The Flaming UFO
Eager, golden amber eyes opened up as the sun’s morning rays pierced through her windows. An eager, young golden pegasus threw her blankets up in the air and hopped out of bed, rushing into the nearby door which led to her shower. Today was the day that Spitfire Avelidale would compete in The Best Young Flier’s Competition in Cloudsdale and prove everypony wrong about her! Of course, that only meant that she would have to leave super early from Canterlot. Normally she’d be upset with this proposition but it wasn’t like she got much sleep last night anyways.
Spitfire quickly departed from her shower, her golden fur coat shining as it remained partially damp from her hot shower. It’d become a habit of her’s over the years to enjoy the feeling of her fur being damp, even if she was about to go out into the blistering cold that Canterlot without fail produced. Then again, not just anypony could control their body temperature at a whim.
Grabbing her favorite autumn brown scarf that carried the scent of pumpkin spice and her father’s bomber jacket, she made her way downstairs into the living room as she wrapped it around her neck and called out. “Mom!... It’s time to go! Where are y-... ou…” Spitfire looked down to the end table by her late father’s favorite faded blue recliner. Even as he had been passed for nearly a decade, Spitfire could still pick that scent of his musky cologne that always made her nose wrinkle. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t the greatest smelling aroma. The reason her father would give to her mother and Spitfire as to why he wore it was that they would never have a hard time finding him so long as they followed his scent. Spitfire just wished the scent would actually lead to her father.
“Spitfire, I’m sorry honey. I can’t make it today to Cloudsdale. Work called and we need the money. I wish you the best of luck my little phoenix! Your father would be so proud of you.
Love, Mom”
“...” Spitfire dropped the sticky note, letting it float down to the ground as her ears fell flat on her head, her once golden amber irises now resembling a dark blue color. Spitfire forced herself to hold back her tears as she turned and headed for the door. She wanted to be angry at her mom but in the end, she knew there was only one pony to blame for this. As she left the living room, locking the door behind her before shutting it, her mind drifted to her haunting memories as she made her way to the train.
*****
Spitfire’s eyes were wide in terror as she realized just what situation she had just put herself in. All she had wanted to do was prove that she could fly just like all the other foals! She wanted to prove that she was her parents’ daughter, the daughter of two of the greatest Wonderbolts to ever grace the sky! She wanted to quit being picked on and just be accepted! Now here she was flailing about in the air as she helplessly tried dodging bolt after bolt of lightning.
“Heh, you think we can sneak away for a few minutes?” Phoenix Rising asks as he gives a sultry grin to his wife, Stormy Flare. The mare snickers, bapping his face with a wing as she looks over to the stallion.
“I wouldn’t want to be disrespectful to the ponies of Cloudsdale’s weather team. We did promise them we’d show them how to handle this thunderstorm.”
Phoenix rolled his eyes with a playful smirk. If it wasn’t for Stormy, he knew he’d be lost in trouble. Though he never did let his allure for trouble die. It was just watched carefully. “Yea yea, I figured you’d say that. Well, we should get to work then before this storm gets too ba-” He was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream that belonged to a voice both he and Stormy knew too well, causing their hearts to plunge. “SPITFIIIRE!”
Phoenix tore through the clouds beneath him as Stormy followed behind. She wasn’t as fast as Phoenix was, but she could turn on a dime, allowing her to dodge the lightning more easily than Phoenix. As they bolted downwards through the clouds, Phoenix was the first to break through. His fur was immediately being met with heavy rainfall as lightning shot off around him at rapidfire. His hazelnut brown eyes immediately locked onto a falling, golden filly with a fiery mane. With a surge of strength, Phoenix pounded the air with his wings rapidly in chase of his falling daughter.
Spitfire reached up for her father, her left wing broken after having it snapped by a strong air current ripping her to the side. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m so-o-orryyyy! Daddyyyy, mommyyy, help meee pleeease!” Spitfire cried out as tears rocketed up into the air. She didn’t want to land on the ground, she didn’t want to die. She didn’t care if she ever flew again just so long as she could live.
Spitfire’s hope raised as her father neared her. It was going to be okay. He’d swoop in with his protective, strong hooves and pull up before they hit the ground and leave this wretched storm behind. But just as Spitfire was nearly close enough to grab a hold of her father’s hooves, everything momentarily became white as a crack rang out into the sky.
*****
Spitfire gasped sharply as she looked up, sweat beading down her temple. Some of the passengers onboard the hot air balloon looked to her curiously as Spitfire closed her eyes, tugging the bomber jacket around her body tightly with her left hoof as her right hoof gently rubbed over her scar where the lightning had struck her. It brought her some comfort, that musky scent settling the shaken nerves within her. It’d been so long since she had had that nightmare, but it had never failed to shake her to her core. It made her angry that the only dream she could ever have of her father was of his death like it was some cruel game for some sick pony’s pleasure.
“Uhh… hey, are you okay?” A light blue stallion of pegasus descent asked from behind her window seat. Spitfire’s head pulled itself out of her jacket as she turned around. “You’ve been kinda… talking in your sleep the whole ride.” The stallion said, causing Spitfire’s ears to pin.
“... I’m fine.” Spitfire said, looking away from the stallion to the side. “I always talk in my sleep…” It was a lie, a pointless lie but somehow it made her feel comfortable. The stallion looked up at her curiously for a moment before shrugging.
“Hey, you won’t find me judging here. Wanna see something freakin’ cool!? This is all the rage of Equestria today!” He claimed as he held up a tabloid to Spitfire.
Spitfire looked up to the smaller newspaper with uninterested eyes, raising an eyebrow. “What’s… so interesting about this?” She asks, looking around the newspaper to the stallion. Immediately he turns it around and blushes, rubbing the back of his mane sheepishly with a hoof.
“S-sorry! Wrong page. Blueblood, totally spoiled, am I right?” He asks, snickering before nervously going back to the newspaper after looking up to Spitfire’s flat look. After he turned several pages, eventually reaching the front page, he held up the newspaper once more to Spitfire. “Here we go! As of three in the afternoon yesterday, a flaming UFO was flying just outside of Ponyville’s city limits! They say it performed several spectacular flying maneuvers before finally bolting back off into the sky! “
Spitfire looked at the image for a moment before her now hazelnut brown irises widened. She snatched the tabloid out of the stallion’s hoof, reading the article quickly. “... As of three in the afternoon just outside of the Ponyville city limits, a flaming unidentified object was found flying down from the skies towards the ground! As the many civilians of Ponyville looked onto the spectacle for the first time, they feared for their lives and ran indoors. Once The Flaming UFO left Ponyville’s sights, the civilians came back outside, having feared that alien life has come to wreak havoc upon them.”
“Isn’t this cool!? Alien life here in Equestria!? Flaming alien life!?” The stallion asked. Immediately, the tabloid was tossed backwards, falling upon the stallion’s face. “Ow! What gives!?”
Spitfire turned back around in her seat. That was her in that picture! She knew she flew angry but to be considered alien life that was coming to wreak havoc upon them? Really? Of course it was a tabloid that wrote this… stupid ponies believe anything written down nowadays. It was a life she was used to as she was the daughter of two Wonderbolts. One that she knew she wouldn’t look forward too upon accomplishing her dream.
Yet at the same time… it was kinda nice to be noticed without being harshly criticized. Spitfire almost wanted to just live a part of her life out as this ‘Flaming UFO’ and enjoy the fame that’d come with it. Yet… ponies feared it, and while Spitfire flew angry she didn’t want ponies to fear her. She just wanted to at least be forgiven.
“Hey… can I ask you a question?” She asks as the balloon comes to a halt. Slowly, Spitfire rose from her comfy, cushioned seat. No one else had sat in her row which was fine by her. She looked over as her fiery mane laid down around her shoulders.
The stallion blinked as he walked out of the row, looking to her. “Y-yea, what is it?” He asked as he struggled to contain his wings from pomfing in front of the gorgeous mare.
“Are you going to be watching The Best Young Flier’s Competition?” She asks the stallion. At the nod, she nods her head before turning, walking down the lane. “When you see me perform, when I win, I want you to throw that tabloid away. Okay?”
The stallion looked to her perplexed. Did this mare just claim she was going to win!? “U-uh… o-okay. Can… can I have your name?” He asks a little more loudly, distance growing between them. All he could see was the side of Spitfire’s face, a blaze red color in her lone visible iris as she looked back to him with a confident grin.
“Spitfire Avelidale. Don’t you ever forget that name.” She said before turning the corner.
The stallion tried his hardest to make his way through the line so he could talk to this mare some more. As he finally made his way out of the balloon, down the boarding ramp and onto the loading dock where families of ponies were meeting up, his green irises rested on the horizon. A golden mare with a fiery mane was flying directly into the heart of the city. As he watched, he couldn’t help but to smile.
“Awwwww yeeeea, Soarin’s got a crush everypony!” Misty Fly yelled out as she walked up beside the stallion with a small number of other pegasi their age, causing his wings to flare out and his cheeks to turn blood red.
“G-GUUUYYYYS! REALLY!?”
*****
“Flaming UFO, taking credit for my talent.” Spitfire sourly says as she makes her way up to a table with three ponies sitting behind it. Unfortunately, that just drew unwanted attention her way. Murmurs began to stir up as ponies realized who she was. As she looked around, she wished she hadn’t, turning her head forward.
“So the infamous, blankflank Spitfire finally shows her face back around Cloudsdale. You should get lost if you know what’s good for you. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you any further than you already have to yourself.” A mare declared behind her. “Oh wait… but I would. I lied, I’m sorry, but really I’m not.”
Spitfire turned around, her blaze red irises only growing more intense as she eyed the spring yellow mare with a matching spring colored mane. “Ooo, what’s the matter Spitfire? Are you angry? Careful, thinking like that’s only going to get somepony else killed. We wouldn’t want that to happen again would we?”
“Killing your dad wasn’t enough for you!? You just had to come back for more, didn’t you Spitifre?” A stallion called out further behind in line. Soon, the crowd was getting rowdy as Spitfire turned her head forward, the air around her beginning to heat up. She wanted to fight them all more than anything, but getting arrested here and lose her shot at becoming a Wonderbolt just wasn’t acceptable.
“It’s okay, we all know that one, I’m going to win and two, you can’t fly. I still remember the sound your wing makes when it bre-” The mare had been reaching for Spitfire’s wing, yet it stopped halfway. Embers began rolling off Spitfire’s mane, tail and wings as she kept her head forward. “Y-y-you’re… you’re on f-fir-”
“Do me a favor, Spring Breeze. Shutup. We wouldn’t want to remind everypony what you squealing like a frightened pig sounds like would we?” She asks, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer. Hitting Spring wouldn’t ever feel nice, but scaring her into a corner sure did. After not hearing her or anypony speak up, Spitfire couldn’t help but to smirk. “Thought so. You’re a lot smarter than you were back when we were fillies. Your parents must be so proud.”
Spitfire walked up to the table with the now awe stricken ponies, looking at them as if nothing were happening. “Spitfire Avelidale.” After a few moments of silence, Spitfire slammed her forelegs down on the table, grabbing their attention. “Spitfire… Avelidale. I’m competing today.”
“O-o-oh yes! Yes, here you are miss Avelidale!” The middle mare says, holding out a number. Spitfire took the paper and slapped it on her flank. Number One Hundred and One it read. “When you hear your number, please step up to the platform and be ready to perform.”
Nodding her head, Spitfire turned and began walking down the halls. On her way to the waiting room, she took note of the carved out statues that passed her by. Each one was of every Wonderbolt Captain, all giving the same salute as the other. All of them… except one. Spitfire looked up at her father’s statue which towered thirty feet above her, unable to help herself from giggling. At first glance, it resembled the other statues perfectly. Yet when taking a closer look, Spitfire had noticed his tongue had been sticking out of his mouth. “You’re such a clown, dad.” Spitfire says, giggling. The amount of stubbornness he had to give to make those who were carving his statue put his stuck out tongue in it was absurd. Yet, it very much so was her father.
Spitfire took a seat down in front of the statue, looking up at it. “... Hey dad. I know this isn’t your gravesite but… for today I’d like to think you’re here with me. Mom couldn’t make it so maybe I’m a little desperate for family… I wore your bomber jacket today! It always brought you good luck and it still smells like you!
“I’m not nervous about performing today though… I’m… really nervous about afterwards. I don’t want to be angry at anypony… I don’t want to explode at anypony anymore but I know I’m going to. I really need you dad… mom needs you… we need you. I hate making mom cry when I get into trouble or can’t help her with the bills. She’s still seeing her therapist but I… I don’t know if it’s helping her anymore and I’m… I’m scared.” She says, raising a hoof to her cheek to rub away liquid that had flames rolling off of it, falling from her eyes. “I don’t want to lose her too… I can’t lose her too. Please… if you don’t watch over me today, could you keep her safe? Please, dad?”
Spitfire walked up to the statue, uncaring that some ponies had stopped to watch, some realizing for perhaps the first time that she had lost more than they ever had and hugged her father’s foreleg or what she could of it. “I love you… I love you so much. I’m so sorry for all the pain and struggle I’ve caused us… I’m… o-one d-day I’m going to make this right… I’m going to make you proud, dad.” She says as she pulls her flaming tear stained face from the statue, looking up. “Kay… I gotta go dad. I’ll come visit your grave after I’m done here… Goodbye.”
Spitfire hated saying goodbye, perhaps because she never had gotten the chance to say goodbye to her father before he had passed. Now every time she said it, it felt like it was too late. Spitfire slowly backed away from her dad, giving an innocent, vulnerable wave like a filly would going to a camp for the first time, scared of being alone. As she walked away from the statue, slowly, her strength was coming back. She wiped at her eyes and pushed the door open, walking inside to more conversation of the ‘Flaming UFO’. Seriously, did word always spread this fast?
*****
Spitfire stood up and began walking as she heard her number called. She had shed her bomber jacket and her scarf before doing so, not wanting anything to happen to it. Now wasn’t a time for comfort. Now wasn’t a time for letting the fears of a little filly come out. Now was a time for anger, now… was a time for Spitfire to show the world and her peers she could fly not like them but better than them.
Spring Breeze however had put up a score of ninety five. Under normal circumstances, ponies would chalk that up as a victory for Spring Breeze. Spitfire however wasn’t about to concede defeat. Spitfire was going to rewrite the way that judges scored a pegasus’s performance. The little filly who’s wings were too brittle to fly was going to win today if she had to rip apart the air around her and bend it to her will.
A stunned silence met Spitfire as she walked out onto the starting platform. Her wings were held wide and somewhat struggling to maintain its hold. Some ponies couldn’t believe that Spitfire was about to embarrass herself again. Ponies down below were getting ready to catch Spitfire should she fall. Some ponies were stunned that the mare would dare show herself again, some even beginning to boo Spitfire. That was fine, Spitfire wanted the anger that came with that. It made her feel stronger, it made the pain of her wings become more and more numb until all she could feel was the intense adrenaline coursing through her.
Simply put, it was bliss.
The wind gently blew at Spitfire’s mane as she opened her eyes once more, her irises of that blaze red color. Taking one fearless step forward to the edge of the platform, she leaped out and folded her wings to her body, plummeting downwards. She shot forth through an impossibly small ring before flaring her wings out. She felt her wings want to snap but for some reason she’d never been able to explain, they didn’t snap. Spitfire pulled up immediately as the air around her began to once more heat up, Spitfire beginning to become lost in the rush of adrenaline.
Spitfire banked a hard left turn as another hoop sat before her. Pinning her wings to her side, she barrel rolled through it and flared her wings once more. With her back to the ground, she pulled up at an impossible eighty five degree angle at max speed and powerfully flapped her wings, skyrocketing upwards. As a series of six, vertical rings only at a fully laid out pony’s space separating them came up before her, Spitfire banked to the left once more. Lining herself up to be parallel to the rings, she banked a hard right and turned her body for her stomach to be parallel to the ground. With no space whatsoever to spare, Spitfire fit between the first two rings as she kicked out her lower body, leaning back as she performed an impossibly angled Immelmare not once but five times at speeds that should be tearing the wings off Spitfire’s body. As she went to perform a sixth Immelmare, she pinned her wings to her body after stalling her speed, flipping herself upside down and rotated, falling through the rings in a spiraling descent. As she exited, she flipped herself back upright and tore through the skies towards her next obstacle.
Ponies’ eyes were beginning to grow wider and their breaths shorter with every stunt performed. This was the same mare that they all watched break her wings time and time and time again. This was the mare that they had hounded, picked on, and thrown through the mud with every passing day since Phoenix’s death. The little mare who cried time and time again was now flying with an unrivaled rage, literally bending the air to her every whim. Spitfire’s maneuvers weren’t just performed at high speeds but they were elegant. She timed each and every movement of her wings and her body perfectly so ponies would see something impossible become suddenly possible and afterwards revel in its beauty as she’d hang in the air for a time before descending, once more gripping their hearts in fear that her wings would snap.
Spitfire suddenly tore for the skies, rising higher and higher and higher. Admittedly, she was getting carried away with the sight she was met with. Instead of seeing bluer skies the higher she got, the sky began to grow dark… beautifully dark and yet colorful with Celestia’s sun powerfull blazing on. However, it was too late when she noticed that her wings had frozen over. “SHIT!”
Spitfire’s heart dropped as she slowly stopped ascending, her hooves trying to reach up to her wings but to no avail. She couldn’t move her wings and she couldn’t reach them to bat the ice up. With everything that comes up and rises, eventually it must fall. Spitfire’s eyes widened as she watched her tumble through the sky begin.
Spitfire fought on though. As the mare continued falling throughout the air, she tried moving her wings in hopes it would thaw. Though as Cloudsdale and the Coliseum grew visible, Spitfire was soon realizing that it wasn’t thawing in the least bit. Growling, Spitfire began thrashing about in the air. “COME! ON! I AM NOT DYING… LIKE… THIIIS!”
Suddenly, Spitfire’s world caught fire. As she fell further and further downwards, passing the base floor of the Coliseum at a rate faster than any pony was ready for, Spitfire continued fighting. How far had she come to get here!? How hard had she had to fight to get to this point!? She couldn’t die here! Somepony had to take care of her mom, somepony had to help bring in the bills, somepony had to step up to the plate when it was their turn and right now? Right now it was Spitfire’s turn and she knew it.
Spitfire’s eyes widened as the memory of her father rushing down to save her that day flashed by. Spitfire leaned her head back and let out a defiant roar, her wings now completely thawed as she flapped them powerfully down towards the ground. With a surge of strength and pillaring fire erupting around Spitfire, she tore through the skies just mere inches above the now scorched and leveled ground and raced back up to the Coliseum.
Spitfire only became more determined as the memories of her struggling mother passed by, the insults aimed at Spitfire ringing out in her head, the sheer amount of unfairness given towards her and her family. One mistake, so many ponies were allowed a hundred mistakes and she wasn’t even allowed one! The fire around Spitfire only grew stronger, turning into a blaze red color as her presence roared to life within the center of the Coliseum. Ponies leaned back, some shrieking, some breathless, yet none running as they witnessed something nopony would ever be able to explain.
Spitfire was smiling, not an angry smile, not a smile that’d suggest she had won the event, but a genuine, happy smile. Memories of her foalhood when she had been able to spend them with her family raced by in her head and as she hovered there in mid air, her flames formed a massive phoenix around her. Its wings seemingly in a loving and protective manner wrap themselves around Spitfire. Tears began falling from Spitfire’s face until she heard a voice that belonged to the one mare she loved. Turning to the right, her bright, ambient golden irises catch her mother in the crowd.
Unable to help herself, Spitfire left the center of the arena as cheers elicited out and gave the mare the one thing she had always wanted to hear. Yet, she didn’t hear them. She only heard her mother as she swooped by several ponies who ducked from the flames and wrapped her forelegs around her mother. Stormy Flare who had just moments ago been praying somepony had caught her daughter threw her forelegs around Spitfire. Both mares shared a moment in their hug and tears together, ignoring the outside world.
“Mom! Y-y-you c-came!” Spitfire exclaimed. She felt a hoof begin to stroke her flaming mane, feeling that sense of comfort reach her heart.
“I did… you did wonderful Spitfire.” Stormy Flare says softly as she pulls her head back, smiling up at her daughter proudly. “I don’t suppose those rumors of the Flaming UFO were revolving around you and your antics were they?” Stormy Flare asked as Spitfire sheepishly giggled.
“Maaaybe.” Spitfire replied.
“Well, I’m sure the tabloids will have an identification for this flaming flying object now. I think the country’s going to be rather disappointed that the so called ‘alien life’ is just a flaming pegasus.” She says, getting her daughter to giggle a little harder. Spitfire however let her ears fall just a moment later, her strength quickly evaporating. “What’s the matter my little phoenix?”
“I… I just wish dad was here to see this with you…” She says, looking off to the side. Stormy Flare smiled softly up at Spitfire, reaching up and hugging her once more as she spoke to her daughter softly.
“Your father would be proud of you, Spitfire.”
The End
Author's Note
So like I mentioned before, this was an idea given to me by Technicolor if you would like to check her work out! Essentially, the idea was 'Spitfire, in doing her flame tricks, gets mistaken for a UFO by a journalist for a conspiracy theory rag. How does she deal with her picture being all over the tabloids as proof of alien life' and fit it into nine to ten pages. I'm not... a very good comedy writer which is what this idea made me feel like was required, however I did find a way to turn it into something else and involve it as something that somewhat added to the story and link characters together rather than make it the arc of the story. I... also might have wrote a few more pages than nine to ten pages BUT I had fun with this writing topic! I hope you all enjoyed this first fic of mine! If you'd like there to be more to this story, let me know down in the comment sections! Thank you for your time and I hope you all have a great day~ <3
