Inferno

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Chapter 01
Ponyville Ablaze!

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WHAM!

Crash!

Bam!

Rainbow Dash shot up out of bed. Turning the lights on, she quickly found a pegasus mare in her bedroom sitting up and shaking her head. "Derpy!? What the hay!?" Rainbow scolded as she landed and rubbed her eyes. "It's the middle of the night!"

"E-emergency Rainbow Dash!" Derpy said as she pointed a hoof out the window she just crashed through. "Ponyville's burning! They need everypony to help out!"

"What!?" Dash exclaimed as she rushed to her window.

It didn't offer the usual gorgeous view of Ponyville. Instead all she could see under the star's cold light was thick, black smoke rising from an orange haze. It wasn't just one house. The blaze spread all across the small town. The constant, dull sound of flames crackling was occasionally interrupted by a faint, distant scream.

After staring slack-jawed for several seconds, she finally snapped her maw closed with a click as she fired up her wings. "We gotta go help!"

Derpy followed after Rainbow as they zoomed towards the flames. As they approached the edge of the blaze, they found a small gathering of pegasi herding several rainclouds over the fires. Rainbow Dash flew up to the pony calling the shots, a pale blue mare with a blonde mane. "Cloud Kicker! What's going on!?"

"Rainbow Dash! Thank goodness you're here!" she eagerly greeted, shouting above the roaring flames. "I've already sent somepony to Cloudsdale to request all the rainclouds they can spare. Raindrop took several ponies to round up any stray clouds that might be floating around and bring them back here to the rally point," Cloud Kicker explained. "We're trying to get what rain we have over the worst parts of the fire."

Rainbow Dash looked around a bit as she tried to assess the situation. "No," she refuted with a shake of her head. "You're not gonna help anypony putting the rain on the worst parts of the fire. Get the word out to get the rain over the edges of the fire, all right? It'll help keep it from spreading any further and help anypony on the ground to get through to help, okay?"

Cloud Kicker gave a salute as well as the few other pegasi that had been around to listen. They all took off in different directions to redistribute what little rain they had to work with. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to try to get a good handle on what was going on down on the ground. It didn't take her long to find Twilight a stone's throw away from the fire line. In her aura was the town's water tower.

Rainbow watched in awe as Twilight used the water tower to drop a deluge on a few houses. The torrent of water instantly quenched the flames with a loud, rushing hiss. Just as Dash's hopes started to rise, she watched Twilight nearly fall over. The water tower left her aura, crashing to the ground.

"Twilight!" she called out as she landed. "Take it easy a minute. What can you tell me?"

"Oh! Rainbow Dash!" Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Please tell me the cloud teams are about to dump a ton of water over here!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "All we had on hand was a few clouds to give AJ's crops a shower in the morning. Our next shipment isn't for another three days. We're working with what we have, but I know it's not a lot."

"Curses!" Twilight stamped a hoof. "How could this have happened!?"

"We already sent for an emergency shipment from Cloudsdale. It shouldn't take long," Rainbow Dash explained.

Twilight nodded in understanding. "The Princesses have already agreed to send help, too. I was hoping we could get enough wing power to use the reservoir to drench the whole town."

Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times. She hadn't even considered that. But as she thought about it, she shook her head. "Not unless we get a whole lot of help. Our pegasi are scattered everywhere looking for clouds and coordinating the rainfall. It'd take hours to round up enough pegasi. Don't you just have a spell to make it go away?"

"I wish," Twilight panted as she looked to the roaring flames. "Just give me a minute and I can refill the water tower at the river."

"I've got pegasi redistributing the rainfall. I told them to put as much water as they can on the outskirts of the fires," Rainbow Dash informed Twilight.

Twilight nodded in understanding. "Good, that'll make things easier for the bucket brigades."

"Anything else I can do to help?"

"Just keep the rain coming," Twilight urged. "We have to get this under control!"

With a curt nod, Rainbow Dash flew up to do what she could to coordinate the cloud teams.

---

A suffocating smell stirred Rarity from her peaceful slumber. Giving a couple of demure coughs, she threw her blankets from her. It smelled like smoke! Racing out of bed, she threw open her bedroom door. A quick search through her boutique revealed no fire, even though she kept smelling smoke. Finally, she opened her front door. What she saw took her breath away.

Ponyville was burning!

She stepped out into a light rain as she looked to the burning buildings around her. The first things on her mind were her family and friends. Without even realizing it, her hooves were already taking her towards the towering flames at full speed.

Navigating the streets through the rain, smoke, and rubble was no small task. Most of the landmarks she normally used for getting around the town were obscured or destroyed. How could something like this have happened!? her mind raced as she struggled to find her way.

Finally, she came across a building she could identify in any condition: her parent's house. It wasn't engulfed in flames like some of the other buildings, but smoke was rolling out of the windows and the roof. It might not have been burning like a torch, but it was on fire.

Her first instinct was to rush in, but her reason managed to keep her at bay. She swallowed as she tried to figure out whether or not anypony was in there. Then she heard it—a tiny, high-pitched scream.

"Sweetie Belle!?" she shouted at the smoldering structure. It took her but a moment to make up her mind. Sweetie Belle was in there, and nothing, not even hellfire, was going to keep her from rescuing her. "I'm coming, Sweetie!" she shouted as she rushed towards her front door.

Her aura failed to open the door. It was locked. Undeterred, she whipped around and bucked the door with all her might. It flew off its hinges, bursting into the house and sending out a wave of smoke. She coughed at the onslaught as she tried to peer into the house. It was completely black inside. The smoke obfuscated everything and she could feel heat radiating from inside.

Another high-pitched scream shattered what remained of Rarity's doubts. With her soaked hide as her only shield against the flames, she raced inside.

---

Racing around above the smoke, Rainbow Dash was feeling more and more useless. All the pegasi had already moved what rainclouds they had on hoof into proper position, and now there wasn't much use for any of them. As much as they may have wanted to dive down and try to rescue any ponies trapped by the flames, they all knew better.

Back in flight school they brought it up every year: When there is a fire, you have to stay out of the smoke. Every lungful of ash saps your strength and your stamina. It makes you cough and suck in more, draining your strength faster and faster. If you fly down into the smoke, you'll get drawn in like a moth and condemned to be consumed by fire.

Rainbow had to keep repeating the lesson over in her head each time she heard a scream or cry from below. Her wings constantly twitched, urging her to forsake her own safety to assuage the suffering of the ponies trapped below. Then she heard it. An unmistakable cry that made up her mind for her. Ignoring the part of her mind that warned her that she was flying to her doom, she took a deep breath and dove down into the sea of smoke and ash.

Instantly her eyes stung as the smoke reduced her visibility to zero. She wandered through the blackness looking until she couldn't hold her breath any more. "Pinkie!" she cried out before sucking in a lungful of smoke. Her lungs immediately rejected the tainted air, sending her into a coughing fit as she hovered there.

"Rainbow Dash!?" Pinkie's voice sounded over the steady howling of the flames. "Help!"

Flying aimlessly towards Pinkie's voice, Rainbow Dash crashed right into the top of Sugarcube Corner. She tumbled down onto the balcony. As she coughed and tried to get up, a pink blur appeared through the smoke.

"Dashie!" Pinkie coughed. "H-here," she said, pushing two bundles into Rainbow's hooves.

It took Dash a moment to realize what she was holding, or rather, who. It was the Cake twins. Rainbow looked back to Pinkie and shook her head. "I can get all of you," she asserted, putting the twins back into Pinkie's hooves. As soon as Pinkie had them, Rainbow circled around her and wrapped her forelegs around the pink pony.

Dash took off. She didn't make it far. Normally she could do backflips carrying three full-sized ponies, but that lesson about smoke was no exaggeration. Try as she might, Rainbow quickly lost altitude. She barely made it to the fire line before she ran into the ground. Pinkie tucked the twins close to her as she and Dash skidded across the ground.

Getting up and trying to suck in fresh air through a coughing fit, Dash hobbled over to Pinkie. Ash and soot marred her hide and mane, nearly making the pink pony appear grey. "Are you...are you okay?"

Pinkie coughed a few times before checking on the twins. Once she was sure they were all right, she nodded at Dash. She tried to say something, but all she could do was cough.

Rainbow helped Pinkie up and pointed away from the fire. "Can you make it to help on your own?"

Pinkie nodded again. "B-but the Cakes," Pinkie managed to choke out, her voice weak and ragged.

Dash looked back at the fires. She would be lucky if she could keep herself airborne. Airlifting another two ponies to safety? No. She couldn't even make it back to Sugarcube Corner on her own. "I have to-to catch my breath," she said, her mind racing.

"Hey! Are you ponies okay!?" a voice echoed as a cart approached.

A stallion drawing a cart galloped over to them. Dash hardly hesitated in pushing Pinkie and the twins up on it. "They...they breathed in a lot of smoke," she urged, still trying to cough the ash out of her lungs. "I'll be fine."

Once the cart took off, Rainbow looked again towards the flames. She couldn't go back for the Cakes, and there was no way she would risk another pony's life by sending in another pegasus. Nopony could fly like her, and she barely escaped with her life. Huffing, she looked up at the dwindling rain clouds. Even if she could justify pulling rain away from the fire line, it probably wouldn't have much of an effect on Sugarcube Corner. Worse was that she wouldn't even be able to find it through the smoke.

There was nothing she could do.