Autumn Blaze

Dusty threw a fireball at the cop cars. Autumn leapt in front of it, the impact causing her to be thrown into one of the cars, both her and the car being knocked further back. The cops all ducked as the fireball was thrown before they all took off running. Autumn watched them leave before she crawled out of the destroyed car. Igniting her hands, she threw a couple fire balls at the mare, who sidestepped both as she ran closer. Autumn threw another ball, but Dusty dodged it, lit up her right fist, and delivered an uppercut to the kirin's jaw, sending her flying backwards into the third floor of the apartment building behind her.

Autumn gasped when she saw the fire spreading throughout the room. Looking around, she saw she was in the living room area of an apartment. A scared mare and stallion couple were hiding under a nearby table. “Don’t panic!” She called to them. “I’ll get you out of here!”

She got to her feet and quickly ran to the door. Using her fire, she burst through the door easily. Stepping back, she closed her eyes and began absorbing the flames in the room. When she had cleared enough of them, she opened one eye and looked at the couple.

“Run!” She grunted through clenched teeth.

The couple nodded and took off. “Thank you,” the mare said quickly as they passed.

Autumn could barely hold the flames back anymore. Suddenly, Dusty jumped in through the window and dove at the nirik. Upon impact, there was a large explosion of flames that erupted from Autumn’s body as both crashed into the apartment next door.

“We could’ve done so much together,” Dusty said as she pinned her opponent down by the wrists. “This city— this world… could’ve been ours.”

“That’s where you lost me,” Autumn said as her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t want the city, or the world. I just wanted you.”

She then let out a yell as she blasted the mare out through the window with a burst of flames. Getting to her feet, she saw a mare huddled in a corner as the fire started spreading even more. Autumn got to her feet and turned back into a kirin before running over to her.

“I’m here to help,” Autumn said s as she knelt down.

“M-My child!” The mare screamed, pointing at the bedroom. Flames now blocked the doorway.

Autumn nodded and stood up. “Wait somewhere safe.” She then ran into the bedroom, ignoring the heat from the flames. Inside, she saw a guilt hiding under the bed, tears in her eyes. “It’s okay,” Autumn said as she knelt down, holding out her hand. “I’ll take you to your mom. She’s waiting for you.”

The filly sniffled and started to crawl out just as a flaming chunk of ceiling fell on the bed. The child screamed in fear, but Autumn managed to pull her out before the fire could touch her.

“Alright,” Autumn began. “I’ll absorb some of the fire, giving you and your mom a path out of here. But, be quick. I can’t hold it for long.”

The filly nodded and hugged her. Autumn smiled and hugged back, patting the filly’s back. The filly soon took a few steps back so Autumn could work.

Spitfire pulled up to the burning building as a few mares and stallions ran out. “What the hell?” She asked as a fire truck pulled up beside the building.

Applejack ran over to her as the cop left her car, the Elemental panting heavily as she showed to a stop. “It’s Autumn,” AJ explained. “She’s fighting another mare who can control fire.”

“Are you shitting me?” Spitfire asked with a groan. “Two firestsrters are fighting?”

“And bullets just burn up before they can hit her,” AJ continued. “I think her fire is too hot.”

The couple Autumn rescued came running over to them. “Is that kirin with you?” The mare asked AJ.

Applejack nodded. “Yeah, she’s one of us.”

“She saved us,” the stallion said with a smile. “Then, she was attacked.”

“Don’t blame this on her,” the mare told the cop.

Spitfire shook her head. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, sitting in her car and grabbing the radio. “Attention, all units; if you see the mare responsible for the fire, hit her with water to douse her flames, then shoot her. But, don’t hit the kirin.”

The mare and her child ran out of their room before the whole room exploded in flames. Autumn stumbled out of the fire, holding her chest.

“This is exhausting,” she groaned as she watched the last of the residents run down the stairs to safety. She dropped to her knees as the flames built up around her. She heard a cracking and creaking noise from beneath her. “Oh, no.” Suddenly, the floor gave way and she went crashing down to the second floor.

Laying on her back, she stared upwards through the hole and sighed. “Ow.”

Dusty pulled her attention from the apartment building as a fire truck rolled up and screeched to a stop. The firefighters all took their positions as Dusty narrowed her eyes. "Oh, you all wanna play?"

As Nala passed by the TV, she saw the news report on Dusty's attack. "What the hell?" She asked.

Chrysalis and Fluttershy stopped kissing and looked over at her from the bed. "What is it?" Asked the changeling queen.

Nala knelt down and watched as the reporter spoke. "Fire is burning out of control. There have been a few injuries already. The fire department is on scene but it appears that the fire is being caused by an unknown individual who is seemingly on fire. There have been reports of a kirin trying to stop her but, so far, all efforts have failed."

Applejack ran over to Autumn to help her up. "Are you okay?"

Autumn nodded and then shook her head. "None of this is okay."

"How are we gonna stop her?" Applejack asked as she let out a deep sigh. "She's too strong."

The kirin shook her head. "No. I can do it."

"How?"

"Do you have any ammo left?"

"What does that matter?" AJ asked. "Bullets melt before they touch her."

"Do you have any left?" Autumn asked again.

"Yeah, but..."

"Good." Autumn looked over at Dusty. "When there's an opening, take the shot."

"How will I know when?"

"You'll know," Autumn groaned as she stumbled out of the wrecked building.

Dusty seemed to hear her and stopped her attack to face her. "Oh, you aren't done yet?"

The kirin shook her head as she stopped a few feet away. "I'll never give up on you," she said as she held out her hand.

Dusy's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"

"I just... wanna hold you again."

Dusty hesitated but slowly began to make her approach. The fire department kept their distance and focused on putting out the burning buildings. When Dusty turned to them, Autumn took a few steps forward.

"I love you," she said as a tear fell from her eye.

The burning mare looked over at her. "Autumn, I..." she began as she moved closer. "I love you, too."

When they were close enough, Autumn reached out and took the mare's hands in her own. "We could've been happy."

Dusty moved closer so they were only inches apart. "But, we still can."

Autumn shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said, before she tightened her grip on the mare's wrists.

Before Dusty could pull away, Autumn began to absorb the mare's fire. The kirin let out a yell of pain as the heat from Dusty's fire was almost too much for her to handle. Her own body started to heat up as she essentially became a furnace. Applejack watched from a distance and readied her gun, waiting for the mare's fire to dissipate completely.

"What are you doing?!" Dusty yelled.

Autumn's yelling became louder as she absorbed more and more fire. When the mare was almost extinguished, Applejack got ready to fire. Suddenly, Autumn gasped before an explosion of flames erupted from her, knocking both her and Dusty backwards as well as filling the area with ash and smoke. Debris was sent flying everywhere as Applejack covered her eyes and coughed while she backed away.

Autumn coughed and held her chest as she looked up. All she could see was smoke and ash. She let out another cough as she got on all fours and crawled in the direction where she and Dusty were. "D-Dusty?!" She called out. She let out a yelp of pain as she collapsed again and held her chest. "Dusty!"

She then heard a very faint and very weak, "O-Over here!"

The kirn groaned as she got back to all fours and continued to crawl in the direction of the voice. She pushed bricks and concrete out of the way as she finally made it across the street and onto the sidewalk.

“Dusty?”

She finally found the mare. The former burning mare was now seated against a building with a metal pipe sticking out of her chest. Autumn gasped and stumbled over to her.

“Dusty! N-No, don’t…” she stammered as she frantically scrambled over to the injured mare. Kneeling beside her, Autumn looked over the wound. “No. I-I…”

“This isn’t your fault, Blazey,” Dusty groaned as she tried to move. “Be honest. How bad is it?” Autumn just hung her head as tears dripped onto the sidewalk. “That bad? Well… at least we had a good run. Until I fucked it up. I just… wanted to be immortal. Like you. So we could be together forever.”

“But, we could have,” Autumn whimpered as she took Dusty’s hand. “I would’ve stayed by your side until the end.”

Dusty smiled and leaned her head back. “Imagine… That would’ve been something, huh?”

Autumn sniffled and leaned in, resting her cheek on the mare’s shoulder. “I’ll never forget you. I-I love you.”

Dusty smiled. “I love you, t…”

Autumn felt the mare’s grip on her hand loosen and she clenched her eyes shut tightly. She was about to scream in shiny when she heard a nose behind her. Expecting it to be Applejack, she looked back but let out a silent gasp. Standing there, instead, was Nala.

The changeling slowly got to her knees and hesitated before She held out her arms. Autumn felt tears fill her eyes as she dove into Nala’s embrace. The changeling held the kirin tightly as Autumn cried out loud. Nala could feel the dampness of the kirin’s tears on her shoulder but she didn’t care. Nala glanced over at Dusty to see a smile on the mare’s face. Something told her that the mare was looking right at her. Once she came to this realization, the deceased mare’s eyes finally closed. Nala tightened her hug and nuzzled the kirin’s neck.