Distant Memories and Aching Hearts

"Alright mom. Here's the story of what it was like back in elementry school for me." Eternal Flames said to Celestia

*12 years earlier*

The sun was burning brightly and beautifully over the majestic Rogue Mountain. The sounds of young fillies and colts rushing to their first day in elementry school filled the air. Eternal Flames was only 6 years old when he first started elementry. Of course back then, he still had a blank flank but he didn't care. He looked around with amazement and happiness. His ears flung high above his head to the sound of his teacher, Mrs. Asaira, whom to his surprise was a lioness. But despite her being a lioness, she was a kind and devoted teacher who cared for her students no matter who they are, or how they look.

"Alright students, please take your seats. We have a brand new student joining our class today. Please come on up here, young colt, there's no need to be shy." Mrs. Asaira said to Eternal

Eternal nodded and walked to the front of the class and turned towards the other students. who gave him some rather unpleasant looks of disgust and discomfort, all except one. A colt with a minty fur coat and silver white mane, who was smiling at him and waving at him. In turn, Eternal waved back.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself." Mrs. Asaira said with a smile.

Eternal nodded. "Hello, my name is Eternal Flames, it's very nice to meet you all." he says before bowing down for a bit.

"Well, it's nice to have you in our class, Eternal. Why don't you sit with Hurricane Blitz in the back row?" Mrs. Asaira said, pointing to the colt with a minty fur coat and silver white mane.

"Ok sure." Eternal replies.

Eternal then took his seat next to Hurricane who was looking at him with a rather nervous smile.

"H-hi there, I'm Hurricane Blitz. Nice to meet you." Hurricane says extendiing his hoof to Eternal.

"Pleased to meet you, Hurricane." Eternal says shaking his hoof

Mrs. Asaira had assigned her students to learn about adding and subtracting as well as learning how to pronouce certain words that were printed in the books they were reading. During this whole time, Eternal kept hearing the other kids talking about him, but he could tell they weren't talking about him in a good way. Two hours had gone by until it was time for lunch and recess. The children had all ran outside from the back of the school to the playground. Eternal had sat on a bench eating his lunch, which was a simple hay sandwich with hot sauce and a cold bottle of water.

"Hey Eternal...is it ok if I ate lunch with you?" Hurricane asked

"Yeah sure." Eternal replied back.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

They both sat and ate their lunches while talking about how life was like so far. Hurricane explained how he dreamed of being an excellent chef and caring for so many animals that exist in the world. However he also explained how he only had his mom and grandma to help him out and support him since his 2 older sisters didn't seem to keen on helping their "brother who should've been born a girl." This made Eternal very upset after he heard him say that.

"Hey, listen to me, Hurricane. Don't listen to your meanie sisters. Because to me, I think you're pretty cool. You may be shy sometimes, but I that's just who you are. In fact, you might even be possess a small glimmer of hope." Eternal says patting Hurricane on his shoulders.

"Gee, thanks, buddy. Nopony has ever said that about me. So what about you? What is your family like?" Hurricane asks.

Eternal then tells how his older brother, Blue Blaze keeps bragging that he'll is be king one day. Next he tells about his younger brother, Heat Wave who hates fighting and he's going to be coming to elementry school next year. Eternal then explains how he doesn't want to stay cooped up in his kingdom for too long because he wants to find his mom.

"I see, but what will your plans after you find her?" Hurricane asks

"Well, I don't know yet. But I'll find out some day." Eternal replies

"Oh, please, you still going on about how you'll find your mommy, huh? I can get along just fine without mine." says one of the colts

"Hey, mommys are just as important as daddies." said one of the fillies.

"Oh yeah, and how do you know that?" said the colt

"Because my mommy takes good care of me by making me yummy pancakes every morning. She even comes to my tea parties." said the filly with a proud smirk.

"Oh yeah, and how do you know she's not doing it because she feels sorry for you knowing you'll never have friends?" said the colt

"HEY! How about you zip it, or I'll zip it for you." Eternal says, scowling at the gloating colt as he approaches him.

"Oh yeah, and how are you gonna do that, Scar Face?" the colt said still smirking.

At this point, that one name really got to Eternal where he charged straight at him shouting and tackled him to the ground.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I'M GONNA DO ABOUT IT!!!" Eternal shouted before he punches the colt square in the face. He does this again and again and again until the colt throws him off of him with his hinde legs and gets back up.

"You just crossed the line, "Scar Face!" the colt said

"BRING IT, BOZO!!!" Eternal shouted.

The two young colts started fighting while one of the fillies went into the classroom to get Mrs. Asaira. The boys continued their little dispute, but Eternal was the one dominating the fight until finally he threw the colt back onto the ground and pinned him. This left the colt scared as he knew he messed with the wrong boy.

"P-P-P-Please...don't hurt me! I'm sorry, I won't do it again!" the colt said with his eyes closed with tears flowing out of his eyes.

"The fight is over when I SAY it's over!" Eternal said as he lifted his right hoof and helt a strange vibe coming from inside his body. It felt like a flame had ignited and soon a sudden small flame covered Eternal's right hoof as he got ready to punch the colt one last time.

"ETERNAL STOP!" Mrs Asaira yelled, causing Eternal to cease his final attack. She then walked up to the two colts with a stern and disappointed look in her eyes. "You boys should be ashamed of yourself. You should know better than to engage in personal fights. I'll have to inform your parents about this. After that, tomorrow you will both recieve detention."

"I...I understand, Mrs. Asaira." Eternal said getting up with his head hanging low.

"No, please! Anything but that! My dad is gonna ground me for sure!" the colt said.

"You should've thought of that before you picked a fight with each other. Regardless the situation, you have no excuse to start a fight. Do I make myself clear, boys?" Mrs. Asaira said.

"Yes Mrs. Asaira" Eternal and the colt said.

After school had been dismissed, Eternal was waiting for his father to pick him up. The colt he fought with got a scolding from his dad and of course got grounded for 1 week for starting the fight. 5 minutes went by and Royal Blaze had finally showed up, along with Eternal's brothers Blue Blaze and Heat Wave. Mrs. Asaira had explained the details of what happened at the playground. When she finished explaining, Royal Blaze turned to Eternal with a stern look on his face. Eternal tried to look like he wasn't scared, even though deep inside, he was shaking faster than the rattle on a rattlesnake.

"Alright son, I think it's time we had a talk when we get home." Royal Blaze said

"Yes, dad." Eternal replied

Royal Blaze escorted his three sons back home at the top of Rogue Mountain. The journey to the top was only a 30 minute walk and while they were walking home, Royal Blaze was still upset at the fact that Eternal almost put a young colt in the hospital while at the same time he was surprised to hear that he had awoken his powers at such an early age. They finally arrived back home and Royal Blaze told his two sons to play a few games while he had a talk with Eternal. Blue Blaze and Heat Wave both went into Blue Blaze's bedroom. Royal Blaze had Eternal sit on the couch in the living room. Eternal did so and Royal Blaze sat next to him.

"Now son, I'm very disappointed in you. You could've seriously hurt that child. This is most unbecoming for you as a prince. In fact I should ground you for a whole 2 weeks. However, to be fair, You did stand up to others when they were being picked on. But there's something else you need to know, Eternal." Royal Blaze said.

"What would that be, dad?" Eternal asked

"Asaira told me how she saw you about to land your last attack and how your hoof ignited on fire. I think it's time we had "The Talk." Royal Blaze said.

"What do you mean "The Talk" dad?" Eternal asked

"Listen carefully son, because this is extremely important...The fire that randomly appeared on your hoof was no accident. You've awoken your hidden Rogue powers. But you must understand that what you do with these powers is up for you to decide. If you choose to use it for your own selfish desires, then it'll become nothing more than brutal violence. But if you choose to use help others, and only when it's absolutely necessary, then even the most dangerous technique you'll possess in the future can be honorable. You must look deep within you and ask yourself this: Do you want to bring pain and suffering to others?" Royal Blaze says.

"No, of course not, dad. Even now, I still regret what I did." Eternal says with a sad look on his face.

"Then you have nothing to fear for your powers. It's not the technique or your powers that harms others, it's the desire of one's heart to do so, my son." Royal Blaze explains.

"I understand. But how do you know about this stuff, dad?" Eternal asks.

"Because I went through the same kind of phase when I was your age. Just like you, I got into fights myself. A lot of fights. Speaking of fights, I've thought about your punishment. But instead of grounding you, you're going to spend one week training with your teacher's husband who happens to be "Panja." After your week is done, you can choose to either quit training with him, or keep going until the day when you're old enough to start your journey." Royal Blaze says.

"Alright dad. I'll take my punishment like a REAL prince." Eternal says standing up with a face of determination, which in turn made his father give a little chuckle.

"That's my boy." Royal Blaze said, patting his son on the back. "Now go get cleaned up, it's almost dinner time. Once dinner is done I want you to do your homework and head straight to bed." Royal Blaze said.

Eternal soon got himself cleaned up and headed for the dinner table where he saw his adopted brother, Shadow Force. They started conversing with each other about what they did today. Shadow got a few laughs when he heard that Eternal had a fight with some other colt who was picking on one of the fillies. Eternal wasn't feeling all too happy about the idea knowing that he almost killed somepony. Eventually his brothers and his dad had arrived to the dinner table and started eating their dinner. After 10 minutes of eating, Eternal went back to his room to do his homework. While he was studying, he made a promise to himself that he would never hurt anypony unless it was an absolute emergency and he also promised himself that he'd learn everything his teacher has to offer. Since then, he had became a dedicated student and a respectable prince.

The day after school ended, Royal Blaze escorted his son to where Panja was, which was west from his school. It took them 7 minutes to reach Panja's place which was a wide open grassy plain and at the corner of his eye was a cave, and coming out of the cave was a white lion and a his white lion cub. Panja immediately saw Royal Blaze and ran towards him giving him a friendly headbutt while Royal Blaze did the same with his old friend.

"Looks like you haven't lost your edge there, ey champ?" Panja said before he chuckled.

"I see you've been keeping yourself in shape. You look just as tough as when I last saw you." Royal Blaze said. "Hey listen, I have a brand new student for you that you might find rather interesting."

"Oh? And who might you be referring to?" Panja asked

Without saying a word, Royal Blaze took a step to the left revealing his son, Eternal Flames who walked up to Panja proudly but without smiling as he felt it would insult him.

"I am Eternal Flames, it's an honor to meet you, Master Panja." Eternal says with a bow.

"There's no need to call me "Master" just yet, kid." Panja says reassuringly. "What's the occasion for wanting to train your son? You do realize that my training methods can be a bit...extreme." he says looking back at Royal Blaze.

Royal Blaze walked up to him and whispered in his ear about what happened yesterday. Immediately, Panja had made up his mind and he grew a stern look on his face. Royal Blaze told Eternal to listen to Panja while Royal Blaze went to pick up his brothers. Eternal nodded.

"Alright young man, listen up. For a whole week, you will refer to me as "Master Panja." I've recieved word from your father that you seem to like fighting a lot. Am I right or wrong?" Panja said circling around the young colt.

"You are right, Master Panja." Eternal said

"SPEAK UP!" Panja shouted almost in a roar.

"YES, MASTER PANJA!" Eternal shouted

"Good. Now since this is the first say, we'll have you start by doing at least 50 push-ups." Panja said. "Now stretch your hinde legs back as far as you can but don't spread them apart. At the same time, get down on the ground and push yourself up. I say this just in case you don't know what push-ups are."

"YES, MASTER PANJA!" Eternal shouts.

Eternal then gets down on the ground and starts pushing himself up and carefully back down. At midway, he's already exhausted but he kept on pushing himself. He didn't care of the difficulties that he was facing. Finally he finished his set of push-ups and stood up with his front hooves shaking from fatigue.

"Not bad on your first try, for a rookie. Now I want you to run over to that boulder there 5 times. After that, we'll start with 50 sit-ups and then after that, you'll have your first spar. Do I make myself clear?" Panja says as he inches a bit close to Eternal's face.

"YES MASTER PANJA!" Eternal shouts. He then dashes towards the boulder which took him 30 seconds to reach, and then back to Panja. As he was repeating this process, his legs start to weaken by the time he was in the middle of his 4th lap. He could feel the pain running throughout his entire body. But even still, he kept pushing himself. After he finished his 5 laps, he fell flat on his back.

"Ah, eager to start your sit-ups, aren't ya? Well then by all mean." Panja said as he placed his front paw on both of Eternal's hinde legs pinning them down. "Now start your 50 sit-ups."

"YES, MASTER PANJA" Eternal said panting.

Eternal started out fast with his first 20 sit-ups, he was already familiar with the sit-ups since he saw his dad do it tons of times. Eternal's pace began to get slower since he used up too much energy from his other exercises.

"What are you doing, come on, FASTER" Panja said

"YES MASTER PANJA!" grunted Eternal

Finally Eternal had finished his 50 sets and collapsed on the ground with no strength left in his arsenal.

"Very well done, young man, now take a 10 minute break while I get you something to eat." Panja said walking towards the cave. Eternal just laid on the ground still exhausted from the excercise. He felt like his body was limp. Then at the corner of his eye, he saw a white lion cub running around the grassy plains, not even braking a sweat. Eternal felt like weak and envious of the young cub. Panja soon returned with a bowl of salad. Eternal saw Panja coming and he was a bit confused, when do lions eat vegetables? Eternal sat up, still shaking while Panja gave him the bowl of salad. "Eat up, young man, you've got 5 minutes left. Eat as much as you can."

"Thank you, Master Panja." says Eternal with a smile. He didn't waste any time and guzzled on his snack. To Panja's surprise, he wasn't sure if Eternal would eat his veggies like how most other fillies and colt didn't want to. But this brought a smile onto Panja knowing that he was training a student who was so dedicated to his training. Eternal then finished up his salad and gave the empty bowl to Panja.

"Maybe next time I'll get you a bigger bowl. But why don't you just rest for the next 2 minutes." Panja says with a smile.

"Ok, Master." Eternal said smiling back

Eternal lied down and rested up for the remainder of his break. However, it didn't feel like it was 2 minutes. It felt like 2 hours. His body began to relax bit by bit until finally he was well rested up and ready to go. Panja had finally returned, this time, with the white lion cub standing right next to him.

"Eternal Flames, meet my son, Leo. He's the same age as you and he's been in combat training for 2 years. He'll be your sparring partner from now on. Oh, and just so you're not lost, sparring means "practice fighting." Panja explains.

"Hi, pleased to meet you." Leo says to Eternal

"Hi, Leo." Eternal replies back

"Ok, now that introductions are out of the way, follow me you two." Panja says.

Panja escorts the boys over to the top of the cave where they'll be sparring after their daily exercise. Panja signals the boys to face each other and they do so. All too quickly, both Leo and Eternal looked at each other with not smiles, but determined angry faces.

"Alright, boys. Prepare yourselves. But first, Leo, go easy on him, he just recently joined." Panja says to his son.

"Got it dad." Leo replies, never braking eye contact with Eternal.

"Alright.....BEGIN!" Panja shouts

Without a seconds thought, Eternal charges straight forward while Leo just stood there not moving a muscle. As soon as Eternal lunged himself at Leo, the young cub stepped to the side at the last minute without even flinching, causing Eternal to land face first on the floor. But he got back up and turned towards Leo, charging straight at him and started throwing punches and kicks. Leo on the other hand kept dodging each and every attack until Eternal landed a lucky shot in his face. Leo almost loses his balance but keeps standing. Leo then becomes frustrated and attacks Eternal without warning. The two boy battle it out with Leo dominating over the young colt. But Leo made sure not to use his claws on Eternal. Realizing it was getting out of hoof, Panja stepped in.

"HEY, HEY! Break it up you two. This is a sparring match, not an all-out battle royale." Panja exclaims, pushing the boys apart from each other while they continue panting. Finally, Leo calmed down.

"Sorry, dad. He just got a lucky hit, and I lost control of myself, that's all." Leo explains

"Alright. Ok, since this is the first day, I think we should call it a day. Today was light but tomorrows another story." Panja says to Eternal who was finally calmed down.

"Hey, Panja! I'm back." Royal Blaze shouts from the bottom near the cave entrance. Panja grabs Eternal and places him on his back and walked towards the edge and jumped down on each rock one by one until he reached the bottom.

"Very well then. I have your son here with me. He's got plenty of heart. I'll be looking forward to seeing him tomorrow after he gets off of school, my friend." Panja says.

"Thank you, Panja. Come on Eternal, let's go. It's dinnertime. Your brothers are waiting." Royal Blaze says to Eternal as he jumps off of the big white lion's back.

"Okay dad." Eternal says.

--

Back in the present day

"Since then, I've been training with Master Panja, even though my punishment ended at the end of the week. I was so fixated on beating Leo and probably surpassing Master Panja. Although, I never did have the chance to do either. But hey, I can't win 'em all." Eternal explains to Princess Celestia.

"That's quite an interesting story. You know, you've made me and your father so proud of you. The fact that you dedicated you life to learning everything in school and wanted to keep training makes me feel happy." Celestia says with a warm smile.

"Thanks, mom. It means a lot to me knowning that I've made you happy." Eternal says hugging his mom.

"You're welcome my son." Celestia says hugging him back. "Well I have to get back to Canterlot, I've got a lot of work to do. I'll stop by next week for another one of your stories." She then lets go and walks out the door and flies off to Canterlot.

"Heh, ok mom." Eternal says before closing the door.