The Phoenix King

by Turtlehaus

Chapter 46: A House Call

Princess Celestia had a short night sleep, having dragged herself out of bed to raise the sun, feeling the weight of her poor night sleep already straining her. With a glow of her horn the sun slowly began to rise, providing the first crack of dawn to all of Equestria, and with yawn Princess Celestia headed back towards her bed. Unfortunately, for her a sudden scroll magically appeared before her with the seal of the Frozen North upon it. It seemed rather odd that the Princess Sapphire would send her findings on the Void so early in the morning, but she seemed assumed that she wanted her to have this information as soon as possible.

Placing the unopened letter open her desk, Princess Celestia found herself thinking of all of her duties for the day and the stress of the Summit Meeting in two days, and it was enough to keep her from blissfully going back to sleep. Before she could begin to prepare for the rest of her day another letter magically appeared before her, this time from Trottingham by the markings on the seal. Yet another letter that would most likely hold more information, or at least confirming what they did know about that Void. Placing it with the others, Princess Celestia headed to her vanity mirror where she would get ready for the day ahead of her.

Princess Celestia had just finished brushing her mane when another letter had appeared before her, but this one seemed rather odd to her. It was of parchment like the rest, but the seal bore markings that she did not recognize, quickly racking her brain through all of the symbols of many other kingdoms, she was already opening the letter when the answer came to her. It was of jungle pony origin, it was almost as rare as getting a letter from the Frozen North, and Princess Celestia assumed that their travels for the Obelisk had brought them there. Glancing over the letter, Princess Celestia's face became rather confused by what was written, but it was quickly replaced with intrigue.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am Talon, Chieftain of the Jungle Ponies, descendant of the Wakanda Tribe from centuries long passed. I write to you at the behest of two native ponies of a place called Ponyville, and the adventurous pony named Daring Do, concerning the attempt to save the Fire Lord. While our willingness to assist these foreign ponies were muddled with the attempted theft of our most sacred of treasure by a creature known to us now as Ahuizotl.

This treasure, our Heart of the Jungle, has been a well-kept secret for many generations for its protection. These foreign ponies were judged by the Heart, earning its trust and now it asks us to place our trust in your cause as well.

Our Heart of the Jungle is a creature known as Tear, an Arcana from the very Void you seek. She has deep rooted knowledge of the world you seek and carries amazing powers not seen in any of our strongest warriors. Even so she fears this Storm that threatens your missing Fire King, but she believes that these ponies can end the suffering that her world has long endured.

I am not a worldly pony, Princess Celestia, my knowledge is limited, but I will do everything in my power to ensure that we succeed in this plan. I shall be bringing her your kingdom by the next sunrise so that you may meet face to face.

Talon

“This is unbelievable.” Princess Celestia had whispered to herself.

A Chieftain jungle pony had written to her describing the efforts of two of Twilight’s friends and the exploits of the infamous Daring Do. While the accounts of the nefarious Ahuizotl attempt to steal the Heart of the Jungle, what had surprised Princess Celestia the most was what the Heart turned out to be. Talon claimed that it was a creature from the Void called Tear, an Arcana that had a vast amount of knowledge of her world and the storm. Upon the Arcana’s wishes, Talon had agreed to support her and their mission to save the Fire King in way that they could.

Quickly getting her hooves, Princess Celestia magically retrieved the other two letters from her desk to read them as well. The letter from Trottingham had several pages of parchment detailing the events that had unfolded in finding the Obelisks, including the attempted takeover of the hierarchy by Queen Chrysalis and detailed notes of Sir Lancaster’s report on the Void itself. Princess Celestia read each and every word carefully, absorbing the details of what had occurred and better understood Queen Chrysalis’s warning from the night before. It was clear that Trottingham had uncovered the means of opening their portal and would continue to conduct their research until the summit meeting.

Princess Celestia’s spirits had lifted considerably, every pony had been making great strides in uncovering the Obelisks, and she was eager to see what Princess Sapphire had discovered. Breaking the seal of the Frozen North letter she read it in earnest to see what they had uncovered. To her surprise, it wasn’t written by Princess Sapphire, rather it was from Lady Frost.

Dear Princess Celestia,

My apologies if you were expecting our little Snowflake to be writing to you, but we’ve hit a bit of a hiccup in her plan to save that adorable little flame pony. I tell you Celestia my little Sapphire is crushing on him so hard and I cannot tell you how much that is going to tick Charles off.

Back to our little mishap, our absent minded, but loveable Court Wizard Floe sneezed and snuffed out that little flame that Ms. Herbal was carrying around. Devastating I know, it really did sour every pony’s spirits, but they all took it in stride. Our little Sapphire has sent Ms. Herbal and her companions back to the Ashen Fields to inform Wingston of this unfortunate news personally. In the meantime, Twilight Sparkle, that rather quiet pony Fluttershy, and that o’ so adorable baby dragon Spike have accompanied Sapphire into the White Walk to search for the Obelisks.

Sapphire is confident that there is another way to open that portal and I do hope she is right. The next letter you receive should be from our little Snowflake about her findings, but until then we are holding out hope that we haven’t lost our only chance of saving Smolder.

Hugs,

Martha

A rock settled in Princess Celestia’s stomach, without Smolder’s flame there was no way to open the portal in the Ashen Fields and would render all the other portals useless to them. Folding the letters, Princess Celestia placed them down on her desk before magically levitating her crown from her dresser to the top of her head.

“There has to be another way to the open the portal in the Ashen Fields.”

Turning towards the door of her chambers, Princess Celestia would attend to her duties as quickly as she could before heading out to the Ashen Fields to discuss this further with Wingston personally. Surely the news would weigh heavily on his heart and Princess Celestia would want to be there to for him.

---

The Royal Carriage from the Frozen North sped over the northern hills of the Ashen Fields. The mountainous volcano had been torn from the inside out by the emergence of the Great Dragon Char and leaving it with half of its awesome size. Tea, Florence, and Chapel moved towards the window to see how the aftermath of the battle with the Orc had come along. Much of the fields were still barren of any vegetation, several large crevasses from the dragon’s rampage still scarred parts of the land, but further to the west there was some color to be seen. The softest shade of green layered the ground, grass beginning to grow around the areas being cultivated for farming. Tea could feel herself smiling at this sight, feeling that it was small victory that would soon cover the rest of the Kingdom.

With the carriage beginning to descend, Tea, Florence, and Chapel returned to their seats to await their landing. A rather unusual sound was heard beneath the carriage as wheels had touched down upon stone rather than dirt. The carriage rolled forward for a few more feet. Coming to a stop Tea could see a somewhat familiar face waiting at the main doors of castle Char. The pegasi ice pony stepped around the carriage, opening the door for the ponies inside as Florence, Chapel, and Tea stepped out. Golden Fleece, or Goldie as every pony had come to call her, stepped forward to welcome them.

“On behalf of Wingston, Steward of the Ashen Fields, we’d like to welcome you to our Kingdom. Wingston apologizes for not being able to be here to greet you personally, he is currently in a meeting and will be unable to see right away. I’m Golden Fleece, Goldie for short, Treasurer of castle Char.” Goldie informed them.

Goldie looked back over her shoulder, nodding at a royal guard pony standing near the entrance. The royal guard approached them, carrying some cloaks in his hooves as he held them out to their guests.

“These are fire resistant cloaks. Please accept them as our gift to you to make your stay safe and memorable.”

Tea wore a rather smug smile on her face seeing Florence and Chapel take the cloaks. Even though they had no reason not to believe her stories about coming to the Ashen Fields for Smolder’s Coronation, it still felt like a well-deserved ‘told you so’ moment for her.

“You will be able to have minimal to moderate contact with flame ponies while wearing these cloaks.”

Before Goldie could continue, Florence and Chapel were already swarming around Goldie, admiring her flames, and the simple fact that she was the first flame pony they had met today.

“Your mane is just fire, but it sort of burns in a way that makes it look like you have bangs.” Florence remarked in admiration.

“Well,” Goldie mumbled, flushing a bit. “Thank you.”

“The color of your mane is so warm and inviting, it’s like the glow from a fireplace on Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Chapel added.

Goldie’s mane flared from her embarrassment from their compliments, only earning her the shrill squeals of excitement from the two of them. Tea quickly intervened to save Goldie from her friends over excitement.

“Hello Goldie, I’m not sure if you remember me from Smolder’s Coronation.” Tea introduced herself while tugging on both Chapel’s and Florence’s cloaks.

“Of course I remember you. You’re Tea Herbal from Manehattan. I was the pony that handled your travel arrangements at the request of Lord Smolder.” Goldie replied.

“I’m Florence Gale.”

“And I’m Christie Chapel.”

“It’s nice to meet the two of you.” Goldie said with a smile. “If you’d please follow me I’ll bring you to the throne room where Wingston will come to greet you.”

The Main Hall of castle Char had changed quite a bit since Tea’s last visit. From what Princess Sapphire had said of the Great Dragon Char’s rampage, there were noticeable additions to walls and ceilings where the dragon’s claws had torn the obsidian.

“With the reconstruction of castle Char, Roman Mason, one of our most gifted stone-cutters, has added a new wing that will be solely dedicated to information. A glorified library of sorts.” Goldie told them.

There were many flame pony colts working in and around the area, bucking and striking large stone blocks into perfect slabs. It was hard not to notice how rugged looking these stone cutter ponies were with their broad shoulders and rather muscular features, but Florence and Chapel did their best not to look too interested. The stone cutter ponies on the other hoof ogled at the sight of these colorful mares, bringing almost all productivity to a halt as they passed by.

“With much of the ceiling having been torn down, Roman has purposed a rather natural skylight that the claws of the Great Dragon Char have left behind. It will introduce natural sunlight, moonlight, and the ability for pegasi ponies to fly through. The claw marks themselves will be a historical reminder of the battle for many ages to come.”

The amount of sunlight that was shining through the claw marks practically lit the entire main hall. Tea, Chapel, and Florence were in awe of how large the claw marks were and tried to imagine the incredible size of the dragon that had made them. Goldie paused at the bottom of the staircase, turning to them with an apologetic smile.

“Unfortunately, much of our kingdom is still under repair and we cannot give you a proper tour of it as we would like. I hope you can understand.”

“I wouldn’t mind walking by the stone cutter colts one more time.” Chapel mentioned with a coy smile.

“Weren’t the two of you invited to that fancy party by those two ice ponies?” Tea questioned them.

“There’s nothing wrong looking, Tea.” Florence replied.

Goldie giggled. From the top of the staircase a flame pony mare with flames so light a red that it was almost pink and dressed in some rather fancy solider pony armor descended the steps towards them.

“You’re Ray Horizon!” Florence and Chapel shouted together.

Ray was quickly taken aback by their sudden outburst, not even getting the chance to speak as the two of them quickly approached her and began to fawn over her. From what Tea and Princess Sapphire had told them of the Coronation and the battle with the Orc, it was like seeing characters from a story come to life right before their eyes and it was almost too much for them to take.

“You’re the granddaughter of General Hearth! You got to lead the Kingdom’s army of flame ponies against the evil Orc!” Chapel gushed.

“You went hoof to hoof with a Queen Spider and the Orc itself with the help of Rainbow Dash!” Florence recalled.

“Do… Do I know you ponies?” Ray asked looking perplexed.

“Did you and Solar Wind ever become each other’s special some pony?” Florence asked.

Ray’s mane suddenly flourished in embarrassment, looking absolutely flummoxed by who they were and how they knew her so well and her low key relationship with Solar.

“General Horizon, I’d like to introduce you to Florence Gale, Christie Chapel, and Tea Herbal. They are here to assist in the efforts to help save Lord Smolder.” Goldie informed her.

“Right.” Ray mumbled still eyeing the two of them. “I needed to talk to you about the soldiers still in the Infirmary.”

Goldie’s expression became rather somber. Tea, Florence, and Chapel looked between the two of them knowing that this wasn’t going to be good news.

“I’m doing everything I can to get a doctor pony to come down here and find them some help, but it has been very difficult procuring a pony that knows anything about flame pony physiology.” Goldie said sadly.

“Can’t we send them someplace? A different hospital or something?” Ray questioned sounding a bit desperate.

“No hospital is currently equipped to receive flame ponies as patients and I’ve been informed that moving them might just make things worse.”

“Goldie, please, if this gets any worse we might actually lose them.”

“Let us help.” Florence stepped forward.

Chapel was quick to step up with her as Tea followed suit. Goldie and Ray looked at them with rather surprised looks.

“You ponies?” Ray asked.

“The three of us are trained nurses, studying to become doctors.” Chapel informed them.

“We’re not familiar with flame pony physiology, at least not as well as Tea does with all time she’s had with Smolder.” Florence remarked.

“Hey!” Tea snapped flushing a dark shade of green.

“But we’d like to try and help in any way that we can if you’d let us.” Chapel added.

Goldie glanced over at Ray who looked back her with a pleading smile. There really wasn’t a need to think about it and Goldie knew that if there was going to be any chance to help those ponies that this was going to be it.

“Alright, we’d appreciate any help you ponies could provide. I’ll inform Wingston of where he can find you when he is down with his meeting. In the meantime, General Horizon will escort you to our infirmary. I need to get back to my duties, but if there is anything you need please bring it to the attention of our royal guards.”

“Right.” The three of them said together.

Goldie waved goodbye before heading back to her office as General Horizon smiled appreciatively at the three of them.

“I really appreciate you ponies willing to try and help.” Ray thanked them.

“You’re welcome, but are you going out with Solar Wind or not?” Chapel questioned her.

Ray’s face flushed again with her mane flaring wildly.

“How… how…”

“Princess Sapphire told us that she saw the two of you… well… together in the barracks and put two and two together.” Tea explained to her.

“This isn’t happening.” Ray mumbled turning ever redder.

Ray quickly climbed the stairs, heading towards the Infirmary with Chapel and Florence hot on her tail to dig deeper into her relationship. Tea followed after them, pulling out her lantern from beneath her cloak to look its missing flame. There was a feeling of her gut being wrenched from the sight of it, knowing that she’ll have to disappoint every pony with her news. The only thing that had her pushing those feelings aside was the injured ponies in the Infirmary that were in desperate need of help.

The Infirmary doors slid open with Ray stepping in, her face still a bright shade of red from all of the questions Chapel and Florence had barraged her with, but all the questions had stopped the minute they stepped in. There were a few flame ponies tending to the sickly soldier ponies, although Ray had mentioned that they had no formal training and most of their remedies relied on their slates depicting each aliment. Florence, Chapel , and Tea wasted no time in approaching each bedside to take a look at their charts. It was rather confusing at first, seeing as their charts were thin slates of rock that had been written on with charcoal, but they adapted to it rather quickly. There were five soldier ponies in total, suffering from similar symptoms, having been given several treatments of anti-venom over a period of a few weeks, but nothing seemed to be working.

"Is there anything I can get for you ponies?" Ray asked.

"Thank you, General Horizon, but we can handle it from here." Tea informed her.

Ray nodded her head. Looking a bit more hopeful than before. The General took her leave of the Infirmary while Tea turned to Chapel and Florence who looked serious about getting to work.

“I’ve had a little practice in diagnosing flame ponies, so I’ll start there.” Tea said to them.

“I’ll start complying their charts and see if there is anything similar between them.” Chapel stated.

“I’m going to have look at the books of remedies these flame ponies have.” Florence said.

The three of them went to work. Chapel and Florence were finding flame pony book keeping was just rock after rock and slate after slate. Much of the Infirmary was clearly behind in the standards most hospitals held themselves in, the lack of any educated nurse or doctor flame ponies was astounding, but there were some interesting things to be found as well. The mixtures of remedies flame ponies had complied over many generations seemed to treat a wealth of illnesses through natural remedies coming from the Dark Marsh. Several hours had gone by with each of them making lists of the flame ponies aliments before trying to narrow down the cause through their symptoms.

"Each flame pony has a diminished flame, which is never a good sign. They share labored breathing, low temperatures, and severe coughing." Tea stated approaching Chapel with her notes.

"There isn't much in terms of a patient's history to be found here, which makes a family medical record a no go, but from what I can gather, every treatment given to them has only made things worse." Chapel replied.

"The flame ponies aren't suffering from the effects of spider venom anymore, that much is certain, but there symptoms aren't all that severe."

Florence approached them carrying three bounded rocks slates in her arms, dropping on the table in front of Chapel. Turning open the first bundle of slates, Florence started on the second bundle after fining the page she wanted to show them.

"I'm not much of a herbalist, but I've been looking over the treatments used on these flame ponies and found something interesting." Florence said. "Potassium bisulfite."

Chapel and Tea looked at her looking rather lost.

"Did you ponies not take chemistry?"

"I did, but... I sort of just coasted, you know?" Chapel mumbled looking a little sheepish.

"Okay, so let me just make this simple. Potassium bisulfite is made from sulfur dioxide and potassium carbonate. The sulfur comes from the natural toxic gases of the volcano and the potassium is white salt used to make windows." Florence informed them. "When mixed together the potassium bisulfite can be used as a sterilizing agent."

"Huh." Tea mumbled feeling she had learned something new.

"So the flame ponies have been using that potassium stuff to sterilize there equipment, then." Chapel remarked looking at all the glassware on the shelves around them.

"So you're thinking that this is what's causing their symptoms?" Tea questioned her.

"It's only a theory, but I think its worth taking seriously."

The doors to the infirmary slid open, General Horizon stepped in with a familiar thudding following close behind. Stepping aside, Ray revealed Wingston limping into the room with his new metal staff firmly in his grasp. His face was hidden behind the bunched up hood of his cloak, his long fingers of his torn wing gripping his staff tightly for support, but his eyes seemed to show how happy he was to see them. Glow felt her heart drop at the sight of him, she did her best to hide it, but she could see Wingston's gaze notice her uneasiness.

"What's that?" Chapel asked looking rather put off.

"That's Wingston!" Tea hissed at her.

Chapel was quick to cover her mouth with her hooves in embarrassment. "Oh! Sorry!"

"Ms. Herbal, what a pleasure it is to see you again." Wingston greeted her, bowing his head to her. "I've been told that you and your friends have offered to help our bedridden soldier ponies. I am most grateful for your selflessness."

"Not... not at all, Wingston. These are my friends Christie Chapel and Florence Gale. We are all nurse ponies going to school together to become doctors." Tea introduced them.

"How are you feeling?" Florence asked him.

"Did it hurt getting stabbed with a Queen Spider's fang?" Chapel questioned him further.

"Cut it out!" Tea hissed at them again.

"It felt like pure fire running through my veins before the pain became so unbearable that I blacked out and found myself having fever dreams of a six armed monkey baking cupcakes with a waffle iron." Wingston replied.

Tea, Chapel, Florence, and even Ray looked at Wingston, dumbfounded by his response.

"I'm only joking. It was rather painful, but I am mended and in high spirits."

Tea chuckled nervously along with the others. Wingston stepped forward looking at Tea rather curiously, seeing how much dread she was trying to hide and it was becoming clear to him that she had some rather troubling news.

"There's problem, isn't there?"

Biting her bottom lip, Tea could feel her heart beginning to race. Withdrawing the lantern from beneath her cloak, she held it out to Wingston looking very remorseful.

"There... there was an accident, Wingston. We lost Smolder's flame." Tea said nervously. "I'm so... so sorry, Wingston. It was my fault and-"

Wingston's staff bopped her on the nose, causing Tea to recoil in surprise. Reaching out his wings he took the lantern from her, looking at the emptiness within, turning it from side to side as if admiring it.

"We'll just have to find another way to open the portal, Ms. Herbal." Wingston said to her kindly. "I'm sorry for this unintentional burden we placed upon you. This was mean to be a gift from Smolder to you and nothing more. When he returns, and he will, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to relight it for you."

Wingston held out the lantern to her, a noticeable crease appearing in his hood where his smile should be. Tea could feel tears starting to well in her eyes, recognizing that same confident and kind demeanor Smolder had, and realizing where he had acquired it from. Taking the lantern carefully from him, Tea held it tightly in her arm, smiling appreciatively, and wiping her tears away with her hoof.

"We've made arrangements for you to stay as long as you'd like. Our royal guard pegasi will be ready to take you home whenever you are ready. Until then, please make yourselves comfortable and you have are sincerest thanks for your assistance here."

Wingston bowed to them again, turning back towards the entrance of the Infirmary and limping his way out.

"Can I usher you somewhere, Wingston?" Ray offered him.

"No... I'd... like to be by myself for a while." Wingston replied, not stopping to turn around.

Every pony watched Wingston turn the corner, the thudding of his staff growing more distant from them. Tea could feel her chest tightening, she knew how much Wingston meant to Smolder, and she could see how much Smolder meant to him. It hurt even more to see how both of them had trouble expressing they're sadness to others, and chose to keep it to themselves. Tea felt a hoof come around her shoulders, seeing Chapel hugging her tightly, Florence stepped around latched onto her on her other shoulder.

"We're here for you, Tea." Chapel whispered to her.

"How you feeling?" Florence asked.

"My chest is so tight it's hard to breath right now." Tea mumbled sadly.

"Don't worry, Wingston will know what to do." Ray spoke up sounding confident.

Tea's breaths were short, she was doing her best to beat down her emotions and not start crying in front of every pony. Her attempt to take a deep breath was cut short, finding it hard to even draw a full breath, but something suddenly clicked with her. All her sadness was suddenly thrown aside, racking her brain for the thought that had crossed her mind, and found herself smiling.

"Asthma!" Tea said suddenly.

Ray looked at her rather confused. "What was that?"

"These flame ponies have asthma!"

Chapel and Florence smiled in disbelief, hugging Tea even tighter for her mad diagnosing skill. Florence pulled off of Tea, rushing to the bundled slates to look them over.

"Potassium bisulfite is known to trigger asthma and the amount of doses they've been given has probably caused an infection!" Florence deduced.

"All we need to do is treat the infection and with the right medication we can have these ponies back on their hooves in no time!" Chapel shouted excitedly.

"Asthma?" Ray asked look rather puzzled.

"Asthma is a lung disease. It's hereditary, meaning that they got it from their parents who probably also had it. Without any medical history to be had, no pony would have known that these ponies suffered from it." Tea explained to her.

"Are they going to be okay?" Ray asked looking very optimistic and excited.

"Now that we know what's wrong with them it's just a matter of treating it. We'll have to watch them closely to see how bad it's gotten, but there road to recovery starts now."

Tea felt Ray's arms coming around her, hugging her tightly, and lucky for her the cloak she wore prevented any accidental burns. It wasn't the first time Tea was able to give good news to a pony, she had her share of bad ones, but from how tightly Ray was clinging to her she felt that this was very good news for her.

---

Wingston had crossed the fields, limping his way before the two towering Obelisks that loomed over the land. A part of him wasn't sure what he was going to do, the other part of him was wondering what he could do. It would have been cruel to allow Tea to feel that this was her fault, that everything was riding upon that lantern she had, but Wingston knew that it was there only chance of getting Smolder back. Standing before the Obelisks, Wingston stared at the ground between them, the last place Smolder had stood before stepping into the Void. Wingston closed his eyes, the feelings of doubt and despair creeping their way into his heart, but his sadness beat it out.

"Please come back, Smolder." Wingston whispered.

A soft breeze drifted past Wingston, the sound of hooves stepping into the soft dirt just behind him, and a familiar voice danced in his ears.

"Has Ms. Herbal already told you of the accident?" Princess Celestia asked him sympathetically.

"Forgive me, my Lady, but I don't know the details. All I know is that we lost out chance to save him." Wingston replied solemnly.

"I have received word from Trottingham, the Frozen North, and even the Jungle Ponies, we are so close to achieving this, Wingston. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into despair now."

"I did this to him." Wingston mumbled. "I forced this on him. I made him choose between his family and his kingdom. Made him into a King and told him he'd have to sacrifice everything for the good of his flame ponies. I never once thought of what he might wanted, what he hoped to be one day, and I guess I'll never find out."

Princess Celestia walked up alongside Wingston. Gently placing her wing on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Smolder has always had doubts about his capabilities, his powers, and his ability to rule." Princess Celestia began. "But I know he never once doubted you, Wingston. That young colt has stared down the madness of his father, the malice of an Orc, and the rage of an Elder Dragon all because you believed that he could be more than he thought possible. He spoke with Orc before the battle started, he wanted to end things peacefully, even after what it had done to you and the others. All because you told him that talking things out is the best way to reach pony and that speaks volumes to what he sort of King he is to become."

Wingston rubbed his eyes with her sleeve, doing his best to compose himself.

"We will find another way to open this portal. We will get him back, Wingston."

"Forgive me, I should not have been so grim." Wingston muttered.

"A father has a right to fear for his son."