16- Familiar Flame
The Flames of the Phoenix- Familiar Flame
It had been a few months after the night where Ember had reunited with her mother, Maeve and now, things had been rather calm and steady around Ponyville despite several key differences. For one thing, Ember had found out that after a string of confusing events regarding magic, time travel and what not, Twilight Sparkle had taken up an apprentice of sorts by the name of Starlight Glimmer. A unicorn who was skilled in magic just as she was, but only had recently learned what the true meaning of friendship was and with it, wished to learn more.
Yet, this wasn’t a primary concern for the mancer. In fact, after some time, she had found it easier to not have herself ‘step in’ and take part in day-to-day duties that the princess or her friends would have to undertake. Instead though, she would spend her time more with helping out around Sweet Apple Acres and cover in Applejack’s place whenever she had to leave to go for some important friendship business.
Such was the case today. Twilight was bringing Starlight to the crystal empire alongside her friends for her first ‘lesson’ in friendship during the crystalling, a special ceremony that takes place there. Even though a part of Ember would’ve wanted for her to go, she had to accept the fact that since Twilight’s friends were going too, she had to cover Applejack’s shift on the farm today.
Yet, her job was mostly working with the stuff in the barn. For the one who was primarily doing most of the applebucking today was Big Mac. Apple Bloom was working on finishing her chores, Granny was inside and Ember was with Maeve to help wash and sort the buckets that were brought in. And after a while, Big Mac had almost bucked all the trees in the orchard and brought them back to the barn.
“Mac, come in! Time for lunch!” He heard Granny Smith’s voice echo from inside as he looked to the door. Organizing the last of the buckets as he turned around and trotted to the door. However, just as he was about to push it open with a hoof, that was when he heard something.
“Excuse me?”
When he turned around, what Mac saw almost made his heart skip a beat. There was a pony standing at the front of the barn, but it had eyes and wings similar to that of a ‘changeling’ like the ones that his sister told him about before. However, it was taller than that of Applejack, the body was white with the eyes colored pink and a red mane and tail. That and there were no ‘holes’ like the ones that her sister had told him about before.
Before Mac could say anything though, the figure spoke again. Her voice sounding calm. “Would this happen to be Sweet Apple Acres? I’m… looking for somep-pony that lives here.”
In the stallion’s mind, he thought two things. One, she could be looking for Applejack, who wasn’t here. Or two, this mare could be looking for Ember, who was busy at the moment. Just in case though, he put a small amount of energy into bending the ground by one of his hooves. “Yes… who’s askin’?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I haven’t even gotten the chance to introduce myself. Silly me. I have a habit of forgetting things like that,” She giggled, putting a hoof to her chin for a moment. “My name’s-”
“Mac, is everything going alright out there?” They both heard the voice of Granny Smith calling out from inside the barn. Something that caught the stallion off guard when he realized that he had not returned inside yet, but he kept himself calm as he looked back to the pony out front.
“Granny, there’s somepony here that’s lookin’ fer somepony.” Mac called out in response, saying it loud enough so that she could hear him while also keeping an eye on the stranger in front of the barn.
“Is she lookin’ fer Applejack?” The elderly mare replied back, which had the mare out front shake her head in response to the question.
“Nah, she isn’t.”
“Really? Well, then maybe she’s one of her friends or something,” Granny replied back, sounding as if she wanted to have Big Mac hurry up and get inside. Possibly because if they were cooking something, they would want for him to have it before it gets cold. “Have her tell us her name and then she could leave a message for her-”
“Actually, if I may interject,” The stranger now spoke up. “I was looking for someone in particular. Wears a red scarf, walks on two legs?” Hearing that had the fur on the back of the stallions neck begin to stand up. He was realizing that she was not looking for that of her sister, but instead looking for Ember. And the last time that something was looking for Ember was when they encountered Anivia when those two critters named Marty and Lee were here. So in Mac’s mind, he thought that this pony was coming to try and harm his aunt.
“Who are you?” He now asked sternly.
“Oh right, my name! You did ask me earlier, so let me answer that for you,” She replied back, realizing that she almost forgot about that and lightly giggled again. “My name is Amaryllis.”
Almost immediately after she said that, Big Mac heard a chair immediately slide across the floor and somepony getting up and heading towards the door behind him. Before he could do anything, the door immediately slammed open behind the stallion as Ember stepped out. What surprised him the most though was that when she looked at Amaryllis, her eyes were not expressing any form of anger. In fact, they were expressing joy with a side of disbelief. Like if you met a close family member that you have not seen in ages. “A-ama? Y-you actually came-?”
“Why of course,” She smiled, trotting closer to the mancer. “I didn’t want to wait in order to come see you again, my dear.”
Now it was Mac who was beginning to stare in disbelief. Not only did this ‘Amaryllis’ figure actually know his aunt, but from how they acted, they seemed to have a lot closer of a relationship than he thought. Which was expressed not only when the two of them hugged each other, but also by when his aunt actually kissed her on the lips.
By that time though, that was when a couple others from inside came out through the door and spoke up. “Woah, woah woah… what in the hay is going on?” The two of them heard Granny Smith speak up as both Amaryllis and Ember turned to see her by the door alongside Maeve before pointing a hoof towards the two of them. “And who’s she?”
“She has a name, Granny,” Ember told her. “Her name’s Amaryllis. And she’s… well, how should I put this?” The mancer pondered what to say next, but it was during this that the stallion noticed a slight blush on her face while she was thinking of it.
“Don’t you still have the bangle, dear?” Amaryllis then asked. Which had the mancer realize what she meant as she moved back one of the cloth wristbands on her right arm to show what looked to be a gold bangle underneath.
“Ooh, shiny.” Maeve giggled, shortly before getting glared at by Granny. “What? I happen to like things that are pretty, kitten.”
“That’s not an ordinary trinket, sugarcube,” Granny Smith told her, who took a moment to try and find a way to best summarize it before explaining it to her fully, “That’s what ya see couples wear after they tie the knot.”
That was met only with a brief silence at first but as soon as she began to realize the gravity of what she meant, Maeve was not entirely excited by what she heard. “My daughter’s married!?!!” That was a bit of a shock to pretty much everypony else, but to Amaryllis, she just seemed more puzzled than anything else.
“Why did the little one call you her daughter?” Amaryllis now asked.
All that did was have Ember let out a deep sigh, shortly before looking back and then suggesting something to Granny, Mac and Maeve. “How about we take this inside? I think it would be easier for everyone if we did this calmly without shouting out loud and attracting the attention of everypony that could possibly walk by.”
Upon going inside and getting seated at the table in the dining room, Ember first took the time to explain how she had found Mac and the others was taken in as part of the Apple Family to Amaryllis. That was shortly followed up by Maeve giving a short summary of how Ember is her daughter and how that, through unforeseen circumstances, lead to her ending up in the body of a child while also knowing to steal whatever suited her fancy.
“Alright, so now that we’ve said our piece, ah think it's time ya answer a few questions that we have,” Granny then spoke up, to which Amaryllis nodded her head as she looked back at the elderly earth pony. “First, what exactly are ya? We haven’t seen anypony like ya trot around these parts before.”
“Well, that’s easy, I’m a changeling,” She responded back, noticing how the two ponies in front of her almost flinched when she said the last part before continuing. “Though, please don’t be alarmed. As you can probably see, I look rather different from most. And there is a reason for that.”
“Really? Cause all ah think of when ah hear the word ‘changeling’ is those two-bit bugs who-”
“Granny, watch it,” Ember interjected, glaring back at the elderly earth pony. “I advise you actually hear her out before you say anything. If Applejack were here, she would want to hear her say the whole story first before saying anything like that.” That had Granny stop speaking, shortly before looking back at Amaryllis and apologizing for what she said. “Go ahead, Ama.”
“R-right,” When she said that, she almost came off like Fluttershy for a brief moment, before continuing where she left off. “A-as you can see, I-i’m not like most changelings. That’s because instead of taking love away from somebuggy, I actually gave it to somebuggy freely instead. And that was Ember.”
“For a long time, I was out there by myself. But after I found Amaryllis, we’ve been getting to know each other for a long time. She gave me her love because she told me that she believed it was a sign that she was committed to staying with me,” The mancer now picked up where she left off. “Yet, it also meant though that she could not go back to where the other changelings stayed. Everything over in their kingdom is all about personal greed, jealousy and taking things from others. They saw what Amaryllis had as like a ‘defect’ and had her be an outcast. Leaving her stranded in the badlands to fend for herself.”
That immediately had Big Mac and Granny look back at the changeling with much different expressions than the ones that she had before. Instead of caution and concern, they now looked shocked and stunned. Especially as Ember explained all the hardships that she had to go through in their time together. There were even instances that, if Ember weren’t there for her, Amaryllis wouldn’t have been able to survive on her own. Though, a new question now surfaced in Big Mac’s head as he waited for a pause in the conversation first before asking. “H-how long have ya been together for?”
“If I really had to take a guess,” Ember scratched her chin, looking towards the changeling as she tried to recall how long it would be. “I would say that we’ve known each other for a rather long time. Yet, if you’re asking how long we’ve been a couple… that would put us close to five years. Trust me, it’s been a while and since changelings aren’t entirely seen as the ‘friendly’. Back when we first started our relationship, if you told somepony that you were in love with a changeling, you would have a mob of ponies with torches and pitchforks at your door within a matter of hours.”
That was a lot to take in. Not just the imagery with the torches and pitchforks, but the whole thing about the two of them being together for around five years or even longer than that. But with this, one of them happened to have a new question. “So kitten,” Maeve now spoke up. “Why did you decide to come looking for Emmy?”
“Well, originally, Ember told me that she had to take care of a few things that were personal to her, so I was waiting for her to finish… but then after a while, I thought that instead of sitting around and just waiting for her to come back to me when everything was all said and done, I thought it would be easier to come find her instead,” She replied back. “I mean, I can be able to feel her emotions.”
“Hang on… feel emotions?” Mac now asked, looking back at his aunt with a puzzled expression on his face. “Did ah hear that right?”
“Changelings can feel all forms of emotions, whether good or bad. It's natural to them like how Earth Ponies are with nature, Unicorns when it comes to magic and Pegasi with the weather,” Ember now took the moment to explain further. “Of course, unlike all changelings, Amaryllis can use her power to locate individuals she cares for and be able to use that as a way to locate them. No matter how far away they might be. Just… trust me on that one.”
“Can ya give us an example? Because ah rather see it with mah own eyes just to be sure.” Granny then asked.
“Sure, though, I’m gonna need one of you to do something for this to work,” Amaryllis told them, which was followed by Big Mac raising a hoof and offering to volunteer. “Alright, now, I want for you to think of something. Anything that comes to mind that would in turn set off an emotional response,” At first, the stallion just raised an eyebrow. But before he could even think of something, Amaryllis began to sense it. “Hmm… small sense of doubt, but I’ll not count that one.”
Just from that alone, the stallion was surprised by how quickly she caught on. But he wasn’t quite done just yet. He now began to think of something else. Something that did not have to do with what was going on in that present moment. A memory of his from when he was just a colt. One that made him feel a couple of things. And not long after thinking of them, Amaryllis caught on. “Hmm… I feel three things right now. One part is happiness and joy. The second part is sadness and grief. But the third… the third is curiosity.”
At first, Ember and Maeve looked back at Mac, wondering what exactly was he thinking about that could trigger all three of those things. Granny though, remained unfazed. As if she knew what it was. “Were ya thinking about them, Mac?”
All that did was cause the stallion to nod his head in response, before Granny let out a sigh. Patting him on the shoulder with a hoof before excusing herself to the patio and closing the door behind her. Which, in turn, had Ember look back towards where Granny went off too. She had never seen her do that before. The Granny Smith that she remembered would always do what she could to comfort others if they felt hurt. So why wasn’t she here to comfort her own grandson?
“Um… sorry if I am speaking out of turn, but who’s ‘them’, kitten?” They heard Maeve now ask. Which had Mac look back at them as he let out a sigh.
“Mah parents,” He spoke, “They always cared for AJ, Bloom and ah when we were little, but both of them passed away when we were young. Died in an accident when visiting relatives in Dodge Junction.”
“Oh… I-i’m so sorry, I didn’t know-” Maeve attempted to apologize, before watching the stallion wave it off with a hoof.
“It’s alright. It’s a thing in the past,” He assured her. “Though, ah wish ah had the chance to know more about them. But anytime ah ask Granny about it, she just doesn’t want to talk about it. Not sure why though.”
It’s fine, dear,” Amaryllis now spoke up, sounding as if she was taking responsibility for what she just did. “I was just asking in order to show what I could do. I didn’t mean that to have you go through any unsettling memories.”
“Ya don’t have to apologize. After all, ya just asked me to think of something,” Mac assured her as the stallion looked back at everyone that was presently in the room. “Ah chose to think of them because ah wondered if ya can feel it and ya did. Ah’m surprised by that.”
“Oh, I can feel a lot of things,” Amaryllis replied back. “For instance, I can feel that aside from the joy of seeing me and her being calm that Ember feels a bit of uncertainty.” Now they looked back towards her as the mancer had to take a moment to explain what was on her mind.
“That might be because either I was uncertain of how everypony would react to finding out about our relationship. That and for some reason, I can’t shake off the feeling that Discord’s trying to hide something. He’s been acting different around me the last few days.”
In the middle of Fluttershy’s cottage, Discord’s ears immediately shot straight up as he dropped the cup of tea that he was holding, moving around for two seconds as if his ears were antennas for a radio. He was drinking tea in the middle of a room while reading a book that he happened to find. “My plot device sense’s tingling…” Two seconds later though, his eyes widened and his pupils began to shrink. “Oh no, she’s catching on!”
With a snap of his fingers, he had the entire tea set that he was using immediately get washed up and put away in the sink before lifting up the rug. A pair of stairs emerged out of nowhere as he hopped inside, locking the door as if he just entered a bomb shelter. All while Fluttershy’s animals looked back at where the draconequus once was, beyond puzzled by what just happened.
“Eh, it’s probably no big deal.” The mancer shrugged as she looked back towards everyone else. “So, is there anything else that you would like to ask about Amaryllis?”
The changeling thought it over for a moment, but then decided to shake her head. “Nope. Though, I think I want to have some time to just ourselves now~” She cooed, before nudging her head against Ember’s shoulder.
“Well, if that’s the case…” She said, before looking back at both Maeve and Mac. “If it’s okay with you guys, I’ll be taking the rest of the shift off.” There really wasn’t much time for either the stallion or the thief to properly respond because after only a few moments, the two of them went upstairs and closed the door to her room.
All of which left Maeve to sigh as she looked back at the stallion. “Well, let’s just leave them be, Kitten. I think they rather have some time alone now.”
“You mean to catch up?”
“If anything… they might be doing much more than that, kitten.” She cooed, poking Big Mac on the nose before walking outside. Leaving a bewildered stallion to try and understand what exactly he just heard.
“W-what the hay is that supposed to mean?!”
“Really now? You’re not sure what that’s supposed to imply?” All that did was cause Big Mac in order to shake his head as she looked back at her. “Let’s just say that whatever your thinking that’s supposed to look like right now… isn’t what it looks like.”
That though… did not help any at all. “Then what does it look like!?”
At that response, all Maeve did was just hit her head against one of the support beams on the porch. This was going to be a long afternoon.
End Chapter 16
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Seriously, Big Mac?
9555320
Things aren't exactly going to go well for him... That's for sure.
9555328
Yeah. Although, it’s good to know that Ember has someone, and is married happily.
9555378
Though, it may be a while before it becomes public...
9555389
Eh, no need to rush. Besides, I think it might be for the best, gives them some alone time.
9555408
Of course, if you're Discord... there's more than one reason to be worried. You'll see soon enough.
9555424
Not my problem, it’s Discords’ own. Let’s see how he’ll get out of whatever Hell Ember gives him.
So does this mean the story is back?
9576722
Potentially, yes. Though, that will be based on if I can be able to figure out some more story based elements because it seems like the last few chapters lacked plot development
9610977
In this world, Celestia refers to them as the element bearers in public. Though, in a private setting, she calls them the Mane Six to make things simpler. Though, do bear in mind that this story first started out in 2015, which was around four years ago and it's been on hiatus for a while.
any idea when we can expect an update and new chapter?
9734946
Technically, updates and new chapters are pretty much the same thing. But one is in the words at the moment. No telling when it would be finished though. (I got a few other things going on too)
9555320
How he doesn't understand that is beyond me.