Let's Play With Fire Tonight
“All you have to do is concentrate on a huge spark of fire. Clear everything else in your mind and imagine nothing else. Nothing but fire and all the heat, light, and elements of it.”
“But how am I supposed to concentrate when my greatness is all over this room? I cannot contain it just like that.”
“I’m sure you can manage to think of something other than yourself for a few seconds. You learned how to turn everything into teacups, remember? You can do it again. Just concentrate.”
“Fine. Let’s see if I can do this…”
Trixie concentrated on the haypile in front of her, thinking of nothing but fire. Fire. Fireworks. Fireworks she used for her magnificent shows. Shows that let everypony know how great and powerful she was. Cut it out. This wasn’t the time to bask in her own glory. She needed to get this done for her own sake, and Starlight’s sake as well. She would get better at real magic stuff if she actually applied herself to it.
In the meantime, Starlight kept a close eye on her friend. There was no way she was going to let Trixie practice elemental magic inside Twilight’s castle, so they went out to an open field in the great outdoors. It was a good thing the Apple family had a few extra piles of hay, and it would be perfect target practice for some fire spells. She just hoped that Trixie wouldn’t have a hard time with this.
However, Trixie was stuck on the most basic spell for over ten minutes. A burst of magic came out of her horn every now and then, but that was it. Another attempt gave the same results. She stomped her hooves in frustration. “Can’t we just try water spells first? It’s not like anypony gets hurt from that.”
“This is the easiest elemental spell to learn first. I learned that from experience,” Starlight noted. “Just give it a try. You’re getting warmer.”
“Ha ha, what a great pun. Almost as great as we are. Let’s just try this again.” Trixie cleared her mind of everything else against all odds. She wanted to be even greater than before(like that was possible) and this would be her next step towards that goal.
The magician inhaled and exhaled in preparation. That bale of hay was going down in a pile of flames, so help her. Her horn glowed as she put all her mental strength into it, and she let it go. That took all the mental strength out of her, and she took a moment to breathe. “Did I do it?”
“Why don’t you look for yourself?”
As it turned out, the haystack was burning in a pile of flames. It was a beautiful sight, and it made all the woodland critters run away for their lives. “I did it, I did it! I set something on fire! Woo hoo!” She bounced around the burning hay in triumph, feeling like she just climbed Mount Everest or whatever the Equestrian counterpart of it was.
Starlight was secretly fearing if she just created a monster, but she gave her friend a warm smile instead. “That’s great! You learned a basic fire spell today. How does that make you feel?”
“Like I can do anything. I always knew I had in me, but this is so great! I want to set more things on fire, like that tree. Can I set that tree on fire?”
“Maybe not right now, Trixie. It can always come in handy if you’re fighting a monster, or you need to melt snow, something along those lines. Either way, good job, Trixie. I knew you would come through.”
“Of course I would. Would the Great and Powerful Trixie ever back down from a challenge? Never.”
“Right. Right. Just be careful when you use it. I can think of a few times where I used the wrong spell at the wrong time.” She looked down at her schedule, a habit Twilight encouraged her to pick up, and the next thing on her list caught her eye. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go help Twilight with something. I completely forgot about it.”
“And what would that be? Trixie thought you cleared the whole day for magic practice. I’m sure I could teach you a thing or two about stage magic while we’re at it.”
“I thought the same thing about my schedule, but it slipped my mind. I have to go help her get some fireworks together for Rainbow Dash’s Birth-iversary.”
“Birth-iversary? That sounds so silly, it comes around to being brilliant. Just like me,” Trixie commented.
“It’s her birthday, but it’s also the day she moved to Ponyville. She really wants something huge for it, given it’s also her first birthday as a Wonderbolt. I’m going to help arrange the fireworks for the party.”
Now that was something Trixie was interested in. “Fireworks? I love fireworks. I even use them for every magic show. Can I help? Please? Pretty please?”
“Sorry, but there’s five ponies already helping out with that. We could always use a helping hoof with concessions or setting up the roller coaster, if you still want to pitch in. What do you say?”
“Concessions? Trixie is too great for concessions. If you don’t want my help with fireworks, I will make my own way. Tell Dash that her birth-a-what is going to be the greatest and most powerful celebration ever, for the Great and Powerful Trrrrrrixie will give her the show of a lifetime!” Trixie ran away to go off on her own path, disappearing into the distance.
Starlight sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was left all alone to put these haystacks up. At least Trixie set one of them on fire, so that was one less thing to take care of. Knowing that blue unicorn, however, there was going to be a lot more to take care of soon.
Canterlot was a city full of splendor, but there were always those streets and alleyways that came across as a little seedy. Trixie knew that better than most; she made many visits to that part of town when she was down on her luck. During the darkest time in her life, she found out about a certain little shop that sold a few hidden “treasures”, and this was the perfect time to pay it another visit.
The weather was dark and stormy, with a gust of wind every now and then. It always seemed to rain whenever she came to this alley, and she made it a habit to bring her cloak whenever she trotted by here. It would always take a while to find this place, but she would recognize the storefront once she found out.
It was early in the evening, so the store was still open. The bell rang when she went inside, and she was the only customer strolling in. Thank Celestia for that. Nopony but her needed to know what she had up her sleeve. Now, where was that shopkeeper?
Right when she was thinking about that, the lights turned on. The shopkeeper was waiting for a customer at the front desk. “You! I recognize you from long ago. You were the one that purchased the Alicorn Amulet, are you not?”
Trixie hid her face underneath the cloak. “Whatever do you mean? I don’t know what this Alicorn Amulet is.”
“Quit your games at once. I know who you are, Trixie Lulamoon, and your exploits with the Amulet are well documented. I will never sell anything that potent to you again.”
She sighed and undid the cloak over her face. “Okay okay, I don’t need to be reminded. I’m not going to take over the world again...yet. I had something else in mind. You see, one of Starlight’s friends is having a birthday party, and I need something to everypony’s attention. It’s what I’m good at.”
“Get their attention, you say? Intriguing. I have a section in the back that might interest you, if you’ll follow me.”
Trixie shrugged and went along with it. Nothing else in the store interested her, so she decided to take a look. The shopkeeper led her through a curtain in the back of the place, and what she saw took her breath away.
As it turned out, the hidden section of the store was a selection of fireworks. Everything you could ask for, it was here. Sparklers, crackers, Roman candles, launchers, a pony could buy it here. Trixie couldn’t help but marvel at the selection, and she felt like a filly in a candy store.
“What they don’t sell for New Year’s Eve fireworks, I pick up for resale,” he explained. “What do you think?”
“What do I think? WHAT DO I THINK? This is the best thing I’ve ever seen! How could I say no to all this? I don’t even know where to begin. You took Trixie’s breath away. Do you know how hard that is?”
“Not very hard, apparently.”
Trixie went gaga and thought up the ways she could go crazy with this. Did she want a fifty shot launcher to really get Dash’s party started? No, they probably had that already. Maybe a huge dragon launcher instead? The fireworks looked just like a fearsome dragon. Nope. That was not exquisite enough for Trixie.
Then she realized she was getting stumped at her choice. All these toys she could play with, and nothing she saw was going to be a show stealer. This was a lot harder than she thought.
And that’s when she saw it. The thing that would change her destiny. The right firework that would get make this party legendary, and something they would remember for the rest of their lives. The fact that it looked dangerous only made it stand out even more.
It was a gigantic rocket, bigger than anything she had ever seen in her life. It had a big base at the bottom just to hold it upright. The fact that its fuse was as thick as her hoof was icing on the cake. She almost lost her breath again at the mere sight of it.
“What is that beauty?” she asked. “I don’t know what it is, but I must have it.”
“That one? We dubbed it the ‘Major Pickens’ Rocket, though nopony knows the origin of its name. The Pickens Rocket is big enough to ride and explodes into the largest array of fire and sparkles created by ponykind. However, it has the potential to be deadly They banned it in the Griffon Kingdom of all places, Equestria soon following suit. This might be the last one they ever built.”
“So it’s big, dangerous, AND griffons are scared of it? I’m sold!”
“Now now, hold your horses. I have debated if I should even be carrying it at all. You see how powerful it is from the size of it. Perhaps you are the worst possible customer for this, given your history. You would only use it for nefarious purposes, or to inflate your ego even further--”
Trixie pulled out a huge bag of bits. It was twice the size of the one she used for the Amulet. “You were saying?”
“Sold! If you need any help getting it out of here, I could--”
Trixie was already levitating the rocket out of the store by herself. It took a lot of effort and she would need to cover the fuse from the rain, but this was going to be so worth it. She was out of the store before he knew it.
The shopkeeper shrugged and spilled the bits on the counter. Never hurt to know how much coin he just made Maybe this would be enough bits to stop feeling guilty about selling yet another item of great power to the most insane unicorn ever, but whatever. A transaction was a transaction.
A few minutes after Trixie left, a bunch of Crystal Ponies in cloaks came in to do business. “Hey, we heard you sold a lot of good things here. Like, really powerful things,” the leader of the group spoke. “You think you have something we’d be interested in? We kinda need a necromancy thingy to bring back our dark lord.” He pulled out a horn from under his cloak--King Sombra’s horn.
“I will not do such a thing!” the shopkeeper rebuked. “You will never convince me to bring back one of Equestria’s most notorious unicorns for your dark purposes. How did you even think I would say yes?”
“We have our ways.” All the ponies brought out huge bags of bits to sweeten the deal.
“Oh, in that case, let me get you some of Equestria’s best banned spellbooks.”
“Okay, everypony welcome to Rainbow Dash’s anniversary…”
“...and birthday…”
“...celebration!”
Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich worked together to get this party started again, and boy was it a party. Just as the birthday girl requested, it was 20% bigger than last year, and that was already a big blowout to begin with. All of Ponyville turned into a celebration of the life and times of Rainbow Dash, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Speaking of Dash, she was in the middle of the festivities, having a hard time deciding what to do first. Should she ride the most intense roller coaster in the world? Should she have a bite of the world’s largest pizza(until the next party, that is)? Anxiety choice was a real thing with a party like this, and she didn’t know where to start.
“Great party, Crash,” Spitfire greeted her. A lot of Wonderbolts showed up out of uniform to celebrate with her, and their minds were boggled at the sheer size of the party. “Maybe I should have Pinkie throw something for the Wonderbolts’s next anniversary. Bet she’d make it one to remember.”
“You should. You really should. She would go all out for it,” Dash replied with a huge grin on her face. “Isn’t this amazing? I knew she and Cheese would go all out, but I didn’t think they would go that all out.”
“I know what you mean. You sure you don’t want the crew to do some routine or something during the fireworks show? They’d be up for it if you asked.”
“Nah, not tonight. Let’s just kick back, relax, and let Twilight do her thing.”
Speaking of Twilight, she was setting up the fireworks over by a hill. A few unicorns helped her get everything into place, including Starlight and Lyra Heartstrings ,and she wanted to make sure all the wiring and fuses looked just right. Her crew was getting a little anxious at this point.
“Twilight, I don’t think we need to look over it again,” Lyra spoke up. “You’ve triple checked it and everything. Do we really need to do this again?”
“There’s nothing wrong with checking it one more time,” the princess replied. “This could be a huge danger risk, so I need to make sure everything is perfect.
Starlight rolled her eyes and thought this was vintage Twilight. She was starting to understand why Spike went crazy every so often from the princess’s routine lately. She got bored and looked off to the side, only to catch the worst possible sight imaginable.
Trixie was off at the tallest hill in town, just a thousand feet away. She was hard at work setting up the biggest rocket Starlight had ever seen, and even worse, she was sitting on top of it with riding goggles on her face. Every nightmare she had about Trixie’s plans tonight were all coming true in front of her.
“Um, excuse me. I need to go take of a friendship problem.”
“Go ahead, Starlight. We’re just about done here,” said Twilight. “Just three more checks and we’re good to go.”
With that blessing, Starlight ran as fast as she could to the rocket. Trixie was still adjusting her flanks for the best riding position, so there was still time to stop the worst possible thing from happening. However, Trixie caught her best friend galloping her way. “Hey, Starlight, are you going to help with this? Rides are always better with a friend, am I right?”
“WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING?” Starlight shouted at her. “Are you crazy? Actually, I should know that by now. What I should be asking is, do you have a death wish? You’re really going to ride that? What even is that thing?”
“It’s the Major Pickens Rocket, my friend. So dangerous, even the Griffon Kingdom banned it. The Great and Powerful Trixie will ride it into the air like it’s a magnificent dragon, and she’s going to show Rainbow Dash who’s the real show stealer in this town! You want to tag along? I got a pair for you.” She levitated another pair of riding goggles to her for the occasion.
“Trixie, this is really dangerous. I don’t know how you think rockets work, but that’s going to explode after you light the fuse. Please don’t do this.”
“Too late! This is my destiny, and I’m going to fulfill it!” Trixie aimed her horn at the fuse and lit it with a fire spell. The fuse started to go up to the base of the rocket, leading her to the glory she always wanted.
“No no no no no! You can’t do that! I have to stop it!” Starlight immediately prepared some sort of wind spell or anything to stop it.
“Are you sure you want to stop this? Isn’t there a bit of a naughty streak still left in you, eager to see what happens if you ride this thing?” Trixie offered. “Don’t tell me you never wanted to ride a rocket just because you can.”
Starlight actually stopped in her tracks with that suggestion. She had a choice here, possibly the most important one in her lifetime. Would she let Trixie go off to her own devices and risk great harm, or would she be the good friend that stopped her friend from doing something really stupid?
The more she thought about it, the more she realized something that scared her: She found the idea of riding this thing exciting. The naughty streak in her was starting to come back. And now that it was back, oh man, was it going to have its day in the sun.
She hopped on the rocket and sat behind Trixie, grabbing the goggles in her magical grip and putting them over her eyes. “I always knew you were going to be the end of me, Trixie, I just didn’t know it was going to be this much fun!”
“That’s the spirit! To glory and having a billion fans!” Trixie cheered.
The fuse was just about to go off when Twilight caught wind of what was going down. She couldn’t believe what she was witnessing, and she thought up all the spells she could use to prevent this. It was already too late, though. The fuse went inside the rocket and ignited the gunpowder inside.
The rocket shot up in the air immediately. Starlight screamed at the top of her lungs and clutched Trixie for dear life, and Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs from pure joy. They went up fifty feet, then a hundred feet, then Ponyville was looking rather small below them.
“HOLY CELESTIA WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!” Starlight roared.
“WHHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!” Trixie cheered.
The entire crowd of ponies turned their heads at the sound of the rocket, and their jaws collectively dropped on the floor. Not just from the two unicorns riding the rocket, mind you, but from the huge sparke of fireworks it left in its wake. It created a long trail of colorful sparks behind it, and it was actually very nice.
Starlight’s mane flew around in the wind as her heart pounded in her chest. She couldn’t believe this was really happening, or that Trixie was actually enjoying this. Their surroundings were a blur, but they were almost out of Ponyville now.
“HOW FAR DOES THIS ROCKET GO, TRIXIE?”
“I DON’T KNOW! I DIDN’T ASK! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The rocket was about to hit a mountainside, and Starlight’s heart nearly stopped when she saw certain doom in front of her. Thinking fast, she used her magic to steer the rocket back to town. They came within inches of becoming mush, and she nearly passed out at the near miss.
“THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!” Trixie screamed again. Her eyes watered up from the awesomeness of everything she was experiencing.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, the rocket was the only thing grabbing Dash’s attention. Spitfire was standing next to her, just as dumbstruck as she was. “Should we add something like that to our next routine? I wouldn’t mind riding one of those.”
“NO! Oh my Celestia, you actually think that’s a good idea?” Dash barked.
“Just a thought.”
The rocket was only going faster and faster, and Starlight bent over to vomit her lunch. Trixie was hanging her hooves up in the air like she didn’t care, because she really didn’t care. They were making history, dang it, and she was going to milk this moment for all its worth.
Then it hit Starlight what was about to happen. “WAIT A MINUTE! DON’T ROCKETS ALWAYS EXPLODE AT THE END?”
“THEY DO? I DIDN’T KNOW THAT!”
“HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT? IT’S A FIREWORK. YOU USE FIREWORKS FOR YOUR SHOW! THEY ALWAYS EXPLODE IN THE END--”
The rocket exploded into a whirlwind of sparks and flames. It was a marvelous sight, and it went on for over a minute. It would be enough to let the tow forget the sight of two unicorns crashing to the ground below.
Starlight slowly creaked her eyes open. She swore to Celestia and Luna that she would be in heaven, hell, or whatever afterlife there was, but that’s not what she saw. Instead, she saw the ceiling of a hospital room.
When it hit her where she was, she imagined she was in a lot of pain, either that or the injuries she suffered would be severe. Lady Luck was kind to her, however. She looked down to find out that she was in a full body cast. She didn’t lose any limbs in the explosion, and she could tell her skin wasn’t that badly charred. Given what she just went through, that was the best case scenario she could hope for.
She groaned and winced in pain as she laid her head back, which was really the only thing she could do in this spot. It was a mystery why she got on that rocket or what went through Trixie’s mind that night. Against all odds, her little episode with the rocket wasn’t over quite yet.
“Hey, you’re awake!” a familiar voice said. “They said you might be in a coma, but I just laughed at them. You’re almost as great and powerful as me, so how were you going to be in a coma?”
Starlight tilted her head just enough to see who her roommate was. Trixie was in the bed next to her in a full body cast. The only difference between them was that Trixie’s forelegs were completely unharmed. Lucky mare.
“Uhhhhh...what? What happened to us? I don’t remember anything after the rocket went off.”
“It went as well as you could hope for. They actually think we’ll make a full recovery! We just have to be in these stupid casts for two weeks and we’ll be fine. Not bad, eh?”
“Fine? FINE? What were we thinking? That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, and I once enslaved an entire village!”
“But wasn’t that the best thing you’ve done? We got their attention, alright, and it was a fun ride while it lasted.”
“Whose attention? What is wrong with you--”
Suddenly, the door opened to their room. Rainbow Dash came in, and she had two bushels of flowers with her. She put them neatly by their bedsides, and she was completely calm. “Thank heavens you’re alright. I don’t have a lot of time before the next Wonderbolts practice, so I’ll make it quick.”
Starlight sighed a bit. “Look, Dash, I’m really sorry about everything. We ruined your birthday party, and we won’t do it again.
“What are you talking about? That was the best thing I’ve ever seen, and even Pinkie thought what you did was awesome. You guys made this year the best birthday party I’ve ever had! Oh crap, I gotta go.” She zipped out the door in a flash.
Starlight couldn’t believe her ears. Was Dash...actually happy about what they did? To make it worse, she saw Trixie with the smuggest grin she would ever see. “Trixie, please don’t do that.”
“Say it.”
“Never.”
“Say that was the best moment of your life.”
“What makes you think I’ll say it?”
“Because it was.”
Starlight groaned again and laid her head back against the pillow. When she recalled that moment in time, however, she couldn’t help but smile. “Okay, it was pretty awesome.”
“See? We might be stuck in here for a while, but it was worth it. I knew spending all those bits would pay off, and it did. I’m never going to forget that for as long as I live.”
“Me either, but we’re never riding a rocket again. One time is enough for a lifetime.”
“Meh, I’m cool with that. That might have been the last rocket they ever made like it.”
“Thank goodness.” They laid there quietly for a little while, the purple unicorn still processing what just happened.
After a little while, Twilight came over to visit the two patients. She was worried and angry at the same time, but she leaned more on the former. Trixie couldn’t have been happier to see her, oddly enough.
“Came here to congratulate us on our success?” Trixie gloated.
“No, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. I would lecture you on how idiotic that stunt was, but you should already know that.”
“You have no idea,” Starlight sighed.
“I’m just glad that you’re okay, both of you. I was terrified you would lose a hoof or something like that, but that didn’t happen. They said you still have to be here for two weeks or more. Don’t worry, I brought a bunch of books for you to read while you’re here.” To prove her point, she levitated a whole shelf of books into the room. “Normally, ponies need limbs to read books, but you’re both unicorns, so you can use your horns to pick up the books.”
“Oh, you’re such a sweetie,” Trixie said in a mocking tone. Out of the blue, she started to clutch her chest in agony. “Oh no. Everything hurts. Am I dying? I think I’m dying!”
“Trixie, you’re okay. See? All the vital signs are normal,” Twilight responded, pointing over to the monitors strapped up to the blue unicorn.
“I think it’s all internal. Owwww, it hurts so much! I need to tell you something, just in case I don’t make it.” Her tone grew more serious as she went on.
Twilight didn’t buy it, but then she thought Trixie was being sincere for once. She came down to the bedside to check up on her. “Hang in there, Trixie. I’m listening.”
She ended up making the biggest mistake of her life, getting up close to Trixie. The next thing she knew, Trixie booped her nose with a hoof. “Got your nose!”
The alicorn’s snout scrunched up, and she facepalmed herself out of shame. “Of course you booped me. That’s what you wanted to say.”
“Yep. Did you like my act?”
“No. No more booping for you today.”
Starlight laughed quietly and enjoyed her little view of the ceiling. Trixie could be too much at times, but there was no denying that she was entertaining. At least they would give each other the company of a friend during their stay, the best company of all.
Author's Note
Soothing Stone does not advocate the use of illegal fireworks or getting within 200 feet of blue unicorn stage magicians.
Also, wanted to address that "Major Pickens" reference, in case most of you didn't get it. It's a pretty random reference, but it's referencing Dr. Strangelove, namely, the character riding that bomb at the end of it. The character is a Major in the army, and he was played by Slim Pickens, so that's why I went with it. Random, yes. Funny, probably only to me.
