Fire erupted from the entrance of the cave. I just sat there and looked as the frames continue to grow. It started to spread beyond the cave as if it was a phoenix being reborn and stretching its wings wide and high. “Please.” I cried as the fire surrounded me. “Please someone save me!” but it was no use, the fire was already closing in rapidly. I was pretty sure I only had a few moments to live, but at that moment, I heard a feminine voice cry out to me.
“It's time to wake up.”
“Wake up?” I said out loud, confused. “Who’s there?”
The voice spoke again, but much more clearer this time. “Come on, wake up Courage, father is waiting for us.”
“What is going on.” I thought as I started to look around, the fire was inching closer and closer until it was all I could see. Just a wall of flame.
I closed my eyes as the fire finally reach me.
* * *
I awoke with something standing on my chest, it was fairly big and it was covered in fur. I opened my eyes and saw who it was standing on my chest.
“Snowflake? Why are you sitting on my chest?” I asked the white color fur dog that was sitting on my chest. Her eyes were winter blue and her body was slim. She wore a bright smile and a orange dress that had patterns of roses painted on them.
“Because brother.” She said rolling her eyes at me.
Oh, I almost forgot, she's also my older sister.
“Father wants you in the throne room.” She explain as she finally got off of me, then she went over to my desk and started looking over my drawings. “Mmm.”
“Do you know why father wants me there?” I asked her as I sat up in bed, she was still looking at my drawings.
“I don't really know.” She answer. “But I think it has to do with that princess from the south.” She reached over and grabbed one of my newest drawings from the far end of the desk. She looked at it, without an expression.
A princess? Who could that be. I thought. Could it be princess Iron of Minotaur Kingdom or princess Gridlock of High Mountain Kingdom. I didn't really know who it could be, so I decided to ask my sister. “Hey.” I called out to her. She turned around and looked at me.
“What is it?” She said while still holding my drawing book in her paws.
“Do you have any idea who could it be?” I asked her.
She put my book back on the desk and to put one of her paws on her chin, I know she was thinking because she always does this when she thinking about something.
“All I know is she's a pony and she is the leader of Equestria.”
“Equestria? Where’s that at Snowflake.”
She looked at me irritated. “Didn't I already tell you, she’s from the south.”
She said as she came over to me.
“Oh.”
She softly punched me on my shoulder and told me to get up and get ready for the meeting, so I got off my bed and went over to my closet. Then I open it, one of the clothes I had was made of silk, it had a white outline and reddish tint on it. “Maybe.” I decided to move on the next one.
This one had a rich green color imprinted into it and it had a hood. And also the pattern were red swirling lines that were covering the entire robe. This one today. I reached out to grab it, once I had it, I went over to the dressing room and closed the door.
After I put the robe on, I stepped out of the dressing room and went over to the Mirror.
I had red piercing eyes and a grin that was even unnerving to me sometimes, my fur was the darkest of black and my fangs were the sharpest of diamonds. My claws were clear as white and are sharp as a steel blade. “Not bad.” I admit it to myself as I continued looking at myself.
But anyways, I have to get to the throne room. I move away from the mirror and went over to my door, I opened it and stepped right outside.
“Come on, why are you taking so long!” Yelled my sister voice somewhere down the hall.
“Just wait a minute!” I yelled back at her. I gently close the door behind me and started walking down the hallway. There were maids and servants walking around throughout the hallway, some were doing their job and some were actually slacking off. There was one even sleeping, his tail was tucked between his legs and he snoring loudly on a crate of wine. I think it's for the meeting. I thought as I went over to him.
As he was simply snoring, I decided it was a good idea to kick him in the abdomen to wake him up from his slumber. I stretched my legs and I leaned over to him and decided it was time to wake him up.
*Bam*
The dog yelped as he woke up from the kick to the abdomen. “Ow!” He moaned in pain, after I waited for a couple of moments. He slowly recovered from the pain and looked up to me.
His eyes went wide open when he realized who I was. “P-prince . . . C-courage!” He sputtered out, he quickly got up on his hind legs . “Uh-I just.” The dog reach over behind him and grab a mop. “Huh, uh… I'm just making sure the floors are clean s-sir.” To prove his point, he started sweeping the ground, with a mop.
“Uh, Onyx.” I said while eyeing the mop he was holding. ”Why in Pelts name are you using a mop to sweep the floor?” I asked him.
Onyx was shaking badly with sweat going down his forehead. I was pretty sure he was going to faint from the awkwardness of the situation.
“At ease Mr. Onyx.” I told him. “I know you have a puppy and you don't get much sleep at night.” He quickly confirm it with a nod. “That's why I'm going to let you have the rest of today off.”
Once I said him that, Mr. Onyx looked at me with a sigh of relief on his face. “Thank you sir.” He said with a happy displayed on his face as he bowed to me.
“It is really nothing Mr. Onyx.” I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Your family is much more important, so you better get going.” I pointed at the exit.
“Yes Prince Courage, I should.” After Mr. Onyx said that, he ran to the exit, leaving some of the servants and maids stun for a while.
I was unable to resist cracking a smile at his antics. “Ahh, what could you do without me.” I said to myself. I continue my walk down the hallway, passing the castle library, the Infirmary and also the war room that was only reserved for the highest of ranks.
I'm here finally. Ahead of me was the throne room, the seat of power of our country and also where my father sat. I continue going towards the guarded golden double doors until someone yelled at me.
“Prince courage!” Yelled a deep male voice behind me.
“Captain Wolfgang I presume” I guessed as I turned around to face the speaker.
It was indeed Captain Wolfgang with his many recognizable battle scars, which he got from battling bandits and to putting down peasants revolting. His newest scar he got was across his snout when he and his knights stormed the local warlord castle. He had golden eyes with light grey fur, I always felt like I was being protected under a watchful eye of a powerful guardian.
I stood where I was, waiting for for him to come to me. Once he did, he put away his shield and sword clearing his throat.
“Ahem, my prince.” He said he got on one leg. “I'm sorry to inform you but your brother was found having a fight in a bar-”
“Was he hurt in any way?” I interrupted him, I was worried, my brother could have been injured in a bar fight. He could be stubborn at times, but he had a good heart
“No my prince.” Captain Wolfgang answered. “He was mostly fine once we got there to break up the fight, just a couple of cuts and a few bruises.” He reassured me.
I let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. Wait a minute. I thought. “Have you told my father of this?”
Captain Wolfgang shake his head. “No, I have not.” He answers.
“Why haven’t you told him what happened yet?” I asked, slightly confused.
Captain Wolfgang answered my question and left when a guard came across us and him told there is a dragon attacking a town near by. We said our goodbyes and we went our separate ways. As I got to the doors the guards stationed there slowly opened them for me.
The room was massive, each side of the room was covered in tapestries and banners from the many households in the Kingdom. At the very back of the room was a huge stained glass window depicting the very first knights slaying the mighty Ice Dragon, Frostwing, when the kingdom first started as a small hamlet.
The sound of my paws quieted down a bit after I stepped on to the rich blue carpet. I continued walking towards the throne where my father sat talking to a white, rainbow colored unicorn, with wings. Once I got within hearing range, I was able to hear what were they were talking about.
My father spoke first in a calm voice. “I understand your concern Princess.” He said as he held one of his paws up in the air, stopping the princess from speaking. “But I can't let you have that piece of land, a few of thousand of my subjects live in that area, I can't just tell them to pack up and move away.” He added lowering his paw back to where he was seated.
The Princess spoke up. “But king Bodolf.” She plead. “At any moment, the lost empire will reappear and it will bring a darkness that I could not defeat.” She admitted as she looked down to the floor with a worried expression on her face.
My father got up off of his throne and walked to her. “I understand your concern, but I can't simply help you.” She noded in acknowledgement but my father wasn't done speaking just yet. “But let it be known, if the empire does returns. It falls under my jurisdiction.” He declared.
The Princess quickly got angry at him. “You can't do that!” She replied angrily. “The Empire is an independent sovereign nation, you can't just take it over.”
My father once again raise one of his paws. “I just recalled that the empire doesn't have any current ruler.”
“But-”
“And the empire falls behind the border 10 miles south.
“B-but…”
“And lastly.” He said, preparing for the last reason to keep the empire. “You owe me one when one of your guard ponies insulted the duke of windward about his province being too mountainous and windy.” Bodolf mentioned as he sat back in his throne, once he settled himself, my father decided to humiliate the Princess even more. “And do you also remember how you accidentally spilled orange juice on that bride during your visit to the park.”
The princess nodded. “But I apologized and-” But she was cut off as my father continued to talk.
“And how the husband challenge you to a duel.”
“Just wait a-”
“Am I interrupting something?” I said. Both of them turning to face me.
“Ahh, my son.” my father addressed me. Meanwhile the Princess was just staring at me, the more I watched her, the more I realized how truly different was she from a regular pony. The first thing I noticed about her was that she was taller, she was able to face my father face to face, the second thing was that she had both a horn and wings. Lastly she had the eyes of someone that could do good or bad, it was very unnerving.
“Prince Courage, I presume.” She said with a pleasant smile on her face.
“Yes, that would be me your highness.” I answered as I stepped forward. “May I ask, who you are?”
She smiled and answered. “Well, my name is Princess Celestia of the Equestrian Kingdom.” She said.
“Equestria?” I never heard of that. I thought to myself as Princess Celestia simply laughed at my comment.
Then her horn let out a golden glow and an tissue appeared out of nowhere, she proceeded to wipe her tears away with the tissue. “Your kind is always surprise me.” she said after she was finished with the tissue.
“What you mean surprising?” I asked, still wondering what she's going on about.
“It because the 7 times that I been here, I was surprised by something new.” She said. “Here is an example, your great great grandmother married a dragon instead one of her kind and one of your cousins was half griffin.” She explain to me. “And also you don't know the biggest country that is below your kingdom, thats pretty strange for a Prince of this Kingdom to not know.” She pointed out.
My father stepped in. “Now, now Celestia, stop teasing my son.” He said, getting between me and her. “He's still far too young to learn anything about that.” My father admitted to Celestia who waved at one of her servants. The servant went over to us, he was carrying a large box.
“So.” She said as she levitated the box over to us. “Is your son old enough to fight?”
“Yes.” My father answers, I was eyeing the box that was floating in mid-air. “He is currently training with one of our best knight in the kingdom, Sir Adolf of the evening moon household, what a good wolf.” He mentioned with with a thankful expression showing on his face.
So, it isn't a bad time to give him my sister's gift.” She announced as she opened the box.
I peeked inside the box and inside the box was a steel sword, not a short sword or a long sword, just a one handed steel blade that had a curved tip on the end of the sword to give it the cutting-edge if the user was doing a downward strike.
“This is supposed to be for me, why?” I asked, surprised.
“It was supposed to be traded for the empire but it seems your father cannot do that.” Princess Celestia answered, disappointingly. But she quickly came back with a smile on her face. “But I suppose it shouldn't go to waste, so here is my sister’s gift to you.” She levitated the sword to me. I grabbed it out of the air with my paws and proceed to look at it.
I was wrong. I thought as I looked at the sword. It was made of something else, something lighter than steel and stronger. But I couldn't put my paws on it. “What is it made of?”
“It is made of Moonlight Steel.” She answered.
“Moonlight Steel, never heard of it?” My father said as he took the weapon from me, then proceeded to swing it a couple of times until he struck a marble pillar that was near him. Once my father pried the sword out of the pillar, he inspected it, the sword left a good sized cut that was halfway into the pillar. “This is an extraordinary weapon, why did your sister give this up, if I may ask?”
Celestia simply answer. “She wanted your son to have it because your kind is a creature of the night and she thought it was a good idea to strengthen our relationship.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes it is, mostly for today.” She said as she finished talking, after the meeting, my father gave me the sword and the box that came with it.
“One more thing son.” He said, before I was about to leave the room.
“What do you want father?”. I asked while I turn around to face him.
He gets off his throne and walked over to me. Grabbing my shoulders he said in a serious tone, “I need you to be careful around Princess Celestia.”
“Why is that, aren't we allies?”
He nods. “Yes we are.” He let go of my shoulders and walked in front of me. “But that is in the eyes of the citizens of ours and hers, but in reality our family is fighting against her dominance.”
“Dominance, what are you talking about father?” I asked, feeling a little bit of nervous.
“Do you know what the symbol of our country is?”
“The moon.” I answered.
“Exactly.” He points at the tapestry of the Moon. “The moon give us our strength, our power, our wisdom, without it we could have been lost to the winter many moons ago.” My father explained to me as he pulled out his book from his white robes. “Now Princess Celestia controls the moon instead of her sister who's supposed to be controlling it.”
“But wait.” I said, starting to remember something. “Isn't Princess Luna back from her punishment, from the Moon, wouldn't she take the position back.”
“That's all rumors and speculation. He said. “We don't even know that Princess Luna is back until we send someone to Equestria to find out.”
“Why haven't you sent someone yet?” I asked my father.
He simply replied by shaking his head. “We don't have time for that, we are already have issues with Warlords sacking villages and a group of individuals trying to take over the county of Doglaycia.” He said waving his left paw around in the air. “But anyways.” He calmed down as he stopped ranting. “We are getting a bit off track.”
“I think that's all I need to hear father.” I admit it as I bow to him.
“Okay son.” My father said as I got up from bowing. “But do not forget, you can’t trust Princess Celestia with your life.” He warned me, he put his book back and went over to his throne and sat on it. He gave me one more glance and told me to leave the throne room. I obeyed his command and left the room with one thought on my mind.
Is princess Luna's banishment the only reason my family hates Princess Celestia or is it something else. I thought as the double doors closed behind me.