Author’s Note: I’m sorry if this is too grimdark for some of you, but I got this idea as soon as I read the prompt. I know it may seem like the story is all about Flint at first, but it develops into a story about the Mane Six soon enough. Also, I feel like there were a few ideas I couldn’t fit in the story without going over the limit of 10,000 words. So if it feels like a little bit is missing, that’s probably why. Anyway, before I start to ramble; Enjoy.

Wise pony once said; “Once a pony has lost faith in his friends, he has lost faith in himself.” Twilight Sparkle has always loved that quote. At least she did after she had met her friends in Ponyville. Before Twilight had moved to Ponyville permanently, her mentor and teacher, Princess Celestia, had always stressed that quote to Twilight whenever she could. Twilight would always just shrug it off as some sort of way to get her to make friends in Canterlot. But after Twilight had moved to Ponyville, she realized that the quote had much more meaning to her then she had thought. It was all because of her friends, after all, that she had excelled in her magic so much since her move to Ponyville. But one faithful day, that quote will have much more meaning to her than ever.

Flint was a dark red pegasus with a short and messy orange mane and tail. His cutie mark had caused other ponies to steer clear of him, because it looked menacing and malicious. His cutie mark was a ball of fire. Flint had led a troubled life from the day he was born. His mother, who had to be the nicest mare anypony could ever meet, had died giving birth to him. Due to this fact, his father openly expressed his hatred towards Flint. Constantly beating him, verbally abusing him, and blaming him for his mother’s death. Flint had tried to tell other ponies about his father, but no pony would believe him. His father was as nice as could be to everypony else except his son.

Flint was also not the most liked at his school. Everyday after school, he would walk to his mother’s grave and express how sorry he was for killing her. One day, some of the “popular fillies” at his school saw him crying and saying that he killed his mother. The very next day, he was ridiculed by everypony else in the school. The fillies mostly made fun of how he cried “like a foal,” while the colts mostly made fun of how he thought he had killed his mother. The teachers saw almost all of the torment, and never did anything to stop it. He had literally no friends. No pony to talk to. No on to confine himself in. He had no pony at all.

Flint did, however, have one thing that he loved. One thing that let some of his anger, hate, and frustration out. And that was fire. Flint had found that fire was his only friend. He had discovered fire for himself on day much like any other. It was when he was twelve, when he had stolen a magnifying glass from his school’s science room. (He had started stealing things before he was seven.) After his daily visit to his mother’s grave, Flint sat on a hill looking up at the clouds. His only hope of the time was that he could one day join the weather team of his hometown, Marefold.

He looked at his stolen treasure, not even sure of why he had taken it. He didn’t get the thrill of theft as most ponies did when they stole. He only stole things because he couldn’t do anything else. Flint toyed with the magnifying glass in his hoof, unsure of what to do with it. He was just about to discard it, as the sun hit the glass at just the right angle. Flint saw the beam of light being focused by the glass. He was slightly intrigued, so he tried to replicate what he had just done. He manged to get the light focused through the glass perfectly. The light made a steady, cone-shaped stream. The grass, where the top of the cone was hitting it, began to smoke and simmer. Confused, Flint lowered the magnifying glass.

He looked at the area where the light had it the grass. and he found a small, black circle. He was even more intrigued now. He let the light shine through the glass in the same fashion he had before, but this time he watched the smoke rise from the grass. Flint was mesmerized by the smoldering grass. Without warning, a small flame emitted from the hillside. He watched with his mouth agape, as the flame slowly got bigger, and bigger. Flint wasn’t stupid about fire, so he firmly stomped his hoof down on the flame, extinguishing it. For the first time in his life, Flint felt something. He felt something inside of him as he watched the flame get bigger and bigger. He had to feel that again.

Flint was just about to burn more grass, when he saw an ant hill a few feet away from him. His mind fought itself for a moment, deciding whether or not to do what he thought about doing. In his lust for the good feeling he had just had while burning the grass, Flint crawled towards the ant hill. He watched the small insects crawl about their business, either not noticing Flint, or not caring enough to acknowledged him. With the magnifying glass still in his hoof, he raised it towards the sky, getting it at just the right angle so the sunlight shown through it. He saw the cone of light begin to appear, and directed it towards the ant hill. He watched, in sick enjoyment, as the ants slowly began to burn. He watched as the ants slowly burned to death, savoring every moment. Only when he was sure that every last ant had been burned to a crisp, Flint put the magnifying glass in his mouth, and trotted home. He was so drunk with the feeling inside of him, that he hadn’t even noticed that his once blank flank, was now covered by a ball of fire.

As the years went on, Flint grew more and more risky with his fire. He mostly burned small fires on the hill side where he discovered his friend. He burned anything that he could get his hooves on. After his first year of being consumed by his friend, he learned more ways to start fires than by a stupid old piece of glass. He found the wonders of oil and other flammable substances. He mostly used matches, but he sometimes would take a piece of flint and rock and cause a spark to light the flames. For the first five years after his discovery of fire, Flint had never hurt anypony with it. He guessed he had sometimes hurt ponies when he stole to feed his fire, but he had never hurt anypony with the fire itself.

When he had turned seventeen, Flint was so happy that he would soon be rid of his father, who still beat him and tormented him almost everyday. His father almost never drunk, but when he did, Flint would usually end up in the hospital. It only happened trice in Flint’s life, but no pony cared enough to ask how he got hurt. The first time he was put in the hospital, his father had just lost his job. The second time, his grandmother, Flint’s father’s mother, had passed away, and Flint’s father beat him within an inch of life. The third time was after they had almost lost their house to foreclosure. Flint took all of the pain and focused it at his fire. He loved his fire so much that it was all he thought about. Houses aflame, ponies burning alive, these were all day dreams of Flint while he did his best to make it through high school.

On the second to last day of Junior year, Flint came home to his father drinking. He was scared the moment he walked through the door and smelt the alcohol. He knew that if he left, he would be abused even more. He sheepishly walked into the kitchen, where his father sat by the table. Beer bottles littered the floor. He smelt something burning, and turned his attention to the stove. An empty pan was lying on a burner. He quickly walked over to remove the pan when his father snapped at him.

“What the buck do you think you’re doing!?” his father screamed at him, unsteadily rising from the table. Flint wanted to curl up into himself. He tried to speak, fumbling over his words.

“The... the frying pan. There’s... nothing... there’s nothing in it. It was.... was burning.” Flint stammered out, not making eye contact with his father. His father slowly trotted over towards Flint, uneasy with all of the alcohol in his system.

“Maybe I was going to cook something dumbflank.” his father said, painfully swatting Flint over the head. “Why do you have to be so retarded?” his father said shaking his head. It angered Flint, hearing his father calling him stupid. Even though his teachers didn’t like him, he always got straight A’s in all of his classes.

“I’m not retarded...” Flint said under his breath. His father turned around with anger in his eyes.

“What?” the older colt asked. “What did you just say? Did you just call me a liar?” Flint’s father asked, advancing closer towards him. Flint instantly regretted saying what he did.

“I didn’t call you a liar,” Flint said looking at anything but his father’s eyes. “I just said I’m not retarded.” His voice was sheepish.

“So now you’re ARE calling me a liar.” His father was now inches away from Flint’s face.

“No... I.. I just-” Flint stammered out again.

“Can you not bucking speak!?” his father shrieked at him.

“I’m sorry-” Flint said, his eyes on the edge of tears.

“You’re sorry!? Be sorry for killing my wife you motherbucker!” Flint’s father brought his hoof back behind his head, readying for a powerful punch. Flint’s father sent his hoof flying forward to connect with Flint’s face. But Flint was no longer there. He had ducked under the punch and was lying on the floor. His father was so drunk that he couldn’t stop his fist and couldn’t redirect it. It continued to fly towards the stove, where the frying pan sat on the burner. His hoof went straight for the frying pan, connecting with a loud clanging sound.

The momentum of the punch caused his body to follow the hoof, and he tumbled onto the stove. He started screaming as the burner connected with his body. He felt his fur burn off, and his skin begin to burn under it. He smelled burning flesh. And Flint had smelt it too. He smelled what he had always dreamed of. A pony being burned alive. Suddenly Flint was overwhelmed with the good feeling in his chest. He felt exhilarated. His anger, hate, and frustration all came out into his brain. His once doleful, teary eyes, were now alive with anger and fire.

His father had fallen onto the floor by now, still screaming in pain and holding himself where he was burned. Thrilled by the smell and fueled by his hatred towards his father, Flint grasped the still hot frying pan with his hoof. If he felt any of the heat, he didn’t show it. He turned to his father who lay screaming on the ground. A wicked smile appeared on Flint’s face. He raised the pan high in the air, savoring his one act of dominance. He quickly brought the frying pan down onto his father’s head, the force and the heat adding to his father’s pain. He didn’t stop there. He lifted the pan again, and brought it down again. And again. And again. And again. He kept at it for what seemed like hours, and long after his father was dead, he kept hitting him.

Flint finally dropped the frying pan, his arm painfully cramped. Blood was everywhere. It painted the walls, floor, and even Flint’s mane. Flint was breathing in heavily and quickly, as the adrenaline quickly wore off. As the adrenaline left his system, the smile on his face faded, and the fire and hatred in his eyes disappeared. He looked at what he had done. Not to his surprise, he found himself not feeling remorse. In fact, he found himself almost happy. And then he found himself walking to the shed and pulling out a large canister of gasoline.

He quickly spread the smelly liquid throughout the house, wetting down everything he could with gasoline. After the canister lay empty, Flint marveled at himself. He had just killed his father, and was now going to set the body on fire along with the house it was in. The thought brought that wicked smile to his face again. He walked out the back door, leaving it open into the house. He always kept a match or two behind his ear for good luck and now, he brought it out and marveled at it for a second. He used the side of the house to strike the match, and threw it into the house. The flames erupted immediately. He watched the beautiful fire dancing inside of his house. He watched gleefully as the flames reached his dead father, covering him with the flame. Soon, the whole house was ablaze. He stood there watching for a long time, the beauty of the giant fire ball sinking into his soul. When he heard voices and screams from other ponies, Flint turned around, walked into the woods behind his house, and never looked back.

(***)

Flint had got lost shortly after entering the forest, still hearing distant screaming. The foliage was so thick that he couldn’t even fly out of it. The first three days he hoped that he would simply find a way out, but on the fourth day, his stomach made him try to find some food. There was plenty of water though. He found many leaves full of the liquid. But there weren’t many edible plants that he could find. He thought he was lucky when he found a large berry bush. He ate until his stomach was full, which was a very bad idea. About an hour after eating them, the berries started making their way back out of Flint’s body. From both directions, if you know what I mean.

On the fifth day, when he was just about to lose hope, he found the edge of the forest. He walked out into a meadow, blinking in the blinding sun that he hadn’t seen in five days. He quickly found some wild flowers and ate them heartily. He didn’t have a mirror, but Flint knew he must look like a monster. Dried blood still crusted up his mane and forearms. He anxiously stretched out his wings and flew into the sky. Flint wasn’t a pegasus obsessed with flying, but any pegasus would feel the need to fly after five days on the ground. He looked behind him and saw the forest seemed to stretch on forever in all directions except from where he exited it. He knew he must be pretty far away from Marefold by now.

He idly soared through the sky, eventually relaxing on a cloud. He was so relaxed and relived from not having to lay on hard ground, that he didn’t notice himself slip off to sleep. When he woke, he didn’t feel much better. He still ached to feel that feeling of fire inside of him. He realized that the cloud he was laying on must have drifted some ways away from the meadow he emerged in. He slowly peaked over the cloud and saw that he was over another forest. He could tell it wasn’t the same one as before because he could easily see through the foliage. He just wanted to rest some more, so he let the cloud drift onward.

After some time, when the sun had almost begun to set, Flint heard voices from below. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he had passed over a town by now. He looked over his cloud once again and saw a decent looking town. Ponies were walking about, finishing their day’s chores and whatnot. A growl escaping from his stomach told him that he was hungry again. The wild flowers had given him only slight substance. He gazed down at the town below and his eyes rested upon what he had been looking for. A small apple cart, with a muscular looking red stallion behind it.

Flint was accustom to stealing anything he could get his hooves on, so he thought about snatching a few apples up for his dinner. He used the cloud as cover, and lowered himself down to the closest building. He quickly dashed off of his former bed, and hid on top of the building. He peaked over the edge, getting a good look at the large red colt with a green apple cutie mark. He dropped down into the ally on the side of the building, and watched his surroundings. He only saw a few other ponies around, none of them paying any attention to the apple cart. Even the big colt behind the cart seemed bored and ready to pack up for the day. Knowing that he couldn’t go out looking like a swamp, Flint slowly pieced together a plan.

He ruffled through the garbage cans in the ally, and eventually found and apple core. Flint quickly flew up on top of the building again and checked to see if the cart was still there. It was. Flint quickly dashed to the building adjacent to the one he was on. It seemed as if no pony saw him. Now behind the apple cart, Flint raised his hoof behind his head, readying for a solid throw. With what little energy he had left, he threw the apple core straight at the red pony. It hit the back of his head with a squash.

The large colt turned around quickly, rubbing his head where he was hit. Confused, the red colt looked all around and found no pony in sight. He shrugged it off as some stupid foals messing with him. He turned back to his cart and waited for the day to end. Flint was so fast, that in the time the red colt had turned around and looked at his surroundings, he was already grabbing apples from the cart. He grasped one in each hoof, and one in his mouth, and darted aways towards the alley. He was safely out of sight when the colt turned around.

Flint was enjoying his stolen goods in the alley, when he heard the clopping of hooves on the far side of the alley. He quickly jumped into a nearby dumpster, not caring what it smelt like. As the two ponies who had entered the alley neared the dumpster, Flint could begin to make out words.

“-fire in Marefold?” A feminine voice asked. Flint couldn’t see anything from inside the dumpster, and didn’t want to attract any attention to himself, but he desperately wanted to hear anything that had to do with his fire in Marefold.

“Yeah, I did.” Another female voice replied. “I heard that three ponies were killed.” Those words caused a small replica of the feeling inside Flint’s chest to bloom. He knew that he had caused the fire, and that he had killed those ponies.

“I heard that five died.” the first voice replied. “And I even heard they know who did it.” Those words quickly made the small feeling in his chest to disappear.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, they found a body that had been beaten before it was burned. They think that the arsonist had caused the fire to try to hid his crime.”

“That’s awful.” The second voice replied, with fake sympathy in her voice. Flint had always hated when ponies lied about what they felt. “Do they know exactly who did it?”

“They think it’s the son of the pony who was beaten to death.” The first voice said. The two voices were right outside the dumpster now. They took slow, steady steps as they walked. “He is missing right now and they never found his body.”

“You think he’s hiding in some town?”

“They found hoof-prints leading into the forest that surrounded Marefold. They’ve been searching ever since the fire was put out.” The voice paused for a second in thought. “I can’t believe he almost burned down half the town.” Those words gave Flint the feeling again.

“Well I’m just surprised that only a few were hurt.”

“Same here.” the first voice that had spoken replied. “They say that the pony who supposedly started the fire was always a coward.” Flint’s good feeling was instantly replaced with anger. He wanted so badly to jump out of the dumpster and burn both the mares alive right in front of him. But instead, he kept listening.

“They called him a coward?” The second voice replied. “I can think of a few more names that can describe sompony like that. I mean, it’s not like anypony in Ponyville would ever like somepony like that.” The voices became too distant for Flint to hear. It didn’t matter. Flint hated this town, Ponyville as he heard it, and hated everypony in it. He didn’t care if it was only the two mares talking, the whole town had to pay. And it would. Very soon.

Darkness fell over the town quickly. Right after the ponies were out of the alley, Flint had jumped out of his hiding place, and began searching for his tools of destruction. The night had allowed him to fly freely in the sky, and he searched for anything that might house what he needed. He searched every tool shed he could find, looking for what he need to accomplish his goal. After several minutes of searching, Flint found a small hardware shop. The sign that hung from the door nob read; Closed. Pffff, Flint thought to himself. Like that will stop me.

The large glass window, which read; Ace’s Hardware store, was made of very thin glass. Flint had only broken into stores a few times, but he knew how to tell how easy it would be to brake glass. With the anger and hate flowing through his veins, Flint charged the glass at full speed. He lowered his head and crashed through the window, only receiving minor cuts and scratches. He knew that somepony would have heard that, so he quickly found what he was looking for. A large canister of gasoline.

Most ponies only bought gasoline for the winter months to warm their homes. It being summer, they were fully stocked with the large red containers. He found a cart nearby and shoved as many tubs as he could into it. He figured he had about eight containers, each holding 10 gallons each. Satisfied with 80 gallons of gas, Flint quickly ran out the door, using his wings to help push him. A few yards away from the store, Flint cursed to himself and flew back into the hardware shop. He left only seconds later, with a full book of matches in his mouth.

Flint had reached the edge of the forest, that he had seen during his fly-by, within minutes. He was surprised that the cart had held all of the tubs of gas without toppling. He looked sadistically at the trees in front of him. He pushed the cart forward into the woods a few feet before it got caught on some roots and toppled over. Not caring about the cart, Flint grasped the first tub of gas and popped off the lid. He smelled the sweet liquid. With a gleeful smile, Flint flew up a few feet above the trees. He smiled sadistically as he poured the gas onto the trees around him. When the first tub was empty, he emptied the second. And the third. And the fourth. Until all of the red canisters lay discarded on the forest floor.

Flint had spread the gasoline out as far as he could. He had also made a trail of gasoline a few feet away from the edge of the forest. He flew down to the trail of gas he had made and struck one of the matches. He watched the small flame emit it’s beautiful light. He smiled again, and lit all of the other matches in the book with the first match he lit. The small fire ball shined, and Flint happily flung it into the trail of gas. The fire caught immediately, the trail leaving a bright path of fire in it’s wake. Flint watched it head towards the trees that had been covered by gas. Flint watched as the first tree lit up in the night, sending more fire off into different directions. The fire started on the other trees as well, until all of the gasoline covered trees were alight. The fire, Flint’s fire, had already started to spread to the other trees that weren’t covered by gas. Flint was so absorbed by the beautiful glow, that he hadn’t noticed that a single red canister of gas lay unused at the bottom of the cart.

Flint had lead the trail only a few feet away from the tree line. He was so close that the heat of the fire was almost painful. Flint was busy marveling at the flames when the fire finally reached the unused tub of gas. As it hit the 10 gallon canister, the fire exploded into a huge fire ball. The fire ball only lasted for a moment, and disappeared quickly, but it was large enough that it reached to where Flint had been standing. Flint had been caught in the center of the wall of fire that had flew out of the woods. His face caught the most of the flames. Flint now lay on the ground, screaming out in agony, as his only friend slowly engulfed him. He thrashed around on the ground, the smell of burning flesh not giving him the same feeling as before. The only feeling Flint had right now was pain. All of his fur was now burned off, and the flames licked every part of his body. Flint thrashed for a few more moments and then was still. He never moved again.

Twilight Sparkle has had a very busy day. She finally got around to finishing her novel, and even managed to get some studying done. She had recently starting studying spells for natural disasters, and how to prevent them. All of the spells she has learned so far were all extremely difficult. Twilight hoped that she wouldn’t have to use them ever anyway. She had left a note on her door early in the morning asking that her friends would let her have a day just to study and not be disturbed. Spike had gone away to Canterlot to help out the Royal Library, who had four librarians out sick, so she had the whole library to herself.

Twilight had just managed to put all of her books away (which was a lot harder without Spike) when she heard the sound of breaking glass. It took just a moment for Twilight’s mind to register what she had heard. Twilight’s house/library was not far from the center of town, where most of the shops and stores were. She assumed that somepony was trying to break in one of them and steal something.

Twilight pondered on who would want to steal in the town. Most ponies here were all very nice. It was then she realized that she was thinking to herself instead of trying to stop the potential burglar. She rushed outside searching for the source of the sound. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary at first, but she eventually saw a pegasus burst out of the hardware store’s door, pushing a cart in front of him. She was about to run towards the thief when she saw an unusual site. The pegasus stopped, and flew back into the store. At first, Twilight hoped that the pegasus was going to return his stolen goods. But after only a few seconds, the pegasus flew out of the store again. Twilight couldn’t tell what he had gotten from the store in his second trip, and she couldn’t tell what was the in cart the pegasus was pushing.

The pegasus moved fast. Very fast. Almost fast enough to keep up with Rainbow Dash, Twilight thought. It of course had to be a new moon (no moon in the sky) that night, so Twilight couldn’t even keep track of the thief for more than a few seconds. Twilight knew that even with her magic, she probably wouldn’t be a match for a full grown pegasus. She also had to assume that the burglar was armed and dangerous.

With the burglar out of Twilight’s sight, she knew that she had to do something to try to help catch the thief. Ponyville didn’t really have it’s own law enforcement, simply because they’ve never really needed it. Twilight thought of the only pony who could really be strong and brave enough to help her. Twilight turned down the road, and began running towards Sweet

Apple Acres to find her friend, Applejack.

Applejack’s work day had been extremely long. Big Macintosh was stuck in town, working the apple cart, so Applejack was forced to do all of the day’s chores by herself. It was dark by the time she had finally finished every last bit of work that needed to be done. Granny Smith had put Apple Bloom to bed a few hours ago, and was now idly napping on her favorite chair in the living room. Applejack wished she could just lay in her bed and sleep. She had just finished locking up the barn when she heard the clopping of hooves from behind her. She turned and saw a determined Twilight sprinting towards her. She knew that if she was running like that, something had to be up. Applejack was still immensely tired, but she still wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with Twilight. She slowly walked towards Twilight, meeting her half way between the barn and the small road that led to the farm.

“Whoa there partner. What’s gotcha in such a rush?” Applejack said speaking first, as if to let Twilight catch her breath.

“Somepony.... thief.... hardware store...” Twilight stammered out, still panting.

“Wha’? Calm down sugarcube, catch yer breath and then tell me what happened.”

Twilight told the orange coated pony about hearing the breaking glass, seeing the pegasus fly out of the store with the stolen goods, and how she could only think of Applejack to come to about this.

“Well what did ya think Ah should do about this?” Applejack asked politely. “It’s not like Ah’m the town’s sheriff or something.”

“I know that Applejack, but you’re the bravest and strongest pony I know.”

“Well by now Ah’m sure at least some other ponies have noticed the break in. About what time did this all happen?” Twilight pondered in her head for a second. She estimated that it took about ten minutes to get to the farm, and about three minutes to explain everything.

“I’d say about 13 minutes ago.”

“Well then there’s no time to be a wasting! Let’s get back to town and see if we can round up the little thief.”

The two friends turned back towards the road that Twilight had journeyed on, and began the walk to town. They walked at a brisk pace, not wanting to wear themselves out before they reached town. The walk took about fifteen minutes, the two girls not talking the whole way. As they came closer and closer to the town, they could just barely hear frantic shouting and screaming. When the shouting and screaming escalated to an almost frightening tone, Applejack and Twilight took off sprinting towards town. When Ponyville finally came into view, it was surrounded by a bright, intense, large ball of flame.

Zecora was busy at work with her cauldron in front of her. She almost always found herself working to fix somepony’s problem. This time, she was working on a brew that cured the flu bug that had been slowly circulating around Canterlot. She never really minded helping out the ponyfolk, in fact, she actually liked working on her numerous brews and potions. It always brought a smile to her face when she helped another pony out.

“This potion, it seems, will make all the sick ponies beam.” Zecora spoke softly to herself. She had always prided herself in her work, and this brew was no exception. It had taken two days of trekking through the forest, but she finally found the Bless-You Plant, the herb most important to stop the flu.

Whenever Zecora had a job to do, she tried her best to submerse herself in her work. She closed her windows, and drew the blinds shut. Ultimately, this is what lead to her untimely death. She was used to the smell of smoke in her home. She almost always had her hearth lit for warmth and beauty. Zecora’s native land was much hotter than Ponyville’s most humid summer, so she didn’t even notice the temperature of the room slowly beginning to increase.

All of these factors made allowed the fire to slowly, but surely, spread towards Zecora’s home. The fire was now an inferno, and Zecora had no idea it was right outside her home. Her home was deep into the Everfree forest, almost in the dead center of it. The there was a small clearing where Zecora had her home, but the clearing was only about three feet away from the edge of her house. The fire had now crawled all the way around her home, completely surrounding Zecora’s house. Anypony else would have easily sensed the rise in temperature, and the feeling of impending doom, but not Zecora.

She was far too involved with her brew (that ironically was made to help others) to notice any change what so ever. What finally made Zecora take her focus away from the cauldron in front of her, was a small twig, that landed on top of her head. Confused and snapped out of her trance, Zecora looked up at her ceiling, which was the first part of the house to burn. It was only just starting to catch on fire, but Zecora knew that the whole house would soon be alight. She dashed out of her home, not caring anymore about her brew, and nearly ran right into the monstrous inferno itself.

She looked all around her, searching for anything that might act as means of escape, and found none. She looked back towards her house, and was welcomed by the sight of her whole roof aflame. She knew should couldn’t go back into her home without getting caught by the fire. In fact, she knew she couldn’t go anywhere to avoid the flames. She watched in horror as her home was slowly engulfed by the blaze. All of her cherished mementos from her homeland, all of her memories, gone. The air began to get harder and harder to make the journey to her lungs. Zecora began coughing terribly, her throat growing raw from the coughing. Her eyes began to water, not tears mind you, but they began to water from all of the heat surrounding her.

She fought to remain conscious, her mind clouded by smoke and heat. The old zebra was forced to the ground, tears finally beginning to flow. She mouthed her lullaby that she had always sang to herself when she was working. The flames grew nearer, and eventually touched the zebra’s fur. Zecora didn’t feel anything, because she had lost consciousness moments before the flames touched her. The last thing she remembered on the green earth, was the sweet sound of her mother’s welcoming voice.

What woke Fluttershy was her pet bunny, Angel. He was one of the only animals that ever slept in Fluttershy’s house. Fluttershy immediately knew something was wrong. Usually, Angel’s face was void of emotion, but now it was clearly showing sings of immense fear.

“What’s the matter my sweetheart?” Fluttershy asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Angel forcefully pushed Fluttershy’s head towards the window. She gasped at what she saw. The Everfree forest near her home was set ablaze, and was dangerously close to her animal’s various housings. Completely forgetting about herself, Fluttershy rushed out of the window and went straight for her animals, most of which were trapped in their homes by fear. She flew by each one of the kennels, bird houses, and other homes of the animals, and quickly opened the doors on them. The animals forcefully rushed out, nearly trampling Fluttershy in their panic.

Fluttershy was just about to get herself to safety, when she realized in horror, that she hadn’t unlocked the chicken coop door. Some of the trees that were once home to bird houses were now set alight too. The fire was spreading quickly by the grass and by the wind, and would reach the chicken coop in no time. A few embers were carried by the light breeze, and landed on top of the coop right as Fluttershy unlocked the door.

“Quickly my friends! You have to leave now!” Fluttershy did her best to sound demanding. All of the chickens in the coop were clucking loudly and fearfully, not taking much notice of the yellow pegasus. She quickly flew into the coop and started trying to round up the critters.

“Please!” Fluttershy tried pleading with them. “The fire will reach here any-” Fluttershy was cut off by the sound of crackling wood. She looked above her head, and saw embers beginning to fall from the roof. Now Fluttershy was as scared as she could ever be. But she had to protect her animals. She started pushing and shoving chickens out the door, doing her best not to hurt them in the process. Soon, Fluttershy couldn’t see any other chickens, and was about to leaving the burning structure when she heard a small chirp from behind. Frightened by the thought of letting a poor animal die, Fluttershy immediately turned around searched for the source of the chirp.

It seemed to take forever, but she finally found a lone baby chick, huddled in a corner scarred out of it’s mind. Usually, Fluttershy would’ve taken her time, slowly coaxing the chick to come out itself. But with more crackling sounds from above, Fluttershy grabbed the tiny chick in her mouth, and flew towards the door. Another crackling came from above, this time louder than before. Fluttershy’s nose had just made it to the doorway, when a heavy weight clamped down on her right wing. Fluttershy’s body was forced to stop, but the baby chick in her mouth flew out of the doorway to safety.

For just a second, Fluttershy was overjoyed that the chick was safe. But she soon felt the pain of the giant log that lay on top of her burnt and broken wing. She screamed out in fear and in pain. Her watery eyes were now filled with salty tears. They ran down her face like a waterfall. She did her best to pull her wing free, but only ended up cause more pain. She screamed more, for anypony to come and save her. Miraculously, somepony answered.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Where ever could you be!” The voice was filled with panic, but still unmistakable.

“Rarity!” Fluttershy yelped. “I’m in here! Please.... help!” the small pegasus whimpered. Rarity came sprinting into view, seeing Fluttershy the same time Fluttershy saw her.

Flames danced all around the white unicorn, and she was struggling to get air. But none the less, Rarity rushed toward the faulting building that was once the chicken coop. She felt the pain of small burns all over her coat and mane, but she reached the doorway eventually.

“Fluttershy! My dear what happened to you!?”

“Please... my wing...” Fluttershy whispered, starting to sob profusely.

“Oh my, I’m sorry my dear, but this may hurt a little.” Rarity’s horn started to glow, and the large burning log began to move. The log rolled to it’s side, crushing a different part of Fluttershy’s wing. She whimpered in pain, unable to scream from all of the smoke. Finally, the log was completely off Fluttershy’s broken wing. Rarity quickly helped the sobbing pegasus to her feet, and they rushed out of the doomed building. They collapsed ten yards away from the chicken coop, as it slowly began to fall into itself.

“Come on Fluttershy!” Rarity said forcing herself to stand up through all the pain. “We’ve got to make sure the others are okay!” Fluttershy found some strength to move, and they began trotting as fast as they could to town’s square.

Twilight had stayed behind as Applejack ran back to her farm to make sure her family would be safe. The pathway that led to the farm didn’t run near the Everfree forest, so all of Sweet Apple Acres could be set ablaze for all they knew. Twilight immediately started searching for her friends. She first went to Sugarcube Corner, where she hoped Pinkie would be. When she arrived at the bakery, she rushed through the door without waiting for a response.

“Hello!?” Twilight yelled throughout the house. “Anypony home!?” She had only seen Pinkie Pie’s room a few times, because Pinkie Pie usually was the one who visited her. Regardless, Twilight knew exactly where the pink earth pony’s room was, and rushed up the stairs to find her. When Twilight finally reached Pinkie’s room, it took her a second to realize that the pony sitting at the window was her friend, Pinkie.

“Um... Pinkie?” Twilight asked cautiously.

The usually happy party pony turned her head to face Twilight. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and her mane was flat and hung against her head. “Twilight...” the pony began. “It looks so awful.”

Twilight slowly trotted to the window and saw what Pinkie was looking at. From this height, the forest looked much worse. The fire seemed to span on endlessly. The sight almost made Twilight cry too. “Pinkie, we’ve got to make sure the others are okay too.”Twilight began, hoping that Pinkie would go with her.

“Twilight...” Pinkie led on.

“Y-yes, Pinkie?”

“Why do bad things have to happen?” The shear innocence of the question made Twilight tear up.

“I-I don’t know Pinkie... It’s one of the only things I think I’ll never know.”

The pink pony with the balloon cutie mark hung her head towards the ground. “Let’s make sure the others are okay.” Pinkie said. There was almost no force behind her words. But when crying pony lifted her head again, she had a new force behind her eyes. She was determined to find her friends. The two ponies started running out of the house, now more determined than ever to find their friends.

They were on their way to Rarity’s boutique when they ran into the pair of singed ponies. “Rarity!” Pinkie gasped. “And Fluttershy! What happened to you two?” Fluttershy and Rarity gave a brief explanation of what happened at Fluttershy’s house. Twilight was able to do a simple medical spell that would speed up the healing process and would relive some pain from Fluttershy. There was nothing to be done about Rarity’s singed mane and tail.

Seemingly out of no where, a cyan colored pegasus dropped to the ground next the Fluttershy. “Omigosh! Fluttershy, your wing!” Rainbow Dash gasped. “What happened to-”

“Rainbow, we don’t have time.” Twilight started cutting her off. “Do the pegasi have any rain clouds they can use to stop the fire?”

“What the buck do you think we’ve been doing all this time!?” Rainbow yelled, slightly frustrated. “We don’t have any because of last week’s rainstorm!”

“Did you happen to fly by Applejack’s home?” Rarity asked, trying to break the tension.

“Yeah...” the pegasus said, clearly hiding something.

“Is it that bad?” Fluttershy whimpered, lowering her head.

“Well, I saw AJ and Big Mac carrying Granny Smith and Apple Bloom away from the farm...” The rainbow maned pegasus took a deep breath. “But the whole farm is on fire.” She paused for a moment to let the fact sink in. “All of the apple trees, the farm house, the barn, everything. It’s all on fire.” The words were like a slap in the face to everypony else. Twilight was the first to speak.

“We’ve got to stop this fire. Rainbow, fly over to the weather team headquarters and see if any nearby towns have a large stock of rain clouds.” Somehow, Rainbow managed to smile.

“Great idea Egghead! I’ll be back in a few minutes! Hopefully with rain clouds!” Rainbow Dash said, already flying away.

“Now we’ve got to get ourselves to town’s square and see if we can do anything to help.” The three other ponies nodded in agreement to Twilight’s proposal, and they all took off towards the heart of the town.

As they reached town square, they realized the fire had almost begun to set houses on fire. It was beginning to lightly touch the edge of the homes on closest to the forest. Fluttershy’s home was most likely long gone by now, as well as Sweet Apple Acres.The ponies of the town had gathered by the edge of the flames, doing whatever they could to try to stop the fire.

Most ponies threw water at it, only resulting in a sizzling sound that quickly disappeared. The pegasi were scrambling about in the sky, most likely due to Twilight’s idea to use other town’s rain clouds. Most of the younger ponies of the town stood or sat by their parents crying. And none of the unicorns knew any spells to put out the flames. That is, no unicorn except Twilight.

Twilight thought over and over about the only spell she knew that might be able to save the town. She remembered reading about it earlier that day, when she was researching natural disasters. The one spell that had been invented for forest fires has never been used. No pony knew what would happen if Twilight attempted it.

“Twilight!” A loud voice came from behind. “Twi’, what’re we gunna do!?” Applejack yelled from a few yards away, finally arriving from her trek to secure her family. Applejack had black streaks of ash all over her mane and coat, and her trademark hat had long been lost. She looked just as bad as some of her other friends behind her. Pinkie Pie had dried tears stained down her face, and her usually fluffy mane lay flat and straightened on her head. Rarity’s treasured and beautiful mane and tail were now singed in various places. Fluttershy still had tears streaming down her face. Her right wing lay limply at her side, burned and mangled. Rainbow Dash (who had just landed on the ground) was sweating profusely.

“None of the nearby towns have any rain clouds either!” The rainbow maned pony exclaimed. “The only town we know for sure has any rainclouds is Canterlot! And that’s ten minutes away even for me!”

“By that time, all of Ponyville will be burned down!” Rarity bawled. The five ponies in front of Twilight argued briefly until Twilight couldn’t take anymore.

“Girls!” The purple unicorn started. “I know a spell that may be able to stop the fire.” Twilight’s voice had shrunken down to almost a whisper.

“Well why didn’t ya say so!?” Applejack said, her spirits obviously lifted. “Use it before it’s too late!”

“That’s the thing,” Twilight began again. “I’m not sure if I can do it. I mean, look at all of you. You’re all hurt and scared. I’m not nearly as strong as any of you.” Twilight began to feel tears fall down her face.

“Twilight,” Pinkie started, new tears streaming down her face as well. “You’ve always been stronger then us silly.” Pinkie’s voice seemed to have just a hint of cheer in it.

“Pinkie... Pinkie Pie’s right.” Fluttershy said, struggling with her words. “You’ve... you’ve always... always been there for us.”

“Come on Egghead!” Rainbow said now chipping in. “If anypony can do the spell, it’d be you.” Twilight thought in her head the memories she’d had with her friends. She thought of all of the happy times they’ve shared, and all of the happy times she wished they could share. As Twilight thought more about the spell, she knew what it would do. There would only be one reason why no pony had ever used it. Through her tears, Twilight smiled.

“Okay.” Twilight said through sniffles. “I’ll do you for you all.” She silently turned around, not hearing the words of encouragement from her friends behind. Twilight focused all of her energy, bodily and magical, into her horn. She felt her legs go weak, and her eyes flutter. She focused harder, now invoking a migraine. With one final push of energy, Twilight cast the spell, and a large wind whooshed through the air. The force of the wind immediately snuffed out any sign of fire that was still in sight.

All of the ponies were so excited when the final flames died, that they didn’t notice Twilight began to fall to the ground, as her eyes closed forever.