To the Survivor goes the Grief
The Fire
"Is everypony alright?"
"What happened?"
"They say it's spreading all through the forest...the fire ponies can barely keep it out of town..."
"I've lost my daughter! Please, somepony, help me find her! Please!"
"Everypony stay calm, the Ponyville Fire Department is doing everything we can, just stay calm..."
The pouring rain did nothing to drown out the cacophony of voices. Ponies asking each other for assistance, consoling one another, speculating as to how the fire started. Their voices were occasionally out-played by the wails and shrieks of wounded or grieving ponies. The rain did not stop, and was a constant back beat for the hellish music of the catastrophe.
The Ponyville Fire Department was doing all that it could to fight the inferno, but they could not do much. The fire had spread to a huge portion of the Everfree forest, and all the fire ponies could hope to do was keep the fire from damaging any parts of town it hadn't already and wait for the rain to extinguish the blaze. The fire ponies were also acting as first responders, applying basic first aid knowledge to keep injured and burned ponies alive until the medics arrived. Some of the wounded groaned or cried; others were silent as they felt themselves slip away.
The rain kept the ashes from the fire from blowing around, but somehow black soot and ashes still clung to the soaked mane of a pink pony. The reason that she, out of all the other victims of the fire, was soiled with ashes was because she had been in the fire. She and her best friends had all been in the fire...
Twilight Sparkle called cheerily to her friends, "Come on girls, we better not waste this amazing weather! Let's hurry on!"
Rainbow Dash, the chief weather pegasus of Ponyville, looked towards the sky with a practiced eye. "Twilight's right. We gotta get a move on if we wanna stay dry! There's a big storm scheduled for this afternoon!" Despite Rainbow Dash's warning, the sky at the moment was clear and sunny. It was the perfect day to pay a visit to their friend Zecora in the Everfree Forest. Applejack had whipped up some specialty apple goods, and Pinkie Pie clutched a basket full of fresh baked goodies in her mouth, reveling in the aroma.
"It will be nice to visit Zecora today. I love talking with her about the animals of the Everfree Forest, and I bet she gets so lonely out there all alone," Fluttershy said. Even the demure yellow pegasus was showing signs of excitement: a gentle smile, a light, tinkling laugh, camaraderie with her best friends.
"I am highly anticipating the visit as well! For a zebra who rhymes everything she says, Zecora has quite refined taste. She is simply enrapturing over tea!" Rarity exclaimed.
Pinkie Pie couldn't talk through her mouthful of treats, but it did not bother her. She was just happy to be around her best friends. She smiled instead, and skipped happily alongside the other ponies. This was turning out to be a great day!
Silent tears coursed down Pinkie Pie's face, tears that burned as they came and left ashy trails as they left. She wept for the wanton destruction of stability in her life. She wept at the pain around her, thick in the air like a bloodstained blanket. Most of all she wept for her dear friends. She did not know if they were alive or dead, had not seen them since the fire broke out and everything went to hell.
The fire ponies had concluded that arson was the cause of the fire. There had been no lightening storms, and there were no known fire-breathing creatures in the area around Ponyville at the time. That left only one alternative: someone had maliciously and deliberately set the fire that had claimed the lives of Ponyville citizens and destroyed their property. With all of the wounded attended to for the moment, the uniformed ponies gathered together and began reviewing what few facts they had so that an investigation could begin as soon as the fire was extinguished.
A voice penetrated Pinkie's private thoughts. "Excuse me ma'am, is everything alright? Are you hurt?"
No, Pinkie thought, I am not alright. But what she said out loud was, "No, I'm not hurt. But I don't know where my friends are...they...they were with me when...when..." Pinkie couldn't continue, as it felt like there was a softball in her throat, threatening to choke her with sorrow.
The fire pony understood, and he put his hoof over her shoulder in a friendly way. His strong touch was comforting, and he smelled like smoke and stallion-scented body wash. "Tell me what happened, ma'am. Where did you last see your friends?"
"They...we were in the forest. We were in the fire," Pinkie said.
Flames licked hungrily towards the sky, leaping from tree to tree at impossible speeds. The smell of it was primal and elemental, a force of nature that could not be stopped. The screams of fleeing animals could be heard, and the shouts of the six ponies added to the panic in the forest.
"C'mon, ya'll! We...gotta...get outta here!" Applejack yelled between coughing fits. The smoke was everywhere, stabbing into her eyes and coating her lungs in abrasive, irritating smog. Sweat poured off her body and sizzled when it hit a stone on the ground.
"This way!" shouted Twilight. The purple unicorn was using her magic to clear smoke in a cone in front of her, highlighting a way out. The effort was taxing, but nopony could tell because they were all pouring with sweat from the incredible heat. It felt as if they were in the very heart of the fire.
Rarity was passed out on the forest floor, ashes collecting in her carefully groomed mane. Despite the cleaner air quality towards the ground, she was still coughing unconsciously. Applejack spied Rarity through the oppressive smog, and ran to her aid. She slung the limp fashion pony over her strong back, and heaved her up off the ground with a grunt. Coughing and squinting through a haze of tears, Applejack slowly followed Twilight through the blaze, Rarity on her back. The load was too heavy and the air too poor to breathe, and Applejack knew they could not both make it out. She was not going to leave her friend behind, though, and fought for each step through the shimmering heat, each painful breath drawn from the smoky air.
Suddenly, the load felt lighter. Applejack looked to her left and saw a familiar rainbow colored mane, and felt the blue pegasus's flanks touch hers as Rainbow Dash helped shoulder Rarity. Rainbow's eyes were streaming with tears from the smoke, but they still blazed with determination, and without saying a word, both ponies faced forward and struggled to follow Twilight out of the fire. By now the flames were so intense and the smoke so dense that Twilight's magic was the only beacon they had to guide them out of the forest.
With the combined strength of the apple farmer and the professional athlete, Rarity was propelled along a path preordained by a unicorn's magic. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were beginning to believe that they would be able to get out of this nightmare, and they focused all of their attention on following Twilight and her magic, on putting one hoof in front of the other. They could pull through this, together.
That is, until a tree branch fell blazing from overhead and struck Twilight in the back, knocking her down and stifling her magical guide. Princess Celestia's star student did not cry out, and did not move from her position on the ground, despite the flaming log on her back.
"Please, please! You have to go in after them! They are my friends! Please!" Pinkie Pie clung to the fire pony, grabbing at his uniform like she was drowning and he was the only stable thing in sight. "Please!" she pleaded again.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but it is out of the question. That fire will kill anyone who tries to go into it now. All we can do is hope they made it out OK on their own."
"What about two pegasi? Have you seen Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy? They could have flown away, they could have gotten out...please, have you seen them?" Pinkie felt like like she was grasping at straws, all hope slipping away like sand through the narrow throat of an hourglass.
"I'm sorry ma'am," the fire pony said again, "but a pegasus would have a harder time getting out than an earth pony. If they try and fly out, why, all that smoke up in the treetops and their heavy breathing from flying is gonna give 'em smoke poisoning like nopony's business. I will let you know if we find your friends. In the meantime, why don't you go home, get cleaned up, and try to rest?"
Pinkie offered some sort of acquiescence, and the kind fire pony walked away. Instead of taking his advice, however, Pinkie Pie turned her attention back towards the inferno that once was the border of the Everfree Forest. All the houses closest to the forest, including Fluttershy's hut, had been consumed in the conflagration.
Well, that's not that big of a deal, thought Pinkie Pie to herself. That means we will get to throw a big house warming party for Fluttershy when she gets a new home! There could be cake, and music, and all of our friends would be there---
The pleasant image she had in her mind of a party with her friends wrinkled and burned in the face of the very real fire she faced. With her imagination deserting her, all she was left with was reality, and her reality was hell without her friends.
"Knock knock, anypony home?" Applejack called out as she knocked on Zecora's door. The smell of growing plants and fertile earth surrounded the zebra's secluded home, and the ominous atmosphere that characterized the rest of the Everfree forest was absent in Zecora's clearing.
"Look at this," Rarity said, "A note!" All six ponies crowded around the note on the door, and Twilight Sparkle read it aloud.
To my friends coming to visit me,
I have stepped out, as you can see.
A quick walk I have taken to clear my head,
But I will be back soon to share your bread!
"Sheesh, the mare even writes in rhyme!" Rainbow Dash said, feigning exasperation.
"Well, what're we gonna do while we wait for Zecora to come back from her walk?" Applejack asked.
Pinkie Pie set her basket of baked goods down carefully. She walked a few steps away from her friends and spread her hooves in an elaborate show-pony's gesture. "Sit back and relax, fillies and gentlecolts, because the magnificent Pinkie Pie has a surprise that will dazzle and entertain you!"
Rainbow Dash chuckled, and said, "Pinkie Pie, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times...You are so random!" The other ponies wondered to themselves what crazy surprise Pinkie had cooked up this time. A day spent with Pinkie Pie was never a boring one.
Pinkie Pie winked and showed them her surprise.
The fire showed no sign of slowing, and since the fire ponies had done their best to banish it from Ponyville it had turned its flaming maw inward, back towards the Everfree forest. More and more forest was consumed, and while nopony really knew how far the forest went on for, it was clear this was the largest forest fire to ever sweep the ancient trees.
Pinkie Pie walked slowly through the chaos, only slightly abated since the start of the fire. All around her wounded, burned, or coughing ponies lay on stretchers, some with family around them, some only accompanied by IV drips and medical equipment. The medics had arrived and the ebb and flow of panic reached another peak as everypony clamored for attention, demanding healing for hurts large or small, for themselves or for family members. The earth pony medical team from the local hospital found themselves woefully understaffed to deal with all of the damage done by flaming houses and stampeding ponies, and had called for backup from a neighboring town. Until the unicorns gifted with healing magic arrived, the medics had to do the best they could.
Pinkie sat herself down next to the dilapidated ruin of a house, not caring about the ashes that coated her flanks. Her eyes were dull, and her mane had lost most of its spunk and hung limply, filthy with soot. She thought of all the parties she had thrown with her friends, and all the parties she would never get to share with them if they didn't make it out OK. The thought of having to live her life without her best friends was almost too much to comprehend, and trying to imagine it overwhelmed her in a grief so heavy and black that she asked herself, What would be the point?
If her friends did not come out of the Everfree Forest safe and sound, Pinkie Pie literally did not know how she would continue living.
Meanwhile, the spread of the fire backwards had left the charred part of the forest closest to the town without flames, and fire ponies had pushed into the forest, forcing the fire further back and looking for survivors. No survivors were found, but one sharp eyed mare from the Fire Department found some evidence that was believed to be the source of the fire.
The objects found were several cylinders, all charred black beyond identification, along with some smaller spheres and some half melted plastic wrappers, all likewise defaced by the fire. It was concluded that these objects were what the arsonist had used to start the fire, and were to be taken to a crime lab to look for clues that would hopefully point the authorities toward the sick pony responsible for so much pain.
When the tree branch fell on Twilight, her magical beacon snuffed out with her, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash were left blind, with Rarity still supported between them. Now every direction they looked appeared the same: all red flames, black smoke, and the ever-present heat from the flames all around them. For a few moments both ponies simply stood in place, unsure what to do, until they heard another branch fall to their right, and an entire tree fall behind them. Whatever their options were, staying in place was not one of them. Both the pegasus and the earth pony mustered up their failing strength and pushed onward in the direction they thought would lead them back to Ponyville.
In the anarchy that surrounded them, all that the two ponies could see was what was immediately in front of them. Their senses were limited to the taste of the thick, oily smoke in their lungs, the smell of flames, the shrieks and calls of animals fleeing, and the feeling of heat on all sides, like a clay oven. Their bodies were drenched in sweat, and Rarity threatened to slip off, but they managed to hold on and keep walking.
They were so focused on carrying Rarity and staying alive that they did not see Twilight Sparkle as they walked past her, not 10 feet away. She lay under the burning log that felled her, eyes closed, body broken, with a small trickle of blood coming out of her mouth. She made no attempt to hail the attention of her two friends, and they did not see her.
After a lifetime of walking through the burning forest, the whooshing sound of flames always in their ears, the two mares' strength began to fade. Each step cost more and more, and they stumbled often. Their heads began to slump and lower, and there was no energy left for coughing up the poison in their lungs, only for gasping, rattling breaths.
Finally Applejack could take no more. She stumbled on a root, and her legs forsake her. She fell heavily on her side on the ground, and made no effort to get up.
"C'mon, Applejack! I won't leave you!" Rainbow Dash shouting over the flames, hacking and coughing.
"Go on, Rainbow. You take Rarity to safety. Ah can't carry her no more. Ah'm...so tired. Ah'll catch up, you're strong enough, go on, take her. Ah will meet you back in Ponyville. Go on now, ya hear?" Applejack did her best to order Rainbow Dash onward, but she was so weak that she could barely speak.
Rainbow Dash was torn, and faced with a dilemma. She couldn't leave Applejack there on the ground to die, but she had to get Rarity to safety. She bent down and tried to pick Applejack up, but she was too heavy, and fought her. "Doggone it Rainbow, Ah said leave me! You can't carry us both! I can make it, but you gotta go now!"
Rainbow Dash had to make the toughest decision of her entire life. Should she save one friend, and leave the other to die? Or should she try and save both, even though she knew it would end up with them all dying together? She knew the right choice, but it killed a part of her inside to have to do it. She turned away, shouldered Rarity more comfortably, and set to walking. She did something then that she hadn't done since she was orphaned as a filly.
She cried.
Once again, the fire pony interrupted Pinkie Pie's thoughts.
"Ma'am? Excuse me ma'am?" Pinkie looked at him with dead eyes. There was nothing he could possibly tell her that would make her feel any better, and so his very presence was a waste of both her time and his.
"What." She intoned in a dull voice.
"We found two ponies just inside the forest. A blue pegasus and a white unicorn with a purple mane? Are they your friends?"
Pinkie almost wouldn't let herself hope. Surely this had to be a trick. She had seen the fire. There was no way anypony could have got out of there alive. And yet, here was this honest, kind fire pony telling her that her friends had been rescued.
"Take me to them. Now, please. "Pinkie's voice had life in it again, and the fire pony smiled. He led Pinkie towards an ambulance and spoke as they walked.
"We found them just inside the forest. The pegasus was passed out on her stomach, and the unicorn was on her back. It looked like the pegasus was carrying the unicorn, and she fainted. They are both in critical condition, but are alive. They are in that ambulance there, getting medical attention."
Pinkie didn't care about 'critical condition'. All that mattered right now was that at least two of her friends were alive. With a curt thank you, she dismissed the fire pony and hurried to the back of the ambulance. Her heart dropped when she saw her beloved friends.
Both of them were on stretchers, wearing oxygen masks, covered in tubes and needles. Their breathing was shallow and erratic, and their eyes moved fitfully behind shut lids. Pinkie Pie asked one of the medics, "Are my friends OK? What happened to them?"
The mare she had addressed replied to Pinkie Pie without breaking stride, continuing to administer to the two ponies to get them ready for transport. "They both have severe smoke inhalation, and several areas of burns that will require skin grafts. The unicorn has been unconscious for a while and will likely end up with brain damage upon awakening, and the pegasus has over-exerted herself carrying the unicorn. Her burns are also more severe than the unicorn's, and will require extensive reconstructive surgery. If these ponies are lucky enough to wake up, they are going to have a hard recovery ahead of them." The mare's no nonsense honesty left Pinkie feeling cold inside again.
"What happens to them now?" She asked.
"Now," said the medic, "we need to get these two to a hospital so they can receive proper treatment. You will be notified when you can visit them. Until then, I suggest you go get some rest." Pinkie was about to protest when Rainbow Dash opened her eyes.
The pegasus was obviously trying to say something, so the medic loosened her oxygen mask and looked at Pinkie Pie. "Make it quick. She can't go long without this on." Pinkie nodded and leaned close to Rainbow's face.
"Hey...Pinkie...some day, huh?" Rainbow wheezed weakly.
"Oh, Dashie...what happened? Are you OK? Where are the others?"
Rainbow shook her head tiredly. "I'm sorry Pinks...Twilight fell...didn't get up. I could only carry one...don't you see? Applejack...Rarity...I could only carry one." Rainbow Dash looked pleadingly into Pinkie Pie's eyes, hoping she would understand. Pinkie Pie felt her heart wrench at the news, and nodded. "Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow just shook her head and closed her eyes. The mare looked at Pinkie and said "That's all. She needs to get to the hospital," and put the oxygen mask back on Rainbow Dash. Pinkie watched as the ambulance containing her only living friends drove away.
Twilight...Applejack...dead. Fluttershy...missing. And her two other friends, if they lived, would have to endure months of surgeries, operations, rehabilitation, and the potential for brain damage and mental trauma. No matter what happened, they would never be the same ponies she had light-heartedly set off into the forest with. The thought made her want to cry, but she felt too empty to produce any emotion other than a sinking depression.
How had this happened?
Pinkie knew the answer.
Pinkie Pie had connections. She knew how to get balloons that stayed inflated long after other ponies' balloons had fallen to the floor in shame. She knew how to get confetti that shimmered like a sonic rainboom. She knew how to get the best tasting cake in Equestria, cake that would put the Cakes to shame.
She knew how to get fireworks.
Fireworks were a new invention by a unicorn scientist in Canterlot. If you lit one end of the tube, after the spark went inside the cylinder, it ignited magic powder, resulting in a noisy, fun explosion of color and light. When Pinkie Pie had first seen one, she was ecstatic. It was exactly what her next party needed. But first, she had to test out the fireworks she had acquired to get the showponyship just right for the party. So she decided to try it on her friends the day they visited Zecora.
When Twilight told her every pony was going to visit Zecora tomorrow, she had whole-heartedly agreed, and then sneaked into the woods to hide the fireworks. She placed them in a location behind Zecora's house, tilted properly so they would fire correctly. Once they were in place, she would detonate them and dazzle her friends!
But something went wrong.
While her friends were distracted with the note on Zecora's door, Pinkie Pie quickly and quietly crept behind Zecora's house and lit the fuse on the fireworks. Then she crept back into the huddle with the other ponies, before Twilight even finished reading the note out loud. She went through her rehearsed routine, got them intrigued, and promised them a surprise.
Everyone was surprised, but not in the way Pinkie would ever have wanted.
Pinkie had no experience with pyrotechnics, and knew nothing about flammability. Zecora's home was made out of an old tree in the forest, and was filled with highly volatile and unstable chemicals and mixtures. It was like one giant firework. The whole thing went ablaze, and the fire swiftly spread to all nearby trees, starting a chain reaction that spiraled downhill into the worst catastrophe Ponyville had ever seen.
Pinkie had only wanted to make her friends laugh.
As soon as the fire had started, Pinkie had run for help, calling over her shoulder for her friends to follow. She had hoped to rally the Fire Department quick enough to stop the blaze before any real damage was done. However, her friends were startled and distracted by the light and noise of the fireworks, and the ensuing conflagration caught them all by surprise. By the time Pinkie realized her friends weren't behind her, the fire was raging too fiercely for her to go back and get her friends. Instead, she raced back to town even faster, smoke blinding her and the flames licking at her heels, through the soot and ash, only to find that the Fire Department had seen the blaze, and could do nothing to stop the inferno from greedily devouring any homes nearby the Everfree Forest. It was only by the grace of the scheduled storm that all of Ponyville wasn't consumed in the flames.
By Pinkie Pie's own hand, dozens of ponies were wounded, or even dead.Including her own best friends, the very friends she had been trying to impress in the first place. Instead of laughs and applause, Pinkie had earned tears and screams of agony. Because of her, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were in critical condition. Because of her, Twilight, Applejack, and most likely Fluttershy were all dead. 'Guilt' was a pebble on the beach of the emotion Pinkie Pie felt. Her immense sorrow threatened to break her, drown her, suck her down into it's sticky black depths never to emerge again.
She looked at the receding flames, at the blackened forest they had left, at all the injured ponies and the burned homes. She knew she would have to heal, just as Rainbow and Rarity would, just as her other friends would never be able to. Pinkie considered their deaths, wrapped in flames, alone in the blanket of smog and smoke, transcending all pain and mortal suffering until you were one white hot ball of agony and then---
Nothing.
Pinkie Pie craved that peace, that balm for the unimaginable hurt in her soul.
Time heals all wounds, Pinkie Pie thought to herself as she stared at the flames, but healed wounds leave scars that can reopen and bleed again.
Fire cleanses.
