The Revival of a Heart

by TheMessenger

The Foundations of Ruin 2

The Foundations of Ruin 2

"...and need I remind you, Your Majesty, that this the fifth time this month the young Sir's royal playhouse has been destroyed," the man was saying, his brushy painted mustache twisting in anger. "The royal carpenters are feeling very, very unappreciated. And I do hope I do not need to explain the detrimental effects this act of villainy will do to the royal treasury..."

Twilight rolled her eyes at the flustered man and was certain that Ash would have too, despite the man's position as an advisor to the king, if he hadn't been so frightened. King Sethiop himself stood next to advisor, rubbing what forehead he could without disturbing the simple platinum crown on his head. The king's trimmed golden beard did not hide his frown, though whether this was directed in anger toward the young raven-head boy in front of him or out of annoyance as the overly dressed man chattered away passionately, Twilight could not tell. For Ash's sake, she hoped it was for the latter.

Either gripped by a sense of responsibility not entirely misplaced or by suicidal pride, Ash chose to ignore Ramth's advice and instead stayed behind, attempting to regain control over the inferno he had unleashed. For the most part he had been unsuccessful and left his face covered in soot and hair and clothes singed. Things grew worse as a stray fireball landed on the boy's arm. Twilight had cringed at the sight of burning flesh and Ash's scream.

Before Ash had blacked out from the pain, he and Twilight glimpsed a white figure with a large marble staff standing over him. When he lost conscious, Twilight saw no more. When the darkness faded away, she found herself and Ash in this very hall, his arm miraculously healed, with the grumpy advisor, the tired king, and the mysterious grey figure standing next to Ash.

The Unicorn found herself staring at the robed man at Ash's side and averting her eyes when his seemed to swept over her. There had been no sign of her detection but those electric blue eyes as sharp as lightning were unnerving. Unlike the two younger men, this Human grew out his beard, with light grey hair falling to his waist. He was plainly dressed compared to the elaborate dress of the advisor, with an evident lack of jewelry or colorful adornments. Compared the purple and gold of the king and the counsel man, this Human was drab with his old grey robe and rope belt.

However, he held an unquestionable, almost palpable air of authority. Despite his apparent advanced age, he stood straighter and taller than the men of his junior. His face was unreadable, locked in stony indifference but the silence spoke more volumes than the king's counselor with all his blustering. Disapproval, disappointment, all were conveyed without a single word spoken and Ash shrunk back every time those light-blue eyes turned toward his direction.

"Thank you, Nigel," King Sethiop said wearily. The advisor deflated a bit at being interrupted suddenly but grew silent, choosing instead to glare venomously at Ash.

The king turned to the older man. "Archmage-" he began.

"The boy will be punished, We assure you," the man in grey said coldly. Ash gulped.

"That is hardly enough Archmage!" Counselor Nigel exclaimed. "Arson, destruction of royal property, vandalism, disrespect toward the Crown..." he listed furiously. "I would not be surprised if we found this beast guilty of conspiracy against His Majesty and our nation."

Ash opened his mouth at the wild accusations but one glance from his master silenced him. He shrunk back, letting his head hang in defeat.

"This...boy is guilty of crimes against the Crown thus it is up to the Crown to deal justice." The advisor turned to the king, shaking his finger at Ash. "Your Highness, you must uphold your law, least your kingdom falls into unbridled chaos."

The king sighed. "As exaggerated as Nigel is, there is some merit in his rant." He turned his head to the young boy, his eyes betraying pity. "Arson is a serious crime. If we had not gotten there in time, the entire forest may have been lost. Who knows how far the flames would have spread or who would have been hurt. This is why we have laws. Do you understand?"

Ash nodded soberly. King Sethiop's expression softened and he sighed again. He turned back to the Archmage. "Nigel is correct. I must be the one to pass judgment and punishment. I am sorry. I hereby-"

"HOLD IT!"

Twilight jumped at the sudden exclamation and turned around to see Ramth hurrying down the hall towards them.

"Ramth, what are you doing here?" demanded the king. "You should be with your tutor right now. Though should I really be surprised..." he muttered under his breath.

"You can't punish him, Father!"

Ash's jaw dropped. "Father?" he mouthed in disbelief, turning pale. He had spent the day with a prince without calling him sir, insulted his treehouse and brunt it down...could this day get any worse?

"Your Highness," the counselor said to Ramth as he approached the king. "You are still young. Wisdom will come with age and one day you will stand here as a judge but until then, let the adults handle it."

Ramth stood defiantly before his elders. "It's not Ash's fault! Well, at least, not all of it..."

King Sethiop stroked his beard slowly. "Speak."

"Your Majesty-"

"That's enough, Nigel," the king said calmly. "What sort of adjudicator would I be if I pass judgment without hearing every witness. My son will speak." Nigel opened his mouth with a protest on the tip of his tongue that died at the sight of the king's displeased glare.

To Ramth, the king said again, "Speak."

And so he did. From the very encounter at the library, the young prince told the congregation what had happened. How the young, impressionable Mage had been dragged off and coerced into performing such dangerous magic by the prince.

Twilight couldn't help but smirk as Ramth's gestures grew wilder and his voice cracked with passionate. He was almost dramatic as Rarity. Twilight's smile grew at the comparison, though beneath all that flair was simple honesty and loyalty.

Loyalty.

The Unicorn's smile faded. She had been cursed with the gift of retrospect and kept trying to compare this sweet boy with the monster Ash had described. How was it that a boy who willingly step forward to defend someone he hardly knew would grow up to be a murderer, staining his hands with the blood of his friends, of the one he was currently defending?

"...and if there's anyone you're gonna punish, it should be me!" Ramth finished, stomping his foot in emphasis.

"Ramth, please don't stomp indoors. I have enough of a headache."

"Sorry."

King Sethiop leaned back. "Are you admitting to being this boy's accomplice?"

"No Father, he's my accomplice."

The king chuckled and turned to his advisor. "Well Nigel? Should I imprison them both?"

"Imprisonment? Your Majesty, were you not listening? This boy is now guilty of kidnapping a member of the royal family and endangering his life! Execution is the only suitable punishment."

"Ramth has also admitted his part in the crime. Are you accuse my son of kidnapping himself and threatening his own life?"

"Absolutely...wait, what?" The counselor looked at the king, confused.

"Are you saying I should execute my own son?" the king asked cooly, his blue eyes narrowing.

"Of course not, sire. But you must-"

"And I will uphold the law. I do not need you to tell me how to do my job." King Ramth shook his head. "However, seeing how the damage done was partially on the fault of Prince Ramth, I don't believe the royal family will be pressing charges of property damage. It's a good thing the Archmage was nearby to contain the fire," he added with a nod to the venerable Mage. "I will leave the boy's punishment in your hands, Archmage. See to that this will not happen again.

"And as for you, Prince Ramth," the king continued, "I'll leave your punishment for your mother to decide." The young princeling groaned.

"That will be all. This 'court' is dismissed."

With a swish of his cloak, the Archmage spun around and stalked off. "Meet Us in the North Tower, boy," he said quietly without turning.

Ash bowed clumsily. "Th-thank you, Your Majesty," he stuttered. "This won't happen again, I swear!"

King Sethiop looked around. Counselor Nigel had left in a huff and the only other beings were his son and Twilight, both watching curiously. To Ash and Twilight's surprise, the king chuckled. "Next time, I will expect those flames to be under your complete control. You'd better hurry and see what your master has planned. It's never a good idea to keep a Mage waiting..."

*****

Like a statue, the Archmage sat. An open book sat on the table before him but Twilight could tell the old man wasn't really reading. Several minutes had pass in total silence since Ash had entered the room, who stood in front of the Archmage's desk, save for the crackling of a burning log. Twilight took the absence of activity as a chance to examine the Archmage's office.

For a room that supposedly belonged to the most powerful Human magic user, Twilight was a little disappointed. She wasn't entirely sure what she had expected but this certainly was not it: a simple wooden desk cluttered with loose sheets of paper, a half-filled bookshelf, a small potted plant, a coat rack. The walls had no wallpaper to hide the stones that built up the tower and were completely deprived of pictures or paintings or the like. In fact, the only inkling of adornment were a few runes craved into the wooden desk. All in all, it was extremely spartan, borderline dull even for the bookish Unicorn.

"Do you know what is the most important thing to a Mage?"

The Archmage's sudden question interrupted Twilight's examination. She found herself pondering the question just as Ash considered it.

"Intelligence?" Ash ventured.

"If that were the case, do you believe you have a chance of being a Mage?" the Archmage said, slowly flipping a page. "We have seen great scholars fail at even attempting the simplest spell yet match some of the most magically in wit."

The Archmage got to his feet and turned to the sole window. "Intelligence is important to a Mage, that is true, but control is greater. A Mage must always have control over his magic...and over himself." He looked to Ash for the first time and said, "It is said that all are capable of magic but in reality, only those with the discipline and nerve to develop such skills do.

"Control goes beyond developing magical abilities, however," the Archmage continued, walking through Twilight as he stood over his apprentice. "We have seen many lose their lives and souls to darker arts because of a lack of self-control, a disturbing issue found in you as well."

Ash flinched at his master's incrimination. He bowed his head in shame. Twilight drew near him and, in sympathy, tried to put her hoof on his shoulder.

The Archmage's features softened and he placed his own wizened hand on Ash's other shoulder. "We do not wish to lose another apprentice to his own hot-headedness. You have potential but you must learn self-control first, least it go to waste. Patience, boy. Peace. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Ash exclaimed, nodding furiously. "You mean I can still be your apprentice?"

The very tips of the Archmage's lips seemed to lift up as he nodded slowly. He lifted his hand and returned to his desk.

"Now, We believe We sent you on an errand...where are the books you were sent to retrieve?"

"I...uh, I dropped them outside."

"Then you should go find them before it gets dark." The Archmage cracked open another dusty tome and began to study it with disinterest. "After you retrieve the books, bring them back to the library and shelve them in the correct locations. Then, relieve the librarian on duty and reorganize the West Wing as per her instructions. We believe she wanted them in sections of subject instead of by time period this week."

Ash's jaw dropped as the Archmage continued to turn pages nonchalantly. "Once you have returned, we will discuss your punishment."

The room faded to darkness and Twilight saw no more. The Unicorn waited patiently and expectantly for something to happen, a transition perhaps to a new scene. A sudden thud behind her drew her attention and as she turned her head toward the sound, light flooded her vision...

*****

Ash groaned as he let the books fall from his arms. The librarian would be giving him an earful, he knew, but at that point he was too tired to care. As thankful as he was of not being banished or thrown into the dungeons, Ash wondered if this punishment was any better and if his master had a sadistic side. The harpy of a librarian certainly as she seemingly drew pleasure by sporadically changing organization systems and declaring sudden re-shelving days, five in the course of two days.

"If I never see another book..." he muttered venomously, bending over and rubbing his arms.

"Whatcha doing?"

Ash looked up and saw a mess of blond hair. He bit back a groan as he snapped to attention.

"Prince Ramth, uh sir?" he said uncertainly.

Ramth frowned. "Ramth is just fine, you know."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, and you don't have to salute...and you're using the wrong hand."

Ash quickly shifted hands, only to receive a giggle from the young princeling.

"Kidding, now you're using the wrong hand."

"Which is it?" Ash asked, trying to contain the aggravation that threatened to leak into his tone.

"I'll only tell you if you promise to stop saluting and stop calling me prince. You look real silly by the way."

Ash groaned with frustration he didn't bother hiding and let his arms fall to his sides. "Fine, whatever." He picked up the pile of books and turned his back on Ramth. Twilight sucked in a gust of a breath at such a display of rudeness and lack of respect toward authority and royalty. The Unicorn couldn't imagine speaking like this to Princess Celestia or Princess Luna or even to Princess Cadence. Then again, she couldn't really compare her majestic mentor with this young child.

Ramth grabbed hold of Ash's shoulder. "Hey wait. Are you upset that I called you silly-looking? Cuz you are, when you're trying to salute. I mean, I've seen five year olds get it down better than you and man I wish I've got someway to show you how you look...hey, do you think there's a spell that could..."

"Look, what do you want?" Ash demanded. "With all due respect, I've got a punishment to deal with and I don't recall you being part of...it." He gulped. "No disrespect, s-sir."

Ramth merely chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Guess I sorta went a little far. Sorry."

"I should be the one apologizing-" Ash tried saying.

"Hey," Ramth interjected. "I don't care if I'm a prince. If I'm acting annoying, you tell me."

"Yeah, but after all you did for me...you really save me back there by speaking up..." Ash let the books fall to the floor as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, just as the blond boy had. "I didn't even get the chance to thank you," he said, his eyes toward the floor.

"Aw shucks. You don't need to thank me." Ramth grinned widely. "It's what friends do."

"Friends?"

"Yeah, friends. I mean, after everything we went through, well...I mean, we are friends, right?" Ramth said nervously.

"I...I don't know...I've never really had a friend," Ash awkwardly admitted, rocking on his heels.

"Really? No friends?"

The Mage apprentice shook his head. "The Academy was full of jerks and I wasn't really close to any of the other orphans at the Church. Most of them weren't around my age anyways, though a few called me 'big brother'."

"I see...hmm..." Ramth scratched the back of his head for a few seconds before his expression brightened. "I know! I know!" He thrusted his hand forward. "Then for now, we'll be brothers. Maybe later we can be friends."

Twilight's heart leaped as Ash's hand grasped around Ramth's. A small smile grew across his face.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

*****