//------------------------------//
// Fire in the Sky 
// Story: My Little Pony: Rise of the Heartless 
// by Flarinite 
//------------------------------//

	“All right, kids,” Twilight said the next morning as they stood outside of the library.  Behind Twilight were two sacks of flour.  “Before I teach you anything, I want to know what you can do.”
“Yeah!  Let’s see what you can do!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she jumped out from behind one of the flour sacks.
“Pinkie, I’m grateful that you donated these sacks of flour to us, but–”
“No problem!  The Cakes forgot they had them in their storage room, and they went bad.”
“…but you don’t need to hang around here,” Twilight finished.
“Oh, I don’t mind!  I want to watch you guys do magic!”
“Okay, but you have to promise you won’t make any noise.  They need to focus.”  Pinkie nodded vigorously in acknowledgment.
“Anyway, as I was saying.”  Twilight turned back to the twins.  “I want to know what you can do.”
“Well, we can do basic Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells,” Fortune said.
“All right, why don’t you guys show me Fire?”
The twins nodded, and Twilight walked out of the way to stand beside Pinkie.  Both of the twins’ horns glowed with magic, and small bursts of fire shot out of each of them, squarely hitting the sacks of flour and knocking them back.  On the sidelines, Pinkie leapt up and down silently.
“Very good,” Twilight said.
“So now what?” Fortune asked excitedly.  “Are you going to teach us an awesome new spell?”
“How about Gravity?” Lucky asked.  “That’s cool.”
“Oh, no no no no no,” Twilight said.  “That’s still too advanced for you.  You’re going to learn… Fira!”
“What?  But… that’s just a bigger version of Fire!” Lucky complained.
“It’s important that you study in a steady, progressive manner,” Twilight explained, pacing back and forth.  “If you try to take on too much at once, you’ll end up in trouble.”
“Fine then,” Lucky grumbled.  “Let’s give this a shot.”
“Oh, no no no no no,” Twilight said, for the second time in so many minutes.  “You’re not going to perform the spell yet.”
“Huh?”
Twilight turned to the open door of the library.  “Oh, Spike!” she called out.  Spike came running out with two identical books in his arms.
“Here you go, guys!” he said, handing them the books.  Lucky turned it over.
“What’s this?”
“This is how you’re going to learn,” Twilight said proudly.  “Isn’t it a great idea?  Before you actually do any magic, you’re going to learn about the theory and proper magic form!  That way, you won’t make a mistake!  This is how I learned all of my spells!”
“Seriously?” Lucky said.  “I didn’t come all the way to Ponyville so I could read about magic!”
“Lucky, relax,” Fortune said.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Lucky, but that’s the way we’re going to do it,” Twilight said with an air of finality.  Lucky sat and crossed her forelegs in annoyance.
“Now, you two can start reading the Fira section of the Fire chapter.  Don’t try anything yet.  Spike and I have to go run a few errands, but we’ll be back soon, okay?”  She and Spike walked off.  Pinkie remained, staring at Lucky.
“Can I help you?”
Pinkie shook her head silently before zooming off after Twilight.
“Lucky, what’s wrong?”
“This is so lame,” she huffed.  “We could have done this back in Canterlot.  Why send us all the way here to the prissy purple pony to read books about magic?”
“I don’t think you’re being fair,” Fortune said.  “You don’t even have a real reason to dislike her.”
“What about this?”  Lucky gestured to the open book lying on the ground.  “Things have to happen her way, or they won’t happen at all.  She’s just such a know-it-all.”
“Well, she is one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, according to the Princess.  If this worked for her, who’s to say it won’t work for us?”
“Whatever,” Lucky said as she stood, levitating the book off the ground.  “I’m going for a walk.”
“Want me to come with?  Maybe you could use somepony to talk to.”
“No thanks,” she said, slightly more calmly than before.  “I just need to be alone for a bit.”  She walked off.
“Whatever you say, sis,” Fortune muttered as he flipped the book open and began to read.


O	O	O	O


Twilight and Spike arrived at Applejack’s orchard to see the orange pony kicking trees, as her little sister Applebloom caught the falling apples in a basket on her head.
“Hey there Twi,” the orange pony said.
“Hey AJ, Applebloom,” Twilight said.
“How’s it goin’, Twilight?” Applebloom asked.
“It’s going all right.”
“So what brings you ‘round these parts?”
“I’m here to pick up the pie I asked for.”
“Well, gee, Twi, you didn’t have to come all the way out here.  I could’ve brought it by your place later.”
“It’s no problem,” Twilight said.  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“All right then.  Applebloom, why don’t you take a break?”
“All right, sis!  Hey Spike, wanna come check out this cool log I found?  It’s filled with worms!”
“That sounds awesome!” Spike said.
“All right, let’s go!”  Applebloom galloped off, Spike close behind.
“So what is it you wanted to talk about, Twi?”
“Well, you get along well with everypony, wouldn’t you say?”
“I try my best.”
Twilight shook her head.  “I get the feeling that Lucky doesn’t like me.”
Applejack’s eyes shifted.  “Yeah, I was gettin’ that feelin’ yesterday too.”
“How could I have made her hate me already?  She just got here yesterday!”
“Well, Fortune seems to like you.”
“He does, doesn’t he?”
“Well, y’all three knew each other back in Canterlot, right?”
“Well, sort of,” Twilight said.  “I mean, I knew them, but I didn’t know them well.  And I didn’t know anything about the Heartless or Keyblades or anything.  I just thought they were regular students of the Princess who happened to have the same cutie mark.  I did talk to them a few times, though.”
“Well, what’d you talk about?”
Twilight held a hoof to her chin.  “You know, I can’t really remember.  It was such a long time ago.  But it was probably about magic.”
“Well, maybe that’s it,” Applejack said.
“Uh, what?”
“Have you ever tried to actually get to know her?  If all you talk about is what you want to talk about, she probably ain’t gonna come around.”
“But… me teaching them magic is the entire reason they’re here in the first place!”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get to know them as ponies.  Didn’t you ever talk to the Princess about things other than your studies?”
“…I guess.”
“Ponies are all different.  Maybe you just need to become friends with her before she’ll accept you as more’n that.”
“I guess I could try that.”
“Sounds like you’ve got work to do.”
“I guess I do!”  Twilight turned and galloped off.  “Thanks AJ!” she called out behind her.
“You forgot your pie!” Applejack yelled back as Twilight disappeared over the hill.  “And Spike!”


O	O	O	O


“I’ll show her,” Lucky grumbled as she walked through the streets.  “I can handle more than Fira.  I just have to find somewhere I can practice.”
She eventually made her way to the edge of the Everfree Forest, on the outskirts of town.
“Perfect.  All alone.”  She sat, and let her book fall to the ground.
“Let’s see…”  She flipped it open to the chapter on Fire spells.  “Fire… Fira… Firaga… Triple Firaga… that one sounds cool, but it’s just three Firagas…”
She flipped through the next few pages until she reached the ‘Ultimate’ section of the chapter, and an illustration caught her eye.  It showed a unicorn with a glowing horn, an enormous ball of fire hovering over its head as fire rained from the sky.  Her eyes widened.
“Ooh… Firaga Burst?  That looks cool!”  She quickly skimmed over the instructions before standing up.
“All right, Lucky, you can do this.”  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and strained as hard as she could.  A small flame flickered from her horn, and her eyes snapped open.
“What?  That’s it?”  She tried again, with similar results.
“I’m going to get this.”


O	O	O	O


Fortune lay on the ground reading when he heard galloping hooffalls.  He looked up from his book to see Twilight rushing up to him.
“Hey Twilight, where’s Spike?”
Twilight skidded to a stop, smacking her face with her hoof.  “Shoot, I forgot him at Sweet Apple Acres.  I was in such a rush to talk to…”  She looked around.  “Hey, where’d your sister go?”
“She’s in one of her moods,” Fortune said, standing up.  “She went for a walk.”
“Where’s her book?”
“Uh, I think she took it with her.”
Twilight stared at him in shock.  “She what?”
“…is something the matter?”
“I bet she went off to try a more advanced spell on her own!” Twilight exclaimed in panic.  “Come on, we have to find her before she hurts somepony!”  She galloped off without looking back.
“I’m right behind you!”
They galloped through the town, passing by Sugarcube Corner as Pinkie walked out the door.
“Pinkie, have you seen Lucky?” Twilight asked frantically.  Pinkie nodded vigorously.
“Where?”
Pinkie made a series of unintelligible hoof gestures, and Twilight and Fortune stared at each other in confusion.
“Pinkie, just tell me!  This is important!”
“All right,” she said, shrugging.  “But you’re the one who said no noise, remember?”
“Pinkie, that was hours ago!  Where’s Lucky?”
“I saw her heading to the edge of the Everfree Forest with that book Spike gave her!  She looked really upset!”
“Oh no.  I hope we’re not too late.”
A sudden shrill scream pierced the air.  Fortune’s ears perked up.
“That’s Lucky!” he shouted, following the source of the noise, as the other two ponies galloped alongside him.  As they drew closer to the forest, the smell of smoke began to permeate the air.
“I hope we’re not too late,” Twilight moaned.
They finally reached the outskirts of the town.  In the distance, they spotted Lucky cowering on the ground, an enormous ball of fire hanging in the sky above her.  Smaller fireballs shot out of it, and the trees and the grass around her were all ablaze.
“Oh no!  That’s fire’s going to spread into town if we don’t do something!” Pinkie shouted.
“Lucky, are you all right?” Fortune called out over the roar of the flames.
“I… I can’t control it!”  Lucky tried to run, but flames blocked her path in every direction.
“Twilight, you have to do something!”
“I know, hold on a second!”  She massaged her forehead with a hoof, eyes closed in concentration.  “I’ve got it!”
Twilight closed her eyes and lowered her horn.  Her face was distorted with effort by the strain of the spell she cast.  A small gust kicked up, and it increased in strength until a fully-fledged tornado whirled about in front of them.
Twilight opened her eyes, her horn still glowing.  She slowly directed the tornado toward the flames, and the gale force winds extinguished the grass and trees.  Lucky grabbed the book and ran over to Fortune and the others, as Twilight directed the tornado to the giant ball of fire in the sky.
“You can do it, Twilight!” Pinkie cheered, suddenly wearing a giant foam finger.
Twilight strained to keep the tornado together as sweat beaded on her forehead.  The fireball began to lessen in size.
“Almost there!”
The fireball finally disappeared, and Twilight gasped as the tornado decompressed, the winds flattening out the grass they stood on.  She collapsed to the ground, panting.
“Are you all right, Twilight?” Fortune asked.
“I’ll… be fine,” she gasped.  “I’m not used to… using battle spells.  I just… learned them all in the past few months.”
“I’m so sorry, Twilight,” Lucky said, hanging her head.  “This was all my fault.  Somepony could have gotten seriously hurt.”
“Well, maybe it was partly my fault too,” Twilight said, smiling.  “I was so focused on being a good teacher, I forgot to be a good friend.  I should have listened to your concerns about my teaching style.  Maybe what worked for me won’t necessarily work for everypony else.”
“And maybe I should have trusted you to know what was best.  You can come off as a know-it-all sometimes, but maybe that’s because you do know better than me.  At least sometimes,” she added quickly.
“Woohoo!  Everypony learned a lesson!” Pinkie cheered.  “Let’s go have some cupcakes to celebrate!”
“Sure, Pinkie,” Twilight chuckled, standing up.  “That sounds great.”  She looked down at Lucky.  “But only if you want to.”
Lucky smiled.  “Sure.  I’d love a cupcake.”
“You know something, though?” Twilight asked Lucky as Pinkie bounced ahead of them, followed closely by Fortune.
“What’s that?”
“That was a really good Firaga Burst.  I couldn’t even make a fireball for the first week I tried that spell.”
“Really?”  Lucky’s eyes lit up.
“Really.  But, maybe it’s best you didn’t try that again for a bit.”  Lucky chuckled.
“Well, that spell you used was really something.  What’s it called?”
“That was Tornado,” Twilight said.
“Makes sense.”
“But don’t get any ideas about trying it just yet,” Twilight warned facetiously.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Later that evening, Twilight and Spike stood together in her bedroom.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight began.  “Today I learned that if you want to try to get somepony to listen to you, you have to be willing to listen to them.  While it’s important to try and help other ponies, you have to make sure that they’re open to accepting your help.  And to do that, you have to make sure that they respect you as a pony, and as a friend.”  She looked at Spike.  “Did you get all that?”
“No,” he grumbled.  “I still can’t believe you left me at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“I’m really sorry about that, Spike.”  She patted his head.  “But I promise to make it up to you.  I’ll use Rarity’s gem-finding spell and make you the best cake you’ve ever tasted!”
“Apology accepted!” Spike said.  “But, maybe don’t make the cake yourself.  You’re not exactly known for your baking skills.”  Twilight glared at him.
“Kidding, kidding.”  He pulled out a quill and parchment and began to write.  “Sort of."