My Name is Burning Flame

After this attack my whole life was different. I had been moved to an orphanage, Ponyville orphanage to be exact. I had a room there, with a bunk bed and a window. Whimsical came to visit me, she kept telling me how amazing I was. That made me feel good, but at night, I felt terrible. I almost always cried myself to sleep, thinking about how my mother used to tuck me in and sing to me every night. And how my dad used to give me advice before school. But after about a month or so of this full-on mourning, I heard a small voice in the back of my head. It was a piece of my father's advice. Once, when I had a D- on one of my quizzes, and I felt really discouraged, my dad told me, 'Son, you gotta keep moving, no matter what happens. Because if you have a positive attitude and a smile on your face, things'll get better.' As I heard this voice saying these words, I was encouraged. I knew that my parents wanted me to be happy, so I thought I would be. And it wasn't fake happiness, either. Knowing that my parents were looking out for me from wherever their spirits were, made me happy.

Then, one day, I heard a commotion. I heard the owners talking and walking in and out of the room across from me, so I went out of my room to see what was. By the time I was out there, I saw one of the owners holding a young filly. She had orange fur and a purple mane. She was asleep, and looked to be only a few months old. I smiled at her, since as soon as I saw her, I felt a flush in my heart, a connection. Nothing romantic, yet something platonic. I walked over to the owner and asked,

"Who's this?"

"Well, on the note that she was left with-"

"Wait, she was just left here?"

"Yes, that's how many of our foals in this house ended up here." She frowned, then continued, "On the card that her parents left in the basket she showed up in said her name is Scootaloo. We're moving her into this room, though I don't know how we're going to take care of her. We have enough fillies and foals in this house already, and we have to take care of the other younger fillies already-"

"I'll do it!"

"What?"

"I'll take care of her!"

She smiled at me, then said, "You're a responsible foal, Burning Flame. I think I can allow you to look over Scootaloo here for a little while."

So, the next day, I walked into Scootaloo's room as soon as I woke up. She awoke as soon as I opened the door, and she cooed. I walked over to her and looked at her.

"Hello, Scootaloo, I'm Burning Flame"

"Bwuub wub."

"No, Burning Flame."

"bwaning fwame?"

"Yeah, close enough. So, you're a pegasus, huh? Well that's pretty cool, I can teach you how to fly when you get older."

"fwububub?"

"Yeah, I'll teach you to fwububub. Y'know, you're a cute little kid."

"daddy?"

"Me? Well, I..." I smiled, "Yeah, sure kid."

I then heard the bell that signaled breakfast, so I turned towards the door, about to leave. But I looked over my shoulder before I left, and said, "Bye, kiddo!" than ran off, shutting the door behind me.

Later that day, I walked back into her room, deciding this kid was lonely. I walked over and sat next to her crib.

"How ya doin' kiddo?"

She cooed.

I laughed, and then heard her making more noises. Not crying, exactly, more whining. My brow furrowed, then I looked into her crib. Her hooves were extended, and she looked distressed.

"You okay, kid?"

"picky yuppy!"

I smiled, "Ha, alright, I'll pick you up." But just as I was about to do so, I got an idea; my dad used to pick me up, then throw me into the air, then catch me. I smiled than picked up Scootaloo.

"You wanna fly, kiddo?"

"Fwububub! Fwububub!"

I laughed than threw her up into the air, her laughing wildly, and then caught her on my back.

"Wanna do that again?"

"Fwububub!"

So, we kept doing this, and Scootaloo was loving it! She was laughing, and cooing, the lot, until she started yawning.

"Huh, yeah, I'm tired too, kid. How about we hit the hay?"

She nodded in response, then fell over and started snoring. I laughed, then hugged Scootaloo tight to my chest, and fell asleep as well.

A few days later, I got a note from Whimsical saying she wanted to meet me, like we usually did, just at a different time since she had something to related to school. So, I went to our usual meeting spot, and waited. I waited, and I waited, and I waited, but she didn't show up. After a while of this constant waiting, I heard a voice.

"You look lonely."

I turned around. Standing there was a gray pegasus with a yellow mane. Her eyes were crossed, but as soon as I looked into them (as best as I could, back then) my heart started beating, my face flushed, and my ears flattened.

"Oh, no,I-I'm just waiting for a friend."

"Well, your friend's not here yet, I see, so I'll keep you company."

"Oh, T-thank you."

She smiled, then sat next to me.

"My name's Derpy Hooves."

"I'm Burning Flame." I smiled at her. Although I had been a little nervous at the first meeting of her I was nervous, I started to feel very comfortable talking to her. After a few minuets of looking around, I noticed that Derpy Hooves had a saddlebag, filled with newspapers. I remembered how back at my old house, we used to get newspapers every Sunday. I hadn't realized that a pony had dropped those off, at the time. Or at least I hadn't thought about it.

"So, uh, you carry mail?"

'"Yeah. It's actually really fun, and you start to get to know the people of the town."

"Sounds pretty cool. Are the hours good?"

"Yeah. I'm actually about to get off, surprisingly. Although, I usually have tons of papers left over. Usually because my eyes are so messed up..."

I smiled sympathetically, and replied, "I don't think your eyes are messed up at all!"

"You're just saying that. Of course my eyes are messed up, no matter how much I want them not to be."

"Hey, it's what makes you special!"

She smiled at me, and I blushed a little, then heard a laugh from behind me. I frowned, knowing exactly who had emitted that laugh.

'Whimsical,' I thought, 'I'm gonna kill you!'

After that, Derpy and I hung out a lot. We would take walks together after she was done with her paper route, usually, but occasionally we would do things on weekends, like flying around or talking in the park. We became fast friends, but I always wished we were more, for some reason. When I consulted Scootaloo about this, she said,

"Daddy is in wove!"

"Love? I mean maybe... She is really pretty, and has beautiful eyes, and is really nice to me and- Oh, you're right, I am in love!"

Scotaloo had apparently not been listening to me, and replied with, "Picky yuppy!"

A little while later, there was a commotion around town. As I had been walking around one day, I saw many ponies running around, making sure the town looked... Presentable, I guess. But after hearing a conversation, I understood what was going on.

"When does she arrive?" One pony asked.

"Tomorrow morning," The other replied.

"Do you think we'll be ready?"

"You know how gracious Princess Celestia is! She'll think our town is amazing in no time!"

"Yeah, but..."

I didn't hear the rest, but after hearing her name made me realize; Princess Celestia was coming to visit Ponyville. I didn't really know how to feel; I had never really heard much about the princess. All I knew was that she raised and lowered the sun every dad, and she ruled Equestria. I guess I was excited, but not terribly. The day she arrived, everypony gathered in town to welcome her. She said a few words about how nice the town looked and how gracious everypony was being, but I hadn't really been listening, because I had been focused on her guards. They looked so regal, awesome and cool. I thought they were the best part of the entire scene. And as soon as I saw them, I felt this felling, as though I had a connection with these guards. After much consideration of this feeling, I realized something; I was meant to be a guard. My cutie mark was even a shield! I started research immediately. I asked everypony I knew if they knew anything about the royal guard, but only one pony was able to help me; an old stallion, who claimed that he used to be a guard. He told me that once I was 13 years old, I could join the Royal Guard, and begin training. After training, I would get deported somewhere, and would have the right to be deported as many times as needed, unless the captain of the royal guard says that you are to stay in one area permanently. I was excited to hear the information, and shared it immediately with everypony I knew. Whimsical was overly excited for me.

"Oh my gosh, you're gonna be the best guard there is!"

Scootaloo was... Well, happy, I guess.

"Daddy is woyaw gawd!"

Derpy was excited for me too.

"Burning Flame, that's amazing!"

And of course, when she said that, my heart raced. The night after I had told everybody, before I went to sleep, I thought about my father. I wondered weather he would be proud of me right now. I thought he would, I thought he'd say, 'Son, go knock 'em off their hooves.'