Embers of The Past

by zeroxwolfx

The Burned Ones

“We do so wander the lands since the days of old.  We yearn to feel the warmth of our mother, the loving glow of her bosom, but the ground is cold, the air is cold, and our hearts are cold.  Yet we still carry the light of the matron, the words of fire.  This is what keeps us moving, this is why we will continue to search.  Every day the light rises and falls, and as we travel on, we can feel it coming closer, and closer.  On this promised day, after so much searching, we will meet our mother again, and spread her word of flame across the land.”

        Princess Twilight walked across the hallway, enjoying her time, however brief, but very uplifting from her dearest Celestia.  She was near the castle entrance where she overheard two royal guards talking.

        “Have they left yet?” one of them said quietly.

        “No they haven’t, I don’t think they’re going anywhere until they get what they want…” said the other.

        “Can’t we just have them arrested for bothering royalty?” inquired the first one.

        The second one sighed, “We can’t arrest citizens for simply wanting to see the Princess, what sort of message would that send?”

        At this point, Princess Twilight interveined.  She walked up to them and they stopped their banter, each of them acknowledging Twilight and giving a swift bow, “Is there something the matter?” she asked them.

        The first looked at her confidently, “We’re having a bit of trouble deciding what the protocol is for some suspicious ponies that are at the castle gate,”

        Twilight looked surprised by this as she inquired further, “Suspicious ponies? What’s going on?”

        The second guard finished, “Some ponies in rather odd garments, and that posses an… unsavory smell are at the gate.  They asked to see Princess Celestia, only they referred to her as… “the goddess of the sun” whatever that means.  We interrogated further, and they said that they were not only expected, but that they were servants of Celestia.  We have been given no such orders to expect guests of the princess…”

        Twilight finally interrupted them, “I will have to look into myself, thank you sirs, please inform Princess Celestia of these ponies, I will greet them at the gate,” she said with a kind but commanding hand.

        The two guard ponies saluted her, and quickly galloped off to her duties.  Twilight Sparkle found this to be a very strange thing indeed.  Why did the guards feel the need to mention their… smell, of all things?  As she made her way to the castle gate, the best explanation she could think of was perhaps a few homeless ponies who hadn’t the best of hygiene, that were perhaps using an old word for Celestia.  The poor ponies were probably thinking that they owed the Princess some sort of tax, or servitude.  Twilight felt better as she opened the gate, to the outer wall, knowing that she could put these gentle ponies minds to rest.

        Standing, almost statue like in front of the outer gate was a group of nearly a dozen ponies, all of them covered in tattered brown cloaks.  Twilight seemed to be correct in identifying them as older ponies, as what showed of their muzzles were wrinkled, perhaps a bit too much so.  As she walked closer, she realized why the guards had mentioned the smell.  It was not that of unwashed pony, but instead resembled something that had burnt, perhaps rotten, or perhaps a combination of  both.  

        Twilight held her breath, not wanting to offend or turn her head away as she smiled, clearly these ponies had fallen on hard times, “Greetings! I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I’d like to welcome you to Canterlot! I understand you’re looking for Princess Celestia, she’s a bit tired after myself and her rose the sun this morning and isn’t available right now… but I’d be more than happy to help you, if I could!” she said cheerfully.

        When Twilight finished, the hooded ponies shared glances with each other.  One of the ponies stepped forward and pulled his hood back slightly.  From this Twilight could guess what the reason for the particular smell of the ponies was.  This pony, obviously male, now that she looked closer did not look too terribly old.  The actual skin she saw that she thought was wrinkled was actually terribly burnt, some of the skin, black, red, and distorted and warped on his face.  There were even bits of flesh here and there hanging off, that hadn’t healed properly.  Any fur that was left on his face at all was burnt black, including his eyebrows.  His mane, which was only a few wispy strands, was long on the back of his head, was a mixture of jet black with streaks of white.  Needless to say, he was not a very pleasant figure to look at and Twilight doubted that the others bore a softer appearance.  

Perhaps the most striking feature about him was his eyes.  They were an opaque white, obscuring the lines between his irises, and his pupils.  It looked as if he were blind, but he could clearly see, as he followed the guards, and Twilight’s movement well.  

        He opened his mouth to speak, doing so with a raspy voice, as if he had been a chimney sweep his whole life… perhaps that would explain his appearance, “Raised the sun...  you have assisted the Almighty Celestia with raising the sun?”

        Twilight smiled, doing her best to ignore the wretched appearance of the ponies before her, “Yes! Well… sort of.  I’m no where NEAR strong enough to do anything like that myself, to be honest I did little more than offer her encouragement…. but she did seem to like having her student at her side for the event!” she said with a nod.

        The exposed pony widened his eyes, and the other hooded ponies looked at each other again.  With this, the forward pony gave… what he could, a smile to Twilight Sparkle, and he along with the others gave a slight bow of their heads to her, “We are also pupils of her greatness!  I am Ignitor Terminus,” he motioned a hoof to the others behind him, “We are the followers of the flame… the burned ones!” he said jovially, raising his hooves in the air.

At all of this new language, Twilight was a bit confused.  She paused for a moment, trying to think of anything she might of read, or skimmed across that would have mentioned anything about them.  Of course she would not think of anything, as nothing about them would be written in any such books, “It’s uh… good to meet you, all! Ahem, sorry.  As I’ve said before, all ponies are welcome here in Canterlot, and you’re more than welcome to uh, enjoy all we have to offer you!  Food, places to stay, the best garments…” she sighed as she tried to think of the best way to hint at their condition, “...some of the best care and hospitals in Equestria is also right here in Canterlot!” she said with a nervous smile.

None of the ponies seemed to be interested in this, prompting Ignitor Terminus to continue, “We have traveled the land for ages, scouring across deserts, cold and barren lands, ever seeking the warmth of the divine sun goddess.  Now that we have finally found her… we can return to our rightful place at her side! To serve her as she sees fit!” his raspy voice rose higher in his joy, sounding almost fanatical to Twilight.

This of course only further confused Twilight.  These ponies seemed so clearly to know Celestia, but they used such strange words for her.  It was clear they weren’t old, not THAT old, and Princess Celestia has been called by her own name for as long as Twilight can remember, and as long as she can ever remember reading in any book.  Maybe they were thinking of someone else?

“The… ‘Divine Sun Goddess’, you mean Princess Celestia, right?  The… pony with wings, and a horn who can raise the sun?” she prodded nervously, not sure if suggesting such a thing would be met with violence by them.

Ignitor Terminus nodded his head firmly with a smile, “Yes, yes! Hers is the only one with the power of the the sun, the brightest star!”

As Terminus started to jump joyously with the other hooded figures, he suddenly stopped, lifting his hood back on his head and taking a more serious stone.  His joyful tone was replaced with a more plain one, “This… is a most wondrous of occasions and preparations must be met.  Thank you for meeting with us, Student Twilight Sparkle, we will meet again when we are more… properly suited to meet her excellency,” with that, the hooded ponies bowed slightly to Twilight, and stepped back, slinking back away from the walls of the Canterlot Castle, and into the streets.