Chapter Ten

The Burning Will

Red flames licked high into the sky as they poured out of shattered windows. Breaking glass chimed and burning wood creaked as fire engulfed the wooden building. Weather ponies were squeezing cold rainwater out of engorged clouds in an attempt to control the infinitely hungry flames.

Off to the side, fillies and colts along with their caretakers were wailing at the loss of the only place they could call home. Unfortunately, they were missing a few.

Dash galloped over to who she knew to be the head matron of the orphanage. The aged earth pony was cradling a newborn, and crying softly. The cyan mare panted heavily as she approached, even though she had only ran a few yards.

"Where is she?!" Dash plead. The matron recognized the face, and realized instantly who she was talking about.

"I'm sorry Miss Dash, I'm so sorry," sobbed the matron, "I do not know where she is."

Dash's heart sunk. Her lip quivered, and her eyes watered. Anger then sparked, soon consuming her whole body faster than the roaring fire next to the group could consume three more inches of wood.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Dash screamed. She couldn't believe all of what was happening around her. Tears began flowing down her cheeks, quickly drying from the intense heat. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH HER JUST THIS ONE LAST NIGHT! AND YOU GO AND LOSE HER IN A FIRE?!"

Another mare with a pink coat and blonde mane had perked up across the group and slowly walked up to the rainbow maned pegasus. "Miss Dash?" she asked. Dash looked at the younger pony. "I'm so...so sorry but, i-it was just happening so fast…" she trailed off.

Dash jumped at and nearly grabbed this pony. "What are you talking about?!" she demanded.

The mare's whole body was shaking uncontrollably. "Scootaloo, sh-she was right behind me," she stammered out. Dash's eyes widened as she listened on. "I had gathered all the fillies from her hall and was leading them away from the fire. I kept looking back, an-and she was there every time. But at one point we heard a creaking noise, then a crack, and we ran. I looked back again, and she wasn't there! I was about to go back for her, but fire had already blocked the way. I'm sorry, but I couldn't go back for her..."

The pony looked down at her hooves; her eyes were trembling more violently than her body. Rainbow Dash looked at the faces of these matrons whose only job was to protect their fillies with disgust. "You…" she choked out, "you just LEFT HER THERE?!" Dash was screaming at the top of her lungs in pure disbelief and hatred.

"E-even we were lucky to get out; the ones that did," rebutted the mare. "The foyer nearly came down on top of us as we went out the front door!" She pointed a pink hoof at the building. Dash turned to follow the hoof and found that she was telling the truth. All Dash could see through what remained of the front door were flames and collapsed beams.

Dash knew what she had to do. The pegasus left the group behind and started trotting towards the burning building. Quickening her pace, she transitioned into a full gallop. She spread her wings after gaining enough speed and lifted off the ground. Spotting a room that didn't appear to be on fire, she shot through its window, smashing it open. Nothing would stand in her way.

Smoke instantly filled her lungs, quickly making her head spin. Coughing and hacking in the haze, she found the door, opened it, and walked out into the even hazier hallway. Crouching down low to find fresher air, Dash crept her way through the building.

The heat and haziness from the smoke was almost unbearable, but Dash had no intention of letting a little fire keep her from finding one of her most prized possessions.

Because she had only been in the main office near the now destroyed foyer to meet the head matron, Dash never saw these halls and rooms. The building seemed as though it was a maze, with traps of fire lurking around every other corner.

In her foggy state of mind, she imagined herself back at the Canterlot Hedge Maze where she and her five friends were searching for their Elements of Harmony that the God of Chaos had hidden. Dash kept expecting to turn a corner and see Discord lounging about with his strange blue and red lensed glasses and popcorn, simply watching as this "beautiful chaos" ensued.

After creeping along in smoky agony, Dash began to hear small rasping coughs. She then quickened her crawling pace to find the source. Dash began pressing her ear against doors, searching for the pony the coughs belonged to.

Several doors later, Dash finally found the one containing life. She reached up to the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door. The room was dark, but she was able to make out a small heaving figure huddled up in the corner.

With hopeful eyes Dash crept closer to the filly that seemed oblivious to the world. The cyan and soot coated mare placed a hoof on the shoulder of this filly, and turned it to reveal her sister's face.

No, Dash was just imagining things. This filly didn't even have wings. Dash breathed a heavy sigh as she was happy she had found a survivor, but was unhappy that it wasn't Scootaloo.

Dash stood up, gathered this half-conscious filly and placed her on her on her ash-laden back. She then crouched back to the floor and crept out of the room with her survivor to continue the search.

The filly stirred and wheezed, but Dash didn't pay much attention to the movement. She was focusing all of her consciousness in looking for that filly that had changed her life for the better. After crawling around some more, she began to hear coughing that wasn't being emitted by the filly on her back.

Following the noise in a similar fashion to before, she eventually located the source. Pushing another door open, Dash crawled inside. This room was darker than the last, and she couldn't see the pony.

The cyan mare called out in a raspy voice. "Hello? Anypony in here?"

"H-help…" whispered a small, hoarse voice that came from the corner. Her eyes still adjusting to the dark room, Dash began to make out the form of a small pony curled up in the corner. Small appendages fluttered about. A pegasus! Dash crept faster.

After turning the shoulder of this second form, she found it to be that of a pegasus colt, not a filly, with a blue coat and snow white mane. Dash sighed again and placed the young colt on her back next to the filly, and crept out the room.

"Too heavy…" thought Dash. She stood up, opened a scalding hot window, and jumped out. Fresh air graced her desert-dry esophagus, and brought her closer to full consciousness. She landed on the grass next to the matrons, who then lifted the filly and colt off of her back, and sat down with them.

Dash began to gallop back to the building when a weather pony landed and raised his hoof to stop her.

"Wait, stop!" bellowed the dark black pegasus. "You can't go in there! That building is going to come down any minute!"

Dash fought to get the hoof off of her, to no avail. "Ergh…Let me go, Thunderlane! My sister is still in there!"

The mare struggled further. She decided that someone was going to get hurt, and she wasn't about to let herself be the one; at least not yet.

Dash let loose a flying hind leg that caught the stallion in the stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs. He retracted his hoof to cradle his belly as he writhed on the grass. Now free, Dash took to the sky, sucked in a deep breath, and shot back into the window she had just left.

Getting back down low to the ground like before, Dash crawled her way further through the burning orphanage. The smoke was burning her eyes even worse than before, and she couldn't hold her breath any longer. Exhaling sharply, she sucked in smoky air, and coughed it back out.

Ignoring the pain, Dash pressed on. The creaking of the floor started to get louder and louder until Dash imagined each step loud enough that it could wake the dead. The pain in her eyes, nose, throat and lungs began to itch intensely.

Wheezing and hacking all the while, Dash continued to search for a signature magenta colored mane that belonged to her special filly.

Rainbow Dash rounded a corner and found it, along with the body it belonged to, in a strange position. Dash smiled, but then recoiled as she made the connection.

Scootaloo had been pinned underneath a giant, smoldering wooden beam.

The sight of her sister made Dash let out a shrilling cry that further scarred her throat. Ignoring the smoke, she galloped down the hall at full speed to meet her sister's seemingly lifeless body. Dash caressed Scootaloo's face, neck, and front hooves as they were the only things she could actually touch. The rest of the filly's body was pinned and blocked by an especially heavy looking beam, ever so slightly twitching as Scootaloo's small, pained breaths were barely moving it.

The cyan mare's face became streaked with tears, washing away soot and ash in straight lines. Dash got up, wrapped her hooves under the beam, and heaved.

After tugging and pulling, she felt a small hoof press against her hind leg. Dash looked down through tightly clenched eyes and found Scootaloo looking up at her.

"Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?" she asked in a raspy whisper.

Dash grunted, and gritted her teeth from the tugging she was doing. "I'm…getting…you…out!" each syllable was punctuated by an individual heave on the beam.

"No, Rainbow Dash don't. Please, get out of here. You'll die too." As Scootaloo whispered, her breaths became more short and ragged.

"If I leave you here and survive…then I'll be dead anyway!" Dash retaliated.

"No…it's okay. Please go, I don't want to die knowing I caused your death too."

Dash started crying profusely. "I WILL NOT LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!" She looked down to find that Scootaloo had succumbed and unconsciousness had taken her.

"No, don't die! I NEED YOU!" cried Dash. She tugged, heaved, yanked, and pulled on the beam with every ounce of strength her oxygen-deprived body had in it. Dash began to hear the wall that was holding the beam crack away.

With one final heft, the beam began to lift slowly. A rumbling roar that could be heard over the growling of the fire emanated from Dash's burnt throat as she lifted the beam higher and higher. After getting enough space, she quickly shifted and got her body underneath the crushing length of wood.

Dash could tell Scootaloo was breathing easier, even with the crackling from the flames that were encroaching on their position. The creaking and groaning coming from the frames of the house that threatened to collapse were getting more frequent. Clenching from the pain, Dash called to her sister.

"Eraagh, come on kid…get up. We gotta get you outta here."

Scootaloo didn't move a muscle except those that kept on making her chest rise and fall. Dash sobbed once, then extended her wings to scoop her sister up. After securing the limp body close to her chest with her wings wrapped tightly around, Dash slowly let the beam slip off her back.

The heated wood, along with it's splinters, scratched and burnt her skin as it slid from her spine down off of her body. Wincing and grimacing from the pain, Dash let the beam drop down with a dull thud. The force of the wood hitting the floor broke it and a burning hole revealing the first floor that was completely engulfed in flames formed where Dash had been standing seconds before.

Backing away slowly, Dash walked as quickly as she dared to the nearest window. However, before she could make it, fire shot up from the dry rug that sat underneath it as flames began rounding the corner.

Panicking, the rainbow maned pegasus backed away from the rug that was completely alight. Dash turned around and found yet more fire infringing closely upon territory still held by ponies.

Trading the use of her wings for her hooves, Dash lifted her and Scootaloo up towards the ceiling. The pain and heat from the fire was intense, and the smoke that came from it started to make Dash pass out.

"No…I can't pass out now!" thought Dash, slightly regaining part of her consciousness through sheer willpower. Dash looked down at her sister, then back at that window. Flames licked high in front of it, and threatened to come closer.

Dash scrunched her face as she was determined to get her sister out of the orphanage…permanently. Taking a few breaths of smoky air, she rose slightly, and rocketed away towards the window.

Farther and faster they flew. The flames they briefly passed over seemed to lash out intentionally and violently as the ponies soared overhead. Dash wrapped her wings around her passenger again, wrapped her hooves around her head, and braced for impact.

CRASH!

The ash-blackened pony that was tightly wrapped around a near lifeless filly smashed through the heat-twisted window, and hurtled towards the earth at an alarming speed. Tucking and Rolling, Rainbow Dash hit the ground, hard, and bounced several times before coming to a very painful stop on the cool grass.

Rainbow Dash's whole body ached. Blood seeped from old and new wounds, and muscles protested when their master controller tried moving them. The cyan mare was vaguely aware of sounds coming from seemingly every direction.

First there was a sickening snapping noise, followed by a multitude of others that eventually blended together to form a single crash. This deafening noise was accompanied by a fresh wave of heat to which Dash squeezed her sister tighter.

Second, the stomping of hooves and flapping of wings coalesced into one rumbling noise that were joined by voices shouting and wheels squeaking.

"Go, hurry!" she heard

"Did you see that?"

*gasp* "It's Scootaloo! She saved my life in there!"

"Get an ambulance ready! We have two very injured ponies!"

Dash tuned these unwanted utterances out. All she was focused on now was the unconscious filly that lied almost motionless in her blue wings.

Dash placed her singed head next to Scootaloo's mouth. She felt rhythmic and extremely weak breaths tickling the hairs in her ear.

The cyan mare relaxed slightly. Soon the noises of stomping hooves grew louder and could no longer be ignored. Dash heard the sound of a gurney being unfolded and eventually felt hooves wrapping around her damaged body, lifting her up onto cool cloths.

Dash gazed upwards and caught sight of the moon before it was removed from view as she was pushed into the ambulance. The gurney's wheels were locked, and the cart was soon on it's way to Ponyville Hospital.

The entire ride there, Dash inspected her sister. She found that the tips of her magenta mane and tail were singed black, and the orange feathers on both wings were burnt black as well. Dash ran a hoof along Scootaloo's left wing until she met a strange feeling part.

Weakly, Scootaloo began to stir and murmur, pulling away from Dash's hoof. The cyan mare was about to re-venture the area, but was scared to find any more things wrong with her sister.

After feeling the cart shake, wheels creak, and hooves stomp for several minutes, Dash felt the ride come to an end.

The wheels of the gurney supporting the burnt pegasi were unlocked, and they turned round and round as the gurney was being taken out of the ambulance. The next few minutes went by in a blur. Doctors and nurses shouted to each other, doors were smashed through, and lights were shined in Dash's eyes.

Finally, the second portion of the journey ended when the gurney came to a stop next to a bed. After feeling the wheels lock, Dash slowly lifted her head and met the eyes of the doctors and nurses standing around her. The cyan mare wished they would all just blow off and leave her alone with her sister, but rational thought pushed that wish away.

"Miss?" asked a brown coated doctor. "Would you please open your wings so we can help your friend?"

Friend? Don't they know who this is? This is one of the precious few ponies that had ever been capable of truly making Dash happy in her entire life. Sure she loved her friends to pieces, but the bond between her and her sister was an untouchable connection that no other pony had ever come close to creating with Rainbow Dash before. This pony was more than just a friend, and the medical ponies should be ashamed of themselves for titling Scootaloo with such a bland word.

After more rational thought, Dash resigned, and lifted her wing. She revealed a blackened, battered, and bloody filly.

Two sets of hooves slid between Dash's wing and Scootaloo, lifting the filly from the gurney to the bed. Two more ponies split off from the group surrounding the two ponies, and they started tending to Scootaloo's wounds.

Suddenly the wheels unlocked as the gurney was wheeled out of the room with Dash still on it.

"Wait, where are you taking me?" asked Dash, her hoarse voice almost inaudible.

"Sorry Miss, but you're quite injured yourself, and you need tending to as well," stated a dark gray unicorn nurse who had a beautifully curly cerulean mane.

Dash did admit, she was pretty torn up. Her body was absolutely covered in scrapes, bruises, and gashes, with one large one in particular oozing blood down Dash's forehead.

But she wasn't focused on any of her problems right now. All that she cared about was whether or not her special little filly was going to be alright.

"I-is she gonna be okay?" whispered Dash. The nurse looked at Dash and saw all of the pain both physically and emotionally the cyan pegasus had just gone through.

"Yes," replied the gray nurse with a smile. "She's going to be just fine."

Dash truly hoped so; there was no way she was going to be able to live with herself knowing she hadn't been fast enough.

What's going to happen next you ask? Stay tuned! This longer chapter is kind of a repayment for my unannounced hiatus and previous short chapter. Kinda felt bad for it, but whatever. Please review!