The Phoenix King

by Turtlehaus

Chapter 11: Lectures & Conjectures

Within the ruins of the Forgotten City, Queen Sunbeam stood before her once special some pony, The Mad King Scorch. As determined as she was to rescue him from his misery and suffering, Glow did not dare approach him in fear of what his malice would achieve. Scorch was very much still a colt by any who would look upon him, his hide had not yet suffered missing legions exposing the unchecked power of his immense flames. His eyes burned red, and yet Glow could still see the soft, nervous face of the young colt that tried so hard to get her attention all those years ago; at least that is what she wanted to see.

"Scorch! Please, I beg you, come back to me!" Glow's voiced echoed pleadingly.

"Flame Ponies do not plead!" The Mad King cried spitting a blast of fire towards her.

Queen Sunbeam jolted awake, the fiery image of Scorch still fresh in her mind as her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest. It wasn't so much a nightmare but a vivid memory of a small portion of what had transpired between her and Scorch.

"Scorch…" Glow whispered sadly, unable to believe how bad things had gotten.

Having spent several days under Mira's care, Glow had recovered much of her old strength, having not but slight twinges of pain from time to time but nothing that wouldn't fade in the coming days. Noticing that Mira slept soundly against her arm, Glow smiled warmly at the small creature that had shown her such kindness and opened her home to her. Carefully moving her arm out from beneath Mira, Glow got to her hooves, carefully flourishing her wings to give them a stretch before deciding to do what she should have done from the moment she got here.

Mira was stirred from her sleep by the noises of stone jars being knocked against one another. Having spent the night sleeping against the far cave wall that sloped in a semi-comfortable, Mira rubbed her eyes with a yawn. Queen Sunbeam, or as Mira had come to know her, Glow, was magically lifting jar after stone jar and peering inside each and every one. Making several faces of pure disgust and fright, Glow continued to rummage through the jars as if to appease her own sense of curiosity.

"Hey!" Mira shouted in surprise.

"You're awake, how'd you sleep?" Glow asked curiously, still peeking inside the jars.

"Stop touching my stuff!" Mira hissed in frustration.

Quickly floating over to her jars, Mira tried to gather them all up and get them away from Glow. Flying to the other side of the cave, Mira carried arms full of jars, setting them up against the wall as if to put distance between Glow and her stuff. Unwilling to stop her snooping, Glow continued to peer into the remaining stone jars to see what there was to see, before Mira came zooming back over to gather the rest from her.

"Leave them alone!" Mira whined, snatching a stone jar from Glow's magical grasp before floating off in a huff.

"Do you eat all of that?" Glow asked, looking quite repulsed by what she had seen.

"It's none of your business!" Mira hissed, placing her jars back into neat rows.

"Well I've been eating whatever you've been giving me over this last week and I swear that something was still moving in my… I don't even know what to call it, soup?" Glow argued, looking ill from just thinking about it.

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Mira pointed out. "So stop complaining already; it's all I've got."

Having her stone jars exactly the way she wanted them, Mira floated towards Glow to inspect her. It was obvious that Glow had recovered a great deal since Mira had found her, but Mira took no chances and poked her several times.

"Does this hurt?" Mira asked, poking Glow on the side of the head.

"It's going to if you don't stop." Glow replied, sounding annoyed.

"I've never treated a Flame Pony before. I'm not sure how effective Hoopoe's healing abilities are on your kind." Mira explained, circling around her.

"Is that the giant bird, or the serpent?" Glow asked curiously.

"Apep is the serpent… it doesn't like the light all that much." Mira told her. "So stay away from it."

"I'm not worried about the snake." Glow said, turning her heads towards Mira. "I have to find Scorch before he's lost forever."

"Believe me," Mira began, folding her arms. "Everything here is already lost."

"I just can't abandon him, Mira, I have to save him." Glow insisted.

"You're lucky I was the creature that found you laying out there, any other thing in this place would have had you for a quick snack." Mira scolded her, trying to put things in perspective.

"The whole reason I'm here is to save him! I don't care what sort of creatures might be out there! He needs me now more than ever!" Glow shouted, trying to get her on board.

"Then what? He'll beat you again and maybe this time I won't be able to save you!" Mira shouted, watching Glow flinch at these words. "He's a monster now, just like everything else here! Whatever he was before is lost and no amount of love or silly trying is going to change that!"

Hanging her head at these words, Glow seemed to reminisce on her last encounter with Scorch. It was true that Scorch had attacked her, but it wasn't the Scorch she remembered; not the colt she fell in love with. Feeling like she had won the argument, Mira started to float away towards her jars to start making something for them to eat.

"You're not one of the monsters though, Mira." Glow mumbled. "A monster wouldn't have risked her life to save me."

Mira stopped short. Glow watched as Mira seemed let these words sink in.

"I'm a different kind of monster." Mira muttered, sounding very somber.

"What?" Glow asked, not quite catching it.

"Look, I'm not helping you and that's final!" Mira shouted, sounding frustrated with their conversation.

Mira started to float off again as Glow tried one last time to reach her.

"Wouldn't you try to save those you cared about? No matter the cost? There has to be some pony or something you would do anything for." Glow posed the question to her.

It was enough to get Mira to turn around completely. Glow had found that Mira's rough exterior hid a very caring and gentle nature inside of her that seemed accessible at times. The truth of the matter was that Glow was asking Mira to put herself in harm's way so that they could perchance find Scorch, who just so happened to the be the pony that left her for dead, and carried the title of Mad King. Even so, Mira knew all too well the feeling of wanting to rescue someone special to them.

"I know I'm asking a lot from you, even after saving my life, but I'm not going to make it very far without your help." Glow pleaded with her. "Scorch is still in there somewhere, and I know I can save him."

Pulling on her fingers, Mira weighed her options for a few moments, thinking of what would happen if Null found them, or even the light from Glow's mane that would attract all manners of creatures to them in the Forgotten City. Turning away for a moment to nervously chew on her finger, Mira came to a conclusion.

"If… I help you with this," Mira began, turning slowly to her. "I… I'll need you to do something for me in return."

Glow was gone. As if she had vanished all together. Looking around in surprise, Mira floated forward to where Glow once stood, trying to figure out where she had gone. Turning around, the entirety of her cave was gone, nothing more than darkness surrounding her.

"Glow?" Mira called out, sounding nervous.

The sounds of crackling started to increase in volume behind her. Fear overcame Mira at the sound of this, like paper being torn slowly she could feel the emptiness come closer. Shaking with fear, Mira slowly started to turn her head around, catching just a brief glimpse of Null's husk like features. The Storm exploded from Null's body, roaring and screaming in its power. Mira shrieked in terror as she was thrown to the ground by it, watching the Storm swirl around Null. Looming over her, Null reached down towards her, bits of his skin flaking away from his husk like body, the storm continuing to roar in its violent fury.

Bring me the Flame Pony!

Mira awoke with a start. Short of breath, Mira clutched her chest trying to steady her breathing as she looked about. The familiar surroundings of her cave came as a relief to Mira, having feared the worst of expiring down in the depths of Azimuth's Tomb. With these thoughts, Mira started to look about for her Flame Pony but was met with the subtle darkness of her cave. Levitating off the ground, Mira felt something slip from her person.

One of Hoopoe's feathers had been draped over her, most likely Smolder's doing, seeing as the feather itself was useless on its own, but Smolder would not have known that. Retrieving the feather from the ground, she looked it over, its smooth texture gently gliding over her fingertips as she brushed her hand along its side.

"Stupid Flame Pony…" Mira thought to herself.

Still, Mira held the feather in her hands, smiling to herself over the thought of Smolder trying to take care of her; not noticing the light of Smolder's flames approaching from the tunnel.

"Hey! You're awake!" I exclaimed in surprise.

Mira jolted at the sudden sound of his voice, embarrassed by her own thoughts, and quickly buried them back down.

"Just where have you been?" Mira asked in a demanding voice; floating over to me looking very annoyed.

"I was just- hey! Hey!" I exclaimed, protecting my face from Mira's vicious scratches.

"Don't go wandering off by yourself!" Mira scolded me, almost hissing in her frustration. "Do you want to explain what you were planning on doing with this?"

I could see Mira holding up the feather I had draped over her.

"I thought it would help." I confessed, feeling that it had done less than nothing. "You told me you had used a feather to heal me and I thought that… you know…"

Mira shook her head in disappointment, floating back over to her collection of stone jars, and placing the feather back on its stone mantle. Taking a deep breath, Mira looked over her shoulder to glance at me who sat feeling rather pathetic.

"So… have you tried any sort of magic, yet?" Mira asked curiously.

"Well… I tried… teleporting… I guess." I mumbled, not sure if that counted as trying or dumb luck.

"That's it?" Mira asked, almost sounding surprised.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"I thought you would have been trying to cast a hundred different spells while I was recovering." Mira replied.

"I'm sort of new to the whole 'magic horn' thing; I thought I'd take it easy." I retorted sensing that Mira was treating me like a little foal.

"Then let's get started." Mira decreed, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

I sat down on the ground waiting for Mira's instruction, knowing that magic was serious business and that if I was going to have any luck controlling it I would need to be paying the utmost attention. Floating towards the most open area of her cave, Mira turned back to me, dark aura emanating from her hands.

"Like I said before, Shadow Magic feeds off of anger and hate. You will need to practice channeling your anger into your magic, learning to control your rage and bend it to your will." Mira restated part of her previous lesson.

Mira pressed her hands together, the dark aura billowing more intensely as she withdrew them producing bolts of dark energy from her fingertips that crackled and sparked around her arms. Throwing her hands out to either side of her, the bolts of dark energy struck the sides of the cave with great force, cleaving bits of rock from the slated walls.

"Shadow Attacks are the basic weapons we use for combat. The amount of energy put into the Shadow Attack is completely dependent on the user. They range from Shadow Bolts, Darkness Bombs, Shadow Beams, you get the idea." Mira explained, hurrying herself along. "For such magic to work, you must draw on your feelings to produce the necessary catalyst for it to trigger."

"Which means?" I asked, not really understanding.

"Just get angry. Then just point and shoot." Mira said, dumbing it down for me.

"Isn't there like some sort of instructions or books I need to read to learn how to do this?" I asked, not feeling at all confident about this.

"We'll get to the details later. I'm just giving you a crash course so we can get through everything." Mira replied, waving such ideas away from her.

"There's more?" I asked curiously.

"There are many different applications to Shadow Magic, starting with spells ranging from banishment, shadow manipulation, and even summoning in some cases." Mira explained further.

"Should I be taking notes or something?" I asked starting feel a bit overwhelmed.

"Shut up and listen!" Mira shouted angrily at me; I did as told.

"Shadow Magic can kill you if you don't know what you're doing. Even we Arcana don't dare use some spells in fear that it would destroy us or those around us. Mastering the basics will give you a firm understanding of what sort of power you'll be dealing with." Mira warned me; shaking her finger at me.

I nodded in understanding.

"Teleporting uses up too much of your power, so don't rely on it too much but seeing as you are a Flame Pony you have a considerable advantage in that department due to your basic nature of fire. You have energy to burn which makes it much easier for you to cast more taxing spells but use it too much and you'll burn yourself out without realizing it." Mira instructed me.

I nodded again.

"Much like casting fire, your magic works in a similar way, be it that your horn is the conduit for it. Most spells acquire a decent amount of focus; given time those spells will become second nature to you and so on and there forth. For the meantime, you will learn to channel your magic, learning to control your power, much like you did when learning to control the ferocity of your fire." Mira continued, raising her finger to indicate that this part was important to note.

"So… what do I have to do?" I asked, feeling a bit confused by it.

"You're going to sit there and levitate that rock." Mira informed me, pointing to a hoof sized rock a couple steps away.

"Really?" I asked, not seeing much difficulty in that task.

I looked at the rock, starting to picture it floating in my mind and soon feeling my magic starting to surge to my horn. I could already see the rock beginning to move, my magical aura surrounding it as it lift into the air.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid, idiotic Flame Pony!" Mira shouted right into my ear.

It was so jarring to me that I found myself throwing the rock across the room as it hit the wall with a clunk before landing back on the ground with a thud. I glanced at Mira, looking very sour at her interference but she smiled happily at me; pointing towards the rock for me to try again. Narrowing my eyes at her. I looked towards the rock once more, picturing in my mind of the rock rising from the ground.

"You earwig eating, slug guzzling, slime spitting, maggot infested, King of the Dorks Flame Pony!" Mira shouted into my ear once again, as the rock suddenly exploded from my magic into tiny pieces.

"Stop it!" I shouted angrily.

"Not until you can levitate a rock." Mira said in a matter of fact tone.

I could see now that Mira was trying to distract me from accomplishing this simple task and to great effect thus far. I'm sure that in a fight there would be a lot more things to distract me, probably painful things, but I got the idea. I could only hope that she wouldn't resort to slapping me on the back of the head anytime soon.

For the next couple of hours, Mira did everything she could to distract me from levitating a single rock. Whether it was hitting me, slapping the rock out of mid-air, calling me names, creating sudden implosions of magic; Mira was not giving me any handicaps.

Fortunately, I was able to lean away from her slaps, drown out her excessive shouting, and even dance the floating rock away from Mira who tried to knock it away; I felt pretty proud of myself to say the least.

"You pot-bellied, pig nosed, bucktooth orphan!" Mira shouted into my ear.

"You've already said that." I replied, no longer paying a mind to it.

"I did?" Mira asked, looking a little surprised at this herself.

She watched as I lifted several more hoof sized rocks into the air, having them spin in circles, orbiting around us like small planets; if only to show off a bit. Mira on the other hoof did not like being upstaged in anyway and sneered at my performance. I felt Mira lean closer to me, her face very close to my ear, I felt myself prepared for the loudest scream I would face today.

"Princess Sapphire…" Mira whispered to me.

I felt my heart speed up, my mane flared, the rocks flying off in all directions from us and embedding themselves in the cave walls. I felt myself flushing as Mira seemed to dance around me in triumph, raising her arms up and down over her head, singing to herself the whole while.

"That was a cheap trick." I said feeling cheated.

"Why? Is she distracting to you?" Mira asked teasingly, still doing her victory dance.

"Hardly!" I snapped, feeling my mane flare.

"Oh, my dearest Smolder, tis be a fort night when thou left thee. I count the waning hours til our gentle embrace stills thy beating heart." Mira mocked in an overly dramatic tone of voice.

Mira giggled gleefully to herself. For the first time, in a long time I had seen Mira smile genuinely, and it even seemed to make me smile even though I felt quite annoyed by her teasing. I knew so little about her or this place, but only that she carried a great deal of pain with her. To see her laugh seemed to me as a step in the right direction, to a place of healing that she so desperately seemed to need.

"Sapphire isn't such a sappy pony, unlike you who seems to get emotional every ten minutes." I replied, trying my own hoof at some teasing.

"I don't get emotional!" Mira snapped at me, her hands balled into fists.

"Oh Smolder, please help us, I can't fly on my own, I need a big strong colt to come and carry me around because I'm too lazy to do it myself." I mimicked her in a high pitched tone of voice.

"Are you calling me an invalid?" Mira asked in a venomous tone.

"Heavy is the more appropriate word." I muttered, not making eye contact.

I felt Mira bite the side of my shoulder, clawing at my neck, as if she was trying to maim me. I yelped in pain, desperately trying to shake her off as she clung to me like a leech.

---

The mid-morning sun bathed Canterlot with its warmth. Platoons of Royal Guard ponies marched along the ramparts, semi-annual drills were being run for a number of instances that could take place. For instances such as Flash Floods, Earthquakes, Changelings, Fires, a bored Discord, and a great many other sudden emergencies that could happen around Canterlot, but none seemed to prepare Cosmic for the most earth shattering revelation that had ever been placed before him.

"Nightshade is getting married." Cosmic stated, his hooves pressed together; a serious look upon his face.

Private First Class Cosmic sat at a circular table in the Royal Guard cafeteria with Specialist Peanut, and Lord Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire. There were dozens more Royal Guards occupying other tables within the cafeteria, having an early lunch or a late breakfast, conversing among themselves about their own issues. Peanut and Shining Armor had opted for an early lunch, having chosen the Special of the Day, a Cesar Salad with apple slices, and apple juice. Cosmic, who had forgotten his parcel of bits at home, opted to mooch off the two of them.

"We know, he's already told us." Peanut mentioned, eating an apple slice.

"Well I didn't think he'd actually go through with it!" Cosmic exclaimed in disbelief.

"It was pretty surprising, to say the least." Shining Armor added, sipping on his juice.

"I was sure that he was going to back out at the last minute or start stammering again." Peanut confessed.

"That's what I thought!" Cosmic shouted. "That's why I've gathered the Brain Trust, impart, to discuss the obvious."

"Brain Trust?" Shining Armor asked curiously.

"It's what Cosmic has been calling the four of us. You, me, him, and Nightshade." Peanut explained.

"Sounds cool." Shining Armor said taking a bite of his salad.

"Focus guys!" Cosmic declared, clapping his hooves together.

"On what?" Peanut asked curiously.

"Nightshade is getting married, right? Don't you know what that means?" Cosmic asked, expecting them to know.

"He's going to be able to claim more on his taxes?" Shining Armor asked.

"No!" Cosmic shouted in disbelief.

"Then what?" Peanut asked, eating another apple slice.

"He's going to ask me to be his Best Colt!" Cosmic stated, throwing his hooves up in the air.

There was a momentary pause that followed Cosmic's declaration, mostly due to Peanut and Shining Armor chewing but it was rather awkward for all the other Royal Guard Ponies in the cafeteria.

"You just assume that he's going to pick you to be his Best Colt?" Peanut asked, after swallowing.

"Why wouldn't he pick me?" Cosmic asked flatly.

"It's just that you seem pretty sure that he's going to ask you." Shining Armor pointed out.

"He has to pick me!" Cosmic exclaimed decisively.

"He's got other ponies to choose from too, you know. Nightshade knows plenty of other ponies." Peanut mentioned.

"Like who?" Cosmic asked sarcastically.

"Well, Peanut and I are suitable choices, for starters." Shining Armor said, looking between him and Peanut.

"Not to mention Smolder." Peanut added.

"He's lost in some other dimension, he doesn't count!" Cosmic snapped back. "Besides you two ponies met Nightshade long after I did."

"Why are you getting so worked up over this anyways?" Shining Armor asked curiously.

"Well I just… uh… feel… a little entitled to the position is all." Cosmic said slowly, feeling a bit timid.

"Why's that?" Peanut asked.

"Nightshade and I have guarded that same Throne Room door for nearly four years together. That has to mean something? Right?" Cosmic asked, looking for some feedback.

"You're worried that he won't pick you because you two have nothing in common other than guarding a door?" Shining Armor asked, chuckling at the idea.

"Well that's easy for you to say, Lord of the Crystal Empire, you seem like a pretty good choice for Best Colt with credentials like that." Cosmic hissed, not liking his odds.

"He just announced their engagement yesterday, Cosmic; it will be a while before they set a date for the wedding." Peanut remarked, trying to ease Cosmic's nerves.

"That's the sort of attitude a pony with no chance of making Best Colt would have." Cosmic replied, folding his arms.

There was a sudden swell of applause that came over the cafeteria drawing their attention away from their conversation. Near the entrance of the cafeteria there was a small crowd of Royal Guard Ponies congratulating and shaking Nightshade's hoof over his recent engagement.

Needless to say, Nightshade was very embarrassed by this gesture but did his best to smile and thank every pony. Cosmic was quick to shush Peanut and Shining Armor up over their discussion, motioning towards Nightshade over his shoulder. Peanut raised his arm over his head to flag down Nightshade who was still being approached by several more Royal Guard ponies wanting to express their congratulations.

"Keep the Best Pony talk under your saddles." Cosmic whispered to Peanut and Shining Armor.

"Hey guys." Nightshade said with a noticeable amount of joy in his voice.

It was obvious to every pony that Nightshade could not be happier with how things were going for him.

"Some pony is looking pretty happy with himself today." Shining Armor teased, watching Nightshade nervously rub the back of his mane.

"Is-is-is it that easy to tell?" Nightshade asked nervously.

"I still can't believe you went through with it." Cosmic mentioned, as Nightshade pulled up a chair. "Asking Belle to marry you and all."

"I said I was going to do it." Nightshade replied.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't believe it!" Cosmic exclaimed, still dumbfounded by this.

"It was pretty shocking." Peanut added, sipping his juice.

"It was one of the promises we made during the battle with the Dragon. I thought we meant it." Nightshade pointed out. "Didn't you guys do what you promised to do?"

"Well… I took some time off." Cosmic mumbled thinking back on it.

"I thought you were going to ask out Ms. Fleece?" Nightshade asked, looking confused.

"I-I-I-I only said that as a joke! Just like Peanut did!" Cosmic insisted, flushing slightly.

"I wasn't joking. Ms. Flare and I are having dinner next week." Peanut remarked, looking none too embarrassed.

"What?" Cosmic asked aloud, looking shocked.

"Didn't we get promised that we would be Knighted by Shining Armor?" Nightshade asked, thinking back on it.

"That's right!" Cosmic shouted, suddenly realizing his lack of a Knighthood.

"What's the status on that promised Knighthood, Lord Armor?" Peanut asked leaning closer to him.

Shining Armor was now in the hot seat, having made the promise will all good intentions, but failing to realize that none of these ponies worked under the Crystal Empire; meaning that he could not Knight any pony here. Feeling the eyes of his three friends staring straight into his soul, Shining Armor decided to pull out his ace in the hole to divert the conversation.

"Nightshade, h-h-h-have you picked a Best Pony yet?" Shining Armor asked nervously, trying to seem interested.

It was now Cosmic's turn to sit in the hot seat, as Nightshade looked quite surprised by this question.

"It's a little early to be talking about things like that." Nightshade replied. "We haven't even picked a day to get married yet."

"Do you have any pony in mind?" Peanut asked, watching Cosmic writhe in his seat.

"I did have a pony in mind but I wasn't going to ask him until later." Nightshade said, as Cosmic seemed to be slowly dying next to him.

"Could the pony you want to ask to be your Best Pony happen to be Smolder?" Shining Armor asked, thinking about the later portion of his response.

"Actually, I was going to ask Cosmic-" Nightshade was cut short by Cosmic slamming his hooves on the table.

"How could you not pick-wait what did you say?" Cosmic began to bellow before stopping short.

"I… I said I was going to ask you." Nightshade repeated, looking strangely at Cosmic. "Later today, when we're on duty."

"You want me… to be Best Pony?" Cosmic asked again, seeming a little stunned.

"Of course." Nightshade replied. "You're my best friend. Why wouldn't I?"

"Boom! In your face Peanut! Woo!" Cosmic shouted, leaning over the table and pointing his hoof right up to his face.

Cosmic proceeded to leap from his chair towards the nearest table of Royal Soldier Ponies to spread the news of him being appointed Best Pony, already talking about plans for the stag party that was to come. Nightshade watched with great confusion as Peanut rolled his eyes and Shining Armor laughed to himself. Turning back to the other two ponies, Nightshade looked at them expectantly, wondering what was going on.

"Cosmic was worried you weren't going to pick him as your Best Pony." Peanut informed him.

"Really worried." Shining Armor emphasized.

"Well, it's not like you two wouldn't be good choices, but Cosmic has always been beside me in everything we've done. I thought it would only be right that he'd be at my side for this important part of my life." Nightshade explained thoughtfully.

"I think Cosmic feels the same way." Shining Armor agreed.

Cosmic was now standing atop one of the tables in the cafeteria, announcing aloud to every pony in the room that he was Best Pony and that he could be reached between the hours of eight in the morning to nine in the evening for questions concerning the eventual stag party for Nightshade.

"I think he just likes the idea of himself being called Best Pony." Peanut mumbled.