. Mira hugged it endearingly.

“It’s… huge.” I mumbled having never seen a wolf of such size.

Near the wolf’s paws the shadows started to fizzle away, black smoke slowly causing the wolf to disappear before them. Mira petted the snout of the wolf a few more times, whispering to it lovingly, before the wolf faded into the smoke all together. I watched Mira linger for a moment, her hand outstretched where the wolf’s face had once been.

“Rock… looked really amazing.” I said to her.

“Rok.” Mira corrected me emphasizing the ‘o’ sound.

“Rok.” I repeated.

“You can summon a great many things if you have the power. If you’re able to find a creature willing to fight for you, you can make a contract with it, and summon it whenever you need it.” Mira explained to me.

“Did you make a contract with Rok?” I asked curiously.

“I had to.” Mira whispered, her voice quivering. “Null killed him.”

Mira wouldn’t turn to face me, wiping her eyes with her arm, refusing to let me see her cry. I could feel my heart aching for her, it was obvious to me now that this wolf had meant a great deal to her.

“It’s only an echo, a shadow, but it’s all I could do. I didn’t have time… there was so much blood...” Mira sobbed trying to force herself to stop crying.

“I’ll stop him, Mira. I promise you. I’ll stop him.” I said trying to give her any sort of comfort.

Mira cleared her throat of her sobbing. Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at me with a soft smile.

“First… you’ll need to practice this. Lucky for us, there’s a snake that you can learn to do a Shadow Summon. It’s the only one we can practice right now, but it’ll be enough.” Mira explained to me.

“I’ll be able to summon Apep?” I asked in surprise.

“It won’t literally be Apep, but it will be an echo of what it was, and it will obey you without question.” Mira stated floating towards the tunnel leading to Azimuth’s Tomb.

“Sounds cool.” I mumbled following her.

Mira led the way through the tunnel. She had fallen silent for a while, I felt that she was just trying to calm herself from seeing an old friend she had lost. I really wanted to learn this Shadow Summoning, I was beginning to feel that I was really hitting my stride in learning Shadow Magic and I wanted to be ready to face Null when the time came.

We reached the threshold that led out to the extended rock path that led out over the abyss of Azimuth’s tomb. The path having been broken in part with our fight with Apep, but it just meant having to walk a shorter ways before floating down into the depths. Mira climbed atop my back, she was still rather quiet, but I didn’t want to annoy her with unnecessary chit chat. I leaped over the edge, letting my wings fan out as we glided down into the darkness.

“Smolder…” Mira mumbled after a while of floating through the blackness.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“If… the Orc had taken everything from you… everything you cared about… that bat, your friends, the hussy… would you have killed him then?” Mira asked slowly.

I didn’t reply right away. I thought back to that day when Wingston and the others had been found beaten within an inch of their lives by the Orc. Remembering the anger I felt for the Orc, that hatred that burned through me, and how I would have liked nothing better than to have seen him burn for what he had done. Even so, I remembered what Mira had shown me, a memory of my past with Wingston teaching me how to breathe fire, and how I had promised to follow his instructions.

“Wingston saw what hate did to ponies. What it did to my father. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have done it if he had taken him… every pony away from me, but I wouldn’t have let it change me.” I said to her.

I looked over my shoulder to see Mira staring back at me looking rather interested in what I had said.

“Actually, I have you to thank for saving me from… myself. All that rage from the Elder Dragon’s fire, all that power, you helped me remember what I am, who I am, and it stopped me from doing something I would have regretted.” I explained to her. “So thank you, for helping me keep my promise, Mira.”

I could feel Mira’s hands grip my shoulders tightly. She lowered her head looking rather ashamed, but I didn’t know why.

“You’re… so stupid.” Mira mumbled.

I smiled at her words; that was something I knew would never change.

Reaching the bottom of the Azimuth’s Tomb, we were just a few hundred yards away from the final resting place of Azimuth; Apep’s corpse still lying there. I walked in silence, Mira still riding upon my back, having decided to fall silent again. It wasn’t too long before we came upon Apep’s corpse, it hadn’t started to turn or rot, but it looked very ghoulish with its missing eyes.

“Let’s get this over with.” Mira mumbled; not liking to be near Apep.

Mira slid off my back, floating towards the corpse of Apep just to spit on it once more before turning back to me.

“I’m going to show you how to draw the seal needed to contain a shadow, it is a ritual that takes time to perform and it will need to be done correctly or it won’t work at all.” Mira instructed me.

“What do I have to do?” I asked her.

“First you’ll need to draw the seal. I’ll show you how to draw it, but the one performing the ritual is the important part.” Mira explained to me.

Mira floated beside me, tracing her finger through the sand, drawing out the seal, explaining to me the importance of each line and how even a single mistake could have catastrophic results. After having drawn the circle, to the perfection that Mira said was required she positioned my behind the seal. She floated over to the corpse of Apep, slicing off a scale with her magic, before floating near its opened mouth and reaching inside of it. I watched Mira viciously rip Apep’s tongue from its mouth, the squelching sound was vomit inducing, but the soft wet slap of the tongue whipping around in hand sounded like a wet rag.

Place the scale in a specific spot on the seal, Mira gripped Apep’s tongue tightly squeezing whatever blood she could from it that trickled through the grooves of the seal. Lay laying the tongue within the seal, Mira flicked her hands clean of the slime and blood residue they had before nodding her head in approval.

“I’m… I’m not going to have to eat that… am I?” I asked looking very grossed out.

“No… stupid.” Mira mumbled rolling her eyes.

“Oh thank Celestia.” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Apep was powerful creature; you’re not creating a contract with it so much as you are trying to contain it. It’s a memory, an echo, of what it used to be, and you’ll need to be strong enough to contain it. Whatever Apep was is gone now, so you’ll be facing the raw power of a giant snake, so don’t take it personally.” Mira explained to me.

“What exactly am I supposed to do?” I asked sounding confused.

“You’ll burn Apep’s body with your fire, stating that you command Apep’s shadow to serve you, and once you begin the ritual your fire will burn away the physical form releasing its shadow. It will be drawn into the seal in which your magic will be tested, if you are too weak to control it, you will release a shadow spirit of Apep into this world, but if you are able to conquer it, you will be able to summon it whenever you need it.” Mira started to explain to me.

“How exactly am I to be tested?” I asked finding this to be a little too straight forward.

“It’s sort of like trying to keep a scared little mouse inside of a circle with only your hooves to block him from escaping. Although, you’re using your magic to contain a hundred and sixty foot snake in a small circle.” Mira said trying to explain it in a way I understood.

“Are you serious?” I asked in disbelief.

“That’s why there’s the preparation phase. You just need to focus on your magic, using your fire to fuel it, create a barrier like you did before that keeps it from escaping and it will be yours. Just take as much time as you need, when you’re ready, set Apep’s corpse ablaze, and command it to serve you.” Mira reassured me.

I took a deep breath. I’m sure that all of this training I’ve been doing was leading up to something like this, and now was going to be the test if everything I’ve learned would pay off. I’m not sure if a giant snake was going to be useful against Null, but it would prove to me if I was progressing as well as I had hoped. I closed my eyes, flaring my flames a bit, focusing on my magic, trying to prepare myself for this ritual.

Mira had floated behind Smolder. This summoning was the next step in his training, but it wouldn’t increase power anymore. He had reached his current limit, all that was left was to refine his skills, but Mira didn’t need that. All she needed was the raw power of a Flame Pony. With Smolder focusing all of his power for this ritual, it would be the perfect time for her to steal his light, drain him of all his fire, and face Null once last time.

Mira was having a hard time bringing herself to do it. Her arms shook as she slowly began to raise them to Smolder, guilt poisoning her heart, and disgust in herself turning her stomach. Taking short shallow breaths, Mira had her arms raised out to Smolder, his flames whipping around before her. Bearing her teeth down hard, Mira’s anger rising as her feelings once more getting in the way as they had before; cursing herself under her breath.

“I really didn’t deserve a friend like you.” Mira whispered to herself.

Smolder’s fire whipped towards Mira’s hands, the markings upon her arm growing brightly, and her hair shining immensely. Mira could see Smolder slouching forward, trying to flare his flame more, but only providing Mira with more power. Smolder's flame was beginning to diminish, as the markings on Mira's arms seemed to burn with power.

“Mira, please stop!” Glow shouted.

Mira whipped around, pulling her hands in close to her chest, looking about the darkness in fear of Glow’s voice. There wasn’t any pony to be seen, nothing but the blackness of the abyss. Her heart was racing, out of both fear and surprise, but she knew what she heard; she knew.

“I’m not… I’m not feeling so hot.” I said aloud rubbing my head.

I turned to look at Mira. She was staring at me with such fear, tears rolling off her face, looking very guilty about something. I stepped towards her, but I watched her recoil away.

“Mira?” I asked looking confused.

“I’m sorry…” Mira whispered, beginning to shake all over.

“For what?” I asked taking another step forward; Mira floating away again.

“It was me… I got her killed.” Mira whispered through her sobs.

“Who?” I asked sounding concerned.

“I tried to fight Null, to save my friend, but I failed. Your mom… came to save me… and I left her there to die while we escaped.” Mira wept, hugging herself.

“Mira-“ I began feeling very confused.

“It’s all my fault. I should never have asked you to come here. Never. She said you’d be a sad pony, I could feel how lonely you were; I didn’t think anyone would come for you.” Mira continued to cry covering her face.

I could see Mira coming undone right before me, and I all I could think was how I could help put her back together.

“I’m so sorry, Smolder. I-“Mira stopped short.

My arm was around her, having pulled her close to me, hugging her tightly with my wing draped over her. I felt her clutching me, sobbing into my shoulder; I held her tighter.

“Whatever happened… whatever you blame yourself for… whatever you’ve done I forgive you. I forgive you, Mira.” I whispered to her.

We sat there in the dark, Mira’s sobbing mixed with the soft crackle of my flames. Mira felt responsible for what happened to my mother, that her having gone to save her was the reason for her death. I couldn’t believe Mira would feel guilty about that, that she felt I would have been angry or upset that she had lived instead of my mother. I was more proud than anything else to know that my mother chose to save a life, then to have walked away and let someone suffer; especially one who had suffered so much already.

“Mira, listen I-“ I began when I felt my strength leaving me again.

I fell forward, my body becoming numb with Mira’s hands gently pressed against my face. Her face was full of tears, softly smiling at me, her markings and her hair glowing intensely from the power she was taking from me.

“Thank you, Smolder.” Mira whispered to me.

She removed her hands from my face. I could barely move, but she had not taken all of my power from me. Mira sat with me for a while, stroking the side of my face endearingly.

“You’re so much like your mother. She loved you so much, and because of me… you never got meet her.” Mira said to me.

“…Mira…” I whispered feeling exhausted.

“I’ve lived too long, but that won’t be a problem for much longer.” Mira said with a smile. “This is goodbye, Smolder. Your friends will find you, eventually. Go back to your Kingdom, go back to your friends, become the pony you were meant to be, destroy the Obelisks, and never look back.”

Mira floated away from me. I tried to move, but I could barely keep my eyes open.

“…please…” I whispered trying to move.

“Thank you for saving me, Smolder. I won’t die a monster now, but I can die protecting my friend.” Mira said with a smile. “I’ll tell your mom all about you, I'm sure she'll be happy to know you're okay.”

My vision was being to blur, I could see the glow of Mira’s blue stardust like hair floating higher and higher. I hadn’t felt this weak since the battle with the Elder Dragon. It would take at least a day for me to recover enough of my strength to make the climb to escape this place, but by then it would be too late. Darkness took me, my flames barely flickering upon my mane, and hoped for miracle.

Mira floated back through the tunnel leading into her cave. The power she had taken from Smolder had given her strength she had not felt in countless millennia, if she had taken anymore, she would have had a chance of beating Null, but this was going to be enough for what she had planned.

Reaching the table with all of her stone jars, Mira took several and began to prepare a brew. Mixing in the eye jelly, the fangs, and even the venom sack of Apep, the concoction bubbled and hissed within the jar. Taking the half feather of Hoopoe, Mira had saved from Smolder’s smaller size; she laid it out on her table before pouring the venomous brew over it. The feather started to crinkle in on itself, the venom hissing angrily, as it bled into the feather and coated it with its goo. It was long before the feather had melted into a blob upon the table, bubbling sickeningly, and hardening in the open air.

Mira picked up the hardening blob, biting into it, forcing herself to eat it. She choked down the last few bites, gagging at the taste, before clutching her chest from the burning pain she felt within her. The poison of Apep was inside her now, but mixed with the feather, Mira had been able to appropriately self-antidote herself with its healing properties. It was to be her trump card, whatever light Null would try to tear from her body would be met with the venomous sting of Apep’s poison.

Taking one last look back down towards the tunnel of Azimuth’s Tomb, Mira smiled to herself. Floating towards the tunnel that lead to the entrance of her cave, Mira knew that she would never return to this place, and she was content with that.

“Goodbye, stupid.” Mira whispered.



Down in the dark abyss of Azimuth’s Tomb, Smolder’s wavering flames danced in the darkness. The sound of shifting sand could be heard echoing in the silence, coming closer and closer to unconscious Smolder.

“I don’t believe it.” A voice whispered in the darkness.

Two flames casting light, burning modestly, grew closer. Fire flowed from their manes, hooves, and tails. They were completely identical, both in color of their flames and their looks; twins.

“Is it really him?” Wick asked in disbelief.

Pyre knelt beside Smolder, checking him for injury, a smile forming on his face as looked back towards his brother.

“It’s him.” Pyre said grinning.

Wick quickly stepped towards the unconscious Smolder, looking him over himself, amazed at what he was seeing.

“He doesn’t seem to be hurt.” Wick stated conclusively.

“Judging by his flame he’s just worn out.” Pyre deduced.

“What exactly was he trying to do?” Wick asked looking at the seal in the sand and the bloodied tongue and scale that rested upon it.

“One could only guess, but it appears our little brother has gotten himself a horn and is capable of magic now.” Pyre pointed out.

“Oooooooof course he’s got a horn.” Wick said rolling his eyes.

“Help me get him up, brother dear; we can’t linger for too long.” Pyre instructed him.

Wick helped to put Smolder upon Pyre’s back. Pyre stood up looking a bit strained while doing so.

“He’s gotten bigger, hasn’t he?” Wick asked with an amused smile.

“The better question is why is he here?” Pyre corrected him; starting to walk off again.

“It might have something to do with the dragon that was pulled in some time ago.” Wick replied walking beside him.

“If that’s the case, where has he been all this time?” Pyre pondered curiously looking towards him.

“Hiding, perhaps? Just like us.” Wick offered.

“In any case, we’ll need get him some help, so he may tell us himself.” Pyre stated.

“I’m sure father will be surprised to see him again.” Wick said with a smirk.

Wick and Pyre continued to speak among themselves while the unconscious Smolder was along for the ride. Once more the sons of the Mad King were reunited, in a tomb of an Eternal Master, at the bottom of an abyss, but as their flames faded into the darkness it was clear that their outlook had become brighter than ever before.