What do I do now?

by azuell

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Human, Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Fluttershy, Sex, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 3342

Charlie was just an average guy working his average job until a mysterious fire leaves him hurt, scared, scarred, and to top it off stranded in a strange land.

Charles Williams went to work that day thinking it would be another normal day, what he got instead was much worse. Burned and broken in a horrible accident Charlie finds himself in the home of a very kind caretaker with almost no knowledge of how he came to be there. The weirdest thing about it all though is his caretaker is a butter yellow, pink-maned pegasus. As Charlie learns more about the world he landed in he starts to wonder if he'll ever be able to get back home or if his new friends would let him go that easily.

Published 2013-08-23 02:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-29 23:51:50 UTC

A Blaze of Glory

Charlie Williams a six foot tall twenty-seven year old man with short dirty blonde hair sat at a table in the break-room of his workplace at the end of the night staring absent-mindedly at the wall on the other end of the room. 'Today's been rough and tomorrows probably gonna be worse' he thought taking a sip of soda.

"Yeah, like things could get much worse" he said with a slight chuckle and no sooner had those words left his mouth than a huge explosion knocked him out of his chair and into the floor. Debris shot out in random directions as the wall that seperated the break room from the warehouse crumbled to reveal a literal hell.

Charlie got to his feet as quickly as he could and took a look at the new "entrance" to the warehouse. Inside he could see fire excidedly roaring and dancing as though a dragon had coaxed it to life and willed it to consume everything it could touch.

"What the hell?" was what he wanted to say but when he attempted to speak his voice sounded muffled almost like he was wearing earmuffs. Reaching up to examine said bodyparts he was relieved to find that they were still attached, however as

he pulled his hands away he noticed a familiar red liquid staining his hands, and as though it was the catalyst to all his senses he finally noticed a distinct ringing in his ears and how his body felt like it was beat all over with a golf club.

As much as Charlie wanted to yell out he resisted and instead looked over to the security desk near the front of the building.

The security guard, an older black man, was wobbling on his feet trying to get stable as Charlie limped his way over. "TIM ARE YOU OK?" he asked quickly realizing that his loss of hearing was having an effect on the volume of his voice as Tim jumped and turned to face him.

"Chuck? Man what the hell was all that just now and...Holy Christ! Your ears are bleeding!" 'What'd he say?' he thought as he looked at Tim dumbly for a moment then said "TIM, I CAN'T...I mean I cant hear you right now, but more importantly you need to call the fire department!".

Tim just nodded and picked up the phone sitting on the counter and begin to dial, meanwhile Charlie made his way over to the big hole where the wall used to be and looked around.

The fire inside seemed like it was burning brighter and the heat was starting to get unbearable. As he scanned the interior of his once perfectly normal workspace he saw something he knew he shouldn't see.

It was only a fraction of a glimpse but he was sure he saw someone move around in there "HELLO, WHO'S IN THERE?" He called out 'No that can't be right, I was the last person in there I made sure of it before I locked up and left' another glimpse of what seemed to be a white dress sealed his decision.

Charlie rushed forward as fast as his legs would carry him never once hearing Tim call out to him. 'Who the hell's still in there?' he thought as the flames licked at his body "By the nine please be okay" he said as he looked around the hellish pit he was running through.

Fork lifts were turned on there side, the conveyor belt that ran around the warehouse was completely smashed, and stacks of pallets were transformed into nothing more than huge bonfires.

More than once he was forced to dodge random piles of debris that lay littered around the floor all the while having to wipe the sweat from his eyes in order to maintain track of where he was putting his feet.

Just as he was starting to doubt whether he'd actually seen someone or not something caught his attention to his right where the returns section used to be. As he made his way over there what he was looking for finally came into full view. Sitting on the floor was a girl no older than ten or eleven.

Her hair was as red as blood and flowed down to the floor where it lay sprawled out around her. The dress she was wearing reminded him of the quiet snow covered fields he used to see in the mountains when he and his father would go on their relaxation trips when he was younger.

Charlie noticed she was only fifteen or so feet away and deciding it would be in their best decisions to get out of the burning building as fast as possible ran forward and called out to her "HEY KID! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!".

The next few moments happened so fast he couldn't understand what was going on right away. As he neared the girl part of the roof fell in and pinned him to the floor a mere five feet away from her.

Charlie could do nothing but let out a primal roar of pain as the metal support beams pierced and burned his body along with his left arm.

Tears openly flowed from his eyes as he clenched them shut trying to will the excruciating pain away only to be met with miserable failure.

Letting out another pained scream he slowly willed his eyes back open to see the girl still sitting there in front of him and for the first time he could clearly see her face.

Her eyes were an electric blue that seemed to glow or maybe it was the tears in his eyes he couldn't be sure. What stuck out most to him though was the smile she was giving him.

It was a small knowing smile that made him feel like somehow this small girl had planned and caused all of this. He wanted to ask her if that was it, if she was the one who set off whatever it was that caused the explosion that turned this building into his grave, but as he was about to ask he felt a “pop” inside of his body. Charlie coughed up a large amount of blood and quickly realized one of his lungs had collapsed.

As he lay there in the most pain he’d ever been in though his entire life and gasping for air the girl sitting in front of him stood up, walked over to him, and squatted down.

Charlie looked at his would be killer and only wanted to know one thing “W-Why?” he managed to squeeze out. She placed both her hands on the sides of his face and looked him in the eyes “All will be explained in time, but for now rest. Your tribulations are not at an end yet”.

Her surprisingly mature voice seemed to echo through his mind in a whisper yet it was loud enough to understand clearly.

‘I don’t understand’ he thought as his consciousness began to fade and as his eyes went to close he saw tears form in her eyes.

Elsewhere

Fluttershy stared open mouthed at the scene in front of her not knowing what she should do but at the same time knowing that she just couldn't leave the forest in this state.

The Everfree forest had seemingly caught fire in the middle of the night and she happened to be awake as all kinds of little critters filled her home asking for her help. Fluttershy would never abandon her animal friends but she was definitely not a firepony, what could she do on her own?

A quick succession of tapping caused her to look down and see her pet bunny Angel looking at her with an expression that said 'We have to do something!"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and smelt the unmistakable smell of burning wood accompanied by something else even less pleasant, burning flesh. Steeling herself she looked down at Angel "You're right" she said "We have to do something but waiting for the fire department would take too long"

It was in that moment that the idea came to her and just like that she was off gathering all of her little, and some not so little, critter friends she could find "Alright everypony listen up" she began in an unusually confidant tone "We need to get this fire put out asap and we all need to help or else we might not have any homes to return to"

"Any critter that can hold a bucket needs to grab one from the side of my home, go down to the stream, fill the bucket up, and start pouring it on the fire"

"Mr. and Mrs. Pelican you'll be in charge of the aerial division, gather as much water as you can hold in your beaks and dump it from over head" she said turning to the gathered birds.

"Angel-bunny I need you to got and get the fire department and Twilight in that order" after finishing her orders everyone gave her a salute and went about there tasks.

After fifteen minutes of nonstop firefighting Fluttershy heard a pained cry come out from inside the forest 'Oh no, somepony's in there' she thought 'What should I do?' she asked herself pacing back and forth 'it didn't sound too far off should I try and find them?'

Another scream made her mind up for her and as quickly as she could she flew to the stream all her friends were drawing water from, soaked herself, and ran into the still blazing forest as fast as her hooves would carry her.

'Oh please be okay' she thought as she charged forward through the burning foliage. Soon something laying on the ground in a small clearing to her right caught her eyes.

As she approached the creature she noticed she'd never seen anything like it before in her life. 'What are you? No I need to get you out of here first then I can figure that out' she thought as she came to a stop next to it.

"Oh my..." she said as she raised a hoof to cover her mouth. The creature was laying face down and had horrible burns on its lower half as well as its left fore-leg. It's rear legs were mangled and there was a bone sticking out of it's left one. She could tell it was wearing clothes but they had been all but reduced to cinders.She also noticed it's breathing was quick and shallow leading her to believe that one of it's lungs had collapsed. "What happened to you?" she asked in a whisper as she simply stared at the mangled heap of flesh in front of her.

'I need to get it out of here but those injuries are too much. If I move it I could make them worse but If I leave it here it will definitely die'.

Deciding alive with worse injuries was better than dead she managed to hoist it onto her back. To her immediate surprise it was a lot longer than she initially thought not to mention it felt like she was carrying Applejack and Applebloom as well.

With a grunt she started moving back out the way she came. By now she was fully feeling the heat of the forest fire as flames danced all around her. Sweat was pouring down her face and into her eyes making it difficult to see.

Soon she reached the edge of the forest and with a sigh of relief she picked up her pace eager to get out of this hellish nightmare but before she could escape a large tree fell on the path in between her and freedom.

"No" she said in a whisper "What do I do now?" she asked looking around for an alternate path out of the forest, however She quickly hung her head in defeat when she realized she was completely surrounded by the blazing inferno

'Is this it? Is this how I die? Burned to death in a forest fire for wanting to save somepony? At least....At least I wont be alone at the end' she thought as she closed he eyes and felt her legs give out beneath her.

Author's Note

Hello everyone and welcome to my first true attempt at fan-fiction. Please leave a comment to tell me what you thought of it and any advice you might have. Thanks and goodbye.

A Father and His Son

"Charlie, you in there son?" came a deep southern voice from nowhere "Come on now son, don't sleep all our time away" it said this time accompanied by a rough calloused hand gently shaking Charlie from his supposed slumber.

"Wha...huh? Dad? 'sat you" Charlie asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up straight...in a porch swing?

"What, how'd I get here? Last I remember I was...OH GOD!" he yelled as he stood up and started to examine himself to find "Nothing? No burns or broken bones, but I don't get it. I swear I remember laying on the floor of the warehouse with all kinds of rubble pinning me down, and that girl! She's the reason it happened, the reason I..." he trailed off slowly sitting back down in the swing.

"Go ahead son, you can say it" a much older man who looked to be in his sixties said as he sat next to Charlie in the swing.

Charlie's eyes went wide as he slowly turned his head to look at the man sitting to his left. Next to him sat a man he'd known nearly all of his life. From his big bushy gray beard to the crow's feet at the sides of his green eyes. The smile on his face was just as he remembered, kind and welcoming. He was wearing a simple red and black plaid pattered coat with blue jeans.
There next to him sat his father, Red Alizarin Williams.

"...Died. I see, I'm dead and I guess this is my afterlife?" he questioned as he finally realized where he was. The porch was exactly as he last remembered it. The swing they were on was suspended on the left side while simple rocking chairs occupied its right and in the middle, right across from the doorway to the cabin, were the steps down into the snow covered yard. A little ways off he could see the forest he and his dad used to hunt in when they came here. The mountain cabin where they used to vacation was exactly as he remembered.

Charlie's father looked at his son for a moment before leaning back in the swing and saying "Not what you imagined?"

"No it's not that, it's just...well I just think it sucks I had to die like that" he replied looking at his dad.

"Like what?" his dad asked. Charlie looked out into the forest for a moment before replying "I was tricked. There was this girl with long red hair and a white dress. I can't be sure, but I think she set off a bomb or something which set the warehouse I work in on fire. She lured me inside, well maybe lure isn't the right word but that's how it feels. Anywho after I saw her inside I ran in to get her out and that's when it happened, the roof caved in and pinned me there on the floor while she just looked at me smiling. The pain was horrible. I should have known something was up, especially when I was the last one to leave and lock up" he finished with his head in his hands

Charlies dad patted his son on the back gently "That's why I'm proud of you son" he said smiling. Charlie looked over to his father with a confused expression "I don't get it" he said to the old man.

"We'll you never were the brightest crayon in the box" he said chuckling. "Son, you went into a burning building to rescue someone that by all accounts shouldn't have been there in the first place. You weren't even sure if they really were in there, yet you still went in. So things went a little south, maybe that little girl caused that fire or maybe she didn't, at this point that don't matter. What does matter is your actions, you risked your own life to save another, that's why I'm proud of you. There's no nobler act that I can think of"

Charlie just looked at his dad and sighed "Yeah, well, noble or not It doesn't change the fact that I'm dead. I'll never get a wife, have kids, or grow old." he looked out across the snowy yard and sighed "Can I tell you something personal dad?"

"Go ahead son, you can tell me anything"

"All I ever wanted, ever since I got out of high school, was to find a wife with similar tastes as me, marry her, and settle down. Sure, I know it's a simple dream but it's one I held dear and now it's never gonna come to pass" he said tearing up a bit "I wanted to have a couple of kids one day and teach 'em all the things you taught me. Play games with 'em, go hunting, heck I was secretly looking forward to the birds and the bees talk " he finished with a chuckle "Pretty lame huh?"

Charlie's dad looked out into the forest before letting out a sigh "No son, I don't think it's lame. I felt the same way when I was your age. A simple life like that may not be all that exciting but it has meaning" he said as he stood up and walked off the porch.

Charlie tried to get up and follow, but he found that his body wouldn't respond. He looked down to see what was going on and what he saw made him nearly scream out. His body was a mess of scrapes, burns, bruises, cuts, and a bone was sticking out from one of his legs, Yet there was no pain.

"Dad? What's going on?" he called out to his father panic evident in his voice

"Our times up" he said simply turning to face his son "Sorry, but it looks like it's not quite your time after all. You've gotta go back."

Charlie stared at his father for a few minutes before bellowing out "I LOVE YOU DAD!" tears started pouring down his face as he realized this would likely be the last time for a long time he would see his dad.

"I love you too Charles. No matter what happens to you next always keep an eye on the path before you. Love those that would love you, help everyone you can, and when you do get that wife of yours name one of my grandchildren after me would ya? That was always one of my dreams" he said smiling.

Charlie's head slumped down and his eyes, blurry from the tears, noticed everything starting to dim until there was only blackness "I love you dad, I'm sorry..."

Author's Note

Hello there! Sorry this took so long but I had a lot of things happening to me lately. including but not limited to: severe suicidal depression, a few weeks of massive workload 10 hour days at work, analyzing and trying to correct the things in my life that I don't like, eating right and exorcising (which is hard to do on 10 hour work days), and I lost my phone :/

Anywho thanks to all of you who like this story even a little and to those who started to follow me. Next chapter we'll be going back to the Equestria side of things permanently this time...maybe.

Any advice is welcome as is criticism, peace out everyone! (do people still say that?)