Burst of Flame
Lunch Hour
Sunset Shimmer sat at her bench in the Cafeteria of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The hustle and bustle of ponies around her barely registered to her as her stubby horn cut of its energy and the set of tableware she was holding landed with hardly a clink. Her horn lit once more as she pulled a feather from her saddle bag using telekinesis and placing it on the table before her.
Her food sitting to the side unnoticed, her horn lit with a furious spark. The feather was surrounded by a yellow aura, and she fed more power into the spell. The light gleamed around it with a ferocity that matched the magelights that now dotted the streets at night, though nowhere near the glare of the current noonday sun. The feather, still resting on the table, seemed to waver for a moment.
“Hey! Do you mind if I sit here?”
As the fairly jovial voice cut through her concentration, the light vanished with a puff. Sunset shook her head to clear it from the small amount of magical feedback that fizzled through her brain. She glared at the interloper. “What was that for? You ruined my concentration!”
Coming up to her table was a small colt, close to her size, if she guessed correctly. As he slid onto the bench beside her, she took note of his orange fur and stark white hooves. A white mark lay between his eyes. “So, I take that as a no, then?”
“Well- I-” Sunset sputtered, trying to get a better grasp on her lingual skills before giving up. “No, you can sit.”
“Great!” The colt seemed genuinely thankful. “I couldn’t find anywhere else to sit. Thanks for offering.”
Sunset was sorely tempted to tell him that ‘no, she hadn’t offered’, but decided to not antagonize him until he had proven himself totally incompetent. She tucked her feather back into her pack with a whip of her horn and pulled over her own lunch, lifting her spoon with a flash of her horn.
The colt next to her swallowed a bite. It took just a few seconds until he attempted to start up a conversation with her. “So, what kind of spell were you casting?”
Sunset put a bite of food in her mouth and chewed it before swallowing down the mostly tasteless mash that was oatmeal being served today. After a few more agonizing seconds for the colt, she deemed to speak. “It was supposed to be a weightening spell.”
“Ooh, I’ve heard of those.” The colt hadn’t seemed to have noticed her barbed words, or her purposeful wait. “They’re supposed to be fairly difficult.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “They are fairly difficult.” She took another bite of oatmeal. “They require a lot of concentration.”
“How long do they take to cast?” The colt twisted his spoon in the air. “I’m way better at short, meaningful spells with a lot of power than long term ones. Does it last after you finish the spell, or do you have to constantly feed energy into it?”
Sunset blinked, slightly surprised that someone so naive knew so much about thaumic manipulation. “It takes a large burst of magic, and should last for about a day. It makes the object roughly twice as heavy.”
“Cool. I’d like to learn that sometime.” The colt took another bite from his bowl before scraping his spoon in an attempt to get the last dregs of food. He grabbed his bowl and utensils. “Well, it was nice talking to you.”
He turned, his magic snatching up his unused knife, and walked away.
It was then that Sunset realized that she didn’t know his name.
The colt slid onto the bench next to her. “What’re you doing?”
Sunset glared at the prism on the table in front of her, the rainbow coming out one side splitting out among its seven colors. A small bowl stood where the rainbow would have struck against the table.
“Just be quiet for a moment, alright?” Sunset said snippily. Her horn lit, and she leaned forwards, staring at the light intently. Her magic lit around the bowl.
The colt tilted his head, not quite sure what his companion was up to. He was quiet though, and that was what Sunset wanted.
The artificial rainbow arcing from the prism sparked for a moment, then popped. Sunset’s horn flashed brighter for a moment as the rainbow converted into liquid, splashing into the bowl. The swirl of colors mixed independently in the cup, and Sunset sat back in her chair, wiping her brow.
The colt grinned. “That was awesome! I thought only pegasus magic could do that!”
“Actually,” Sunset said, “Pegasi have to use complex machinery to create liquid rainbow. They don’t have the ability.” She pulled over her lunch using her horn. “A Pegasus did create the machines though.”
The colt looked closer at the bowl. “What are you going to do with it? Eat it?”
Sunset looked slightly disgusted at that. “What? No way! It’s gross.”
“You’ve had some before?” The colt tapped the side of the bowl with his hoof, causing a ripple that spread through the chromatic liquid. “I thought it was supposed to be delicious.”
Sunset shuddered. “It’s… more like an addiction, apparently.”
“Oh.” The colt blinked. “I’ll stay away from that, then.”
“Yeah, just a second.” Sunset picked up the bowl in her magic and concentrated. The bowl disappeared with a pop.
“Where did you put it?” the colt asked, looking interested.
“It’s in the hazardous materials area of the lab. I’ll need to go get it later, but it’s safe there for now.” Sunset dug her fork into her salad and took a bite.
“Was that a Small Object Teleport?” The colt shuffled his hooves on the table. “I’ve been having trouble with that one.”
“Really?” Sunset looked slightly confused. “What about it?”
“Well… it requires a really small amount of thaumic pressure. I end up overloading the spell almost every time.” The colt looked away sheepishly.
“You… overload the Small Object Teleport?” Sunset scratched her head with her hoof. “I guess it doesn’t require much energy, since it exists without the normal failsafes for pony travel. What even happens when you overload it?”
“It makes it to the place I sent it, just… burnt to ashes.” The colt shuffled his hoof before taking a bite of his salad. Talking through his full mouth, he continued. “I’ve just stopped trying.”
Sunset took another bite of her salad, not quite sure what to do about the dejected colt next to her. She swallowed, then decided to speak. “Why do you have such trouble with small spells?”
“It mostly has to do with my cutie mark,” he said, pointing down at his flank. Sunset looked down at the yellow ball with orange stripes widening away from it along one fourth of the edge. “It has to do with two things - my ability to use flames, and the fact that I’m much better at large bursts of magic than lots of small ones.”
Sunset nodded. “I don’t have my cutie mark yet. I’m good at magic, and I really enjoy it, but nothing’s been that defining moment, you know?”
Next to her, the colt nodded, still eating his salad. “It’s… really something. A feeling like you’re finally complete, like you know what you want to do with your life.” He snorted. “Which I guess is technically true.”
Sunset stared down into the green leaves that sat in her bowl, not really wanting to broach a different subject. The silence sat for a moment.
“It was nice talking to you again.” Sunset looked up, and realized that the colt had finished his salad. He walked forwards, and vanished into the crowds of ponies.
She looked down at her salad, and took another bite.
“Why are you even practicing that?”
Sunset immediately set her eyes onto the colt, the horn on her head glowing with a great intensity. Before her, the entire table and all of her food was wrapped in her aura, lifted off the ground, if only by an inch. “For your information, I am trying to keep this up for the whole lunch period.”
The colt sat down on the bench beside her, and placed his food on the bench as well. Sunset picked his lunch up in her aura, placing them up on the floating table.
“Hey!” the colt whined. “Now I can’t eat!”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Just use your hooves. The other two species of pony do.”
“But -” As the colt tried to speak, Sunset decided to interrupt.
“It’s pizza.”
The colt grumbled under his breath, but picked up his pizza, his white hoof wrapping around the crust. “Still annoying.”
“It’s not my fault you choose to sit here day after day.” Sunset pulled her own pizza from her aura and began to munch.
“Yeah, well, you’re better than the rest of those losers.” The colt’s free hoof waved outwards into the crowd. “They just like to make fun of me.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow, creating an interesting lighting on her face given her glowing horn. “I can’t say I don’t know the feeling, but why do they make fun of you?” Sunset’s face contorted into a scowl. “Not that they really need a reason.”
“You know the reason.” The colt’s eyes shifted away, taking another bite of pizza before continuing. “I can’t cast low power spells.”
“That’s their excuse?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “That’s lame.”
The colt shrugged. “I’ve stopped caring.” He bit into his pizza crust. “Besides, I don’t go out much.”
Sunset shrugged. “I’m not one to judge.” Her horn still outputting a large amount of power to keep the table aloft, her forehead began to sweat from the exertion. She took another bite of pizza. “How much longer until the end of the period?”
The colt looked over, slightly surprised. “About ten minutes. Why?”
“I’m… not quite sure…” - she took a deep breath - “how much longer I can hold it.”
The colt leaned over and put a hoof on her shoulder. “You’ve held it for fifty minutes. That’s plenty.” She looked up at him, and saw his smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t make fun.”
Sunset smiled back at him. “I… okay.” Her horn slowly put the table back on the ground. She looked down a little. “Thanks.”
The colt smiled. “No problem. I had to get my plate off the table somehow.”
Sunset gaped at him as he grinned, skipping away out of smacking range and picking up his tray in his magic. Then, she growled under her breath. “Stupid idiot…”
Sunset looked down at her plate for only a moment before once again looking up.
Her eyes scanned the crowds she normally ignored, trying to find a flash of orange and white, or hear his voice echoing out of the cacophony. The rush of ponies flowing like a river in front of her back and forth between the tables was still utterly maddening, but she still looked about in an attempt to see him.
As she took a bite of her sandwich, she tried not to worry. He was probably just… sick, or something. Just because he had come every day before this - for months - didn’t mean that he would come today.
She let the sandwich piece sit in her mouth for a moment before swallowing.
With a huff, she got up off of her bench and trekked into the crowds.
She didn’t know where he lived, she didn’t know his parents, and she didn’t even know his name. But he listened where others ridiculed.
She owed him at least this much.
Sunset moved through the crowds, her horn lit. A tendril of magic floated in front of her, much like an arrow. It pulsed fairly quickly, which she knew meant that her target was close. She pushed her way through another group of ponies, trying not to cringe at the loud sounds and overpowering smells. The unicorns around her mostly completely ignored her, though some looked down at her with more than a bit of contempt.
She knew what they were thinking - there goes that scholarship student again - and she hated it. She hated being looked down upon. She was at least as good as most of those ponies, and they had their cutie marks already.
There was a reason she sat by herself.
She stopped her inner tirade and instead tried to focus on her spell, the arrow twisting slightly. She didn’t have time to focus on that right now.
She walked down the aisle between two sets of tables and then took a left.
The arrow pulsed brighter as she walked down out of the cafeteria, pushing open the doors and taking a right to go around the building. Her horn dimmed and then winked out. She knew where he was.
She poked her head around the building’s corner, and saw him…
...surrounded by a group of ponies in a menacing position.
She scowled, and her horn lit, and she warped the light around her, trying to remain as unseen as possible. It wasn’t true invisibility, but it would have to do. She crept closer, being as quiet as possible.
“...know why you’re back here, chump?” The voice of who was probably the leader echoed down the alley. “Do you?”
Her… friend… scowled at them. “Maybe.”
“Well, let me enlighten you.” The bully raised his hoof in front of his face. “You’re not hanging out with that mare again, you hear me?”
“What mare?” said her friend spitefully.
“You know the one. Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset almost gasped, but got control of her mouth before it gave her away. She started to creep closer.
“Sunset who? I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Her friend got the white mark between his eyes hit with a hoof for his trouble.
“You know who I’m talking about. You sit with her every day.”
“And why do you care so much?”
“She’s a blank flank. You must be helping her with something.” The leader stared down his muzzle. “She can’t be doing as well as she has been in class.”
Sunset grinned, a slightly predatory smile. She stood, letting her illusion drop. “Have you ever considered that maybe - just maybe - I might actually be that good?”
As the three bullies turned to face her, she unleashed her fire.
Flames burst from her horn in waves, rivulets washing over her three opponents. The fire didn’t penetrate through the shields her opponents had thrown up. The opaque blue thaumic fields made the flames flow around them. She switched to a magic pulse before throwing up her own shield.
She hadn’t taken that dueling class for nothing, after all.
Her magic lashed out, trying to access one of her opponent’s spell matrix. Her yellow magic pulsed against the back bully’s shield for two moments before it shattered into shards, the bully falling back with a cry. Knowing the sheer amount of magical feedback he must have been experiencing, she turned to confront the other two-
A spell cut across her horn.
The thaumic feedback roared through her head, and she screamed. She fell to the ground, groaning in pain.
“Not such a hot shot now, are you,” said the leader, leaning down. His breath played against her mouth, and she smelled what he had had for breakfast. She fought the urge to gag.
Her eyes flickered about for a moment.
She saw the other bully, standing menacingly over her as well. She glared murder at him before her eyes flickered away again…
...and onto her friend.
She could see him, looking at the scene with terrified eyes. His hooves played about the ground, and he gulped. He took a step forwards.
Sunset looked at him hopefully.
He shrunk away, shaking his head. His hooves turned, and he began to gallop.
As he ran from the scene, Sunset reached out a hoof.
He looked back once, at the end of the alley.
Sunset’s eyes screamed betrayal.
His eyes screamed regret.
He was gone.
A hoof slammed towards her head.
A fire…
Burning…
Lit within…
Sunset’s horn exploded into shining light.
Sunset stumbled from the alley, several small nicks and scrapes up and down her barrel. Her legs shivered, and she stumbled out of the alley. A small rivulet of blood ran down her face from the base of her horn. She looked up at the noonday sun and winced, the light shining into her eyes.
A feeling of regret shifted in her frame, but she ignored it. She had given them what they deserved.
After all, her friend had abandoned her.
As she lit up her horn one last time, her flank shimmered.
Sometimes, balance was key.
Her red and yellow sun was proof of this.
She disappeared in a teleport with a ring of flames.
Author's Note
Sunburst is a really bad friend.
