A huge cloud of smoke is rising from a forest located near Ponyville. The local firefighters can't deal with the fire on their own. They get assistence from Canterlot, Cloudsdale and Manehattan. Rainbow Dash sees that big cloud of smoke and flies towards it.
"SWEET CELESTIA!!!" Rainbow Dash yells. She immediately gets a bucket of water which is capable of around 90 liters of water and fills up the entire bucket. The pegasus doesn't struggle with carrying that amount of water since she has carried something heavy like that before. Rainbow Dash flies over to the forest and 90 liters of pure water are coming down from the sky, not to forget Rainbow Dash already did make rain clouds in order to assist the firefighters. She knew the situation got worse in the last hour but there are already signs that the fire is getting extinguished slowly but surely. Because of the dense smoke, Rainbow Dash loses orientation and flies directly into a tree, knocking her unconscious. Now the pegasus falls straight towards the fire and lands only a few meters away from the fire.
Apple Lauda saw Rainbow Dash falling and rushes immediately to her aid with a fire extinguisher. as he reached her after fighting his way through the flames, he pulls the unconscious pegasus out of the forest. That happend really fast since Rainbow Dash landed about 200 meters away from the exit. Thanks to a citizen who called the firefighters, a Ambulance was on site immediately. Rainbow Dash gets brought into the nearest hospital possible. Apple Lauda couldn't do anything anymore and leaves the forest before he gets hurt himself. In the meantime, the fire was completely extinguished thanks to Apple Lauda's bravery and reaction. However, he remains unharmed as well as the firefighters.
Rainbow Dash suffers burnings of second degrees and a few days later, her friends and Silverstream are visiting her in the hospital. Her skin is moderately burned. Something Apple Lauda can't look at.
"why... why did it have to happen..." Apple Lauda cries out. "I remember the crash of my Idol who crashed at the Nürburgring on August 1st 1976. He was about a minute in the fire... and he survived... Who knows how long Rainbow was in that fire"
"I know this is awful... and you were the one who risked his life to pull her out of the flames. That was very brave from you" Silverstream softly says and puts a claw on his shoulder.
"as far as I know, she was about 30-40 seconds in that fire. She can be lucky to have you" Twilight explains.
"I have never seen Rainbow in such a bad state before" Fluttershy mumbles. A few moments later, Nurse Sweetheart arrives.
"Well I must say that Rainbow Dash can be lucky... She's going to survive... If Apple Lauda would have been there 20 seconds later, we would have been unable to save her" the Nurse explains, causing Apple Lauda to collapse on the ground, crying his pain out.
"I don't believe it... I-I... I saved somepony's life..." the broken hearted Apple Lauda barely could say through his sobs.
"Yer should get some rest" Applejack suggests. "we know you're emotionaly exhausted"
"don't worry darling, we will look after Rainbow okay?" Rarity explains.
"we will let you know as soon as possible" Pinke says.
Before Apple Lauda goes home, he lies down a Austrian flag next to Rainbow. It says: "I'm with you Rainbow... don't die!!!" with his signature on it. Then he heads home to prepare for an upcoming race.
At the Canterlot GP, Apple Lauda has qualified on pole position with just a tenth quicker than Ailton Senna. It is also the last race of the season. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash had woken up and is watching the race from the hospital. She sees the austrian flag next to her. "Well, you saved my life Apple Lauda. weren't afraid to get hurt by yourself huh?" the pegasus says.
Her friends came as well to watch the race as well as Silverstream.
after 5 minutes, the race finally starts and Apple Lauda gets a extremly terrible start, dropping down to 16th place. Ailton Senna is pulling away from the pack within 20 laps. But Apple Lauda has a very risky strategy. He goes for a undercut and finds himself in 6th place again just 10 laps later (in lap 35/70)
"holy crap!!! how the fuck did he do that?!" Applejack asks.
"he literally copied Ayrton Senna" Silverstream answers.
"no... I think Apple Lauda is emotionally exhausted and compressed his feelings to generate that power" Twilight explains.
"is he doing this for me?" Rainbow asks.
"it wouldn't be the first time he would honor a victory to somepony. Like when Cadence was hurt a year ago." Applejack explains.
"or he ate too many cupcakes" Pinkie jokes.
in lap 69, Apple Lauda is close to Ailton Senna who's still leading. As they approach the final chicane, Apple Lauda in the car with the number 12 dives on the inside to overtake Ailton. It's a very close call but no collision has occurred. The final lap is as intense as a Minecraft Manhunt from the YouTuber Dream but Apple Lauda can withstand the pressure. He wins the Canterlot GP.
"that one's for you Rainbow Dash" Apple Lauda says through the radio. After the victory ceremony, Apple Lauda goes over to the hospital. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash's wounds have been healed thanks to a new spell.
a few days later, Rainbow Dash finally gets released from the hospital. Her friends brought the Austrian flag to her home in Cloudsdale using that one spell that allows anyone to walk on clouds 48 hours ago. Rainbow Dash walks over to Apple Lauda's home after she left the hospital. A knock comes from the door, Apple Lauda answers it.
"hey Nürburgring God" Rainbow Dash greets with a soft voice. "how are you today?"
"I'm still not over the incident yet..." Apple Lauda answers. "seeing you that badly hurt because of a fire..." tears are coming up in the eyes of the fastest Nordschleife driver of all time. "YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!!"
"hey... it's okay... really I'm fine again. Without you, I wouldn't be here anymore" Rainbow says still in that soft and comforting tone and pulls Apple Lauda in a soft but tight hug.
"I wish I could have been quicker..." Apple Lauda sobs out. "I swear I still have the pictures of Niki's crash in my head... he... he almost died... He got pulled out by several other drivers... however... he survived after LIKE A MINUTE IN THAT HELL!!!"
"ssssshhh... it's okay buddy, just let it out okay? I owe you something" Rainbow Dash says.
"it almost happened to you as well... If you would have died, I swear I would never forgive myself for that" Apple Lauda says in a broken hearted tone.
"I still would be with you and the others... I'm the element of loyalty after all" Rainbow Dash explains.
"I won't accept the death of you and the others, especially Silverstream's. I mean she's my gf after all. And also I have my teammates who are also my friends. Even for them, I would risk my life in order to save them" Apple Lauda explains.
"I know buddy... I know... but now you're the one who needs comfort. Even a god needs comfort sometimes" Rainbow Dash says in a soft voice. "come on, let's go to sugarcube corner"
"alright..." Apple Lauda takes a deep breath and heads with Rainbow Dash to sugarcube corner.
"do you feel better now?" Rainbow Dash asks in a soft tone.
"yeah... I'm feeling better now" Apple Lauda answers.
Author's Note
good thing I own a fire extinguisher in real life so I can save people from what Niki Lauda had to go through