• Firebug

Firebug was the manager of the Pebble district heating plant. She disappeared from Equestria with the Arcane Helix while trying to rescue some comrades from it, thereby arriving in the Dread Dimensions. Firebug lost her unicorn magic to a strange illness after being attacked by a monster in the Helix; she got it back (and then some) by becoming a priestess of the goddess En-Bequ'avar, Shadhavar deity of fire, forge and hearth. Firebug participated in the defeat of unicorn lich Dusty Tomes. She was made the Matriarch of the Outer Lands for political reasons, thereby being promoted to the status of archpriestess only a few days after her original ordination. En-Bequ'avar, via Firebug, killed the dragon Scört in the Holy Maw of the Slimefather. Firebug returned to Equestria, where she redeveloped the derelict Iron Tower of Neighswango and lived for a very long time thereafter thanks to magical life extension.

Firebug was romantically involved with the pegasus Shady Jay. She was good friends with Wiggles and Epona Moonbeam. Her relationship with Revolution Rosie was highly variable.

Left to right: Firebug at the Pebble district heating plant, Firebug wearing Shear Steel's robe and diadem, Firebug as the Matriarch of the Outer Lands (later, of Equus) of the Temple of En-Bequ'avar. Note that the artist's conception on the far right does not depict her usual cutie mark.

Quotes

Nate‬: Shall I throw him out, ma'am?
10:45 PM
‪Bryce‬: Firebug: ... that won't be necessary. One of the ancient sages said, "don't rip the limbs off the messenger and incinerate his sundered corpse."

‪me‬: [unaware that Firebug is in a murderous rage]
10:32 PM
‪Bryce‬: (You wouldn't necessarily know if she is. When enraged, Firebug prefers to let others do the screaming.)

 Firebug: I don't think of myself as creating fire hazards, rather, eliminating them.

The infamous "invention of murder" conversation:

Aug 07 23:04:29 <Firebug>    (So Firebug and Rosie are alone now, right?)
Aug 07 23:04:58 <Owenmighty>    Yes.
Aug 07 23:05:26 <Firebug>    Firebug: Do you ever wonder who invented murder, Rosie?
Aug 07 23:05:41 <Eppina>    (oohhhhhhhhh dear.)
Aug 07 23:05:47 <Wyjolz>    (AWWW shit.)
Aug 07 23:05:50 <Rosie>    Rosie: Not you, if you're boasting.
Aug 07 23:05:51 <Wyjolz>    (this is awesome)
Aug 07 23:05:56 <Wyjolz>    (creepy Firebug)
Aug 07 23:06:10 <Firebug>    Firebug: Oh, of course not. But, don't you wonder?
Aug 07 23:06:12 <J>    (wow, that line of questioning got dark all of the sudden)
Aug 07 23:06:47 <Rosie>    Rosie: I assume a bad pony, long ago.
Aug 07 23:09:11 <Firebug>    Firebug: Oh? I don't think so. I think it was a very good and noble pony who invented murder.
Aug 07 23:09:37 <Firebug>    Before the invention of murder, after all, it was just killing.
Aug 07 23:09:48 <Rosie>    Rosie: That's insane! You're insane.
Aug 07 23:09:57 <Wyjolz>    (That is good justification to kindly and nobly stab clients tomorrow when their whining and stupidity pisses me off.)
Aug 07 23:10:16 <Firebug>    But some pony decided that certain killing was murder. A crime. Evil.
Aug 07 23:10:18 <Owenmighty>    (Easy now, Lauren.  You can't set the police on fire with your mind, after all.  :D)
Aug 07 23:10:27 <Wyjolz>    (I wish I could.)
Aug 07 23:10:43 <Wyjolz>    (I am the firestarter. I am the bitch you hated. RAAAAARGH!)
Aug 07 23:11:22 <Firebug>    Just like some pony decided which side of the street we drive carts on, and what day of the week the streets will be swept.
Aug 07 23:11:43 <Rosie>    Rosie: Fancy words don't change how killing ponies is wrong.
Aug 07 23:11:59 <Firebug>    Oh? So it's always wrong? Killing itself?
Aug 07 23:12:30 <J>    (wow, Firebug's kinda maniacal, but has a valid point)
Aug 07 23:12:40 <Rosie>    Rosie: It is, even when excused in some way, at best it will only be a lesser evil.
Aug 07 23:13:09 <Wyjolz>    (Wow, GO, BRYCE, GO! This is fucking awesome.0
Aug 07 23:13:14 <Firebug>    That's surprisingly insightful. Yes, indeed. Everything is always only a lesser or greater evil.
Aug 07 23:13:17 <Eppina>    (good god)
Aug 07 23:13:40 <Owenmighty>    (Teambuilding!)
Aug 07 23:14:12 <Firebug>    And here I find myself, in a deadly forest with you, the apple of discord among us.
Aug 07 23:14:26 <Firebug>    We wouldn't even be in Neighswango if not for you.
Aug 07 23:14:36 <Rosie>    Rosie: Is this discussion headed somewhere. Veiled threats?
Aug 07 23:15:11 <Firebug>    [A bit more emotionally] I wouldn't have this diadem tearing into my soul if not for you.
Aug 07 23:15:49 <Firebug>    (You know, Jay, it might be a good idea to show up soon)
Aug 07 23:16:19 <Rosie>    Rosie: Oh, so you were lying that it wasn't harmful to our souls?
Aug 07 23:16:26 <Owenmighty>    (Firebug killing Rosie could lead to Bad Things for the party, yeah.)
Aug 07 23:16:33 <Owenmighty>    (Though it _would_ be interesting.)
Aug 07 23:16:49 <Firebug>    I don't know enough about souls to be sure.
Aug 07 23:16:58 <Owenmighty>    Jon, are you here?
Aug 07 23:17:07 <Rosie>    Rosie: You put it in willingly. You decided Neighswango was an interesting place to recuperate. You took us into the Everfree Forest!
Aug 07 23:17:37 <Firebug>    It was going just fine until we had to look for a place to heal your leg, that was only injured because you ran headlong into that fight with a kelpie!
Aug 07 23:17:57 <Firebug>    Sabotage! You sabotaged us. Does Crunchy want the diadem?
Aug 07 23:18:03 <Firebug>    Is that why we're out here?
Aug 07 23:18:04 <J>    (yah, sry, everyone else just had such interesting things going on! XD)
Aug 07 23:18:18 <Owenmighty>    (Wow, Firebug is getting _paranoid_.)
Aug 07 23:18:35 <Rosie>    Rosie: And whose idea was it to head into a swamp with dangerous creatures with inexperienced heating plant workers?
Aug 07 23:19:01 <Firebug>    We handled the Kelpie just fine until you got yourself injured by it.
Aug 07 23:19:15 <Rosie>    Rosie: I know nothing of the mayor, other than that I don't like him. How should I know if he wants that accursed thing? Let him have it.
Aug 07 23:20:22 <Firebug>    Firebug:  hmm. 
Aug 07 23:21:22 <Firebug>    Firebug: Maybe I should just leave. He obviously has agents everywhere.
Aug 07 23:21:44 <Firebug>    I should have known this small-time politician thing was just a front.
Aug 07 23:21:45 <Wyjolz>    So...you're saying that one of us is the right end...and the other is the left?
Aug 07 23:21:50 <J>    (can he hear either Rosie's or Firebug's voice?)
Aug 07 23:22:03 <Owenmighty>    Hm...
Aug 07 23:22:13 <Rosie>    Rosie: You're delusional. Think about what that diadem is doing to you and us.
Aug 07 23:22:21 <Owenmighty>    ...Yes, he can tell that Rosie's up there.
Aug 07 23:22:48 <Firebug>    Firebug: It may be better if we don't return to Pebble.
Aug 07 23:23:36 <Rosie>    Rosie: Where would we go? Ponyville?
Aug 07 23:24:04 <Firebug>    Firebug: I certainly wouldn't tell you.
Aug 07 23:24:15 <Firebug>    There's no we here.

Extended Biography

(From her early development; may contain discrepancies with the canon)

Chronology of Firebug/Wildfire Event Location Date Age Firebug born Trottingham 29 Rains 1807 0 Firebug’s parents killed Trottingham 3 Fruits 1808 5 mo Firebug at PBHUF Trottingham 1808-1816 .5-8y Firebug at TMHTF, Apprenticeship Trottingham 1816-1820 8-12 Mysterious orphanage fire Trottingham 6 Rains 1820 12y11m Firebug at Sea Various 1820-1824 13-17 Firebug attends University Canterlot 1824-early 1826 17-18 Firebug works in Pebble DH Plant Pebble s. 1 Grasses 1826 19-present Firebug goes to technical school Pebble c. 1827-1829 before 22 Steam Whistle retires Pebble 1829, after 29 Rains 22 Fancy Hat dies Pebble Gourds 1830 22 Wing Nut dies Pebble Crafting 1830 22 Paper Cut dies Pebble Flowers 1830 23 Firebug promoted Pebble Grasses 1830 23 Firebug learns DH plant to be closed Pebble 24 Grasses 1833 26 Firebug goes to the Dread Dimensions

2 Seeds 1833 26 Parents - Lives prior to Firebug

• Firebug’s mother was a unicorn named Firefly who was a native of Canterlot (no relation to the famous pegasus, her namesake). Her special talent was pest control, accomplished by incinerating the pests, although due to the general squeamishness of the Equestrian public, she did not publicly emphasize this aspect of her work. She had a pink coat and red mane, and red eyes. She met her future husband, Emberglow, while he was researching Equestrian industrial fire-magic. Firefly had complex feelings about the violent nature of her special talent, and after marrying Emberglow and moving overseas, she did not attempt to reestablish her pest-control business there. Firebug’s father, a unicorn native to Trottingham, was named Emberglow. His special talent was charcoal-making, his father’s business, and he came to Equestria to investigate methods of charcoal production overseas. He spent several years researching Equestrian industrial fire-magic before returning to Trottingham with his new wife, Firefly. He had a yellow coat and white mane, and yellow-brown eyes. Emberglow was noted for his mastery of industrial fire-magic, and often consulted by trades-unicorns in the city on such matters. (His death in a fire was considered to be quite surprising, in light of this.) Firebug is aware of her parents’ names and appearances, but not the circumstances of their death. (Which would undoubtedly disturb her greatly.) She’s generally aware that they died in a housefire, but is afraid of researching the matter more specifically (which would presumably require returning to Trottingham as well.)

Firebug - Early Life

• Firebug was born to Firefly and Emberglow after several years of marriage and life in Trottingham, during which Emberglow, the only scion of his family, inherited his father’s business. The enterprise was reasonably prosperous under his management, although the industry was in decline due to deforestation. Unfortunately, while still a baby, Firebug experienced an unusually strong infantile magic surge which knocked Emberglow and Firefly unconscious and set the house on fire. Firebug alone survived long enough to be rescued by firefighters. Firebug, now orphaned, did not have any near relatives on her father’s side. Her maternal relatives in distant Canterlot, overseas, were not interested in adopting her. She was, therefore, sent to the Prince Blueblood Home for Unwanted Foals, where she remained for eight years due to the combination of a locally saturated orphan market and her behavioral problems, manifesting mainly as inappropriate fire-setting and fighting. After a particularly severe incident, Firebug was removed from that orphanage and relocated to the Trottingham Municipal Orphanage for Troubled Fillies. Unfortunately, as an eight-year-old blank-flank, she was the target of considerable persecution by other youth. Unlike the well-endowed PBHUF, the municipal orphanage was under heavy financial pressures and was rather aggressive about placing inmates in profitable apprenticeships. Firebug, who was suspected of having some kind of fire-related special talent anyway, was apprenticed to a chimney sweep. Unfortunately, Firebug’s master sweep was of a harsh, Dickensian school of chimney-sweeping-filly training, and he treated her poorly. Firebug acquired some valuable skills of not dying when dropped into small, hot, dirty flues. She also learned how to move through the same without getting stuck and suffocating. After some weeks of such mistreatment, however, the master sweep managed to sufficiently provoke Firebug one night that her natural aptitude for fire-magic was violently manifest, and he was burned alive. Firebug kept quiet about the circumstances of his death, which was attributed by a sympathetic coroner to spontaneous pony combustion caused by acute irony. She was returned to the orphanage, her chimney-sweep training incomplete and still a blank-flank, as she did not at that time acknowledge her special talent. Firebug was not successfully placed in another apprenticeship, although, suspecting herself to have some magical ability, Firebug began to study the topic eclectically. After enduring several more years at the TMOTF, during which she had few friends, Firebug found herself the target of particularly vicious persecution by a group of juvenile delinquents placed in the same institution. Firebug attempted to use magic to defend herself, but was tragically unable to limit her attack, or even confine it to her tormentors. In the ensuing blaze, the orphanage burned to the ground with many of the inmates and staff being killed; Firebug herself, suffering from magical overexertion and understandably tumultuous emotions, was injured in escaping. (She lost an eye and got the scar on her head as seen in her picture.) She earned her cutie mark in this incident, which is of a burning foal; both a marker of her special talent and a warning to others. Wounded and regretting her actions, not to mention fearing the consequences should her actions be discovered, Firebug fled Trottingham immediately. She was presumed to have been one of many unidentifiable charred corpses found in the rubble, and thus if anyone suspected her involvement in the blaze, they considered the matter to have been resolved with her apparent death. Firebug intentionally mutilated her own cutie mark such that it appears to be a burning coal rather than a pony, partly for practical reasons and partly due to genuine remorse.

Firebug/Wildfire at Sea and in Equestria

• Desiring to put more space between herself and her past, Firebug, now calling herself “Wildfire,” stowed away on a cargo ship bound for Equestria. Although she was soon discovered, Wildfire earned her keep by working in the ship’s engine room, where she discovered that her fire magic had legitimate applications. The chief engineer was so impressed by the resulting gain in efficiency that she offered Wildfire a job and training. Wildfire traveled with the ship for the next four years, during which time she discovered her aptitude with mechanical things and extensively exercised her magical power in firing the ship’s boiler. Wildfire eventually tired of seafaring and settled in Equestria, hoping to enhance her magical ability through study. Unfortunately, although her natural aptitude earned her a scholarship to a prestigious institution in Canterlot, she did not thrive socially there and had difficulty applying herself to the required general education, magical history and ethics classes. She dropped out after three semesters of extremely mixed academic success. Firebug/Wildfire claimed to have been kicked out of her only magical biology class at that university for submitting a fire-breathing parakeet as a term project, which was deemed ‘against nature.’ (09-10-2013 session). Wildfire moved to the town of Pebble in the Equestrian southwest, having heard that it had a new district heating plant which needed staffing. Claiming her special talent was “burning things,” Wildfire secured an entry-level position at the Pebble District Heating Plant. As her claim was borne out by her superior performance at that aspect of the job, she enjoyed a secure position at the plant. Setting her ambitions a bit higher, and encouraged by the plant’s aging chief operating engineer, Steam Whistle, Wildfire decided to go to a technical school to open the possibility of career advancement. She arranged her schedule to allow this by taking undesirable weekend and night shifts at the plant, and after considerable effort, earned the requisite degree. (Firebug describes herself as an “industrial magician,” which might be related to her degree.) After the old chief engineer retired shortly after Wildfire turned 22, she expected to succeed him, but was passed over by the city government in favor of the mayor’s incompetent sister, Fancy Hat, whose special talent was not heating or machinery-related, but instead involved wearing ostentatious hats. (Presumably, this sort of future is what Diamond Tiara will grow up to.) Wildfire did not like Fancy Hat, and the feeling was definitely mutual. After several months, this new manager was giving Wildfire a particularly vigorous chewing-out over her neglect of paperwork when an overpressure condition occurred (due to policies mandated by the new management), causing a poorly-placed pressure relief valve to blow and blinding the mayor’s sister with superheated steam. (Undoubtedly the accident was aggravated by her ostentatious hat retaining hot condensate.) She then stumbled into the open hatch of the firebox and was incinerated. At the resulting inquest, Wildfire denied having been present in the boiler room at the time of the accident, and there were no other witnesses. Wildfire did, however, put forward the theory validated by the investigation (described above) that the accident was ultimately caused by policy error. Wildfire expected that this demonstration of competence - and the resulting vacancy in the plant’s management - would soon lead to a promotion. The mayor of Pebble, Crunchy Karats, saw the inquest’s conclusions as having been very disparaging to the memory of his sister, and felt that Wildfire was the instigator of these claims due to jealousy and her personal problems with the deceased. He went out of his way to recruit from outside, eventually hiring an experienced engineer from Los Pegasus, named Wingnut. Wildfire initially got along well with her, but relations soon soured and Wildfire began to suspect that the mayor was forcing the new engineer to persecute her, and, in paranoid fantasy, Wildfire suspected the mayor of plotting against her life. An ambiguous nocturnal incident occurred wherein Wildfire thought she had found proof of this; an angry confrontation between the two ponies took place at the plant, in which Wildfire lost her temper and maimed her superior with telekinesis. Fearing the consequences, Wildfire quickly decided to finish the job by killing Wingnut, and stage an industrial accident, hoping that it would have similar consequences to the first (genuine) accident. This proved to be the case. Although Wildfire served as the interim manager of the plant after Wingnut’s death, in a move that surprised no-one but Wildfire, the mayor eventually appointed someone else to be in charge at the plant, this time a former political opponent, Paper Cut, who thought the appointment a gesture of rapprochement by the mayor. Unfortunately, however, he was even more aggravatingly incompetent than the first political appointee, and he had little sympathy for the ancillary workers at the plant, rolling back some reforms Wildfire had implemented during her brief tenure, including a notably generous program of weekly baths and supplemental apple rations for the chimney-sweeping foals. After one of Wildfire’s few actual friends, Eccentric Butterfly, was seriously injured in a (real) industrial accident caused by the cost-cutting policies of the manager, Wildfire began to plot his death. Eventually, her plan came to fruition, and the manager was killed in a (rather well staged) “industrial accident” that appeared to have been the ironic consequences of his own dangerous policies, but was in reality Wildfire’s first (and, to date, only) premeditated murder. At the resulting hearings, Wildfire argued eloquently for effective reforms that would stem the tide of accidents, also publicly humiliating the mayor over his choices of managers. Officials from Canterlot were present at the hearing as three deaths and a serious injury within five months had greatly scandalized the administration of Pebble in the eyes of the Royal Court. They “recommended” the adoption of these suggestions and the appointment of Wildfire as the chief operating engineer of the plant, which the mayor reluctantly agreed to. Of course, this development made Wildfire excessively smug with regard to the mayor, cementing their mutual hatred, which is widely known in the administrative circles of Pebble.

Firebug/Wildfire’s Current Position

• Wildfire, now 26, has managed the Pebble District Heating Plant for three years, during which time there have been no further stop-work accidents, a fact of which she is proud. However, her relationship with the town administration remains troubled. She’s something of a prima donna, and often goes over-budget, spending generously from the operating budget. (The mayor also incorrectly suspects Wildfire of outright embezzlement; this is not actually true.) She usually spends money on the workers, with whom she has a variable relationship. While they generally appreciate her technical skills and generous policies, her interpersonal skills remain suspect and she has a tendency to hold grudges against those who displease her. (Wildfire prefers to wait until the dead of winter to inform the mayor of budget shortfalls, further antagonizing him. Wildfire, of course, claims that her profligate spending is necessary to maintain safety and retain experienced workers.) Wildfire lives near the District Heating Plant (along with many other ponies, as it’s in a relatively dense area of the town just south of railroad property.) She continues to enjoy her job at the heating plant, although she delegates as much of the paperwork as possible to others and frequently butts heads with the mayor. (Not literally, of course, although she’d like to; her horn is sharp.) Wildfire, unusually, lives alone. She does not go out much, being largely afraid of romance and close personal attachments generally. She does not have extensive hobbies (she often enjoys taking a shift firing the heating plant’s boiler, being rather enamoured of fire) but does enjoy walking around in the woods near Pebble and magically incinerating any insufficiently adorable woodland creatures, a hobby she rarely discusses with others. She is excessively fond of cupcakes, on which she sometimes depends for energy for the calorically-intensive aspects of her job. She has a pet Salamander, named Sal. In the 17 April 2013 session, Firebug claimed to be able knit, having taken it up to pass the time during her seafaring days.

Other Aspects - Psychology

• Firebug has a number of psychological issues, mostly stemming from her upbringing and the socially unacceptable nature of her special talent, which, in a time of peace, has no legal outlet. Firebug is at risk for Magic Addiction and is terrified of the prospect of losing either her magical ability or the employment which allows her to exercise her abilities. Firebug has difficulty in establishing and maintaining close relationships without a clear power structure. She is particularly avoidant of romantic relationships. Her character judgements of others tend to be rather black-and-white, lacking nuance, and she sometimes imagines that her misfortunes are the result of deliberate persecution or conspiracies against her by the local authorities. (Which is sometimes actually the case, admittedly.)

Other Aspects - Physical Appearance Firebug’s coat is sunshine yellow, and her mane is medium-dark red with a white streak. She wears an eyepatch. Her remaining (right) eye is red-orange. Her cutie mark and magic aura are red. She usually keeps her mane somewhat short, in contrast to the ostentatiously nonphysical hairstyles in vogue in Equestria for mares.

More physical definition of the magic of Firebug (a.k.a. Wildfire):

• Firebug is a rather magical unicorn (certainly above the 95th percentile), although the scope of her ability is rather constrained due to limited study. (Apart from things of great daily domestic utility and general magic classes she was required to take in the Canterlot institution she dropped out of, her study has been almost exclusively of fire and industrial magic.) So, she would lack the extensive magical “breadth” of that would ordinarily come with being such a magically powerful unicorn. Her control (that is, her ability to exert herself magically without things getting out of hand) is also not as good as would otherwise be suspected, although it is not especially poor.

Telekinesis: Firebug uses her telekinesis in maintaining the heating plant (moving supplies and tools, adjusting controls, etc) and in handling the fire (moving wood from the woodpile into the firebox, moving the burning logs around.) Estimating the output of a district heating plant of a Ponyville-sized town like Pebble at 30 MW (conservatively), and making optimistic assumptions about its efficiency (justified because making fire burn efficiently is part of Firebug’s magic), it burns about 2-3 kg/second of hardwood. A typical new-growth (10 y/o) tree weighs about 100kg dry. So Firebug needs to transfer about two trees per minute to the firebox. (I am assuming mostly small trees: presumably sustainable forestry is practiced in Equestria? If not, could be larger trees.) One assumes that the “thermal inertia” of the firebox and boiler contents covers things when she takes a break.

• Firebug can do this for at least several hours a day, and, before she had other duties, probably did it for her whole shift. Not knowing about the geometry of the plant and woodpile it’s hard to estimate energy, but as an order of magnitude guess, and assuming that they work three eight-hour shifts, it would be about 450 dietary calories, ~2 cupcakes.)

Fire: For obvious reasons, energy output for enhancing the fire is even harder to estimate. If Firebug improves the efficiency of the fire from 70% to 90% (my earlier estimate), this is ~3 MJ/kg wood recovered additionally, or ~290MJ / 8 hour shift. I assume most of this improvement is by causing combustion products that would otherwise go up the stack to burn. If the activation energy is just 0.01%, it’s about 6800 dietary calories per shift. (27 cupcakes.) This is a little more than half what some human athletes eat when training intensively so it’s not particularly implausible that she has a 3-pack-a-workday cupcake habit. Assuming that it’s spread out over two meals (somehow I think that being on a glucose drip would degrade her job satisfaction), and giving some other fudge factors (e.g. assuming she doesn’t work until dropping dead of hypoglycemia) that suggests that her magical reserve is around 25 MJ. (For comparison, Twilight Sparkle expended at least a sixth as much energy in the space of a few minutes in Boast Busters.)

It takes at least an order of magnitude more energy than this to completely cremate someone, so we can safely conclude that Firebug cannot utterly incinerate someone with solely her own energy. (One assumes that oxidation of the flammable fat of the victim would play a role.) It should not be any unusual difficulty to fatally set them on fire, however it would take up a detectable fraction of her magical energy. Firebug has also learned how to magically extinguish fire. She knows magic to resist fire/heat but is not intrinsically fireproof. (Being unable to breathe would usually be the limiting factor for her survival in a fire; she’d eventually go unconscious from holding her breath, and die of carbon monoxide poisoning.) Her fire/heat proofing magic lasts a minute or two without conscious effort, and she can also fireproof others, although possibly not as well as herself. On the session of 2012-12-5, Firebug was observed to fireproof inanimate objects. Firebug has also been observed to fireproof geometrically-defined parts of flammable objects. (She created what is ostensibly a “bowling ball” from a piece of wood in this way, although she neglected to create the decorative holes.) On the 2013-4-24 session, Firebug was observed to repeatedly levitate globs of water, albeit with some effort. In several sessions, Firebug has been observed to user her fire magic to engrave oxidizable surfaces, and to weld metal objects.

Some guesses, estimates and stuff...

• Magical energy reserve - 25 MJ - 24 cupcakes (may be a low estimate.) Sustained output - 10 kW (probably somewhat more possible; higher peak output.)

(a little better than 1/5 of Twilight Sparkle’s minimum estimated power)

• Maximum telekinetic forces - probably at least 4-5 kN.

(About 4-5 times as much as human bite force. Would like to claim 6 kN sustained/energy-limited, 12 kN / 100s, 24 kN / 1s, 48 kN / 10ms)

• The latter two thresholds would be the cutoff for 50% likelihood of success, i.e. at some point less than the threshold the task would be nontrivial, and it would become impossible only some point farther from the threshold. On the session of 2012-11-19 Firebug was observed to use her telekinesis to move a mass of wood gas from the firebox at the DH plant as part of her fire-control powers. Pressure: Harder to exert telekinetic forces over smaller areas; 50% likelihood value is 5 MPa (Exerting her sustained telekinetic power over an area of 12 square centimeters.) Apart from preventing silly things like Firebug being able to turn chunks of coal into diamonds by thinking real hard at them, having a pressure limit also prevents her from accelerating gravel into a hail of bullets. This does not completely address the balance questions raised by telekinesis in combat. Firebug has been repeatedly observed to quickly react and catch objects flying in midair with her telekinesis, including half a cupcake, a pigeon and even another unicorn. She did have at least some difficulty using her telekinesis to cut and gather grass, possibly suggesting that it is more difficult to track very large numbers of objects even if close together.

• The level of power implied by Firebug’s job should certainly be useful for combat, but it’s probably better if there’s some reason why she can’t peel ponies like oranges. (That’s a nice mental image.) I currently favor some kind of restriction on targeting the “insides” of living creatures. Also needing to be addressed as to why you can’t break legs/horns/wings of creatures - I’m tempted to ask for “no applying more than one force to the same object; “crushing” forces would just cancel out, except that I’m pretty sure Rarity applies opposing forces to her scissors all the time. But probably some more thought is needed.

Thanks to lengthy experience playing with fire, Firebug has quite fine control over fires, and can create interesting pyrotechnic effects. Like so, more or less, to pick an example. (Wizard needs hugs badly.) 27Jan2013: me: (Well, if it's relevant, firebug is mostly heterosexual (1/6) but romantically disinclined she does not have any preferences for pony type but would probably relate best to another unicorn)

Quotes from Owen needing integration into the information above: On fire-resistance: Firebug just standing in an ordinary wood fire can probably let her mind wander so much that she effectively doesn't need to really concentrate on it. Someone else in an wood fire will probably be fine for around three to five minutes of Firebug ignoring them, if she's first prepped the spell for that (there's a maximum time it can linger, but Firebug can make it last less time if she chooses). Firebug in a blast furnace or really nasty chemical fire had probably better not get distracted much at all, though getting distracted isn't certain death, and someone else in such a situation will have maybe five to ten seconds and will probably start taking damage before the spell fully collapses. Magical fire would be highly variable, all the way from "safe without any sort of shielding" to "Firebug's entire magical reserve is not enough to provide any protection at all", though I doubt that you'll encounter much magical fire at all, much less the really nasty stuff.

It was confirmed that Firebug can heatproof and fireproof (i.e. corrosion-proof) things separately if desired, although we usually take ‘fireproof’ to mean both. It was established that when a pony is fireproofed, the fireproofing extends to the volume of the pony, not just their exterior surface. (Firebug has been observed to fireproof a geometrically defined area inside a larger object, and the idea was advanced that fireproofing a sphere is different from fireproofing a spherical shell.)

On 2013-05-08 session, Firebug was observed to (partly accidentally) ‘detonate’ cider in a cup. This has a variety of interesting implications.

On telekinesis of internal anatomical structure: Hm... Well, firstly, as we've discussed, telekinetic manipulation of internal stuff would be very specialized, since you need dedicated magic, a very good idea of what you're doing, or both, and Firebug hasn't gone to medical school, trained to be an assassin, etc.

Other items:

• - It was decided that telekinesis leaves magical trace evidence, which is why you’d want to smash enemies with a telekinetically wielded object instead of just snapping their necks with telekinesis directly. Doing this to monsters is okay.

- Firebug’s fire-magic is control of regular (chemical) fire, not conjuration of magical fire, and it does not leave major magical trace evidence; such evidence would be in proportion to how hard it is to get the thing to burn (negligible evidence for something like dry wood.)

• - Magical trace evidence can probably be eliminated by (regular fire) burning, at least from routine investigation. - There are cultural taboos on maiming others with telekinesis; compare the reaction between stabbing someone and biting their throat out.

Fig. 4: Because what this document was missing was more pictures of Firebug. Seen here heavily armed and extremely dangerous. And apparently that water is very sudsy because I messed up the opacity.

Job / District heating plant

• (Copy-pasted from the mailing list.)

The plant should be about 30 MW to provide district heating to a Ponyville (or Pebble) sized town. (Assuming human heating and hot water usage patterns and households of three.) I've never heard of a single fire-tube boiler of this size, the largest fire-tube boilers ever made were only around 2MW. Water-tube boilers are a bit on the technologically complex side for Equestria, although not, I suppose, entirely out of the question. My guess, then, is that there are multiple fire-tube boilers. Also fire-tube boilers are cooler looking. The design I thus envision for the plant is thirty-six fire-tube boilers arranged in four rows of nine, with two rows split between two fire-boxes. Sizing these things is... complicated, but an overall length for each firebox would be 10m with a width of 3m. I imagine that the stoker(s) are stationed inbetween the two fireboxes. Each six boilers have their own chimney so that they can be shut with flues during off-peak times to allow the chimneys to be cleaned, essential in a wood-fired plant.

The heating plant necessarily operates twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. If ponies work eight-hour shifts, the factors of between 4.2 and 5.2 are generally used to figure how many full-time equivalents are needed to operate a position constantly in this fashion. Not all the positions in the plant have to be staffed constantly, however - some things are only done intermittently.

Full-time staff: There would need to be two stokers on duty at all times, ten full-time employees. There would also have to be an operating engineer on at all times, for a total of five more FTE. We'll assume that the on-duty operating engineer is also the supervisor for the other employees. There's also a plant manager / chief operating engineer (Firebug), bringing us to sixteen. The plant evidently needs a security guard, but probably not when there are plenty of people around, so say three FTE rather than five. Firebug has an administrative assistant now, bringing us to 20 FTE. There's also probably a handyman (hoofypony?) who repairs things other than the boiler system, keeps the grounds, and so on.

Part-time staff: The "chimney-sweeping foals" are mentioned. I assume that Equestrian child-labor laws, enlightened as they are, and Firebug's benevolent nature toward orphans, restrict their total working hours. We had previously discussed the possibility that "chimney-sweeping foals" are a civic institution and that they are headquartered at the plant but not concerned with it only. There is probably a need for about six to eight between the town and the plant, and at least two master sweeps to supervise them. There would be further staff to service and troubleshoot the parts of the district heating system outside the plant itself, but we could assume that in a small sized system like this, they just call up one of the operating engineers and some workers from the city to go fix things when necessary. There is probably at least one person in charge of getting the fuel; I don't know if the plant cuts their own fuel from the forests around Pebble or they buy it from others. If they cut it themselves, then there will be lumberjacks as well.

So, we have: Full-Time Plant Employees: 1 Chief Operating Engineer & General Manager 5 Operating Engineers / Supervisors 10 Stokers 1 Secretary 1 Janitor 1 Repair-Pony 3 Security Guards

Part-Time Employees and Associated Staff: 2 Master Sweeps (May be nominally independent contractors) 8 Chimney-Sweeping Foals (Also servicing Greater Pebble.) 1 Lumber/Railroad Liaison or... some number of lumberjacks which I will duly calculate if the plant cuts its own wood. Repair Crews as needed.

I don't know what its economic value is, but having district heating reduces the amount of time citizens of Pebble spend on hot water and heating related tasks by about half, as compared with each tending their own fire, besides keeping their little hoofsies warmer at night than would be practical if they had to get up and stoke their individual fireplaces. And I must say from recent personal experience that having hot water on tap is much nicer than heating batches of hot water over a fire.

Still, the attraction of the electrical plant in comparison is obvious, as it will need no chimney sweeping, no stokers, and no wood.

Whew.

Table of Chimney-Sweeping Foals Name Type Sex Coat Mane

• Earth F Brown Yellow

Extravagant Glitter Unicorn F Cream Peach

• Earth F Red Pink Pegasus F White Blue

Creosote Dip Unicorn M Green Dark Green

• Earth M White Blue Earth F Yellow Orange Earth M Blue Yellow

Sal the Salamander, &c (from emails with Owen): The Equestrian Salamander (Salamandra pyrophilus) is a furry creature about 20-30 cm long. It is intrinsically magical, resisting fire. Its fur is made of asbestos-like silicate fibre, although the filaments are large enough in diameter to not be a cause of lung diseases. It has biochemical modifications to catalyze the oxidation of carbon monoxide before it gets to the systemic circulation, and thus to breathe smoky air without succumbing. It is mildly venomous (a reasonably healthy pony would not die from being bitten, but might be temporarily sickened) and it is carnivorous, eating mostly arthropods. It also needs a source of silicate in the diet to produce its wool, which it normally obtains by eating various species of freshwater sponges.

CategoryUnicorns