"Please. You have to help me!" pleaded Cheerilee I was giving the fillies a reading lesson when this strange black colt asked to speak with me. I was only gone a moment. Please Help, there are still some fillies trapped in there!" I had no idea what I should do. Every fiber of my being was telling me to go get someone more qualified for the task, but looking around, everyone looked just as terrified as me. Luckily Twilight spoke up before I had a chance to create an excuse, otherwise I would have just stood around doing nothing, and those ponies fillies would be doomed.

"Come on girls! Let's go save some fillies!" she cried out as the six of them sprinted back in the direction of the schoolhouse. I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew that I should be with the girls to make sure nothing bad happens. I took off after the six brave ponies. I was surprised, they weren't that hard to catch up to. Even on 4 legs they were probably only moving at around 12 mph, and with my height I was able to stride easily past them as I was determined to get to the school as quickly as possible. I could hear the girls behind me gasp in shock, did they actually expect me to sit this out and let them risk their lives?I was clueless on what I should do when I actually got to the school. How big is the fire? How many fillies are in the building? Are the fillies even still alive? I forced that last question out of my mind. There is no way I am letting anyone die on my watch. I don't care if I have to run directly into an ocean of flames, I will get every pony out of that school safely.

I arrived at the school house in about a minute, I hoped I wasn't too late. Luckily the fire didn't look all that big. From the outside the school looked perfectly fine. There were a large crowd of ponies huddled around in a tight group, each one of them crying or staring in horror at the school. When they saw me however, a few of the fillies' eyes grew wide, but not in fear, they almost looked hopeful.

"Please mister, our friends are trapped!" Cried one of the ponies.

"Hurry, they're still in there!" called out another. I had to get my ass in gear.

"Come on Andy, time to nut up or shut up! I ran towards the door, confident that I could grab the two or three fillies and get everyone out safely, however as I got closer to the school, I heard the most horrible thing. Multiple screams called out from inside the building. I couldn't make out how many different voices I heard, but there were definitely more than five of them. But I didn't care, I would save as many of them as I can. I braced myself on my left leg, as I slammed my right foot into the door. The door snapped easily under the weight of my foot, almost too easily. I shrugged the thought off and blamed it on the fire weakening the door's integrity. It was hard to see anything in the school, the smoke was too thick, but what I could see sent shivers down my spine. The walls were entirely engulfed in flames. I could hear the crackling of wood as it began to splinter and crack. The ash burned at the back of my throat every time I breathed. I ripped off my jacket with ease and placed it over my mouth as sort of a makeshift air filter. My eyes began to sting from the heat causing tears to flood my vision, luckily, the school was built as a one room school house so it wasn't too difficult to navigate. I wafted at the air trying to thin out the smoke, it helped, but not much. I could see light coming from the roof, as if part of the roof was missing. I dashed further into the room focused on finding the trapped ponies.

"Hello? Where are you?" I called out into the smoke "I'm here to help you!"

"Please help, we can't get up!" came a weak but recognizable voice. I couldn't quite recall who the voice belonged to, but that wasn't important at the moment. The voice came from directly underneath the light in the ceiling. As I ran for the center of the room, I could see that one of the rafters had fallen on top of a few of the desks, creating almost an igloo of burning wood. The fillies must be huddled under the desks away from the fire.
At least they aren't burning. I thought with a sigh of relief How long will those desks hold though? And it's gotta be incredibly hot in there.

"Don't panic! I'm going to get you out! I yelled towards the mass of burning rafter. I looked around the room for anything I could use to douse the flame covered planks of wood. In the corner of the room I could make out the faint shape of a bucket resting on a stool.

"Please be what I think you are, PLEASE! I wished as I ran over towards the bucket. I looked inside and gave a silent cry of joy. Water! Thank God I found water. I hurried back to the pile of wood trapping the ponies and threw the entire bucket of water onto the pile. With a loud hiss, a blast of steam erupted from the wood.

"AAAHH" came the collective screams from the fillies inside, alerted by the sound.

"Don't worry, it's just water. Everyone stay under the desk and remain calm!" I instructed as I reached for the first plank of wood. Holy Fuck it was hot, but at least it wasn't on fire anymore. The pain shot a metric fuck ton of adrenaline through my body, and suddenly I didn't even notice the heat from the wood. I began relentless tearing into the pile, throwing piece after piece of wood off to the side until I made a large enough hole that I could crawl through. I dropped to my knees and began carefully sliding under the pile of wood, that was almost dried off and would set ablaze again any moment. I had to act fast. As I made it to the small space the ponies made under the desks I could see 3 ponies were still conscious, Scootaloo (the faint voice I could hear from inside the school), Silver Spoon, and Apple Bloom. I couldn't make out who the other 4 ponies were, as they were knocked out and turned away from me. The three conscious ponies screamed as soon as they saw me.

"Please stop screaming, I know I may look scary, but I'm here to help you. In order to do so, I need you to listen carefully and do as I say. First off, can any of you walk?" All three ponies raised their hooves.

"Good, then I need all three of you to run out of here as fast as you can!" I told them as I scooted to the side, pressing my bare back against a wall of hot wood and embers.

"Ahhh" I screamed through clenched teeth, scaring the three ponies now directly next to my face.

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Just keep moving, I'll save your friends." I apologized as the three brave fillies ran out of the school house. I turned my attention back to the 4 unconscious ponies still trapped. I shifted my body forward inch by inch until I could move my arms again. With one fluid motion I swept up the 4 ponies and and wrapped them up carefully in my jacket. Just as I was turning to exit through my makeshift tunnel, another rafter came smashing down in the school with a resounding 'THUD'

"Please don't block the tunnel." I prayed as I turned to access the damage. Looking through the tunnel, I could still see light from the door I had kicked open. The rafter must have fallen down further into the school than I was. I thanked my lucky stars, and continued to shift my body through the tunnel, making sure to keep the 4 ponies in my jacket safe underneath me. In order to keep the fillies under my chest, I had to crawl out of the tunnel on my hands and knees, causing my back to continuously scrape and cut on the burning wood, now completely re-engulfed in flame. After what seemed like hours, I was finally out of the tunnel and back in the classroom. It was only a short distance between me and fresh air. All I had to do was run forward, it was that simple. Holding the fillies tight to my chest, I made a beeline for the door, and that's when it all went to Hell.

The sound that I had heard earlier, wasn't another rafter hitting the floor of the school, it was the sound of the roof's supports snapping. With an earsplitting 'CRACK', an entire section of roof came thundering down on top of me. I dove headfirst in attempt to escape the massive burning heap, and landed only two meters away from the open door. Almost immediately after I had landed, the roof caved in directly on top of me. From the outside, the three fillies had made it back to their friends, along with twilight, rainbow dash, and the rest of the girls. Everyone looked on in horror, knowing that their friends were still trapped inside.

"SWEETIE BELL!" screamed AppleBloom, putting Rarity into immediate shock. With a loud cry, Rarity and AppleBloom made a mad dash for the school. It took all five girls to hold them down.

"Get the Hell off of me, That's my sister in there! Screamed out Rarity through a burst of tears. Her friends were all in shock from the language she had just used,(As you all know, hearing Rarity scream "Get the Hell off of me" would probably make you rethink you're entire life and probably go a little crazy) but they continued to hold her down determined to keep her safe. From the bottom of the dogpile (ponypile) though, Applebloom had managed to wiggle her way out and dashed towards the school. She was already at the door before anypony knew she had gone.

"AppleBloom, you get back here right this instant! demanded Apple Jack. AppleBloom simply stopped, turned towards her sister, and cried out.

"No AppleJack! My friend is in trouble and needs my help. So no matter what you say, I'm going in after her! When I was trapped inside the school, something came in to rescue me, now he didn't know who I was or if I deserved to be rescued. But he saved me just the same. Now him and four of my friends are in trouble, and you all expect me to sit around and do nothing. Well no-siree. I am going in that school, I am saving my friends, and I am getting that nice man out because I am a Cutie mark Crusader, and a Cutie mark Crusader doesn't fear anything, a Cutie mark Crusader knows what to do next, and a Cutie mark Crusader Always looks out for her friends!" With that last statement, she ran headfirst directly into the schoolhouse.

It was easier for AppleBloom to see in the school due to how small she was, all of the smoke stayed above here head.

"Hello?" she called out "Mister Hero? Where are you?" All she could see was fire and wood everywhere she looked. A large pile of wood and shingles lay in front of her. There was no way she could see past that.
"I'm going to have to climb over it to find my friends." she decided. As she began to climb the pile of debris, she noticed one of the shingles beginning to move.

"Hold on, I'm Coming!" she called over as she began to shamble her way towards the moving debris. It took some time, but she eventually found the shingle. Leaning down, she bit into in and threw it aside. Underneath she found a hand (or what she viewed as a deformed hoof) holding a white sack.

"Take it!" I screamed from inside the pile. I don't know if she heard me, but I felt the jacket leave my hands.

"Now RUN! Don't worry about me!" I yelled out.

"But mister, I don't even know your name" AppleBloom said through her teeth (I guess she's dragging the bag by her teeth.)

"It's Andy, but that's not important right now. Look AppleBloom, you were very brave for coming to save your friends. But you have a very important job to do. You'r friends are asleep inside that sack, and I need you to get them out. Do you think you are strong enough to do that?" I asked.

"Yes sir" replied AppleBloom with a renewed sense of seriousness in her voice. I was confident that she would save these poor defenseless fillies. Now it was my turn to find the strength to make it out of here.

The roof was extremely heavy and with every push, a new piece of burning wood would be introduced to my flesh. I'm telling you, this was the worst feeling I have ever felt in my life. I would gladly take one million beatings from Craig Matherson and his friends than be in my current situation. As my thoughts turned to Craig, I started to feel this hatred inside of me begin to grow. As this feeling grew, so did my will to live. The weight being pressed against my body almost seemed to lift itself off of me, and before you know it, I was standing again. Looking above me, I saw something that absolutely blew my mind. The roof didn't lift itself off of me . . . I lifted it off of me. Somehow I was able to lift this massive weight. It had to be at least 600 pounds. It's as if all of the terrible feelings I had, somehow transferred themselves into strength, because as soon as my mind shifted from Craig and onto this extraordinary feat I had just accomplished, I began to feel the weight of the roof again. Quickly jumping forward, I let the roof crash back downward onto the pre existing pile of rubble. Bad Move. Apparently the shock of the pile coming back down was enough to cause the rest of the burning school to begin to fall.
"I hope AppleBloom made it out, I can't see her through all this smoke." Being this high up in the air, all of the smoke from the building was directly in my face, and I no longer had the jacket to cover my mouth. My pants were almost entirely singed off, so I couldn't use those to cover my face. I just had to book it for the door. I carefully, but quickly, ran down the pile of debris. My thoughts went back to when I would sprint down the stairs of my house in order to avoid Chris, this was almost the same. Except instead of Chris chasing me, it was a torrential downpour or flames and embers. The air stung at my eyes and singed my throat to the point where I began wheezing. I closed my eyes and held my breath as I made one final push for the door. I was about ready to pass out from smoke inhalation. I couldn't even tell how far from the door I was. All I knew were my feet were still moving. As long as my feet keep moving, I'll be fine. "Left foot. . Right foot. . . . Left foot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Right foot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Left foot." I was slowing down. I wasn't going to make it. Just as my right foot came down for what I assumed would be the final time, I noticed something strange. My foot felt different, It no longer felt like it was being filleted with a hot knife. I could have sworn I felt grass. I opened my eyes and looked down at the ground, and sure enough I was standing on grass.

"Did I die in the school? Was I actually dead this time?" I bent over and ran my fingers through the sweet, cool, green blades of grass and saw that my fingers were still badly burned and cut. Raising my head, I saw a HUGE crowd of ponies in front of me. I swear, the entire town of Ponyville must have been there, and they were all staring at me. They all had that same blank look on their faces that they had when they all first saw me. I could see AppleBloom standing in the front of the crowd. Jumping up and down smiling.

"That's Him, that's the man who saved us!" She cried out gleefully. No sooner had she finished her sentence, a massive roar of applause and cheers erupted from the crowd. The sea of ponies all rushed me at once and began to hoist me up on their backs. It was both an amazing, and overwhelming moment. I could hear the joy and laughter from the ponies below me. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my bare chest. I could feel the cool breeze against my hair. Suddenly, just like turning off a light, everything was black again.

Author's Note

Well guys. . what do you think of THAT? I love making cliffhangers, they're just too much fun. Anyway, I'm going to try and push out one chapter a day from here on out and just see how far I can take Andy's story. Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter.