//------------------------------//
// 20- No such thing as ordinary 
// Story: The Flames of the Phoenix 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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The Flames of the Phoenix- No such thing as ordinary




Sweet Apple Acres

It may had only been a few days since Ember had visited the Dragon Lands during the Gauntlet of Fire, but to her, it felt much longer than that. Aside from spending time with Amaryllis, there just did not seem to be a lot going on that really caught her attention. Aside from Applejack mentioning that Starlight made friends with a pony that had caused trouble in town a couple of times before and a tell-tale article in Manehattan almost ruined the grand opening of Rarity’s new boutique, not a lot of things had been on the mancer’s mind. She wanted to go see Caesar, but thought that he would be busy helping Zecora since Apple Bloom would be starting school soon and not be around so much to help her with potion brewing.

Then, of course, there was today. Where Twilight and Spike ‘convinced’ Applejack that she should take the day off and that they would do their chores for her. However, they were finding some of the tasks that were part of her morning chores to be a lot more difficult than what either of them originally thought. Much to the amusement of both her and Amaryllis as they couldn’t help but watch her try to do some of the chores that Applejack would normally do on a daily basis.

“Something on your mind, Emmy?” she heard Amaryllis ask her, catching the pyromancer’s attention for a moment as they were sitting back against a tree on the orchard. “You know that I can tell when you’re deep in thought, right?”

Ember herself let out a bit of a sigh, before looking back at the changeling. She was in her human disguise, but was wearing some of the outfits that Rarity had made and they looked rather amazing on her. Though, the mancer was thinking about something else. “I was just wondering how Celestia and Philomena have been recently. I mean… I know that Philomena and I have talked on occasion before, but I really haven’t heard anything from her today.”

“Don’t you think the princess would be busy? I mean, she’s not like Twilight over there, but she does have to tend to some events to keep the gears of bureaucracy turning, right?”

Ember blinked for a moment, before looking back at the changeling as she chuckled. “I guess. Though, to be honest, I never thought of you as the kind of person to be interested in the inner workings of government though, if I have to be honest.”

“Well, I have to find some sort of way to keep myself entertained while looking for you,” she teased, before looking back at her. “Though, you now have me a bit curious.”

“About what exactly, Ama?” Ember now asked, wondering what her wife was going to say next.

“Well, remember when you told me that you went to the Dragon Lands and found out that a dragon that you remembered seeing that was as young as Spike was the dragon lord? Torch was it?” Ember nodded in response, shortly before Amaryllis continued, “Well, considering that his daughter is now the leader of the dragons, wouldn’t a transition in power mean that the new dragon lord would have to meet the princesses in Canterlot at some point? You know, so that they could have the chance to meet and talk about how to improve relations between species?”

That left the mancer a bit baffled, before looking back at the changeling with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, but where did you get that idea from?”

“Well, it’s what I would do if I were in charge of a kingdom of any kind,” Amaryllis replied, “No matter how strong or powerful you might be as a ruler, a kingdom always needs allies. It’s one of the things that Chrysalis doesn’t understand. So personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of meeting between Celestia and the new Dragon Lord.”

“I just hope the custodes don’t follow her…”

“The what now?” Amaryllis blinked, not remembering her wife mention anything of that regard the last time they talked about this particular subject.

“Oh… right. Well, let’s just say that it happened on the day of the Gauntlet of Fire while I was talking to Torch. When I found him originally, he was sitting there by himself in a ravine that would be the equivalent of the main hall at Canterlot,” Ember began to recall as she turned to face Amaryllis, “At the time, it seemed a bit odd for him to be by himself if you take into account that such a rather important event in dragon culture was taking place.”

“I would say. Wouldn’t he have some guards standing just in case someone came straight for him?”

“That’s what I asked… and later ended up regretting,” the pyromancer told her, “He has three personal guards that also serve as his caretakers. They refer to themselves as his ‘custodes’, but the way that they were dressed and the way that they spoke were enough for me to feel a bit disturbed by the whole encounter.”

“How so?” Amaryllis asked, a little puzzled by what Ember was telling her.

“Well, to start, they were barely wearing any clothes. Now, clothing may not be that much of a big deal in Equestria, but from where I was from, anyone who wore that would make me think that the three of them are strippers,” Ember groaned, trying to purge a few images that spawned in her brain from saying that statement alone, “The fact that their bodies were covered in oil, they have no conceivable concept of personal space and their speech was borderline innuendo doesn’t help them. It was just horrible.”

“Oh, it can’t be that bad now, can it?” her wife now asked.

“Honestly, I don’t even think they realized that their words could be interpreted that way. Their names were Sear, Simmer and Sizzle,” Ember explained to her, before conjuring what looked like replicas of all three dragons in the palm of her hand, “Sear seems to be a bit too devoted to serving the Dragon Lord, though something tells me that he’s a complete moron. He didn’t realize that it would be better for them to be waiting to see who was going to become the next dragon lord until I had to point it out to him.”

“At least he seems devoted to his position,” Amaryllis added, before pointing something out to the mancer, “Though, I think I have to agree with you on their attire. Why would they choose to have something that… exposing if they’re supposed to be guards?”

“Apparently, Torch told me that they were able to convince his predecessor that the less clothing that they had, the more capable they would be at performing their duties. Yet, he personally thinks that there’s another reason.”

“Honestly, after hearing that, I would definitely agree with him,” the changeling nodded, before pointing at the other replicas as the one of Sear began to flicker out and disappear, “Who are the other two?”

“Simmer is… well, there really isn’t anything about him that particularly stands out. He has a mustache, but he doesn’t really do a lot to contribute and only say his piece after one of the other two speak first. He kind of seems a bit more well grounded,” that had the second flame that represented Simmer flicker out and fade. Leaving only one more burning in the palm of her hand. “Though, the opposite could be said for the last guy, Sizzle. He’s the creepiest out of all three. He’s the one that covered in oil to the point that he slides around on any surface he’s standing on and when he speaks, anything that he might say can come off on some grounds as rather sexual. Guh… don’t even ask me to-”

“Can you give me an example?”

Ember personally cursed under her breath at the timing, especially since she did not want to repeat practically anything that those three have said. “If any of them heard Luna or the Princesses speak in that loud booming voice of theirs, he would be the first one to say ‘my oiled abs quiver in delight at the sound of that majestic voice’,” For added effect, the mancer even tried her best to impersonate Sizzle. But all that did was left her rather disgusted once she had finished speaking, “Ugh… I feel like I need to wash my mouth with mouthwash after saying that.”

“If I were in the same position that you just hypothesized, then I would do the same thing,” Amaryllis commented as the last flame disappeared from Ember’s hands. Blinking a bit and rubbing her eyes with her hands as if she was trying to purge some images from her mind. “Maybe we should change the subject a bit. You know, talk about something other than that.”

That was something the mancer could definitely agree with. But the only real thing that either of them could notice was that Twilight of all ponies was trying to dangle a piece of corn over a pig pen and Spike holding onto some kind of list.

“Maybe we should talk less and perhaps help her out,” Ember admitted, before getting up off the ground and walking over to where the alicorn and the dragon were standing. “Need some help?”

At first, Twilight jumped and almost slipped out of the harness that she was in as she turned her head to face her. “O-oh… H-hello Ember. H-how long have you been there?”

“Long enough,” Ember replied back, folding her arms as both the princess and her assistant looked back at her, “I’m glad that you want to help out Applejack, but if I may be so bold, what in the world are you doing? You look like you’re trying to play some kind of fishing game that would be held at a children’s carnival.”

“Applejack asked us in order to feed the pigs while she was with Rarity for a spa day,” Spike explained, before handing the mancer a piece of paper as he looked at her. “She even gave us a list as to how she would do it. Twilight’s been trying to follow the steps on there, yet we haven’t exactly getting any progress on this at all.”

Ember took the list that Spike gave her and took a moment in order to look everything over. At first, given that this was Applejack they were talking about, she thought that some of the steps on here for her chores would be more simplified. Instead, some of the steps on here were unnecessarily complex. “I think I found your problem.”

“W-what is it? Am I not doing it right?” Twilight then asked.

“No, that’s… not necessarily it,” Ember replied back, “You see, most of the steps that are on here would only be necessary if we need to solve a particular problem that you come across. However, just from briefly looking at each of these and by looking at the pig pen itself, I can see that there aren’t any problems that would necessarily require them.”

“B-but if that’s true, t-then why would she still be doing them?” Spike now asked. Part of him was a bit surprised that everything that Twilight and him were doing up to this point was completely unnecessary. Though, another part of him did find the sight of Twilight struggling to do particular tasks without the use of magic to be rather amusing.

“She’s still doing them?” Ember now asked.

“I think I might have a theory,” the three of them now heard Amaryllis speak up as she walked over to where they were standing, “From the looks of it, Applejack might have solved these problems a long time ago, but ended up getting stuck in a routine where she had to do these on a constant basis while unnecessarily putting more work on her shoulders than she has too.”

It was after she said those words that she looked back at Twilight before smiling happily. “On a side note, I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Amaryllis, Ember’s special somepony. You must be Princess Twilight?”

“U-uh, yeah… how-?”

“Rarity told me about you and her friends while she was making the final touches on these clothes of mine,” She told her in response, “Some of the things that Rarity told me about regarding you were just straight up adorable~”

That had a small blush form on the princesses’ face while Spike himself couldn’t contain his urge to chuckle. “W-what things?”

“Do I look like I’m the kind of girl that would tell you someone else’s secrets, dear princess?” Amaryllis teased again, before looking back at Ember, “Though, now that I think of it, perhaps we can find a way to help her out while she’s enjoying herself.”

That now had Ember unfold her arms, before asking Amaryllis a new question that came off the top of her head. “What do you have in mind, Ama?”

“Well, since we identified what the problem is, why don’t we take some time to go through what she wanted us to do and find a way to make it easier for her. Nothing too fancy, just make it simple while cutting out any unnecessary work,” she suggested, looking at all three of them now, “Surely, Applejack would appreciate it if she had more time to spend with her friends, right?”

“That and Applejack would not have to worry about taking on so much work,” Spike added on, before thinking of a question to ask, “Though, are you sure that Applejack herself will take this rather well. She isn’t quite a fan of us doing things for her behind her back.”

“Well, let me assure you that by the time we’re done here, she’ll definitely appreciate some of the changes we’ve made,” Amaryllis smiled, “Now then, I say it’s time we go to work.”



“Applejack, I’m sure that Twilight’s a very capable pony. I’m sure that she can figure out what to do next.” Rarity said as she looked back at her friend. Because of some complications that happened at the Ponyville Day Spa, both her and Applejack were coming back to Sweet Apple Acres to see if Twilight and Spike were making any progress with feeding the pigs.

“Look, Rares. Ah know that Twilight means well, but she’s a princess and not a farmer,” the earth pony insisted, “Ah’ve been doin’ farm work mah whole life and ah’m pretty sure that it can’t just be something that you can just ‘figure out’.”

As the two of them were talking, they were soon coming across Sweet Apple Acres. But something did not seem right to the earth pony. Sure, the pigs look to have been fed… but judging from what was left of the food, it looked like it had been sitting there for a while. Not to mention that the pigs themselves seemed to have barely moved anywhere either.

“Something ain’t right.” she said, narrowing her eyes and looking around the orchard.

“What’s the matter, darling?”

“Well, the gates looked to have barely moved at all, and the pigs aren’t moving around. It used to be that this gate would squeak so loudly that ah have to open and close it in order to make sure that the pigs know it’s safe,” Applejack explained, demonstrating what she was talking about by moving the gate herself. Only to show that it wasn’t squeaking at all. Another thing that she happened to notice was that she found her list, but with a series of check marks next to them. “What in tarnations?”

“Is something wrong, dear?”

“Ah don’t know, but somepony has been scribbling on mah chore list here,” Applejack pointed out to her friend, only to realize that there was a second piece of paper underneath. This one looking less like a list of chores and more like a list of ideas. Of course, when Rarity began to look at them herself, she seemed to notice something.

“Darling, I think whoever is doing this is trying to help you.”

“Really? Didn’t ah say on the way here that ah grew up on the farm for most of my life,” the earth pony then reminded her, “Why would ah need help on something that ah already know how to do?”

“Would you like for me to answer that?” Both ponies turned around to find Ember walking over to them, looking a bit tired out as she looked at Applejack and Rarity.

“Aunt Ember! What’s going on? Where’s Twilight and Spike?”

“Well, after taking a look at the steps that you have for your chores, we soon began to realize something. But, let me ask you something,” the mancer said as she took a seat on a crate that was by the pig pen. “It’s about your instructions. Why do you have to open and close the gate, followed by ‘startle the pigs’ and then a… ‘chicken dance’?”

“Well, ah open and close the gate to let the pigs know that it safe for them to move since the gate used to squeak and startle the hay out of them.”

“Used to?” Ember then asked. “Why not now?”

“Well, ah fixed that gate ages ago,” Applejack replied, noticing that Twilight and Spike were coming on over along with Amaryllis. Ember had to take a brief moment in order to catch all three of them up to speed first, before the farm pony continued speaking, “As for startlin’ them, ah would do that because ah found out that giving them a bit of a fright would get them to hustle out of the pen faster.”

“But… they don’t seem to be afraid,” Spike pointed out.

“Yeah, they kinda got used to it after a while. So that’s why ah started doing the chicken dance,” Applejack explained, “Ya know, to try and encourage them to eat because if they don’t, the chickens will. Of course, ah can’t handle the gate while doing that, and getting the food bucket to spill into the trough was a happy accident since ah left it there by mistake.”

That only had Twilight come to one possible conclusion, just based on hearing that alone. “Applejack, I don’t know if this is just me, but it seems like all the steps that you’re doing are to solve problems that aren’t exactly problems anymore.”

“It’s not just you,” Amaryllis added on.

“Well, ah’ll be,” Applejack then said at that realization, before turning to Ember, “Ah didn’t realize that until now.”

“Which is why we wanted to help you out,” Ember added on, “After looking over a few things with Twilight, we were coming up with ideas on how to make it easier for you to complete your chores without any unnecessary work. Though, we did not want to follow through on anything until you had a look at them for yourself and see what works for you.”

“How generous of you,” Rarity chuckled, before trotting over to where her friends were and looking over some of the ideas that they came up with. Which allowed Ember to exhale a sigh of relief for a brief moment as she watched the three of them at work. “Would you like to join us?”

“Why, I would love too,” Amaryllis spoke cheerfully, before pulling Ember along to bring her over to the first of several renovations that they were going to do. Though, it was as they were walking over that she had a random question to ask the princess of friendship, “So Twilight… how has Princess Celestia been recently?”

Twilight blinked, almost tripping over herself as she looked back at her. “W-where did that question come from?”

“Well, Emmy was wondering how she and Philomena had been doing, so I thought that the best way to find out was to hear it from you~,” Amaryllis’ response was enough to have Ember facepalm herself as she groaned a bit in the process.

“Well, she did say that she was having a meeting to get the chance to know the new Dragon Lord, but outside of that, nothing too out of the ordinary.”

Ember just raised an eyebrow as she looked back at the princess of friendship while they walked along the side of the barn, “You’re sure about that?”



“Auntie, what’s the meaning of this!? Who let this dragon in here!?!” Prince Blueblood demanded as he burst through the door. The sight of a dragon meeting with that of both Princess Celestia and Luna was unheard of!

“Please forgive him, Ember. He has a tendency of doing this to everyone that he meets that thinks they don’t belong here-” Celestia tried to explain, before the Dragon Lord herself cut her off and 

“If you must so happen to know, I am Dragon Lord Ember. I was invited by the Princess to discuss the diplomatic relationship between my kind and yours,” the dragon lord boldly looked straight at the stallion that barged in on their discussion, “So if you would be so kind, take whatever it is that you have to say and leave. We have more important matters to discuss.”

“M-more important!?” the prince snapped back, “What could be so important that both of the princesses have to waste their time on?! Matter of fact, I’m not convinced that you are a so called ‘lord’ like you say you are! You don’t even have any guards!!”

In the seconds after that statement was declared, a loud record scratch was heard echoing throughout the chamber as Ember let out a deep sigh. “Princess, I’m really sorry about this.”

“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong-?” Luna asked.

“Not that,” Ember corrected her, “I’m sorry for what’s about to happen.”

Before anypony in the room could ask, three bolsterous figures burst through the stained glass window that overlooked the  entire room as the three custodes of the dragon lord stood in between her and Blueblood. To the dragon lord, she had seen them many times before, but to both of the equestrian princesses in the room, this was their first encounter. “Oh my, would you look at that. An unfashionable and wannabe stallion harassing our lord in the middle of one of the most important meetings between both our species.”

“You came to the wrong neighborhood, shithooves!!”

“W-what is the meaning of this?! Who in Tartarus are you freaks!?! … and why is the floor covered in body oil!?” Blueblood demanded.

“We are Sear, Simmer and Sizzle respectively. Custodes, bodyguards and personal caretakers of the Dragon Lord,” the one named Sear spoke now, striding along the floor and being careful to not step on the shattered glass. “More importantly, we are merely doing our job of protecting our lord. Now, what makes you think that a lunatic like you can get away with this? It is rather disrespectful to insult the ruler of another country, especially one who wants to be allies with Equestria.”

“Perhaps we should show him the error of his ways. This stallion looks to have no knowledge of how foreign policy between nations is supposed to work. Why don’t we teach him a lesson?” Simmer then suggested.

“Well, this is a rather special occasion,” Sizzle was the next one to speak, “One that makes my abs QUIVER in anticipation. Ready to BURST at a moments notice!!”

“Perhaps, but maybe I should ask a more interesting question? One that this one has yet to answer,” Sear declared, before looking back at the so called prince, “What is it that you think you are doing here? What do you think you’ll try to accomplish by thwarting this rather important meeting between two world leaders.”

“Because I think that your claims that the dragon behind you being a leader is a ruler are lies! She is clearly trying to brainwash my aunts into thinking that this is just a meeting, only for them to-!”

All Sizzle could do was just snicker to himself, while Simmer began to speak, “So the wannabe is also a racist prick. Are all the so called ‘nobles’ just like you or are you a variant of the species?”

“The Bloodstone Scepter might have power, but it only affects dragons. Furthermore, it’s only used to call any dragons to the dragon lord in time of aid. So you have no real reason to person this heinous and most embarrassing act. The only thing that you will be damaging is your own reputation.”

“You done goofed!!” Sizzle declared shortly after Sear was done speaking.

“T-this is insane! All of you have gone mad! MAD I say!!”

“Blueblood, that is enough,” Celestia now sternly spoke up, “Despite their… unannounced entry, these three speak the truth. Cease this nonsense now or else!”

All the prince could do was grit his teeth, before trotting out the door as he slammed it behind him. All while the custodes let out a collective sigh.

“That pony has rocks for brains, I swear.” Sear grumbled.

“Waamu~” Sizzle spoke shortly afterwards.

Which was followed by Luna asking her sister a rather personal question, “Sister, is it weird to feel rather flustered because of what just happened?”



“Yeah, most definitely. Barely anything weird happens during meetings like these,” Twilight insisted.

“If you say so,” Ember responded, before turning her head towards the tool shed and noticing something that made her stop. In the forest that was far in the distance, a pair of dark emerald eyes stared at her. Not batting their gaze as Ember’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Ember? Ember, are you alright?”

“Wha-?” When she looked back, she noticed that Applejack and the others were waiting for her. Not to mention that when she looked back in the distance, the pair of eyes that she saw were gone. “Y-yeah… I just thought I saw something.”

“Well, don’t worry about it, Now come on and help us out. We can’t fix these problems by just staring off into space,” Applejack told her as Ember nodded. Though, in her head, she was thinking something much different. Thinking about who it was that she might’ve have seen in that split second.

Thinking about why would they now step out of their domain.




End Chapter 20