The Burning Down
An MLP:FiM fan fiction
All characters and settings (c) Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and the Hub.
*****
If it wasn't happening in front of her, she wouldn't have believed it herself.
Her entire world was burning down, and no one would be there to stop it. Well, that's not completely true. But the Twilight Sparkle and her friends were on vacation in Appleoosa, Princess Celestia was busy handling the fire from the Trottingham side of the forest and wouldn't be getting close any time soon, Princess Luna was nowhere to be found, and no pony that wasn’t from Ponyville was around to help out. All that was left in Ponyville was burning, all because of those stupid fire-things.
She didn't even know what they were. They looked almost like ponies, but they didn't act like it. Their coats were grayed out, eyes white as sheets. Their manes and tails were composed of pure flame, sustained by an unseen force. They shambled about, setting fire to everything they touched. They didn't care what burned. They didn't care who got hurt and who didn't. They just... did as they pleased. They wouldn't even die. Trying to beat them back only resulted in ponies becoming fatigued; the monsters wouldn’t ever collapse. The worst blows the ponies could do would barely make the monsters flinch. Even water wouldn’t put them out.
And the fires. Oh, the fires. Just as soon as anypony could snuff out one fire, another was lit elsewhere. It was useless. No help would come in time to save the buildings, the history. While most of the ponies could escape, the rest of the town would be lost. Everything in ruins.
It was like the apocalypse was beginning, right here in Ponyville.
It was with that mentality that she let put a hopeless sigh, all alone in her house. Popping the lid off of her best bottle of wine, Berry Punch began to drink.
*****
"Oh no - oh no, oh no, oh no! Where'd they go?!" Derpy Whooves was frantically running about town, dodging flames and ponies alike in her desperate search. Her blond mane was tattered, adding to her distraught appearance. Her mailbag was tossed aside, burning by now, in her panicked rush.
“Dinky! Sparkler!” She cried out. Her naturally dampened voice was difficult to hear over the frantic clopping of hooves against cobblestone and the roar of flame, and she knew it, but she didn’t let that stop her from trying. She couldn't focus and tripped, falling into a weakened wall and punching a hole into it. She pulled her head out of the wall, causing it to fall away from her and crash to the ground. Everything she did was starting to seem useless. Tears brimmed in her eyes; this was all hopeless! Hopeless and cruel and-
"Derpy?"
Derpy's head swiveled lopsidedly to the source of the voice that called her. It was Colgate, a blue-and-white pony and good family friend.
"Colgate!" she called. "What are you doing out here?"
"The Mayor’s put together an improvised search-and-rescue team, and we’re trying to get everypony out," Colgate replied, trotting over and dodging the fiery menaces. "Where's Doc Whooves? Why haven't you gotten out of town yet?"
"He's on the other side of town looking for Dinky and Sparkler!" Derpy's eyes - surprisingly enough - crossed even further out of worry. "We're not leaving ‘til we find her, and then we're gonna stay and help!"
"Derpy, no offense, but remember last time you helped out?" Colgate glanced nervously to the side. Shadows cast by flickering flames kept tricking her mind into thinking that ponies were dashing about. "This is going to be really dangerous. You should head to safety - let us handle it. When we find Dinky and Sparkler, we'll send them your way."
"But-"
"There's no time to argue!" Colgate pounced in on Derpy's thoughts. "I'll find Doc and tell him, but you need to go ahead and go."
Derpy sighed. "Make sure they're safe, okay?"
"I promise." Colgate smiled, wrapping her forehooves around Derpy's neck in a quick hug. "Now go."
With that, Colgate dropped her grip on Derpy's neck, galloping off in the other direction without another word. Derpy turned, though resentfully, and headed out of town as quickly as her unsynchronized wings would take her.
*****
"Girls?! Dinky! Sparkler!" Doctor Whooves was rummaging about town for his daughter and her "Big Sister". Everything from his clockmaking and repair workshop to Sugarcube Corner was empty and ablaze. The quiet crackle of fire consumed his hearing. Occasionally, one of those monsters appeared, and Doc had to wait and hide or be forced to fight. Progress was slow and depressing; he had to take joy in the fact that he had to be getting close if he hadn't found them yet.
He called out for them again, but the reply he received was not the one he expected.
"Doc? Doc Whooves! Is that you? Help me!" The source of the voice was one Carrot Top, trapped under a portion of wall from a nearby building. It seemed as if the foundation had burnt through, and the weight at the top of the wall caused it to crumble and fall. The result was a ruined house and extinguished flames. Carrot was firmly squished between rubble and ground; only her curly orange mane, head, and a forehoof stuck out.
"Carrot Top? What are you doing under there?!" Doc replied, rushing over.
"Taking a nice nap! It fell on me, Doc. I'm trapped. I can't move a muscle, you gotta help me out!" Carrot was starting to panic, squirming around and, more likely than not, making matters worse.
"Alright. Don't worry, I'll get you out!" Doc worked his muzzle under a portion of the wall near Carrot and lifted up. Finding the wall slightly raised, he pushed more of his snout under the wall, for more leverage. Despite his best efforts, however, the wall wouldn't raise any higher.
Doc grimaced; the weight was becoming too much for him to bear. Regretting what he knew he had to do already, he pulled his snout out and let the wall fall. Carrot's painful wail rung through his mind even before she began to cry out.
"Sorry, so sorry! I couldn't hold it anymore! Just wait, I'll go get Big Macintosh, he'll pull you out! Oh, I'm so sorry...." Doc hurried away. He couldn't bear to hear her in that much pain anymore.
*****
"Come on, Bon Bon! We've got to get out of here!" Lyra was shaking the beige pony awake from her usually Sunday nap. Lyra had been out and about when the fires started, and it had taken her almost an hour just to get home. She was amazed - incredibly relieved, but amazed - that there was no serious damage to their house yet.
Bon Bon gave out a low groan. She was being difficult, as always. "Lyra... leave me be...."
"Bon Bon, everything's on fire!" Lyra shrieked. "There's no time for this!"
"What?" Bon Bon forced herself up and glanced at the window. Sure enough, flames danced outside. "What?!"
"No time to explain!" Lyra grabbed one of Bon Bon's hooves in her mouth and pulled Bon Bon out of bed. "Just come on! We have to go!"
The two galloped downstairs and out into the street. The fires were spreading between buildings more quickly now. That fact and the awkward shuffling of hooves down the street alerted Lyra and Bon Bon to the presence of the fiery menace. Lyra quickly cantered off in the other direction, Bon Bon close behind. They took a quick right, passing by the town library. The library had become a torch, illuminating the dark parts of town and starting random fires as branches and sparks fell from its reach. All the work Twilight Sparkle had put into improving it, lost. Bon Bon gaped in horror at the sight.
But a cry of fear snapped her out of the trance that the library had placed on her. Lyra had heard it as well, and the two stopped.
The cry came from two unicorns: a pink mare and a gray filly. They were surrounded, trapped by three of the fiery monsters.
Lyra turned to face Bon Bon; Bon Bon mouthed, "Help?" Lyra nodded in reply, then mouthed, "Weapon?" Neither could see much of use around. The only things that weren't currently on fire were -
"Trash cans?" Bon Bon mouthed. Lyra nodded, horn glowing as she silently levitated the metal cans up. Bon Bon grabbed one of the lids in her teeth, and the pair sneaked up behind the monsters.
*****
"I'm so sorry, Dinky," Sparkler, the pink unicorn, whispered. Since Derpy had taken up job as local mailpony, she had needed someone to watch over Dinky during the day. Sparkler had been acting as Dinky's "Big Sister", with Dinky often staying over at her house. Today had been no exception, including when this mess had started.
Sparkler blamed herself for getting Dinky into all of this. Though the fires and the monsters weren't their fault, Sparkler had acted impulsively, trying to find specific someponies in the midst of a frantic crowd instead of just getting out. Now the two of them we trapped and about to die. She was a horrible big sister.
Dinky didn't reply. She was curled up against Sparkler's leg, shaking in fear. Sparkler soothingly ran a hoof through Dinky's mane. She deserved better than to die in fear, at least. This was it. How it would all end. Sparkler closed her eyes, taking a deep breath out.
The slam of metal on stone and metal against flesh made both Dinky and Sparkler look up.
Bon Bon was beating her can lid against one of the monsters, and Lyra was holding the cans down on top of the others.
"Run!" Lyra commanded. Though Dinky and Spakler didn't personally know Lyra or Bon Bon, they obeyed without question. Sparkler scooped Dinky up onto her back, heading out into the center of town. Lyra and Bon Bon were close behind, Lyra beating the monsters back as they escaped.
******
“Almost... there!” Doc Whooves’ entire body was straining with the pressure of lifting a wall.
“Eeyup!” Big Mac replied. He, Doc Whooves, and Colgate had spent the past several minutes raising the wall up enough for Carrot to squirm out. With a bit more push and a lot more shove, Carrot forced her lower body out into the free air.
“You... you did it!” she exclaimed. “Oh, thank you all so much!” she bounced between them, wrapping them each in a warm embrace. “I thought for sure I was a goner.”
“You’re very welcome, Carrot Top.” Colgate smiled as she spoke, but quickly turned her attention to Doc. “But we have to keep moving. Is there anypony else on this side of town?”
“Not that I’ve seen, and I’ve been searching high and low.” Doc’s gaze dropped. The thought of being separated from his daughter was creeping back into his mind.
“Okay. Doc, I’m telling you, you need to get out of town and meet up with Derpy,” Colgate implored him.
Doc grimaced. “I’m not leaving town without Dinky. I’m not leaving her here.” He stomped his hoof into the dirt to illustrate his point.
Colgate sighed but nodded. “Fine.” Colgate turned to face Big Mac. “Everything over by Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s cottage is clear?”
“Eeyup.”
“Well, then we just need to search over by the library. Come on, we don’t have time to waste!” With that, Colgate galloped off.
*****
Derpy Whooves moped away from Ponyville. Her quick escape had turned into a depressed shuffle. She hadn’t heard any word from since she left, and her husband hadn’t come back yet. Part of her knew she had to leave and wait elsewhere, but part of her still hoped that, if she just hung back, she’d find the hope she was looking for.
What she didn’t know is that she would find a different hope nearby.
The source of that hope was four ponies approaching from the direction of Canterlot. The first was an earth pony mare, gray, with a slick black mane. A white unicorn followed her, her electric blue mane obscuring her sunglasses. A yellow unicorn brought up the rear, a medical kit strapped to her back. Leading them was a brown pegasus, his curly brown mane unkempt and wild.
“Excuse me, ma’am. You come from Ponyville?” the pegasus asked, a small smile creeping across his face.
“Y-yes!” Derpy replied, eyes straightening themselves out. “Why?”
“The way you were walking.” The pegasus gestured randomly with a forehoof as he talked. “It was obvious that you were distraught.”
“Yes.” Derpy frowned. “My family’s trapped. Or lost. Or something! But I can’t find them, and I’m just so...!” Derpy’s sentence trailed off, and her eyes spun full-circle in frustration.
“Well, don’t you worry.” The pegasus began cantering towards town, his crew following. “We’ll take care of this problem.”
“Yeah, don’t sweat it,” the white unicorn chipped in. “We’re experts from Canterlot. We’ve got this.”
“Really?!” Derpy cheered, following behind them. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”
After a few moments of walking, the yellow unicorn caught on. “Coming with us?” she asked.
Derpy nodded. “I can help! I know the town, I can show you guys around.”
“Dangerous work,” the yellow mare continued. Her expression remained stoic as she spoke.
Her monotone voice and quiet demeanor somewhat unnerved Derpy. Derpy hesitated before speaking again. “My family’s in danger. I need to help!”
“Be careful.”
*****
Berry Punch had moved downstairs to her kitchen. She was still drunk, but she craved something to eat. And so, she was trying to cook. In her drunken stupor, however, she barely could control her actions.
After nearly 10 minutes of trying to start the frying pan, the door to her house burst open.
“Berry Punch! Are you still here?” Colgate’s voice rang through the building.
“Buck off!” Berry called.
Carrot and Doc Whooves turned to each other, disapproval apparent. All four ponies knew Berry had to be drunk again.
“Berry, we have to get out of town.” Colgate gently sneaked towards the kitchen. “There’s fire everywhere and-”
“Don’t you think I know that?!” Berry yelled, an empty beer bottle hitting the wall above Colgate. “Why do you think I’m drinking? Now just leave me be!”
“Now, Berry...” Big Mac stepped inside as well, the others following, “why don’t you just calm down and we can talk about thi-”
“No!” Berry’s drunken rage was worsening. “Out! All of you! Out of my house!” Berry grabbed the nearest thing to her - a frying pan - and threw that at them as well.
Carrot Top let out a frightened whinny and led the charge outside to the streets. Berry followed the group, next weapon in hand - a box of baking soda. Standing at her doorway, she tossed it wildly, completely missing the four search-and-rescue ponies.
However, it did hit one of the monsters, bursting into a white cloud of smoke. The monster began to hack and wheeze; its fiery mane grew dim. After a few seconds of suffering, it collapsed and died.
“And stay out!” Berry bellowed.
*****
Lyra had abandoned her attempts at fighting the monsters. They were slow enough and she was fast enough that it didn’t matter anymore. So she, Bon Bon, and Sparkler ran. They ran through the center of town, out towards the outskirts. They ran until more monsters appeared ahead of them. Their exit was blocked; running backwards towards the monsters they had attacked wouldn’t help. Lyra let out an oath under her breath and glanced for cover. Carousel Boutique was up ahead, on the left. Bon Bon tilted her head towards it; Lyra gave a quick affirmative nod.
“Sparkler!” Lyra called up. “Boutique!”
Sparkler took the hint and veered off towards the shop. The four of them inside, they bolted the door shut. As long as it didn’t catch ablaze, they would be fine.
Unfortunately, that likely meant they wouldn’t be fine.
*****
“And you say they’re on fire?” the pegasus leader asked.
“I thought you were the experts!” Derpy replied.
“We weren’t told much. ‘The matter’ was too ‘time-sensitive’ for ‘silly details like that’,” the earth pony explained. “We’ve fought most of the monsters out there, so we took what we could get.”
Derpy frowned, her eyes crossing again. “Well, okay. But yeah! They’re all fiery and slow.”
“What do you think?” the pegasus turned to the yellow unicorn.
“Tindahenanokes,” she replied.
The pegasus turned back to Derpy. “Tindahenanokes.... I think I remember those. We’re going to need all the baking soda you can find for us in town.”
*****
“Out! Out!” Bon Bon clamoured, emerging from the back of the Boutique. It had caught ablaze, and that blaze was spreading quickly. Lyra slammed the lock open and the four ponies ran back out into the air, coughing from the white smoke outside.
White smoke outside?
Lyra glanced around. Ponies, lying dead everywhere. No, not ponies! It was those monsters! Those monsters were dying! But, how?
“Daddy!” Dinky called, jumping off of Sparkler’s back. She had seen a stallion-shaped shadow in the smoke and was running off to hug him.
“Dinky, no!” Sparkler called, chasing after her. As far as she knew, the shadow could be some stranger - or worse, one of those monsters! “Dinky, come back!”
But Dinky wasn’t listening. Abandoning Lyra and Bon Bon, Sparkler galloped off full-throttle after Dinky.
A couple of seconds in the smoke, Sparkler heard a shriek ahead of her. “D-Dinky! No!” She emerged from the smoke; there was Dinky, tears brimming in her eyes.
“Mommy! Mommy!” she had her forehooves wrapped around Derpy’s neck. The stallion they saw was a brown pegasus, shape altered by the smoke. As the two embraced, the team from Canterlot spread their work outward, finding and killing more of the Tindahenanokes.
“D-Dinky! There you are, my little muffin!” Derpy planted a kiss on Dinky’s cheek. “Oh, I was so worried!” Derpy glanced up. “And you too, Sparkler! There you are!” She trotted over and enveloped Sparkler in a group hug. “Dinky, where’s Daddy?”
Dinky shook her head. “We didn’t find him! Weren’t you with him?”
Derpy bit her lower lip and shook her head. “No....”
“Of course you weren’t. I was too busy looking for you.”
The three turned to the voice; Doc Whooves, Colgate, Carrot Top, and Big Mac were walking their way, baking soda scattering behind them. Berry punch was passed out, laying on Big Mac’s back. Doc smiled and wrapped his hooves around his extended family.
“There you all are! I knew we’d find you eventually.”
Dinky giggled and hugged her father close. “I was so scared, Daddy. I thought we were goin’ be separated forever! But Sparkler took care of me.” Dinky smiled at Sparkler. “And then these two ponies showed up, and....”
As Dinky carried on with her story, Derpy leaned over and nuzzled Doctor Whooves. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she whispered
“Me too. I... I’ll admit, I was starting to lose hope.”
“Well, now we’re safe. How’s the house?”
“Burnt, but no worse than the rest.” Doc shrugged a shoulder.
“Building it back will be hard...” she lamented.
“With family like you and friends like these?” Doc glanced around at all the ponies. “It’ll be an adventure. Geronimo?”