There hadn’t been any rain in Ponyville for some weeks now since all of the members of the weather team were dispatched. They attained injuries trying to withhold a rampaging storm that had popped up above the Everfree Forest. They were all knocked out of the sky before it even got started. Though there were many other winged ponies in the town, none were able to summon and destroy clouds with the skill and efficiency of the ones whose jobs were to do just so. Now tempest gales howled across all the regions bordering Everfree while the immense thunderhead – as uncontrollable as it was – was slowly succumbing to the more adept pegasi of Cloudsdale. A messenger from the town had to be sent there to get professional help until the wings finally ceased.
Ponyville was founded in the one of the few dry regions of Equestria, and it was usually tasked for the weather team also to bring in the more humid air that collected in the valley where the Everfree Forest was situated. They also had to make all the rain clouds that went over the town as it was impossible to do naturally. All this in turn, fire now became a threat that most were aware of, but reluctant to talk about since they couldn’t imagine their beloved town being burned to the ground.

Few of the weather team were able to get out of hospital, for their – for the most part – wings were the subject of injury. Fractured and broken wings take a long time to heal; this was amplified by pegasi’s slowed healing rate and the fact that their bodies didn’t use calcium as efficiently as would the other ‘races’, so their bone took extra time to fill back in. They all were detained at those hospitals and clinics for about a month.

It was during this month that the fire broke out. It started in the school house when class was dismissed. There the CMC were sprinting towards the door as the bell rang even after numerous lectures by Cheerilee (that occurred frequently as a result of some form of bodily harm happening to at least one of her students caused by the rambunctious trio) denouncing such things.

This time however, the consequence of their actions led to a far more serious outcome. As Applebloom rocketed towards the door, Cheerilee shouted for her to stop, and when she did the closely trailing Sweetie Bell (without losing any momentum) slammed into her sending them both to the ground. Scootaloo, as it was, was oblivious to nearly everything save the tolling of the end bell in her semiconscious state that arose as a side effect from just waking up, crashed into the twosome on the floor sending them still further across the polished wood and into the wall. The force of the impact cause the loosely anchored wall oil-lantern to plummet to the floor sending its highly combustible load out of it as it hastened its descent until finally making contact with the metal floorboards, that lined the edges of the floor connecting to the wall, giving off sparks and setting the oil ablaze. The surrounding wall and floor caught quickly as the fire spread across the enflamed puddle.

It was with feverish haste that the CMC and some of the foals closer to the door leapt out of it screaming in terror as the parched piece of wood that was Cheerilee’s school house, and home, went up in flames. There wasn’t enough time for all of them to escape after the main entry way was blocked by the inferno. Some of the lucky foals managed to jump out of some of the windows, those being few however, the rest Cheerilee attempted to herd to the living quarters of the building where there was a back door. The only few being able to do so were Silver Spoon, Twist and Snails since the remaining three in the classroom were too in shock and paralyzed with fear to move. By standers could only watch as the building crumbled in on itself, revealing three madly flailing figures of what once were ponies being engulfed in the torrent of flames. Those unlucky few couldn’t utter a sound being that their throats and vocal cords had melted towards the beginning of their end.

Fire rapidly spread to the buildings close to the schoolhouse as a strong wind gathered the flames towards the Everfree Forest. By the time the harrowing event had ceased twenty were dead, and only because most were outside of their houses being market day and such. As the fire made its way towards Fluttershy’s Cottage, Sweet Apple Acres, and the Everfree Forest, a swath of vegetation was burned in hopes that the inferno would hopefully bypass the dwellings or simply just stop there. This project was carried out by Big Macintosh alone and it was because of him that their homes weren’t destroyed, but the majority of the apple trees on the farm were destroyed as were the outlying structures on Fluttershy’s property. It did not however, stop the flames as they went freely around the back burn line and completely ravaged the forest. One fire started by three school age fillies in Ponyville. At least everypony thought it started in Ponyville.

I awoke my bed, with my normally messy bed mane hopelessly disheveled. I thought back to the day of the fire, and found myself on the hardwood floor with blurred vision that seemed to drip to the floor for each blink I took. The appalling feeling of guilt that had become waterlogged in my being appeared stronger today as it took all my will power, and then some, to push off the cold ground.

I still don’t know why I even get up every morning; my life has become another waste of energy in this forsaken village. Four have been lost from my life, three ponies, and one little dragon that I will never be able to see again save my day of judgment. Looking back to that day brings forth the onslaught of horrors I witnessed yet anew.

I hadn’t known about the fire until it was almost at my door step because, me, you know me, I couldn’t have stopped my reading for the life of myself, but I did. I wish it hadn’t. There isn’t anything left inside me, just a waste of space without any sense to what I do, or did. But you can’t change the past.

A bell rang at the door of Sugarcube Corner signaling that some pony was there. Waiting. Without any sweets! A flash of jubilant pinkness flew out the kitchen to greet the costumer.

“Hey! Welcome to Su- RARITY!”

“Hello to you, too, Pinkie.” Replied the snow coated mare. “I was wonder-“

“It’s so good to see you again! Where were you the past week? You know I was going to have a party because a new pony moved in a few days ago, but since you weren’t here I can’t. You know because you are my best friend, and best friends can’t just not go to their best friends’ parties, that would be wrong. So I was looking alllll over for you, but you weren’t anywhere, and I was getting all worried that something that happened and maybe you didn’t want to be friends anymore.” Finally taking a breath her face formed a small frown, but then quickly was brought back to her usual ear-to-ear grin. “But you’re here and now we can have the party!”

She jumped in the air and hung in space for a good four seconds before falling.

“So, yeah. Well what I was going to say was I want you to help me arrange a surprise for Sweetie Belle when she gets home. You see, her friend, Candy Jewel from Canterlot is visiting with her family this week, and those two haven’t seen each other for months. Sweetie tells me about her all the time, so when I got word that she was coming to town I decided to surprise her!”

“That’s great Rarity! What do want me to do?”

“I need your help to come up with a way of surprising her and bringing her back from school so she can be led properly to where the surprise will take place. Think you can handle that?”

“Okey dokey lokey, I can get off work right about” She paused for a moment, “now! Let’s go!”

Big Macintosh was resting under the shade of an apple tree, his hay was in his mouth and he had taken to a nap. The rounds were easy today so he got off early, since this was the day of the final apple harvest for the season he didn’t need to gather much more than the few stragglers that still maintained their grip on the branches.

He sighed blissfully in his sleep, having a pleasant dream such as this was uncommon for him. He usually would have plain old dreams where he would be doing the same thing he did when he was awake working. Most of the time he had good dreams something would go awry later that day, so he had learned to watch out after he had had one. This one however wasn’t just a step above a good dream; it was amazing he had done what he had wanted to do for years with-.

“Big Macintosh! Git up!”

The startled stallion woke with a start as the unexpected noise rang in his ears. “G’afternoon AJ” replied the red coated farmer.

Applejack looked at him with scorn clearly embedded in her expression. Upon closer inspection she’d noticed that he had gone hard and sighed in frustration, “Ya know there’s still work to do, ya don’t just have to buck the apples outa the tree. Ya have to bring ‘em back to the barn cellar too, and put that away while ya work, we don’t want Applebloom wondering what it is.

Big Mac yawned heavily and stood up, silently cursing her for ruining his ‘fun’ while getting back to work. He had just attached his yoke to the apple cart when something caught his attention. He smelt smoke. His ears perked up as he realized what was going on. Applejack however, was completely oblivious to the matter and scolded him for stopping. She started to get angry; he wouldn’t listen or even acknowledge her, “Big Ma-“

He put his hoof to her mouth, “Stop” he commanded. To Applejack he almost seemed scared.

“What are you doin’ Big Mac?” she whispered now getting worried herself. It was odd for him to be serious about anything at all, but stopping work just to examine some new smell was completely unlike him.

“Don’t ya smell that?” he replied.

“Smell wha-“ she sniffed the air. There was a scent on the wind and it grew stronger each passing moment. “Dear Celestia, is that… smoke?”

“Eeyup” He replied in his monotone fashion, only his voice was solemn. With that he rushed to the barn, not detaching the cart harness from his yoke the cart; he flew through the open doors. Grabbing the few kegs of hard cider carefully prepared by Granny Smith, their barrel of lamp oil, and a box of pitch matches, he headed out of the barn.

Applejack, staring at him and his antics, couldn’t comprehend what he was going to do until he lit the first match. He attached it to the rim of the bunghole of the first barrel; the same was done to the other two barrels and the keg of oil. The bungholes of the containers were then pulled off simultaneously by a string system that he’d devised for the cart he was carrying, and the liquids immediately caught on fire while falling to the ground below, charring the grass.

She couldn’t help but gape at what he was doing. The purpose wasn’t clear to her at first, but as he started running she knew what was going to happen. He was going to back burn the entire area around Sweet Apple Acres, and probably Fluttershy’s cottage (Applejack knew he always had had a soft spot for her, and wouldn’t let anything harm her as long as he was concerned).

Big Macintosh’s pace quickened as he finally saw the enormity of the blaze looming ahead of him; it was a wall of flames and distorted light rapidly contorting itself towards the farm and hut. The effect of his own fire not coming anything even close to an ember compared to what confronted him. Even though the wooded area in between the orchard and path way to the cottage was quickly igniting, it didn’t seem like the pre-burned strip of foliage would be able to halt the coming flames, but this was all to be had.

He neared the small cobblestone road while a terrified yellow pegasus gazed his oncoming figure in horror. Paralyzed with fear, fire coming in towards her house and now a seemingly crazed Big Mac approaching her; she didn’t know why her day was going so horribly out of turn.

The only words that the farmer pony could offer were, “Fire!”

Pinkie couldn’t contain her excitement as she helped Rarity and Candy Jewel into the mannequin suits. They were going to lead Sweetie into the inspiration room where she would be coaxed into helping Pinkie find some trivial piece of thread somewhere up high. The following mess would result in party decorations erupting from nearly every concealable surface and the two mannequins in disguise will pop out of their costumes and reveal themselves to Sweetie Belle.

All the preparations were in place and it was nigh time for class to be dismissed. Pinkie bounced all the way there saying hi over excitedly to everypony that crossed her path, or she theirs.

As Pinkie neared the school building she could hear the boring lecture of pre-alicornian times being preached by Cheerilee. She felt sorry for all those foals cooped up in there probably dying of boredom at that very second. Suddenly, she got the idea to play ding dong ditch as a relief to the poor foals in there as she proceeded to knock on the doors of the school house.

“Since the three tribes had merged together the snow had begun to melt, and-“ Cheerilee was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. She sighed; it was probably another late foal again. When she got to the door, a thought dawned upon her. Wait why a late student would arrive five minutes before class is dismissed. Again she sighed, and opened the door. Not surprisingly there was nopony there, and giggling could be heard from somewhere around the corner of the building. Cheerilee knew it was Pinkie but didn’t want to bother with her when she should soon be relaxing in her home, or out to the market to buy whatever it was that ponies constantly needed to buy.

She walked back down to the chalkboard. Most of the quiet chatter dying away as the foals noticed their teacher was no longer distracted. Cheerilee stood there for a moment, unsure of where to begin where she left off. But before being able to continue her lesson the bell rung, and, as usual, the CMC were off. But this time she had noticed that Pinkie’s knocking had caused the nail holding up the handle of a certain lantern had become loose, and was going to fall. The moment she realized what was going to happen she was too late; Applebloom and friends were all ready at the door when she stated her warning, and before she knew it, half the wall was up in flames.

A clamor of terrified fillies and colts sprouted, in an unexpected volume as the tendrils of heat licked up the sides of the wall and across the swiftly burning ceiling as it did so.

Watching as her home collapsed around her, the magenta school teacher had to fight an immense battle with herself as she fought to come out of the semi-comatose state of shock she was in. She managed to get three of her students to snap out of it and rush to the back door to safety. Noticing only three members of her responsibility around her, the blood drained from her face as viewed her home, lively hood, and an unknown number of her students being devoured by the onslaught of the fire.

One of the fillies that Cheerilee had managed to herd outside now spoke to her in a soothing voice one would not think possible from somepony that had just been through all that. “Don’t worry Miss Cheerilee” those huge purple rimmed glasses were absent from her face after having lost them in her haste, “We’re still here aren’t we?”

Around the corner of the school, Pinkie Pie wasn’t on her haunches giggling from the success of her very old prank. When she got up to go knock again she heard the bell followed by two large thumping noises, followed by a strange whooshing like sound.

Applebloom, quickly followed by Sweetie Belle, rushed out of the door screaming. They left the door ajar revealing to Pinkie and the rest of the ensuing crowd spires of flame licking around and about its surroundings. The bright radiant light from the flames cast shadows upon Scootaloo, and the two colts left standing in the door way making only their silhouettes visible to the onlookers.

While the two colts managed to get out of harms’ way, a dazed Scootaloo hadn’t such luck being that she had collided head first with the wall, and was half awake after her midday nap. She didn’t realize that there was a fire until everypony else started screaming. When she actually saw the fire coming closer to her, she froze and panicked. Unfortunately the spell of shock wasn’t able to release itself from her before the tendrils of heat jabbed against both of her flanks searing the flesh and all the hair on her hind legs and lower body. Half of her tail had been singed off before she was able to clamber out of the school house. Tears of pain stung her eyes as she limped out to the crowd, smelling the aroma of her own cooked flesh she started heaving. The acidic chunky liquid splattering on cobblestone surface of the road she collapsed on.

Pinkie however, did not have time to see this as she was chasing after Sweetie Belle who was franticly making her way to the CMC tree house with Applebloom. Pinkie was calling out to them but they just kept running, not even bothering to look back at their pursuer.

In their rush none of them noticed the change of the wind and the direction of the smoke drifting over town.

Candy Jewel coughed in her suit. It had no eye or mouth openings making it hard to breathe out; this was made worse by the fact that the fabric was thick and taut.

“Miss Rarity?”

“Yes Candy?”

“Do we have to stay in here for much longer?”

“Don’t worry about it. Pinkie will come, if anyone can keep a promise it’s her” somehow Candy didn’t feel so sure about this. Pinkie should have been coming back with Sweetie Belle at most fifteen minutes, but it felt now like it had been twice that long, and it was stuffy in there.

“Miss Rarity, it’s hot in here” she had begun sweating at about five minutes in to the ordeal. Now she was soaked and uncomfortable, worst of all was not being able to move. They were put into certain positions that Rarity had devised so that they it would emphasize them when translucent banners of fabric were shot from the corners of the ceiling that passed in front of the windows and shone multicolored light down upon the room, accenting the contrasting hues already part of the room. Now it seemed as though a large cloud had passed through the sun as it began to grow darker faster than it usually would during this time of the year (early fall).

“Yes, I suppose it is getting a bit warm in here”

“Can I take the costume off?”

Rarity sighed, “I suppose, but when you hear them come inside you better get right back in it” she knew that something was up now. Pinkie wouldn’t usually take this long, in fact because Pinkie was helping; Rarity thought that she would be early.

Rarity decided to stay inside the mannequin costume just in case Pinkie and Sweetie came in quickly, but had cast a spell on the material around her eyes allowing her to see through.

Suddenly they heard a loud snapping sound coming from the outside, it seemed close to them, and when Rarity looked outside she saw that the whole of the houses across the street were enflamed. The blood drained from her face making her even whiter than she already was.

“What’s wrong Miss Rarity?” Candy was oblivious to what was happening, for she was too short to look out of the window with her.

Rarity was speechless, she wanted to warn Candy, she had to warn Candy, but she couldn’t. The only words she managed to pull from her mouth were “The fire-erk sto-o”

“What was that Miss Rarity? Ponyville has a fireworks store?”

And then as if on cue, the splatter-painted building opposite to the boutique exploded in a brilliant aura of color and light as splinters of fiery wood large and small rocketed towards the surrounding structures, their catching alight was made that much easier as the initial shockwave blew out the windows allowing flames to the inside of the homes and businesses.

Rarity and Candy, being in front of one of the windows, were showered with glass and Rarity with various embers of wood chips. They both screamed Rarity out of pain and Candy out of fear. The glass and splinters embedded themselves in Rarity’s skin giving her painful burns.

One of the bigger pieces of blazing timber lodged itself in Rarity’s bedroom causing her house to quickly catch fire. It spread to the lobby, so when Rarity and Candy went to escape, they were met with an inferno blocking their exit. Rarity once tried to force Candy out one of the windows but then realized that the remaining glass on the sills would gouge open her stomach before she even got half way through. Another of the flying torches crashed in the door way of the kitchen where they now had traveled since it was mostly untouched by the previous events.

They were now trapped in the room struggling to stay calm during their plight. The fire was closing in on them as they had to back up behind the fridge Rarity had repositioned as a shield. Both of them were in hysterics, as they made their final partings with each other, then Rarity had an idea. She was going to teleport them out of there to safety, but since Rarity wasn’t one to practice magic much she had to wait for it to work.

“Get inside the fridge!”

Candy went in without hesitation being mute from anxiety, choking from the smoke and her heaving sobs.

Rarity went in after her and closed the door. Embracing Candy she started to work the spell picturing Zecora’s hut in her mind while closing her eyes. She just had to get them their before the fridge melted in on itself. Somehow she doubted that it would work.

“Wait! Sweetie Belle, Applebloom stop!”

No matter how much the pink mare had outrun them, shouted for them, and physically halted their advance. They wouldn’t listen, when they had looked back at the scene at the school house, they thought that they had killed Scootaloo, and likely burned the whole city. They wouldn’t stop because they were afraid of the consequences, and were filled with guilt at what they thought caused the loss of their friend.

They were now speeding towards their tree house kicking up dust from the parched earth bellowed them as they grew closer to Sweet Apple Acres. They saw Big Macintosh off to the side. How can he be so calm? thought Applebloom as they passed his sleeping figure.

Upon reaching the tree house the two present members of the CMC flew up the ladder and holed themselves up in the tree house covering the window, and locking the door. Pinkie heard their muffled sobs along with occasional vomiting caused by that horribly obscene scene they viewed before becoming out of sight.

She no longer was going to make Sweetie come even though she knew that Rarity and Candy would be so disappointed when she didn’t return with her. Pinkie pushed away the curtain in front of the glassless window just enough so she could see what was happening inside. They were embracing each other crying in each other’s hold. There was a yellowish liquid dripping on the floor from the trash can they had been emptying their stomachs into.

The hoof-painted pictures on the wall saddened Pinkie seeing all the happy figures in the midst of the misery that the two (and almost certainly three) fillies were experiencing. Their grief like a shadow over the joyous smiling depictions of themselves, and loved ones on the oak surface of their tree house.

Pinkie thought she should try to go in and make them feel better, but she thought against it knowing that it would just make them more distressed to be thinking about their friend.

So in low spirits, Pinkie finally left the tree house and solemnly trudged the way back to Ponyville, her mane had lost its volume at that point; she knew something had happened to somepony and didn’t want to accept the loss of anypony, even ones that didn’t exactly care for her. It was too bad the Cakes were away on their anniversary in Canterlot because right now, Pinkie wasn’t in the mood to be serving people. Wait if the Cakes are gone. That means there’s no one at the bakery, and if there’s no one at the bakery with a fire going around.

She gasped as she remembered that she and the couple weren’t the only ones sharing the housing at Sugarcube Corner, and those others who were couldn’t take didn’t even know how to relieve themselves without getting it everywhere.

Pinkie shot towards the town faster than she knew even she could run (she could almost out run Rainbow Dash when she was flying if need be). The scene she arrived to was that of destruction and anarchy, as ponies fled their homes, the less decent residents of Ponyville had broken into their unlocked abodes to find anything that would strike them, or a potential buyer’s fancy. She had wanted to stop several times because of this fact, so she could knock some of her conscience into those of a shiftier demographic, but she knew better, for there was far more important business to attend to.

Sugarcube Corner wasn’t in one of the more badly hit areas of town so there was noticeably less fire and overall structural damage. Hurrying into the empty shop, and up the creaky stairs, she found that the month old foals were sound asleep in their cribs blissfully unaware of the situation unfolding around them. Pinkie Pie saw that and instantly felt better as a sigh of relief escaped her mouth when suddenly the blast of a large explosion shook the building to its foundations, and the echoing noise of fireworks rang in Pinkie’s ears. The window in the room shattered as the shockwave ran through the air and land. This awoke the twins’ peaceful slumber, which didn’t suit with them well, as they started wailing. Pinkie had also started to tear up. F-f-fireworks Inc. is next to Rarity’s. She could only imagine what her friend must be going through as well as that little filly. But she didn’t want to be distracted.

Picking Pound Cake, and Pumpkin Cake up, she tried to console them but to no avail; this, she thought, was going just like the last time she had tried to do this. She didn’t think to hurry down stairs with them being that the enflamed part of the building just a small portion of the kitchen, but Celestia knows she should have because at that moment, the gas main for the ovens caught fire. The ensuing blast was much greater than what must have been at Fireworks Inc. because the opposite side of the building to where Pinkie and the twins were was ripped apart sending its debris hundreds of feet in the air. It sent Pinkie with the twins on her back hurdling down the flight landing in a painful position at the bottom as an increasing amount of flames were eating their way towards the trio.

The fire had passed in front of each door way and window as it spread melting the glass at both the windows and counter. They were surrounded on each side as the inferno grew larger and Pinkie got to her feet. Her first instincts were to protect herself with whatever she could, so when a flame licked close to her she grabbed Pound Cake and put him in front of her almost sending the young colt alight as the tendril of flame passed inches from his face. It was now wishful thinking to think that all of them would get out alive, and Pinkie knew what she would have to do.

Blurry eyed she made her peace for the world as she dove into the wall of burning air back first with the twins locked inside her two front legs protecting them from the worst of it all. She made a mad dash for the door which was now but a pile of ashes with some surviving stands of wood still hanging to the searing wrought iron hinges, which left an imprint of her already bubbling flesh as she brushed by it.

Falling out of the engorged area Pinkie fell to the ground releasing the, for the most part, unharmed twins. Convulsing under the pain as layers upon layers of burnt skin and bubbling tissue fell off her now bald body. Both of the young ponies seeing her acting and looking this way, had tears in their eyes, and because they didn’t know yet, that somepony that had become dear to them was dying before them. Pumpkin put her head to the ground with a sad scowl just wanting to be comforted. Pinkie, kept still alive by only the spitefulness of the ones above put out the flame on Pumpkin Cakes hair with her hoof stifling the terrible ember in an instant. Pumpkin Cake looked up at the feeling and smiled at the charred piece of a once vibrant and jubilant youthful mare. In her last bout of life Pinkie managed to form a small raspy chuckle at this, although it didn’t sound like anything that could come out of any regular ponies’ mouth, it was still comforting to hear to the two, then she finally drifted off into a her untimely eternal rest, but at least knowing that the twins were to a degree safe she could be at peace.

Ditsy Doo eyed the horror she was being faced with. Through her aerial view she could see the school house catching fire and, slowly at first but then rapidly ascending in its pace, spreading throughout the west part of town. As time progressed she saw another fire start at the open space before the picturesque orchard of Sweet Apple Acres it spread in a line heading in an arching semi circle around Fluttershy’s property then to the edge of the Everfree Forest.

All this couldn’t compare to what was going through her mind right now. She was thinking of all the ways in which her daughter, Dinky, might get hurt through is all. It was a harrowing thing for her to think about, it made her anxious to think about, but her tears were held back by the fact that she hadn’t seen any sign of the inferno reaching her neighborhood.

She had been on a delivery trip to Fillydelphia, when she saw the smoke of the burning village wafting through the air currents of the bordering Everfree forest, and rushed back as soon as it occurred to her that the dark bands of sweeping air were in fact plumes of smoke rather than storm clouds.

Upon reaching the burning village she was met by ponies running towards her trying to get her to carry them off to safety, and before all kindly refusing them she noticed that she had not noticed any pony getting out of her house like all the how all the others had been doing. It surprised her because her housemate Carrot Top would normally be hopelessly lost in her hypochondriac mannerisms during an event of this magnitude, and she had taught Dinky never to leave the house without permission from her Carrot Top, or a police officer, or during an emergency such as the one happening now.

She had always been a smart one that unicorn, being able to articulate most words even before she was even a year old, and always knew what was best for her, even when her mother contradicted such practices of caution, and kind heartedness.

Today, however during an event such as this, no one was to be seen coming in or out of the house. Perhaps it was just her lazy eye just playing tricks on her again, moving without correspondence to the other properly functioning one, but she felt sure that there was no external movement coming from or to the building.

Even so, she had a bad feeling about this, and went in through the back door. She silently combed the inside of the house finding nothing of great notoriety. She was about to leave the house when she heard a muffled wince coming from the Dinky’s bedroom. It was odd, she had just checked that place before deciding to move on; now it seemed liked her ears were getting that derpy touch as well. She sighed in capitulation to her condition and pressed towards the front door. Then she heard the sound again, it was as clear as day, and sure as heck didn’t sound like any ambient sound the plumbing or crowded streets of terrified denizens would make. Unsure as to what might be found there, Ditsy hesitantly made her move into the room where the wincing could be heard more loudly before being stifled by an unknown source. Quietly walking into the room she listened for any more sounds that could be found in there. Then she heard soft hoof steps coming in from behind her as she made her way into the room.

Turning around she was met by a marble coated earth pony stallion with a contrasting chocolate mane. His cutie mark was concealed with a grey sort of cloak or tarp that ran up and down the length of his stout body. He held a small single-bladed katar in his mouth, glaring at her to get back before coming in, and shutting the door behind him. “Shtay back” he commanded coldly then smiled “show me vere you keep your bitsh” Ditsy didn’t know what to say. She was disgusted that somepony could take the opportunity of a situation like this to rob people of their possessions; it would’ve been comical to hear this pony struggling to talk with that thing in his mouth if the situation was different.

“Why would you want our bits they’re plenty more valuables in this house then you’ve probably seen in your whole life” sounded a muffled voice from inside the spacious wardrobe in near where Ditsy was standing.

“Hut up bish! Or I’re shishe your whore tongue out.” He shouted having difficulty speaking with the elaborate tool in this maw.

Ditsy’d had enough of this sadistic foalish aggressor, she wanted to beat him out of her home and all the way hell for what he could have done. She had noticed that she hadn’t heard or seen Dinky during her search and the following events.

“Carrot, where’s Dinky?”

“In here with me, and she’s fine” Carrot Top reassured her. “But she has a gag around her mouth”

The pony didn’t let them have their chat any longer. “I shed vere ah uh bitsh?” He’d had enough delay and wanted to get out before the fire spread to this house. He backed Ditsy into a corner away from the exit and wardrobe so she couldn’t escape or let the others escape. He figured that she wasn’t going to tell him anything from her previous stubborn demeanor, and boldness, so he decided to teach her a lesson, trying to give her a small gash on her face. When he swung however, the thrusting step he took was upon small exercise ball, and slipped falling to the floor, dropping his katar as he did so.

Ditsy took this opportunity to launch the discarded weapon out of the way with a powerful flap of her wings. She then quickly flew over him and unlocked the wardrobe door to let her friend and daughter out. The klutzy stallion on the floor had gotten up by this time, and rushed to retrieve his weapon, but Ditsy had seen this coming, and tackled him from behind coming to him in her furry, they landed in a heap, the katar being just out of his reach. They brawled on the floor for a few minutes; Ditsy had the advantage being larger and faster, but unbeknownst to her, he was slowly dragging them towards the slowly approaching weapon.

She had been punching him in the face and his there was a large gash on his forehead dripping over his eyes, obscuring his vision. When he felt that they were close enough to the katar for him to make his move. Thrusting his hoof towards the weapon, had missed several times, but luckily for him Ditsy hadn’t came to a conclusion as to why he was leaving himself so open before he got a hold on the katar. He brought the cold blade up to her face, seeing this she had tried to avoid his attack but succeed only in getting a large laceration down the length of her neck. She cried out in pain while her attacker pushed her off of himself. Putting the katar back inside his mouth, he stuck at her again, yet even in her weakened state she jumped out of the way.

Ditsy knew she wouldn’t get lucky again with another exercise ball, so the most she could do was just avoid his slashes hoping that he’d get wore out enough for her to beat him back to the ground again. Luck certainly wasn’t on her side, as the thief got an idea. He’d noticed that Carrot Top, and Dinky hadn’t been able to get entirely loose yet, and approached them, his eyes looking menacing. As he was about to strike, he flung his head back expecting an attack from Ditsy, but she had remained where she had been prior to his move, and she didn’t look at all concerned. This confused him, though not as much as what happened next.

He was engulfed in a grey-pink aura as he felt himself being flung against the wall, hitting a framed, glass covered finger painted Dinky had made. The shards embedded themselves in his back making him send out a throaty cry before falling to the floor. The katar was again released from his mouth, falling to the floor, almost skewering him as he landed hard on the carpet. Ditsy took the fallen tool, and used it to unbind Carrot, and Dinky from their rope imprisonment inside the wardrobe. The robber took a longer time to get up this time, and decided that this wasn’t worth the trouble tried to jump out the window. He was met however, with a solid plexiglass surface that barred the light opening.

As he had gotten up once more he found himself surrounded by the three, Dinky had managed to get him levitating in the air despite being only three years of age.
Then a whistling sound rang through their ears and slowly grew until, a large firework burst through the ceiling, and struck the stallion, its sharp point had lodged itself in his head killing him instantly. It saved him from experiencing even greater horrors though as the fuse rapidly shortened before setting the large charge off splitting him in half length wise, sending the flesh and bone from his upper half splattering across the room showering everything with blood, and flaming pieces of pony. Dinky had only barely been able to cast a shield in front of the three before it all happened. The sight was appalling; the very air that they were breathing seemed to be filled with the evaporated fluids of the recently deceased pony. The room quickly gained a new sheen of red, as the fire started to enrage.
More of the rockets seemed to descend out of nowhere crashing into the house and all others surrounding it. Most of the rooms had been hit, and they had to constantly reroute their course because of the encroaching flames blocking their path. They had just crossed into the lobby of the house that connected with the living room, but Dinky had stopped before the door way in a fit of coughing that wracked her body. When her mother saw that she was no longer following her and Carrot Top she went back to go lead her out, hoof and hoof. It was too late to go get her, however because a flaming rafter had fallen from the ceiling blocking the door way. Ditsy and Dinky both shrieked at this, and finding that there was no other way out from the living room, Dinky tried to teleport herself to the welcoming embrace of her mother. Before this could happen, another rafter, this time from inside the living room, had fallen right in front of her barley missing her face, but what it didn’t miss was her horn.
Her horn had snapped clean off from the base, pouring out viscous magical fluid, mixed with blood from her forehead. Dinky wailed in agony, as she felt the nerves being ripped from her head along with the velvet skin that grew around horns as they do around deer’s antlers.
More of the timbers began to fall from the ceiling, one catching Dinky in its hold, crushing her small body underneath it. Tears sprung from each of their eyes, as they realized that she couldn’t be saved. Her suffering was spread out as she didn’t rupture any of her vital organs from the ordeal, but with the flames quickly gathering around her, it was only a matter of time. Ditsy couldn’t bear to see anypony, infinitely less her daughter being slowly crushed and burned to death while still alive. Carrot Top had to stop her from bursting through the flames to vainly attempt to save her forsaken foal, so she wouldn’t kill herself.
Being dragged from the burning house, Ditsy was pouring her very soul out through her eyes. Now they both collapsed on the cobblestone street away from the flames, being emotionally and physically drained from all these horrors. They wept and wept wanting nothing but this all to be a just a horrible sick nightmare, until finally succumbing to sleeps’ welcoming arms amidst a fiery, desolate backdrop.

Rarity shrieked in agony as she felt the walls of the melting refrigerator, crisping her skin, and shooting pins, and needles throughout her entire body. With Candy in her hooves she couldn’t fail, and even if she herself had died it from the after burn, she would have giving her life to save one’s who had just recently begun.
The spell was finally taking shape as she felt herself being rocketed away, finding herself with Candy still thankfully in her embrace, outside of Zecora’s hut. Candy was unconscious from the fright of the moment, so Rarity had to painfully trudge still holding Candy in an awkward position, to the door.
Zecora answered the slight knocking she was shocked to see that Rarity was covered with large red and black pieces of something she guessed to be skin from the pain she’d seen in her eyes. No knowledge of the fire had come to Zecora as of yet, and she was entirely shocked to hear, from what Rarity knew happened. Neither of them could guess what could have caused the fire; it was all very curious indeed.
The two had little time to converse, for Rarity was in a great deal of pain, it was relieved somewhat by the bath that was brewed by Zecora to alleviate burns, but the whole thing had just sapped all the energy out of Rarity. She slept upright in the caldron while, Candy was on a thick brush mat on the floor underneath a sturdy shelf of various regents and herbs.
Candy awoke with a start about ten minutes after Rarity had drifted off, to observe a strange new order of surroundings , with a idol masks, and strange brightly colored bottles littering uneven wooden shelves suspended with diagonal support beams on their widthwise corners. What startled her most was that an oddly patterned earth pony was filling a caldron with this strange green pulpy mass, that also housed Rarity, and she had disgusting burns, and disfigurements adorning nearly her entire body.
With no other reaction she saw fit, and in a panic she meekly screamed before coughing grey powder from her lungs. She backed away wide eyed when the zebra turned and approached her. Her fear quickly gave way, as she saw the genuine compassion in those yellow eyes of hers, it was comforting to see, and she felt now to want just to be comforted by that strange pony.
When Zecora went to talk to the unfamiliar filly on the floor, Candy was surprised by her constant rhyming monotone.
“Hello little one, I see you haven’t had much fun. But the mare will get well, because as you and I can tell. Her gentle snoring is roaring and roaring.” rhymed Zecora cheerily.
“What’s gonna happen now?” Candy asked.
“We shall get you home, not having much to roam. So, we should go with haste, because with hardships you shall face, if your parents find you not, cause that will likely make their spirits rot!”
That finished their conversation, and Zecora had left Candy some food, for her journey, and wards against the dangerous animals that lived inside the Everfree. This left Rarity, and Zecora alone, which didn’t bother Zecora much; she hadn’t really been accustomed to having ponies stay in her abode, and carried on with her normal business. The night grew fast, and with Rarity still not awakening, Zecora decided to catch up on some rest herself.
Zecora was in the midst of a glorious dream of being back in her homeland. She was welcome back by her friends and family they had a huge feast welcoming her return. However, their village chief thought that living in that foreign land for so long, had corrupted her, and condemned her to exile, but being craft as she was, Zecora had produced a disguise for herself so she could still live in the village with her loved ones. Unfortunately, the chief caught on to this, and had her commissioned for a public execution in the village hall.
Her executioner had started the process by making an incision with a blunt wooden utensil that serrated her back, and the pouring salt over it, beat her wound harshly, until she was unconscious. A sort of smelling salt was used to wake her up again, as alcohol was being drenched in her coat. Watching the match being slowly lowered onto her body, she waited in agonizing anticipation for her final minutes to come.
Zecora shot up from her bed, to see her home being devoured by flames. They were blocking every exit; Rarity had just woken up also, and was screaming at the top of her lungs. It was as if the flames were following her.

She watched in horror as Rarity was boiled alive to nothing more than pure white bone, which also then carbonized, and disintegrated in the heat after all the liquid in the caldron was evaporated. Zecora knew she was next, her bed quickly caught fire, and before bounding out of it, her tail caught on fire. It was useless to stop it now, for she then was caught in the inferno, becoming multicolored from the chemicals that were stored in the hut.

The same fate had rapidly befallen the rest of the Everfree as Cloudsdale was choked from the wafting smoke, and brought above their normal suitable elevation from the updraft. The weather ponies there could do nothing to stop the humungous fire that they had worked so hard to put out in Ponyville, only to come back with greater force ravaging the whole forest, and taking out the rest of the town save one building: the library.

Candy not being totally outside of the Everfree as of yet only barely managed to retain her life by jumping into a lake. She didn’t want to think about what had happened to Rarity, and that nice strange pony with the rhymes.

Fluttershy was breathing heavily along with Big Macintosh though not for the same reasons. Fluttershy having been so frightened from the experience, while the latter having run several miles carrying with him on his cart 4 vast containers of liquid, and a terrified yellow pegasus.

Despite what Fluttershy first thought of Big Mac’s plan, it worked like a charm, only burning minimal parts of the required vegetation while retaining the fire to only Ponyville proper. The original fire, and back burn were both put out successfully by the professional weather team from Cloudsdale.

Fluttershy congratulated the red earth pony on his tremendous success, and admitted to him some things that she would have never thought she would to anypony at all, but now that she got them off her chest it made them both happy.

It was as it was a joyous walk back to their homes for both of them until they had noticed that one of the embers discarded by the weather team as nothing had started to rage. Mac had no more of the hard cider or lamp oil left to back burn this fire, and even if he, it would have just added to the flames.

Big Mac, put down all of what he was carrying, and headed toward town for help while Fluttershy did so in the air. All help that had been gathered though had been dispatched back to Cloudsdale after all the fires (or so they thought) were extinguished.

It burned throughout the whole town once more and into the Everfree way off into the night. The only structure to survive was the library being protected by a shield of Twilight’s craft and housed all of the survivors in the village, save Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle, who watched the whole scene unfold once more from the safety of their isolated tree house.

In total over twenty had died, the death count not being higher only because of the fact that it was market day and most ponies were out of their homes at this time. But no one was left untouched, everyone losing something, or somepony (ies) in the ravaging blaze.

There had to be disaster relief shelters built on the charred earth of the Everfree, and a new graveyard had to be dug. It was the worst recorded fire even before the time of Celestia.

I had lost Zecora, Rarity, and Pinkie to the fire, some of the best friends I had ever made in my entire life, and Spike. Spike. He was like my brother, I hatched him from that egg many years ago, I gave him life, and I couldn’t imagine the thought of losing him. He’d smothered himself in his sleep when he found out that Rarity had died. I had always told him that he never had a chance with her, now he’s paying the price for it. Until the fire. Now I feel like nopony had ever been in my life before, and was never going to be allowed in again. I had abandoned them when they tried to comfort me, in my time of need. In ‘their’ time of need, I didn’t even bother to acknowledge them whenever they confronted me.

My close friends stayed in my home while all of theirs were being rebuilt; except for Rainbow Dash hadn’t been there to witness the whole thing. I was envious of her, seeing badly burned and dying ponies being dragged into my home while the shield was up. That shield. I didn’t see why it was at all fair that I got to keep my home while other’s lost everything. That guilt ate at me and ate at me until I cracked. I’m an uncaring good for nothing bitch that lives cooped up in her tree all day staring at the ceiling from her bed.

I had given up reading, now knowing that no amount of reading could ever fix this mess, I didn’t see what the bother was to study anymore know that there wasn’t anything to study for.
Celestia sent me a lot of letters they were about how she knew how I felt, bah how could she know what I know. I lost everything in this ‘accident’! I hate the everypony for how they can just get through this as if it were just another bad day. I’m envious of everypony who can get over this as if it were just another bad day.
But there isn’t anything that matters much to me anymore. I just hope that after these pills take effect, I’ll finally be at peace, and be able to see my friends again… I don’t have any friends.