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// 80 - City Ablaze 
// Story: A Dangerous Sparkle 
// by David Silver 
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Renewed, Twilight awoke from her cushion to find Spike curled up on the floor beside her bench. She smiled down at him, wondering why he had chosen to sleep there before the thought came to her and she looked around. She spotted Soft Mane curled up on the next bench over and smirked a little before continuing her sweep. Pinkie was already awake, singing to herself slowly as if practicing some new song. Fluttershy was tucked into the back under a blanket with her snout barely peeking out. Rarity and Long Road were curled up beside each other. 

Twilight paused in her survey as she saw this, fidgeting in place. Ok Twilight, let's do a mental checklist! She thought mental, but pulled out a paper anyway and began to scratch at it.

Do I care about Long Road and Rarity becoming a thing?

Pro: I don't know how to handle a romance yet anyway
Con: I won't find out this way
Pro: He's a donkey and, as a princess, I really should have a proper partner
Con: Twilight, you know that's not fair.
Pro: No one said being nobility was fair.

She paused as she started arguing with herself on the paper. She looked up at the two again, sighed before her magically wielded quill went back to work.

Pro: Rarity looks happy.
Con: I want to be happy too.

She frowned at her writing and lifted it in her magic, crumpling it up into a ball before hurling it out the adjacent window. She slid down to her hooves, avoiding stepping on Spike. Before she could take another step, Spike took hold of her and pulled her down into an embrace. "Morning Twi," he said. "If you wanted a letter written you coulda asked."

Twilight paused a moment before returning the hug, "It wasn't a letter, Spike, but thank you." Romance or not, she had good friends. Reminding herself of this fact, Twilight nuzzled Spike before rising back to full height and approaching the front center of the car.

"Time to wake up, everyone," she called gently, clopping her forehooves together. With soft grumbles, the rest of the party roused from their slumber. "Where's Rainbow?"

Spike pointed up, "She didn't feel like sleeping inside."

Twilight cantered to the closest window and poked her head out, craning it until she could spot the cloud with the rainbow tail hanging off the side. "Dash, come on! It's time to get moving." Rainbow rose up and peeked back at Twilight. She gave a hooves up and, after a stretch, was in the train car in a flash, almost bowling Twilight over in the process.

Twilight conjured up a map of the city, rough as her knowledge of its layout limited the map to. "This is where we'll be searching. We have no clues to work on for where the anchor may be. It could be on the edge, or in the middle, or anywhere else in there. It's on fire, so be careful. Even touching these elementals can be very dangerous. I want our scouts," she paused to look at Rainbow and Spike significantly, "To go ahead. Avoiding fights is your number one priority, especially you Rainbow."

"What, why me?" asked Rainbow Dash, crossing her arms.

"Burnt wings don't fly very well," replied Twilight. "Spike has the advantage of not using wings to fly, but I don't want either of you picking a fight or getting hurt. Remember, if you attack, even in 'defense', the spell stops and you become visible. Be fast--"

"You don't need to tell me to be fast," interrupted Dash, "Be fast, be smooth, and get out with our tails in one piece, got it. Enough talking, lay on the magic and we'll get on with it."

Twilight cleared her throat before raising a hoof at her rough energy map, "I want an organized search. If you criss cross wildly back and forth, you may never find it." The map began to glow cyan and purple in squares. "These are your search areas. Try to search one area completely before returning. I will reapply the spell and you can search the next area with your color. You have about ten minutes per run, which should be plenty of time to look around with your speeds." Rainbow and Spike gave a salute as Twilight approached them. She quickly wrapped them in the lavender energy armor then shielded them from sight. "You should be resistant to fire, but let's not test that, alright?" Twilight asked the air, "Be safe."

They were out the same window and began to explore the city. They returned once at different times to spring back into the city, searching for something beyond the living flames.

Rarity peered out at the city in flames, heaving a loud sigh. Long Road settled beside her, "Are you worried for our friends, madame Rarity?"

Rarity tilted her head at him lightly, "Oh, yes, but no. It's just ever so terrible to see such a magnificent city laid low. It wasn't that long ago that I came here, heart aflutter at the chance to show off my fashion. Darling, seeing it like this," She raised a hoof at the smoldering metropolis, "it's just not right."

Pinkie suddenly popped up between them, "Don't worry Rarity! We'll have it fixed in no--" Long Road gently nudged her out of the way and she flopped to the floor with a giggle. Taking a hint for one of the few times in her life, she pranced off and left the two alone. She moved to Fluttershy instead, "Hey, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy peeked out from her blanket and emerged, "What is it, Pinkie?" she asked curiously.

"Shouldn't you talk to the little ones again?" she asked, hinting at the city with a toss of her head. "They were super friendly last time."

Fluttershy glanced around with increasing hesitation, "Oh, well, I mean..."

Soft Mane joined the conversation with the clip clop of her approaching hooves, "Do they not talk like the other ones?"

Fluttershy shook her head, "No, I can hear them, but... they're on fire. What could they do... without hurting somepony?"

Pinkie nodded her head, "You're worried they'll want to stay too and what'll the Manehattans do with a bunch of little fires around? They could heat up a tea kettle? No they can't all heat tea kettles."

Soft Mane nudged Pinkie, "You're crazy, but right. Well, why not ask anyway? Maybe they won't want the same thing." She gestured at the city, "When the unbalance is fixed, the city will be not on fire. The Neighagra falls will still be very wet. Maybe they don't want to stay where it's 'cold', at least on their scale."

Fluttershy perked up before rising to all her hooves. "Alright. I guess... it can't hurt to ask." She trotted to the door and Twilight perked an ear at her.

"Where are you going, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight, "It's dangerous out there if you go anywhere near the city. Stay away from the bridge."

Fluttershy shook her head, "I'm going to talk to the little ones and see if they can't help."

Twilight frowned in thought, "Please be careful... I don't have enough magic to wrap the other two up for another trip together, so here." She tapped Fluttershy as a thrill of fire ran over her friend, shielding her from the flames. "Be careful..."

Fluttershy nodded quickly, "I will," she whispered. A parting smile and she jumped from the train, trotting towards the bridge. She carefully made her way across the bridge, her hooves clip clopping softly against the concrete as the city came closer and closer. A bright figure in the form of a small pony flew in front of her. It had leathery wings and little horns and was on fire. It was no larger than a school aged foal like Scootaloo. 

"Hello!" it... he? said, "Are you here to be burned?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Fluttershy in surprise, backpedaling a few steps, "No please. Can we... talk?"

The flaming pony nodded his head, "I have a moment before we get to the burning."

"Well, if it wouldn't be too much of a problem," said Fluttershy, shuffling in place, "I was hoping to find your leader? The biggest one?"

The flaming pony followed after Fluttershy as she moved, keeping his burning eyes on her, "What'ya want her for? She's super strong and she'll rip your pretty little body in half."

Fluttershy collapsed onto her belly, "Oh my..."

"Yea, that's what I said," spoke the fire pony. "She tore one of my friends apart the other day. You still want to see her?"

Fluttershy quickly shook her head, "No, thank you, but... can you tell me where she is?"

"Fluttershy!" came an alarmed voice from above before the sound of claws hitting concrete were heard. "You ok?"

The fire pony suddenly breathed a tiny gout of flame over Fluttershy and the invisible guest, "No ganging up on me!"

Twilight's spell proved effective, even if Fluttershy squealed with terror and cowered away from the flames. The voice continued, "Hey, sorry to surprise you. I'm Spike. If Fluttershy's talking to you, I'm not here to gang up on anypony."

"Huh, so you say," protested the fire pony, taking to the air a few feet off the ground. "I'm Brightwing. So what do I get if I tell you about where she is?"

"She?" asked the invisible Spike.

Fluttershy recovered from her fright and slowly regained her standing, "Um... I don't know what you want."

"What about a party?" Pinkie asked, suddenly standing there beside Fluttershy.

Brightwing scowled at Pinkie, "I don't want to be ripped apart next, not for any party. Bring me something hot and pretty and I'll think about it." Suddenly the impish pony took off with a flap of his small wings, vanishing into the city's flames.

They returned to the train car to find Rainbow Dash had returned while they were out. Twilight smiled at the returning group, "Did you find anything?"

Pinkie bobbed her head, "Fluttershy found this cute little fire pony named Brightwing that wants to get something hot and pretty and then he'll show us to where this big mean lady is but I'm not sure what he means by hot and pretty so I was thinking maybe we should make a pretty statue and set it on fire or maybe make something out of coal or--"

Twilight held up a hoof at the ongoing words coming out of Pinkie's mouth, "That's enough, Pinkie. Good work, Fluttershy." Suddenly Spike appeared, the spell running out, "Oh, hello Spike. Alright. That's something to work with..."

Rarity nodded firmly, "Don't worry, darlings. I know just the thing that'll knock the socks off that little Brightwing fellow of yours. Spike, come with me, we have a little hide and seek to play with some gemstones."

Spike brightened at the notion, "Do I get to eat some?" When she nodded he clapped his claws giddily and they both departed the train together.

Soft Mane looked perplexed, "Why was he so eager?"

Rainbow shrugged, "Spike loves the taste of gems, and Rarity's special talent lets her find gems with a spell. She doesn't like digging them up, but Spike's strong and has claws, so he's good at it. They work together pretty well at it. Waste of talent if you ask me. Spike should be clobbering bad guys, not digging up rocks."

"Be that as it may," spoke Twilight, "Let's have faith in Rarity. I'm sure she has a good idea."