Sweetie Belle sprawled out onto the kitchen floor, not caring to get herself dirty, and let out a big, lethargic sigh. It was the middle of the day, twelve fifteen to be exact, and Rarity instructed her to stay out of her way while she worked on a dress for a very important pony in Las Pegasus. Sweetie Belle loved her sister more than anything but even though the feeling was mutual, she didn't feel like it was returned often enough. Rarity's obsession with her job as a fashion designer left little time to play games or otherwise entertaining her little sister.
"Geez Rarity," Sweetie Belle groaned, "why can't you be more like Pinkie Pie? There's nothing to do in this house."
The young unicorn made many attempts to entertain herself in this otherwise, dull, boring kitchen. She barrel-rolled across the floor for about a minute. She moved the table and the chairs to different spots in the room but that became rather dull shortly after. In a last ditch effort, she began opening every cabinet, drawer, and container in the kitchen she could get her hooves on. This actually brought a little smile to her face. She had no idea what to expect from inside. She found every kind of cutlery you could imagine made of several different kinds of materials. Metal, plastic, wood, even crystal. It felt like a treasure hunt.
Sweetie Belle looked back to admire the slowly growing pile of utensils on the floor behind her, "Wow, this is so cool! What else does Rarity have in here?" Sweetie Belle scanned the room for any stones left un-turned. Her eyes met with one still closed and she walked over to it and slowly pulled the metal handle outwards. She peered inside the wooden treasure box and found another box.
"Huh? What's this?" Sweetie Belle reached into the drawer and pulled out a small, rectangular, cardboard box. It's front was red with a blue diamond on the left half, it's sides were coarse with some strange brown checkered material. She raised the box close to her ear and shook it. Another smile formed on the filly's face as she heard the contents of the box rattle inside. After carefully inspecting the box, she figured out how to open it. She pushed in one of the small sides with her hoof and watched as it was pushed out on the other side, revealing the treasure within.
Sweetie Belle looked to see a bunch of small wooden sticks with red tips. She carefully tipped the box and let one of the sticks fall into her hoof.
"Hmmmm..." She said, holding the stick close to her face, "what is this? A toothpick?" Not being able to figure it out, she placed it back in the box and slid the open end shut. She flipped the box over and saw some writing that was printed on the bottom side. She cocked her head and began to read aloud,
"Grip match firmly and place red faws-for-us end of the match firmly against striker on either side of box." Sweetie Belle took a match out and did as the instructions said and continued reading, "Quickly drag match across the striker. Caution: Flames burn upwards. Be mindful of positioning of active matches while holding. This is not a toy, keep out of reach of children. Fire can cause, but is not limited to, the following: First degree burns, second degree burns, third degree burns, death, and property damage."
Sweetie Belle shrugged, not caring too much about the warning on the box, she pressed the match against the side and dragged the red tip across it. She watched in awe as the chemicals sprang to life with a, pfft, and created an orange light on the end of the stick.
She watched as the flame slowly consumed the stick, gradually turning it black. Sweetie Belle rotated the match so it was pointed downwards. She then felt a painful stinging sensation on her hoof and immediately dropped the match onto the floor.
"Ow!" She yelped, surprised by the unexpected pain.
Sweetie Belle fought to hold back her tears and rubbed her hoof in an attempt to alleviate the pain. However, despite being hurt, Sweetie Belle's attention was drawn back towards the box and caused her eyes to sparkle.
She picked up the box and pulled out another match. She lit it with ease and watched the little flame dance effortlessly. It was absolutely beautiful. Sweetie Belle found herself in a trance. She was enraptured by the magic of the fire and her world shut out everything, leaving her and the flame in her hooves alone together.
"SWEETIE BELLE! I SMELL SMOKE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
A scream pulled the captivated filly out of her trance, as well as nearly giving her a heart attack. Being startled caused Sweetie Belle to drop the, still alight, match onto a dishrag on the counter. Once again, she found herself fixed on the rag as a dark ring formed around where the match had landed. It started as a light brown and then darkened quickly as the heat began to leave it's mark on the fabric.
Sweetie Belle heard the sound of her sister storming down the stairs. She snatched up the box with her teeth and quickly ran through the wash room and out the back door. She knew that Rarity would blow a fuse when she saw that she nearly set the house on fire. She figured that she'd just run off somewhere and lay low for a bit, hopefully by the time she goes home, Rarity would have calmed down.
The air was cold and Sweetie Belle regretted not bringing a scarf but it was probably wouldn't be a good idea to go back to the lion's den. No sense in going back to face Rarity's anger.
Sweetie Belle ran to the stone bridge that spanned a creek near Fluttershy's cottage. She lowered herself down into the valley of the creek and nestled herself on a spot of dry land.
She leaned back against the stone arch, relieved to be in a spot where she could take a breath. She closed her eyes and recalled the graceful dance of the flame. Once the flame died out in her mind, it quickly moved to when the match began to color the dishrag brown. She opened her eyes,
"Ah wunfur fwut elf ah cud shet un far?" Sweetie Belle looked down to see the matchbox still in her mouth. She spat it out into her hooves and took out a match and lit it. She watched as the flame danced on the end of the stick until a sudden gust of wind blew it out.
She looked out from her hiding space to see that the sun was going down. She shivered and regretted not taking the chance to go back into the lion's den for her scarf. She remembered the warmth of the flame and carefully lit another one. The tiny flame only managed to warm her muzzle. It was simply too small to provide any real source of comfort. She needed something bigger. Something like...
"A pile of leaves! That's it!" Sweetie Belle remembered the sister camping trip she went on and how to properly start a fire.
Sweetie Belle scraped together a small pile of dry leaves in front of her. She puffed out her chest and put her hooves on her sides and nodded, affirming herself for her ability to make a leaf pile. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would be proud. She pulled another match out of the box and lit it effortlessly in one swift motion. Sweetie Belle carefully lowered the match down to the leaf pile and watched the flame lick the brown leaves. She shielded the flame with her empty hoof and in a matter of seconds, the leaves caught and a larger flame emerged as the whole pile was engulfed.
"Wow." Sweetie Belle smiled in awe, "It's so nice and pretty." Sweetie Belle held her hooves up to the flame and sighed, "It's so nice..." Sweetie Belle relished in the warmth and it brought her great joy for a short time. Seconds later, the flame ran out of leaves to burn and went out. The space around Sweetie Belle became dark again and all that was left of the once beautiful fire was a string of white smoke rising from the ashes.
"I need more. What else can I burn?" Sweetie Belle got up and crawled out from under the bridge, the moon was now visible in the night sky.
The leaves crunched under her hooves as she walked into town, "I've already set some of those on fire. I need something else this time. Something... bigger."
Sweetie Belle couldn't keep this to herself. She wanted to share it with everypony and receive praise for her work, just like Rarity when she makes dresses.
In the moonlight, Sweetie Belle's eyes caught a glimpse of a very large sized tree. Its leaves swayed gently in the wind and like a flame on match, Sweetie Belle's face lit up with excitement.
"That's perfect." She said, quickly inspecting the tree from top to bottom.
Sweetie Belle walked up to the base, lit a match, and held the flame up to the bark. Her smile quickly faded when she realized that the tiny flame wouldn't be able to light such a big tree.
This time, she gathered a larger leaf pile around the base of the tree and held a lit match up to it. The leaves quickly caught and created a roaring flame that licked the bark of the tree. Soon enough, the trunk went up in flames.
Sweetie Belle squealed in delight, despite hearing voices from inside the tree.
"Twilight? You smell something?"
"Fire! Spike help me grab as many books as you can carry and get out!"
Sweetie Belle noticed little squares of light appearing on the sides of the tree and all over town as ponies were turning on their bedroom lights and poking their heads out their windows, wondering what the commotion was.
"Everypony's waking up to see my work! They all want to see the beauty that I have created and mastered!"
Sweetie Belle took a deep inhale of the smell of burning nature, relishing every second of the heavenly odor. She was about to take another deep breath but stopped when she heard the all too familiar sound thundering hoofsteps and her sister's loud scream.
"SWEETIE BELLE! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rarity screamed in confusion.
Sweetie Belle turned to her sister and smiled, "Isn't it amazing? Look at it go!"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE?!" Rarity shouted, trying to make herself audible over the roaring fire and the murmur of ponies that began to congregate around them.
"I created something beautiful, just like you do." The filly smiled innocently, "I created something beautiful but I couldn't just keep it to myself. I had to show everypony in Ponyville what I've done. So, what I did was I set that tree on fire and everypony came to see it!"
Rarity was dumbfounded. She could tell that her sister was completely serious and that she really was proud of her work. However, she had no idea how to go about dealing with it. Her little sister has committed arson and set her friend's house on fire, but finding a way to explain to her that what she did was outright wrong was difficult because of her innocence.
Rarity looked down at her sister, the roaring fire cast a silhouette on the filly, and noticed something that wasn't there before. She blinked a few times, trying to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. What she saw didn't change,
"Sweetie Belle..." She said.
"What is it?"
"W-what's that on your flank?"
Sweetie Belle looked back to see a fireball emblem emblazoned onto her flank.
"Oh my gosh!"
