Tales of Apple Scratch : An Apple and a Flame

Chapters

The end, An introduction, the beginning
The Tournament
Bar fight

The end, An introduction, the beginning

“I’m going to miss you, you know that right”.

“Yes I know and I’m going to miss you too”

“Can you please stop, you are starting to get me sappy as well”

“Ha” Pyra laughs, “after all this time you can’t expect me to be a little emotional about this Colgate”

“Yes I know” Colgate said, “how was it that you called her, your eternal rival? I can still remember where your rivalry with Vinyl started,” Colgate said with a smile.

“Yeh I remember too, because I kicked her flank,” Vinyl laughed, earning an annoyed look from Pyra.

“I’m just kidding Pyra,” Vinyl mocked.

“yes I know” Pyra said with a sigh. “If I remember correct it’s 26 wins for you Vinyl and 23 for me.”

“Sorry Pyra but that’s not true, I have 27 wins. I just defeated you with arm wrestling remember.” Vinyl said with a smug.

“Honestly I have no idea how you girls keep doing it, you have challenged each other like crazy and became rivals in the process and still you are able to maintain a friendship as strong as it is,” Colgate said.

“Well you start with not holding a grudge if you lose”, Pyra said with a smile.

The girls talked for another hour reliving past moments the funny, the sad and the meaningful moments. But after that hour Pyra had to take her leave. Colgate already started to collect Vinyl’s items and clothes so they could start packing.

Pyra gave Vinyl a hug with her arms around her neck, after what happened with Colgate, she knew that it’s not very wise to touch her back.

When Pyra and Vinyl were training a few magic spells in the forest outside of Manehatten a year ago, a little accident happened and vinyl’s shirt was ripped beyond repair. Pyra stood up and saw Vinyl’s back and all the scars that were on it. After getting over the shock of what had happened and what she just had seen, she decided to ask about it.

Vinyl decided to talk about her past at the orphanage and how she ended up as an Apple. After she was done, Pyra offered to heal her scars but Vinyl declined her offer mumbling something about remembering. After teleporting herself and Vinyl back to the campus gates, not wanting to let Vinyl walk shirtless through town, she gave her shirt to Vinyl to cover up the scars. Before they separated, Vinyl ask Pyra to not tell anyone and to “not treat her different than before.” Pyra replied with a smile and said she wasn’t planning too and teleported away.

During the hug Pyra whispered in her ear, “you better keep up with your training , my rival or else you make things too easy for me next time we meet”.

Vinyl smiled replying in a whisper, "you don’t have to worry about that, you remember my sister Applejack? She will make sure I keep my game up."

"What was it you called her again?" Pyra replied, "The monster of Ponyville?" Both sharing a laugh. "When “I get my degree next year I’ll come visit you in Ponyville, I can’t to wait to meet this monster”

After the hug, Pyra made her way to the door while Vinyl started to pack, she opened the door and turned around.

“Vinyl not that you need it but good luck with your gig at the royal wedding” Pyra said. “And before I forget, sent me a picture of AJ in a dress, after all you told me that has to be quite a sight. Perhaps even a hilarious sight”. Earning a laugh from Colgate and Vinyl.

"Colgate I’ll see you tonight," Pyra said giving a wink, making Colgate blush instantly, and closing the door behind her. She could hear Vinyl laughing through the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking through the hallway Pyra was thinking about the last three years she spent with Colgate and Vinyl. Smiling all the way, it was a good time she thought to herself.

BUT let me introduce myself first.

My name is Pyra Blaze, I’m an Titanian and I’m 21 years old, my friends call me a hothead for more reasons than one, I can appreciate a joke but if you make it personal or lie I will burn your ass or worse. I have orange/yellow hair in a braided tail and I have green eyes. And my body is something I’m quite proud off if I may say so myself. I lived my entire life in Manehatten with my parents and brother.

I’m the oldest of two children, my brother is six years younger than me. His name is Blitz Blaze, he’s and Eponian and a fast one, even when he was a child. His dream is to win gold at the Equestria games and to be the fastest on land and I’m going to make sure he succeeds in that.

You might wonder how it’s possible that I have an little Eponian brother, and ask yourself the question am I adopted, is he adopted. The answer to both is no. you see, my father is en Eponian and my mother was a Titanian. My father’s name is James blaze and he is a private detective. My father, James has a clean eye for details and does research as the best. He solved all the mysteries/cases he was hired for. On a regular base he got an contract from the guards to help them find a criminals. I got that from him, I use it to research and make or update my spells. My mother’s name is Arianna Blaze, she was a smart woman who was the CEO and major shareholder of the Biggest fashion and glamour magazine of Equestria called Equestria Fassion Time.

When I was nine years (almost ten), my father got hired to gather evidence against a local crime lord. Dad had taken the case without a doubt and started directly with the things he did the best.

When the crime lord found out about my father who was breathing in his neck, he sent his henchmen to intercept my dad and “persuade” him to drop the case. When my father refused to cooperate with the thugs, the crime lord ordered an attack on the him. He was beaten-up and had to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks. But even after all he has been trough he wouldn’t give up on the case and he wanted to make sure that, that crime lord got what he deserved.

The crime lord wasn’t a good man, far from it but he wasn’t a murderer. My father’s perseverance was getting on his nerves and so he ordered two trusty henchman to scare the detective into submission. The thugs names were Mugshot Mole and Diderick Jones, he gave them a picture. On the picture was a woman with fire red hair and a little girl with orange and yellow hair, both with emerald green eyes. They were to subdue the woman and take the child as leverage.

The next morning, after dropping Blitz off at the kindergarden, my mother Arianna was walking with me to my elementary school, it was the last schoolday before summer vacation and I was full of energy and excitement. Well my mother was trying to hold me, her over energetic child, in check, I eventually broke loose from her grip and started to dancewalk on the sidewalk. My mother was smiling well trying to catch up. Even though there weren’t many people or much traffic, she still didn’t like it.

When I walked passed an alley, I got grabbed and pulled in. My mother seeing this happen ran after me into the alley. She saw two man, a Eponian and a Jupitarian. The Jupitarian was holding me in a tight grip and was about to fly away, when she used her magic to grab his wing and pull him back to the ground. When the Jupitarian slammed back into the ground he sprained his wing in the process, but he was still holding me. I was shaking and resisting but I couldn’t get free. The Eponian noticed the distraction and used it to pull my mother into the alley and threw her face first against the wall. When he came closer she swung around with stretched arms and hit him right in the eye with her nails, blinding him. The man pulled her from the wall and was looking at her with his good eye. In a uncontrollable rage he started to punch into her, all the while I was watching and screaming him to stop. Then he threw her on the floor and started to kick her. His partner was telling him to stop because they had me and they needed to go, but he didn’t listen. I was still screaming to him that he needed to stop, then something happened, inside me something snapped and everything went black.

When I came to, I looked in the eyes of a guard who was giving me a kind smile. I looked around to see the unconscious bodies of the two thugs with al kind of burn wounds on their body. Then I saw that paramedics were with my mother. I tried to crawl towards them but the moment I put my hands on the ground, I felt a sting of pain raging through my body. I looked at my hand to see that my hands also had burn wounds but they were far less serious than the one the thugs had.

I heard witnesses talking to the guard that they heard screaming. When they went to look they saw the little girl used some kind of fire magic on her hand while her eyes where glowing white. She attacked the Eponians face with somekind of fireball well he was distracted. She broke lose by burning the one who was holding her and jumped straight for the other one. Then the guard who heard the commotion sped to aid and knocked out the two thugs who were distracted by the little girl.

My mother was in a coma and was rushed to the hospital. The healers and paramedics tried everything they could but it was to no avail. That night my mother’s body had succumb to her wounds and she died 12 hours after trying to protect her me. I was crying in my father’s arms while we were in the waiting room. I vowed that I would get stronger so things like this wouldn’t happen to me or my family again, and I vowed that I would avenge my mother if the opportunity ever presented itself. Mugshot Mole would feel my heat.

With the confessions of the two thugs and the case my father had made, the guards had enough to arrest the crime lord and throw him in jail for life. The two thugs got both 50 years in jail with no chance for early parole.

My dad being a single father now, took some time off to take care of his family. He let me take fight classes so I could learn how to defend myself, but I wanted to do it so I could protect my family. I appeared to be really good at it and I got the black belt at the age of 14. At the age of 15 I learned how to use my fire spells and fighting techniques in combination.

The years without my mother were hard, but my father managed to do it with some help off me of course. I made sure Blitz made his homework and I brought him to school so my father could keep working. When I turned 16 my father gave me a necklace with a locket. Inside the locket was a picture of me with my mother. The picture was taken a month before the accident. It’s my most valued possession.

When I was 18 I got accepted into the Princess Celestia's Royal University of Manehatten. I can remember that day like it was yesterday for more reasons than one.

It all started when I came home after school….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“DAD are you home?” Pyra yelled.

“Yes I’m home and you don’t have to yell young lady, I’m right here” James said.

“Hehe sorry about that, but is it here? Has it arrived? why hasn’t it arrived yet?” Pyra said faster then she meant to do.

“Relax honey, it hasn’t arrived yet, but did you remember to pick up your brother from elementary school. Seeing that he’s not here, I guess that’s a no.”

“Crap, I’m sorry I have been busy with researching a few spells at the library and I forgot the time I’ll be right back." After she said that she vanished in an orange flash.

"That girl still amazes me after all this time,” James said with proud smile. He went to the dining table grabbed the newspaper from the table, sat down and started to read it. After he read the headlines he started to frown.

After ten minutes the living room was lighten up with an new orange flash.

“Okay you go do your homework then we go train on your time, if you want to win gold you have to be faster,” Pyra said against her little brother.

“AWWW do I have to, can’t we go train now and not do homework, it’s not like I need it if I’m becoming an athlete” Blitz said with puppy eyes.

“You know those don’t work on me and no homework NOW, our parents want us to succeed in life and to help with that you need a good degree”. Pyra said while pointing to Blitz’s room, while holding her locket with her other hand.

“Fiiiinnne, but could you make me some food please?” Blitz said.

“Sure I’ll come bring it in a few minutes. With that Blitz went to his room and Pyra went to the kitchen.

“Hey honey, I see you’re back,” James said in a neutral tone.

“Ow hey dad, yeh I just got back, I’m making a snack for Blitz do you want some to?”

“No thanks, honey I want you to sit down there is something I need you to see.” James said.

“Ow ow ow did it arrive?” Pyra said full with enthusiasm.

“No honey it did not, there is something you need to see” James said while giving the newspaper to his daughter.

“What’s the matter and why are you so serious all off the sudden” Pyra said while taking the newspaper from her father and started reading the headline. Her eyes went wide and she started to shake.

MUGSHOT MOLE ESCAPED FROM PRISON

On the night of 6 and 7 May, was a riot at the Prison of the Royal Sisters, the riot started at midnight and lasted for only 20 minutes. But in those 20 minutes a lot happened. It started with a fight between two prisoners Diderick Jones and Heel Stone. When the guards opened the gates to intervene they turned against the guard and overpowered them in a surprise attack. The two prisoners then made their way to the control centrum of the prison and opened the cell doors.

A fight between the guards and the prisoners followed. After 15 minutes the guard had the situation under control. The prison has a total damage of 100.000 gold bits. No guards were killed 10 guards were seriously injured, but are out of any life threatening danger, one prisoner was less fortunate, the criminal Diderick Jones was stabbed multiple times and died on the spot. The guard think it was a fellow prisoner who had a grudge against Jones.

When the riot was under control the guards did a headcount and came to the discovery that Mugshot Mole was nowhere to be found. He had used the chaos from the riot to escape.

Mugshot Mole A.K.A. One eye Mugshot was arrested for the murder on Arianna Blaze, the CEO of the Magazine Equestria Fassion Time. The whereabouts of Mugshot Mole are currently unknown. If you see this criminal, alert the guards and stay away from him. This man is extremely dangerous and will not doubt to harm those who get in his way.

Below the news message was a picture of Mugshot. A tall man with a robust upper body with a nose too big for his face, an eyepatch on his left eye and he had a fat moustache. On his left cheek was a scar that indicated where he was hit by the fireball.

It disgusted Pyra. She grabbed her locket and looked at her father.

“Did they hire you to catch him?” she asked her father.

He looked away from Pyra, she could see a tear in his eye, “No.”

“WHAT, WHY NOT?!” Pyra yelled.

“Calm down Pyra,” who was shaking again.

“I got a message from the guards and they told me that they couldn’t hire me because it was to personal,” James said quietly.

“To personal, TO PERSONAL!! Have they lost their mind!?" Pyra yelled while her hands started to light up.

"THIS MAN, THIS MAN KILLED MY MOTHER AND THEY WON´T ALLOW YOU TO LOOK FOR HIM.” Her eyes started to glow and her hand lit up burning the newspaper in her hands.

“I wi… I will find him and when I do. I.. I… “ she couldn´t go further than that because her father had her in a tight hug, calming her down. She started hugging him back while she cried.

“I just miss her so much dad,” Pyra said while crying in his shoulder.

“I know honey I miss her too, But never forget she is always with us in our heart and our memory,” James said well stroking his daughters head.

Blitz who heard his sister yell, went to look what was happening and was standing outside the kitchen. He went in trying to calm his sister down by joining the hug. After standing there for five minutes Pyra finally calmed down.

"Let’s… Let’s get you to training," Pyra said against her little brother.

“But what about my homework?” Blitz asked.

“We’ll do that tonight together,” Pyra said with a smile.

"Let’s have some quality time together, I need to be with my family now, and I can use the training myself to get my mind of this… pile of ash." Pyra said while looking down at the burned newspapers.

“That reminds me Pyra, you got a letter,” Blitz said.

“When did that happen?” Pyra asked.

“Well when you were yelling it came in the mailbox. But forget about that just open it.”

Pyra took the letter and inspected it. On the letter was an official seal of the Princess Celestia's Royal University of Manehatten. She started to smile.

“This is it,” she said while opening the letter.

Dear Pyra Blaze,

We the managing board of the Princess Celestia's Royal University of Manehatten are proud and glad to inform you that, because of your excellent grades and your work for your family, you are accepted to begin your study for healing and combat magic.

Your first schoolday will be on Friday august 26th, you will get an introduction on that day and you will get your schedule for the following eight weeks. The next Monday will be your first official day of your classes.
Keep up the good work and make us proud.

Signed,

Penn Lite,

Principle of the Princess Celestia's Royal University of Manehatten

The only thing Pyra could do was smiling, while being hugged to death by her father who was telling her how proud he was. She took her locker in her hand and thought about her mother.

Author's Note

Well that ends the first chapter.

I wanted to show that after all what has happend, Pyra and her family are very close and support each other all the way.
If i made a grammer mistake please let me know, so i can fix it.
If you liked the story give me a like and if you have a suggestion for a competition, let me know

The Tournament

“Okay Pyra we have been here a month and you still act like it’s the first week of school, how are you so relaxed the first finals are in 3 weeks and the topics are quite difficult,” Rain said with a frown.

“And could you stop laughing at me like I just said something stupid?”

“Rain I know the subjects are difficult for you and that’s why I’m here to help you study. It’s like teaching my younger brother you just have to force them and convince them that studying is fun,” Pyra said with a smile.

“Your one to talk Pyra you already mastered that first healing spell and you only learned about it last week,” Star said while walking towards them with a paper in her hand.

“What can I say Star I’m a natural,” Pyra said with a smirk. “Rain what is the first thing you need to know to build up a healing spell?” Pyra asked, catching Rain completely off guard.

“Well.. I.. uhm.“

“yeh I thought so… start reading, this is still a library,” Pyra said.

“Are you excided Pyra?” Star asked. “Not many girls her are going to compete in the annual mixed gender free fighting completion. From what I heard only 8 girls are competing from the 32 registered participants.”

“Well only one is needed to kick their flanks might as well be me,” Pyra said laughing. “By the way Star what’s that in your hand.”

“Ow I almost forgot it’s your registration and your number, you are number 22,” Star said.

“So… is it 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4?” Pyra asked.

“No this year they changed it,” Star explained. “The first contestant pulls a number from a box and that number will be his opponent, after the fight, number 2 pulls a number until 16 matches are played and then it’s a tournament setup.”

“I see, Rain do you have an answer for me?” Pyra asked, stumbling Rain in the process.

“Yes, you need to guide the magic to your fingertips in complete focus and guide the magic trough the wound to apply it so the healing starts,” Rain answered.

“Very good Rain, you earned your break, but remember this spell works only if you stand still or if you lie down, if you walk the spell breaks. For that you need more advanced spells,” Pyra said.

“Let me guess, you already know those spells do you Pyra?” Rain asked.

Pyra smiled while looking away.

“OW COME ON!”

“SSSTTT”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Pyra was stretching her body and preparing for the tournament when someone went to sit next to her.

“Greetings young lady, may I assume that you are also participating in this years mixed gender tournament,” the stranger said with a high Canterlot accent.

“In that you are correct, may I ask you your number of the tournament?” Pyra asked.

“Well I am number one of course.”

“Of course? Why is that, didn’t you sign in first?”

“No my aunt is the princesses and because of that I’m always first in line.”

“So basically because of your title you get a lot of things without working for it,” Pyra replied.

“No that’s not how it goes, people respect me and that’s why they give me things.” The young noble said clearly offended by what Pyra said.

“You know that, that is not how the world works right, if you want something you need to earn it, just like this tournament, you won’t win it because of a title. You will have to defeat me if you want to win,” Pyra said in a serious tone.

“Ha, a little girl like you can never defeat the mighty Prince Blueblood. You are not even an warm-up match.”

“We will see about that, If I’m against you, you better not blink you might miss what happened to your body in that time,” Pyra said very coldly.

After that blueblood straightened his back and took his leave while Pyra went back to stretching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright everybody we are ready to begin! Can contestant number one come over here to pick a number.” The announcer yelled trough a microphone.

“It’s about time, I was already growing a white beard,” Blueblood said while he put his hand in the box with numbers.

“You have picked number 22, can contestant number 22 come to the arena it’s time for your match.”

Blueblood scanned the contestant bench to see who was his opponent, but no one stood up.

“Ha it seems that he’s chicken,” Blueblood laughed.

“I’m standing right here,” Pyra said behind Blueblood making him jump from the surprise.

“How did you get behind me!” blueblood yelled.

“I walked,” Pyra said getting a laugh from the audience

“Alright Number 1 vs Number 22, READY… Fight!!”

When the bell gonged, Blueblood launch himself at Pyra. With his fist ready to strike her face. When he was only 20 centimetre away, his punch stopped, earning a surprise glare from blueblood. Pyra had caught the punch of blueblood with her hand without moving an inch.

“That’s it? After all the bragging and talking high and mighty, this is the best you come up with, that really pathetic.” She released blueblood and he jumped back.

“I don’t like your kind Blueblood," Pyra said. “The kind of people who think this world is all about serving you, don’t you. You never faced the hard things in life, you haven’t lost anyone in your life, you haven’t feared for the safety of a loved one. No you always had the easy way, and because of that you think you’re special and deserve to be served.”

“You think this all a joke, that you walk in here and take the win without any trouble. I’m here because I take this serious and I need to know how far my skills have developed in the last couple of years, but you, do you even know how to fight? “

“HOW DARE YOU, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?” Blueblood yelled.

“Yes I do, and by Celestia I wish I didn’t, it would spared me the headache you just gave me.”

Blueblood launched in anger at Pyra. “I’m ending this,” Pyra said. The moment Blueblood tried to punch, Pyra grabbed his arm and flung him over her shoulder, slamming him into ground.

She stood above Blueblood and looked down on him well he was wallowing in his pain.

“A prince is supposed to lead his people and help them, like your aunts. But you you’re nothing like them. You are a prince in title only.”

After that she raised her leg and slammed it down in Blueblood’s stomach knocking him out. The crowd started cheering.

“Winner Number 22 by Knock Out. Number 22 has earned the right to fight in the next round. Number 2 come pick your number. ”

Pyra didn’t hear it, she just walked back to the dressing room so she could calm herself down and regain focus until her next match, not noticing the pair of red eyes focussed on her.

She heard the crowd cheer every time someone had won his or hers match, she never saw any of the other matches.

“We take a ten minute break so our finalists can rest up and prepare for the final.”

Pyra went to her roommate to talk. “So Star how do you like the tournament so far?” Pyra said,

“You were amazing,” Star said while giving Pyra a bottle of water, “you really put that good for nothing prince in his place.”

“I doubt that it made any change in his behaviour,” Pyra said.

“Well I’m so glad that you made it to the finals, but the finals won’t be as easy.”

“Ow really what kind of spectacular dude impressed you so much you forgot about your boyfriend already,” Pyra said with a mocking smile.

“No not a dude, a girl.”

“Well that’s a surprise,” Pyra said. “Was she any good?”

“Ow yeh, just like you she won all her matches without breaking a sweat,” Star said. “I belief she came from Ponyville a small town about two hours from Canterlot.”

“Things just got interesting,” Pyra said taking a sip from her drink.

“Ladies and Gentleman it’s time for the final, for the first time we have two girls in the finals. I’m inviting number 22 and number 11 to take their place in the arena.”

Pyra walked to the arena and saw a girl with blue hair and red eyes walk in the same direction. “This will be fun,” Pyra thought. She went to her spot and took a stance.

“You may begin!”

Pyra stood there waiting for her opponent to make the first move and apparently she was doing the same thing.

“Uhm girls you can begin the match,” the announcer said without his microphone.

After two minutes you could hear a pin fall. On the count of the clock Pyra launched at the blue haired girl, who took a defensive stance. She wanted to end it fast so she had to use more strength in this match then the entire tournament.

Her first punch got blocked, as she expected because it was only a diversion. She used her leg to try to let the girl loose her balance, but to her surprise, the girl had used her own foot to block the surprise attack. After breaking away from her opponent she had to rethink he strategy, because overpowering wasn’t going to work, she already knew that. Then she had to best faster with rapid attacks.

Using this strategy worked his way’s, she had gotten a few good hits on her opponent, but she also received a few good hit, and she was getting tired. After ten straight minutes of fighting both girls were panting and only had strength left for one attack. The blue haired girl was first to launch. She ran straight to Pyra with her fist aiming for her face. Pyra reacted by blocking, but because of that she didn’t see the feint move and got a unblocked punch straight in her stomach, knocking all her strength out of her.

Pyra fell on her knees ready to fall over on the hard floor, but before she could, something grabbed her. “Your strong can you tell me your name?” The blue haired girl said with a big smile.

“Pyra Blaze,” Pyra said half panting.

“Well greetings Pyra, I’m Vinyl Almata Apple but you can call me Vinyl. “

“Ladies and Gentleman may I introduce you to the winner of this amazing final. Vinyl Apple Scratch. Give her and her opponent Pyra Blaze a round of applause.”

Author's Note

That marks the end of this chapter.
Pyra and Vinyl have met and there rivalry will only grow from here.

If i made any mistakes, let me know so i can fix them.
If you liked the story give me a like and if you have a suggestion for a competition, let me know

Bar fight

“No I won’t allow you to win this one Pyra,” Vinyl yelled.

“Haha, forget it Vinyl you may be faster than me in a straight line but on an obstacle course, I’m the faster one,” Pyra yelled back.

“I won’t give up, you know that,” Vinyl said well trying to catch up with Pyra.

“How many rounds are left Colgate?” Star asked.

“I belief that Pyra only needs three more round and Vinyl need like three and a half round.” Colgate responded.

“I can’t belief how fast this went. Three months ago they didn’t even know each other and then they have a legendary match and now they challenge each other like crazy.”Star said with a smile. “What happened to blueblood I haven’t seen him the last few months?”

“Uhm I belief he transferred to a different school in Canterlot,” Colgate said.

“Probably because he couldn’t handle the humiliation,” Star laughed.

“But can you please explain me why we are watching a race between those two, while it’s freezing”

“Well you know how this goes with those two, only it’s colder now”

“Yeh I know, who do you think would have won if they were allowed to use magic?” Colgate asked.

“Pyra no doubts about it”,

“really? What makes you so sure, Vinyl is a really strong and capable with magic to”

“That is true, but don’t forget that Pyra has fire magic, which leaves a lot of scars and she can use healing magic, so unless she has a super spell that defeats Pyra in one shot, she will probably win because every wound that is made can be healed without much trouble,” Star said, well that and I notice Pyra has been doing a lot of studying to develop new spells Or improve her old ones.

“Speaking of studying, isn’t this your last year Star?” Colgate asked.

“Yes, yes it is, I’m going to miss the times I had with you guy’s even if it wasn’t long it was still special. Especially with those two running a mock now and then.” Star said with a sighed. But we still have like half a year, so let’s make them special.

“Well we are going to the bar this evening, and we would love it if you could join us,” Colgate said.

“I would love to but I can’t, I need to finish my paper for Monday and I still need to do some research on a few topic’s.” Star said with a frown.

“Speaking of research have you heard about that friend of Vinyl, what was her name again Cloud… Cloudsomething?”

“Cloudkicker?” Colgate interrupted.

“Yes Cloudkicker”

“You mean the one who is training to become a guard and is being trained by a Spitfire herself?”

“Wait what really, the captain of the Wonderbolts is training her?”

“Yup, Vinyl told me about her, she is being trained in the desert as we speak with weighted armor.” Colgate explained.

“That has to be hard and really hot, but I would give it over this freaking cold.” Star whined.

“But back to what I wanted to say, when Vinyl told Pyra that her friend was building constructions from clouds, she got Pyra hitting the books and researching that stuff so she can make something like that with her fire magic. She told me that she wanted to make swords or something from fire. I woke up and found her on her desk reading a book over ancient magical weapons, at 4 am in the morning. I had to drag her to her bed else she would have been there all night. Please make sure she gets some sleep when I’m gone,” Star joked, earning a chuckle from Colgate.

“And if that doesn’t work, you should join her, she would love that” Star whispered with a grin.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Star said while looking away laughing,

“Ah their finally done took them long enough” Star said while watching Pyra finish with Vinyl right behind her.

“Finally I had almost given up hope to ever win again,” Pyra said with an happy smile,

“Yeh you won the race fair and square,” Star said, “can we go inside now I’m freezing my toes off.”

“It’s not that cold I don’t even wear a coat this time of year,” Pyra said with a smile.

“Yeh I know but you’re a walking flame and I’m not can we please go inside and have hot Coco or something,” Star said jumping on her place.

On their way back Star could hear Vinyl and Pyra talk about some coordinated Super attack magic spell.

“But what do you have in mind?” Vinyl asked.

“Okay hear me out, An attack spell that uses highly concentrated magic. You use a small to medium amount of magic to create for example a flame and you seal that flame away while heating it up. The air inside will burn out, leaving the flame to die but if you open the seal at that moment, new oxygen will fill the seal, causing an explosion like a backdraft. You know what I’m going to do that. And I will call ‘The Backdraft.’ “

“Little tacky don’t you think?” Vinyl said.

“Hehe maybe, it might take some time but I’m going to create that spell. I advise you to do the same,” Pyra said with a mocking smile, “else my backdraft will kick your applebucking spell’s flank,” she said with an even bigger mocking smile.

“You know what, you’re on Pyra.”

“Really? What are you going to call it? the music cannon, no the Bass blast or the soundmover or the Sonic BOOM… yes that’s it”

“Pyra.”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay so where do we want to go tonight?” Pyra said while walking with Vinyl and Colgate.

“This place looks nice, why not here?” Colgate said while looking through the window of a bar.

“Sure lets go in,” Vinyl said

“Greetings Girls welcome to the Mulling Mule what can I bring you?” The bartender said with a kind smile.

“Good evening” Colgate said, “do you have some apple cider?”

“Yes I have, I just got four crates from an orchard in Ponyville, the bartender said, this started the snickering within Colgate and Pyra while they were looking at Vinyl.

” Sweet Apple Acers I belief it was called. Belief me I don’t know how they do it, but the quality of their cider is off the charts.” Vinyl couldn’t help but feel a little proud and started to join her friends.

“Did I said something funny?” the bartender asked with a confused expression.

“No sir, you did not, it’s more of an inside joke," Pyra said, “anyway bring on the cider!”

After getting their drink and sitting at the bar Colgate had to ask something.

“I don’t want to sound dumb, but I heard you talk about a backdraft what is that exactly?”

“We can explain it very long but no one cares for the long story so I will give you the short version” Vinyl said with a smile.

“As you probably know, fire need three thinks to sustain itself. “

“Unless you’re a walking flame,”

“Pyra I’m trying to explain things here so please. Where was I, right three thing. The first is something to fuel the fire, second is heat and third is oxygen. If you take away one of these thing the fire goes out.”

“Let’s say a sealed room is on fire, all windows and doors are shut. The heat in the room will build up because it has nowhere to go, this build-up will consume a lot of oxygen. When the oxygen is gone the fire will go out. But when at that moment someone opens the door, he will allow new oxygen in the room waking up the fire again. The result is an explosion 10 to 100 times worse than there fire itself. Pyra here wants to direct that explosion at her opponent and that’s why she calls her spell” ‘the backdraft.’ “

“I see, that will be a hard spell to master,” Colgate said.

“Eeyup,” Vinyl and Pyra said in unison.

“I just added it to my list of spells and things I want to develop or improve,” Pyra said with a smirk.

“What list?”

Pyra reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper en acted like she put on some invisible glasses.

“let’s see,” Pyra said pretending to use her glasses to read the list in her hand.

“I still need to improve the healing spells from next year.”

“Don’t you mean this year?”

“Nope, moving on.”

“I want to reduce the cost of my dragonflame spell it still tires me out everytime I use it. I also need to improve my firegloves so they don’t burn me anymore.”

“The spells I’m developing are, the firedance a spell that let fire dance around my body to block melee attacks.”

“The fire weapons. I have something almost finished but I’ll keep that a surprise for later.”

“The backdraft, we already know about that one.”

“And last for now at least, magical flying.”

“What” Colgate said “flying? we’re not Jupitarians we can’t fly.”

“Yet” Pyra returned,

“Genius over here thinks she can fly using some kind of lavation spell,” Vinyl said with a grin.

“You never know if you don’t try.”

“But doing research for that and devolving your healing spells must take a lot off time, where do you get the time to do it all?” Colgate asked confused.

“Time bending spell,” Pyra said well taking a sip from her glass.

“WHAT!?” Vinyl and Colgate said in unison, seeing Pyra laughing in her glass.

“I’m just kidding, you should see your faces, priceless,” Pyra laughed.

“No the fabric of time is something even I won’t touch. But to answer your question I learn spell’s really fast and because of my eyes for details and research skills I develop them also quite fast.”

“What time is by the way” vinyl asked, “It’s uhm… Half past one,” Colgate replied.

“Wauw time really flies doesn’t it” Pyra said, “luckily it’s Saturday, so no school.”

“Cheers to that.”

“Hey there hot stuff, would you like to go for a walk around the park” an unknown voice said to Colgate.

“Uhm no thanks,” Colgate said clearly feeling awkward because of the drunken man behind her.

“C’mon it will be fun, you can even bring your little friends with you.”

“Dude she doesn’t want to go, so get lost” Vinyl said with a stern tone.

“No one talks to me like that you bitc… do you girl’s smell fire?”

“Yup that’s your ass mate, it’s on fire,” Pyra said while playing with her glass.

The man looked over his shoulder and saw indeed that his pants was on fire. He started to scream like a girl and ran outside to the fountain and jumped in.

The girls saw everything that happened and couldn’t stop laughing.

“Oi, I don’t take kindly to people setting my friends pants on fire, you know,” another stranger said.

Saying this with an funny accent only made things worse as the girls broke into laugher a second time.

“Stop that,” the stranger said, “I’m Borg Malcinson of the Malcinson family of Trottingham and my family is very power, we have friends in all the high places, you know”

“Why do they live in Cloudsdale?” Pyra said getting the girls to break into laughter a third time. They had the backs towards him while they were laughing in their own arms on the bar not noticing that the face of Borg was becoming completely red.

“STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, DIDN’T YOU LEARN ANY MANNERS FROM YOUR WHORE MOTHER!?” Borg yelled.

They all stopped laughing, Colgate looked shocked at her friends and saw Pyra grabbing her locket and started to shack while Vinyl was staring in front of her with a tear in her eye.

Borg noticing that he hit a weakspot, he decided to push it.

“You with the orange hair, I remember you, your that little bitch who beat up Prince Blueblood. You should learn your place and know you never fight with royalty. Didn’t you whore mother teach you that or was she too ugly to be a whore and had to live off an lowlife sack.”

While he said that his friends behind him were laughing, like the good little doggies that they were.

Every insult was as an stab in the heart, she couldn’t take it anymore, she had to make him stop.

Vinyl noticing the change next to her, she saw Pyra trying to control herself but she was losing that battle, because her hands were lighting up and her eyes were glowing. Vinyl remembered what Pyra had told her about the symptoms if she ever got angry.

“Pyra please calm down,” Vinyl said.

“Remember words can only hurt you if you let them Pyra,” Colgate said.

Pyra didn’t hear them, the only thing she heard were the insult about her mother. Her mother that was taken away from her by a criminal. It had to stop right now.

“And then one more thing about your…” Borg started.

“THAT’S IT!” Pyra yelled while igniting her hands, Borg froze with fear while looking into Pyra’s glowing eyes.

It happened so fast that if you blinked, you would have missed it. Pyra had jumped out of her seat, turned around and gave Borg a punch with her flaming fist sending him flying into the table where his friends gave a shocked look before Borg flew into them.

“You will pay for that” Borg yelled while holding his hand on the spot where Pyra’s punch had hit him. “Get her. “

Pyra didn’t care, fuelled with rage she would make him pay for every word he had said.

One of Borg’s friends had snuck behind Pyra and was about to attack her from behind, when he got grabbed. He look to see what stopped him and he was met with a pair a red eyes, who were looking very angry.

“Only a coward attacks someone in his back,” Vinyl said with an icy tone.

The man gulped, Vinyl pulled on the man’s arm so his middle was in front of her, then she gave a knee into his stomach and hit him on his head, knocking him out instantly.

She then went to join Pyra who was fighting four guy’s.

the guy’s had taken apart a table and used the wood as a weapon. Pyra could have used magic, but she didn’t want to, she wanted to beat these guys with her bare fists.

After two minutes the fight was over and Pyra was standing in front of Borg, who was cowering at her feet. She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up, she stretched her are to let all her anger out at him in one final punch. But before she could do she got grabbed.

“Please no more” a sweet voice said. “There has been enough fighting, please stop Pyra.”

Pyra looked over her shoulder and saw Colgate hugging her with tears in her eyes.

Pyra let go of Borg who fell to the floor and ran out of the door. She felt the hug getting tighter. And she didn’t want it to end. In the corner of her eyes she saw Vinyl sitting in a chair looking at them.

“Thank you for helping me Vinyl”

“What are friends for, I know this is not the time but you looked so awesome and your fighting has definitely improved the training we have been doing together is really paying off.”

“Glad you noticed,” Pyra said with a chuckle.

“You two are really something, you know that,” Colgate said with a sighed while she let go of Pyra.

Pyra turned to the bartender and tossed him a small bag.

“I’m sorry about everything that happened sir. This should cover the bill, the repairs and a generous tip, because the cider was delicious,” Pyra said well walking to the door with her friends behind her.

“Guy’s I’m sorry you had to see that, I never meant it to happened and because of it I ruined our night out on the town.”

“It’s okay Pyra, that man said some terrible things and after what happened with your mother we understand it.”

“Yeh and if you hadn’t done I would have, because someone needed to teach that guy with his annoying accent a lesson and like I said you looked awesome, if you can learn to harvest that raw power without needed to be angry you might even beat me,” Vinyl said with a mocking smile.

“By the way Vinyl how many did you knock out?”

“Seven, why?”

“I got eight, I win,” Pyra said laughing.

“What, hé that’s not fair!”

“I’m still counting it.”

“You can’t do that!”

“And why is that?”

“I had three who were huge.”

“Those still count as one.”

“These two never change,” Colgate said well walking behind the arguing duo.

“But on the other hand these two know how to keep things alive around here,” she said with a chuckle