Can't Miss a Chance to Teach! (closed)

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"Come on Twilight! You're gonna be late!" Spike trotted by the Princess with his arms full of books.

 

"No way Spike I've got at least..." Twilight glanced at the clock in the library and almost dropped a pile of books out of her levitation spell. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe how fast the time went! Why does time always move so fast in the library?" She trotted over and set the books down in one of the only free spots of the tables. 

 

Spike rolled his eyes. "I think you might be the only pony whose ever said that," He chuckled.

 

"Ha ha Spike," She smirked at the dragon. "Come on we have to get going!"

 

The dragon hopped to her side. "Finally!"

 

"So what is it I'm heading down to the training grounds for?" 

 

"Remember the contest we held a few months ago to raise funds for the Canterlot school system?"

 

"Oh yes! The Learning is Magic Event! That was so much fun! Seeing all those ponies so excited to help support our local schools. And the school ponies had so much fun at that carnival we held."

 

"Yep! The carnival was a great idea to draw a crowd! Anyway, the winner of the magic lesson contest is coming to meet you here today."

 

"Oh! How fun!"

 

Spike pulled out a parchment roll. "The basic information says her name is Fire Heart. She's a unicorn naturally, and has already been working on her magic skills."

 

"Perfect! I'm sure we'll have a great time!"

 

The two soon arrived at the training grounds of Canterlot Castle. Many times this area was used by the REA for drill training but today it had been set up for magic practice. 

 

"Such a nice day!" Twilight took in a deep breath. "I'm glad we didn't spend the whole time inside the library. I't's nice to get outside!"

 

[Lux]

 

 

Fire Heart stood in the middle of the REA drill field, pacing nervously about. A short while ago her marefriend and now fiancee encouraged her to participate in the school's contest. The prize was an awesome lesson with none other that Princess Twilight Sparkle! Even thinking of the chance made her as excited as a mare at her birthday party! She honestly didn't think she would win. After all it seemed everypony in the school was signing up for this chance. But to her delight she got the great news. Of course, Fire had to hold back the excitement. After all, when you were a unicorn whose magic was tied to emotions, you had to be careful weren't too excited or else things might get interesting! 

 

"Ok Fire, breathe," she said to herself while juggling three small fireballs with her magic as a way to warm up and take her mind off the nervous feelings, "You can do this. You've come so far in your magic. You joined a magic guild, learned from Princess Luna how to control your emotions, and met the most wonderful mare in your life who shared in your magic abilities. It's time to put your skills to the test and find how to use them." 

 

Seeing a figure, or actually two figures,  approaching the otherwise empty field, Fire Heart extinguished her juggling fireballs and waited to see who they were. Sure enough it was Princess Twilight and of all creatures a small dragon carrying a stack of books almost as big as him! 

 

"Princess Twilight," she said with a bow, "It is an honor to meet you! Oh, and nice to meet you as well... er... sorry if I don't know your name." 

 

Spoiler

Fire Heart's Theme

 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Twilight spotted the red mare as they moved into the arena area. Even though she hadn't met the mare yet, she knew it must be Fire Heart. At least she figured it would be if her coloring had anything to do with her name sake.

 

The Princess accepted the bow graciously. She was still getting used to other ponies treating her as her position mandated. However, she was getting better at it. It certainly wasn't something that made her head swell or anything like that. It was just that Celestia had taught her that it made other ponies feel good to pay their respect to a Princess. The same as it felt good to give somepony else a gift. If the other pony refused to take it, it would make the giver feel badly. 

 

"Fire Heart!" The Princess bowed her head in return. "It's so great to meet you! Congratulations on winning the contest. I'm so excited to see what sorts of magic you enjoy!"

 

Spike raised his eyebrow as the mare forgot his name. Or it seemed she never really knew it at all! Hmph! Imagine not knowing Spike the Brave and Glorious! Oh well, he would control himself. Spike had been learning a lot too over the past few seasons. 

 

"Hi Fire Heart," Spike smiled and offered a claw. "I'm Spike... Princess Twilight's number one assistant!"

 

Twilight smiled at her friend. She was certainly impressed with his response. She would have to tell him later how proud she was of him. Spike was a super little dragon!

 

The Princess focused herself. She was going to give this time only to Fire Heart. The mare had won and prize, plus it was really fun to make new friends! Twilight made herself leave all the thoughts and cares of the life of a Princess behind for a while. She would focus on magic training, and enjoy a time to teach another from her expanse of magical knowledge!

 

"Ok Fire Heart! I think we should start by finding out what you know. I'm assuming your talent lies in fire casting magic." She smiled. "Let's see the spells you know!"

 

The Princess stepped back, giving Fire Heart room to work!

[Lux]

"Fire Heart!" The Princess bowed her head in return. "It's so great to meet you! Congratulations on winning the contest. I'm so excited to see what sorts of magic you enjoy!"

 

"Thank you for having such a contest. I'm glad to meet you as well and to help develop my magic more." 

 

Strangely, Twilight didn't introduce the dragon that came along with her. Maybe it was because the Princess was fixated on the red unicorn. The dragon, however, introduced himself. 

 

"Nice to meet you as well, Spike. I admit I haven't seen any dragons in Canterlot before." 

 

Fire Heart did have an interest in dragons, as she felt that her magic made her share a kindred spirit with such creatures. But now was not the time to delve further into dragon lore and culture. She was here to learn from Twilight. 

 

"Ok Fire Heart! I think we should start by finding out what you know. I'm assuming your talent lies in fire casting magic." She smiled."Let's see the spells you know!"

 

Fire Heart figured this would be something Twilight would start with. After all, how dose a pony know where to go if they don't know where they are? The unicorn, however, had to think about which spell to use first. Too weak of a spell might make Twilight think she was just a novice and too strong of a first spell would pale the other spells in comparison she knew. It was best that she started with one she knew the best. 

 

"My first spell will be the one that first came to me when i was a filly, and what led me to discover my cutie mark. I call it a Fire Shield." 

 

With a flicker of her horn and a focus of her mind, Fire Heart literally erupted into flames! She wasn't burned though as the flames hovered inches around her body like a second skin. She trotted about to show that the Fire Shield wasn't stationary but could move with her. 

 

"Alright, the next spell I've done before, but I want to try something different with it," Fire said as her shield dissolved leaving a smell of burnt air, "But I need a model for this one. Princess, will you do me the honor and unfold your wings?" 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Twilight's eyes sparkled with interest as the mare erupted into flames. 

 

"Wow! That's one hot mare!" Spike spoke out the side of his mouth. 

 

"Spike!" Twilight gave a sidelong glance at her assistant. 

 

"What? I mean come on, she's on fire!" He waved his claws towards Fire Heart.

 

"I guess that's true," She let a small smile play at her muzzle. "What would Rarity say?"

 

Spike blushed. "Aw come on Twilight, that's not fair!" 

 

"Oh you're alright Spike. Don't worry I'm not going to say anything." She nudged the little dragon. She had always thought it was cute that he had a long standing crush on their fashion designer friend. 

 

As Fire Heart asked for a model for her next magic spell Twilight took a few steps forward. At one time she would have eagerly trotted forward however her role as a Princess of Equestria had taught her some self preservation skills. Still, she had magic of her own that she could use to counteract if anything went wrong. 

 

"I'm interested to see what else you can do Fire Heart! That first spell is really interesting!" The Princess smiled and held her wings out to the sides. 

[Lux]

Spoiler

Huh... must have missed the announcement for this post being updated. 

 

As Fire wrapped up her first spell, she could see that Twilight and Spike were conversing, although what it was about the red unicorn could only guess, She could see the dragon blush so maybe it was something personal. But now Fire was mentally preparing for her next spell. Thankfully the Princess obliged to be her model and unfolded her wings. It was certainly interesting learning about Alicorn physiology, namely having wings and a horn at the same time. The red unicorn wondered what her life would be like to fly, but of course such thoughts were fleeting and left in the realm of imagination.

 

The mare trotted around the Princess, getting mental measurements of the size and shape of her wings. They were certainly larger than a Pegasus's pair, something that she had to take note for this spell.

 

"Thank you for helping to model," Fire said as she stepped far enough back from Twilight so as not to cause any harm, "This next spell of mine was inspired with how occasionally I would wonder what it would like to have wings like my Pegesai friends and... well... like you, Princess. Of course I can't simply grow wings, but this spell is the next best thing. I've done this before using a Pegasus's wings as an example, but today I'll be for the first time trying to replicate an Alicorn's wings."

 

She took a deep breath and began her spell as flames erupted from behind her shoulder blades and grew. The single flame soon split into several and formed a design until it appeared like small wings. But Fire wasn't done with this spell yet as she added more magic to it, making her fiery "wings" grow larger until they looked like the exact size of the pair Twilight had, only hers were made of fire! She carefully turned with the outstretched wings and then gave them a flap which although didn't get her off the ground did send a wave of hot air towards the Princess, the kind of air one would feel on a summer's day. 

 

"The teacher at my school called this a Elemental Appendage Manifestation spell, but I like to call this spell, Phoenix wings. If you want to check out the wings, I can hold this spell for a little while longer." 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"Whoa..." Spikes eyes grew wide in appreciation as the fiery red unicorn's phoenix wings took shape. "That...is...so...awesome..."

 

Twilight watched as her wings were replicated in fire magic. Certainly this unicorn knew her fire magic! She had shown her manipulation of it with relative ease. It was obvious that Fire Heart had to concentrate to preform the feats she had thus far, but it was just as obvious that she had spend many hours in practice.

 

The Princess nodded and stepped forward to inspect the spell at closer range. 

 

"Whew!" She raised a hoof to shield her eyes. "Fire magic," It was so hot! Certainly this unicorn was not affected by extremely high temperatures. "Wow, you certainly are able to conjure and control!"

 

The Princess and Spike continued to watch the blazing wings until Fire Heart ceased the spell.

 

"So, apparently you have great control of manipulation and conjuring in close range," The Princess pondered. "How are you with long range? Can you project your magic to any length?" 

[Lux]

"Wow, you certainly are able to conjure and control!"

 

"Well, honestly, it wasn't always like that," Fire said as she took the moment to recover from a spell, "The first time I knew I could do fire magic... well...it was by accident. You see, my magic is tied to my emotions, and you can guess that this fact could be a problem. Every time I got upset or excited, I would literally burst into flames! The way I see it, at least from what I've seen in school, some ponies have control but lack the power. I was the opposite, having power but little control. That's why I went to Princess Celestia's School, to learn how to control my ability, and thanks to my teachers and a few special ponies in my life, I learned to control my magic much better. Still, I do get times when I lose control, but they're not as severe as before." 

 

She hoped it was enough to explain to the Princess where she was or where she is now. But now Twilight posed another question about her magic: long range abilities. 

 

"Honestly, I haven't done much long range magic. I guess having magic close to me meant in my mind I could control it more. I can do one spell that is long range." 

 

Fire Heart sent what looked like a miniature comet from her horn that arced across the field. But as she tried bending it back towards her , it took an erratic turn and went skyward! Fire tried seeing where it went, but the sun blocked her view. Then suddenly the comet came straight down towards the two! 

 

"Princess, look out!" Fire shouted as she tried to slow or stop the comet, but to no avail. 

 

Spoiler

Fire's weaknesses are as follows: Inability to sustain the more complex spells and long range control. 

 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"Oh my gosh! Twilight! Look out!" The baby dragon started forward, his only thought to protect the Princess.

 

Twilight's eyes flicked towards the incoming comet. Though she appeared the bookish sort at times, Twilight was not short on ability to protect herself and others. Perhaps it was the mantle of being a Princess that caused her reflexes to sharpen? Whatever the reason, Twi was quick to spring to action!

 

Her horn flickered and without hesitation a crystalline blue magic shield appeared before her. The comet hit the shield, sending sparks and fire in all directions. 

 

"Whew! That was a close one!" She looked over to Spike. "You ok Spike?"

 

The baby dragon brushed a stray spark off his tail. Fire didn't really bother him. "Uh, yep fine here!" He gave Twi a thumbs up.

 

"Ok good!" She glanced at Fire Heart. "Ok, so that was one awesome comet!" She nudged a stray ember on the ground. "But it seems you lack some control when it comes to the range of your spells." She took a short breath and continued. "Let's work on some range control. Here." Her horn flickered again and a small fireball appeared before them. "Ok, let's see you guide this around that post," the Princess pointed with a hoof at a flag pole near the end of the training area. "And then back here to us. Easy does it!"

[Lux]

Fire Heart knew that Twilight was powerful, but there was still that worry that the comet was coming closer to the Alicorn and that there was nothing that Fire Heart could do to stop it. Luckily the Princess put up a shield that acted like a wall as the comet harmlessly exploded against it like a glass against a wall. 

 

 "Ok, so that was one awesome comet!"

 

"Err... thanks," Fire said a little embarrassed at her foible and surprised the Princess didn't make a big fuss about almost getting hit! 

 

"But it seems you lack some control when it comes to the range of your spells." She took a short breath and continued. "Let's work on some range control. Here." Her horn flickered again and a small fireball appeared before them. "Ok, let's see you guide this around that post," the Princess pointed with a hoof at a flag pole near the end of the training area. "And then back here to us. Easy does it!"

 

This was the first time she was to guide another pony's magic around. She could move flames from candles or a fireplace, but never did she try a fireball from another. But it was a challenge she could accept! With a determined expression, she "caught" the fireball with her magic and began to move it away from the two. About halfway she slowed the fireball in anticipating the next part and slowly guided the fire around the pole. Now came the last part: bringing the ball back. The red unicorn concentrated on pulling the fire towards her but realized that it was again coming in too fast! With her concentration she focused on the ball stopping not slowing as was her first problem. The ball suddenly stopped a few feet away from her and Twilight like it hit a wall. 

 

"Phew! Almost lost it on the return again."

 

 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"That was great!" Spike smiled and clapped for Fire Heart's performance.

 

Twilight nodded to the baby dragon and then winked at Fire Heart. "Well, it seems you've gained a fan with your skills." 

 

The alicorn's horn glowed again and suddenly three small fire balls glowed before them. 

 

"It seems to me what you need so some more time practicing on homing magic. That is, bringing something back towards you at the time and speed that you desire."

 

The balls of flame shot out over the field, stopping at various distances away. They hovered in the air, slowly moving in a circular pattern.

 

"Now, go ahead and try to bring those back one at a time. If it starts to leave your control the flames with die off and it will reappear in its original location. This is actually a way I practiced when I was working on this exact same skill!"

 

She smiled at the red unicorn. "Go ahead! Give it a try!"

[Lux]

With the first practice completed, Fire Heart was ready for another challenge. Gone was her nervous feeling she had showing her magic to the Princess. Now she felt comfortable with testing and learning. 

 

"That was great!" 

 

"Why thank you!" Fire Heart said with a grin.

 

"Well, it seems you've gained a fan with your skills." 

 

"It seems so." 

 

"It seems to me what you need so some more time practicing on homing magic. That is, bringing something back towards you at the time and speed that you desire."

 

"That makes sense," Fire Heart said putting a hoof to her chin, "Really the maority of the spells I've been doing required no homing like the fire shield, phoenix wings, and even juggling fireballs." 

 

Fire watched as the Alicorn produced three fireballs at different places of the field. What intrigued the red unicorn was that this was the same training Twilight did! 

 

"Alright, here it goes," Fire said as she focused on the first and closest fireball. It was a trick trying to "grab" the moving fireball with her magic, but she managed to take it and pull it back towards her. When she had it a few feet away, she pulled it a little faster, but then the ball vanished and returned to where it was! 

 

"It's speed isn't it? When I pull things too quickly, I get less control." 

 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Twilight watched as the fire balls disappeared and flickered back into their original positions. It was true the Fire Heart could control the fire, it was just the practice of getting things to go at the right speed.

 

"Yes, try pulling them towards us at a rate slower than you think you should go." She smiled. "You know this skill could become very useful to you and may combine quite well with other spells that you've mastered."

 

Spike pulled out a stick with a bunch of marshmallow on it as the fireballs started moving forward again. "Hey Fire Heart?  You think you could direct one of those over here for a sec?"

 

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike! Don't be a distraction!"

 

[Lux]

Now Fire Heart was armed with her new knowledge. She liked when she could solve a problem rather that having one simply left to fester in her mind.

 

"Yes, try pulling them towards us at a rate slower than you think you should go." She smiled. "You know this skill could become very useful to you and may combine quite well with other spells that you've mastered."

 

"Slower than I think," she said as if repeating it would help her get it into her mind, "You know, I thought of something. My mom taught me how to dance, and when I'm thinking of a song while practicing, my magic most of the time goes along with the beat. Oh, and it will definitely help with the spells I use. Alright let me try this again."

 

Before she could though, Spike gave an odd request.

 

"No, wait, actually maybe I can make that part of this challenge. I'll try to move two of the fireballs to me and one to Spike. Sound like a plan, Twilight?"

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"Hmmm..." Twilight thought the new plan over for a moment. "Well, I suppose if you want to try it, go right ahead." She smiled, happy to see her training session was helping Fire Heart to try new things.

 

"Hey Spike!" She called to her number one assistant. "Just be careful over there ok? If the fireball comes at you too fast get ready to duck!"

 

"I'll be careful," Spike waved his claws at the two magic wielders. "I'm a dragon afterall, what could happen?"

 

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Famous last words..." She looked over at Fire Heart. "Oh! Not that I don't think you can do this Fire Heart." She smiled winningly. "It's just Spike seems to get himself in over his head quite often."

 

"Just keep things moving slowly, you can even stop if its going to get out of control. We can always reset and try again," She encouraged her student. "Trying again until you get it right is what this is all about! I want you to leave today with a new skill you can put into use right away."

[Lux]

"And I want to learn as much as I can from you about my type of magic, especially controlling it. I don't mind having to practice, as long as I get it."

 

The red unicorn focused again at the challenge, keeping in mind that she added another part thanks to Spike. She focused on the first and closest fireball as it was easy in distance but hard in control being so close. With her magic she connected with the ball and slowly pulled it towards her. It wasn't smooth as she had to slow up occasionally, but she never felt like she was about to lose control. Finally the ball reached her, hovering next to her.

 

"The next one is for you Spike," Fire Heart said to the dragon before selecting the next ball and pulling it towards him. For a moment she worried that she would singe the dragon or Twilight, but she pushed that thought from her mind and pulled it towards the dragon.

 

"There you go, Spike. You're free to roast that marshmallow! Speaking of that, do you know someplace, Twilight, that I can use my talent that... you know... doesn't involve constantly cooking ponies' food. I was thinking teaching others about magic now that I'm finished with my instruction at Celestia's School soon?"

 

Spoiler

Age wise, I put Fire Heart at the age Twilight was at the start of Season 1, or human wise a young adult.

 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Twilight watched Fire's progress, happy to see that the unicorn picked up on learning new things really quickly. 

 

"You're obviously very talented Fire Heart!" She rolled her eyes and smiled as the fireball came nearer to Spike. "Spike, I asked you not to distract my students before didn't I?"

 

The little dragon had just stuffed a bunch of roasted marshmallows into his mouth. It took him a few moments to get his mouth empty enough to speak. "MMmmmmpph! Yum! Those aren't gems but they are the next best thing! Come on Twi, it helped her practice didn't it?" He smiled winningly.

 

Twilight couldn't help but smile back. "Alright, just no more distractions please?"

 

Spike gave a two thumb claws up. He had stuffed a bunch more mallows in his mouth.

 

"I know exactly where you can help teach if you'd like." She winked. "We can talk about that after this lesson is done."

 

Twilight's horn glowed and a group of crystal shards appeared up in the air ahead of the pair. 

 

"Let's see how good your aim is! These are ice shards. They'll melt when fire hits them. You can use the fire balls or any other methods you'd like to destroy all the shards! You ready?"

 

The Princess smiled graciously at her new friend.

 

[Lux]

Fire Heart felt a little bad that her actions got Spike in trouble, but perhaps this dragon had a knack for interrupting Twilight with her lessons or studies. 

 

"Alright, just no more distractions please?"

 

"That's ok, Spike. As a filly before going to Celestia's school, I was kind of a pain for my teachers, asking too many questions and getting distracted."

 

Twilight offered a little hint that she knew where Fire could possibly teach. But that had to wait as the next task appeared in the form of icy crystals. She smiled as they reminded her of something her now fiancee would create, sometimes to give to others in the form of Popsicles and others just to decorate. They looked ordinary crystals that she could melt, but something told her that this wasn't going to be simply hitting them while stationary. There had to be some wrinkle to the test. 

 

"Let's see how good your aim is! These are ice shards. They'll melt when fire hits them. You can use the fire balls or any other methods you'd like to destroy all the shards! You ready?"

 

"I'm ready!"