Kissed by fire

It had been a long journey to reach stalwart keep, to do so in just under two days had required Celestia's Pegasus guards to push themselves to the limits of their endurance even with the assistance of her magic the royal carriage was barely staying airborne as the white mane mountains came into view.  Celestia had stayed awake through the journey ignoring the many comforts offered to her in her carriage preferring to instead watch her kingdom roll by out of her window. Stalwart keep was routinely overlooked when her ministers planned a royal tour for her to do, so she had not seen this corner of her kingdom since... 'Must have been almost 800 years' Celestia thought to herself. A small pang of guilt struck the princess for letting any of her little ponies be swept under the rug,

"Well better late than never" she mused as the carriage began its decent.

The royal carriage landed with much fanfare, the whole town had turned out a small band of guards held the crowd of eager ponies back. Wild cheering emerged as the princess emerged confetti flying and banners waving.  A white stallion pushed his way through the crowd the guards parting to allow him through.

"Ah Daybreak there you are" Celestia said with relief

"Whatever happened to a discreet arrival" she continued in a low voice as he knelt before her

"You try keeping a royal visit a secret in such a small town your majesty" day break looked up

"I have no idea where the banners came from ma'am" at this Celestia laughed and he rose from his knees before beckoning with his hoof.

"It is good to see you Daybreak again" Celestia said as they made their way through the crowd

"How has the north been treating you?" the captain thought a moment before answering

"Likewise ma'am, the north is a little cold for my tastes but the company is good"

Celestia was about to reply when they veered off suddenly and were suddenly outside a small clinic the name on the building read 'Eclipse Surgery ' they passed a pair of guards as they entered the small building.

"Captain" Celestia said frustration evident in her voice   "I want answers before we go any further"

Daybreak stopped with a sigh before checking around to see if any pony was within earshot before starting to speak

"A week ago something fell from the sky, it burned in its crater for 3 days before we could get close and that whole time ... it was screaming"

"What... something?" Celestia whispered in horror as they started to move once more down the corridor.

"I had a wagon fetched and had her moved here for treatment, the doctor can explain to you...  FROSTBITE!"

Daybreak called out to a light blue earth pony that was just emerging from one of the doors lining the corridor,

"This is doctor Frostbite head surgeon"

"Only surgeon "he added in a gruff voice "what do you want" he said in a suspicions voice eyeing the two of them ignoring the fact that one was a princess.

"Her majesty is here to see the patient" the captain said in a tired voice

"The only patient" Frostbite corrected before moving off down back the way he came

Daybreak let out a snort of frustration as he followed "I see what you mean by good company" Celestia teased as she fell in step with him.

"THE patient aka 'Joan' was brought in four days ago" Frostbite began in a scratchy monotone

"it took me a whole half an hour to identify her as a pony and another half an hour to be convinced she was alive, Joan had suffered sever burns across 100% of her body down to the bone in some places" at this point he shuddered at the memory before continuing "along with a myriad of other injuries including four broken legs, we kept her sedated throughout her stay due to the scale of her injuries. were out of sedatives by the way" he turned giving the captain a look "due to her size she has needed large amounts to keep her docile and she has built up a resistance to them which is fun" he said sarcastically "Over these couple of days she has.... regenerated at a extraordinary rate not surprising in hindsight considering her ... biology" as they reached the door at the end of the hallway Celestia had a million questions "Joan?... size?...biology?"  Frost bite turned round and gave her a sympathetic smile "you can thank the nursing staff for the name as for the other two... see for yourself princess" he motioned to the door with a hoof "well if that is all I have other things to do, captain a word?"

Celestia did not even hear the rest of the conversation as he slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside the room.  Numerous machines hung from the walls platters of medicines lined the walls, despite the time of day a large black out blind had been pulled over the window the only light came from a small lantern by the patient's bed. The bed itself was two singles pushed together in the dim light Celestia could only make out an outline on the makeshift double.  As she moved further into the room the door swung shut behind her, the sound of ragged breathing was audible in the silence Celestia's own heart was beating loudly in her ears as she made her way around the bed.

She let out a gasp of shock as the light finally illuminated Joan's form, before her lay a sleeping pitch black Alicorn laying on her side, approximately the same size as Celestia herself the bed was hardly big enough. Her mane was also black but with red roots putting her in mind of a blazing fire set against a starless sky.  At the sound of Celestia's shock Joan's visible eye flew open, Celestia backed away slightly in irrational fear. Joan's eye was like a burning coal and seemed to glow as she stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. Feeling like she should say something Celestia came forward and said

"Err... Hello" she said lamely 'great start'

Joan seemed to relax somewhat her eye stopped burning and looked around the room with interest, until it fell on the lantern at her bed side. her eye went wide with panic as she gazed at the small flame, the flame began to burn more and more fiercely under Joan's petrified gaze until Celestia rushed forward and extinguished it with her magic. She then turned to pull the blind up telekinetically to allow some natural light to seep into the room.  Taking advantage of her newfound confidence and Joan's thankful gaze she moved to the head of the bead and reached out a hoof.  Again the black alicorn's eye went wide with panic and she fought against the drugs to get away from the approaching alabaster hoof.

"shhhh its alright I'm not going to hurt you Joan"  Celestia whispered gently as she began to stroke Joan's mane. As she started humming softly and soothingly to the alicorn, Joan's eye began to close and with a deep sigh she fell back to sleep a faint smile creasing her lips.

"She's a..." Celestia began

"Yep" Daybreak sat next to her in the deserted waiting room staring resolutely at the far wall.

"How...?" Celestia was deep in thought as the day's events played out for the millionth time in her head.

"I was hoping you could tell me ma'am, is she not... one of yours?" the silence stretched out uncomfortably occasionally broken by a loud curse from Frostbite as he worked in his office.

"Was she really that bad Daybreak... when you found her?"  The captain gave her a look his eyes softened, he before saying "let's just say your majesty that the only reason the fire did die out, was because it had run out of fuel and leave it at that."  Realising he had killed the conversation Daybreak continued "What are your orders?"

That was what Celestia had been contemplating since she had set eyes on the alicorn; she couldn't

Keep her hidden indefinitely; if the news became public it would introduce a whole host of problems. The nobles would demand an explanation, she groaned inwardly as she realised the political shit storm that would be unleashed, not to mention how the general population might react 'I really need a coffee...and a slice of cake' she lamented, 'she has not even spoken a word and already I have a headache'