The Flames
The curling fingers of orange and red flames licked at the walls, attaching themselves to the wood, and spreading, lighting up the night air as they did so. Their consumption of wood, straw, and the very oxygen in the air did not satiate its hunger, no, just the opposite. The inferno grew larger, demanding more fuel to satisfy its needs, until it finally burned itself out, having devoured all that it could. This town would suffice. Unless, of course, it were to be put out...
The yellow-helmeted fireponies continually hurled bucket after bucket of ice-cold water into the flames, but to virtually no effect, save, perhaps, and some hissing and some steam. The unicorns took to using magic, both to make the water colder, the flames smaller, and to help rescue ponies trapped inside. Five buildings were aflame by this point, and each one was being paid heavy attention to. A cerulean blur, the famous pegasus Rainbow Dash, shot inside and out of the roaring wreckages, each time returning with a panicked pony, and darting back in to repeat, until each and every soul was saved.
The flames had reached seven houses, and many more ponies were trapped inside. Rainbow Dash knew it, and the Fireponies knew it: they were not going to save anyone, even with all of the help that they were getting. But that didn't stop them from trying. Maybe with the assistance of a Princess...
*Pop!*
There was a blinding flash of white and purple that contrasted the roaring flames, if only for a second, and standing there was a tall, lavender Alicorn.
"...Oh my goodness..."
Princess Celestia had sent her to help deal with a fire, but Twilight doubted that Celestia knew about the pure mass of it, otherwise she would have some herself.
"Princess! Princess Twilight! Thank Celestia you're here; we need help!" shouted a Firepony as he came near her, panic and fatigue in his voice.
The Princess, frowned in concentration, thinking rapidly. Her eyes lit up and she spoke, "How many buildings still have ponies in them?"
The heavy-set, mustached Firepony gestured to the end of the row of burning buildings, which was now up to nine.
"The first six have been completely evactuated!"
"Are you sure? Absolutely?"
The stallion nodded and called back, "You can trust me and my stallions."
"Alright," Twilight said to herself. She lowered her head and clenched her eyes shut. Her aura activated and spread across her horn. I just a few seconds, a series of purple forcefields appeared over each of the empty buildings.
"What are you doing?!" the Firepony shouted, alarmed.
"Calm down; these shields will block the oxygen and proceed starve the flames."
The Firepony's mouth formed an 'o' and he turned back, watching the flames with wonder.
"Now go! Work on stopping the spreading of the flames! They're almost at the town hall!"
The large stallion jerked in the realization and bolted off, calling for much of the other Fireponies to accompany him.
Many of them did, but enough stayed to help evacuate the trapped villainous ponies inside each of the unattended buildings. Far off, the flames had seemed to halt their deadly advance, at least for now, and Twilight bolted forward, ready to use her magic to help more of the ponies in distress. She succeeded in levitating three, two young mares and an older stallion from the next building and she dropped them next to her. All three were Earth Ponies.
"Is there anyone else inside?"
The three ponies all shook thier heads in unison, looking up from the ground at her wide-eyed.
"Go! Help the Fireponies! Now!"
The three bolted off without a word to comply, or to cower somewhere else, and the Princess repeated her process until she reached the last building. Using magic and a hastily-dug trench, the brave Fireponies had managed to halt the flames. The bonfire lept and crackled, whipping around like an enraged serpent, and hissed in a similar manner whenever it reached the water, angry at that is would be starved.
There was only one more house to go, and Twilight pulled out a mare, while the Fireponies went in with helmets and axes, to retrieve other ponies and perhaps some of the owner's material objects.
The mare that Twilight had saved, a pastel-green Earth Pony mare with a lighter-colored, curly mane and tail immediately hopped from the dusty ground where she was dropped and cried out to Twilight.
"My filly! She's still in there!"
The lavender Princess turned back towards the raging inferno and steeled herself. The foal was visible, from a collapsed section of wall, but she was surrounded on all sides with flames and rubble: not even Rainbow Dash could get to her, as the beams above her alight with flames.
A bead of sweat formed on Twilight's brow and trickled downwards as she concentrated on moving a few black, smoldering planks, her eyes closed once more.
"Momma!"
Twilight startled and opened her eyes, and, to her surprise, saw the little filly whom she was just attempting to rescue right in front of her.
The little filly was glad to see her mother, and hurried as fast as her little legs could over to her Mother, who stared off into the distance, a zombified look on her face.
"What...? Did you...? How did she...?"
The mare only gaped and slowly shook her head as she stroked her terrified child's mane.
"I don't know....she was there and I saw a blur of some sort...now she..she's here...."
Twilight frowned for a moment, but wrote it off to the mother's fear and distress.
But that doesn't explain how the filly got outside...
The dawn came quickly, and, frankly, everyone was in shock. The flames had just recently been extinguished, thanks to Twilight's quick thinking and the efforts of both the Fireponies and of everyone in Ponyville. Unfortunately, exactly eleven houses had been completely destroyed, and nothing remained but piles of smoldering wood, shattered glass, and still-hot stone.
No-one knew how many ponies had been killed yet, but Twilight felt in her gut that there had at least been a few. She tried to ignore the feeling, but it kept coming back, like some relentless form of cancer.
So much chaos, in the middle of the night, and so many houses....was it possible that they had missed somepony?
Twilight gasped and a hoof darted to her muzzle.
Maybe her shields had stopped somepony from escaping! But the Firepony, whom of which, Twilight found out, was the father of Sweetie Belle and Rarity, and the Chief of the Fireponies, said that he and his workers could be trusted....
But everypony makes mistakes...
Twilight shook her head. She supposed that she would see...
Twilight went off in search of anyone who needed help, as the Fireponies searched the wreckage for anything that had survived. And for bodies. Again, Twilight shook her head and continued onward.
"Hello! Is there anything I can do?"
"Not unless you can bring my house back, not really...," the slumped Stallion answered quietly.
"And, that's exactly what the we, that is, the Princesses will be working on! Probably for a while..."
The stallion looked up from the ground and at Twilight. He looked her in the eye for a moment, and then smiled.
"Thank you," he said with a raspy voice.
Twilight smiled herself and continued on. She spoke to a few more victims, calmed some of them, and made promises that she wasn't sure that she could keep. All to stall the inevitable announcement.
"Hey!"
Twilight turned and saw a Firepony running towards her, a massive smile on his face.
How can he be so happy at a moment like this?
Nevertheless, Twilight halted, curious to see what this stallion was so happy about.
"Princess! Fantastic news!" he called as he finally reached her. Both of his eyes were wide and glistening, and his grin would go unmatched by all but Pinkie Pie for years to come.
"What? What is it?"
"Everypony escaped! Everyone made it out alive! Not even a single body!"
Twilight froze.
Is it true? After all of that?
The Princess sighed and shook her head.
"I want to beleive you, but...that just isn't possible."
"Oh but it is! We combed the entire area, several times! Not a single body was found! By anyone!"
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked, still unsure.
"Princess, would I really risk making such a positive announcement, and then have it all be a lie in the end?"
"I suppose not..."
"Then come see for yourself!"
And she did. Twilight followed the ecstatic Firepony down to the site and she spent the next two and a half hours searching, hoping to confirm things for herself. Finally, when she went to move on to the next building, she almost walked directly into a ditch, residue of water still sinking into the dirt.
They had been right....
"Yes! Yesyesyesyesyesyes!"
All nearby eyes turned toward the excited Princess in surprise, but they soon lapsed into happiness; they too were in a similar mood.
When Twilight had finished celebrating, and being embarrassed towards her inability to control that particular outburst, she returned to the other ponies, who were being treated by the hospital staff for minor injuries and shock. The space that had been chosen had been directly in front of the Town Hall, mostly because it was the largest in Ponyville.
She walked up to the balcony, she would have to do without a podium, and proceeded to magically amplify her voice.
"Everypony! I have fantastic news!"
Fantastic news? Now? They doubted that, but they each gave the purple Princess their attention anyway.
"Not a single casualty has been found! Everyone survived!"
There was but a moment in silence, and then everyone broke into cheers. This was good news, to everyone, but Twilight couldn't help but wonder at it. That had been nearly impossible. And that little filly...
He stood on a thick tree branch, his hand grasping a similar branch above him as he watched the town through his dirty lenses. He startled a bit when an explosion of cheering boomed from amid the buildings, but he recovered easily enough; that just meant that he did his job.
He smiled under his mask and swung around the trunk, and into the Everfree Forest once more. He would returne when they needed him again. He promised.
Blood
Shady had had a bad life. Who would like a pony whose special talent was stealing? No one, that's who. Except, maybe other thieves. Shady did not have any friends, save Pinkie Pie, he couldn't escape her, and that hurt him, but he drowned it out by doing what he does best: steal. He was quiet, light on his hooves, and a quick-thinker. All of this made him an amazing thief. The massive fire a couple days ago helped: ponies were distracted, and, thanks to the re-building efforts, they went to bed quickly, and fell asleep even faster.
He knew this, and decided to strike that night. He had spent his most of his jewel stash on things, illegal things, to help him build defenses for his hangout. He needed more.
His hideout was a cave in the Whitetail Woods, a forest above Ponyville and below Canterlot; perfect for stealing from both cities. But the disaster was in Ponyville, and thus he would hit there.
Shady stood outside of the place that he had called home for the past twenty years, the cold breeze sweeping up from the vast, empty darkness behind him. He stood on a rock ledge that was three feet above the ground, where the forest began and stretched for a few miles, before reaching Ponyville. Above him was Canterlot: literally.
His cave was in the mountain that Canterlot was built into, and the city literally was above his head. The waterfalls all trickled into a peaceful pond right next to his cave. Such a beautiful home for such a despicable pony.
Shady waited patiently as Celestia's sun retired down the horizon and as Luna's moon crept up into the sky. The air grew chillier, the sky darker. It was time. The thief had made this trip many times, and knew it well, so it only took him half and hour to cross several miles, Ponyville drawing closer with each bound.
At last, he reached the outskirts, and he stopped, hiding behind a large boulder. The dead leaves under his hooves crackled softly was he moved.
He reached up with a hoof and drew the black scarf that lay around his neck upwards and over his gray muzzle. He checked to make sure that he was clothed almost entirely in black, and therefore unrecognizable. Yes, he was.
The thief waited for a few more minutes, and made his move, bounding to the closest building that he possibly could, and hid behind it, pressing himself into the shadows. All was still. Shady looked up, his one eye searching for an window. He got lucky; there was a window that was both open and close to the ground, easily reachable. Shady couldn't beleive his luck as he smothered a cackle and easily slipped inside. Once more he paused. It was dark and quiet.
Alright, what's in here?
Shady noticed that he had slipped through a living room window, but nothing but a couple sofas and a coffee table was there. There were some photos on the walls, but the frames were wood, and none of them were good enough to sell.
So he moved on. There was an open doorway that led to a narrow kitchen, and another door near the window that Shady slipped in from. The sneaky pony crept over to it and silently opened it without a creak. A closet, almost as bare as the living room. Well, the kitchen next.
Shady silently hurried over and peeked inside, still sticking close to the wall. The other side was too dark to see to, but there may be something in the cupboards. Besides valuables, Shady also stole his food most of the time.
Damn, this place is practically empty.
Shady decided to grab the silverware, you never know, and the only thing he had found: chewing tobacco and celery.
As Shady's head began to pan, his gray eye searching for other things, he heard a noise. Shady froze. This was not a single noise, but a continuous one. It sounded like breathing, only it was hollow, muffled even.
What...?
Shady whirled around and gave a loud cry of surprise. Standing in the other side of the kitchen was a tall, slender, and dark figure. Its face was covered with a strange mask with large, shiny lenses and a protruding circular part that stuck out to the left of its covered face. There was a long, shiny crowbar in its grasp. It stood near the stairwell that led upstairs.
It looked at Shady with a cocked head, the lenses of its mask gleaming from the moonlight that streamed inside from another window.
Shady yelled again, not caring if he woke the inhabitants. He may have been a thief, but he was not some selfish coward who would leave a family of ponies to be killed by strange, otherworldly creatures. He stood up on both legs and leaned against the counter in a defensive position. He opened his mouth to shout again, but he couldn't. Come to think of it, he couldn't breath either.
Shady looked down and then tried to scream again, but this time in horror. From his gut protruded the crowbar that the monster was supposed to have in his hand. Shady looked back up but saw that the tall creature was gone.
"G-g...ahh..ugh.."
The crowbar was wrenched from his gut, and a spray of thick, ropy blood followed, spattering the black and white tiled floor of the kitchen.
The thief fell down on all fours again and gasped as the side of his head was cracked with the blunt end of the crowbar, splitting it open. Shady fell to the ground, bleeding heavily from both wounds. The monster was over him again, his weapon and clothes bloodied. He was looking at him with the same cocked head, only toward the opposite direction.
The pony's temple was struck with a boot and it slammed into a cupboard door, putting a hole in it.
Shady's eyes followed the monster's hand as he went to open a drawer. Without breaking its gaze away from Shady, the monster fumbled around until he drew a knife.
"Ga-h! N-no...!"
And suddenly Shady's vision was filled with the cold lenses of the creature's mask. Frozen, lifeless, empty, they seemed. Again, Shady gasped, only this time when he felt the cold steel being viciously stabbed into his gut, just above the crowbar's wound. It wrenched upwards, down, and then out again with another spray of blood. Shady was losing all senses, so no pain was felt with the next stab. Nor the next, and neither the next. Finally, he was gone.
Sketch's eyes fluttered open when she heard a loud crash come from downstairs. Sketch, without even the thought that it was a burglar, but maybe one of her friends about to pull a prank on her, grumbled and slipped out from under her covers.
She was about to open the door when she was stopped by a peculiar sound. Sketch didn't recognize it, but it sounded most like the rending of wet cloth. That just meant that this prank would involve water. Those evil mares.
A smirk on her face, the mare hurried through her hall and down the stairs. He was laughing as she turned into the kitchen and began to say, "Lily, I got you now...."
She trailed off. What? Was that...? Sketch shook her head. It...was. Sketch only giggled maniacally as she fainted, hitting her head on the banister, and lay near the stairs, bleeding herself.
Interregnum: Clouds and a Storm
Clouds and a Storm
Clouds and a Storm
The sky was a clear blue, deep and majestic. Every mile or so sported a large, white and beautiful cloud. The breeze was just perfect, in both terms of temperature and speed. A perfect day for flying.
There was once a time when Rainbow Dash would fly as fast as she could, catching air and doing complex tricks in the deep blue sky that stretched infinitely. But not any more. Rainbow Dash flew slowly, gently. Not because she was unhappy, no, quite the opposite.
Why? Because she was carrying something, something delicate. Not a material object, but a foal. An extremely young, pegasus foul. His mane and tail were a deep, deep blue, and his coat a lighter blue. His name was Breeze, and Rainbow Dash was his mother.
So, indeed, Rainbow Dash was not flying slowly out of sadness, rather, out of consideration for her young son. She may have been brash and somewhat at one point in her lifetime, but even the talented pegasus knew how to care for a foal properly. Most of the time.
As the cyan pegasus gazed lovingly at her young foal, he yawned cutely and opened his eyes, proceeding to smile brightly towards the gentle, caring face of his mother. Rainbow Dash, the most talented flyer in Equestria, infamous for being a massive tomboy, shed a single tear of joy at the sight. This experience had changed her. It had been difficult so far, but it had been worth it.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt a bit colder. Shivering, the pegasus looked around in an attempt to source the chill, but to no avail. It was beginning to get dark, and Rainbow needed to get home soon.
Then, just as suddenly as the chill, Rainbow Dash felt a raindrop spatter across the back of her head. Alarmed, she looked up. Her vision was filled with an angry storm cloud.
"Oh-"
But it was too late. Breeze began to weep, and Rainbow Dash was swept up in a storm that she had failed to noticed. That's when it happened. Rainbow's most prized position was torn from her grasp as the merciless gale assaulted her. He was gone, lost in the wind.
"No!"
Rainbow sat up as quickly as she could and began to whip her head around, searching for her lost son. When reality sank in, the cyan pegasus went limp and began to sob.
"Dash...did you have that dream again?" asked a soft, masculine voice, hidden in the shadows and under the covers.
No answer came save for more hopeless sobs. The blankets were pushed aside and a stallion was revealed. He scooted over to the weeping pony and hugged her from behind, whispering encouraging thoughts into her ear.
"Shhh, shhh Dashie, it's all right. It wasn't your fault.... It wasn't your fault..."
