Sparkle's Fire

As Rainbow Dash flew out of the city, her thoughts were racing. She couldn't deny the immense anger that was pushing her to fly faster, and flap her wings harder. How dare those Freeze Force bastards..! She couldn't believe the events she just witnessed! It came to her clear as day now that not all Burnish should be faulted and treated as terrorists. The ponies that made up Sparkle's Fire were the ones causing the fire, and now all Burnish were suffering because of their attacks! What a load of--

She suddenly skidded to a stop as she came to the edge of a cliff. She panted, allowing herself to catch her breath. Her racing thoughts went full stop, and she walked to the cliff edge to see the view. Over the cliff, there was a huge lake with a waterfall continually spilling into it. Her eyes shined with wonder as she stared out at the view. She flapped her wings, and carried herself down to the ground beside the lake. It truly was a beautiful sight.

She hadn't seen many waterfalls in her life, because most of them had been destroyed when the city was in construction. Landmarks like this only existed on the outside, and who knows how long they might be there for? She sat on a rock by the water, watching the waves occasionally lap at the stone and fling droplets onto her hooves. She stared at her reflection in the water when she could see clearly. She saw the anger from earlier still lingering in her eyes, but the sounds of the water crashing into the lake drowned out even her loudest thoughts. She could barely focus with such loud noise all the time.

In this place, it felt as though time stood still around her. For the first time in a while, she felt truly relaxed. Her shoulders weren't bunched around her neck, her ears weren't forced upright, and she felt as though she could sleep peacefully on her side for once. She let herself lay down on the rock, and let time waste away while water fall into the lake and splashed over the stones at the bottom. All of her anxiety and her anger had faded away, leaving her with a strange calmness that was unfamiliar to her. Had she ever really been this calm in her life? She never realized when she rested her head against her hooves, and fell asleep atop the stone.

A few hours had passed, and she awoke from her nap. Nighttime had already fallen, and the stars reflected back in the lake were even brighter than the ones in the sky. The waterfall was still deafeningly loud, but she had gotten used to the eternal roar as it collided with the lake. She got up, stretching out her limbs and her wings. She felt as though she had slept for moons, but the sun had only been going down when she fell asleep. She couldn't see the moon in the sky over the trees, so she hadn't been out for very long. She never was much of a napping person to begin with; usually she'd sleep as long as possible the second she closed her eyes.

She yawned, and let the cold night air wake her up again. As her hearing fully returned from its muffled state now that she was more awake, she became aware of a sound that wasn't the waterfall nearby. She narrowed her eyes and followed the source of the noise. As she approached, she learned what exactly the noise was that she was hearing; voices. There were ponies out here. She ran towards the voices, but stopped when she reached where they were coming from. A large cave with a wide open mouth was some distance away from the waterfall. She could hear the voices inside echoing off the walls. They weren't as loud now; whatever commotion was going on had died down now.

She brandished her gun from her belt, ensuring that it was full of ammo before she snuck inside the cavern. Water droplets fell from the stalactites on the ceiling onto her wings and mane, but she ignored them in favor of going further inside. She heard the voices pick up again as she approached, and she recognized them now; the Burnish, Sparkle's Fire. How did they escape from prison..?

"Twilight, what are we supposed to do?" Moon Dancer said to the pony in question.

Rainbow Dash pushed her thoughts away, focusing on the situation at hand. She hid behind a large rock, but peeked over the top to see what was going on. The ponies were surrounding a large flame, and a dull, nearly lifeless mare was laying on the ground close by. Her breathing was shallow, and her eyes were barely open. Twilight was sitting beside her, her face shadowed out because of her back being turned to the flames.

"I don't know," Twilight said, fear in her voice.

"We can't just let her die!" Rarity said defiantly, stomping her hoof on the ground. "She doesn't deserve it, none of them do! Twilight, can't you try to help her?"

"I can try, but there's no guarantee it's going to work," Twilight mumbled. Rainbow just barely caught the fact she was even speaking.

Twilight got to her hooves and sighed, pushing the pony onto her back. She stood over the mare, and stared down at her. The mare looked at her with dull eyes, threatening to close. Twilight leaned down, the edges of her forehooves glistening with flames. She closed her eyes, allowing her lips to connect with the mare's. Rainbow almost felt embarrassed watching this situation. What exactly was Twilight doing? She squinted, trying to get a closer look at the scene. Her eyes opened wide again as a bright blue light emitted from between the lips of the ponies, and a pink wave struck down the mare's body from head to tail. Twilight pulled back as life flickered in the mare's eyes, but Twilight's face was screwed with heartbreak.

"Twilight..." The mare spoke, lifting one of her hooves to rest it against her leader's face. "Thank you..."

"W-why are you saying that?" Twilight's voice was breaking. She lifted her own hoof and gripped onto the mare's. "I haven't done anything... I know it."

"Thank you for..." The mare sucked in a breath and shut her eyes. "For... keeping my students alive."

Twilight fell silent as the mare grew still. The flame in her body had flickered out. Twilight let go of the mare's hoof, and it fell limply to the ground beside her. The alicorn pulled herself to the side, and used her magic to rest the pony's hooves in an X shape over her chest. She dipped her head, letting tears fall to the ground. As her tears fell, the mare before her began to change. Her body slowly turned a light shade of gray, and began to break off into the air. Rainbow felt sick as she realized what was happening; this pony had died, and she was turning to ashes.

"From flames to ashes, from ashes to Earth," Twilight said, watching the ashes lift into the air and disappear. "...Rest in peace."

The ponies around dipped their heads and fell into silence, in respect for the deceased pony before them. Rainbow felt her heart snap seeing this event. In all her years working as part of Burning Rescue, she had never had to deal with the death of another pony, let alone a Burnish. She wasn't sure how to think or feel about what she just witnessed. She did feel awful seeing this happen, but should she..?

"You can come out now, Rainbow Dash," Twilight spoke, lifting her head and staring at the stone Rainbow had hidden behind. Hesitantly, Rainbow slid her gun back into her belt and emerged from behind the rock.

"H-how did you know I was there?" She asked. She never stuttered, but being surrounded with all these Burnish ponies, she couldn't help feeling just a little bit afraid.

"I saw your mane poking out over the rock," Twilight said with an amused hum. She stepped around the mare's ashes, and approached Rainbow.

Moon Dancer's hooves and horn lit up with flames, but Twilight extended a wing as a silent show for her not to attack. The unicorn huffed, allowing the flames to disappear. She stepped back, and stared into the flames, choosing to ignore what was going on right now. Clearly, she still wasn't very pleased after her battle with the Burning Rescue member.

"How did you find us?" Twinkleshine demanded, glaring daggers at the pegasus.

"I didn't mean to," Rainbow Dash said. "I left the city to cool down, and found a waterfall nearby. I... I napped for a short while, and I thought I heard something, so I came to see what it was. I heard voices from inside the cave when I approached, so... I came to see the situation."

"I knew you were being too loud!" Twinkleshine butted heads with Lemon Hearts.

"I was not!" Lemon Hearts retorted with a pout. "You and Moon Dancer were talking too!"

"Enough," Twilight said, her voice firm. The mares quieted down almost instantly. "If she knows we're here, other ponies do too."

"They don't, trust me," Rainbow said confidently. "I'm certain that I'm the only pony out here, other than your group."

"Liar," Moon Dancer hissed. "Your buddies are probably waiting outside to ambush us when we leave."

"Moon Dancer!" Twilight turned her head and snapped at the mare. "Quiet down, or don't talk at all. Let me talk with Rainbow Dash. If I find it necessary then I'll make her leave, and we can go elsewhere in peace."

Moon Dancer wasn't the slightest happy. Her face was contorted in a snarl and her eyes were wide with fury. She was doing everything her power to prevent flames from bursting around her entire body, and it showed. She faced the flames again with her hooves crossed.

"...Why are you all here?" Rainbow asked when Moon Dancer had fallen silent. "You all were captured by Freeze Force a few days ago."

"We escaped," Twilight said. "I freed my brothers and sisters, and we fled to this place. We've been living here for a short time. We never planned to stay for long."

"And, that mare..." Rainbow spoke tentatively, knowing it would be a sore subject since it just happened. "What... what happened to her?"

"She died," Twilight said bluntly. Her voice almost caught in her throat, evidence by the cut off gasp she emitted. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "When a Burnish dies, their body turns to ashes. In death, we become one with the Earth again as our flames are extinguished."

"You turn to ashes when you die?" Rainbow said in disbelief.

"It is because of our flames," Twilight explained, extending her hoof to Rainbow and lighting a fire at the very center. "As long as the flames are with us, we can live forever. We feed the fires, and they feed us energy and life. When we can no longer provide for the flames, they burn out, and we too reach the end of our lives."

"And you turn to ashes," Rainbow finished Twilight's explanation, and stared at the ground with wide eyes. She blinked, still unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Yes," Twilight said with a sigh, letting the flame in her hoof vanish and return her face to shadows. "That is the way of the Burnish. That is why we must burn, so that we can live."

"Is that why you attack Whinnyapolis?" Rainbow asked, lifting her head again and forcing her expression back into its usual state, dismissing her fear and disbelief. "You burn down our buildings so that you can live while other ponies can die?"

"We don't kill," Twilight hissed, anger flaring up in her eyes. She took a deep breath, and quickly calmed herself so she could respond properly and gently. "As the leader of Sparkle's Fire, I forbid any of my kin to kill without reason. When we attack a building, we always leave an easy escape for the ponies to free themselves, or for the rescue teams to find them and take them to safety."

"Then why have you kept attacking the sisters' castle?" Rainbow asked, stomping her hoof. "Before you were captured, you repeatedly attacked that castle instead of the other buildings you had before. Ponies have already given up on repairing the place, and Celestia herself wants to tear it down."

"Good," Moon Dancer snorted. Twilight shot her a glance before she spoke.

"It is our message to Princess Celestia," Twilight explained. "Since the Great World Blaze, Celestia has made it her ultimate goal to capture and contain the Burnish, to use them for her own gain. She uses their flames for god knows what. She kills us as ponies for her personal agenda. She is a murderer, and the destruction of the buildings she cares about the most is our message to her that we will not stand for her genocide."

"What?!" Rainbow lifted herself into the air, her voice filling the cavern. "You're lying! Celestia would never do something like that!"

"You don't know that," Twinkleshine said. "One of our ponies just died because of what that wicked mare is putting into place. We saw it when we were at their headquarters. Foals and elders, stallions and mares... all of them are being killed. Since we arrived in this cave, four of our ponies have turned to ashes. They were covered in bandages and gauze. We didn't apply them; the foundation did, because of their experiments."

"That's insane..." Rainbow lowered herself back to the ground, trying to come to terms with the things she was being told.

"It doesn't matter what you think," Twilight said, looking behind her as the last of the mare's ashes lifted into the air, and were carried away by the winds blowing in from the outside. "It matters that it is happening. Another one of our ponies could be dying right now because of ponies like you."

"What..?" Rainbow was still trying to process everything. She bared her teeth, feeling her head aching as well as her heart.

"I think we've said enough," Rarity said, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "We need to leave. Clearly, it isn't safe here anymore, darling. Moon Dancer might be right; if she knows we're here, other ponies will as well."

"Fine," Twilight sighed. "Let's finish the food I got for us, and then we can leave. Every pony needs to be strong enough to survive the journey."

"What about her?" Moon Dancer snarled as she looked at Rainbow Dash. "What are we supposed to do with her?"

"Don't worry about it." Twilight lifted her head, magic energy expelling from her horn and lifting Rainbow Dash into the air. "I can handle this."

"Hey!" She squirmed in the alicorn's magic. "Put me down!"

Twilight didn't listen. She moved Rainbow Dash to one of the stalagmites on the ground of the cave. She set the mare down with her back pressed against the rock, and used her flames to wrap tightly around her. The flames crystalized, gripping the mare's body and holding her against the rock. Rainbow Dash struggled against the crystals, unable to pull her gun from her belt so she could free herself.

"Just keep quiet for now," Twilight ordered her. "When we're done eating, we're going to leave. When we leave, you won't know where we are. If you tell any other ponies that we were here, we can and will kill you, because we have reason."

"You wouldn't," Rainbow snapped, her wings fluttering behind her and trying still to free her from the makeshift ropes.

"We might," Moon Dancer laughed as she got to her hooves. "I'll head outside and survey the area. If I don't come back, just assume the worst and be prepared for battle."

"I'll come with," Twinkleshine offered.

"Me too," Lemon Hearts spoke up as well. "It'll be much safer if more ponies go. If a fight breaks out, we can try to save eachother."

"Be careful, please," Twilight said gently. "We don't need more unnecessary casualties. Come back inside as soon as you can verify no other ponies are out there."

"Yes ma'am," The ponies said together before they trotted to the entrance of the cave, their chattering voices growing fainter as they left.

"So you're not going to kill me right now?" Rainbow asked to Twilight.

"No," Twilight answered her. She sat down in front of the flame in the center of the circle of ponies, and stared blankly into it. "We don't have a reason to kill you yet. You know where we are now, but we can hold you here until we're out of your view. You'd only become a killable threat if you knew where our next location would be, and told Freeze Force or your friends in Burning Rescue."

"So you're just going to leave me here?" Rainbow snapped. "No pony knows I'm out here, are you just going to hope that they find me?"

"Maybe," Twilight hummed, almost amused with the idea. "If any pony saw where you went, they can find you easily. Or, they can use their fancy technology to locate this place, and save you. Regardless of whether you speak or not, those crystals will be sign enough that a Burnish has been here. But, that's of no concern to us."

"You're stupid," Rainbow hissed.

"No, you're the stupid one," Twilight turned to her, her eyes narrowing with anger. "You waltzed into our cave as if you expected not to get caught, and I saw you brandished your gun. You hoped to capture all of us and send us back to that hellscape you call a prison. You wanted to send us all back to a world of damnation without a second thought. The only reason you talked to us is because you knew that you would die because you're outnumbered! You don't really care about us, you care about that medal on your jacket!"

Rainbow glanced down at her jacket. Through the fire crystal ropes, she could see the faint glint of the flame on the gold medal. She blinked, and looked back up to Twilight.

"I do care about you," Rainbow said, her voice much calmer than Twilight's was currently.

"Don't lie to me." Twilight turned around, her shoulders tensed.

"I'm not lying!" Rainbow yelled. "I... I came out here because of a Burnish being captured in the city. That's why I was pissed off. It wasn't one of your buddies, it was a pony that I've known for a while. She was the head chef of my favourite restaurant in town. We didn't know it until Freeze Force showed up, but she was a Burnish and her father, the owner, knew it. Freeze Force arrested both of them, even though they didn't do anything wrong."

Twilight was silent, but by the way her shoulders relaxed, Rainbow knew she was listening. Perhaps she was in disbelief of the events, but Rainbow suspected she wasn't surprised at all. Any Burnish got arrested, not just those that were part of Sparkle's Fire. All of them were terrorists in the public's eyes. None of them would willingly be spared.

"That situation is what made me mad enough to leave the city," Rainbow Dash continued. "It's not fair that she and her father had to go to prison because she had a spasm that set fire in her kitchen! She didn't do it intentionally, and she wasn't trying to hurt or kill anypony, or destroy anything! It's total bullshit, and it's completely unfair! Not all Burnish are bad ponies, it all depends on how you use your flames."

"...You're right," Twilight said, her voice soft. She looked at Rainbow Dash, and nothing but grief and misery flooded her eyes. "Sparkle's Fire has made life worse for all Burnish. No pony is safe. I only have the leaders before me to blame for this sequence of events, and those that began their Burnish lives destroying everything around them. The good Burnish will be punished for all the things that the bad Burnish do. There is no line between them, there is only one shape surrounding us all."

"Twilight," Lemon Hearts said as she emerged back into the cavern with Moon Dancer and Twinkleshine. "We've checked around outside, it seems like there are no other ponies. We're free to leave whenever we feel like."

"Good." Twilight got to her hooves. "Then I suggest we go. It seems that everypony has eaten and drank their fill. We need to be on the move before the sun comes out."

"We're leaving Rainbow Dash here?" Moon Dancer asked. "I just want to confirm that."

"Yes," Twilight answered her. "She is no threat to us right now. Unless I give you a good reason, don't attack her. She doesn't deserve it. I think she's a good pony."

Rainbow felt flattered, even though she shouldn't. Twilight stared at her with only approval in her eyes, but her expression was dead. She smoothed out the cravat against her neck, and used her wings to motion the other Burnish to follow her. She said nothing, not a command nor a farewell, as they exited the cave. Rainbow watched them leave, and she was alone with her thoughts. The flame that the Burnish had made was beginning to die out, and it disappeared once every pony had left the cave. She stared at her hooves, her thoughts conflicting with everything that she had heard. She couldn't decide whether or not Twilight was telling the truth about what Celestia was doing with the Burnish, but she did know that she had to find out one way or another.

Her eyes felt heavy, and she struggled to keep them open. Despite her nap earlier, she hadn't gotten her full sleep just yet, and she was feeling the affects of it. Her head rolled to the side, and her body relaxed. She fought to hold her eyes open, but eventually she gave in, allowing them to close, and allowing sleep to overtake her entire body.