Author's Note
So this is my first fic. Enjoy everyone! Pls feel free to comment and like and fav! BTW, listen while reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWYp1xRPH5g
I See Fire
The mountain was on fire.
It happened so fast. One moment everything was normal, the next every living being that was living in safety of the mountain city was screaming incoherently, the only things on their minds being a frenzy of how to stay alive and/or what was going on.
Prestigious buildings burned brighter than the hot afternoon sun. Paint and decorations peeled and boiled and were burnt an unrecognizable black. Flames licked from the sides of roads, nicking whoever and whatever dared to brave the blazing heat. Personnel that had been sent to quench the flames in its early throes realised the futility of their efforts and quickly abandoned their original duty and began evacuating the civilians as quickly as possible. One unfortunate soul tumbled from atop a tall building, his body a streak of red and orange and a wisp of black smoke marking his flight before the flames swallowed his body whole.
The fire was hungry. It consumed all, without discretion, without as much a thought of what or who it took. It did not spare families that had been trapped in apartments could only huddle together, comforting one another that at least if they went to a better place, they would be together. Places that housed precious items, banks or museums, the fire had no trouble breaking into. It simply burnt the locks away, making its slow, treacherous way towards the prized items and slowly turning them into worthless piles of ash and rubble. The hoimeless were forced to turn over their only shelter to the fire to escape its wrath, the sick or injured were no longer tended by others, but had to fend for themselves as they pushed themselves beyond their physical threshold to run from the fire. Those who could not were punished fatally by the fire.
The fire could not be stopped. No magical barrier could contain it, for its fury was so great that the caster would black just by attempting hold back the hellish heat. It swatted the water thrown at it, turning it into steam that ran up and away from the raging heat. Great buildings and walls, ancient buildings and statues, that had taken pains to plan and construct, that had withstood the test of time, could not withstand the fire’s might as they were as easily overrun by the flames. The fires snaked their way up the constructs, as how a snake would curl around a great beast, and slowly choke it to death, so did the fire meticulously destroyed the stuctures, engulfing them in its wake.
The fire was swift. Flames licked from building to building, fiery trails streaked across roads, flaming debris scattered over the entire city. The fire was efficient in taking apart the city section by section. And it was slowly trapping the entire populace within the place that once sheltered them from harm.
That was not to say that the city’s leaders were not doing anything to resolve the issue. They were personally overseeing the evacuation of the civilians in the city, making sure that they could extract as many as they could, even it meant diving into the heart of the fire to fetch the last one out. But with the general chaos, wailing and the fact that there only 3 of the leaders, the process was a painfully slow one. Soldiers escorted the civilians beyond the walls of the city and organised them into groups. The able-bodied group was quickly sorted out and volunteers readily poured back into the city as rescure parties to attempt to aid the evacuation process. Only some would make it back, and fewer still would have been lucky to come back unscathed.
The survivors were instructed to start moving towards a distant kingdom, one that was managed by a relative of one of the rulers, to start living anew. They shuffled along the dusty track across the plains, soldiers standing guard to either side of the group or helping pu. Children cried as they saw their home taken from them, adults lied to themselves as they gently shushed the young ones with half-hearted promises that everything would be alright when in fact everything was far from that.
The princesses looked on helplessly as they watched the ponies that had sworn to protect and lead amble lifelessly away from the home they had stayed in for generations. Even the most senior of them, looked helpless herself in her state. Her coat, once a pristine white, was now a dusty grey from accumulating so much ash from the time she spent in the burning city. A black streak ran across her back, bearing testimony to the event when a falling beam slammed across her slender back, and it was only by the quick intervention of her sister that she escaped with only burnt fur.
Her sister, despite being a deep dark blue, was considerably darker than before; whether it was from her solemn mood or from the ash from the city, none could tell. Her eyes, though, once a vibrant green, now discoloured from the tears that welled within them. Several feathers were charred an ugly black where she had accidentally brushed against burning debris in her attempt to save her sister from the maw of the fire.
The only princess that had stayed free from the fire’s grasp, however, was weeping uncontrollably, sitting on her haunches, eyes squeezed shut, tears running streams down her purple fur, refusing to look at the destruction of her former home.
For all their might and magic, they were now shadows in the fire’s fury.
A soldier clattered to them to report, coughing from smoke inhalation, his once golden armour dirty and dented.
“Your majesties, we have done all we can. No more civilians can be evacuated without sustaining anymore casualties. I am sorry.”
Even though the soldier had a stoic face on, his heart was overflowing with raw emotion. But his duty to the ponies he had sworn to protect had to come first, and so it was with great strength he was able to keep his face on.
“We understand. Thank you for your service, captain. You may call the Guard and volunteers to pull back and join the main body.”
Nodding, the captain took his leave and galloped to deliver the message.
The white princess looked at the rest of her co-rulers. Her sister looked at her sadly, her face now stained with tears of her own. The youngest princess still would not look up, her smaller frame quivering with sobs. With a sigh, Celestia bent to Twilight’s level and spoke to her in a level tone.
“We must join the others. We have done all we can, and I feel all of your pain too. But we must be strong for our little ponies and show that them that we can still thrive in the face of adversity.”
“So come, pick yourself off the ground, and focus on what we will do in the future.”
Hearing the words of her former teacher, Twilight looked up at Celestia with tear-filled eyes and managed to blurt out an acknowledgement. Though it was half-hearted, Celestia seemed to accept it and stood up. Luna nuzzled Twilight as she stood shakily to her hooves.
As they turned to leave, Twilight took one last look at the city. I promise, she thought, I’ll come back and fix this.
