Arboreal Grieving

The first thing Celestia felt was frigid air, the sensation of falling. Her eyes opened, she took in the entirety of ponyville—from the air.

Immediately on reflex, her wings snapped open, bringing her careening fall to a slow glide. Burning brightly against the dark landscape, her gaze was instantly drawn to the flames: spreading smoke across a third of the town.

With a single beat of her wings, Celestia flew—far faster than any normal pegasus, something she noted to herself with a tinge of pride. As she drew closer, Celestia found herself able to make out small figures flitting around the fires.

Her wings flapped in the wind, trying to give her the speed she desired. Celestia flew ever nearer, and she began looking for a spot to...

Here!

Not soon enough, she pulled in her wings. The wind was a freezing, biting force, but she powered through it. Hurtling towards the ground, she sighted a throng of ponies around the fountain.
Celestia aimed for them, preparing her body for landing. She purposefully avoided looking at the inferno. She didn’t want to see the library in flames.

Celestia snapped her wings open, bringing her dizzying speed to a close. Her hoof reached, pawing for the ground, and she found purchase. Skidding, she managed to plant her hooves in the ground, stopping just in time.

In front of her, a small yellow unicorn cowered. By his feet, a pail of spilled water. Celestia took a breath, folding her wings. Pulling herself up to full height, she noticed the crowd of ponies.

“—the Princess!”

“Celestia!”

“—help?”

The crowd whispered amongst themselves, and Celestia took the opportunity. “Please, my little ponies, quiet down!” She waited, calmly, as the ponies deferred. She continued, “I need to know, where is the mayor? Who is handling this?”

As she glanced around, some of the ponies in the crowd began to make way for somepony else—to Celestia’s surprise, said pony was wheelchair-bound, and clearly very old. Celestia recognized their cutie mark of drafted parchment, emblazoned on the sides of the wheelchair, as someone surprisingly familiar.

“It is a pleasant surprise to find you still running things here, Mayor Mare,” Celestia said kindly, “Though, I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances.”

Mayor Mare bowed her head, a slow and strenuous effort. “It is disastrous, yes,” Mayor Mare began, “And we have not enough pegasi or water to put it out.” The elderly mare moved her head to look at the fire blazing before them, and Celestia gritted her teeth.

“Could you not simply—” Celestia started, glancing up. To her frustration, the sky was completely clear, without a cloud in sight. The blue of daylight was seeping upwards, and a few stars could even be seen. Celestia muttered a curse.

Suddenly, another idea occurred to her. “Perhaps we can drain the reservoir? Or the water tower?” she asked hopefully.

This time, a pegasus weatherpony spoke up from behind Mayor Mare. “I’m afraid Saddle Lake was recently drained by Cloudsdale, and we’ve already used most of the water in the tower.” The pegasus held out a bucket of water he’d been holding. “As you can see, it wasn’t that effective.”

Celestia uttered another quiet curse. Glancing at the nearby half-empty fountain, she already knew that wouldn’t be enough either. And using my own magical ability would only worsen the flames instead of dousing them... she thought.

“Has everypony been evacuated? We might have to leave the town for the surroundings,” Celestia offered, uneasily. A shocked silence prevailed, and Celestia thought to herself, It’s not what I want, but it’s preferable to the alternative…

A pale pink mare next to the mayor spoke up. “Most ponies are already out of their homes, and we can have the rest evacuated in about ten minutes. But...” She pointed down the street with a hoof.

“Spike’s still in there.”

Celestia looked without thinking.

Golden Oaks Library was burning. The upper foliage was completely obscured by smoke, and the flames were consuming most of the ground floor. Dark grey soot spilled out of the windows. Surrounded by similarly burning buildings, one could barely make out its shape.

Celestia realized she was gaping in horror. Exerting effort over herself, she managed to tear her gaze away from the library. She saw her ponies wearing panicked expressions, and with trepidation, one small filly stepped forward, saying uneasily, "Spike's a dragon, so he should be fine. He's probably still sleeping, right?" She gave a weak laugh.

Celestia gave a half-smile at the foal. "I'm not concerned about Spike all that much. He should be fine." She paused, watching the fires rage on. "The town itself is what I'm worried about."

I have to save this town. I have—need to save the library.

Celestia glanced at Mayor Mare. The elder was not panicking—rather, she was looking expectantly towards Celestia. She nodded in the mayor’s direction, steeling herself for the coming ordeal.

Suddenly, she spread her wings, opening them to their full width. “I’m going to look for any nearby water sources,” Celestia explained. She glanced around at the fires illuminating the dark streets, and without looking, recalled the image of the burning library. “I pledge to save your town with all my strength,” she said.

Grunting, Celestia leaped into the air. Beating her wings once, she was gone, disappearing behind a row of burning cottages.