Sparking a Fyre

The fire is lacking in it's once great might, reduced to a mere pile of coals from exposure to an unexpected storm.Sparking a Fyre[Chapter Five: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

Golden Fyre awoke.  He awoke to a peculiar feeling, as if he was floating on clouds.  He heard slurred voices, and without even attempting to open his eyes, he cleared his foggy head to try and listen in on what ponies around him were saying, trying to drown out the odd sounds.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

"I'm really worried about him, he nearly gave his life to save all of us, and he has suffered dearly, I am not sure if he could handle the mental burden of that, especially on top of his injuries." A concerned yet melodic voice spoke, leading him to believe Princess Cadence was in the same room.  His magic felt dulled, and he had what he thought to be a bandage around his head.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

"Captain Fyre is a strong individual, am I certain with your support he will be fine, and the same for Shining Armor, with a loving wife, I'm positive he'll make a quick recovery." A gentle, motherly voice said, who's owner Fyre guessed to be that of Princess Celestia's.  "As for his eye, I already sent a request to Twilight in Ponyville, asking her to come help him with some magic lessons, to help him cope." Celestia finished.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

"I wish that beeping would go away..." Fyre thought, slowly willing his body to open his eyes, or rather, his eye.  "The hay is going on?" He wondered, suddenly concerned. "Why can't I see?" Were the first words that came out of his mouth, startling both Celestia and Cadence, who both quickly came up to his bedside.

Cadence was shocked into silence, but Celestia quickly recovered and started to tell him what happened.  "You are a very brave stallion indeed, Captain Fyre, you performed above and beyond the call of duty, and your final stand gave Princess Luna and myself time to cast a spell to placate all the attacking ponies, but sadly, your selfless actions resulted in rather cruel consequences, I'm afraid to tell you, Captain Fyre, but we couldn't save your eye, once the pie made contact with your horn it was too late, and the sugar burned through all of your right eye, thankfully your left eye was mostly spared, but you'll be scarred for life across the majority of your face, there was nothing we could do." She told him, a sad undertone in her voice.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

"Blind in one eye and permanent disfigurement?  I guess I can deal with that, especially being a Unicorn, there's probably thousands of ways around being partially blind." He thought to himself, before asking a question that had started to nag him.   "When you two were talking, you mentioned something else, another burden?" Fyre asked.

This time, it was Princess Cadence's turn to speak.  "Oh, yes, it's about Quick Sylver..." Her voice trailed off and she gulped, not helping Fyre's odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.  "She said she couldn't handle...loving...somepony who was violent and unforgiving, she said the way you fought scared her and...and...she said she doesn't want to be around you anymore." Cadence finished, hanging her head low.

Fyre let out a small whimper as his head slowly wrapped around what he had heard.  By trying to prevent any harm coming to her, he had scared her away, and now, he was truly alone in life.  Nopony left to love.  Sure, he had the Princesses, but he couldn't love them, not the way he did Sylver.  And Sylver was gone.  At least from his life, she most likely wouldn't quit her job at the castle, but he doubted they would ever speak again.  He looked up at Celestia and Cadence, who were both offering sympathetic smiles.  He broke down, the tears started to silently roll down his face, matting his coat down.  Cadence came up to him and gave him a caring hug, as a good friend would, and he let his tears keep doing, getting her coat and regalia wet with the salty dribbles.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

Weeks later, Golden Fyre was walking towards the courtyard to meet up with Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, for some magic lessons.  He would have preferred not too, but the princess had resorted to making it an order.  During the weeks of his recovery in the hospital, he re-designed his mechanical wings, although they couldn't make him fly or glide for a decent distance, they were filed razor-sharp, and had become lethal weapons. He had taken the time to make a new helmet for himself, too, so he wouldn't have to wear an eyepatch while on duty.  Now, he walked down the halls of Canterlot Castle, sporting his new set of armor, the mechanical wings were neatly folded into a small bundle on his back, and his helmet now had a decortive piece of gold  formed onto where his right eye would have been, the carefully formed gold took on the shape of a flame, and perfectly fit the shape of what used to be his eye.  Princess Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor, and even Princess Luna had payed him a visit once or twice, to try and cheer him up.  Sergeant Payne, the rookies, even the Lunar Guard Captain and a few other guards stopped by to bring his spirits up.  Some lent a shoulder to cry on, and others wanted to hear stories of what he did, several got a kick out of what he did to Blueblood, no pun intended. He pushed open a grand set of doors and walked out into the courtyard, looking for his new 'teacher' so he could get the lessons over with.  He spotted a lavender unicorn mare reading a book under a tree, and he trotted over to her.

"Excuse me miss, but I am looking for somepony named Twilight Sparkle, do you think you may have seen her nearby?" He asked the mare, who had looked up upon hearing him.

"You're looking at her!" She said with a happy grin, trying to infuse some humor into the situation  "I assume you're Captain Fyre,  Princess Celestia informed me of your situation, and I'm sure you'll want to get started soon, you probably have guard duties to attend to."  And with that, they started into what turned out to be a full days lesson on magical awareness, or so she explained.  According to Twilight, he could cast this passive spell and it would allow him to 'see' what was around him, although not in full detail, it allowed him full view of what was going on around him, and even to 'see' beyond thinner walls and doorways.  Anypony with a basic level of magic could keep the spell going all day with little ill effect.

Dusk had settled by the time the lesson was over, and Cadence had asked him to join herself and Shining Armor for dinner, just the three of them.  Quick Sylver took the night off, to visit some friends, and the other Princesses were dealing with various Prisoners from the conflict.  He stopped outside an un-suspecting doorway and decided to put his new magic to the test, and he looked into the room, only to see Cadence and Shining Armor in a deep kiss.  Blushing, he slowly pushed open the door and walked in, and they instantly separated.

"Captain, I'm glad you could join us, we have a matter we would like to discuss with you, about Cadence's Guard." Shining Armor stated, gesturing to a seat.  He waited until Fyre was situated and had his order placed to continue.  "Although you have performed exceptionally, Captain, we have realized that one pony is not enough for Cadence and myself, and we have a list of hoof picked guard ponies we would like you to review, and hopefully, approve for a new full squad of guards, which shall be dubbed the Silver Guard, in honor of your armor design."

"I agree, safety in numbers, right?" Fyre said, trying to lighten the situation, but even to him his words sounded hollow.  He looked down as his food arrived and he forced himself to eat like a civilized pony.  To his relief, Cadence and Shining Armor smiled and dug in like two starved dogs.  Once they finished eating, all laughing lightly from each others absurd mess they left on the plates, Shining Armor produced a list of ponies and handed them off to Fyre, who took it and read over it.

Staff Sergeant David - Brown Pegasus Pony - Solar Guard

Private First Class Charming Crescent - White Pegasus Pony - Solar Guard

Private First Class Golden Charger - Pale Green Earth Pony - Solar Guard

Private Starlight Shimmer - Dark Pink Unicorn Pony - Solar Guard (Female)

Corporal Lonley Flower - Grey Unicorn Pony - Lunar Guard

Captain Wayward Spirit - White Earth Pony - Solar Guard

"Well, I trust your judgement, send them a notice, but don't force them, if they don't want to come they don't have too, I want them to be happy about being transferred." Said Captain Fyre, who was reading over each guard's record, which had appeared on the table.

"Well, Captain Fyre, you are going to go down in the books, and you're going to lead the Silver Guard to greatness, and I'll admit, you got dragged into this situation, and didn't have too much of a choice, we'll both talk to Sylver, we can tell you still love her, and she still loves you, but she was traumatized by what you did to those attacking ponies, you did your duty, and did it well, and we cannot hold you against that, but all is fair in love and war, as you have painfully discovered, but consider it a personal debt I have to you, you saved my life, and now I shall save your love." Cadence told him, her eyes deep and caring, staring deep into the recesses of his mind.

Shining Armor spoke up.  "Captain, I'll have these new guards too you by morning, and you may train them as you wish, but for now, please get some rest, first impressions always matter."

"Yes sir." Fyre sighed.  Captain Golden Fyre, of the newly established Silver Guard, stood up from the table and slowly walked to the door.  Hanging his head, he allowed a single tear the grace the floor, before he headed off to a fitful sleep.

Wow!  I would like to thank everypony for a great reaction to this story, and I'm glad it did so well, for being one of my first stories.  I'll admit, not the best ending, but fear not!  Captain Fyre shall be back, and he lives on in J8ck78's In the Royal Guard story-line, towards the end, and might get a mention in his next story, Scrapper.  My next story will have mention of Captain Fyre and the Silver Guard in it as well, and I look forward to y'alls reactions to it!  Again, thanks for the support, and credit of the guard names goes to J8ck78 and his stories.