Immolan's fiery, brilliant yellow eyes slowly opened as he awoke from his slumber. His talons were clutched tightly onto the branch of the tree he roosted in and fell asleep on during the night, and so he slacked his grip on it slightly as he prepared to move himself with a yawn that came from the thick beak that was his mouth. He was a large phoenix; a species of mystical bird famed for their natures of long life, rebirth, renewal, and association with flames, and he was of no exception. A small, sleek crest of feathers grew from the back of his head like a few scant embers escaping a fire, and his body itself was of a vivid mixture of bright colors that could match a conflagration. A long plume of feathers trailed from his tail, and hung far below the perch.
Immolan was now fully active as the rays of the morning sun showed through the series of branches and leaves covering him almost fully, but not completely from sight. He started to open his long wings to their full, magnificent span with a murmured cooing noise, stretching them out and preparing them for the day. The reasons for why he chose to sleep at this random tree and not at the nest he called home was because of what occurred last night.
A terrible thunderstorm from the night before was a tempest the likes of which he hadn't borne witness to since he could remember, and being a phoenix, he had been around on this planet for quite some time, and accrued much wisdom for it. What he remembered seeing through the dense, near-blinding rain and violent wind was what he could only describe as long flashes of blazing orange and red lightning on the horizon that led to the great mountain overlooking this valley, Mount Maryushka, and the deafening, crackling boom of thunder. Eventually he became far too buffeted by the gale to stay where he rested, and he left the nest he had to seek out better shelter in thicker, far more covered treetops.
His wings stretched out and ready to fly, Immolan took off from the branch where he sat. He soared up into the sky to get a better view of the heavily forested land; its trees all damp and their green leaves glistening from the remaining wetness still lingering on them. Contrary to the storm of the night prior to this day, the sky was cloudless and as blue as an ocean, leaving the sun to shine as brightly as it could. A light summer breeze was all that graced Immolan's feathers, and it was a pleasurable sensation. Though going by a few minutes just to savor the weather as it was, he arrived at his destination soon enough.
To Immolan's relief, the nest had survived the night, but looked quite battered. It didn't surprise him too much, for it was a large nest of a firm and sturdy making, built with sticks, leaves, grass and vines. It even had some of its edges set and crowned with pieces of shining golden trinkets and other metals the phoenix had dug up and collected from the various ruins that littered the edges of the valley like breadcrumbs on a plate. Since making his home here, he would often travel to them to look for anything new and pretty to use. It was all for decoration of course, and possibly a way to attract a potential mate, but Immolan had never seen any of his kind for a great many years now.
Not that the fact troubled him. He had long ago decided to settle down in this peaceful stretch of land, and didn't mind the loneliness too much. And, if he ever did desire companionship, he just had to visit an old friend of his who lived a ways away from his territory.
After drifting to the ground to collect all that had fallen and been torn from the nest by the wind last night, which to say was a few big sticks he could easily replace or repair back to where they belonged, and a gilded locket-or-two, Immolan flew back up with the pieces in his talons and began to fix his nest. Content with his work after he finished rebuilding, adjusting, and double-checking a short time later, he decided to go find himself some breakfast.
Letting out a crooning call, he glided through the air like a flying mass of living fire on his way to his current destination. Below Mount Maryushka, on the middle part of its slope were many bushes that had the absolute finest berries he had ever tasted. Most mornings he would venture there to eat them. However, after a few dozen minutes of flight and just before the great bird could get to that part of the mountain, a bright glimmer of some kind caught from the corner of his eyes. He immediately looked down to it as it attracted his attention, and a peculiar shape came into his view, sitting in a crumpled fashion within the baseline of the forest coming just before the bare mountain's slope.
Deciding to lower his altitude, he realized that what he was looking at now appeared to be a pony. A pegasus, if he was not mistaken, due to the pair of wings it had sticking from its back. The creature, upon a more thorough examination as he grew closer to it, had red fur over its body and a long mane of a similar color, with a series of orange and pink streaks running through it as well. Covering its body, but not its head, was golden armor. The armor, which seemed a little dented, was what reflected the sunlight and earned his notice.
Deciding to investigate, and having completely lost interest in getting something to eat in that instant, Immolan dropped to the ground to look over this creature.
Solar Flare awoke from whatever darkness had claimed her with a pained moan. Placing her front hooves to the partially damp dirt and stone that made up the ground in front of her, she tried to lift herself up, but a pain in her back legs kept her down. It was not only her hind limbs that continuously hurt, but one of her feathered wings as well. The second she tried to move it, a jolt of agony pulsed through her, telling her right off that it was either broken or sprained. Most likely the former.
Able to hold her bruised and aching head up a little, but only seeing the brown, bark-laden trunks of trees all around her, she struggled to make sense of what was currently going on with her. Where am I? she thought to herself with another groan. What happened? How in Celestia did I get here? Solar tried as hard as she could to remember what went on that led her to awakening in what appeared to be a thick forest, but she came up with nothing. Grunting, she turned herself to the side of her unbroken left wing, in an effort to look at the sky above for any sign of hope.
The moment she finished, she turned her golden-colored eyes upward. It was only then that she realized a silhouette of some kind was looming above her, apparently standing by her side the whole time with silence to rival a ghost's. Her eyes widened, and she only just kept herself from yelping in surprise. Adjusting to the light, she then recognized the shape was that of a bird's, and the kind of bird was none other than the undeniably brilliantly-colored form of a phoenix.
Still clearly remembering the years she spent serving the regal alicorn, Celestia, she had seen the princess' pet phoenix, Philomena, occasionally leave the castle and circle around Canterlot on its own free will. Phoenixes were highly intelligent and large birds, and from what she had heard they possessed fantastic strength, among other powers, but that was all she knew about them. Solar Flare lowered her guard, but only slightly, still eyeing the creature with her startled and tetchy look.
"What do you want, phoenix?" she eventually chose to ask in an ill-tempered voice as her mind became a little more aware and awake. Mostly because he couldn't reply, the phoenix quietly tilted his head to the left, as if curious to what he was seeing. Solar Flare's ears splayed back, her brow furrowed, and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding until then.
"Well?" she mumbled. "Are you here to eat me, or just stand around and watch me flail about?"
The 'eating' part of her question was clearly delivered with sarcasm, but to it, the bird let out a tittering noise that Solar Flare detected was very reminiscent of amused laughter. She was thoroughly confused at what the being was here for this point, and kept her focus trained on him in case he tried anything. "You can understand me?" she asked next. He nodded, before fluffing his wings and fixing them into a better position over his back.
Lifting the first of his two long, thin legs, he slowly strutted to her front, then to the side her back was currently facing. Placing his beak onto her shoulder armor, he pulled on it and began to try and take it off. Solar Flare quickly tugged her shoulder back as he was about to undo a strap holding it down, halting his progress
"What are you doing?" she growled at him. The phoenix stopped what he was attempting and lowered a brow. Visibly rolling his yellow eyes, he walked back to her front and put a single one of his talons into the moist soil sitting there, starting to scrape something. After a few seconds, Solar saw he was writing a set of words into the dirt.
I cannot carry you anywhere with the armor was what had been written. His claw began scraping at the ground again, continuing what he had to say. I can carry a lot, but not- He stopped for a second, pondering what to finish with before doing just that. But not too much of a lot.
Solar Flare hummed in realization of his actions. "You're trying to help me?" she asked, turning her head up to his face. The phoenix nodded twice, and a smile came across his big beak, prompting Solar Flare to ask another question. "Where in Equestria would you take me? Is there a city near here? A hospital?"
The phoenix knew there were no cities for many hundreds of miles around, and taking a second to understand what a hospital must have been, the phoenix sadly shook his head. Brushing away and patting down the words he had placed down, he added two more. My nest.
"Why?" asked the mare.
It is safe and you can heal the phoenix responded back. Solar Flare opened her mouth to say something, but she had nothing to speak of, and so let her mouth close. Seeing her speechlessness, the phoenix wrote something else. My name is Immolan he noted in the dirt, smiling as he did so.
"I'm... Solar Flare," the pegasus chose to admit. "I serve the Royal Sisters, Celestia and Luna, but I seem to have lost my memory as to how I got... here. Are you... sure I can recover in what you call your 'nest'?"
He nodded once, sureness fully behind the movement. Solar tried to move herself again, but with the pain that continued to keep her glued onto the earth's floor from her hurt hind limbs, there seemed to be no choice in the matter for her. "Fine," she grumbled, rolling back onto her chest and relaxing her muscles. "You can take my armor off and bring me to your... 'nest'."
With what seemed like gladness, Immolan set to do that. Once more stepping to her side, he used his beak to undo the straps that held the well-made armor she was clad in together, and started to pull and peel the pieces off, bit by bit. When the last part of the golden gear was on the ground, all that remained was the red fur on Solar Flare's back.
With that done, the bird walked back in front of her face. Planting his long legs before her, he made one last smirk at the pony and turned his head forward, motioning for her to grab onto them. A light breeze blew past the two, blowing around Immolan's long tail feathers like a flag as Solar understood what he wanted her to do now.
Sighing, as she had no other options to turn to, Solar Flare took a firm hold of the phoenix's legs with her two front hooves. After seeing that she was set, complete with a testing pull to make sure she had a good grip, Immolan extended his wings to their widest span, fully revealing their vibrant majesty to the pony. He flapped them once, and with it, he and the pony took off straight up into the air like a bolt of lightning.
Clinging onto him for dear life, Solar was in practical awe of how easily he was able to pull her around. She might as well have been a pebble in his talons, for he didn't seem hampered by having her grabbing onto him in the slightest. He looked so very lively, gentle, and graceful as he flew freely about, and they continued on their way, unhindered utterly, to the place he called his abode.
