The watcher rushed into the room. She was out of breath as she looked up to the stone that was speckled with the same lights as always.
“My liege, he was moved. The colt has taken the train with the student to Canterlot.” She said, hoping her master would come to reassure her. But several moments passed and the lights on the stone remained the same. “My liege, are you there?” She asked, gazing into the stone, trying to find him.
“Yes, what is it?” The loud booming voice said from behind her. She turned in utter surprise. There, before her, was her master in the flesh, no longer a voice in a stone. She quickly bowed to him while still looking up. Not only was he there, but behind him, an army of… creatures. Creatures the observer had never seen before in all her years. “Now the world shall have its rebirth.”
Blaze slowly woke up, and, for the first time in a long time, didn’t know where he was. It was quiet, and something moist was across his eyes, probably a cloth, judging by the texture. But even the fact he didn’t know his current location took a back seat in priority to the matter that made itself much more pressing; why did he suddenly have two sets of memories?
The one set was that which he had of traveling from town to town and from city to city with his family, putting on a performance and selling odd items to the townsponies so as to gain even a meager existence. The other, however, in stark contrast to what he had before, was of him living alone with his father in Canterlot after the passing of his mother; the full set of memories that had been filtering in for the past few months now. It seemed the only thing relating these two existences was his father and himself, but they still made no sense, and were, in fact, in complete opposition to each other in several points.
Blaze searched both, looking for something to show one was realer, or at least had an explanation as to why he now had both, but they rendered no helpful hints. One thing, however, did give him some direction. When he had been trapped by the spell and had seen his father and heard a message that he claimed to have placed in secret for him to find, his father had told him about how he wasn’t even from this time, how reality would dictate that he had long been dead and that nopony he knew was still around except Princess Celestia.
His father had given him a simple message, a message he was to give to the princess. His father instructed him to warn the princess of a coming danger, but the longer Blaze thought of it; the more it seemed that the princess would already know of it. They had said they had been feeling a strong power shifting in the heavens. Blaze could just tell them that it was an evil and be done with it, but he already knew that they wouldn’t actually completely believe him since he had no conclusive proof. In all honesty, he had no proof of who he was now that his mind was divided into two camp of memory, neither side presenting a more convincing argument.
“Is he awake?” He heard Celestia’s voice ask after the soft creaking of a door echoed through the room. Blaze opened his eyes, only to close them again as the cloth briefly touched his eye.
“I don’t know for sure, but I think he just woke up.” A mare replied. Blaze was beginning to piece together where he was and why.
Being as he had fallen into what most likely looked like a harmful spell; he had most likely been taken to the castle clinic. Celestia most likely had left a few minutes ago to inform Twilight of the situation and had just returned to check up on him.
“Do you know what condition he is in? That spell looked very intricate, and I really am at a loss as to what it was.” Celestia said. The surprised Blaze, Celestia was several thousand years old; if anypony could tell what that spell was it should be her, but she was lost as to what it was.
“I can tell you that physically he appears to be fine. He has no broken bones and he has no internal bleeding, over all he looks completely healthy. The thing I can’t tell is his psychological state; we have no way to find out how he is feeling inside. We are kind of in the dark on this since even when Luna tried to walk his dream she found he wasn’t even dreaming and the cold feeling she gets when somepony is dead or in a state of rest without a dream was not present either. For all we can tell it might have been a spell to switch his consciousness with another pony or thing.” the nurse said, chuckling at her last statement, though, judging by the fact her laugh ended rather quickly and on an awkward note, Celestia didn’t share her same sense of humor.
“Well, if he is awake I am sure he can tell us something of his mental state.” Celestia replied quite flatly, her usual optimistic tone replaced with one of dead seriousness. Blaze heard the soft clip clops of their hooves as they walked over to his bed. They stopped once they were beside him, though, by the fact that a set of hooves stopped earlier than the other, the nurse was probably standing back a bit. “Blaze, are you awake?”
“I’m not entirely asleep, but I wouldn’t define it as awake either.” Blaze replied groggily. Whatever state he had been in, he certainly didn’t feel rested in any way.
“How are you feeling?” The nurse asked, taking a few steps closer to the end of his bed. Blaze though on what to say next.
‘Not bad, just suffering a bit from confusion due to the fact I know have two lives instead of one rattling around inside my head.’ He thought of responding. “Good enough.” He replied finally. “I heard we got nothing on why what happened did happen. Did I hear that correctly?” A short silence followed.
“Oh… uh, yes, we have no word on what happened to you or why it happened.” By her tone of voice Blaze could tell she probably had nodded at first and was now blushing after realizing Blaze still had a moist opaque rag sitting on top of his face. “Um… would you like me to take the rag off for you?” The nurse asked probably so she could avoid future embarrassments.
“No, I think I need to keep it on for a bit more.” Blaze answered sincerely. He needed to keep his world as small as possible at the moment, being as he was still trying to sort out who he even was. Having the room around him revealed would probably just make him sick.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Celestia said quickly, showing Blaze his assumption about her being a nurse was erroneous, “That’ll be all. Please, I want to talk in privet with the patient, we will call you if you’re needed.” The quick hoof steps that followed told Blaze that she had, in fact, done as the princess asked and had left, an assumption cemented when the sound of a door opening and closing followed after a short while.
A prolonged silence fell on the room as neither one of them spoke. Blaze was beginning to feel uncomfortable about how silent the room was, but he still didn’t want to open his eyes and see his surroundings at the risk of becoming sick.
“What happened, Blaze? Few ponies would keep a blinder on when they feel well.” Celestia asked finally. Blaze sighed, already knowing how hard this probably would be for her to believe.
“Well, after I fell…” And so he began to explain, telling her everything his father had told him. After telling her that he told her about how he now possessed two set of memories, both memories so convincing that it seemed he now was the vessel for the consciousness of two different ponies. He told her everything; everything except the message his father had given him.
When he had finished, the silence that had engulfed the room told him that Celestia was thinking about all that he had said. Blaze felt sweat begin to roll down his brow.
“So, who are you?” Celestia asked finally. Blaze thought about both sets of memories, considering each carefully, trying to discern which one was the more valid appearing set, but both were so convincing.
“I don’t know. Both lives seem so real, none of them seem to have any holes that I can find… they’re just… perfect. I-I really can’t tell who I am anymore. I could be a pony from over a thousand years ago, or I could just be the traveling performer that I’ve thought I’ve been all this time until now.” Blaze replied, feeling the tears that formed at the corners of his eyes being soaked up by the rag on his face.
“If you can’t prove who you are… who do you wish to be?” Celestia questioned as she took a few steps forward.
“I… I want to be a normal pony. My life is nothing but a confused mess right now. I have two lives rattling around in my head. I don’t know who or what I am anymore. I’m just… so confused.” Blaze confessed as several more tear poured out into the rag. Silence followed, Celestia simply standing there, letting Blaze release his emotions. “L-life was easy before, but now… now it’s just confusing. Why can’t the world just make sense anymore? Can’t it just be simple like it used to be?” Celestia simply put a hoof on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
“Hush… it’s alright, let it out.” Celestia said in a motherly tone. “Life occasionally enjoys throwing curveballs at us. We must learn to simply just go with it and continue with our lives.” For some reason Blaze felt a surge of furry.
“That’s a bit hard when you can’t even say what your past is.” Blaze hissed at Celestia. Usually he wouldn’t even think of such a thing, but at the moment certain things weren’t on his mind, one being respect to those who deserved it.
“I understand that you are feeling confused, angry even, but you need to calm down. Being angry won’t solve anything.” Celestia replied in a still motherly tone. Blaze didn’t calm down though, he still felt just as angry. The world had just hit him hard, and he wasn’t about to let it go anytime soon.
“Well this whole situation isn’t helping! I thought I knew who I was and now I’m two ponies!” Blaze let out an exasperated groan as he slammed his hoof into the less than comfortable hospital bed. But one thing caught him off guard. Instead of jerking back at his anger, Celestia instead wrapped him in a hug, not only with her forelegs, but with her wings, notable only because he felt the rush of air and the tickle of feathers on his back as she lifted him into her shoulder. The rag fell off of his eyes and forehead, and for some reason, Blaze felt the emotions begin to pour out furiously. Tears spilled out, anger rose and fell almost instantly.
For the longest time he just cried into Celestia’s coat, the wall of emotions that had been building up suddenly released in a rush. He lost track of time, but he really didn’t care. His life was more confused than a plate of spaghetti at the moment. Celestia didn’t seem to mind either as she only gave an occasional ‘hush’ or some minuscule attempt at comforting him.
After what had seemed an eternity, he ran out of tears to cry and Celestia laid him back down on the bed. Released from the embrace, Blaze starred up at the ceiling, barely noticing as Celestia sat back down, looking at his in an expression that radiated motherly love and care. Blaze rolled over to look at her.
“What am I going to do?” He asked plainly. His heart ached, his throat was dry, and frankly, he was even more confused than when he had first woken up.
“You move on. You might not know what you were, but I know who you are right now.” Celestia replied comfortingly. Blaze looked at her in confusion. “You’ve a young colt filled with potential. By what Twilight said in her letters, you have three friends back in Ponyville, waiting hopefully for your possible return. If anything, you still have them and the memories of the time you had with them. If you never figure out who you WERE, maybe you can settle on only knowing who you ARE.” Celestia finished, a smile resting on her face.
Blaze considered this for a few moments. It was true; he knew who he was at that moment. He had friends, something neither life had given him. He had a place he could call home, and best of all, Celestia was right, it didn’t matter who he had been, it only matter who he was.
“Thank you, Celestia; I don’t deserve all the help you’ve already given me.” Blaze said, returning the smile born of relief.
“I want to help all of my little ponies if I can, you aren’t an exception. No matter who you were, I want to help you.” Celestia replied. As she finished, a knock on the door echoed through the room. “Yes, what is it?” Celestia called out. The door creaked open, revealing a set of two guards.
“Princess,” one of them began, “the counsel is assembled in the meeting hall.” He finished in a gruff tone. Celestia nodded.
“I shall be there soon enough; I shouldn’t be too much longer.” Celestia replied with a nod.
“There’s another thing your majesty.” The guard interjected. “There is a messenger here accompanied by two guards claiming he’s from a new kingdom. Certain evidence suggests he is, in fact, telling the truth.” Celestia’s expression shifted to a more serious form.
“I’ll be there soon. Please wait outside, and don’t let the messenger into room until I am there and things are settled enough to have decent conversation.” Celestia ordered calmly. The soldier nodded and closed the door. Celestia turned to Blaze, her expression still of the serious nature, but Blaze’s mind was on a different topic.
A new kingdom; the timing was far too close to be coincidence. One set of memories was really starting to gain favor, if not for the urgency of the situation. Then he felt a poke in his side, drawing him from his thoughts and back to reality, and the concerned looking alicorn that sat beside him.
“Blaze, are you alright?” Celestia asked in a rather concerned tone. Blaze couldn’t blame her really, he had passed out only moment before, and he really couldn’t say that he was completely alright.
“I’m fine, I was just thinking… and,” Blaze took a deep breath in, then released it slowly, “I think I’ve decided who I am.” Celestia looked at him with an expression of mixed joy and confusion. “This… new kingdom; its formation is far too close to something else to be pure chance.” Blaze looked at Celestia, a grave expression etched across his features. “Celestia, I have reason to believe this kingdom is ruled by a great enemy to Equestria. My father sent me to warn you about the return of one named Greyhield.”
“Greyhield…” Celestia said the name, as if it was a word almost foreign to her, yet so familiar; the name that had spelled destruction so many times. “He’s finally coming back? He was the power Luna and I were sensing. It’s no wonder that the stars were shifting lately.” She said solemnly.
“Celestia, Greyhield has attempted to bring about Equestria’s ruin before, I believe that this is just another step towards his next attempt top the same ends.” Blaze continued. “These messengers CAN’T be bringers of good news.”
“I know, but to be fair to all we must hear their message and not shoot the messenger, so to speak.” Celestia said calmly. Blaze nodded his expression unchanging. “I suggest you come with me to the meeting, I believe you might need to get to know each and every one of those ponies a lot better. If you were sent by your father to help us he must have had great confidence, and Flame Eternal was not one to put his trust in the wrong place.” Blaze was about to nod again when something she said caught his attention.
“Wait, you know who my father was? Why didn’t you say so, couldn’t you have saved me a lot of time deliberating over who is really was?” Blaze asked in an exasperated tone.
“Your father told me that when the day came for you to get your memories, that if the book was the medium that I should let you choose who you would be, and that if Equestria truly depended on you that you would make the right choice. I see now that he was correct.” She said, a small smile forming across her face. “Now, we really must go and meet with the nobles, and that messenger won’t wait forever.” Blaze nodded with a sigh, and followed Celestia out of the room.
The two guards that had been standing by the door fell in beside them as they walked. Blaze again noticed the small things about them, but now knew why he could; his father had shown him how a real soldier walk and bore his armor. These guards wore Royal Guard armor and acted as the princess’ very own escort, yet they acted in many ways as if they were still in the lower ranks of the Equestrian Guard.
They quickly trotted to the gigantic double door that led to the council room, that, by the sound that came echoing out from the doors, was filled with nobles that couldn’t stop talking. The door opened with the glow of one of the castle guard’s magic.
“Announcing Princess Celestia,” and after seeing Blaze, “and guest.” the guard said in a clear, deep voice. At least his tone was even and kept some semblance of professionalism, but his armor was also slightly off, and his stance was slightly off balance.
“Princess Celestia, I’m glad you could make it, we were beginning to think you might not be able to come with how long it was.” A rather well dressed noble remarked as they walked in.
“I was otherwise preoccupied with more pressing matters. Now,” Celestia replied as she took a seat at the head of the table, “let us begin the daily discussions.” As she finished that sentence, a pegasus stallion slammed his hoof on the table. Blaze eyed him as he took a place standing beside Celestia’s chair.
“Your highness, I request the Equestrian forces be mobilized against a new foe!” He shouted angrily, clearly disgusted at having to wait.
“Please, Iron Side, calm down and explain clearly what is going on. What enemy are you referring to?” Celestia interrupted calmly.
“We received a message from a new kingdom that has laid claim to a portion of our territory without giving us no compensation or warning as to the fact that they were going to claim it as their own! These actions can only be taken as an act of aggression, and as such, I demand the Equestrian military be mobilized against these new enemies!” The pegasus replied, still very loud and very angry.
“Your highness, the messenger is waiting outside the doors with his escort, shall we give them entrance?” A guard interrupted before the enraged Iron Side could continue. Celestia took a deep breath, and then nodded briefly. The guard gave a salute and signaled for the two guards at the doors to let the guests inside.
The door opened slowly and revealed tall being covered in armor. The creatures were reptilian, scales covering them from head to claw. They stood on two legs; their feet had three toes that ended in sharp claws in the front and another coming from the back. They both held a shield and spear in their hands that looked like more flexible and articulate versions of their feet. Their armor was made of dark gray steel; their helmets only covered the top of their heads, which were like those of a normal dragon in shape. Armor plates covered the back of their necks, but left the tough under side scales exposed. Their chest plates only covered the upper part of their chest, leaving their lower abdomen exposed. Steel coverings were fastened to the front half of the upper and lower parts of their legs, along with an extra piece that covered their knees.
The two guards walked in, then stepped to the sides, letting the messenger go between them. Unlike the guards, this one wore nothing but a cloak. The messenger bowed respectfully.
“Your highness, princess Celestia, we are sent here as delegates of the new kingdom that is formed.” The creature said in a raspy voice.
“And may I ask what you are exactly?” Celestia asked, looking them over, trying to remember if she had ever seen anything like them before.
“We, your majesty, are Reptilous. And we have come at the bidding of our master.” The messenger replied, straightening slightly.
“And who might your master be?” Celestia questioned as she continued to inspect them.
“Our master goes by many names; but his proper title of honor is Greyhield.”