Secrets

Chapter 10: To Find a Cutie Mark

Who could that be? Ignoring the question, Wildfire got up to the door. Using his magic, he heard four distinct heartbeats. Assuming Rarity's still passed out I'll take it we have three guests. Opening the door, the two were confronted with the three fillies again. They seemed unconcerned about Rarity's condition, to say the least. Sweetie Belle elbowed Scootaloo, who cleared her throat.

"Uh, listen, Wildfire? We thought about it and we really feel bad about making you feel unwelcome. We were just wondering if, you might wanna, hang with us?"

Wildfire had to keep himself from laughing, instead he pictured an eldritch abomination. Almost instantly the urge to laugh dissapeared. Looking over to the fillies, they seemed to be sincere.

"I appreciate the gesture but you didn't have to come all the way over here."

"We're cool though right?"

"Yeah, no hard feelings." The three girls gained a smile that reached the sides of their head. "So, what is it that you do?" As if on cue, they whipped out capes and took a deep breath. Wildfire drew back his ears in anticipation, fearing the worst.

"We are, THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" Wildfire swore he could see the windows vibrate. Snow shoved her head under the bed.

"And that means that you do, what?" Wildfire shook his head to try to clear the ringing from his ears.

"We try to find our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"Yeah, but we tried just 'bout everything."

"But enough of that. Do you know what your special skills are?" Noticing that he was being talked to, Wildfire raked his brain for the necessary information.

"Well, apart from being a marksman, weapons specialist, martial arts expert. Acrobat, Mage, survival expert. No I don't have any special skills."

"Modesty, don't forget modesty." Scootaloo commented. Wildfire smiled, he was going to have fun for once.

"But seriously. I never had the time to do something 'different'."

*********

"I have to get into that?"

"Unless if ya want to run everywhere, I suggest ya get on." Taking Applebloom's advice, Wildfire sat awkwardly in a small red wagon. Taking his place by the two other fillies, he was handed a spare helmet. Obediently trading the hat for the helmet, he wasn't sure why they needed a helmet for a seemingly peaceful ride. Scootaloo took her place at the scooter (ironically) and fluttered her wings. She's seriously not hoping to make this cart fly. Wildfire's heart leapt out of his chest as the wagon took off abruptly, slamming Wildfire into the back. Scrambling like a puppy to get a hold of something, the wagon bounced violently across the cobblestone.

**********

A few concussions and bruises later...

**********

After what seemed to be an eternity, the wagon finally stopped at a building that looked like it was made out of baked goods.

"What's the plan?"

"We thought we'd try baking again. Where's Pinkie?" Wildfire's ears perked up at the mention of the pink furball. A pink blur caught his attention. Looking towards its source, Wildfire did not see what he was looking for. A head materialized from the doorway, and he recognized it as his worst fear: Pinkie Pie. He found it odd, that with all that he's been through, all that he's fought, he'd prefer hugging a sand wyrm over being near Pinkie. The aforementioned pony dissapeared, only to pop up beside Scootaloo seemingly effortlessly.

"Are you ready to have the best times of your lives?!" Pinkie Pie yelled in her usual cheery self.

"Yeah!" All three crusaders spoke out at once. Wildfire stood by awkwardly, not wanting to be noticed by the energetic pony.

"What brings you here Wildfire?" Fuck. Bringing his best possible smile into play, Wildfire opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by a certain orange pegasus.

"Oh, him? He's just here with us." Wildfire shot her a glance, Scootaloo smiled maliciously.

"Wee! We're going to be the best of friends!"

"Ehh, I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"W-what?" Pinkie Pie seemed visibly saddened, her smile that Wildfire thought was plastered on had faded into an uncertain frown.

"I'd love to be your friend, but, I tend to hurt those around me." Pinkie scoffed, her bright mood returned.

"Is that what your making a fussy-wussy over? You're not a Big Meany Pants!"  Not taking no for an answer, Wildfire was dragged into a spine-breaking hug. Before he could form a response, Wildfire found himself being dragged towards the door of the building. Inside, Wildfire managed to make out a wooden floor. A counter appeared in view as he slid past it. Still in Pinkie's iron grip, she prattled on about all sorts of nonsense. From aristocrats to zebras, not a single topic was left untouched. What was most amazing was that Pinkie Pie managed to do this in a matter of seconds. Wildfire's brain could not process the information that was being crammed down its throat, so it did the only thing it knew how to do. It zoned out.

**********

"Forty-eight, forty nine, fifty!"

Wildfire looked around the room. The large banners making a bigger impression than the unnocupied large throne. Seeing nobody on the ground, he looked up. He was greeted by a solid diamond chandelier, even though everyone knew it was plain old glass. He dashed towards the throne, eager to find his newest friend. Looking behind it, Wildfire was disappointed to find only dust behind the large seat. Looking to the windows, he noticed that a shadow was draped precariously across one of the sills. Bunching his muscles, Wildfire jumped towards the window. He was greeted by a thump as he overshot his target and hit his head on the window. He reeled back from the impact and yelped as his foot slipped from the narrow windowsill. The rest of his body hurtled over the edge, sending him on a trip towards the solid cobblestone underneath him. He slammed quietly onto the rocky floor, with a smacking sound. Struggling to retake his breath, Wildfire was terrified as he experienced having the air driven out of his lungs for the first time. As he lay gasping, the small black figure he was looking for emerged from hiding. Gifted with both a horn and wings. She fluttered over to him, a mix of worry and fear in her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Regaining his breath, Wildfire broke out into sobs, pain still permeating his body. Slowly, he sat himself on his rump, holding up his right leg. A small gash could be seen, slowly oozing blood. His friend came closer, and upon inspection, told Wildfire to stay still. Not daring to move, he obeyed the command, and watched nervously as she dissapeared into the adjoining room. A few seconds passed by and the door reopened. She re-emerged with his Father, who had a concerned look on his face. His gaze broke out into a warm smile as he saw Wildfire, who attempted to limp towards his Father.

"Hold on there kiddo, you might have broken something."

Laying back down on the ground, his crying had reduced to irregular sniffling.

"Now, where does it hurt?"

"E-everywhere."

His dad chuckled, "You'll need to be more specific than that." Wildfire held up his leg further, even though he did hurt all over. "Aww, that's not bad at all, especially for a fall from that height." Wildfire now frowned at his dad, who gave a nervous smile. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some bandages, and proceeded to delicately wrap the tissue around his leg. All the while, the green-eyed creature looked on in mild interest. After he checked over the rest of his body, his father assumed that there was nothing worse than bruising. At this moment, a light rapping sounded on the door, and the polished helmet of a guard poked through.

"Captain Spectre, if you're done, we need you in the diplo room."

Spectre nodded and headed towards the room, but not before he patted Wildfire's head. The door shut closed, and the two were once again left to their own devices. His friend, who he had yet to learn the name of, approached him.

"Does that hurt as bad as it looks?"

Wildfire wiped away his tears and stood up as tall as he could.

"Why of course not, 'tis just a flesh wound" Even though he wanted to flail on the floor bawling. The dark creature rolled her eyes, obviously not buying it. "I never caught your name." She smiled, before opening her mouth.

Wildfire's thoughts were interrupted by the smell of fresh cupcakes. Pinkie Pie moved in a blur as she showed the group how to correctly put confections on a cupcake. Seeing no reason to listen, Wildfire mulled over his most recent thought. He smiled at the warm memory, it seemed so far away when compared to the rest of his life. He felt the same bittersweet feeling that he felt whenever he thought of the hooved creature. He felt warm at the good times they spent growing up with each other, and the same heart-wrenching feeling of losing her to corruption. He knew that she would not hesitate to kill him if she was given the chance. He was once again interrupted as he heard screams from the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Letting his eyes focus, he spotted Pinkie Pie walking towards them brandishing a knife.

"Now let's add the special ingredient." Wildfire was a quarter of a second from jumping onto her, when she passed by the terrified children to the counter. "An itty-bit of cheese!" Wildfire met the confused eyes of Scootaloo, and burst out laughing. He was joined by the others as they too realized what had happened. Pinkie joined in their laughter seemingly just for the sake of laughing. Adding the final ingredients, Pinkie let the quad try their hand at baking. Wildfire found that it was much harder than Pinkie let on. The specific timing and strict procedures did not agree with him.

"Y'know what? I'm gonna take a walk."

Leaving the group behind, Wildfire made it to the edge of the Everfree, deciding fresh air would do him good. He prowled around the area, checking to see if anypony was near.

Did I just use the word anypony?

Dismissing the almost alien word, Wildfire resumed his natural form with a content sigh. Calmly trotting among the trees, he looked around for possible prey. After a few minutes of searching, Wildfire found a decent sized tree. Climbing up the tree, he found a nook that he could lean on. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes.

**********

It had been years since he had lain eyes on her. The child he knew had matured into a beautiful young woman. She seemed to be assessing him as well, obviously giving him a look-over. She stood beside her parents, now wrinkled with age. Her mother was as warm as ever, while her father simply eyed Wildfire suspiciously. The awkward silence lasted until Obsidian spoke up.

"We all know why we are here. The matters discussed in this room will remain confidential. Is it agreed?" Everyone in the room nodded assent. "Good, now let's get started." Her mother spoke first, her voice cracked with age.

"Thank you. I propose a diplomatic agreement between our two kingdoms. We will formally declare ourselves as allies, and position ambassadors in both of our countries. Furthermore, we offer you the hand of our daughter, to strengthen the bonds with our empires." Wildfire smiled inwardly, knowing the response before it was said.

"Thanks, but I already have one wife and she's hard enough to please." Obsidian spoke with a smirk. She visibly relaxed at hearing she wasn't going to marry anyone. "The ambassadorial proposal is tempting. As for the allied declaration? I'd rather position ambassadors and see where it goes from there."

"Fair enough, who will be positioned?"

Wildfire felt the weight of four pairs of eyes on him. He flicked his tail, a signal that only Obsidian would comprehend.

"Wildfire."

He knew she must feel as happy as he did, not only was he getting an indirect promotion, but he also got to spend time with her. And it would not seem awkward either, as they could just pass things off as formal meetings. Wildfire physically nodded, agreeing to the role he would play.