Flicker

Chapters

Chapter 1: Curiosity
Chapter 2: Origin
Chapter 3: Return
Chapter 4: Again
Chapter 5: Friendship

Chapter 1: Curiosity

“Just what in Celestia’s name were you trying to do?”

“I– I– I wanted to make a fire.”

She had never meant for it to get out of control.

“You actually tried to do that? You weren’t just messing around? That’s not what you told me before. This is really, really not okay, Flicker. I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

Flicker’s eyes were pulled from the ground and her father lifted her chin with a hoof. The yellow filly fought his touch for a moment, but eventually let her gaze settle in her father’s eyes.

“What am I going to do?” he repeated.

The young pegasus had no answer. Her vision shot back to the charred ground under her hooves. Three hours ago, it had been her bedroom.

After a few seconds, she asked, “Why did you bring me back here?”

The light green stallion planted his haunches on the blackened flooring and leaned in close to his foal.

“I brought you back here so you can see what you did. So you know what I have to fix. So you realize just what you’ve done.”

“I’m so sorry,” the small pegasus sobbed. She was crying again.

This time, though, she was not crying because she was sorry about setting the house alight. She was crying because she wanted to do it again. Not to the house itself, of course, but to something.

She wanted to see something burn. She wanted to watch as flames danced against dry panels of wood, to feel the heat on her face, and hear the roar of the consuming flame.

Flicker almost did not here her father as he said, “And if I ever, ever, so much as hear about you having another match in your hooves… Well… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

The stallion shook his blue mane. “But it won’t be nice.”

His foal nodded. She understood. He signed in relief.

But he should not have. She was not going to let her passions flicker out like that. No. She was going to find something to burn again, just, with a little bit more caution next time. And maybe a bit of water.

Okay, a lot of water.

Twilight flipped idly through the pages of the Ponyville Premier newspaper that she held in her magic. She scanned over a few small articles on apple sales and the town hall, slowly making her way to the back pages of the document. Not much had happened in Ponyville.

She looked out her room’s window. It was still raining outside. Sighing, she flipped to the last page of the paper.

Beneath a garish advertisement for the Carousel Boutique was a section that she had not seen for a long time: the obituaries. There was only one short entry.

Blueberry Lime, born Y.S.M. 974, passed away earlier this week. After losing his wife, he raised his daughter, Flicker, alone for three years. When a fire destroyed their second home, she ran away into the Everfree Forest and was never seen again. Though assumed dead, he waited for her return until the day of his death. His business, Lime Reagents, has been but up for public auction to pay debts. If interested, please contact…

Twilight Sparkle stopped reading. Outside, somepony was screaming.

The purple mare bounded down the stairs from her room and to the library’s ground floor. She paused for a moment, looking for Spike.

The dragon was in a side room, busily organizing a shelf of books.

Poking her head into the room, she said, “Stay here for a minute, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Before Spike could answer, Twilight was already out the library’s front door and galloping through the muddy streets of Ponyville.

The baby dragon shrugged and returned to the bookshelf. Spike did not understand why Twilight always burst out of the library at the slightest hint of distress. He could hardly recall a single time that it had been anything more severe than a bee sting that caused the yelling.

Twilight Sparkle rounded the turn onto Stirrup Street, her hooves slipping a little on the muddy surface as she continued galloping down the path. At the end of the road, she could see a cheery-coated pony. She was still screaming.

“Cheerilee!” yelled Twilight as she closed the distance between herself and the schoolteacher. “Cheerilee, what’s wrong?”

Twilight Sparkle stopped a few meters away from the mare, her eyes suddenly realizing what was causing Cheerilee to scream.

“Somepony, get over her and tell me what this thing is!” Cheerilee shouted again.

The mare was pressing her saddlebags face-down in the mud. Something under one of them was wriggling.

The purple unicorn watched the lump scurry beneath the fabric for a moment. She wondered, Could it be a parasprite?

I sure did not look like one, though. The mass was oblong, and far too large.

More curious than worried, now, Twilight stepped up beside Cheerilee and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“I’m here,” the unicorn said, “What do you want me to do?”

“Oh Twilight,” the earth pony said more calmly, “You don’t know how long I’ve been out in this rain waiting for somepony to come. I didn’t want to let this thing get away again. It’s already burned through one of my saddlebags. Do you think you can grab it with magic?”

Twilight readied her horn. “Not a problem at all.”

“Okay, on three,” Cheerilee said. “One… Two… Three!”

As the cherry mare pulled her saddlebags off of the creature, Twilight sent a tendril of magic underneath the fabric’s folds.

The covering pulled back to reveal a large reddish bug squirming in the glow of Twilight’s magic. The six-legged creature looked straight at the mare and hissed, his hinged jaws opening and closing rapidly.

“Not a friendly one, is he?” Cheerilee said. “Be careful, too. It can catch things on fire.”

“What?”

“It burned straight through the first saddlebag I caught it under. That was inside, though. Only reason it didn’t do it again is because it’s so cold and wet out here.”

Twilight pulled the creature close to her face, inspecting it more closely. As she twisted the snarling and writhing insect in her magic, she could feel a slight aura of warmth radiating from its abdomen.

“Let’s get this thing back to the library,” Twilight said slowly, her brow furrowed. “I might have a book–”

Twilight stopped speaking. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear another pony yelling. It sounded like Rarity.

Chapter 2: Origin

“How many of them are there?”

Mayor Mare was staring at Twilight, her jaw slightly slack in a suppressed yawn. She had just woken up.

“We’ve found about forty in the town so far,” the purple mare answered.

“How long can the pegasi keep up the storm?”

Twilight paused for a moment. “Rainbow Dash said that most of the clouds probably had a couple hours left in them, but she wasn’t sure. She’s up there now coordinating the weather patrol. We should have a better number soon.”

“And the other ponies?” The mayor turned and looked out of her bedroom window. The street in front of her house was empty, save for a few of the red insects that scurried across it.

“Already rounded up in the town hall,” Twilight answered. “It’s on the opposite side of the river, so it should take the bugs a while to get to it.”

“What about our buildings?”

“We haven’t had any burn down so far. I have a few volunteer earth ponies on firefighting duty, and Pinkie’s helping them with her Pinkie sense. They seem to be doing well at keeping small fires under control. The storm’s handling the rest.”

The mayor was silent for a few moments.

Turning back to Twilight, she asked, “Is there anything I can do?”

Twilight hesitated. “You can go to the town hall. Try to calm ponies down a bit, maybe.”

“I’ll do that,” the brown earth pony said, nodding. “It seems you have everything else under control.”

“We still don’t know what these things are or where they’re coming from,” Twilight said. “It could get a lot worse.”

“Nopony in town knows?”

“I even asked Fluttershy.”

Twilight glanced towards the yellow mare on the other side of the room. She was still cowering under the mayor’s writing desk.

“And,” she continued, shaking her head, “I already sent off a letter to Canterlot. Princess Celestia said that the royal library is being searched for information as we speak. I doesn’t seem likely that they’ll find anything, though.”

“Are there any other options?”

“Not that I can–”

“We could always try an’ ask Zecora,” Applejack interrupted.

Twilight was quiet for a second. “Oh,” she said, “I didn’t think of her.”

The purple mare faced her two friends. “Applejack, Fluttershy, follow me. We’ve got to get to Zecora’s. If anypony knows what these things are, it’ll be her. We’ll pick up Rarity along the way.”

Fluttershy squeaked. “Into the Everfree Forest?”

“Yes, Fluttershy. The Everfree Forest.”

“Come on,” Applejack said, trotting over to the mare under the desk and pulling her up by a hoof. “We don’t have time fur this nonsense. Get movin’.”

Fluttershy only squeaked again.

“Watch out!”

Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy ducked as red blob shot over their heads and impacted against the wall of a nearby house.

The purple mare looked up. Sweetie Belle was standing beside her older sister in front of the Carousel Boutique, her legs braced in a wide stance and her horn lowered. Rarity looked much the same, only her horn was glowing.

It was Sweetie Belle who had warned them.

Twilight watched as Rarity blasted the bugs left and right away from her business.

“Oh no. You’re not burning so much as one more of my dresses,” the fashionista growled.

The bugs continued swarming towards the building. Scores of them.

Sweetie Belle was backing away from her sister slowly, eyeing the incoming wave of creatures with increasing worry.

“Rarity,” she said. “Rarity, there’s too many. Rarity!”

Her sister ignored the warnings.

“And you are never going to touch my little sister!”

Twilight ducked again as clumps of rock, dirt, and red insect littered the walls behind her. There was no way she was getting close enough to Rarity to talk to her, much less to convince her to abandon her boutique.

“Let’s go, girls!” she shouted over the roar of the storm. “Rarity can handle herself!”

Twilight pushed open the door into Zecora’s hut. She had not taken the time to knock.

Fluttershy bolted past her and into the space’s warm interior. She was shivering, though not from the forest’s cold, damp ambiance.

“Zecora?” Twilight called as Applejack followed her inside. “Zecora?”

The zebra, slightly startled, cantered out of her bedroom.

“Oh. Twilight Sparkle and friends. My home, to you, a warm welcome always extends. My, what is that creature you have there? It looks like something of which you should beware.”

Zecora was eyeing the small red creature that Twilight held in her magic. It faced the Zebra and gnashed its jaws. The zebra did not even blink, though a puzzled expression overtook her complexion.

“Then you don’t know what it is?” Twilight asked, looking between the bug and the zebra.

“No, I’m afraid I do not. But out my door, do not trot.”

“Why, what do you know?”

“Stay awhile,” Zecora urged, “Let us share a worthwhile smile.”

“That’s a nice idea,” Fluttershy said in a shaky whisper, “I would really like to stay.”

Applejack glared at the yellow mare. “Nonsense. We don’t have time. Ponyville’s only got a few hours left!”

“I’m really sorry, Zecora,” Twilight said.

Turning for the door, she continued, “But Applejack’s right. We don’t have time to stay. We need to figure out what these things are and where they are coming from before it’s too late.”

Zecora perked up a bit. “With finding the origin of the little whelp, I believe I might be able to help.”

“How so?” asked Twilight.

“Place it outside and watch where it goes. With a bit of magic, it may just return to the home it knows.”

Twilight paused for a second before saying, “That’s a good idea.”

“Thank ya kindly, Zecora,” said Applejack, pushing Twilight and Fluttershy towards the door of the hut. “I promise Twi’ll visit ya later, but we really must be leavin’ now.”

“I would really like to stay,” whimpered the yellow mare as Applejack forced her out into the damp of the Everfree Forest.

Twilight Sparkle pushed a soggy branch out of her face and looked back at the ground. It felt like they had been following the red bug for hours.

At first, the creature had appeared to be returning to Ponyville, but about halfway there, it had taken an abrupt turn deeper into the Everfree Forest.

She had seen several more of the strange creatures, too. All of them had been traveling in the opposite direction as the ponies, towards Ponyville. Everywhere, she could see small patches of scorched ground and burnt leaves. If they had lost track of the bug, it would not have been hard for them to follow the marks instead.

Twilight hastily shoved aside another branch that was blocking her way. She was running at nearly a full canter to keep up with the insect. What she saw caused her to stop abruptly.

Applejack galloped up beside the purple mare.

“Well,” the orange farmpony said with a sigh, “I’d say we’ve found it.”

Chapter 3: Return

Fluttershy squeezed in between the orange and purple mares, trying to get a look at what they say.

Her eyes shot wide. “There’s… so many.”

Applejack barely managed to grab the yellow pegasus’ tail in her teeth before she bolted away.

“Whoa’ there, Fluttershy,” she said in between gritted teeth, “We’re definitely gunna need your help on this one.”

“There are so many of them. What are we supposed to do?” Fluttershy squeaked.

Applejack had no answer.

After a moment, the farmpony tapped Twilight. “Uh, just what are we gunna do now, sugarcube?”

The unicorn was silent. She was still looking down across the open clearing in front of her. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of the near-identical red insects squirmed around each other in the wide area. The ground was blackened to a crisp, and several small fires burned within the creatures’ midst. The red bugs scurried in and out of the blazes, apparently no worse for their exposure to the fire. So many things were moving; she was having trouble keeping track of all of them.

Fluttershy trotted up next to her and said weakly, “Uh… Twilight.”

“Quiet, Fluttershy. I’m trying to think.”

“Twilight…”

“Not now. Just give me a minute.”

“Twilightitsimportant.”

Applejack nudged the purple mare beside her. “Sugarcube, you might wanna listen to her. I think your missin’ somethin’.”

Twilight looked hastily back at the yellow pony. “What is it?”

“There’s a pegasus down there, on the left,” Fluttershy answered. “She looks hurt.”

Applejack pointed a hoof in the pony’s direction. Twilight followed it to a small patch of unburnt grass on the edge of the clearing. A yellow pegasus with a red mane lay on her side within it, one of her wings bent awkwardly under her side.

“Forget about the bugs,” Applejack said. “We’ve gotta get to her. She might know what’s goin’ on.”

Before Twilight could answer, Fluttershy had already galloped past her and into the throng of bugs. The purple mare watched as the pegasus dodged and left over the bugs and around the small fires. Within moments, she was at the side of the injured mare.

Fluttershy tapped the unconscious red-maned pegasus with a forehoof. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

The pony stirred a little, and groaned. Her eyes shot open. “Who–? What–? Agh. What happened? Who are you?”

“My name’s Fluttershy,” said Fluttershy.

The injured mare twisted off of her side and tried to lay level.

She winced in pain. “My wing.”

“I don’t know what happened,” continued Fluttershy. “My friends and I just got here. Do you need help? Can you stand? We need to get you out of here.”

“I… I think so,” she said, pushing herself to her hooves.

Her injured wing flopped limply at her side as she steadied herself. “I’m not flying anywhere, though.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Don’t worry. My friends aren’t too far away. Follow me.”

After a moment, the kind mare added, “Oh, what’s your name?”

“Flicker,” the pegasus with the red mane answered.

Twilight and Applejack waited as Fluttershy and the other yellow mare trotted around the outside edge of the clearing. They were moving slowly, but soon, the pair was within speaking distance.

Applejack cantered up to the new pony and said, “Howdy, my name’s Applejack. Now would ya mind tellin’ us all what’s goin’ on here? We’re in a mite bit of a hurry.”

Fluttershy patted the pony on the shoulder. “Go ahead. You can tell them.”

The red-manned pegasus looked back at the swarm of red insects. “They’re my family. I’ve watched after them for years. I’ve kept them here, in the forest, ever since I found the colony. They’re amazing creatures. I watched as they’ve grown from a small group to what you see now. I’ve searched the forest for more; this is the last of their kind.”

Fluttershy, looking at Applejack, pleaded, “Please don’t kill them. They’re really, really special.”

The orange farmpony glanced around the pegasi in front of her and watched the scurrying red creatures for a moment.

“Than what are we gunna do? I don’t suppose you’ve got any ideas, Twi.”

The purple unicorn shook her head. After a moment, she asked, “Just what were you doing that caused you to crash? And, uh, what is your name?”

“I’m Flicker,” Flicker answered. “I was trying to corral them. They used to just live in around here, but I think they’re trying to start a new colony now or something. There’s just so many… It all got out of control. I shouldn’t‘ve let them grow so large.”

Fluttershy reached a foreleg around the sobbing mare. “There, there. We’ll work something out. I promise.”

“Uh, girls,” Applejack said slowly, “I think we better start runin’.”

“Huh?” “What?”

The farmpony pointed a hoof in the direction of the opposite side of the clearing. “A couple of the trees are on fire. It’s getting bigger. Fast.”

Fluttershy and Flicker spun around. “Oh no.”

“We’ve got to get you back to Ponyville, Flicker,” Twilight yelled over the increasing roar of the fire.

“No,” the mare said. “I’ve got to stay here; I can fix this.”

The mares were shouting now as the fire started closing in.

“Don’t be silly! This fire will kill you. We can get back to Ponyville and then figure out what we’ve got to do.”

Twilight took a step backwards. Her hoof slipped as she stepped on something soft. She looked down. Several bugs were scuttling about around the ponies’ hooves. More were coming.

“We’ve gotta get outa here now!” Applejack yelled as she started galloping back in the direction of Ponyville. Fluttershy was right behind her, flapping her wings to run faster.

“Come on!” Twilight yelled again as she pulled Flicker ahead of her. “It’s okay. We’ll work this out. I promise.”

Flicker, still crying, nodded and bolted after Fluttershy. Twilight took up the rear of the retreating ponies, using her magic to slow the fire directly behind them.

Chapter 4: Again

Twilight Sparkle looked up. The forest canopy was thinning quickly; she could see patches of gray sky above her. Small raindrops pattered noiselessly against her back, the sound of her galloping hooves and the branches brushing against her side drowning them out.

The mare turned her gaze back to the ground. Dozens of the red bugs were running past her hooves every minute, straight in the direction of Ponyville.

Twilight cleared the edge of the forest. Finally, she could see the small town that she and her friends called home.

Applejack, Fluttershy, and Flicker were far ahead of her. Behind her, the fire in the forest lagged behind, slowed by the outskirts of the pegasus storm that was protecting Ponyville.

But the storm was dying; the pegasi had done all that they could. And now, even more of the fire bugs would soon be swarming the vulnerable town.

Twilight flushed her horn with magical energy. Now that she was out of the forest, she could teleport.

In seconds, the mare had flashed across the distance between her and Applejack. A second later, she was inside the city. Another second and she appeared on the opposite side of the town’s river. One more burst of magic, and she stood in front of the circular town hall.

She pushed open the wooden door and cantered inside. Ponies were huddled together on the ground floor. Each one’s eyes were fixated on the soaked purple mare.

Questions assailed her. “Twilight!” “What did you find out?” “What should we do?” “Is it over?”

She pushed past the ponies and made for the stairs. She had to find the mayor, and organize a defensive plan.

Fluttershy would not like it, and Flicker would probably try to kill her, but she had a town to save. Those bugs were going to have to die.

Pinkie Pie extended a hoof. Something seemed wrong. She watched for a moment as the pink appendage floated in front of her field of vision.

Slowly, she lifted her other hoof and took off the umbrella hat that was shielding her head. She felt nothing.

The pink mare looked up. Above her, the warm sun was just beginning to poke through the clouds.

“Guys!” she shouted, “I think we’re going to need a lot more water.”

Beside her, Big Macintosh nodded his head slowly, his eyes still fixed on the sky.

“Eeeeyup.”

“Twilight! Twilight!” Spike burst in through the doors into the top level of the town hall.

The purple unicorn turned around. “Spike! I’m so glad you’re okay. What is it?”

The baby dragon held out a claw. In it was a scroll, still surrounded by small wisps of green fire.

“This just came,” the dragon said between ragged breaths. “It’s probably from Canterlot.”

Twilight pulled the roll of parchment over to her with her magic. Within moments, it was unfurled and she began reading. There were three words, scribbled in Celestia’s own hoofwriting.

USE SPECTRAL BLUE

The mare stared at the parchment blankly, blinking once.

The mayor tapped her on the shoulder. “So?”

“I – I – Find Rainbow Dash. She’ll know how to do this.”

Flicker watched as the bugs that she had raised rushed past her hooves and into the city. She was on the outskirts of it now, trailing just behind the yellow pony that had rescued her. She looked back, the purple one was nowhere to be seen.

The rain had stopped, and already she could see small patches of smoke floating up from the center of the city.

Not again. No. Not again. I’m not going to let this happen. I’m going to fix this. This ends now.

The red-maned mare stretched out her injured wing. It hurt, badly.

But she knew that she did not have a choice. She had to get to the town hall before everypony else did something violent.

She could find a way save both the town and her little fire bugs. She knew it.

Twilight pulled back on the tail of the rainbow-maned mare in front of her.

“Just one more thing, Rainbow.”

“Yah, Twi?” she answered, looking back.

“Don’t forget the forest. We can’t let this happen again.”

The pegasus nodded her head. “Piece of cake. I’ll be back in a flash.”

Rainbow jumped out of the window in front of her and took wing into the sky.

Twilight stood still, watching the blue mare until the top of the town hall blocked her vision.

I sure hope this–

She stopped mid-thought.

Oh no.

Turning, she galloped for the door.

“Where are you going?” shouted the mayor from behind her.

Twilight did not answer. She had to move quickly. There was not much time left.

“Stop!"

Flicker crashed in through the window, narrowly missing the mayor as she careened into the wall behind the tan earth pony.

“You’re too late,” the mayor deadpanned. “Rainbow Dash is already flying, and Twilight’s run off.”

Flicker blinked.

Her eyes started to water. She was going to lose them. All of them. So many years. The last of their kind. All gone.

She ran to the window. Outside, hundreds of the small red bugs that she knew so well scuttled aimlessly throughout the streets. Downstairs, she could hear the screams of dozens of ponies. The town hall was on fire now.

She was too late.

A blue flash tore through the open roads and alleys of the town. Flicker instinctively shielded her eyes from the bright light.

“Get down!” somepony shouted.

A rush of air filled her ears as a wave of force threw her back against the wall.

Chapter 5: Friendship

“Flicker? Flicker? Wake up.” Flicker heard the voice at the edge of her conscious.

She groaned, forcing her eyes open. Her wing hurt even worse now.

The yellow mare looked around groggily. Why was she not in the forest? What had happened?

Above her, a yellow mouth was moving. It was Fluttershy, the pony that had rescued her.

“Oh good. Are you okay, Flicker?”

“Wha– what happened?” the red-maned mare asked.

Fluttershy looked away. She looked like she was trying to answer, but could not force herself to speak the truth.

The brash voice of a mare interjected. Flicker looked to the blue mare at her side. She had a rainbow-colored mane.

“I killed them. All of them. In one big blast. You saw it right? It was awesome.”

“Rainbow!” shouted five voices at once.

The voice of the purple mare that Flicker remembered from before continued, “I’m so sorry, Flicker. We had to do something. I know I promised that we’d work it out. I just thought we would have more time.”

Flicker’s gaze shot between the six mares standing around her. All except the blue one were wearing forced smiles.

She realized that she was crying. It had happened again. And, again, she had failed to fix it.

“I could’ve saved them. Why? Why? Why did you kill them? I could’ve. I could’ve–”

Twilight Sparkle frowned. “How, Flicker? What do you know?”

“I–”

The mare looked from the unicorn, to Fluttershy, to the bed covers, and back to the purple mare again.

“I–”

She did not know. She had never had a plan.

“I–”

“Relax, sugarcube,” the voice of the orange earth pony said. “It’s not like it matters, now. It’s over.”

“I– What– What am I going to do?”

“That’s up to you,” said Applejack. “Doctor said you’d be all healed up an’ ready to leave by the time ya woke up. I’ve got a place for ya to stay, too. Until ya can get back on your hooves, at least.”

Flicker nodded in between watery sobs. She was right. It was over.

“Just one more thing, though. Twilight’s got somethin’ for you to see. You’re lucky she’s got such a sharp mind. Nopony woulda ever thought of doin’ what she did.”

“Wha–?”

Flicker watched as a small box levitated onto the bed, surrounded by the glow of purple magic. The lid opened slowly.

Inside, two small red insects scurried.

“You–?”

“The last of their kind,” the purple mare answered. “I saved them for you. I have a feeling you’ll be able to get them back to where they were before. Just, this time, with some help and a little more caution.”

Flicker looked up into the eyes of the smiling unicorn. “Thank you.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m sorry I haven’t written for awhile. I’ve been very busy making friends with a very interesting new pony. Today, I finally realized just what I’ve learned from her.

I learned that even though somepony might mess up a lot, they always deserve another chance if their heart is in the right place. Sometimes, they just need a chance to start over with somepony by their side to guide and help them.

Even though it can be hard to start again, and especially hard to realize that you actually need to, when you do, everything will eventually turn out alright.

Over the past week, Flicker has taught me just this. She’s a good mare. If there’s one thing about her that’s true, it’s that her heart is always in the right place. Sometimes, what she does just doesn’t turn out like she wanted.

Oh, by the way, just how did you know that spectral blue would work? And how did you know that Rainbow would know what to do?

Your Faithful Student As Always,

~ Twilight Sparkle