Starlight skipped lunch altogether. Instead he returned to his room and locked his door. He found himself staring outside his bedroom window the entire time as his eyes lingered on the vivid jade woods to the north, their shades of pine green soft but strong. Though this captivation persisted for quite some time, it couldn’t remove the stallion’s mind from the classroom. After drawn-out minutes of silent contemplation the peace he thought he had found transformed into dread.

The bells tolled from the main hall tower at the end of the hour. With great reluctance, Starlight returned to the classroom. As a result of arriving just before the period began Starlight found himself in the back corner seat once more. He glanced over at Twilight and Lyra from time to time, but in their unawareness neither seemed to throw the lonely stallion a glimpse of concern. Starlight’s spirits slowly dwindled like candlelight without air to breath.

Professor Yorset's afternoon lecture covered the ancient history of light magic, but Starlight was far from absorbed. He already knew the basic content of that day inside and out; after all, Yorsets had stated it should be review. However, whenever the professor posed a question for the class, Starlight dared not raise a hoof. One more embarrassment was the last thing he wanted.

When the bell rang to end class time Starlight didn’t waste a second. He dodged his way through crowds and sped up and down stairwells until finally making it back to his room. He hurriedly - but gently - shut the door, hoping to draw as little attention as possible. Starlight leaned back against the door and let out a long exhalation.

He was alone once again. The only sound he could hear as he passed through his suite’s common room was the howling of the wind outside the window. The solitude he sensed both hurt and helped; on the one hoof, he no longer needed to worry about being ridiculed. On the other hoof, he felt as abandoned as a colt forgotten by its busy parents.

With a sigh Starlight tromped over to his bedroom and plopped himself down at the foot of his bed. He mulled over just how to cope yet another poor start of a semester.

I could always just paint.

Starlight’s sturdy easel and color-filled palette sat beside his bags by his bedroom window. The wooden frame stood facing the south, holding a canvass on which Starlight had been releasing his artistic ability since moving in. He had been painting the mysterious gray tower to the south. The belfry stuck out from the spotted texture of the coniferous woods surrounding it, and a calm sea brushed the foot of the precipice on which it stood. So far it looked like a splendidly realistic replica, if Starlight could say so himself.

But as the stallion looked out the window then, the northern woods called more for his attention. With the sun hiding behind a thick blanket of clouds and the seas rustling ferociously below, the southern edge of the island appeared far less pleasant than how it did in the painting. Starlight looked back and forth between the scenes, until soon enough a clean, new canvass sat upon the artist’s easel facing the forest to the north.

The stallion lifted his paints from his bags with his magic and emptied tiny blots of green, brown, and white on his palette. As preparation was a mindless task to Starlight, his mind occupied itself with other things. It drifted off into a sea of memories, leaving behind the stallion’s body as a marker for where in time his soul would return.

His mind took him back to his first days of art. He was somewhat of a bold colt when he was young. He frequently explored the fields and forests just beyond the boundaries of Port Delamare, for the city itself was no place for him. The buildings were too fancy, the ponies were too fancy, even the common tongue was called Fancy.

Starlight and his family had little in common with the elaborate setting in which they lived. His parents were minimum wage innkeepers, receiving the opportunity only by means of inheritance. The building, located at the northern edge of the Port Delamare, was one of the few substandard edifices in town; after all, what wealthy pony in his or her right mind would help pay to renovate a second-rate lodge for sailors?

As a colt Starlight never fully understood the social contrast. His young mind couldn’t grasp the notion of selfishness as he watched his parents work their hardest each and every day. Though he had asked his parents about the difference numerous times, Starlight never received an answer. Rather, his parents would gift him with whatever artistic utensils they had on hoof - be they a quill and parchment or a paintbrush and paper - and request that Starlight occupy himself.

With nowhere else to go, young Starlight often traveled a block down the main road to where an extensive prairie and neighboring forest co-mingled beyond the city limits. The quietude and solitude left him alone with mother nature, which nurtured him with colors and life so vivid that the colt could never overcome its intricate beauty. In this amazement Starlight began his drawing and painting.

A knock on the door jerked Starlight’s mindfulness back to the present. The stallion looked at his artwork thus far, a mix of greens spread throughout the center of the picture like a blooming emerald flower, its shades bright despite the cloudy sky outside. He then stared at his bedroom door as if trouble were waiting for his answer.

“Hello?” came a voice from the other side. “Starlight Hooves?”

It was a deep stallion's voice, one slightly dopey but initially intimidating nonetheless. Starlight knew it to be Pokey Pierce’s. He propped his ears up, but dared not to move any other part of his body.

Another round of soft taps sounded, followed by Pokey’s voice, “Starlight, are you asleep?”

“Y-Yes,” Starlight stuttered, followed by a slap to his own face.

“Oh,” Pokey slowly replied. “Okay then.”

The big stallion’s steps faded until the door to the suite closed, after which they were out of ear’s reach. Starlight sat dumbfounded for a moment.

... What just happened?

Starlight closed his eyes and shook his head to collect himself, wiping clean his mind of the the nonsense. Though the slate in his brain would not completely clear, Starlight returned to his work of art. His mind gladly took to the board that Starlight had tried to clear, drawing upon what vestiges that had remained.

One such lingering piece was the sound of a knock on the door. His brain began painting pictures of the past, beginning with the first related recollection. A visiting lawyer showed up at the inn, one from within Port Delamare but not very well-known. The stranger brought with him news that shocked Starlight's parents, and soon the young colt himself: along with the inn the family inherited, there was a fair share of gold bits to claim. It had somehow been forgotten over the years.

Another memory emerged as Starlight could picture another set of taps on his door. The clarity of it all was far better than the image his magic could paint as his brain drew the image of his parents. They stood within his old bedroom doorway bearing heavy but happy looks on their faces. They told him of how they planned to put all of the money toward his education. Starlight could almost feel the tears of joy from the past wetting his face again.

Though grateful as he was, Starlight quickly learned of his parents’ plan. They weren’t speaking of sending him to an art school; they were planning on sending him to a magic academy.

He dared not complain, but deep down he wished that his parents had reconsidered. He was an artist at heart, especially after all his time spent wandering the forest and plains, sketching and painting everything, from colorful flowers to vast landscapes. After years of going along with his parents’ plan, Starlight’s opinion of their decision grew less favorable.

Coming from a family of his standing, Starlight felt nothing but out of place at school. Though he was not attending magic academies for the rich, he went to a number in the area of fair standing and respectability. As far as Starlight knew, they were much better than any other schools that ponies his age and status could afford.

Throughout the years, however, Starlight never enjoyed this particular uniqueness. Everypony at school seemed to have some reason to point and poke fun at him, whether it was his status, artistic inclination, or lack of friends. There was hardly any ‘downhill’ as he never ascended anything in the first place. His only relief was when he finished his schooling a few years ago and took a job in Ponyville as a an interior designer’s assistant.

Starlight felt his memories fade away as his awareness returned again. But this time there was no sound disturbing him. Rather, the hotness of his face was what brought him back. The flushing and terrible memories combined to stress the memory of his failure earlier that day.

The stallion gently placed his brush and palette on the windowsill. Then in frustration he gave his bed behind him a hard kick.

“I never get a chance,” Starlight murmured to himself as he looked out the window. “I’d have to make the biggest fire or something to impress them. Then they wouldn’t laugh anymore. They’d see that I’m just as good as them.”

Make the biggest fire... that’s it!

Starlight could see himself in class, front and center, feeding the most magnificent flame. Its great size reached beyond the bounds of his desk, stretching all the way up to the ceiling. He could feel the grin beaming on his face, the burning sensation of his smile nothing short of fulfilling. His peers would stare with admiration and awe. His spirits would shine more than the distinguished flame that rose from the ashes of past failures.

It was decided. Starlight closed his eyes hard and focused, re-fabricating the items he had made earlier. First was a large circular place mat to protect the carpet from specks of wood and burning embers, followed by a matchbox, a slab of flint, and lastly a bow drill and canister of fuel for good measure. Starlight felt sweat forming across his forehead as the burden casting made itself known.

The unicorn snatched up the most interesting instrument to him, the bow drill, and created a block of wood beneath it. Starlight recollected what he had read about using the tool as his expectations began to soar. He held everything in place as he pictured himself mimicking the pictures he remembered within the ancient tools manual he read some time back.

“It’s the only way I can get through this winter,” Starlight said to himself. “I have to prove myself. Then they’ll see.”

He pushed and pulled the bow with his magic hold, rubbing the bottom of the wooden pole against the plank on the floor. Tiny bits of wood began to shed as the stake drilled a small crater in the timber. Starlight thrust the tool back and forth, faster and faster, as shreds of wood fluttered down onto the mat. His eyes focused on the hole that formed, waiting for the friction to set in.

Suddenly, the pole sank through the board. There was no sign of an ember; no tiny trail of smoke nor little red glow. Starlight removed the drill from the wood and examined the area around his work with his breath held. He had drilled through the plank, unsuccessful.

With a pause, Starlight looked at the tool he held, and then at his other instruments. With a roll of his eyes he dropped what he had and picked up the slim block of flint instead. As he fabricated a metal file to strike it with, the stallion thought to himself how he hadn’t really wanted to use the bow drill. It only wore down his energy.

Starlight kicked aside the plank with the hole and created a small bundle of tinder in its place. Once ready, the stallion held his flint and file up to the pile of flammable material and slowly slid one tool against the other. He looked away with twitching eyes as the sound of scratching irritated his ears. Starlight peeked at the tinder; no spark.

He tried a few more times, skimming the flint with his metal file. He tried to speed up his strike, but the faster and stronger he tried, the more he missed. After a number of attempts he never saw a hint of a spark. His magic energy had dwindled even more.

Refusing to give in, Starlight dropped the flint and file and lifted the matchbox close to his face. With a bite of his tongue the stallion examined the small white box and its charcoal-colored sides. He drew one of the sticks from the box in preparation and lifted the fuel can to douse his tinder; he needed everything he could get his hoofs on for creating his dream fire.

But something strange lingering in the backdrop suddenly stole away his attention from his work. The view from outside the window seemed off, the unicorn’s artistic eye could sense it. He spotted something near the heart of the forest: a large and dark figure, irregularly tall and lean, was wading through the woods.

The sight sucked Starlight’s breath through a quick gasp as he jumped away from the window. The sound of liquid bobbing in its container then deflated the stallion’s lungs completely.

The fuel!

Starlight quickly found himself atop his bed. He watched helplessly as gasoline spilled onto the carpet between him and the window. It spread across the dark carpet like black food coloring in a berry juice mix; the smell, though, was repulsively different. Just when Starlight thought he could breath again, he shrieked once more.

A flickering light hovered above the spill.

Somehow Starlight had struck the match, turning the black bulb into a tiny red ball of flame. But with the stallion’s air, energy, and concentration all diminishing at once, his magic hold on the match was slipping. Starlight’s brain sent orders to every limb of his body, but his nerves were in an incurable state of shock. All he could do was watch as time briefly slowed down as if to scorn him.

A giant flame erupted before Starlight, to which the unicorn finally managed to move and cover his eyes. The dark puddle on the ground spawned a wall of red, orange and gold that split between the bed and the window, reaching from one wall to the other. Starlight’s heart began racing as his breaths grew shorter than those of a stranded swimmer.

Starlight frantically searched for any way out as the predatory fire crept around his room. Behind him was an open passage along the wall. The stallion’s senses screamed that it was his last chance to escape. Gathering what little courage he had left, Starlight vaulted over to the gap as flames licked at his body, their burning tongues singeing parts all over his cloudy violet coat. In desperation he hurled himself toward the door to the common room, straight through a blazing screen.

The intense heat passed, and a pool of coolness wrapped around him. Starlight opened his eyes and looked over himself; a new coat of black and dark grey covered his purple body like patches on a used cloth. When he looked back at his bedroom door, the flames were still reaching for him.

“H-Help!” Starlight cried as the fire refused to let go of his sight. “Somepony, please!”

His mind went blank. He called again and again but could not gather himself enough to do anything more. He failed to flee the scene as the fire kept him on an invisible leash of terror. The flames drew nearer until they reached out beyond the frame of the doorway. Starlight shouted even louder, until suddenly a terrible realization silenced him.

Everypony’s away eating dinner.

Thick smoke covered the ceiling of the room. With the windows closed the horrific black smog quickly filled the entire suite. A terrible scent of burnt cloth rained down from the billows of smolder, throwing Starlight into a fit of coughs. The thick air started to sink low enough that the stallion found himself taking in copious amounts, to the point where Starlight felt he was drinking it in. His sights grew hazy and his limbs went weak.

A door suddenly burst open with a great kick.

“ARR! What in blue blazes!?” came a strange voice.

Starlight glanced about but couldn’t make out a body nearby. With fading sights and bulky puffs of smoke no pony could have seen farther than a hoof’s reach away.

“Hallooo!?” called the stranger.

Starlight tried to reply, but his smoke-filled lungs only caused a greater fit of coughing.

“Ah, you who be coughin’! Who goes there!? Speak up, matey!”

Again Starlight coughed again, but this time managed to get out a weak, “H-H-Help!”

“You there, try ‘n’ open yer window! I’ll push the smoke right through!”

Starlight glanced around. He couldn’t even tell where the window was anymore. The monotonous billowy gray left him disoriented as a country filly in the big city. He searched desperately for clues, high or low, until finally stumbling into the giant window. Starlight’s hoofs shook uncontrollably as he fumbled with the handle, but he just managed to undo the lock. He threw the glass panel open.

With a large breath of the cold outside air Starlight yelled back, “Go!”

“Arr, ye need to stand clear o’ the window!” the stranger shouted.

Starlight ducked just as a great gust blew over his head. Another flew past, then another, until a stream of currents swirled and sucked in the smoke out like a vacuum. The suction continued until the room was nearly clear of the smoke, revealing the stranger on the far side of the room.

Starlight had never seen the character before. He looked about the same age, though his build was slightly bulkier and taller. His entire body was covered in blue, from his long, ruffled mane and tail of navy to his coat of baby blue. One aqua eye showed narrowed in concentration while the other hid behind an eye-patch. He spotted the flames spewing out from Starlight’s bedroom and gasped.

“Arr, what’s the meanin’ o’ this!?” he questioned, his voice carrying a strange accent like that of a pirate or sailor.

“I-I don't know, I just-!” Starlight began to stammer again, worse than ever before. “I-I-I had to start a fire, b-but, class... I-I didn't think about-”

“Get yer cap from out o' the water and speak the princesses' tongue!” the stranger interrupted as he approached the flames. “Methinks I can help ye stop this mess, but I'll be needin’ yer help. Turn on yer bathtub faucet, and hurry!”

Starlight, confused, backed into his bathroom and did as ordered. With a twist of the faucet wheel water gushed into the bathtub.

“Do ye have any buckets, matey?” the stranger shouted.

Starlight yelled back, “Why would we have buckets?”

“Arr, looks like we’re in fer a bit o’ magic, then!”

Starlight watched as the spurting water ceased to touch the bottom of the tub, and instead lift into the air. The stream of liquid stretched into an invisible hose that then shot out into the lounge. Starlight stuck his head into the common room and watched as the tube of water spiraled over to the flames. With a piercing strike the fire hissed fiercely in reply. Clouds of steam began to fill the entire chamber.

“More water!” the stranger shouted.

Starlight turned back to the faucet. With a gulp he gathered the strength in his rear legs and gave the metal piece a strong buck. The silver piece shot off and water streamed out. The stallion watched as the hovering tube of water grew bigger. He gazed back into the lounge, finding only a heavy mist from the dying fire thickening to shroud the lounge. Soon the fierce shrieks of the elements subsided, leaving the room in silence and filled with a light gray mist.

“Is it out?” Starlight asked.

“It’s as dead as a fish out o’ water,” said the stranger as he cleared the room as he had before with his magic, and in seconds the two could see each other. “Now, I don’t mean to pry or nothin’, but what in the world were ye doin' with fire at this hour? Cookin'!? What's so bad 'bout the food 'ere!?”

“I-I wasn't cooking,” Starlight admitted. “I was... I was trying to start a fire.”

“Arr, well ye did it just fine, matey. Burnt yer whole room, ye did.”

“I-I didn’t mean for it to get so out of control,” Starlight muttered. “It’s just... I've never done it before. Not without a fire spell.”

The stranger lowered his head and nodded. “Aye, fire’s a tricky thing to handle.”

“I was practicing because our first class exercise. Everypony else made it look so easy, a-and I just couldn't do it. I, I...”

“Couldn't stand the embarrassment, could ye?”

Starlight felt his heart skip a beat. Something in the stranger's voice seemed extremely understanding.

“Wait, why aren’t you at dinner?” Starlight asked with hesitation, for the stranger seemed as despondent as himself with his long face.

The blue unicorn let out a long sigh. “Arr, a sailor can’t eat when too much is on his mind, and it occurs every year like the tides every day. ‘Elemental magic’... rubbish, the whole of it.” He shook his head and reached out a hoof. “The name's Seven Seas.”

“Starlight.” The two shook. “You’re a sailor? You sound more like a pir- um, nevermind. Say, that water spell you cast was incredible. Why are you in the elemental track if you’re already good at it?”

“Aye. They say I need to expand my ‘horizons’ beyond basic wind and water spells, whate’er that means. I’ve ne'er been much of a land lubber, so why bother? Imagine to my misfortune that our first test o' the elements today was ‘bout the earth, too.”

“They tested you on... earth?”

“Aye, had to identify dif’rent soils and... what was the word, classerfy? Like I'd know the dif'rence 'tween the richer soil and the lifeless dirt. Means nothin' to a sailor.” Seven Seas dropped his head even more as the memory bogged him down. Starlight knew the disheartened posture. “I s'pose we're in the same ship, matey. First days are the worst.”

Rushed steps approached from the corridor and stampeded into the the suite. A troop of guards stormed in and blew the remainder of the steam away by the force of their hurry alone.

“We heard cries for help!” one of the guards yelled. “What's the matter?”

Roughly six or seven of them spread across the lounge, their stares all falling upon the sight of Starlight's bedroom doorway and the mix of steam and smoke that continued to rise within it. Eventually they all ended up looking to Starlight and his companion as they stood speechless before them.

And then Professor Yorsets entered, his gaze most fearfully expressionless of the group.

“Just what is the meaning of this?” he asked.

Starlight swallowed hard. His entire body began trembling. “L-Little accident?”

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