Chapter 10: Light the Fire

Luna's horn glows with determination as she cast her magic on herself and her sister. "Quickly sister, to your own bed." Luna instructed making Celestia quickly teleport to her private chambers and attending her bed. She slowly slips into slumber as she could feel the tingly feeling of Luna's magic around her, until she felt levitation under her hooves and opened her eyes. Hey real one's weren't open, but her eyes within the dream realm did. She found an herself in an almost infinite hallway of doors. Luna appeared before her, welcoming her sister to her own realm. "Welcome back to the dream realm sister, how do you feel?"

"A little strange, I have not been here in some time." Celestia stated, slowly reaching ground of the hallway. "Now where is this door you gound?" Luna started walking.

"Come this way sister" Luna began walking down the direction of the metal door she spoke of. After some time, she found the door in full explained form. It was made of metal and strong like a prison door. The size was gargantuan like a ursa minor with groups of chains hanging from parts of the door like vines. Blood was splatted everywhere, from the door to even the floor of the realm itself; still wet like paint and reeked of decay. Luna began to glow her horn as the door slowly open with rusty screeches and cold mist pouring from within. "Let me repeat what I saw." Luna said.

Using her magic, she created a scene with a false image of herself and the human. She replayed the entire scene, from the human's escape, her first encounter with the human, and the slight hint to his location. "This is what he gave us sister. This FSPV is puzzling to me."

"Its confusing myself as well Luna. But I have just received a letter from Twilight, apparently the human is in Ponyville. She is requesting that we visit as soon as possible." Celestia informed, insisting to leave the realm immediately; Luna however stopped her in her tracks.

"Wait sister, there is more. Not in his dream, but in the bearers of the elements of harmony. I shall take us there." Luna opened a portal and the two walked through. Celestia found herself in a wooden house, a living room fully furnished with apple designed furniture. But the creature was sitting on a couch along with Twilight and her friends.

"Luna, is this still his dream?"

"No sister, this is their dream." Luna stated, pointing at the bearers of the element. "They all seem to continue the same dream over and over again about this creature. I saved this scene for more information about this creature with my magic. Now watch. "Luna instructed replaying the scene.

"Alright....where should I start.....Ah yes.....'The Fall' as I called it" Matt, drinking his whiskey. Luna stopped the scene. Shimmering her magic, she fast forwards to another scene.

"Let us skip minor details and show background."

"Now that the basic human lesson is over let me go to 'The Fall'. Now have any of you heard of things called zombies?" Celestia widened her eyes at the word.

"Zombies? You mean necromancy does exist? It was only a myth." Celestia claimed in shock. Her heart rate increased with fear.

"No sister, this is not from the cost of magic. It is from the cost of mother nature."

"-zombies are real. And I hate them with a passion. And so did the rest of the world. It all happened last year in the year 2011 when a new breed of mosquito was found in an oversea country called Madagascar. The mosquito bit someone and caused their brain to crave human flesh and go insane. Over the following year governments fell, people died, and survivors fought for themselves as the infection spread throughout the world.

"I had to go through a lot of.....trauma and instinct to survive. Whether to kill my own kind, or to do the unorthodox, even.....no....no this is personal."He stopped as he took a sip of his whiskey. He placed it down as he slacked back and stared at the screen, he closed his eyes and bled out a single tear from his eye. That is until Rainbow Dash killed the mood with rudeness.

"Hey Matt, the zombie apocalypse can't be so bad right?" She asked with a nervous shrug as Matt's eyes snapped opened and popped a glare at the Pegasus who cringed back in fear.

"Rainbow.....if you had a daughter and she died.....how would you react?" He asked with a gripped fist and clenched teeth.

"S-Sad because I know I'll never see them again."

"Alright....but would you kill your own family if you had to?"

Luna stopped the memory. "Be wary sister, for I fear he is slightly unstable. Killing as you know is absolutely unmoral. I would like to imagine his species was peaceful, but if government and society falls; nature changes. His instincts change from peaceful to savagery. But now for the most shocking fact." Luna continued the dream scene.

All ponies gasped as they placed a hoof over their mouth in shock. "Let me tell you something. The zombie apocalypse isn't like a video game, its real 'do or die' situations. My daughter was going to die because she was bitten by those....bastards. I held her in my hands and held her tight, she didn't want to become one of those things. And she told me to save her......but being that hero was hard. So I took the gun, I placed it to her head as I gently stroked her hair and I said these words "Honey......it's all gonna be okay, you won't suffer." and then I pulled the trigger. She was gone, dead, as I just blew her head off. And I will never see my daughter's beautiful face ever again."

Celestia stomped her hoof down. "That is enough Luna. Please, no more." Celestia sighed heavily in sorrow, she sat down placing a hoof on her forehead, thinking. "Twilight has told me that he doesn't intend on doing any harm. And with what we have just seen, he has lost his sense of society. But Twilight believes his views on society can be healed and so do I."

"Do you think so sister?"

Celestia nodded with a small smile. "I know it Luna. Twilight has never let me down before."

"And that's how I stopped the dragon from hurting my friends and covering Equestria in smoke." Fluttershy finished as she gave a smile with a *squee* noise.

"Wow....and I thought Godzilla was crazy." Matt stating while taking another sip of sake, pulling back immediately from the strong flavor. "Wooh this is some strong stuff. Haven't had sake in a while." He felt taps coming from his back, turning around he sees that it's Twilight. "Oh hey uh.....Twilight right?" She nodded.

"I uh....I just wanted to check up on you, seeing if you're okay."

Matt sighed, but gave a small smile. "I'm okay I guess. I really do like this place though. Calm music, nature, booze, and these ponies who find no intimidation from me." Matt took another sip of sake. "Honestly......I kinda feel at peace here." Jinuu heard that and walked over to the two and sat down with a big smile.

"It is good to see you in peace my friend. It is my main notion in here, to give peace."

"Well you have my thanks Jinuu." Matt says, shaking his hoof. "I really do appreciate all the booze though, haven't had it in a long time."

"It is free this time Matt, only for the help of my marefriend. Next time, you will have to pay. That is, the way I need to live." Jinuu says, with a small frown.

"Its alright, I understand when it comes to money." Matt gave a heavy sigh as he checked his pockets and pulled out a small white box. "You mind if I step outside for a bit?" Jinuu nodded. Matt slowly walked towards the exit, unknowingly Twilight was following him. Reaching outside, he noticed Spike next to the entrance with a pile of comic books. He waved to him but Spike didn't notice, focusing on his comics. Matt shrugged it and walked around the building until he reached behind the building. He opened the white box and pulled out a small and thin white cylinder and placed one end in his mouth.

From around the corner, Twilight was spying on Matt. When she saw the small cylindrical object, she recognized it as a cigarette. "His kind smokes?" She hypothesized as she summoned a paper and pencil and took notes of his nature. She took notes of all his movements, step by step. Starting from placing the cigarette in his mouth, pulling out a lighter and igniting the cigarette, and blowing out smoke.

"God what the fuck am I doing?" Mat said to himself.

You're drinking too much.

"Am I really dead?" Matt asked himself. "Is this really a dream?"

Twilight continued to take notes asking herself questions such as, "Is he talking to himself?"

Finishing his cigarette and thoughts, he stomped his cigarette on the ground and doused it with dirt to prevent any flames. He rubbed his eyes and gave a large yawn, fatigued from the alcohol. He turned to Twilight's direction; Twilight quickly fled his sight hurried back into the building to avoid his suspicion. He walked back inside the bar and reached Jinuu and Fluttershy who again welcomed him in compassion. "Hello again my friend." Jinuu greeted with a smile.

"Hi Jinuu, I'm going to go back to Fluttershy's place to get some sleep. Is that okay Fluttershy?" Fluttershy nodded simply with care. Jinuu slowly bowed down to Matt, bowing very formally and familiar.

"Hai, sou desu."

Matt paused at the words, his mind racing with different thoughts as well as understanding. Did he just-? Matt quickly looked away and shook his head in disagreement. No it can't be. Matt walked out of the enchanted building with his thoughts lingering in his mind, when he reached the exit his was stopped by Twilight who teleported in front of him.

"Where are you going Matt?"

Matt sighed, feeling slightly groggy from the alcohol. "Going home to take a nap. I love alcohol but my body, not too much." Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the human's struggle. "Ha ha very funny." Matt sarcastically stated. "Anyways why are you outside? Don't you wanna be with Fluttershy?"

"Well since you're feeling tired, I thought I'd walk you back to Fluttershy's cottage." Before Matt could even open his mouth, Twilight immediately stopped him in his words. "I'm not taking no for an answer Matt, I'm going whether you want me to or not." Matt groaned at her motherly like attitude and painfully agreed.

Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the whole town. Both Matt and Twilight turned to the direction of the scream noticed a long streak of charcoal gray smoke. "Twilight, is that-"

"FFFFFFIIIIIIIIIRRRRREEEEEE!!!!!!" Somepony screamed from the distance. As if by instinct, Matt immediately ran towards the smoke. He arrived to a massive crowd all gathering in front of the burning house. A two story house, the inside completely engulfed in flames and cinders. Conversations flew around the fire, many were questions, while others were answers.

"How did the fire start?"

"Where are the fire ponies?"

"Their wheel on the firecart broke!"

"Somepony get some water to put it out!"

"I think there's someone in there!"

Matt bulldozed his way through the crowd reaching the front row viewing of the two story burning house. He noticed that not every part of it was on fire, but most of it. From this point, even though he was standing in front of many ponies that feared him; he continued to be himself. He turned to a pony next to him. "HEY! There's someone in there right?"

The pony now with mixed feelings of fear and panic from both the fire and the Matt stumbled his words. "I mean y- er- what a- wai- you're the- I mean why?"

Matt then grabbed the pony by his head and brought it to his face to face. "IS THERE SOMEONE ALIVE IN THERE OR NOT!?"

"YES!" The pony cried. Matt let go and turned back to the fire.

"Matt!" Twilight yelped from behind catching up with the human. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I heard of a fire and now there's one here. I heard that there's no fire rescue team or something coming." Matt explained while clenching his fist in frustration. His eyes lit up from an idea. "Twilight , do you know any spell that can stop this!?"

"I-I-I-I can't. This fire is too massive and too strong!" In a fit of anger, Matt reached around his back and retrieved his rifle.

"Screw this! I am NOT LETTING INNOCENTS DIE AGAIN!!!" He ran towards the front of the door and slammed his shoulder to the door like a battering ram. The door though made of woof, was stuck like a tightened bolt. He took his rifle, aimed at the hinges and fired a single bullet per hinge. With those removed, he kicked opened the door and ran inside the burning house. Smoke quickly flooded into his mouth, reacting to this he took the neckline of his shirt and muffled over his mouth to reduce the intake of smoke.

He could feel the intense heat of a burning oven all around him, sweat quickly built up as his oxygen was seeping away from him. He look around to see if there was any ponies inside. He found one pegasus lying on the ground, he quickly ran to the pegasus and picked it up. "I got you!" He ran outside with the pony in his hands and towards the crowd. "IS THERE A MEDIC OR DOCTOR ANYWHERE!?!?" He screamed desperately for assistance.

"I am!" A unicorn with a cream caramel coat and glasses approached the human and the pony. "Set her down on her back, I have my gear with me." Matt set the pony down as the doctor placed both his hooves on her chest and pressed against it multiple times. After that her opened her mouth his hooves and placed his lips on her, exhaling his breath to provide air circulation. The unconscious pony coughed out loud, heavily gasping for air as she was crying with pain. "Hey stay with me! You're okay! You're okay!" The conscious pony started crying quickly shaking her head in denial.

"N-NO! My daughter is still in there! She's upstairs!" She alerted, pointed upstairs towards a window. Through the glass showed a small unicorn foal, banging on the glass with a horrified and scared look. She kept screaming but no one could hear what she could be screaming. Matt quickly stood up and sprinted back into the fire with his rifle in hand. Right when he entered the building, burning debris fell down blocking his only entrance.

"Shit....." Matt grunted as he quickly looked around for the stairs. He found them and quickly ran up. He found the foal who continued to bang on the glass and scream in desperation.

"MOMMY PLEASE! MOMMY THE FIRE IS TOO HOT! PLEASE!" Lost in tears, she didn't know the monster was right behind her.

"Hey!" The foal looked behind her and instantly jumped back at the sight of Matt. "Don't be afraid, I'm here to help."

"B-But the fire-"

"Stop and don't worry. You're going to make it to your mommy." He walked up to the pony, strapped his rifle around hit back, knelt down and offered his hand. "Here, just take my hand." The pony sniffling through her tears, placed her hoof on his hand in small trust. Matt grasped her hoof and picked her up, carrying her over her shoulders. He slowly shook her up and down almost like a baby as she continued to cry. "Hey hey shhhhh it's okay. Tell me, what's your name?"

"*sniff* D-Dinky Hooves....."

"Okay Dinkie, do you know any other way out of this house besides the front door?"

"No, the only way out is the front door." Which was in flames. Matt gave a heavy sigh as he looked through the window Dinky was looking through before. All the ponies seem to be watching them, all with horrified looks. With another sigh he took a few steps back from the window.

"Dinkie."

"Ye- *sniff* Yes?"

"I need you to cover your ears and close your eyes. You or your mommy aren't going to like what I'm about to do." Dinkie complied by placing her hooves over her ears to block out any noise, and closed her eyes shut. Matt reached for his revolver and aimed at the window, he fired three shots through the glass, making it more fragile like wet sand. He held Dinky tightly against his chest and sprinted for his window with has shoulder as a battering ram. Breaking through the glass, he fell out the building and quickly turned his back towards the ground to cushion Dinky's fall. He felt gravity's bite at his back as multiple springs of pain twisted inside his back. The small specs of dirt and gravel scratching his skin and clothes leaving only minimal damage. Everything slowly started fading to black for Matt with his grasp of Dinky becoming weaker and weaker. With the smallest ounce of strength he had left, he whispered and murdered a few words. "C-Cath......ther....ine.......I.....I'm......sor.." And then blackness, he was gone.

Dinky quickly escaped from Matt's grasp to stand up. Feeling only minimal scratches, she mainly focused on the monster that saved her life. She shoved and pushed the monster lightly to wake it up. But he wasn't moving. "Hey wake up, please wake up!" He looked around to see her mother sitting down with a doctor. "Mommy help please! He's not waking up!" Both Dinky's mother and the doctor who aided her ran to Dinky. The doctor took out his stethoscope and placed the headpiece on what he guessed was his chest. But he heard no heartbeat, if there even is one.

"C'mon..... C'mon..." He moved the headpiece around to see if a pulse or beat was available. Until he felt a couple of faint beats coming from a certain area. "Is that it? Celestia help me that better be it!"

"S'cuse me coming through! S'cuse me!" The doctor looked to his side to find two ponies barging through the crowd. "Ambulance coming through!" The were towing a large white box carriage with a red cross on it. "Doctor Pulse! We're here as responded!"

"You two, help me get this......thing in the carriage! We gotta get it to the hospital!" He exclaimed, commanding his colleges with nervous looks on their faces.

"B-But Doctor, that's the mon-"

"THERE IS NO MONSTER HERE!" He screamed with boiled blood. "HE JUST SAVED TWO LIVES AND IS UNCONSCIOUS! I'M A DOCTOR DARNNIT AND I CAN'T LEAVE AN INJURED LIVING BEING!" He continued to scream with fire in his eyes. "NOW DO AS YOUR TOLD, PUT HIM IN THE AMBULANCE AND TAKE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL!"

"Y-YES SIR!" The two ambulance ponies picked up Matt and laid him down in their ambulance. They closed the ambulance doors and took towards to the hospital immediately. Twilight walked to the doctor and the two ponies from the fire in gratitude.

"Thank Celestia you're okay Derpy! Is Dinky okay too?" Twilight asked as the Doctor Pulse answered for them.

"They're okay your highness, Derpy just needs to rest and Dinky only has minor bruises." He turned to Derpy with a smile. "You're very lucky Miss Hooves. Now how are you feeling?" Doctor Pulse asked as Derpy coughed while trying to speak.

"J-Just a sore throat Doctor. And it hurts when I breath."

"Don't worry Miss Hooves, another ambulance is on the way for you and your daughter." With the reassurance of Doctor Pulse, almost all the ponies in the crowd calmed down. More emergency services soon arrived with firefighters to douse the fire, and another ambulance for Derpy and Dinky. An hour had passed as the fire site soon turned to nothing but ashes with firefighters and police soon secured a perimeter. Doctor pulse was brought to the hospital to tend to Matt, Derpy, and Dinky for proper care.

Author's Note

Alright here's another chapter since I had time to kill and words to type. It's not the best chapter and no other will ever be. It's just a lot of work on my shoulders and my sister just got engage, and I'm helping her with marriage stuff. So lots on my shoulders.