A Curious Flamin' Pyromaniac
The Equestria games had reached their thrilling conclusion. Spike had redeemed himself and was once again a hero in the Crystal Empire. It would probably be in his best interest to wear a disguise whenever in Cloudsdale though.
He and his pony friends were on the train back to Ponyville from the games. It was dinner time and the server unicorn was distributing meals in their car.
“Mr. The Dragon? I’m sorry but we are out of gems at this time. Would you like a salad?” The server asked.
“Salad? No gems? Don’t you at least have a donut?” Spike asked with outrage.
“Yes sir. One salad and a donut.” The server said and darted off.
“EXTRA SPRINKLES!” Spike shouted to the distant server.
“Spike, I’m so glad you learned about confidence at the Games.” Twilight said cheerfully.
“Yeah. I’m also confident salad usually is bland.” Spike said with a surprising lack of enthusiasm.
“I liked your rendition of the Cloudsdale anthem Spike! Could we get an encore?” Pinkie interjected.
“NO!” Spike shouted.
Pinkie then began humming the tune and dancing inexplicably.
Then the server returned with Spike’s less than preferred dinner. The donut was somewhat of a consolation.
“Thanks I guess. The donut is a bit cold though.” Spike said and a second later it burst into flames.
“Hey Twilight, you didn’t have to.” Spike said.
“I didn’t.” The shocked looking Twilight responded.
“Come on Twi!” Spike demanded.
“No seriously, I didn’t.” She insisted.
This must be a joke. It must be. Spike thought. Then again Twilight was totally honest with me back in the Crystal Empire during the Games. What if…
The salad then burst into flames too.
“I can, I really can! Psychic fire starting!” Spike said triumphantly.
Spike seemed to truly have the power of pyro-kinesis, but what he did as a mere test was a bad idea. Smoke soon filled the cab as the flame climbed onto a curtain. Spike was oblivious to the ruckus he was causing yet joyous. After about a minute a unicorn from the front crew rushed into the car with a fire extinguisher and put out the burning mass. The ponies were coughing from the lingering smoke.
“Twilight, did you see that! I burned the salad! Uh just as a test.” Spike yelped.
“There must be *cough* some rational explanation for this. Rarity?” Twilight queried.
“Twilight darling *cough” why would I do such a thing? After all this smoke is simply bad for my well groomed mane.” Rarity replied.
“Ah don’t get how this is possible.” Applejack said.
“Magic?” Pinkie hypothesized the obvious.
“Imagine all the great stuff I could do! No pony would ever go cold. No meal ever uncooked. No…” Spike began.
“Spike there must be a logical reason for this!” Twilight interjected.
“Come on Twi. The donut. The salad. Shall I demonstrate with something else?” Spike asked.
“No, no. That was problematic.” Twilight answered before realizing the answer’s wording empowered what she still thought was Spike’s delusion.
“So you DO believe I can start fires with my mind huh?” Spike said mischievously.
“No, it’s just..” Twilight began.
“Ok then, I’ll just demonstrate with something outside to be safe. Everypony look at that tree.” Spike said.
Whoosh. It happened as described. Just as the train rode on out of sight the group briefly saw a bird fly off the tree frantically in flames.
“Spike that poor bird! You should be careful!” Fluttershy said with unmistakable outrage.
The group was shocked at what they had witnessed. It was now extremely difficult to deny Spike’s fire starting mental power.
“I’m the fire master!” Spike shouted. “Told ya Twilight!”
In spite of Fluttershy’s concern Spike began to burn things outside of the train with juvenile ecstasy. Dry brush was blasted in the inferno. He even attempted to burn rocks, but that didn’t quite have the effect he had intended.
“Whoa, good thing Maud didn’t see that rock desecration.” Pinkie said with strange humor.
“Spike, you’ve gotta stop! There’s a town just a few miles from here. If you cause a wildfire the ponies there could be in danger.” Twilight cried.
Spike caught himself in a moment of conscience. It was difficult to suddenly cease the fun but he did so.
“Ok Twilight.” Spike said solemnly.
“When we get back to Ponyville we have to learn more about this strange power.” Twilight said with authority.
Spike waited anxiously in his seat. He was tempted to test his power once more. He started laughing within himself about something. That internal laughter quickly became slightly audible. Then it became fully audible.
“What is it Spike?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“To think I have this power. I could have toasted the changelings, Sombra, any bad guy all along. We did things the hard way.” Spike said.
The ponies knew in the back of their minds he had a point.
“Spike, no need to think about that. You didn’t know you had these powers until now.” Twilight tried to reassure him.
“Ahaha, I always had the power to create fire. I’m a dragon. I just needed to figure out how to project it!” Spike said as he ignited the curtains with a sinister laugh.
Twilight quickly levitated a nearby glass of water and put it out before another incident could occur.
“You can’t keep doing this Spike!” Twilight shouted.
“Ok, ok.” He said and sat back down with a trace of guilt.
“Pinkie, come with me.” Twilight said.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said and hopped along with her to the next car.
Once there Twilight closed sliding door behind them.
“Do you have any of that chloroform you keep in case of unruly arsonist emergencies around Equestria?” Twilight asked.
“Why yes indeedy!” Pinkie answered.
“Good, I’ll need some. Plus cake” Twilight said.
The two returned to the car where Spike was anxiously sitting.
“I know what will help take your mind off this new power Spike. Cake!” Twilight said as she hovered a piece over to him to eat.
“Well, ok.” Spike muttered as he devoured the entire slice.
“Oh, there are crumbs on your face. Let me get that.” Twilight offered.
“No, it’s ok Twi I…” Spike began before passing out as he was chloroformed with the handkerchief. He then fell on the floor of the train face down.
“Ah hope you didn’t kill him.” Applejack said mildly surprised. The rest of the group was surprised by the sudden tactic also.
“Sorry Spike. Everypony, this was for safety’s sake. He should be out at least until we get back to Ponyville.” Twilight said.
The train rolled onward to its destination.
Spike awoke with his vision slightly blurred. When things started coming into focus he could see that he was in the library. He had the most interesting dream of his life. It was that he was coming back from the Equestria Games and discovered he had the power to ignite things with his mind. It was only a dream. He felt a bit woozier than normal for just coming out of a nap.
There was only one question: why was he tied up? In the corner of his eye he could peripherally see some movement. He hopped in place a little bit until he could see a bit more. A familiar purple shade was busily moving about. It only took a few seconds for Spike to realize it was Twilight going through books.
“I’ve never heard of this. There’s gotta be something!” Spike vaguely heard Twilight say aloud.
Spike thought to himself about his situation. If he was somehow tied up maybe it wasn’t a dream after all. Maybe he could just…
The ropes then burst into flames and disintegrated. He was free. He walked over to Twilight, who had her back turned.
“Hey Twi I…” Spike began.
“Ahhhh! You’re free. Spike you can’t do it again. Please don’t play with fire.” Twilight said in a pleading way that Spike didn’t find quite necessary.
“I’ll only use my power for good.” Spike said.
“But with great power comes great responsibility. I know you were only testing it on the train but you still could have caused some damage. Even with the best of intent you have to limit use of this. I’m still trying to find something in the books that gives the power of pyro-kenisis” Twilight related.
“Pie of what kiss? Oh there’s nothing to worry about. I have an idea of proper use for this.” Spike said reassuringly.
“I’m hungry again though. I must have been out of it for hours. Muffin perhaps?” Spike inquired.
“I’ll go to Sugarcube Corner and grab some muffins. You’ve gotta stay here Spike. I mean it. Your power could cause an incident, even by accident. Don’t leave and don’t set any fires.” Twilight commanded.
“All right.” Spike said compliantly.
“Feel free to go through some books to see if you can learn anything about your power. NO FIRES.” Twilight sternly reminded him as she left.
Spike waited for a moment unsure of what to do. He thought of waiting and just going through the books like Twilight suggested.
He knew what Twilight said but it was hard to resist. He forced himself to sit down for a minute and continue thinking. No starting fires.
Then Owlowiscious came along and hooted.
“Believe you because you’re with the high command? Ok, but what does that have to do with starting fires with your mind?” Spike asked totally misinterpreting the hoots.
“I’ve just gotta go outside. Outside of town where nopony could have any problems with me just testing out the fire starting a little more.” Spike said decisively.
“Whooooo!” The owl said suggesting he stay put.
“Meeeee.” Spike answered cynically.
Spike strolled down the road through Ponyville. He was so delightfully enveloped in thought about his fire starting power he didn’t even think about when Twilight would return. A tourist from Manehattan then bumped into him and caused him to fall on his back.
“Hey watch wheah ya goin theah!” The jerk of a pony yelled even though he was actually at fault.
Spike got up and watched as the jerk continued walking like nothing happened.
“Grrr, that’s not how we treat folks in Ponyville!” Spike grumbled.
The callous pony then burst into flames. Spike didn’t wholeheartedly mean to do it but it seem possible now that strong emotions can incite the power.
“Ahhh, help! Help!” The Manehattanite shouted as he ran in circles for several seconds. Luckily there was a water trough nearby which he quickly used to splash out the fire. Onlookers came by to see what was going on.
“Oh my Celestia! He has third degree burns! Somepony get Nurse Redheart and the doctor!” One onlooker said.
Spike knew this was one incident that nopony on the outside would think to blame him for. It was simply too implausible. Twilight and the girls would know though. There was no way Twi wouldn’t know what happened once the story went around. Ponies don’t simply burst into flames. He would be in serious trouble.
Spike thought diligently for a minute. An idea hit him. If it appeared that Ponyville was having fires due to some other source and he was innocently at the library the whole time, perhaps he couldn’t be blamed for the problem. Maybe it wasn’t a fantastic idea, but if it seemed to be the case he might be off the hook. He didn’t think Owlowiscious would say anything incriminating either.
So Spike began setting tiny fires as strategically as possible away from buildings. Dry hay and other combustibles were the preferred targets.
In one case Cranky Doodle and Matilda Donkey just happened to walk a little too close by when a flame unexpectedly grew and consumed a hay bale.
“Cranky! No! Somepony help! My sweetest ass is on fire!” Matilda yelled.
Then her flank was ignited.
“Help, now MY ass is on fire!” she yelled again.
Spike didn’t intend for that to happen. He did quickly think to capitalize on the situation and grab a bucket of water to put out the flames.
“Are you guys ok?” he asked.
It then finally dawned upon him that he had now been seen in public by too many eyes and there was no way Twilight wasn't going to hear about it unless something really drastic happened.
Author's Note
WTG for Equestria Games. The second chapter is being written now.
