On Fire 3: Heating up Afire by Nomine

 

(24/08/2020 - 02/03/2022)

 

 

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"Heart Afire, please report to Principal Aquaria's office. Repeat, Heart Afire to Principal Aquaria's office."

 

There it was...the voice of the secretary ringing out over the intercom, summoning me to my fate. I really should have expected it. After all, it happened every day, or at least every day since that one fateful day. Just it seemed to be random when it would happen each day.

 

Ten days now. Ten days since I had found out that my Principal was a Water Mage. A Hydromancer. Ten days since she had taken me on as her student, her apprentice. Ten wonderful days in which, for an hour each day, she sat and explained the mysteries of the four elements to me. How each one was governed, and why calling them Fire, Air, Earth, and Water was misleading at best.

 

Today, though….well, I had gone and mucked up a streak of good behavior.

 

See, I have this teacher in second grade. Her name is Mrs. Linea...Mrs. Inter Linea. And I...well, I hate her. She's a big mean jerk. I know what my Dad made me write and all, but...ever since then she's just been mean and nasty to me. She even gave me a detention for "fake reading", whatever the buck that is.

 

So, I had finally had enough after that. I hatched a scheme. She had planned on us taking a math test today. Just addition and subtraction. Easy stuff. So I would sneak in and change all the problems. That way she couldn't use her answer key. She'd have to grade them ALL by hoof. All nineteen of them.

 

So this morning, after I ate breakfast...mmm, cinnamon cereal…

 

What? I like cinnamon!

 

Anyways, after I ate my breakfast, I grabbed my saddlebags and trotted out a good bit early. Mrs. Linea had already written the problems out on the board to review yesterday, and just erased the answers and rewritten the test up there for today.

 

Slipping in was actually easy. Foals come and go all the time, after all, and aside from Miss Linea and Principal Aquaria, to the other teachers I'm one foal of a throng. So long as I don't make myself stand out, I'm as good as invisible. Learned that from a spy movie dad let me watch while Mom was away.

 

So I slipped into the room, taking note of whether or not she was in there. She wasn't, but there was a janitor's mop bucket there, and a quick glance inside showed the water was clean. So they hadn't cleaned in there yet...which meant they'd be coming back. Quickly, I erased a bunch of numbers on the problems, and carefully chalked in the new ones, being very careful to copy Miss Linea's writing style. Learned that too, it's as easy as tracing.

 

And the plan actually went off without a hitch, aside from having to scoot my flank along. I changed the numbers, slipped away outside again, and was ready to line up when the teachers called us in from playing.

 

I didn't count on Miss Linea being such a jerk…

 

"Heart Afire! How dare you change this test!" she had yelled, taking down a sheet of paper and writing a note to the Principal, sending it with a different foal. "You can just SIT there, and not take it! You get an automatic ZERO and a week's detention!!!"

 

"It wasn't ME!" I had yelled….sure, I lied, but she had no proof! And to single me out like that…

 

"I know it was you! I just know it." She had said, and we had almost worked up to a yelling match when the intercom had gone off, summoning me to the office.

 

Miss Linea smirked and just pointed at the door. I grabbed my bags and stepped out into the hallway, trotting down towards my teacher's office. Towards what might very well be my doom.

 

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I sat on the uncomfortable chairs outside the office door, awaiting my turn with the leader of our school. Hopefully she would be willing to listen to reason...after all, Miss Linea really had zero proof it was me! She just jumped to a conclusion because she hates me and wants me to be sad and wants me to fail and…

 

"Ahem...Heart Afire, Principal Aquaria will see you now." Came the stern voice of the secretary, pointing into the office. I jumped a bit, she caught me daydreaming again. With a sheepish look I walked into my teacher's office, shutting the door behind myself.

 

As I stepped in, I saw Aquaria reading the note from Miss Linea, her eyes flicking up and down and side to side along the paper. Wordlessly, she beckoned me to sit on the chair in front of her desk, a request I quickly complied with, biting back a yipe as the chilled wood touched my hindquarters.

 

It probably really wasn't all that cold, but I was sensitive to chilly temperatures, and I knew now that Water mages like her tended to prefer things much cooler than I did. Idly I wondered if her home even had a water heater.

 

Finally, though, she finished her third and final readthrough of the note. Putting it down with a small crinkle of paper, she looked over at me. I had just been sitting, waiting patiently for her like she wanted me to do.

 

"Well, Heart, Miss Linea says you...in her words...vandalized her Math test and snuck into her room to do so. Do you have anything to say to what she says you did?" She asked me, folding her hooves in front of herself and looking me directly in the eyes.

 

"She's lying!" I shouted, and Aquaria quirked an eyebrow up at me. Even I could take that hint...I was supposed to control my temper. "She has absolutely no reason to believe I changed her test." I said, keeping my tone much more respectful now. "And she accused me before anyone else, without asking anyone or looking for evidence or anything. She didn't even consider the motive!" I said, bringing up every single argument I could think up based on a few books I had read.

 

After a few minutes to let me catch my breath, Aquaria nodded a little bit. "I will admit, Heart, that you raise some fine points in your own defense. She had and has no reason to accuse you, despite your history with one another. However, I notice that not once in your protesting did you actually deny doing it. " she said, fixing me with a frosty gaze that metaphorically...thankfully only metaphorically...froze me in place.

 

"I...I didn't change her test, Principal Aquaria." I said, then quailed as her gaze darkened considerably.

 

"Then I suppose I must be going blind in my old age, my apprentice. Because I was quite certain that it was you that I saw this morning in her classroom." She said, tapping a hoof on the desk.

 

I blinked. That was all I really could do. Then her words actually registered. "Wait, what?" I heard myself saying, trying to figure out when she had been in the room. I had checked and checked again to make sure there was no one there!

 

"Did you honestly think that I wouldn't be checking on you, my student? I had Alana check on you this morning, and when she reported you had gone into Miss Linea's room, I scryed you. I watched you change the test, every single number. And while I…."

 

"Scryed?" I interrupted. It was a word I didn't know at all. I'd never even read it in a magic textbook.

 

Aquaria shook her head. "Heart, you need to focus on the fact you are in trouble. But to answer your question, since I know you won't listen to me if I don't, Scrying is a form of magical sight. It is a spell that allows a mage to see over distance. Elemental Mages can use our own element to basically become our eyes, as long as we have a focus."

 

"Wait...like a crystal ball?" I asked, and she nodded.

 

"Yes, though that tends to be more Air's domain. My focus is a green glass bowl I fill with pure water. I saw you through that mop bucket, with Alana’s help. Now, let's get back to what I saw you doing, shall we?" She said.

 

I gulped, nodding slowly. She had me, and she had me dead to rights. Caught red-hoofed, and not only that, but I had…

 

“So, to begin with, your vandalization of your teacher’s test. And so soon after you yelled at her. Tell me, Heart, do you have anything you really have to say for yourself before I decide what I’m going to do about that? Why would you even do that?” she asked. “We’ll get to your lying to my face in just a moment.”

 

I took a deep breath, trying to control myself. “I…I wanted to get back at her. She’s been nothing but mean to me ever since that day when Dad got on her. She gave me an unfair detention for fake reading, she’s been making me sit still and listen when I have done my work. She doesn’t let me read any other books. I…I feel like she’s….”

 

Aquaria nodded, holding up a hoof. “You feel as though she is bullying you because of what happened prior. And because of that, rather than come and talk to me like a responsible colt you decided that you were going to take matters, and your revenge, into your own hooves. I can understand your motivations, even if you should have simply come and told me.” she said.

 

“But how was I supposed to know you could help me? Every time I’ve been bullied on the playground and told somepony it just made it worse!” I asked.

 

“You didn’t. But if you had come to me and asked, I might have been able to. Because you assumed I couldn’t and didn’t ask, now you don’t know if I could have or not.” she said, tracing a hoof around her desk. “Now, tell me why you changed the test.”

 

“I wanted to make her have to work harder. She wouldn’t be able to use the answer key she made, she would have to grade them all by hoof and it would be really hard.” I said.

 

“I see. And what would prevent her from reading the test you wrote, taking out a calculator, and simply writing a new answer key and then grading off of that?” Aquaria said.

 

I stopped. The floor fell out from under me. That had…that had never once occurred to me.

 

Aquaria chuckled. “Didn’t think your little scheme all the way through, did you? Now, let me make it a bit more important to you. Since you value your grades so much, let me point out that because you changed the test like that, a lot of foals in your class are going to get much worse grades than they normally would have. And that might get them in trouble at home. Think about that, Heart…you not only just failed to get any revenge against Miss Linea, but you may have gotten a lot of your classmates spanked or grounded.”

 

The floor fell out from under me again, if that were even possible. I had messed everypony up. They were going to get in big trouble. And I was...I was responsible. I was the one who made them all get bad grades. If they couldn't get into good schools and get good jobs it would be my…

 

"Heart." Her voice came, startling me out of my imagination. "I asked if you understood what I was saying. But given the tears I see in the corner of your eyes, I imagine that you do."

 

I actually sniffed a bit as I nodded, wiping my eyes. "I...I'm sorry…" I said, only for her to shake her head.

 

"Sorry doesn't fix the problem, Heart. And at this point, there is no fixing it. You are going to have to live with the consequences of your actions. And speaking of such, why don't we discuss the fact you lied to my face, shall we?" She said, but I shook my head, stopping her.

 

"I...I want to try to fix it. I'll tell Miss Linea I did change it, and not to give them all the bad grades. I...I'll take the Zero. I was dumb. I deserve to be stupid and get bad grades and…" suddenly there was a very cold feeling on my lips.

 

"Thank you, Alana. Heart, I won't deny the fact you are willing to do that speaks highly of you. Enough that I will reassure you that one bad grade will not bring you down to being stupid, as much as I dislike that word." Aquaria said, pulling out a sheet of paper and beginning to write.

 

"In light of that, this is what I am going to do. You are still very much in trouble, but I am going to give you the chance you asked for. Take this note to Miss Linea, and do not read it. She will send you back with a packet of papers, do not read them. Tell her and your class everything you told me. And then we will see just how sorry you are, and how far you are willing to go." She said, setting down her quill and sealing the note into a small envelope.

 

As she gave it to me, she nodded. "And come right back. You still have to answer for what you did, and I think we both know what is in your near future, my student.

 

I gulped as my flank twinged. She was definitely right about that one.

 

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Thirty minutes later found me sniffling outside Aquaria's office again, trying to wipe my eyes and nose before I pushed the door open. That had...that had been awful.

 

When I walked in with the note, I had given it to Miss Linea, who snatched it and opened it up, raising an eyebrow. Then, in a sickly sweet voice, she told the class that I had something to tell them.

 

That...that apology was horrible. Standing there and stammering my way through the story while She gloated, smirking at me. Then, when every other student was glaring at me, She stepped forward. "Well, because Heart has actually confessed to being a little troublemaker like I knew he was being, I think I can just give all of you A's on the test and give all those bad grades to him."

 

I had to hold my tongue...but that...that…

 

I didn't even know if that was fair or not.

 

Still, I managed to clean my face off before I walked in with the sheaf of papers Miss Linea had given me before I had to come back.

 

Not well enough, though. Principal Aquaria took one look at me and passed over a box of tissues before taking the papers. "I take it that the apology didn't go over well?" She asked.

 

I nodded, still sniffing a bit as she opened the sheaf and began doing...something. She was sorting the papers?

 

When she saw me looking, she nodded. "I decided I would cut you some slack on the lying, my student. If only because you were willing to face the truth for the right reasons. But you are still going to be spanked for the vandalization. And I have decided you will be receiving one swat for each missed letter grade your classmates would have gotten. Which, since I'm seeing quite a few D's and F's in here, means you had best just climb up and into position.

 

I whined as I moved to her cabinet and grabbed her paddle for her, setting it on her desk. I knew I deserved it, though. I really did. I screwed up big time. But I was already going to Fail now, there was no way I could ever get good enough grades to make up for…

 

"Alright, Four F's, Eight D's, Three C's and B's, and an A, plus your Zero. So that's, let's see…" she said, as I climbed up onto her desk top.

 

"Fifty three." I said, wincing. This was going to hurt a lot.

 

Aquaria looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You know I can't give you extra credit, right?" She said, and I just hung my head as she took her paddle up and walked around behind me. This was it…

 

"Alright, Heart. You know the rules. No kicking, no trying to escape, keep your tail up, and no language. I have a number in my head but...wait." she said, then shook her head.

 

I stifled a giggle. She always told us we didn't get to know the number, but this time I did.

 

"Right, but no counting. Save your breath for your tears." She continued, tapping the paddle on my upturned rump. "Also, no laughing at your Master's slip-ups, my apprentice. And keep your magic under control." She told me, and I nodded.

 

Then it started, and there were no more words from her. The paddle swung down in her magic with a hefty crack of willow wood off my chilled bottom, made all the more sensitive by the low temperature.

 

It took a second for the sheer pain of that strike to register before I yelled out in shock, right as the second blow danced down to the bottom of my cheeks.

 

"Oww! Master no! Please!" I started, but she was most certainly not going to stop. I still had fifty one more to…

 

THWACK!

 

"AHH!" I yelled, wriggling from side to side before the paddle tapped my rear. That was the warning, I needed to stay still. "S...sorry…"

 

My apology went unanswered, as Principal Aquaria began spanking in earnest now, that horrible wooden implement reddening my flank as I sobbed into my hooves. As much as it hurt, the worst part was knowing I deserved every single swat.

 

A slight pause made me look up, only to shiver as I saw Aquaria looking over her paddle, inspecting it. The scorch mark from a few days ago was still there, I could see. Burned in by my hoof when I had lost control…

 

SPANK!

 

"OWWY!!!"

 

She had swatted while I was thinking again, and I didn't even know what number we were on. Was that the pause for fifteen?

 

Apparently not, as that paddle slapped down over and again, alternating between my left and right cheeks, each blow making me cry out in pain and guilt. There was no holding back my sniffles and tears now, I couldn't help but let them fall.

 

Then came the pause, a gentle rubbing of that wood along my pained rump, which I was sure was now red as a garnet.

 

"Alright, Heart. Lift your rear, you know what comes next by now." she said.

 

Obediently, I picked my bottom up a little higher, moving my tail out of the way when it fell over my cheeks. I knew what was coming alright.

 

"Ahhh!! Ow! No!"

 

And she didn't disappoint, that paddle slapping down into the bottom of my rump, now moving up and down the crease. One swat every second as I fought to keep my tail up and not kick my hoofies.

 

That failed after a few of those crease swats, though. As a particularly hard one spanked down into the center of my rump, I couldn't help it anymore. I bucked forward and my hooves kicked back, drumming on the side of her desk as I sobbed and cried.

 

Once I finished, though, it dawned on me the mistake I had made. I felt that paddle tap the very bottom of my flanks, urging me up again.

 

I whined. I really did whine. "Please no…" but I moved to obey, because I knew the words were wasted. I climbed up onto the desk and bent down, exposing my sit spots.

 

As I waited for her to start spanking, I noticed she seemed to be thinking about something. Then she seemed to think again before that paddle came crashing down into my sensitive sits.

 

That was the worst, truly the worst. Those tiny spots were always bad whenever I got spanked there, I hated it. It was so painful! And why did everyone focus there and not my cheeks! And...and…

 

Why was I suddenly much warmer, despite the chill of the...oh buck!

 

As the paddle cracked down again twice more, I tried to fight my way through my tears, reaching for my power, trying to grab hold, but...I couldn't. I felt it surge, felt it lash out…

 

And watched in horror as the papers I had brought to Aquaria ignited in flames, burned up before either of us could even react.

 

"I'm sorryI'm sorry!" I cried out, trying to move forward and save them, only to find myself picked up in magic and held in the air.

 

"My apprentice, I have my entire office warded against fire. You somehow managed to burn the one thing in here that wasn't fireproof." She said, shaking her head and sitting down in her chair again.

 

And then I felt myself plunked down over her lap, held there with a firm hoof as she adjusted me to make my bottom an easy target.

 

"I'm going to add extra for that. But it will only be on your cheeks. Now, let's finish this up, shall we." She said, and…

 

Well, back to my crying.

 

"AHOWW!" I yelped out as that next spank landed onto my sits, followed up by two more. I tried to hug onto whatever I could, settling for just reaching around and clutching at her leg.

 

Three more spanks to my undercurves and I was left just sobbing out, only to cry harder as a final four went down and spanked my thighs, before finally I felt the welcome rubbing of her paddle again.

 

"Normally I wouldn't have skipped the second break, but with your drumming and loss of control, I lost count myself. I am going to give you five more to your thighs, and then you get extra for losing control of your magic." She said, and I nodded beneath her, catching my breath a little bit.

 

And then came the promised five, each one worse than the last, each one harder and driving more and more tears out of me.

 

I felt something brush my cheek as the third one came down and grabbed for it. It was Aquaria's tail! Immediately I hugged it close, burying my face into it, as that paddle rubbed over my pained cheeks one last time.

 

And then came the extra, the paddle crashing down again and again into my red cheeks. I sobbed, my cries muffled by the tail I was holding. One spank a second, or was it three...I couldn't count anymore. There was only me. That tail. And the horrible paddle that was devastating my poor bottom.

 

And then suddenly, I felt the tail move. "Are you going to lie to me ever again, Heart?"

 

"No, Principal Aquaria…" I said, only to shriek as that paddle crashed onto the center of my flanks, very hard.

 

"Are you going to ever vandalize a board anymore?"

 

"N..No, Master…" I started to say, but another spank put an end to that as I cried out.

 

"Are you going to think about the full consequences of the things you choose to do, and properly plan out any schemes you have?"

 

"Yesssss!!!" I cried, and the paddle cracked down twice more, once to each of my flank cheeks, before I heard the welcome sound of it clattering down onto her desk.

 

Then she picked me up again, and instead of placing me back on that cold wooden chair, she held me. Just like Mom did when I got punished. Tucking my head over her shoulder, supporting my weight. Letting me cry it out as she gently rubbed my back.

 

It took a little while for me to finally cry it all out. Once I finally managed to fully catch my breath, I found myself seated back on that hard wooden chair with a small yelp, wiggling a little bit.

 

"Now, given that you have been punished, I am willing to forgive your other lapses for the most part. This has taken up our time for lessons today, so I am going to give you homework. When you get home, I want you to go and ask your parents to take you out to the store. Buy a little mirror...black if you can, obsidian if you can find it. Then, if you behave yourself the rest of today and tomorrow, I will teach you the basics of scrying."

 

I nodded, then looked down and wiped at my eyes. "Do...I have to go back to her class...I...I really don't wanna…" I said.

 

She started to say something, then looked down at me and saw me still sniffing. "Heart...does this have something to do with your apology?"

 

I nodded. "I...I said sorry, and everyone's mad at me and Miss Linea said they're all gonna get A's and I'm getting their bad grades and…" I stammered out before I suddenly shivered, feeling a deep chill in the air as I looked up and gulped.

 

Principal Aquaria's face had darkened, her eyes flashing like daggers of ice. She didn't seem to be looking at me, though.

 

"She said that, did she? Well, perhaps she and I should have a word." She said, her voice dark and flowing. Then she looked down at me and smiled. "Don't worry, Heart. I'm not angry at you. I'll write you a note to take a little time away from class. You can stay in the library and read until Lunch." She said, taking out a piece of official paper and writing down some things on it. "Here...give the top one to the librarian, and keep the bottom one for yourself. Now scoot your flank along, my student. I need to have a word with somepony."

 

I moved to obey, but I stopped in the doorway, looking back at her. "M...Master? What is Obsidian?"

 

"I imagine, my apprentice, that you can find that answer in the library. You may even find a book on scrying in there." Came the answer, along with a beckoning hoof.

 

As I shut the door behind me and walked away, the intercom crackled overhead. "Will Miss Inter Linea please report to my office. Repeat, Miss Inter Linea, please report to my office."

 

As I heard that, I instead stopped, only for Principal Aquaria to poke her head out to her secretary. "Miss Inkpot, could you nip down to her classroom and watch her students for her until I am done? Heart...Library. Now." She said before pulling her head back inside.

 

As Miss Inkpot left, I walked out behind her before making a quick detour into the bathroom nearby. I waited and waited until I heard Miss Linea's footsteps go into the office, then quickly darted back and pressed my ear to the door.

 

"Don't know where you got it into your mind that it was acceptable to bully a student like you have been doing, but it ends now." Master was saying.

 

I stifled a gasp. She was almost shouting.

 

"That student is a menace! He is disrespectful, he's rude, he's always ignoring lessons. I know there's a Disciplinary reason you have him up here every day!"

 

"I don't care. Keeping things controlled may be your job, but it is also your job to nurture and educate, not to stifle and bully. And for your information, I have him up here every day because I am teaching him a particular set of lessons at the request of his father. It is not because he is in trouble. Now, I am going to tell you this, if I ever hear of you bullying any student ever again, you will no longer have a job here. Be glad I cannot spank you." She said, and then coughed a little bit.

 

I felt a chill near my flanks and looked behind me, only to see a familiar fish floating in midair, fins crossed and looking stern before it pointed towards the library.

 

With an eep, I darted away. I had homework to do!