"Flare," Luna said softly the next morning, trying to rouse him. Remembering what had occurred last time, Flare did not resist, and promptly complied and rose.
"More eager today I see."
"No, just not as stupid," Flare said as his stomach growled again, "I missed breakfast again, didn't I?"
"Yes, and as long as you are my assistant, you will miss every breakfast," Flare looked at Luna like she was crazy, so she elaborated, "since I am in charge of the night, I sleep in the afternoon and in the morning, staying awake for my work at night. So I miss breakfast, and you will too, since you will start following my schedule when your training is done."
"Ok," Flare said, taking all of it in as they descended the tower. But instead of going to the library, Luna took them out towards the gates.
"Uh, Luna, where are we going?"
"Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you. Some friends from another town are coming for Shining Armors wedding. Celestia is sending use to meet them at the station. Also, it might be useful to be a dragon for this, that is what they probably will be expecting."
"They must have been important to travel all the way here for the wedding." Flare said, his figure blurring as he switched forms. It was quite the hike to get to Canterlot, with it situated on a mountainside.
"Yes. They are quite important. They are Armor's sister and her friends. They will be assisting with the wedding."
"He has a sister? Interesting, and how do they know about me?" Flare said as they walked down the streets of Canterlot. Many ponies gave them strange looks, most of which had fear in them. Some were scared of Luna, but they were probably a bit unnerved by a dragon walking down the road.
Luna was oblivious of the looks, or if she saw them, she gave no sign. "They are from the town near where you lived. Ponyville. Armor's sister, Twilight Sparkle, was the pony who spotted you and your mother and reported it to Celestia."
"So that's how you found me."
"Yes, and we almost sent you back to Ponyville, but we decided to keep you here, where you would be more useful."
"Right, more like you didn't feel like sharing." Flare said jokingly. Luna laughed at this, and that brought more glances then before.
As walked through the streets, Flare also noticed a lot of guards watching over the city. This was especially true at the train station, where there were guards lined up in rows by the train cars, with two holding spears inter crossed. Flare spotted Dawn and Roarad holding spears crossed in front of a group of ponies that had just exited the train. Flare assumed this was the group they had been sent to retrieve.
As they approached Flare caught only a bit of the conversation between the ponies, with one, a purple unicorn with a navy blue mane and highlights, defiantly making her way between Dawn and Roarad, surprising them both. "Yeah. Congratulate. And then give him a piece of my mind."
"Hello Princess," She said, storming past Luna and completely ignoring Flare. She seemed to be radiating irritation.
"Was that Armor's sister?"
"Yes, but she isn't usually like that. Sorry." Luna said apologetically.
"Don't be sorry for me, it looks like Armor is about to get a beating."
"Yes, it seems so. Anyway, let us go meet the rest of the group." Luna said as the other six made their way past Dawn and Roarad.
Two of the ponies were regular earth ponies; one was orange, with emerald eyes, a blonde mane, and a cowboy hat. The other was pink with a fitting poofy pink mane. If her eyes were any lighter blue she would look like a psychopath, but they simply made her look energetic, which she was.
Two others were pegasi. The first was light blue with a rainbow mane and a tomboyish grin on her face. She seemed very athletic and emulated confidence. The other was the opposite, a yellow pegasus with a smooth pink mane, and eyes almost the color of Luna's. She was regarding Flare fearfully, half hiding behind the fifth pony, a white unicorn with a deep purple main that was very neatly kept.
But it was the sixth figure that surprised Flare. Standing with this group of ponies was...a small purple dragon. Flare looked down at him with a surprised expression, and he returned it.
"You're that dragon from the mountain, aren't you?" The dragon said, teeming with excitement.
"Spike! Don't be so rude," the white unicorn said, admonishingly, "I'm sorry, Princess, drake, for the lack of manners of our companion."
"No need, Rarity," Luna said happily, "Flare, allow me to introduce you to the group. This is Rarity."
"How do you do?" She said politely.
"Applejack."
"Howdy," the orange earth pony said with an astonishingly strong accent.
"Rainbow Dash."
"Hey."
"Pinky Pie."
"HI!" the pink pony said rather loudly.
"Fluttershy."
The pegasus squeaked something, moving farther behind Rarity.
"And you've already met Spike. Now Flare, would you be so kind as to carry these mares' luggage?"
"Sure," Flare said, making his way around the group and by Dawn and Roarad. He went into the train and emerged a few minutes later carrying about twenty bags and boxes. He had to stand upright to hold it all.
"Are you sure this isn't a cargo train?" Flare asked sarcastically.
"Sorry Flare, I had to bring most of my dress making supplies with me." Rarity said sheepishly.
"Along with all a'her makeup." Applejack added.
"Well, I'm sorry if some of us want to look good in the presence of royalty."
"Mares, calm down, it's fine," Flare said, making his way back through Dawn and Roarad, who moved to give him room. As he passed, Dawn whispered, "Nice move, Romeo." Flare didn't get the joked.
"So where is all of this stuff heading?" Flare asked.
"My sister had reserved a royal suite for each of you within the castle." Luna said nonchalantly, although it was not received that way. The ponies were shocked, and Rarity looked about ready to faint.
Great, Flare thought, I gotta lug all this junk all the way back to the castle. But he sucked it up and kept going.
"So Flare," Spike began, "you're Luna's assistant?"
"Yep, and bodyguard. Not a bad deal, if you ask me."
"Yeah, I'm Twilight's assistant. Have been for as long as I can remember."
"Really?"
"Yeah, she's pretty much a sister to me."
"Well, judging by the way she stormed off, I don't know whether or not that's a good thing."
Spike winced, "She's pretty pissed. Armor never told her he was engaged, and that really ticked her."
"I don't blame her, I'd be pretty mad too."
"Yeah, but she'll get over it in a day or so."
Flare lowered his voice so only Spike could hear. "Why is Fluttershy so afraid of me?"
"It's because your a large dragon. She's fine with me because I'm small, and most other animals, but she is petrified of dragons your size or bigger."
"I'm glad she has her friends to back her up, I'd hate to see what would happen if she was alone." Flare said as they entered the castle lobby. Several ponies appeared to relieve Flare of his cargo. After the weights were removed, Flare stretched his wings and sore arms, letting out a small puff of smoke from his nostrils.
"Eep!" Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Fluttershy. He isn't going to eat you, quit being so shy." She said, trying to instill some bravery into her companion.
"Sorry, maybe she won't be so afraid of me as this," Flare said, deciding it was as good of a time as any to show them is 'talent'.
All six of them stood, shocked, as Flare turned from a dragon into a pony. After he finished, he grinned at them.
"How the hay did you do that?" Applejack asked.
"Special ability," Flare deadpanned.
"Does it...does it hurt?" Fluttershy said, peaking out from behind Rainbow Dash.
"Not at all, it actually is quite invigorating."
"Wait," Spike said, confused, "does that mean you are a pony or a dragon?"
"Neither," Luna said, "he is neither species, he is a mixture between the two. Pony is soul, dragon in determination, and both in appearance."
Flare felt his face heat up at this assessment. Luckily, he was saved by the lunch bell.
When they reached the dinning hall, Flare noticed that the seating arrangement was different. Celestia had the seven new arrivals sitting by her, although Twilight was still nowhere to be seen. She had also moved Flare and Luna farther from Cadence and Armor, and Flare was thankful of that. He doubted he had any tears left to give after the previous night. Lunch went by uneventfully, with Celestia catching up on events with the visitors, and Cadence informing them on their roles with the wedding. As lunch ended, Flare began to head to the training fields, wondering what he would learn in training today.
____________________
"Alright, Flare, today we are going to teach you some magic. Since you can fly pretty good, Dawn will be taking over your combat, so we can work more on magic," Roarad said happily, "for right now, though, it is time for an anatomy/ history lesson."
"Oh great," Flare grumbled under his breath.
"I heard that, but I choose to ignore it," Roarad, becoming more serious, "I will teach you six types of spells, three offensive and three defensive. We will start with the offensive. There are three primary types of offensive spells: fire, ice, and lightning. First we start with the easiest, fire."
Flare perked up at this. Being part dragon, he had much experience with fire, though none as a pony.
"I have your attention, good. Now, the power and strength of each of these elements come from a part of your being. The power of fire comes from you heart and your determination. To make an effective fire spell, you must picture in your mind something you love or are determined to achieve. Observe."
Roarad then turned to a row of dummies in the distance and fired a ball of fire at one, scorching it.
"I thought of my sweetheart back home there, and it gave me the power to burn the dummy. Now lets have you try."
Flare moved up to the firing line, and looked to Roarad for instructions.
"Alright, search your self for the fire inside you, and bring it to your horn, you should be able to figure the rest out from there."
Flare turned to the target and closed his eyes. Something I love... his thoughts flickered to his parents. He clamped down on it, bringing the fire it entailed to his horn, which began to heat up. It grew hotter and hotter, yet Flare did not care. When he felt it was large enough, he unleashed his fire."
"OYA!" Roarad shouted. Flare opened his eyes just in time to see the cyclone of fire he launched vaporize a dummy.
"Well, I think you have fire down. Lets move on," Roarad said, admiring the burnt dummy, "the next element is ice. Ice is more harsh unpredictable then fire, it is conservative and thinking, for its essence comes from your mind. Let's see you try it."
Flare repeated the procedure, this time searching his mind for the cold power of ice.
"Focus Flare, focus," Roarad said as Flare struggled to use his magic, "visualize what you want, visualize the target freezing."
With a cry of frustration, Flare focused in on the target. He visualized it with a shard of ice through it's head. His horn then went cold, and he felt a surge of energy as a bolt of ice shot from it.
"Good job, Flare," Roarad said, bringing up a pair of binoculars to inspect the dummy, "looks like a clean shot. Not quite big enough to kill usually, but the way you hit it in the next, ouch."
"Well, I was aiming for the head, not the neck," Flare said. Usually he would be drained from such magic use, but it took more energy transforming than it did firing ice.
"Still, it worked, and that's all the mattered."
"So now what? Lightning?" Flare asked.
"No, lightning is the most dangerous element of all; I need to make sure you can control the flow of energy before you use it. You have fired it in single bursts, but you need to be able to hold it, to tame it. Otherwise, you will electrocute yourself," Roarad said, dead serious," Now, lets try sustaining flame, Mr. Dragon."
Flare sighed. He delved into himself, searching his spirit for fire; he had little trouble finding it. He brought it to his horn, keeping it strong but under control. His horn heated up, and a ball of flame appeared in a jet black aura. He could feel in pulsing, pushing at the walls that contained it, trying to escape in any way possible. But it did not think, and Flare did. He sustained it as it fought in his grip.
"Go ahead, let it go," Roarad said after what seemed like an eternity.
Flare did not need to be told otherwise, and the dummy soon was a pile of ashes.
"Good job, now try ice and we'll see if you are ready for lightning."
Flare, excited, repeated the maneuver with ice, but it was much different. Ice searched slowly for a weak point in its containment, then lashed out at it with strong amounts of force. It was cold and thinking, and Flare used much more energy combating it, but he did control it.
"Outstanding, let it go."
A shard of ice the size of a spear flew through the air and into the ash pit that was once a dummy.
"Well then, that was some good magic use, I guess you are ready for lightning, but nothing big, understand?"
Flare nodded.
"Good. Now, lightning comes from the very core essence of a being, the drive of their life force, which is what makes it so powerful. IT is found in the center of your abdomen usually," Roarad said, indicating an area below his stomach, "but here is where things get tricky. You must control the flow of the magic, curving it around your heart on its way to your horn. If too much of it hits your heart, you'll be dead in an instant. So for now, I am only going to let you use nonlethal amounts of lightning. Now, give it a shot."
Flare closed his eyes and search his essence, his core, for the power. He finally found it, a fluid, electric force. He gripped down on it and began to move it towards his horn. He felt another, more experienced, presence, press down on his mind and restraining some of the electricity flowing through him. Roarad, he thought as he continued to channel the energy. As Roarad had warned him, he was very careful to guide the flow around his heart. When it finally reached his horn, Flare was almost overwhelmed by the tingling sensation it caused. It distracted him enough for his flow of lightning to swerve enough for a branch of it to hit...his heart.
The last thing he heard before he blacked out was a boom as loud as a clap of thunder.
____________________
Luna was sleeping in her quarters when a tremendous tremor shook the room, followed shortly by a clap of thunder.
She was up in an instant, moving out onto her balcony to see what the cause of this disturbance was. She looked down upon the training fields and froze. In the middle of the fields was... a crater. A guard was strewn to the side, unconscious, with another helping him. But at the center of the crater was Flare.
Oh no... Luna thought, full of alarm, as she leaped from the balcony and descended upon the scene.
____________________
"Flare?" a voice said.
Flare barely heard it as he began to resurface from unconsciousness. He stirred slightly, but that was about all he could do.
"Flare!" the voice said again, except this time more urgently.
Flare slowly regained his senses and opened his eyes. Standing over him was Luna, who was holding his head up with one hoof. He looked to the side and saw Roarad lying on the grass nearby with Dawn standing over him. "Oh god.." he whispered.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Luna asked, full of concern and oblivious of the other two ponies.
Flare coughed and tried to remember what happened. He felt like he had just taken a swim in electrified water.
"We were...trying lightning spells...something went wrong...was anypony else hurt?"
"No, just you and Roarad," Dawn called from where he was helping Roarad.
"What the buck did I tell you about lightning?!" Roarad exclaimed, having risen from his spot on the ground, "You nearly killed us! If I hadn't blocked off your magic, you could have leveled half of the castle!"
"I'm sorry," Flare said weakly.
"Yeah, you better be. We're not going to try something like that again for a while, okay?"
By now other ponies were arriving at the scene. Celestia and Crusader landed nearby. "Sister? What has happened?"
Luna set Flare's head back down and rose. "He was practicing lightning magics and he lost control of his spell."
"Is he okay?" Celestia asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," Flare tried to say, although he doubted anypony understood him.
"He just needs rest," Luna said, "Dawn, Crusader, would you two please help me move him back to his quarters?"
Flare slipped back into unconsciousness as he was lifted and placed on a stretcher.
When he reawakened, he was lying on his bed. Luna was sitting beside of his bed, holding one of his hooves in hers. He looked over at her and smiled weakly.
"Ow." He said jokingly.
"Oh shut up," she said as she rose and hugged him tight, "don't ever scare me like that again, you understand me?" Flare felt a hot tear that was not his against his cheek.
"Ok," he said, "and I'm sorry."
"For what?" Luna asked, moving her head away enough to look him in the eye.
"For worrying you so much. First the head thing, now this."
"It's ok as long as you don't do it again."
"Alright," he said, looking up into Luna's deep blue eyes. She looked back at him, and they locked stares for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Luna looked away and released Flare.
"Get some rest, I will check on you in the morning and rouse you if you seem strong enough."
Flare watched as she left, realizing the moment was lost. He sighed, then fell back and let oblivion take him.