Chapter Seven – Rainbow Dash

Fire engulfed Sweet Apple Acres. And all Rainbow Dash could do was watch in horror.

Down below, Applejack was thrown back by the sheer force of the inferno, which left burns covering her entire body. Big Mac fared no better. Apple trees were incinerated by the fire ball that now engulfed Frostburn.

Barely avoiding the explosion unscathed, Rainbow hovered in awe at the destruction. The raging inferno had reached its peak, and now grew smaller by the second. It was still the size of a house though.

The cyan pegasus immediately swooped down to check on AJ and Big Macintosh. They looked severely burned, AJ's favorite hat was ashy and soot covered, her mane, though still existent, was singed black in most places. Her usual orange coat was covered in red and pink burn marks. Her left, hind leg had puss coming out of it.

Rainbow nearly threw up. Upon glancing at Big Mac, she did throw up.

The stallion looked far worse than his sister. One leg was completely bent out of shape, on account of being slammed into a tree. His coat was burnt and charred, mane smoking and covered in ash. One eye was swollen shut, and he wheezed with every breath.

At least he's breathing. Dash thought. The fireball beside her was almost burnt out, but heat was still radiating from it, causing the cyan pegasus to sweat. Ignoring the heat, she cradled Applejack's head, unsure of what to do.

"Rainbow! What in Equestria happened?" Twilight and Pinkie rushed forward, after finally catching up to Rainbow Dash. Only they were all too late.

"What happened to Applejack and Big Mac?" Pinkie cried.

"We need to get them to Ponyville Hospital, now!" Twilight said.

Rainbow nodded, and noticed that the blaze was finally gone. Expecting to see the charred body of Frostburn, if there was any body at all; Rainbow looked as the smoked cleared.

Instead what the ponies saw shocked them all.

Frostburn was standing on the scorched earth, wings extended, body ignited in flames, eyes glowing a fierce red.

"That's not possible." Dash said. Twilight didn't know what to say.

"Uh, Frostburn…" Pinkie attempted to say. The glowing red eyes of Frostburn flickered back to bronze irises. He gripped his head as if in extreme pain. A sharp shriek of agony rang out. Then the red glow returned. A fireball formed in his hoof, which Frostburn flung directly at Pinkie.

She shrieked, but at the last moment Twilight threw up a force field. The flames smashed into the shield, leaving the ponies it guarded unharmed.

"Twilight, Pinkie, you have to get these two to safety." Rainbow said, indicating the wounded farmer ponies.

"What are you going to do?" Pinkie asked, terrified.

Dash looked her pink friend dead in the eye. "I'm going to stop him." She said.

"But Rainbow you can't…" Pinkie started. Twilight stopped her by teleporting the four of them away in a blinding flash of light. They were out of the farm, and hopefully at the hospital.

Dash turned to stare at Frostburn, or rather, what used to be Frostburn. His red eyes held her gaze.

Time stood still.

Then a fire ball was hurled at Rainbow Dash.

The force field was long gone, causing Dash to duck to the side, just missing the blaze. "That all you got?" She cried at the burning pegasus. He prepared another fireball.

Knowing she couldn't dodge forever, Dash opened her wings and flew off. The wisp of flames in Frostburn's hoof died down. His eyes followed Rainbow Dash's flying, before using his own wings to take off in pursuit.

-\-

Twilight, Pinkie, and the Apple siblings flashed into Ponyville Hospital. A nearby nurse whinnied in shock. Twilight, exhausted after teleporting four ponies a great distance, collapsed on the floor. Only Pinkie could speak.

"What? Where are we Twilight?" She asked.

"Hospital…teleport…uhh.." Twilight passed out. Pinkie looked at the startled nurse.

"Please you have to help my friends." She pleaded. The nurse, upon taking a single look, knew all three of the unconscious ponies needed medical attention. She immediately called some nearby doctors, and the carefully moved the injured into the urgent care unit. Pinkie unfortunately could not follow. Instead she was forced to pace around the tiled floor of the waiting room, hoping her friends would pull through.

She also couldn't help but wonder what had become of Rainbow Dash and Frostburn. Had the snow blue pegasus caused that fire somehow? Most likely, given what he seemed capable of now, but how was it possible? Would Rainbow be okay left alone with him? What was with those glowing red eyes that seemed to breathe hatred?

The worst part was, Pinkie couldn't help but think that it was all her fault.

-\-

Rainbow soared through the night, the blazing pegasus close behind her. So close in fact, that Rainbow could smell the singing hair of her tail.

Two more fire balls whizzed past Dash's head. Risking a glance, she saw another coming right for her. Twisting in mid-air, she narrowly evaded it, and the fire smashed into a drifting cloud.

Dash needed to be more careful, while she was in front of Frostburn, she had no way of knowing when his attacks would come. What she needed was a rain cloud.

Scanning the sky, while simultaneously dodging the onslaught of fire, Dash mercifully found a small cluster of clouds up ahead.

Zooming forward, she gathered them up and pressed them into a single raincloud. Just then, Frostburn was gaining on her, nearly ready to collide. Hoping her impromptu plan would work, Dash unleashed as much rainwater from the cloud and sent it at the attacking pegasus.

It did no good. Frostburn's fire was so hot that it evaporated the rain water before it got even got close. He simply kept flying toward Rainbow. To buy time, she hurled what remained of the raincloud at her attacker and flew off.

Frostburn sliced through the cloud without a problem and accelerated toward Dash. Even going as fast as she could, Rainbow Dash could still not outpace Frostburn as he pulled up alongside her.

He crashed into the cyan pegasus repeatedly, attempting to knock her out of the sky. Even with the flaming body repeatedly hitting her, giving her burn marks of her own, Dash held firm.

She banked right, and grabbed the nearest cloud she could. This time, she slammed her hooves into the cloud causing lighting to shoot out. Frostburn avoided every bolt that came his way. Then he formed another fireball and took aim at Rainbow.

Without much time, Rainbow Dash hurled the cloud at the oncoming fireball. The two collided in mid air and exploded. Frostburn flew right through the explosion, unfazed. Dash flew off. The chase resumed.

Below, the citizens of Ponyville watched in alarm and confusion at the aerial battle taking place above their heads. Some panicked and fled. Others stood frozen in horror. The rest passed out in shock or fear.

Realizing he needed a new approach, the fire pegasus launched ahead with tremendous speed, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Dash had no hope of catching up, but she tried anyway, pushing her limit.

Suddenly, Frostburn began to circle Dash in mid-air. Before she even knew what was happening, Dash was caught in a violent, flaming cyclone. Thrown back and forth by the force of Frostburn's cyclone, Dash felt powerless. Her back became scorched, and the feathers on her wings slowly began to burn into nothing. If she didn't fly out soon, Dash was likely not to have any wings to fly with.

Without warning, Frostburn slammed into her, this time sending her falling back down to Ponyville, which by that time they were directly over.

Dash had only one thought before slamming into the ground. This is all my fault. Next Chapter: Keep the Fire Burnin' (Or Not) Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 57 Minutes