The Phoenix King

by Turtlehaus

Chapter 39: Alpine For You

The hour was late for every pony especially Summer Hearth. She was expected to be at home for dinner and was already over an hour late. Having said her goodbyes to Chapel, Tea, and Florence, slightly unsheathing her sword giving them a rather dangerous look, Summer bid farewell to Princess Sapphire; earning a hug from her. Although, Summer demanded Princess Sapphire’s word that she would not take off again at least not without informing her first.

With Princess Sapphire’s reassurance, Summer excused herself and headed home. Her jealousy of these new ponies wasn’t unwarranted, but it was rather immature in part. Being Princess Sapphire’s Royal Bodyguard was her duty as a Knight, but she had assumed that the time they spent together had made them closer than most. It wasn’t that Princess Sapphire didn’t deserve to make new friends, it was just Summer had never seen her so happy before, and that was saying a lot from spending nearly a year at her side.

Descending the large staircase to the Main Hall of Castle Fjord, Summer knew she was running late getting home, but at this rate she felt that being another half hour late wouldn’t be any different if she ran and had been ten minutes late. Every pony would have asked where she had been anyways; so she felt like taking her time.

Taking the regularly unused Right Wing exit, exclusive to mostly Royal Guard Ponies during shift changes, Summer walked out into the subzero temperatures of the Frozen North and headed towards the Noble Cliffside.

Looking up at the castle, Summer could still see the light of the fireplace in Princess Sapphire’s room still flickering. She felt herself frown at the idea of being ‘left out’, but of course that wasn’t the case; she just had previous engagements. Just the idea of these new ponies she had never met before, becoming so close to Princess Sapphire in such a short time, almost angered her, but it was just her jealousy fueling her temper.

“Look at me; I’m just a fun loving mare who doesn’t have any real responsibilities other than to stay up late and party with Princesses.” Summer mocked Chapel’s voice, making faces as she spoke.

Spitting a small flame in a huff, Summer’s mane flared angrily at the idea of those three mares giggling and laughing with Princess Sapphire. The frozen wind that whipped at her hide did little more than sear against her heated flames and did nothing to soothe her temper.

“I’m a fun pony.” Summer mumbled, speaking to herself. “I bet none of those mares can swing a sword.”

Climbing the ice bridge to the Noble Cliffside, Summer eyes drifted to the Artic Bluff far down below, seeing all the lights of the nighttime city twinkling through the flourishing winds of snow. Her mind drifted to Bleak, wondering if he was sleeping in some alley again, hiding from the Night Watch for breaking up another gambling den he led, or perhaps talking with some other mare in some ice licked tavern.

“He’s a bum! Don’t bother talking to him!” Summer shouted over the ledge of the ice bridge to the Artic Bluff down below; flushing furiously at her own thoughts.

Spitting fire into the air, her mane flaring from her own twisted thoughts, Summer stormed off across the ice bridge cursing under her breath on how stupid every pony was. Her anger hadn’t cooled off at all reaching the Noble Cliffside, many Noble Ice Ponies crossed streets way ahead of her to avoid the flaring flames her mane was casting off. Summer walked on, unable to get the pesky thoughts of Sapphire’s new friends and Bleak’s big, dumb, stupid face out of her head. Letting her head drop upon the large seal of the Sleet Family crest, Summer sighed miserably.

“It’s not like I need him, he left me, which means he didn’t need me, but that’s fine because I didn’t need him.” Summer mumbled to herself. “He’s not going to do any better than me; he won’t be able to replace me.”

Summer’s flames dwindled to a small simmer, the reason for her worries finally making an appearance.

“I don’t want to be replaced.” Summer mumbled sadly.

The large wooden doors suddenly opened, causing Summer to suddenly fall face first onto the stone pavement as Kirk Summerland stood before her holding the edge of the door.

“Lady Summer? Are you alright?” Kirk asked curiously.

“Fine, Kirk! I’m just fine!” Summer snapped getting to her hooves and rubbing her nose; embarrassed for a whole different reason now.

“Every pony is awaiting your arrival, Lady Summer.” Kirk informed her.

“Yeah, yeah, they want me to meet our great and outstanding Uncle; General Hearth.” Summer said with a snarky inflection in her voice; rolling her eyes.

“I’m retired actually.” A voice spoke up.

Kirk opened the large wooden door a bit wider to reveal Summer’s father Coal and an unfamiliar Flame Pony standing behind him. Summer’s face flushed, her mane flaring in embarrassment, seeing unamused face of her father glaring at her from her snarky comment.

“D-D-Daddy, hi… I didn’t see you there.” Summer stammered looking guilty.

Coal approached her, pulling her in for a hug, to which Summer returned in kind. Summer had been away for nearly three days, and no amount of sass was going to sway Coal from welcoming her back home.

“Why are you late?” Coal asked stepping away from her.

“I went to speak with Princess Sapphire; I-I-I-I’m sorry.” Summer replied quickly.

“You’ve kept everypony waiting, especially your great and outstanding Uncle.” Coal stated, emphasizing her own words.

Summer knew her father was dropping a ‘subtle’ hint for her to apologize for her rather sassy remark about her Uncle. While her father doted upon her for being his only daughter, his princess, he still kept a firm stance on showing respect and keeping good manners with other ponies.

“Oh Coal, give her a break, she doesn’t even know me.” Hearth said rolling his eyes at his parenting.

“That’s no excuse to speak poorly of another pony.” Coal stated, looking over at him.

“She said I was great and outstanding. Sounds like compliments to me.” Hearth replied.

“It’s the way she said it.” Coal retorted turning to face him.

“It’s the way she said it.” Hearth mocked his tone.

Coal quickly approached Hearth, looking rather cross with him.

“Why are you trying to undermine me? Are you trying to make me look like a mean Dad?” Coal hissed as him.

“You’re acting a lot like our Dad used to. It seems that you not only inherited his cutie mark, but that stick that was always up his-“ Hearth began.

Summer watched her father, the hard as nails, no nonsense pony, wrestle her newly met Uncle in the snow demanding that he ‘take it back’ while trying to smother him. Having only just met him, Summer was rather surprised that her Uncle, the War Hero her father always spoke so highly of, was a far cry from the stories she had heard. She was expecting this battle hardened colt, marching around, giving orders, talking of old war stories, demanding to be respected, but what she got was an Uncle; a retired Uncle.

Coal got to his hooves, having exhausted himself in trying to smother his older brother, striding back towards Summer trying to look dignified with his sudden rough housing. Hearth was rolling over in the snow, his flames melting the packed ice in his head that Coal had tried to bury him with.

“Your mother is starting to worry so let’s get back inside and eat.” Coal said with taking a couple deep breaths.

Summer walked alongside her father, her Uncle Hearth following behind them with Kirk beside him. There was an awkward silence that hung about them. Hearth would make faces behind Coal’s back, stopping whenever Coal looked over his shoulder at him, and proceeded to start again when he looked away. It was hard for Summer to admit, but she was beginning to like her long lost Uncle Hearth; just a little.

---

Florence and Chapel had fallen asleep upon Princess Sapphire’s bed, the events of the day having taken a great toll upon them, and their exhaustion having finally caught up. Tea hadn’t worked herself up over the whole ordeal, having been acclimated to Royalty at Smolder’s coronation, but she did find herself to be relatively tired from the earlier pillow fight. Having decided to clean up after herself, as well as Chapel and Florence, placing the hot cocoa mugs upon the tray that had originally been brought from the kitchen; Tea yawned quietly to herself.

Turning to look towards Princess Sapphire’s bed, wondering if Chapel and Florence even asked if they could crash there for the night, Tea noticed that Sapphire was still sitting by the fireplace staring into the dying flames of the fire.

“Princess Sapphire?” Tea called out to her.

Tea didn’t get a reply back. Crossing the room, Tea came up alongside Princess Sapphire noticing how intensely she stared at the flames.

“Hey, Sapphire.” Tea said softly to her, shaking her shoulder a bit.

“Wh-What? Did you need something?” Princess Sapphire asked looking a bit out of it.

“Are you alright?” Tea asked sitting down next to her.

“Fine. Fine. Totally fine.” Princess Sapphire replied nodding her head at least a dozen times.

Tea sat with her, giving her a sympathetic look; hoping she would open on her own. Princess Sapphire glanced over at her a few times, taking notice of Tea’s silent insistence, and doing her best not to look too bothered with her thoughts.

“You’re thinking about Smolder, huh?” Tea asked her.

Princess Sapphire slowly turned her head from Tea, her eyes narrowing, knowing she had been easy to read, but felt comfortable enough admitting it to her.

“I’m worried about him.” Princess Sapphire admitted.

“We’ll get him back.” Tea said reassuringly.

“I have no doubts about bringing him back from the Void.” Princess Sapphire explained to her. “I’m worried about… him.”

Princess Sapphire glanced over at Tea who looked rather confused by her meaning. Feeling her face suddenly flush, Princess Sapphire turned her head again to avoid making eye contact with her.

“Never mind, I’m just prattling.” Princess Sapphire remarked quickly.

“No, no.” Tea replied sounding concerned. “What are you worried about?”

Tea watched as Princess Sapphire took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts before looking back at her with a rather somber looking expression.

“I’ve… always been a Princess, waiting for the next task to be asked of me, to serve the realm faithfully and carry that into my rule when I take the throne someday. I studied hard, trained even harder, so that no pony would doubt my ability to assume the mantle as Queen.” Princess Sapphire began.

Tea nodded her head. It wasn’t much of a comparison, but becoming a doctor pony took time and lots of practice so she felt something a kin to what Sapphire was talking about.

“Then it was arranged so that I would wed Smolder, a forgotten Flame Pony Prince, who came from nothing, he had no training or schooling to speak of, and didn’t know the first thing in ruling a Kingdom.” Princess Sapphire continued. “How could any pony, any Princess, take him seriously?”

“It does sound like a mismatch.” Tea commented.

“When I finally got around to telling him of this arranged marriage my parents had put together. That all he had to do was accept it and it would be done; I would be his Queen. I was expecting him to say yes, every fiber of my being believed he was going to say yes, and it terrified me; my whole future rested with his answer.” Princess Sapphire reminisced sounding sad.

“But he refused it, right?” Tea asked.

“Essentially, yes, but what bothered me was that he said he wasn’t good enough.” Princess Sapphire replied quietly.

“Not good enough?” Tea asked sounding curious.

“He was quick to speak poorly of himself. So much so that it bothered me and he continued to list his faults like I should know how unworthy he was. What I felt to be most disconcerting was that he truly believed what he was saying.” Princess Sapphire explained.

“I’m sure Smolder was just nervous.” Tea offered.

“He used the word ‘horrible’, Tea.” Princess Sapphire said looking over at Tea in disbelief. “What sort of pony believes himself to be horrible?”

Tea fell quiet.

“I didn’t know much of Smolder at that point. From his refusal of our arranged marriage, I knew him to be a kind pony, perhaps even a gentlepony, maybe even a friend, but I wanted to know how a pony that was to be named King did not have the ego to go with it.” Princess Sapphire continued.

“Could you imagine Smolder with an ego?” Tea asked with a humorous smile.

“If he did, have an ego, I might have frozen him solid that night, but I’m sure his inflated ego would have burned through the ice regardless.” Princess Sapphire remarked with a small smile of her own.

Princess Sapphire and Tea fell quiet again.

“So… what did you find out about Smolder?” Tea asked after a while; feeling curious herself.

“From what Princess Cadance had told me, Smolder had a very hard life growing up, and the events that led to him being crowned King.” Princess Sapphire replied.

“From what I know, he had a pretty lonely life.” Tea mentioned to her.

“A pony that never knew his mother, brothers that kept him at arms-reach, and a father- a father who hated him! Who beat him and tried to kill him! All because he was kind.” Princess Sapphire said looking rather upset at the idea.

Tea was pretty surprised to hear it herself during her time with Smolder on the outskirts of Ponyville on the day of his Coronation. She never saw the scars or the bruises Smolder had from that battle, but from the pain in his voice she knew it hurt quite a bit.

Princess Sapphire had gone quiet for a few moments; she seemed to be trying to compose herself and her thoughts. It was hard for either of them to imagine their own father’s becoming such a cruel pony, or losing every moment they had ever spent with their mother.

“So many horrible things have happened to him, horrible things that seem to gravitate towards him, but he’s remained kind through it all. I… I just want him to know that he’s not… horrible.” Princess Sapphire stated, unable to find a convenient word to use. “Am I… making a sense?”

“You want him to know you care about him.” Tea told her.

“I d-d-didn’t say that.” Princess Sapphire said quickly; looking embarrassed.

“It’s okay if you like him, Sapphire. It’s pretty hard not to like a colt that’s willing to face down a mountain sized dragon for you.” Tea mumbled, flushing herself.

“I retract everything I’ve just said! He’s a horrible choice in a somepony, incapable of a rational thought, and constantly gets himself into situations he himself cannot get out of!” Princess Sapphire stated sounding rather flustered.

Princess Sapphire’s face was a mild shade of purple, having turned her head away from Tea, refusing to acknowledge her assertion of her having feelings for him.

“You could have worse choices in a somepony. I mean you could always choose that one colt that you asked to pass the salt.” Tea added with a smile.

Tea watched Princess Sapphire whip her back around, flushing a deeper shade of purple. It was hard not to giggle at her joke, but Princess Sapphire was fighting hard not to smile all the same. The two laughed at the idea, the log within the fire snapping, sending floating embers up into the chimney, while Princess Sapphire composed herself looking much better.

“You know, Tea, I wanted to –“ Princess Sapphire began but stopped short at an odd noise that reached her ears.

There was a low hum that started to drift into the room, causing both Tea and Princess Sapphire to look around for the source. After about a minute or two the humming had stopped, which left them looking very confused to what it was.

“Did you hear that?” Tea asked looking over shoulder towards the large window of Princess Sapphire’s room.

“I most certainly did.” Princess Sapphire replied, getting to her hooves to investigate.

Princess Sapphire moved towards her rather large window, peering out from it to see what that strange noise had originated from, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Glancing back towards Tea, Princess Sapphire shrugged her shoulders, having no idea what it could have been.

“Perhaps it was one of Floe’s late night experiments. He’s not very courteous when it comes to the late hour and the noise his research tends to make. I’ll mention it to mother come morning.” Princess Sapphire stated; assuming where the noise came from.

“It’s getting late anyways.” Tea mentioned with a yawn.

BAM!

The doors to Princess Sapphire’s room flew open with great force, within the threshold stood Floe, his horn brimming with magic having used it to make a grand entrance. Stepping into Princess Sapphire’s room, looking very smug about what he was going to tell her, Floe whipped back his snowy mane trying to portray a sort of heroic pose many Knights had when returning from a victorious battle.

“Sapphire I have come with news of-“

“Have you lost your bucking mind?” Princess Sapphire hissed at him.

Princess Sapphire’s magic had closed the doors to her room quickly, making as little noise as possible. The other residents of Castle Fjord were already shouting in their protest to the noise and the late hour in which it was occurring. Floe was picked up by the scruff of his cloak by Princess Sapphire’s hooves, lifting him off the ground to speak with him face to face; he could see she was angry with him.

“I came here to tell you of an important discovery I made with the Obelisks.” Floe retorted trying to wiggle himself free of her grasp.

“You can’t just barge into a mare’s room! You’re a colt for crying out loud! What’s wrong with you?” Tea asked in utter disbelief.

“All you mares ever do is talk about is colts while bad mouthing other mares. It’s not like any of you are pretty enough to have any colt wanting to bust in and-“

“We’re about to have an opening for a Court Wizard tomorrow, ours has just met his untimely demise.” Princess Sapphire stated threateningly, her eyes burning an icy blue.

“I know where our Obelisks are!” Floe shouted, sounding a bit worried Princess Sapphire was going to make good on her threat.

Letting Floe drop to the floor with a thump, Princess Sapphire’s eyes returned to normal as she stepped back to let him live. Floe brushed himself off, there was no dirt or dust to speak of, but it was his way of acting calm and collected.

“Explain.” Princess Sapphire demanded.

“Well, I’m sure the two of you overheard that humming sound a few moments ago?” Floe asked, sounding rather pompous about it.

“What of it?” Princess Sapphire asked sternly.

“Something has triggered a reaction with the Obelisks, it is unclear what it is, but our theory of all the Obelisks being somehow connected rang true tonight. Our efforts to find the Obelisks in our own area have been futile, because what I witnessed was an otherworldly glow coming from the White Walk.” Floe informed her.

“It can’t be there.” Princess Sapphire remarked with a scoff.

“I’m telling you I saw the lights come from the White Walk!” Floe snapped at her; feeling his credibility being put into question.

“What is the White Walk?” Tea asked sounding confused.

“The White Walk is an area of the Frozen North we do not venture into. For it is an area where the clouds are so full it looks like a mirror reflection of the snow upon the ground, it feels like you’re walking blank sheet of parchment. No pony or creature that has ever entered the White Walk has ever returned.” Floe explained to her; looking rather smug with his knowledge on the subject.

“It is also rumored that the fabled Ijiraq spirit dwells within.” Princess Sapphire added.

“That’s just myth told to little Ice foals and fillies to keep them from wandering out on their own into the snow!” Floe shouted, looking rather upset by that name.

“What is a… Iga… Jiga…” Tea tried to repeat the name.

“The Ijiraq is a creature that kidnaps ponies, bringing them into the White Walk, and leaving them there to die. It is said to be malicious spirit, the tales of it changes through the ages, as some believe it to lure you in instead of physically taking you, keeping you lost for days until you freeze to death or starve.” Princess Sapphire explained further.

“Since the Ijiraq doesn’t exist, we won’t have to worry about it!” Floe declared, seeming to be unnerved by the mention of it.

“If the Obelisk is within the White Walk, how do you plan to reach it?” Princess Sapphire asked.

“We can have Warrick and Summer Hearth create a path with their fire to mark our way. From this we can leave some of magical rocks as beacons to leave a trail to help find our way back; the rocks reacting to our magic even if they are buried from the snow. Once we find the Obelisks we’ll send up magical flares for our Royal Pegasi Ponies to come and retrieve us. It will be an expedition of sorts, so we’ll need some supplies, but judging by the lights that I saw it shouldn’t be more than a couple of miles of trek.” Floe told her.

Princess Sapphire contemplated Floe’s plan, it was rather thought out. In a sea of white snow, the magical rocks would prove to be a beacon, and would react to their magic to which the stone would give off a magical pulse of their own; assuring them a safe route back.

“I would recommend taking Ms. Sparkle with us, along with her friend Fluttershy. Ms. Sparkle has proven to be quite skillful in magic, and from what I’m told Fluttershy has a way with animals which will be useful if we come across any wildlife.” Princess Sapphire stated.

“What about us?” Tea asked sounding left out.

“What about you?” Floe asked looking confused.

“Floe and I are accustomed to this freezing temperature, Tea. With the Hearth siblings we’ll have sufficient heat to aid Ms. Sparkle and Fluttershy through the White Walk, but I’m afraid that we cannot take you along with us.” Princess Sapphire stated to her.

“I… understand.” Tea replied knowing that she’d just be in the way.

“More importantly, you must deliver your lantern to Wingston in the Ashen Fields, so that they may find a way to use it to open their portal when the time comes.” Princess Sapphire added trying to make her feel that her contribution lay elsewhere.

Tea smiled at this, knowing that Princess Sapphire could easily send the lantern with some Royal Guard ponies to the Ashen Fields with it, but trusted her to make that journey herself.

“Oh! I nearly forgot I need to add more oil to it.” Tea said coming to that sudden realization.

“Lantern?” Floe asked sounding confused.

“The lantern that Tea possesses carries a flame of King Smolder, the Obelisks there only respond to his flame, and reopens the portal that he used to enter the Void.” Princess Sapphire explained to him.

Tea made her way over to the coffee table where her lantern sat, the flame inside still burning strong, although the oil was beginning to dip low. Princess Sapphire and Floe followed her, watching her retrieve a small can of oil from her saddle bag.

“Fascinating. I would never have thought the King to have thought so far ahead as to leave a piece of his own fire behind.” Floe stated sounding amazed.

“I’m sure he didn’t plan on it. It just happened to work out that way.” Tea mentioned opening the small glass door and carefully pouring some oil into the basin.

“Of course Wingston and the other Flame Ponies will need to find a way to increase the size of this flame to sustain the amount of power the Obelisks will need to open the portal. I’m very confident that they will succeed.” Princess Sapphire added.

“It might be best if they try to-“

ACHOO!

Floe abruptly sneezed, firing a sudden blast of frost from his mouth that struck the inside of the lantern; instantly extinguishing the flame. A thin layer of ice formed around the lantern, a small whiff of smoke fluttered from it. Both Tea and Sapphire stood wide eyed, mouths agape in silent horror at what had just happened as Floe rubbed his nose several times trying to rid himself of the tickle he felt.

“Darn goose feathers… I swear I’m allergic.” Floe mumbled; sniffling a couple of times.

Floe looked up to see the extinguished lantern. The flabbergasted look on Tea’s face, her outstretched hoof just seconds away from closing the little glass door. A shower of snowflakes was beginning to fall from Princess Sapphire’s mane, her eyes beginning to a glow a bright blue once more as she slowly turned to Floe; her horn pulsing angrily.

“Oh buck.” Floe mumbled.

Comments

[Meynbuhdei]

Floe is dead to me.

[Stellar_]

GODDAMMIT FLOE

[Night_Striker]

GOLD!!!!! XD