//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Study Buddies // Story: The Fire in My Heart // by inacti //------------------------------// Scootaloo smiled and grabbed Fira's hoof. "C'mon, we need to get you initiated in the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Then we can start looking for cutie marks!" Fira was dragged up to the tree house, which reminded her somewhat of Twilight's library. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom pushing her up while Scootaloo fluttered her weak little wings pulling Fira Adara forward. "Okay, okay . . . now what?" Fira asked softly. "Well duh! We give you yer' cape and we start crusadin'," Apple Bloom cheered. Sweetie raced ahead and went behind a box in the back of the tree house. She snatched the spare cape she had made months earlier in the hopes they would find new members. She rushed over to the front of the room, fastening the cape onto Fira instantly. Fira fluffed the cape, it held up nicely. It was cute. "Th-thank you . . . Sweetie Belle . . ." she said softly. "Teehee. You don't need to thank me, The Cutie Mark Crusaders would never leave a fellow mark-less pony in the dust," she giggled. "Oh . . . okay . . ." Fira Adara blushed, looking down at her flank. "Hey girls, how about we try . . . book sorting?" "Uh . . . sure, I guess it could be anythin'," Apple Bloom said. "That sounds booooooring!" Scootaloo whined. "So? What if it is our talent?" Sweetie Belle said. Fira Adara wanted ever so much to return to the library and start her studies. "Okay, come on, lets go to Twilight's house." "Sure, why not?" Sweetie said. "Cute Mark Crusaders! Book sorting . . ." the three fillies said hoof bumping together, waiting for Fira to awkwardly join them. The four foals leapt from the tree house and darted to the library. They spotted Twilight leaving her house with her five friends, who evidently had arrived. Fire stopped short, nearly crashing into Rainbow Dash. "Woah there kid," Dash said with a laugh. "So-sorry . . ." Fira Adara said softly, Scootaloo coming up behind her. "It's cool. Hey Scoots," Rainbow Dash said. "Hi Rainbow Dash . . ." she responded. "Oh, Fira, you're back, let me introduce you to my friends," Twilight smiled, noticing the crusaders had arrived. "Hi . . ." Fira waved at the five ponies in front of her. "Hey sugarcube, ya have fun with ma' sister?" Applejack asked. Fira Adara nodded slowly and grinned at Apple Bloom who stood behind her. "Welcome to Ponyville . . ." Fluttershy said softly. "I hope you'll like living here." "I was just about to throw you a welcoming party!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "Don't scare her dear . . . sorry about that Fira," Rarity smiled. "Its okay, hey Twilight . . . can I go inside with my new friends and read up on magic?" Fira asked maturely. "Of course you can! I'll read them with you!" Twilight said, her voice filled with excitement, flapping her newly found wings. "Isn't this exciting!?" The three Cutie Mark Crusaders sighed and followed Fira into the library. "See you girls later," Twilight said, skipping into the library in anticipation. Fira leapt up the stairs to her bed, she immediately grabbed several books and nearly fell down the stairs as she trotted back to her friends. She tripped and fell down the remaining four steps, almost instantly leaping up and picking up the books scattered on the floor. "Where do we start?" Fira asked quietly, a squeak of enthusiasm in her little voice. "Um . . ah just remembered ah need to go . . . apple buckin' see ya' Fira," Apple Bloom blushed. "We have to go too," Scootaloo said, hitting Sweetie with her hoof. "We'll see you at school tomorrow." Sweetie Belle leapt up in surprise and followed the other two fillies. Fira Adara smiled and waved to her three new friends as the left the library. Clearly the three fillies were not interested in spending their days reading books. She laughed at the three's squeamishness to learn. The filly lifted up the books with her magic and lined them up on the floor. "Twilight? What do I do first?" Fira asked, her voice bright and squeaky. "Well, first we just read this one," Twilight said, pulling out a book from the shelf, it's cover read 'The Concept Of Magic.' Fira Adara gazed up at the book, wide eyed, taking the book from Twilight's hooves. "Now, this book is the very first book I ever read about magic, so I hope you can take as much out of it as I did," Twilight said calmly. Fira opened the book and gazed into its pages. She looked up a Twilight and grinned brightly. "Now, lets look up fire magic specifically, lets see, aha, here we are," Twilight mumbled. "What! What! What!" Fira asked, leaping into the air. "Calm down," Twilight laughed. "Look here, it talks about fire magic and its rarity." Fira gazed down at the page and read it over. "Fire magic is a type of magic specific to unicorns, it is common at small levels of intensity. Some unicorns have an enhanced ability from a young age, which is rarer but still heard of-" Twilight read aloud. "Wait. Rare? Fire powers are rare?" Fira interrupted. "At higher intensities, yes, I suppose so," Twilight answered, engulfed in her reading. "Hmm, hey, Twilight, it might be hard for us to research unless we have a good idea at what level my power is actually at. Right?" she asked. "Of course, of course, this book has a guide on power levels and how to spot them," Twilight said as she levitated the book upward. "Let's go outside." Fira clapped her hooves together. "Okay!" she cried out, dashing outside. She leapt up and down outside the library waiting eagerly for her teacher to come outside so the two could start. Twilight emerged holding a stack of papers in her hooves, all blank, and levitating the guide book in front of her face. "Its okay Fira, we'll test your magic in a minute, lets just go behind the house so we don't bother anypony." "Yay! Yay! Yay!" Fira zoomed to the back of the house, messing up Twilight's mane on her way. Fira waited patiently for Twilight to set out the papers. They floated above her head, twelve feet away from one another. Twilight looked at her and nodded. "Okay, this is the most basic of tests, we can see how far your magic range can go. I want you to set each page on fire and if you can do it without moving forward or straining too much we'll go a little farther until you can't make the fire go far enough. Got it?" Fira nodded and stared at the paper floating just above her head. She closed her eyes and concentrated on an image of her mother, her mother's cruelty, her father, everything, she felt the heat rising up into her horn. She concentrated harder on the images, falling backward as the sheer force of the fire power launched. She opened her eyes and looked at Twilight, who's mouth was wide open in surprise. "You burnt all of them . . . in one go . . . " she whispered, giving Fira a hoof up. "We need to figure out a way to control your power." "I did okay?" Fira Adara asked squeakily. "You were stupendous, may I ask, how did you do it?" Twilight asked, wanting to understand the filly's power. "I . . . I . . . I think about . . . my things that make me . . ." "Happy?" Twilight suggested. "No, angry . . ." Fira said quietly. "Hmm," Twilight thought for a moment. "I must say that's a bit odd. But, I don't believe that its unheard of. We should read up on this. But, Fira, I need to look into different training set ups for your type of powers. Its getting late now anyway, perhaps you should go to bed, get yourself settled." Fira sighed, she wanted to keep going. "Okay Twilight . . ." "Aw, cheer up Fira. We can work on your skills tomorrow." Fira smiled slightly, she was right, she would be in a better training mood when she was more awake. She trotted after Twilight to the library. She watched as her new teacher levitated book off the shelves and shelved more books in their place. She sighed and trotted upstairs, sitting down on her new bed and. She shut her eyes listening for the sound of pages turning. She instead heard hoof beats approaching her bed. "Goodnight Fira," Twilight whispered, tucking her little filly student into bed. Fira snuggled up against the blankets, she had rarely felt such kindness in her life, her horn emitted a soft yellow glow as she drifted off to sleep. Twilight smiled and patted the blankets, walking back down the stairs. "Hmm, where to start?" Twilight thought aloud. Twilight examined the books she had collected worriedly. She considered what types of magic were strengthened by emotion or hatred. She held up her 'Magical Creatures' book and examined it's pages for emotionally charged magic. She paused, dropping the book. "Cadence! She can help me! She knows all about this! I will visit her tomorrow," Twilight said to herself. "Now, lets see what I can figure out myself." She picked the book back up, examining it once more. "Hate . . . anger . . . Aha! No . . . no . . . those are spirits, Fira is a pony," Twilight said. "This isn't going to help!" Twilight slammed her book shut and looked up at the top floor once again. She levitated another book off the shelf. "Calm down Twilight, emotion charged magic is perfectly normal. Now lets see about the entire study of fire magic, you shouldn't have looked fire magic over in your studies Twilight!" she flipped open the book angrily, scanning for something about fire magic. Twilight Sparkle stood staring into the book for hours, so long that by morning she felt a small hoof poking her resting head. She had fallen asleep.