//------------------------------//
// V 
// Story: The Fire and The Flutter 
// by A. Tuesday 
//------------------------------//

V
About two years ago, I lived in Ponyville. My mother, father, brother and I all lived in the upstairs part of a business that my dad owned. He sold shoes. I remember him selling horseshoes very clearly.
I had a lot of different friends about town, and in my class we were all at the period of time where cutie marks began to appear. I wasn’t the first to get mine – that belonged to this down-to-earth pony who I wasn’t exactly familiar with. I didn’t care about that so much, but when another pony who WAS a decent friend of mine got hers – a girl who wanted to be a fashion designer, her name was Extremity or Rarity or something like that – well, I drew the line.
I felt that I knew what my cutie mark was going to be – I had been pretty good at summoning fire at will, and I got the feeling mine would have to do with cooking, or something with a fireplace or hearth. I practiced my fire-skills all the time, but to no avail. I figured that maybe something BIG needed to happen in order for my cutie mark to appear.	
So, unfortunately, I just had to wait it out. I got more and more frustrated a whole lot, with not getting my cutie mark with everyone else, so a different friend of mine (not Rarity) invited me to go on a sledding trip with her and some other friends, once weather permitted.
My parents, the nice folk that they were, let me go and encouraged me to go. They said I should “take a break from worrying about my cutie mark.” And that’d it happen “when it happens”. So, I should go enjoy myself with some friends.
It was winter around that time, so when the first major snowfall happened, my friends and I walked with our sleds and skis and whatnot to the top of a fairly large mountain. The sight down from the top of their was probably the longest fall I’d ever seen.
But, when you’re just a little girl in Ponyville with all her friends, what else are you to do besides crazy stuff?
The first pony sled down the mountain. You could hear her scream like no other on the way down, even though the mountain didn’t have too many obstacles in it. I couldn’t tell how fast she was going, I just remember the blur flying down the snowcapped steepness, and finally slowing down to the bottom.
She waved two hooves to us, signaling she was totally okay, and that the next person could go.
There were five of us there, and somepony had the smart idea of all going down the mountain at the same time. That way, they’d all be together at the bottom, the wait wasn’t as long, and so on and so forth. Not to mention the ride down would be even better.
Accordingly, anyway. I wasn’t quite listening at that point – I had gone off to Cutie-Mark Lalaland, wondering when the heck I was going to get it. But, once I zoned back in, I noticed everypony on their sleds, about to go down the mountain all at once.
“3,” counted off a Pegasus friend of mine, “2….1…”
“NO, WAIT! WAIT FOR ME!” I pleaded.
“GO!” 
They couldn’t hear me in time. The three of them went down the mountain together, screaming like none others could, joyfully laughing as well.
I began to get into my sled when I felt the ground slip from under me.
I took a step back and noticed the mound of snow I was standing on began to crawl forward towards the edge of the drop.
I stepped back to avoid falling, when suddenly that crawl turned into almost breaking the sound-barrier. I fell on my back and watched almost all the snow fall down the drop.
Once I could regain my footing, I heard the screams get louder. Words were being said, but I couldn’t understand them at all, they were way to far down for me to hear them. Not to mention all the tumbling snow was making the loudest noise ever, which I soon realized was a full-fledged avalanche.
I leaned over the side of the drop just in time to watch the three ponies who had just sled down the mountain be too dumbfounded to do anything about the impeding snow. Within seconds, the avalanche completely covered them.
I screamed, and ran down the avalanche, but loading my footing almost immediately and I flew down the mountain, rolling and tossing every which way, while I heard the one girl who went earlier keep screaming for her friends. But I knew they couldn’t hear her.
I stopped flipping a billion times, and finally skidded to a stop in the snow. Shaking off as much as I could, I trudged up the snowy mountain just a little bit, until I was at where I figured the girls were, and I began to dig. I dug out the avalanche in theat one spot until I could see the ground, but still none of the girls.
The other pony had since ran to go get help, but we were pretty far away from Ponyville, and she was just an earth pony. It would be a while before she got back with any help. And these girls needed to get out now.
I began crying. What in Celestia’s name was I to do?
Then it hit me, I have decent control of fire. Maybe, just maybe, I can melt the snow.
I took a position, wanting to get this done as soon as possible, and pointed my horn towards a random position in the snow. I then focused on it, more than I ever had before. I closed my eyes, imagining a large, steady fire over all the snow, slowly melting it all.
I opened my eyes. My plan was working, and the fire was a little shaky, but it melted that patch of snow all the same. Water began flowing past me as I stared at the bare ground in frustration.
I went to another random section of snow, pointed my horn, and imagined the same thing. This time, I was panicking even more, and I couldn’t imagine the fire straight. It started waving every which way. 
Opening my eyes, I found the fire was actually very shaky, but still had done its job, showing nothing but bare ground again.
I cried out in anger and sobbed. My friends would freeze to death under the snow unless I could save them.
In complete rage at the world, I closed my eyes, and didn’t visualize anything. Just anger, pure adrenaline and anger.
I felt my self getting raised up by some unknown force, as if I was flying, but I didn’t dare open my eyes. I tried to think of where to point towards next, but I couldn’t think of anywhere. 
My horn did more than tingle. It was a horrible burning sensation, which made everything even worse. I couldn’t think of anywhere these girls would be, and now I felt my mane flailing everywhere, as if there was wind now, even though I didn’t feel any. In complete anger, I imagined every patch of snow being melted, and opened my eyes.
What lay before my was an inferno. I was floating above the mountain, my many was pure fire as I just stared in amazement at the inferno I set upon the entire mountain. Every patch of snow was now completely engulfed in flame as the conflagration I summoned began to burn down every tree and blade of grass and probably the mountain itself.
In disbelief, I turned to my left, and noticed the pony had brought back help. And most of the town, who were now staring at me in horror as I controlled the fire. As if I had done this on purpose.
Only then did I realize what I was doing. It took all of my might, and with the biggest struggle I ever put up, the blaze stopped like the snap of a finger, my mane reverted back to normal, my horn stopped tingling, and I fell a good 20 feet down to solid rock, exhausted out of my mind.
Right before I passed out, I saw the three girls I had set out to save. They were all not moving, and completely charred and blackened in the front. The town looked at me, backing away from me as paramedics started running towards the children. 
Their charred bodies…I was responsible for them, and I had no idea what I was doing….I only wanted to save them, and instead I…I…I…



“Firestarter!” cried a soft voice, “Firestarter!”
I came back form my nightmarish reverie, and felt tears stinging my eyes. I hadn’t even known I was crying, but I felt that anger and sadness mixture still lingering inside me.
Not only that, but I found something even worse. I floated above the park, a crowd forming on the streets, gasping at me in horror, as Fluttershy below me screamed in her gentle voice for me to stop. But, stop what?
I looked down straight below my. And then I saw. The tree we were leaning under was no longer a tree. That entire area, a little circle where the tree was the center was engulfed in flame and the tree had basically disintegrated, and still burned, the flames just licking my hooves. The fire roared over everything, and was the loudest I had heard since the avalanche.
“Firestarter!” screamed Fluttershy in the loudest voice I’ve ever heard her speak in, “Please, you need to stop!”
Realizing just what I was doing, I willed the fire to extinguish. The conflagration below me dissipated instantly. My mane stopped flying every which way, and the crazy magic holding me up was completely gone. I fell 30 feet to the ground, and hit unadulterated dead ground, sickeningly. Pain shot up my hooves, and I heard a bad crack from within me.
My emotions. I was supposed to be the one controlling the fire, not my emotions. I felt ashamed, which was only made worse by my hoof, which I thought I must’ve fractured.
Fluttershy galloped over to me right as I began to black out. She reached out and cradled my head in her hooves, her eyes twinkling with surprise, some fear, and – and – almost understanding. She saw now, why there was no way I could help that whale. I couldn’t always control fire as well as I should. 
“It’s over, Firestarter,” she said soothingly, as the crowd behind her murmured and got closer, “It’s over now.” 
Using all of my strength to stay awake, before I shut my eyes, I told Fluttershy the final part of the story. 
“But the worst part…was that…after all was said and done….a flame on my flank had appeared. What do you think it’s…like when you earn you’re cutie mark by burning your friends?”
And then I faded away into unconsciousness.