Learning is Magic: The Beginning

by lyramei

Firefly in the Night

Although they had approached the ruins of the Tree of Harmony, Discord had to transport them somewhere else to avoid the bugbear; hence they had to take another route to go back.

Inkwell and Discord were talking about The Adventures of Don Draconequus. "No way! Don seems like quite the interesting draconequus," Discord laughed.

"I know, when I first picked up this book, I thought about you," admitted Inkwell. "But now that I've read it, I've gotten to know about how a draconequus can have multi-faceted personalities! How would you feel about reading this book?" she asked Discord.

"Well, um, reading's not my thing, actually..." began Discord. "I can't sit still and concentrate."

"How about I come over to your Chaosville house to read it out loud?" suggested Inkwell. Discord hesitated and bit his claw at first, then nodded. "Great!"

"Anypony? Help us! We're lost," a stallion's voice called in the distance.

"Did anyone hear that?" asked Lilac. "It sounds like someone calling for help!"

The lost traveler continued calling for help. "Are you lost?" asked Lilac. "We're just right around the corner. Can you see us?"

The traveler and his wife looked around until they saw Lilac and Team 7C. "Hello, sorry to bother you. We're from Baltimare and we came to the Everfree Forest to study nature. But we're lost and don't know the way out!" he exclaimed.

"To be honest, we're lost too," admitted Lilac. "We're looking for the Tree of Harmony."

"Hold up a second! Are you walking through a dark forest? With no flashlight?" asked Sunset. The traveler couple nodded.
"Why in Equestria would you do that?" Sunset took one of her firefly crystal earrings and pulled the gleaming gem off. She then took a stick and used vines to tie the gem to it. "There. Your very own flashlight." Sunset handed it to the travelers.

"Thank you, that's very kind of you-" began the husband. Sunset cut him off. "One more thing. Are you hungry?"

"We haven't ate yet," the wife admitted. Sunset turned to Ember and extended her hoof. "They're hungry," she told the dragon. Ember, who was eating Spike and Ike candy, picked up a berry off the ground and handed it to the wife.

"EMBER!" Sunset scolded. "Fine," Ember pouted as she handed the rest of her candy to the travelers. "Here you go. I'll ask Spike to send me more later."

The husband ate a piece of candy. "Thank you, uhh, miss, I don't know how I'll ever repay your generosity!"

Sunset shook her head. "No, no, no. Don't repay me. Everyone should give to those in need! I tell you, keep all the stuff I gave you. I'm not expecting them to be returned," she offered.

The wife gave Sunset a hug, then waved at Team 7C as they began to set off.

"Wow, Sunset, that was nice of you... but you gave up your very expensive firefly crystal earring!" exclaimed Island, who was still shocked.

"Island. Helping others is more important than preserving things for my own benefit," explained Sunset. She crossed her hooves and glared at Island. "Do I look like a selfish mare to you?"

"No, no, it's just that... I wish I could do something like that, too," admitted Island. Sunset smiled. "Everyone has a spark of charity in them," she said.

Discord, who was listening to their conversation, laughed. "You know, Sunset, don't you feel that you're an awful lot like Rarity?"

"I am my own pony," declared Sunset. "No two ponies are alike. But I'm not going to lie; I do admire Rarity's generous spirit and style," she admitted.

"Really? Even though she's a bit stuck-up?" asked Discord?

Sunset glared. "Hey! Don't talk about Rarity like that!"

Discord shrugged, then stopped at a horrifying sight. A cockatrice was on the loose!

"Oh, look what we have here."