Soul Fire

Standing on the watchtower overlooking the valley below, Luna's Captain could see the faint lights of Ponyville to the far southeast, the rough edges of Rambling Rock Ridge to the south, and the forest to north of Baltimare in the southwest. Looking at the small nameless valley before him, he could see the cliff that Amber liked to perch upon. Amber had made her home in the large weeping willow tree, that like her, enjoyed the view. He liked how he could keep an eye on her from his post, but hated when she had to leave to assist a spirit. He knew her strength, but wished that she wouldn't go off into harms way by herself. That kind heart of hers was going to kill her one day, and that worried him. He had to admit, she still made him nervous from time to time.

He chuckled, thinking of what a shy, but playful little silly filly she was. He always had to remind himself that she wasn't the filly he saved when he was a young stallion anymore, and that he needed to be cautious. He needed to stay focused and not let himself get distracted. His first priority was to defend Equestria one hundred percent, and he couldn't do that if he let himself get distracted. He knew that she wasn't intentionally doing it, and that it wasn't her fault. Thinking of her made him melt a little and worry a lot. She was too sweet to him. Always wanting to protect him or help in anyway she could, and he knew that she understood his burden and that it was his alone to bear, but even knowing and understanding that, she still was always there.

To be honest, he felt that she tried to help him too much. In the past and even now, she had helped him open his eyes and grow a bit in a way. Sly she was, he smiled. He never let her help him outright, but just inadvertently he realized that she was, and he could she that helping him made her happy but that it was hard on her. He could see the times that she smiled sadly, not ever in pity, but in disappointment when she couldn’t help, and at the times that she wished he would open up to her. Her face was so easy to read, especially in her hazel green eyes. She was an honest young mare, the only times when she wasn't being honest was when she was quiet. That way she never lied. She just never said anything.

"Captain!" one of Princess Luna's guards spoke as he flew just a few feet off from the watchtower before the Captain. "We have news that a group of obake and oni are gathering in the Everfree Forest."

"How many?" the Captain asked with calm focused authority.

"About a dozen."

"Prepare nine stallions to take them out. I'll lead the party. We must stop whatever they are planning before they harm somepony."

"Yes sir!" the guard said as he flew off hastily. The captain looked over the valley one last time to see if there was anything else requiring his attention. Noticing that she had returned from her last venture unharmed eased him. He felt cold on the inside thinking of how he distanced himself from her in a way, thinking to how many have called him a cold bastard, but at the same time he felt that he was doing it for both his and especially her protection. Knowing she was safely back, he felt that he could focus, looking within himself, he changed into his battle form, exchanging his wingless equine body and dark blue coat in a second of bright white light for his tri-winged white-coated equine body. Taking off into the night sky, the captain remembered the conference he had with Luna after the attack.

"We can't just sit here and let these attacks keep happening. Now it’s not just the spirit realm that is being attacked now, it's living ponies," The Captain spoke, trying not to sound disrespectful toward the Princess.

"Amber is hypersensitive to the spirit realm and the emotional atmosphere around her so she was an easier target because she's an open channel. She is spiritually protected by the mystic blue flame inside her, and she’ll mend physically just fine. We need to know our enemy first my dear Captain. We can't just rush in blindly. We know not nearly enough about these creatures," Luna spoke calmly. She seemed to be able to look straight into his soul. Luna took him in many years ago, so she knew him well and was almost like a mother to him. "We know what these creatures are, but we know not how to deflect them."

"Why bother looking for a way to deflect them? If they harm another pony then should that not be worthy of death?"

"Give and take my young Captain. Without balance between good and evil then life would not able to exist."

"You always say that, and I still can't see why."

"Look into the mirrored pool in the middle of the room," Luna spoke. It was just a few hours past midnight so the Captain could still see the reflection of the moon in the still water as she moved to the west. Luna stood and came down to the pool, placing her glowing horn into the still water creating a ripple. When the ripples vanished, the captain could see the ocean. The beach so white was in glow of the moonlight as the dark waters invaded its territory.

"I still don't understand Luna," replied the Captain. Luna didn't speak, only opened her wings and sent a big rush of air over the waters. When the images became clear, the Captain looked down upon the image of a deer running through the Everfree Forest. The young buck was running from something, a timber wolf. The Captain tensed wanting to do something about it, but he couldn't, because he wasn't really there. The young buck faltered and tripped only to be killed by the wooden jaws of the timber wolf, which had preyed upon him.

"Why? Why show me this?" the Captain asked, anger singing the edge of his voice when he wasn't able to do anything for the young buck.

"Life must be kept in balance. The ocean gives and takes, pushes and pulls the land it surrounds with the waves that give it motion and life. Too much of a good thing is just as bad as too much of a bad thing. The deer never did anything to the timber-wolf, but if the herd grows too big, the deer would eat all of the foliage and starve to death. The timber-wolf also has to live too, and be able to provide for his pups. If everything was perfect and there was nothing but happiness, then no one would know what happiness was if they didn't know what sadness was. There is no happiness without an equal amount of pain to balance things out. Sometimes evil must be allowed to exist. Ponies wouldn't find passion in anything if life were so boring and meaningless without this balance. Also as a leader, we need to learn how to forgive, and how to take the bad with the good, and not just the good."

The Captain was silent, feeling a lot like a young foal.

"She makes you nervous too. Doesn't she?" Luna spoke.

"So we want to be passive for a while and wait till we find our enemies weakness. Then we can remove them from Equestria for good."

"Captain," Luna spoke as the Captain’s head whipped to her face. "You need to learn to give in, which is why I'm placing you two as partners. You are the best blade here. In two weeks time, Amber should have learned how to harness her ability enough so she can begin to learn how to fight with it. You will be her trainer, and if you wish never to speak to her again after she is fully trained, then you are welcome to it, but you will train her. Dismissed."

Amber looked up to the mountains behind her, where she could see the Captain fly out of the shield that camouflaged Princess Luna's hidden palace. She sighed and she looked ahead to the meadow below her, lying down on the grass close to the edge of the cliff. Closing her eyes she began to meditate; she was so stressed that she had not had the time to calm herself and think like this in weeks. Feeling through her own energy, she realized that things were tangled up again, as it commonly was if she only meditated once a month. She did note that the tangle was less and less each month through, which she was happier with.

It seemed that every time she learned to accept something… that a new thing would pop up. As was the usual in life, she always had to work to maintain balance, always had to be strong and protect herself. Sometimes certain problems would come back, not because she reverted back into her old self, but because her memories pained her. It sucked. One second she would be happy the next, sad and scared. Those flashbacks were a bitch, but she was only a pony. Anypony who had been through all that she had would understand. She was happy that it took her less and less time to recover from those hi-how-are-you-now-I'm-going-to-screw-with-your-head’s, but that didn't mean it wasn't draining.

Each day of fighting made her feel less capable of breathing. She remembered her days as a filly when she used to numb herself out. Block everything so that she couldn't feel. No pain or sorrow, but also no happiness or joy. She still believed that living like that wasn't living. Living like that was surviving and nothing else. She decided that if she wanted to be happy then she had to accept the pain that came with it. This realization made her capable to grow, despite all that she'd been through, and this epiphany is something she reminded herself all the time. It was always the thing that helped her recover from her frequent attacks.

Though she knew that doing what she did... I mean... She was always a fighter, but that was always more so because she had to be then because she wanted to be. She knew that she had to put up walls when she was younger, because she knew that despite her hard shell and tenacity, she was sensitive. She remembered when she awoke from sleep in Luna's palace after the obake attacked her.

Amber awoke, feeling very sore and groggy, "Wha... What happened? How long was I out?"

"You don't remember?" Asked Luna. "Of course, who would, considering that you were half dead when your power over took your body. You've been asleep for three days."

"Wha… Really? Oh… oh no. Princess Luna, I'm so sorry for..." Luna interrupted by placing a hoof on Amber’s lips.

"It's ok Amber. I understand."

Amber breathed a great breath, looking down in shame and then towards the window, "What attacked me?"

"A obake, also known as a daemon. We know that they are based on ancient texts before Celestia and I came to rule, but we know not their strength or weaknesses. So far, they have been attacking ponies lost in the spirit realm, but now that they've moved on to you, we fear that if they become stronger, they will start attacking the living."

"But they've attacked the living before Luna," exclaimed Amber. "Flora the first spirit that I helped was from a time three hundred years time ago, she was killed by being driven off a cliff by an obake."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then we have a bigger problem than I thought. We don't even know enough about these things, and you and the Captain aren’t ready to fight these things."

"Captain?"

"The Captain was the person who found you."

"He was the one who saved me?"

"I like to think that you saved each other," Luna smiled. "He saved you by stopping the obake from killing you. There in, giving you the time you needed to look inside yourself and find the fire that I knew you had. In turn finding that fire unleashed it and that fire, your fire, saved the two of you. The Captain only finished the deed by bringing you back safely and alive. You lost nearly a quarter of your blood. You were bleeding so much when you came in. We even think that you were terminally dead for a few minutes before your fire kicked in."

"Was I?" she was stunned by the events. She thought of the Captain, not even knowing what he looked like.

"You will meet him in two weeks time. He is going to help you train to fight, though you will continue your lessons on controlling your powers with Nightwish still." Amber could hear the Princess but was still looking out the window with a displaced look on her face.

"Amber."

"Yes Princess?" Amber said as she moved slowly to look at the Princess.

"Do you think that your heart is made of stone?"

"Umm. I don't know." Amber said as she looked down and away uncomfortably as the Princess looked straight through her. "I guess I'm hard when I feel I have to defend myself, and there are times when I wonder if I can even love anypony. I care, but I don't know. That's why I have to slow down and think, to get a handle on my own mixed up wires."

"I want you to be cautious. You’re more delicate than you think you are. Things are changing for you. You'll find that you’re more gentle and kind then you are hard," Luna explained with a sad face. "I know life has been hard for you. And that it seems that everypony does nothing but hurt you, but you can trust ponies. And just because ponies have hurt you, does not mean that they are right to do so or that you are worthless. You’re more special than you think you are. Think about that when you meditate, alright?"

Feeling depressed and uncomfortable at the topic and her emotions, Amber sighed, "I will try, Princess."

Amber looked at herself now and thought of love. She found that she was still a little scared to love, but that her heart longed to be brave even through her fear, and that bravery alone made her capable of taking that risk. Looking at herself now, she realized that she still had to remind herself of her potential and her own self worth sometimes. It seemed that her mind worked like a dog chasing his own tail. She laughed at the thought. Yes, of course, playful like a silly puppy. Always hopping over fences into old memories, comparisons, reality, and fantasy. Turning her thought process into a puzzle that needed to be pieced together and thought upon in order to be understood. A hyperactive puppy that in the moment she looked behind her, she would end up chasing her own tail until the thought process became too fast or chaotic that she would stomp her hoof and say enough. She needed to stop herself when or before she became too paranoid.

Amber internally shrugged. She was only a pony, she reminded herself as she continued. At least she was always moving to continually work on herself. Of course she had to. Once she started helping spirits, she realized that she was more of a healer than a fighter. She only fought because she had to, and that tenacity made her a warrior. Her heart was the thing that made her a healer. So kind to others that many a time she would forget about herself. She had to give herself some credit; it took a great deal of strength to be a warrior with a healer’s heart.

All of a sudden Amber felt like she had been sucker punched in the chest. Gasping with eyes wide open, she struggled for breath. Something was wrong, very wrong. This wasn't just a spirit, or an obake attack. This was worse. Much worse. Amber took flight as fast as she could, heart pounding, head racing; she braced herself for the unknown.