The next day. We went to Canterlot High together. We didn’t know how it would go, but we decided to do it.
"So what was the plan again?" Pinkie Pie asked on the way as she jumped between me and Twilight.
"Pinkie! it's the sixth time you ask that and we have already explained it to you five times!" I said irritatingly, stepping aside for there to be more room.
"Look Pinkie," Twilight walked beside her, "We want to go and talk to them about practicing on their magic to control it, but first we are going to talk to Steely Armor can more details from him so that we can hopefully convinve Flaming Star that whatever that happened was an accident and by trying to escape from it will only do him bad than good. Got it?" She took her head and shook her up. It seems even she had lost the patient to explain it to her again. But thankfully Applejack separated them with the help of Rainbow Dash. That little almost-catastrophe at least made Rarity take her eyes away from her phone.
The crunchy sound of fallen leaves when I step on them alone was always something that broke the silence of my lonely walk to school. But that day it was not noticeable. Was that I had my mind on something else or there was just so much talk between us? Before we knew it, we were at school.
"So where the hey are y'all gonna find them?" Applejack pointed out walking next to Rarity who was picking her books from her locker.
I thought to myself a little bit, the two places that Steely Armor was most curious about were the workshop and the science lab. So figured he might be somewhere near those places.
"I think I know where we should look for him." I knew that it was not the day for the workshop so I led the way to the science lab, and bingo! He was there, sitting with his back to the door, writing in a notebook.
"Well, what the hey y'all waiting for?"
"Applejack, I don’t want to barge in there. Especially with all of you behind me. So, do you mind if we do this one-on-one?" I gestured with my hands.
"I understand," Fluttershy said, "We don't want to frighten him." She held the other girls behind her.
"Well wish me luck." I said to the girls.
"You don't need luck". Spike stepped out from the crowd "You've got friends." It felt weird that the words of a dog determined me but I took it.
I walked into the lab, I was really aware of the sound my boots made on the floor but Steely Armor didn't turn around. I tried announcing myself with a "Hi" and it caught his attention. Then he stopped writing, closed his notebook and turned around.
"H-hi." He nodded and held his notebook to his chest. "I wanted to come find you myself but...I got a bit distracted." He was a little nervous, maybe he still wasn't used to the school's atmosphere.
"Well, I think we know what we want to do but," I sat down on one of the chairs in the lab. "I wanted to ask you a few questions first."
He nodded and sat back down on his seat.
"Have you two ever tried to practice on your magic to get it under control?"
He sighed, "Except from that one time that...." he rubbed his shoulder, "Not together, he has been very cautious about using it. But alone, I have tested my ability a bunch and I have quite a bit of notes and some info I gathered. But we don't want this."
It was then that I was reminded that I didn't know what his magic was. "Hey, I know what Flaming Star's magic is...but...what is yours?"
"Well..." He paused for a few seconds. "It's a bit hard to explain. Its some sort of state....a vision?"
"what do you mean?"
"W-w-well, it's uh...I uh..." He muttered till he finally gathered his thoughts. "It makes me see things in a very detailed way. And on top of that it...allowed me to find out that you had..." He paused before finishing his sentence. "Magic!"
"So...you...saw that we had magic with your magic?" That sounded very dumb but I think I managed to get the point across.
He nodded. "YES! It was...like an aura around you all!"
"So that's how..." I whispered to myself.
"What?" He asked
"Oh nothing! I shook my head and moved onto the next question. "You said that you had practiced with yours."
A shine glow in her eyes. "Yes! I tried it a bunch of times. It sort of gives me a headache after a while but it's really fascinating how it works. It lets me see things that I would have never noticed." The excitement was visible in his voice. "I once used it on the streets and even till now I know the exact color of every car that was moving in the street!"
I noticed something.
"Another time I used it when I wanted to find a certain screw in the the piles of screws I have." He brought his hands and started using them to express his experience. "And I managed to find it with seconds. Every now and then when I close my eyes a-" he realized that I was staring at him and blushed. "w-w-what are you looking at."
"You like your power don't you?" I asked.
He looked away and gulped before answering. "W-well, I find it...interesting yes." he avoided direct eye contact.
"You are fine with your magic...you don't want to get rid of it. It's only Flaming Star that wants to."
He turned his head away and sighed. "NO. I...don't want to get rid of it." he looked down in shame. "But I want to help Flame. And if it meant giving it up I would."
I nodded, "I understand. But maybe we can show Flaming Star that he too can control his power." I stood up. "Now lets go find him."
He smiled, I don't know why, but he didn't say anything for a long time and just smiled. Finally he said: "He might be in the music room. Let's go."
Even though his reaction was a bit awkward I told myself, "that's the spirit!"
We gathered up with the girls outside. And headed to the music room. On our way to the music room, Steely Armor showed us his notebook. "I know you had magic before me and Flame. So I thought maybe you can help me complete my notes about it."
"About magic?" That got Twilight's attention.
Twilight took the notebook from him and opened it. I took a quick look over the shoulder at the things that he had written. I couldn't make much out of it but I could tell Twilight was really excited about the notes and the things that Steely Armor wrote. They started talking about it and sharing their theories. It was like one expert talking to another and we all know better than to interrupt them; I backed away and let them keep talking and I believe the others did the same too.
After a while we reached the music room. We stopped at the door to prepare ourselves.
"Um, should we stay out of this one too?" Fluttershy asked softly as she got close to me.
"Sorry, but yes. I think if only a few of us go in it would be better to manage the situation then all of us." I put my hands on her shoulder to comfort her. She gave me a small smile in return.
"Then why did we all come in the first place?" Rainbow dash said.
"Once we go in we don't want anyone to interfere. So some of you should stay to guard the place."
"I'll watch!" Applejack raised her hand, "ah probably don't know what to say anyway."
"Thanks Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow...I think it would be better for you two to also stay here."
It was then that Pinkie pie jumped in front of my face. "Uhhhhh! But I wanna be there!"
"Sorry Pinkie...but we would rather focus...and besides, No one can predict when Vice Principal Luna would show up other than you!" I pushed her back and gave her to Applejack.
"Oh, sorry darling but who is going to go in then?" Rarity shrugged in a manner of confusion.
"Me, Twilight and Steely Armor!" I pointed at all of us while telling her.
Spike stepped forward, "Even I'm not allowed in?"
"TALKING DOG!" Steely Armor shouted and took a step backward.
This time Twilight handled it, "I'm afraid Spike, But I think a talking dog is just too much for our newbies."
Without anymore hesitation, we walked in. Flaming Star was writing something while he was sitting at the grand piano. But I couldn't see what.
"Um," Steely Armor declared our entry as he walked ahead adjusting his hat. "Flame, we need to talk."
He stopped whatever he was doing and looked at all of us. "Go away." he turned his head away. "I don't want to hurt you."
I held onto Twilight's shoulder and gave her the sign that maybe we should let him start it off.
"Flame. Listen." He walked forward. "I knew you are afraid of repeating what happened that day but, that was just an accident."
"And that is exactly why you should stay away." Flaming Star grunted back.
I felt I need to step in now. "What if we told you we found a solution to your problem?"
Flaming Star stood up and looked at me. "Really? You can get rid of this?"
"Well, we sure found a way...but I doubt it's the way you were originally looking for." I said as I got closer to Steely Armor so I could be in the middle of the conversation.
That caught his attention "what do you mean?" He too walked towards us.
"We can't take your magic or remove it, but we can help you to control it."
The deem light of hope that was inside his eyes faded as he rubbed his head away, "We've tried that!...it didn't work out."
"Look it was not your fault that you burned Steely Armor's shoulder," I walked closer to him, "It was...just an acci-"
"Wait, how do you know that!" He looked at Steely Armor, "You told them? you promised not to!" He said, walking backwards.
"No" I shouted, holding my heads up as I tried to explain, "he didn't say a word. He...he didn't have to, because of my magic."
"What do you mean?" He took a few deep breaths as he sat down on the stage.
"My power is...it's a psychic thing. I can read people’s thoughts just by touching them."
Steely Armor sat down next to him. "It was me," he said, "Sunset Shimmer touched me and saw...Well, she saw enough."
"Listen" Twilight said as she stood across from him, "I know how you feel."
"Yeah sure." Flaming Star answered back as if he didn't want to hear the rest.
"No. it's true. I was fascinated by the powers I was studying at first. It was just another experiment for me. But when I realized that I was..."
Flaming Star didn't let her finish speaking. "Did you hurt your friends? " he demanded.
Twilight started to speak but bowed her head. " Yes, yes I did. My oldest and best friend. "I knew she was talking about her absorbing the magic powers at the Friendship Games had a terrified spike. But I didn't want to tell him she was talking about her dog.
"Did you ever wake up from a nightmare? "
Twilight nodded. "Yes. Especially last summer when I was at the camp Everfree. I'd hoped to escape the nightmare. But I didn't, not until....."
"What?" he cut her off once again.
"Until I did what Sunset told me to do: I embraced the magic." she held her head up, I have to say I was blushing to hear my words to her.
"But...but what will you do if you ever lose control?" He asked uncertainty.
She answered that question very bravely, "I won't because I learned about a stronger magic: the magic of friendship."
For a moment, nobody said anything and I thought he was thinking about what Twilight had said. Then his eyes winded ,and he stood up.
"This is so dumb" he mumbled, "Just leave me alone." He stood up and headed for the door to leave. That's when I reached out to grab hold of his collar, but I missed and my fingers brushed against his face.
I saw a house on fire, a lot of pictures that were burning, And Flaming Star looking around and shouting "NO!" It didn't last very long as I didn't maintained my touch with him for long.
"STAY. AWAY." He shouted and a burst of fire came out of his hands. Once again, his hands were ignited and writhing in flames.
"No. NO!" He started to tremble again. His breathing got rapid and sweats started to drip from her forehead as he stared at his hands once more.
"Calm down. It's...fine...jus-" Before I could finish my sentence, he kecked the door open. But the moment he saw the rest of the girls he took a step back. "I have to make sure everyone's all right! you may have experienced something similar, but you will never know how hard it is to live with this!" Then without another word, he ran out of the music room. When we looked for him in the hallway he was just through the front door of the school. Steely Armor didn't say anything, but instead ran after him.
"WELL, THAT worked."
I leaned my head against a locker. "Rainbow Dash. Please! We didn't mean to scare him."
Twilight stood next to me. "he is...too scared." She looked at me afterwards. "What did you see when you touched his face?"
"Another fire. Only I don't think he started this one." It all happened so fast, I was still processing what just happened like I really didn't expect him to just leave school!
"Then what's the connection?" She said, picking up Spike from the ground.
"I don't think that there is one!...At least I hope there isn't."
We decided to leave Steely Armor for a while, besides we had a class to catch so we went our separate ways. I walked alone in my free times to reevaluate and put my mind into what went wrong. I decided to visit the music room, maybe being in the place could have helped me figure out the problem. Just like I thought it was not occupied. Silence may bring peace to anywhere but in the music room it's just a foreign thing. Walking around the room, something behind the piano took my notice. I walked up to the piano. It was a notebook sitting on the holder of the piano. I picked it up and opened it. There were music notes written in there, along with some lyrics on other pages.
"someone left it here, but who would...." It was then that I realized, this had to be Flaming Star's! I decided to hold on to it, and when I saw him again, IF I was going to see him again I would give it back to him. A part of me believed he would never set foot in the school and that he had ran away from everyone.
I didn't see the girls until lunchtime in the cafeteria. The seven of us were sitting at a table when Fluttershy pointed out Steely Armor sitting at a table in the corner all alone by himself.
"Should we go talk to him?" She suggested.
"who?"
"Uhm, darling, you might want to look behind you!"
Rainbow Dash turned around, "I still don't know what you are talking about!"
"I think we should just...give him some time." I suggested.
All the girls nodded. However I couldn't feel bad for him.
The next morning, as I was pulling myself together for school, I half-read a report of a house fire yesterday where a stranger managed to save the life of someone whom the fire fighters couldn't get to. It was only as I was walking to school that I made the connection. "No, that can't be!" I told myself.
When I got to Canterlot High Flaming Star wasn't there. Though I saw Steely Armor at his locker, he was reserved and quiet. I had a bad feeling about that, but mostly I was blaming myself for pushing them too hard. I went to talk to Steely Armor about yesterday. He just thanked me and closed his lockers. I don't know why but that made me feel even worse.
And it was then, that suddenly everything changed. Flaming Star walked through the front door of the school. I couldn't believe my eyes.
before I knew it, Steely Armor had ran up and hugged him.
The girls also gathered around me, we all could only stand there and watch. Pinkie Pie pretty well summed it up, asking: "is that him or a guy who really really looks like him?"
"Ah think it's him!" Applejack whispered in Pinkie's ear.
I wasn't even sure about the answer to that one. but I rolled with it. They were chatting by themselves for a while and meanwhile the girls all shared their thoughts on what they were seeing.
"Maybe your plan worked out after all, darling." Rarity put her hand on my shoulder.
"Trust me, I am still not sure."
They walked up to us next to each other, just like the first time I met them.
"I thought a lot about what you said," Flaming Star said, looking at me and Twilight. "It took me quite some time but...I think...I think you were right."
"No biggie," Rainbow Dash piped up.
"Wait." I brought my hands up and made everyone stop talking for a second. "You were the stranger who saved the someone from the house on fire weren't you?"
"I did went there." He looked at me. The firefighters were working to contain the blaze. That's when I saw it. there was a kid still inside the house. The fire covered the front entrance like a curtain, but I just ran straight into it and through it. Don't ask me how, I just did! It was like someone was telling me what to do every step of the way. I pushed my way through the flames like I was swimming and, well, I saved the kid. I brought him outside and a Couple of the firefighters started bombarding me with questions. I got scared and ran home. But I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. I realized that I couldn't have known how to do anything about the fire and the rescue unless I, well, unless I trusted the magic. I guess what I'm saying is...you're right."
Steely Armor walked up to him. "You....used your magic!" He was impressed that Flaming Star actually trusted his magic, and I don't blame him, from what I saw and heard, I also had doubts he would use them again soon.
He smiled, "I did but I think I have a way to go before I can wear that label."
"Hey, we'll get there together. We've both got some learning to do to get these powers under control."
Afterwards, since we were all sitting behind one table in the cafeteria, I gave Flaming Star the notebook he'd left behind. "I hope you don't mind," I told him, "but I looked inside. I didn't know you wrote music. You've got some really great songs in here. Would you mind if our band, the Rainbooms, used some of your lyrics?" I even gave him a big smile to increase my chance of him saying yes.
"Only if you use the tunes as well." he smiled.
I smiled back. "Deal, Forgive if I don't shake on it."
"Ah don't have a problem with it," Applejack said, extending her hand. Which I passed again.
Then we enjoyed our lunch together with our new friends.
Steely Armor and Twilight get together and discuss magic theory and practice whenever they can. I seem to remember something I read about Star swirl the bearded, where he said that the greater one's ability to look deeply into how things work, the greater the possibility of their being able to look into the future. So we may only have seen the beginning of Steely Armor's magic.
It's been quite a journey so far. And I learned that we shouldn't blame ourselves for something that we really didn't mean to do, that part of training ourselves involved forgiving ourselves as well.
But being forgiven was one of the first things I learned when you came here to get the crown I stole. It never feels like I've told you enough, but thank you.
Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer.