Training Day (ATTN: Bonfire)

[Corsair]

Bonfire could tell that the filly was getting antsy. Foals her age weren't the best at relaxing or holding still. That was part of the reason he'd been reluctant to do this. He was used to training soldiers; ponies who had had discipline drilled into them by previous training. Children were anything but disciplined most of the time, in his experience at least. He searched back in his memories to his own childhood, remembering when his mother had had to train him in this way. The memories were fuzzy, but there were a few things that stood out clearly.

Bonfire's horn lit up again. He created a small, intense, white flame a few hooves from the ground. He floated the flame over in front of Fire Heart's muzzle. "I want you to look into the flame," he intoned,"Concentrate on the flame. There is nothing but the flame. Feed your emotions into it. Your excitement, your fear. You must be calm, focused. Focus on the flame. When you are calm, your own flames will die down, and they won't be able to flare up on their own the way they do now."

[Lux]

Fire Heart saw the flame appear. She was reluctant on how exactly this was supposed to help her control her emotions and as a result control her flames, but it was worth a shot. "Ok. Focus on the flame there's nothing else but the flame." Immediately it was like the world around her including Bonfire just dissolved away. It was just her and that white flame. She then concentrated on putting her emotions into it. She was not looking to be emotionless but to have her excess emotions controlled. She pictured her excess emotions going into the flame like little wisps of air. Finally, after feeling calmer and feeling like she deposited enough emotions into the flame, the world came back into view.

"Ok. I think I've calmed enough. I think I removed my extra emotions. What's next?"

[Corsair]

"Ok. I think I've calmed enough. I think I removed my extra emotions. What's next?"

Bonfire smirked a little. Now was the time for the first of his little "surprises" for Fire Heart. He was very doubtful that she'd be able to control her emotional state that quickly. With a brief flicker of magic, he lit a string of firecrackers concealed under a rock near the filly's hooves. He then levitated one of the water buckets and waited...

[Lux]

Fire Heart thought she was ok. She thought that Bonfire's calming technique was going to be a quick fix to her problem. She wanted it to be quick, partly she was tired of losing control and partly because she wanted to move on to the cooler things like learning how to, as Bonfire said 'guide fire.'

She, however, thought wrong.

Pop! pop! Pop! Poppoppop!

Fire Heart eard firecrackers go off. She knew they were firecrackers, yet the fact that they were loud and surprising scared her.

"Wahhh," she exclaimed as she suddenly burst into flames. She realized that she wasn't under control just yet. "Oh horseapples! Not again! Sorry sorry sorry."

It was then she saw it, the bucket Bonfire was levitating. She knew exactly what was in the bucket. She then braced herself for what she knew would be coming next.

[Corsair]

Bonfire unceremoniously dumped the water over the filly, snuffing out her flaming aura. "That is what I'm talking about," he said, unsympathetically. "If a little scare makes you burst into flame, what else could happen? You need control of yourself before you can ever think of controlling your magic."

With a brief application of heat he dried the majority of the water out of the filly's coat and mane. He then brought the focus flame back into existence. "Now, again. Focus. You control emotions, they do not control you..."

((We can probably assume a couple more failures in there, so we don't have to keep dumping water on her ))

[Lux]

Fire Heart sputtered as the wall of water splashed over her. This obviously wasn't going to be easy as she planned. But, as Bonfire said, until she learned to control her emotions, she couldn't guide her magic. And she knew the drenching would continue until her control improved.

(OOC: Slight Timeskip)

Several minutes later, several rounds of firecrackers, and a few more showers, Fire Heart looked less like a pony and more like a drowned rat. It was exhausting, trying to control her emotions! She realized that in the past her teachers, her friends, even her parents told her to control her emotions, but no pony showed her how or was that hooves on about it.

Fire Heart, after the last bucket barrage, stopped and closed her eves. She decided to close her eyes and focus on the flame. As she did, the blackness changed. In her mind, she pictured her perfect happy place. It was a clearing in a forest. Birds were chipring, squirrels chittering, and the sun shown in a cloudless sky. She felt calm, at peace there. Nothing could upset her or make her sad.

Finally she opened her eyes.

"I'm ready," she said, her tone now more confident.

[Corsair]

Bonfire looked down at the dripping wet filly. There was something different in her face this time, and her posture as well. Bonfire watched her thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded to himself. It was time to take things up a notch.

When he had purchased all of the fireworks he'd used today, he'd asked for something special: one of the night flowers used during celebrations at the palace. This was bound to attract the attention of ponies in the palace, but it was also the perfect thing to test Fireheart's concentration. Bonfire had hidden the launcher behind the filly under a tarp. With a flick of his horn he uncovered the tube, then set a brief spark on the end of the fuse.

Bonfire watched Fireheart as the fuse burned quietly. This had to be a surprise to her, so even he wasn't sure how long before the...

With a loud THUMP the firework launched into the air at an angle, flying over their heads as it ascended, trailing a line of sparks. The charge quickly flew higher than the palace towers, then exploded in the air. The bang was loud and deep, and Bonfire could feel it in his chest. The display wasn't as good as it would have been had it been night time, but it was certainly an attention getter.

Guards in their posts on the walls all began turning to find the source of the explosion. Bonfire held up a hoof to signal that everything was OK, but he kept his eyes fixed on the red filly before him.

[Lux]

Fire Heart stood, concentrating on the task at hand. She knew that she had to remain calm, no matter what Bonfire did to surprise her. Suddenly she heard a big Whoomp sound behind her. She jumped at the surprise , but something was different. There was a brief flicker fo flame around her body, definitely smaller than the flames she produced earlier. And in one second after appreaing, the flames dispersed.

"I think... I did it. I think I got my flames under control."

She hoped that little flame spurt didn't warrant another soaking by Bonfire.

[Corsair]

Bonfire nodded his head in satisfaction. Fire Heart seemed to have finally found her focus, and with that came control. It wasn't perfect, but he hadn't really expected perfect. With practice, she'd be able to maintain that focus. But for now, the filly looked exhausted. If this had been one of his recruits, He'd have pressed on, but Fire Heart was just a kid. On top of that, it appeared that they'd attracted several spectators who were watching the the pair curiously. Who knew what rumors were spreading around the palace already?

"Much better, Fire Heart," the older unicorn said, gruffly. "You need to remember what that felt like, and you'll be able to do it again. For now, you look tired. We can continue this another day if you want..."

[Lux]

(OOC: Really Fire Heart is in one other thread, so I can continue with this one if you are still interested. We can also time jump this thread to another day in the future.)

Fire Heart was pleased at her progress and pleased that Bonfire was pleased. Sure, she knew that she still had work to do as indicated by that fact that she did have a little flare up of her fire.

Bonfire mentioned about the fact that she looked exhausted. She did feel exhausted. Never did she have to concentrated on something in her entire life. Yet despite being tired, she wanted to continue to learn how to guide her magic.

"If you're able to do so, sir," Fire Heart said, "I'd like to continue to learn how to control my emotions and my fire magic. If you don't want to do so today, then maybe at another day. I really want to learn more from you."