The Fire of Life

Chapter 3

It was the next day, just about four hours past noon, and the sun was still fairly high in the sky, giving plenty of light to the town of Ponyville. A slightly cloudy day, and fairly windy, but sunny none the less. There was a fresh feeling about the way the wind blew through the town and the buildings. Most of the town was made up of residents, cottages clustered in small neighborhoods all over town. All of the cottages were made up of woven straw roofs and timber framing. Other buildings had more attention to detail, such as the towering building in Ponyville Square that was Town Hall that stood out above the rest of the town, or Sugar Cube Corner, the Ponyville bakery, which was decorated like a giant ginger bread house.

The wind had taken a good deal of the weather somewhat southeast of Ponyville, but it wasn’t enough if the townsfolk wanted to see the sun rise on the morning of the Summer Sun Celebration. It was the job of the weather patrol to take care of that; clearing the skies of all the weather when needed, and putting together storms when they were called for. Of course, this would mean that all ponies in the weather patrol team were to be pegasi. Not only was it for their wings, but also for that tiny bit of special magic they possessed that allowed for them to interact with the clouds on a much more physical level than unicorn or earth ponies could. There really was no substitute for a pegasus when it called for a job working with weather, especially in a place like Ponyville, where absolutely everything was run by its inhabitants.

Through that though, Ponyville could really operate on an “everything perfect” basis. No one seemed to complain about it, there was always work to do and always the perfect one for the job. Even the mayor of Ponyville had been in office as long as anyone can remember. It was common of ponies to operate like that though; you find your special talent and you stick with it for the rest of your life; no matter how young or how old one may be.

In the town of Ponyville, many ponies ran their own businesses that way. There are the Cakes who run Sugar Cube Corner. There was a clothing type store on the edge of town, called the Carousel Boutique, run by a pony named Rarity, the fashionista of Ponyville. There’s a small school building where the teacher, Cheerilee, worked with the foals of Ponyville. Of course, there’s Twilight who ran the library. There’s even a farm outside of town; an apple orchard called Sweet Apple Acres which is run by the Apple family. Beyond that, there were many grocers, jewelers, gardeners, and so many more talented ponies doing what they loved to do. Even the weather patrol of Ponyville was made up of talented fliers who loved to fly…

Soaring back over the town and punching her way through several clouds along the way, Rainbow Dash cleared the skies of all weather, leaving the once cloudy afternoon sky a blank blue canvas for the town to be able to enjoy the festival. After streaking through the sky a few times and pushing the clouds out of the airspace of the village, Dash made a bee line back towards the library, where there was a stop watch hanging on the balcony post, ticking away.

Not wasting even an extra second, she grabbed the clock and pounded the top of it, stopping its hands dead where they set. She studied it intently, a grin slowly crawling over her face as she hovered in place.

“Yes!” she shouted, twirling up into the air in an excited fashion.

“New record! Yes!” she said, locking her gaze back on the stop watch.

“No wonder they made me captain of the weather patrol! Man… I’d like to see the look on that jerk’s face!” said Dash, looking up to the sky in a day dream. “Flying fast in a straight line is one thing! But I’d love to see him try and clear the sky at that speed. He’d lose control so fast…” said Rainbow.

She took a moment to take in her work, sighing at what a beautiful sight she laid her eyes on. “Clean as it can get.”

Something soft nudged Rainbow in the back. She turned around to find a stray tuft of cloud, floating back over from the west side of town.

“Oh.” said Rainbow, giggling a bit.

She looked around her, checking all of the ponies running about back towards town. She definitely didn’t envy them for their jobs, and didn’t feel that she could “offer” any more help as far as anything else went. So with a shrug, Rainbow reached for the sky and stretched out straight, groaning some as she exhaled and fell back onto the cloud, landing all sprawled out. She flipped over and let her hooves dangle over the side some, relaxing as the soft breeze rocked the cloud some. Slowly, she shut her eyes to try and get a nap in before the meeting this afternoon.

Before she could drift off to sleep, she heard the flapping of wings pass by her. She looked to where she thought she heard the sound. There wasn’t anyone there. She looked over to the other way and didn’t see anyone. It might have just been somepony flying over her real quick, and was out of sight quickly. No big deal. She rest her head back down on the cloud and started to shut her eyes, until she caught sight of a pony gliding towards the front door of the library; an orange pony with white hair. Rainbow’s head popped off of the cloud, eyes locking on the familiar sight of a brighter orange coated stallion.

“No way…” said Rainbow Dash to herself.

He even had a few bags slung over his shoulders, all of them seemingly stuffed full of things.

“This can’t be good…” thought Rainbow.

Landing and furling his wings, he stepped up to the door and knocked three times. He waited, tapping his hooves nervously on the ground. After a second, he let his bags down on the ground, leaving his saddle bag on his back. After a few seconds more, he could hear the sound of clopping hooves getting closer to the door. He stood up straighter and whipped his hair out of his face before the door opened.

He could hear a couple of voices on the inside, talking to each other.

“Oh! That must be him!” said a mare, voice getting louder as she came closer to the door still.

Twilight opened the door, the visitor outside putting on a bright smile as the door swung open.

“Oh, hey!” said the pony, greeting in a bit of an informal manner.

“This is the Sparkle residence… right?” he asked, his bright expression a friendly welcome to the library.

Twilight observed him for a moment as he greeted her. The first thing she noticed was his long curly white mane, somewhat messy but combed back as neatly as could be, even though it appeared extremely coarse and seemed to have a mind of its own, sitting upon his head awkwardly and half covering his face. He was just a little taller than Twilight, and a bit more slender too. It made his overall appearance look a bit odd; his legs, being somewhat long for a stallion, were a bit more “mare-ish” than usual for a colt. His ribs poked out of his side some too; not enough to look sickly gaunt but enough to be considered extra skinny. It wasn’t too noticeable though as his unusually larger wings covered up most of his sides.

At first Twilight thought she might be talking to a much younger colt after noticing the lack of cutie mark on his hindquarters, but she noticed the look in his face (which was growing more awkward as Twilight continued to stare blankly at him). There seemed to be too much maturity in his visage for him to be significantly younger than she was. Though, there was still a discernible glimmer of youth in his eyes that shined through his bushier lashes; his age was too hard to tell.  He appeared exhausted as well, dark circles resided under his eyes, as if from a lack of sleep or quality of it, but they remained wide open and gleaming.

He had a pair of wild eyes, comparable to Twilight’s in shape, emerald in color and the whites of his eyes, although somewhat bloodshot, were as white as could be; reflective almost. But there was something else; his eyes were two tone. With that shade of green was also a hue of scarlet that flickered in the light. Under his chin, he had a small patch of longer orange fur, mixed in with a few strands of white hair that gave him a sort of scruffy looking goatee. The last thing she noticed was his shiny and unruly looking orange coat covering him from his nose to his bare flank, blazingly bright, and ever so slightly washed out. It reminded Twilight of the trees in the fall, the same shade of orange almost.

None of this is why she was studying him so intently though. It’s almost as if she could feel something about him. It was almost as if he was putting off some sort of energy which Twilight could quite palpably sense, as if a powerful sent hit her when she opened the door. It wasn’t an off putting feeling, but it wasn’t exactly one-hundred percent welcoming either. In either case, it definitely fascinated Twilight.  She stared some more, studying him like a book or some science project of hers.

“Um… Twilight?” she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She whipped her head around, brought back to reality by Spike who was looking rather oddly at her. She looked back at the orange colt whose bright smile had turned into an awkward smirk.

“Um… this is the right place is it?” he asked, smiling sheepishly and taking a short step back out of discomfort.

“Oh… Yes!” said Twilight.

“Yes, yes, yes! This is the right place.” she said, giggling awkwardly as she shook off her gawkiness.

“Um… yeah…” she giggled some more, clearing her throat and readily introducing herself. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” she greeted, holding out a hoof to the confused colt.

“Um, Wildfire.” said the orange colt, returning her a shake of the hoof and replacing his bright smile again.

Twilight noticed his luggage; a couple of leather duffle bags, a saddle bag, and even a guitar case.

“Do you want help with those?” asked Twilight, pointing to his baggage.

“Oh. No thanks, I can take care of these.” said Wildfire, picking up the guitar case and slinging it over his head.

“No need!” said a pink pony as she shoved her way through, curly bright magenta hair bouncing up and down as the pony herself bounced merrily out of the library door.

“Hi! You must be the new pony I heard about! I mean, one of the new ponies I heard about! I hear about a lot of new ponies coming into town, and I always like to say hi to them! So… Hi! Oh, and I’m Pinkie Pie by the way.” said the pink pony at a hundred miles an hour.

“You came from Canterlot, right? I love it there! So much to do! So many ponies to see! And the princess lives there, but you already knew that! She’s the one who sent you hear after all; and with no escort or guards to help with your bags. Want me to take those off your hooves? Never mind! I got them already!” she said, giggling with a short snort. She talked so fast. Wildfire was barely able to retain half of it. The other half he did retain he wasn’t able to completely comprehend.

Pinkie skipped right on by, heading towards Wildfire’s bags and lifting up the strap of one bag with her nose and slinging it over her neck. Wildfire turned over to Spike and Twilight, who were both smiling as they watched him and Pinkie interact.

“Is she always…”

“Excited!?” butted in Pinkie. “Only when I meet new faces!”

“Uh, careful with that one! Please.” said Wildfire, becoming a bit nervous as he watched Pinkie hop up and down through the doorway with his bag.

The other bags floated right over him, enveloped in a purplish glow. They stopped at the door there Twilight was standing, her horn glowing with the same purple sparkle his hovering baggage did.

“Well, why don’t you come in? Make yourself at home.” said Twilight, carrying the other two bags in with her.

Wildfire followed, pulling the door shut behind him with his front hoof. He turned around and looked into the library with astonishment. He didn’t expect to see so many books inside. It seemed to be pretty well organized at a glance as well. Twilight caught notice of his expression.

“Do you like what you see?” asked Twilight, getting excited for Wildfire.

“Yeah. I mean, I’m not that into books, but I guess this is a pretty nice little library.” said Wildfire, looking around.

“Watch what you’re saying.” said Spike with a smile. “You wouldn’t want to upset her.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“So, Wildfire, how are you doing?” asked Twilight.

“Not bad.” said Wildfire. “Just a bit tired after getting back from a trip yesterday.”

“Princess Celestia mentioned you travel. Did you go far?”

“Not too much farther than the Crystal Mountains.”

“Oh, wow. Really? Oh, I’ve always wanted to see it out there. I bet the northern lights up there are amazing to see in real life.” said Twilight. “I’d really like to hear about it. Sure sounds like it’d be amazing.”

Wildfire smiled and nodded silently, half enthusiastic about Twilight excitement.

“Well, I bet you’d like to see where you’re staying.”

“Um, yes please.” said Wildfire, still half smiling, earning an “alright” back from Twilight.

“So, how is living in the castle?” asked Twilight, beginning to walk towards the stairs.

“It really isn’t too bad.” said Wildfire, following Twilight. “There’s plenty to keep you busy there if anything.”

“Oh, yes!” said Twilight. “I’ll agree with you there. Canterlot in general would keep you busy.”

“You’ve been there before then?” asked Wildfire.

“Well I’m actually Princess Celestia’s protégé.” said Twilight.

“Oh, duh. Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia’s… other student.”

“Mm-hmm. I used to live in the castle too.”

“And how was the experience for you?”

“Oh, a lot like this here right now. Just a little less quiet though.” said Twilight, continuing up the stairs.

“Yeah. Too many ponies to get enough privacy really.” said Wildfire as they came to the top of the stairs and walked into the upper floor.

“Is this the pony who’s come from Canterlot, Twilight?” asked another mare standing in the room.

“It sure is.” said Twilight.

Wildfire, seemingly a bit shy in his step, came forward to greet himself to the other mare. She had a slightly off white coat with a neatly curled dark purple mane. Her big blue eyes were accented well among her long lashes and turquoise eye shadow. Her cutie mark of three diamonds seemed to shine in the light as well. The last thing he noticed was her horn, which was neat and primed like the rest of her.

“I’m Wildfire.” said Wildfire, holding up his hoof to greet the mare.

“Charmed.” said the mare, gently grasping Wildfire’s hoof with her fetlock. “I am Rarity. Miss Rarity if you prefer.” She seemed a little classier than the others, which Wildfire was able to appreciate.

Wildfire nodded, smiling brightly.

“This way, Wildfire.” said Twilight, walking down the hall.

Wildfire followed, closely tailed by Rarity. Down the shadowy hall and to the left, they came into the room, where Pinkie was bouncing around in a circle, Wildfire’s bag still slung around her neck. Stepping back, Wildfire could see Pinkie’s cute mark of three balloons; one yellow and two blue.

The room was somewhat stuffy feeling. There was an old desk sitting over on the far side of the room, where it faced a window which was covered by yellow drapes. Over on the right wall were some more shelves carved out of the wall, which looked like they hadn’t been used in a while due to dust, and to the left of the desk was a bed, made up with plain blue sheets.

“Twilight.” said Rarity, her voice pitched in a critical manner. “It’s absolutely filthy in here, and the air feels dreadfully stale.”

“Yeah, sorry.” said Twilight, smiling bashfully. “I meant to clean it, but I got caught up in reorganizing the extra books…”

“I think it’s great in here!” said Pinkie, setting the bag down on the bed and walking over to the window.

“It just needs a little sun!” Pinkie opened the drapes, and was greeted with a bright ray of sunshine and a cloud of dust that came from the drapes.

“Ahh-choo!” Pinkie sneezed over and over, her hind legs coming off the floor with each twitch of her nose. “And… a little… dusting!” said Pinkie in between sneezes.

“It used to be my old study, but I just never really used it that much.” said Twilight. “I hope it’s enough for you.”

Wildfire looked around some, taking the room in from a sunnier perspective. “Yeah. I mean it is a bit of a low celling, but there’s plenty of room outside to stretch my wings out there.”

“I can help you clean up later.” said Spike.

“Um, nah. I think I’d like to organize a few things in here myself. But thanks for the offer buddy.” said Wildfire.

“It’s Spike” said the dragon.

“Sorry, Spike.”

Twilight sat Wildfire’s bags on the bed, and Wildfire took his saddle bag off and threw it on the bed beside the rest of his things. It wasn’t but a few more seconds that they heard a couple more ponies come into the library, the bell on the door jingling as it swung open wide.

“Twilight!? Spike!? Y’all here?” shouted another mare from down stairs, her accent having a more southern twang to it.

“Yeah! Be right down!” said Twilight, leading the others out of the room and back down stairs into the main lobby of the library.

Wildfire followed them down to find two more mares standing in the room, both with bright smiles on their faces and patiently awaiting their friends.

The first mare was taller than the others, but not by much. She was an earth pony by the looks. Her apple green eyes shone brightly in the room just as her blonde mane and tail did, which were both done up in ponytails. Her light orange coat accented her hair well, and it showed off the freckles on her cheeks very plainly. The cowgirl hat she wore fit her style nicely, and her cutie mark of three apples must have meant that she was one of the workers on the farm just outside of Ponyville.

“Well, howdy there!” she said, trotting up to Wildfire promptly. “My name’s Applejack! Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr…”

“Wildfire.” he said.

“Wildfire! Not too many folk around here with a name like that! Y’all must be that pony form Canterlot Twilight was talking about yesterday.” said Applejack, taking up Wildfire’s hoof and giving it a firm shake.

“That’d be me.” said Wildfire, smiling back at Applejack.

Applejack turned around, looking back at the other mare standing in the doorway. “Well, ain’t you gonna say hi, Fluttershy?”

“Oh… um… hi…” said the other mare, smiling tremulously as she held her face down to the floor and looked up through her mane.

She was definitely the shy type, which Wildfire didn’t seem to mind. In fact he seemed a bit more allured to the shy type, as a child would be to a puppy. She was a bright yellow pegasus pony, with long light pink hair. Her greyish blue eyes were very kind looking, that was if anyone could see them, not being to the floor. She was a little rounder in the face than the other mares too. Looking at her cutie mark, a series of three butterflies, she must be a more delicate character.

“I’m Fluttershy…” she spoke softly.

Wildfire smiled and nodded, getting a tender feeling out of Fluttershy’s conservativeness.

“So, y’all ready for the meeting?” asked Applejack.

“Yep! Why don’t we head out now?” suggested Twilight.

“But it’s not even for another half an hour.” said Spike, shrugging some.

“Nothing like and early start!” said Applejack. “Yeah! Let’s just head over now.”

Applejack turned around and opened the door, leading the rest of the ponies and Spike out and letting Twilight have a chance to lock up. Applejack looked up to a stray cloud, watching for Rainbow to peek over the side of it.

“Hey! Rainbow! Y’all coming?” shouted Applejack. She got no response.

“Rainbow!? Ain’t ya up there?”

“Maybe she already left.” said Twilight. “We can meet her there.”