Chapter Eight – Pinkie Pie

Twilight had finally woken up. The nurse had told Pinkie that, moments ago. Without even asking for permission, Pinkie had galloped right through the ER and found Twilight lying down in a hospital bed. She looked very tired, and her usually lavender coat was very pale. Even so, she managed to smile when Pinkie came in her room.

"Hey Pinkie…" Was all Twilight could manage before the pink mare cut her off with a bear hug.

"Oh Twilight I'm so glad your okay!" Pinkie practically sobbed.

"Thanks…Pinkie…now please….stop hugging me!" Twilight got out. Pinkie released her friend, blushing a little.

"I'm sorry Twilight." then, "This is all my fault." She said, on the brink of tears.

Twilight looked at her friend. "Pinkie, you can't possibly blame all this on yourself." She said.

"But it's true." Pinkie said. "None of this would have happened if I hadn't tried so hard to be Frostburn's friend."

Twilight shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense, Pinkie."

"Of course it doesn't. I'm Pinkie!" She cried. Twilight might've laughed if the situation had been better.

"Pinkie, don't feel bad about this. We had no idea what could have possibly come from trying to get Frostburn to your party."

Pinkie didn't look the least bit consoled. "I can't even have the party now. Not with so many of my friends in the hospital. And how could we have left Rainbow Dash to fight that…that…" Pinkie, for once in her life, was at a loss for words.

"Frostburn." Twilight said. The name sounded heinous as she said it. An unknown entity, unlike anything they had fought before. And Dash was facing it all by herself. "Without AJ, we can't hope to try the Elements of Harmony."

"I don't even know where Rarity and Fluttershy might be." Pinkie said, dismal. "This isn't good Twilight. I can't find one positive spin on this. Not one." Her hair straightened as guilt weighed down heavily on the party pony.

Sitting up, still a tad dizzy, Twilight put her hoof around Pinkie's shoulder. "We'll figure this out. Besides, Dash is tough, I'm sure she'll…"

Before the purple unicorn could console her friend further, an explosion from outside rocked the hospital. Turning to the window, Pinkie saw a storm of fire above Ponyville. In the center of the burning torrent, a cyan pegasus seemed to be constantly thrown back and forth. Twilight got a worried look on her face. "Rainbow…" she said, trailing off.

Suddenly, Pinkie felt her tail twitch. Then, to the misfortune of both ponies, they saw Rainbow Dash thrown from cyclone, and slam into the ground as Pinkie's tail had predicted.

"We have to help her!" Pinkie screamed. Almost as fast as she arrived, Pinkie left the hospital. Twilight left too, but she hadn't yet gotten her energy back and was lagging behind.

By now all of Ponyville was awake, and outside, causing a panic. Pinkie Pie didn't stop for anyone. She had to get to Rainbow. Above her head, Frostburn was turning his cyclone into a full-blown tornado. The inferno hit the town hard, incinerating three houses when it touched down. Half of Ponyville was running away, while others tried to fight the fire with anything they could. Not that garden hoses and watering pails would be very effective.

Pinkie finally reached her pegasus friend. Rainbow had yet to climb out of the small crater her fall had caused. Fearing the worst, Pinkie went to her friend. After a moment, Rainbow Dash coughed, and sat up, looking very defeated.

"Pinkie…" She coughed out. "I'm so sorry…It's all my fault"

"It's more my fault than yours." Pinkie argued. "I shouldn't have tried so hard to get Frostburn to come to my party."

"And I chased him into the Everfree Forest." Dash said.

The flaming tornado was raging in a path towards the two ponies. Already Pinkie could feel the heat on her face. They wouldn't have enough time to get away.

"I guess now where both going to die because of it." She said. Looking up, she saw that the tornado was about to hit them. Both mares shut their eyes and waited for the inevitable.

But it didn't come.

Opening their eyes, Pinkie and Rainbow saw Twilight standing above them, holding a force field to keep the torching twister at bay. The lavender mare struggled to hold her magic together, still a little weak, but no less determined. Pinkie's hair poofed out as she realized they may still have a chance.

The tornado dissipated into thin air. Surprised, the three ponies saw Frostburn drifting down in front of the force field.

"Frostburn!" Pinkie cried at him. "You stop this right now! Friends do not burn down other friends' towns!" If the fire pegasus heard Pinkie, he made no move to acknowledge it. Instead, pelted the forced field with a barrage of flames.

"Pinkie! Don't do that, you'll just make him angrier!" Said Twilight as she desperately tried to hold the shield together. "Listen, I have an idea. Can you keep Frostburn on the ground for a few minutes?"

Looking from the struggling Twilight to the beaten down Rainbow Dash, Pinkie thought carefully. "Yes." She said, unsure if she could, but knowing she couldn't fail.

"Alright, get ready." Twilight said. At that moment, the fiery assault let up for just a moment. Twilight dropped the shield and moved off to the side, preparing a new spell. Pinkie jumped into Frostburn's line of sight.

"Hey, Frosty!" She yelled. "Consider yourself uninvited to my party!" The glowing red eyes held no expression, but Frostburn shot fire in her direction.

With her Pinkie Sense, she had already known his intentions and dodged with plenty of time. "Missed me Frosty!" she teased. Again the fire shot at Pinkie. This time she merely side stepped it.

Glancing at Twilight, Pinkie could see the unicorn producing massive amounts of magic in her horn. Before Pinkie could wonder what the plan was, the Ponyville water tower floated into view. Pinkie got a grin as she realized Twilight's plan. That water tower had already vanquished an Ursa Minor, surely it could extinguish Frostburn.

The fire pegasus had also noticed the water tower as it was levitated into view. He shot a beam of fire at it, in an attempt to stop its course. At that moment, Twilight released the water inside. The gallons of ice cold liquid rushed free from its container, vanquishing the en route fire blast, and dousing Frostburn.

As the steam cleared, Frostburn swayed slightly, his flames completely extinguished. Slowly his wings folded back into his sides, and his eyes once again flickered back to their bronze tinting. Then he slumped over, unconscious.

Twilight set the water tower down gently. Pinkie rushed over to her, keeping her from falling down.

"You did it!" Pinkie said. Twilight grinned, and steadied herself. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike suddenly came running over to them, happy to see that their friends were still alive.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, I'm so glad you guys are okay!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twilight that was amazing!" Spike said ecstatically.

"Yes, I thought so too." Rarity said. "But I am curious as to what happened here."

"Yeah," Spike said. "What's been going on?"

"It's a long story." Rainbow Dash said, still in the crater. Rarity and Fluttershy both turned to her. "A really long story."

"Oh my, Rainbow do you need help?" Fluttershy asked concerned. Dash nodded, relieved that this whole mess seemed to be over with.

"Definitely, just don't go spreading it around that I couldn't beat that pegasus. I don't need something like that wreaking my rep."

"There's no shame in it." Twilight said. "Did you see his command of fire? It was at an unreal level."

"Why do I seem to miss all the excitement around here?" Rarity complained. "I at least hope somepony can vividly tell me what in Equestria has been going on."

"Look, we'll have plenty of time to explain everything." Twilight said, exhausted from the fight. "But I think right now, we should go back to the hospital."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie Pie said, feeling a little happier now that the crisis was averted. "But what are we going to do about him?" She said, indicating the unconscious Frostburn.

The ponies all looked at each other, none really sure what to do with the dangerous pegasus. Clearly he couldn't be allowed to leave after the things he'd done, but Ponyville didn't exactly have a penitentiary, what with the lack of crime and all.

"I have an idea." Twilight said. Next Chapter: Awakening Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 51 Minutes