Controlled Burn
Back Burning - Definition: A way of reducing the amount of flammable material during a wildfire by starting small fires along a pony made firebreak in front of a main fire front. Warning, should only be attempted with the utmost competence.
“This is so boring.”
“Aw shut it Dash. If you weather ponies had been doin’ your gosh darn jobs we wouldn’t be in this mess of a pickle in the first place.”
“Did somebody say pickles? Just the other day I was thinking about how totally super awesome pickles are. Do you ever wonder why nopony does more with them? I mean, why do you never see pickle smoothies? Sure, they might not taste great, but you never know until you try. Oh! When this is all over I should throw a pickle party.” The pink pony unleashed a torrent of giggles before continuing, “Pickle, pickle, pickle party. Pickle party, pickle, pickle, pickle-”
The other ponies decided to ignore Pinkie Pie.
“Listen AJ. Do I give you a hard time if there is a carrot shortage? No, because you run Sweet Apple Acres, not Orange Carrot Fields. The pegasi ponies aren’t in charge of the weather over the Everfree Forest. The forest does its own thing. So it’s not my fault if it hasn’t been getting any rain.”
“Ah guess... Just seems like if the lot of ya' all had shoved a few spare clouds its way, this whole situation could have been avoided.”
As the earth pony’s words trailed off into grumbling, Rainbow Dash knew that she had won the argument. Of course, she won every argument. It was just that someponies did not always agree with her on that point. She dropped back into her harness and resumed pulling the heavy plow. It was not the type of work she was used to, but the weather was already prepared, and every hoof was needed on the ground. A few feet besides her Pinkie Pie was bouncing along in her own plow slightly ahead of Rainbow Dash, and even further ahead Applejack was pulling a third plow.
Looking around, Rainbow Dash could see numerous ponies all doing the same thing. They were all plowing a line straight through the Everfree Forest. Far ahead some ponies where still working to remove trees that would be in the way of the plow line and behind them any number of ponies worked to pull away flammable detritus left over.
The whole thing totally wasn’t her fault.
Over the next few minutes the only noise was the occasional grunt of exertion and Pinkie’s continued ramblings. At the time, Dash had not understood why Rarity had been so upset about being abandoned in the dessert with the pink earth pony. Pinkie Pie was great. However, after having been ‘plowing buddies’ with the pony for most of the day, she now thought she understood the unicorn’s rage.
The wind suddenly shifted as the air pressure rapidly increased and a ‘pop’ and flash of magic heralded the arrival of another pony. The air quickly calmed down from being displaced by the new mass. Dash looked at the lavender unicorn expectantly.
“It looks like things are going right on schedule, but we’re going to be hard pressed to keep to my time frame. Dash, the weather ponies need you again. Some of the storm clouds have broken free. Pinkie, I think Fluttershy is feeling a bit overwhelmed with the animals in the forest. They’re not used to being taken care of and are acting a bit skittish. I think a bit of your brand of encouragement would do her some good. Oh, and Applejack, Rarity should be coming by soon to give you your fire-gear.”
“It better not be all froo-froo and frilly.”
“Don’t worry. She’s been complaining all day about how hard it is to work with fireproof materials. I think she finally managed to arrive at something she was satisfied with and that was still functional, but I can’t imagine that it is too over the top. We should trust her though. I'm sure whatever she has come up with will help keep you safe.”
“Um Twi, I hate to ask this. But just how tight is this time frame anyway? Depending on how much those feather brains messed up, it might take me a while to round up the missing clouds.”
Twilight reflexively looked at the clipboard that was levitating by her side as she responded to the question. Rainbow Dash wondered how her friend could be so calm and collected in such a situation, but then break down in a nervous fit if someone told her that the Princess was coming for a visit and the wrong type of doilies were on the table. Dash just mentally snorted. Unicorns were all weird.
“We’re cutting it pretty close. In fact, after you’re done helping them gather the clouds, you will probably want to just stay with them to make sure nothing else happens. As much as we need every hoof here on the ground, it’s more important that we don’t loose our rain if something goes wrong. If we don’t get this back burn started by sundown, we might not be able to stop the wildfires from reaching Ponyville.”
“And then there would be no pickles for anyone!”
They were all silent for nearly an entire five seconds before Twilight slowly started again.
“Yes, well... Fire is a natural part of the Everfree Forest’s ecology, but the drought it experienced has made the fires especially intense. The break-line we are creating will hopefully prevent the fire from spreading. However, we will be starting a backburn, a smaller fire that will burn towards the main wildfire. If everything works well the firebreak will keep Ponyville safe. So please, keep trying your best.”
Twilight disappeared with another pop. The unicorn had taken on the role of managing the protection of Ponyville and had been teleporting all over the place ever since work had begun. As hard as Ponyville's resident magic expert was working, it was a group effort. Everypony was participating. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders were helping by dragging away foliage.
With Twilight’s departure, Rainbow Dash snorted and began to unhook herself from the plow. As she was stepping out of it, she turned towards Applejack.
“Well, AJ. I guess I’m going to be hanging out in the sky until this is all over. I hope you have fun here on the ground. I'm sure Pinkie Pie will keep you company when she’s done helping out Fluttershy.”
And with those words, Rainbow Dash was off. She understood that things required everypony to work their hardest. She flew off leaving a rainbow streak behind. As she soared into the sky, the pegasus realized that if she had been keeping an eye upwards while plowing, she would have noticed the clouds drifting away. There were still dark storm clouds between the forest and Ponyville, but not nearly as many as just a few hours ago. The water filled clouds had drifted far and wide.
“Ugh... Storm clouds are always so uppity. I guess I’ll need to knock some sense into them. I wonder if Twi is going to send to Cloudsdale for more clouds.”
It would not be a bad idea. However, Rainbow Dash doubted that there was enough time to get them from the floating city. She also did not know if there were even any spare clouds to be had. Cloudsdale had put their production into overtime in order to provide Ponyville with the clouds they already had in the first place.
Looking back towards the Everfree forest, Rainbow Dash could see black pillars of ash stretching up into the sky. Unfortunately the wind was slowly drawing the smoke and embers towards Ponyville. The wildfire was raging onwards, far too large for them to put out with rain. They needed to prevent it from reaching their town and then let it burn itself out.
She was not going to let some stupid fire take away her home. The pegasus put on extra speed as she blazed towards the nearest cloud.
The next few hours were definitely annoying. Rainbow Dash was good at her job, but was unused to it taking more than a few minutes at any one time. She was not lazy, no matter what Applejack would say. However, she was unaccustomed to protracted work. Hard work in short bursts was what she preferred.
Rainbow Dash considered herself the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. She would be willing to admit that maybe somewhere there was a faster pegasus. However, she did not know of anypony else who could pull of a rainboom. Spitfire of the Wonderbolts was probably had a more consistent top speed than Dash, but when inspired and pushing herself to her limits nopony could beat her.
Dash did, however, have a secret that she tried not to share with many ponies. Endurance was not her strong point. If the Running of the Leaves race had been much further, she would have run out of steam. Long distance gave her a problem. Spending a day darting miles back and forth from cloud to cloud was exhausting.
Eventually Rainbow Dash was able to get the unruly clouds under-control. They had been stubborn, but eventually they understood that they needed to stay together. Still, Dash did not trust them to be obedient for long and occasionally one of the clouds would get it into its head to begin floating away. Clouds often had trouble remembering what they were supposed to do for a prolonged time period. They were not responsible like Dash was.
Dash had often wondered what it would be like to be a cloud. She imagined it would be nice. Clouds never seemed to be worried about anything other than barometric pressure. Ultimately, however, they did not have enough speed for her taste. They just drifted around. Still, it would be nice if her biggest worry was the dew point.
“So you guys better be ready to rain. I think Twi is getting ready to start the backburn.”
She looked at the clouds as they thundered in response. They were exited; that was good. It was not like a little bit of lightning could hurt. Excited clouds did a better job and kept better company. The pegasus was alone with the clouds. She had them under control and so had sent the rest of the weather ponies to help out the ground crew.
“We’re counting on you guys you know. If the firebreak doesn’t work or the backburn... backfires, it will be up to you save Ponyville.”
She glared at the clouds as they gave another collective thunder.
“Oh don’t give me that. Even if the firebreak works, we’re going to let you rain. I know you want to get it out of your system, but just hold on for a bit. It looks like the ground crew is finishing up. Wait, hold on a moment will you.”
The pegasus had spotted a white unicorn on the ground along with a dragon that was pulling a cart. She dived down to greet them.
“Hey Rare, how’s it going?”
“Rainbow Dash darling, everything is going swimmingly. I’ve just finished the fire-gear for the ground ponies who are going to be stationed near the firebreak. If I must say, its both fashionable and functional. It should protect ponies from flames and heat, at least to a certain degree.”
“Ahh... That’s great.”
“Yes, very much so. If I am lucky, this whole incident will net me some contracts with Equestria’s fire departments. I’m not aware of any other design that makes fighting flames look so good. And of course, Spike here has been a dear with helping me out. Isn’t that right Spike?”
The dragon who was hitched to the cart only nodded dumbly. Dash just did not get the dragon. He was almost as bad around Rarity as Twilight was around the Princess. All a pony needed was a pair of wings and a few clouds. Romance only ever seemed to complicate things. Clouds did not have romance and they got along just fine. Dash trotted over to the cart and grabbed some of the clothes.
“Let me take a look... Hey, these ain’t half bad. I thought they would be heavier.”
“Yes, well... I managed to convince our dear Twilight to find a spell to alter the properties of the material somewhat. It made the fabric harder to work with, but I cannot argue that the results were anything but fantastic. Hopefully, I can get her to teach me the spell. Or rather, I am certain she would be willing to teach me, but I hope that I’m capable enough to learn it.”
“Well, it’s related to your special talent isn’t it?”
“Oh Dash darling, that’s not quite how unicorn magic works. It’s more like... Hm, how do I put this. Oh, I know! You’ve mentioned how one of the Wonderbolts can do that one move, what was the name again? The one with the whirlwinds?”
“The Cyclone Flash?”
“Yes that’s the one. Just because you're a pegasus and your special talent involves speed and being the best and pulling off stunts, that doesn’t mean that particular stunt is easy for you to perform. Unicorn magic is the same way. I have an easier time with spells dealing with my special talent, but even still, a complicated spell can still give me trouble.”
The two were silent for a short while as they continued to walk along with Spike pulling the cart behind them. Rainbow Dash looked at the white unicorn besides her in contemplation. Rarity looked a lot like a cloud. Her darker mane even made her resemble a cloud begin to take on rain. Still Rarity hardly ever acted as sensibly as a cloud.
“So Twi seems to have this all pretty well together. When those brushfires first started, everypony was pretty upset, but it’s no surprise that the pony to get us to have the first on time winter wrapup in anypony’s memory would be able to handle a little wildfire.”
“Yes indeed. Of course, when dear Twilight first came out of her library talking about initiating a ‘controlled burn’ to stop the spread of the fire, I think more than a few of us thought she had finally lost it.”
“Yea, talk about fighting fire with fire.”
“It does seem like her plan is going to work. Of course, we have yet to set the most important part of it in motion, but I have no doubt that it will succeed. After-all, what could possibly go wrong with all of us working together?”
“Yea, yea. Power of friendship and all that mushy stuff - wouldn’t work unless everypony was doing their part. Blah, blah, blah. I’m just looking forward to seeing the magic Twilight is going to use to start the back burn. I've seen some firemagic before in the pyrotechnics at some of the Wonderbolt shows. It’s going to be,” Dash paused for a moment and spoke the final word in a slightly higher tone, “Awesome!”
“Don’t dismiss the efforts of everypony so readily. I mean, even the Cakes are helping out. They’re giving everypony hayshakes near the plowlines.”
“Hayshakes?”
“Oh yes. Frankly, I’m not sure if I will have one. A lady needs to watch her figure after all, and their hayshakes are ever so rich. I mean, I love decadence as much as the next mare, but too much of that creamy delicious treat will just go straight to the hips.”
Dash found herself licking her lips. Pegasi burned a tremendous amount of calories and did not need to worry about their weight. She had never seen a fat pegasus. Well, there was that one time, but that was the exception that proved the rule. Her eyes darted back up into the sky and then towards where the plowline was located. The clouds were behaving. They would be fine for awhile.
“Well Rarity, you may be worried about getting fat, but I’m not. I’ll see you there.”
Once again she flew off. She was on her third shake when Rarity and Spike finally entered the area where all the ponies were gathering.
“My, it certainly seems that someone is drinking their share.”
“Aww stuff it Rarity. Not my fault if you look like a cloud.”
The unicorn huffed and continued past Rainbow Dash to deliver the outfits. Unicorns were so confusing. She did not understand why Rarity simply did not burn off any unwanted calories. Flying a few laps around Ponyville would make up for a shake. Sure, the unicorn did not have wings or anything, but that had not kept the pony from flying in the past.
Rainbow Dash took another slurp at her hayshake. Unicorns were just weird, that was all there was to it. As the pony sat back down she saw a yellow pegasus approaching.
“Hi... Um, do you think... I heard that the Cakes were giving out shakes, and well... I missed lunch and um... Do you think the would mind if I had one. I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”
The rainbow maned pegasus let out a snort as she replied, “That’s kinda why the Cakes came out here. Hay, I’m on my third and they don’t seem to mind, so I think you can go up and help yourself.”
Dash was prevented from saying any more by another magical pop. Twilight sparkle had appeared standing on top of a nearby tree trunk. The unicorn’s horn glowed from what Rainbow Dash would soon discover was a voice amplification spell.
“All right everypony. We are running right on time. The plow line has been cleared so that we can now have a fire break. I’ve just heard that all the animals seem to be clear as well. After we are done with this short break, I want the ground crew to suit up in their fire-gear and the weather ponies to be on standby. When everypony is ready, I’ll ignite the fire that will start the backburn.”
Equestria’s fastest flyer just continued to drink her shake. She watched as many ponies began putting on the fire-gear. The outfits were made out of heat resistant material and mostly black. Dash briefly noticed that the gear did not seem to cover the ponies’ manes and tails, but did not give it much thought. She had a shake to finish. She would bet money that a cloud would never need fire resistant clothing. In fact, she had only ever once seen a cloud in clothing.
It was not long before many ponies were gathered around Twilight Sparkle. Dash knew that she should probably still be with the clouds, but the other weather ponies were now free and could handle it. If anything went wrong she would be there in a flash. Besides, as clumsy as Derpy was, it was not like the pony could mess up babysitting a bunch of clouds. Dash wanted to be there watch Twilight cast the spell.
Whenever Rainbow Dash has seen fire magic in the past, it had been awesome. With a pony like Twilight, she figured it would need to be at least twenty percent cooler than any of the past times she had seen it.
“Everypony stand back now... I’ve only recently learned about elemental magic, and haven’t tried creating fire over such a large area before. Everything should be just fine however.”
+++
They were all standing on a hill outside of Ponyville. Everypony had been accounted for; they had all made it out safely. They were all thankful for that small blessing. Applejack and Pinkie Pie, along with numerous other ponies were all dressed in their gear. However, many of them had lost their tails and manes to the flames.
Applejack was muttering very softly to herself, “It better all grow back, otherwise Rarity is going to be none to happy about the words I’ll have for her.”
In the sky above, there were many dark storm clouds. However, they were spread out, drifting without any direction and just raining indiscriminately. All the ponies watched with heavy hearts.
There was a loud crack as part of the large library collapsed onto another building. The flames increased and the crackling of the fire blurred together to make a roar. The residents of Ponyville were watching their homes burn.
Twilight Sparkle was covered in ash, and her mane was sticking out in every direction. She just stared out at her destroyed home, allowing the firelight to reflect in her eyes. Without turning or even batting an eye, she spoke.
“Spike, take a letter"
She paused a moment to cough before continuing.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
“Today I learned a very, very important lesson. It’s one that I realize you had wanted me to learn back when I still lived at the palace. Once again, I do hope that the royal cooks forgive me for ruining the kitchen. The lesson I learned today is that there are some things more powerful than the magic of friendship, and... Well fire... Fire is hard to control.”
