Fluttershy, Spike, and Twilight stared upwards into the smoky sky, wondering what on Equis they had just heard rumble down into their ears.
“It laughed at us.” Spike said.
“Don’t be ridiculous…” Twilight said nervously. “Smoke can’t laugh…”
Fluttershy cowered. “What if it isn’t smoke…?”
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Normal ash and soot doesn’t stick to you like this stuff…” Fluttershy said.
“That’s just part of the self-repair system.” Twilight said. “Helps keep the Fireplace from falling apart.” She frowned. She had been under the Compulsia’s influence when she realized that… Could that have been false?
They all stared up at the sky - no more noises presented themselves. It was a silent, drab atmosphere. Twilight squinted her eyes in suspicion - she still sensed something going on up there.
“Hey guys.” Starlight said. “Watcha lookin at?”
The three of them jumped.
“What? Am I absolutely terrifying?” Starlight asked, smirking.
Twilight had her hoof to her chest. “Oh, Starlight… Check yourself for Compulsia Exponentia.”
“Hm?” Starlight lit her horn, thinking for a few seconds. Then her pupils dilated. “Why you sneaky son of a-”
“Just cure yourself.” Twilight said, her frown deepening. “...We have to do something.”
Starlight growled as she adjusted her mental state. Then she smirked. “...I can start mass-removing the Compulsia from everypony in town.”
“That’s a good start.” Twilight said. “But I don’t think that solves the problem. We need to go to the source.”
“The place these things are made?” Fluttershy shrank back. “That sounds scary.”
“It probably will be.” Twilight said, rooting around the laboratory, looking for the catalog. “You don’t have to come.”
“No… No I need to.” Fluttershy said, putting her hoof down. “I will go and help you. Pinkie deserved nothing less.”
“Thanks Fluttershy.” Twilight said, looking around frantically. “...Did I burn it?”
“Maybe.” Starlight said. “But…” She closed her eyes and focused, a new catalog appearing in Twilight’s hooves. “Teleported that from… I dunno, somewhere in town.”
“Thanks.” She looked at the back. “Made in the Dragonlands, 2768 Shale Rock Boulevard…” Twilight spread her wings and readied a spell, her horn shining brilliantly. Such a long range teleport would take a lot. “Start reversing the spells Starlight.”
“On it.” Starlight agreed, teleporting away.
In a flash of violet, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike were somewhere else. They sky was mostly clear at the new location, even if it was a bit orange and ugly. The buildings were carved out of the sides of a gray mountain. The street was mostly deserted, but a few dragons could be seen slinking around or flying overhead. The few who saw them paid them no mind.
One building stood out from all the others - a large structure almost as tall as the mountain it was carved from. It had around a dozen chimneys coming out of it alone - though the smoke looked more normal than the kind seen in Ponyville. The building towered over all, making the ponies and small dragon seem insignificant. It was labelled with a large obsidian sign that read SOOT INC in Draconic.
Fluttershy gulped. This place didn’t bode well.
Twilight confidently strode up to the giant doors and rang the bell. It gonged loudly enough to shake the very ground beneath their hooves. A yellow dragon’s head stuck out of a slit in the giant doors. “What do you want?” He asked.
“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, and these are my friends Spike and Fluttershy. We are here to see mister Soot.”
“Soot’s busy.” The dragon said, looking annoyed.
Twilight twitched. ”Well then tell mister Soot that Twilight, his esteemed customer is here to see him.”
“Direct all legal complaints about Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace to the appropriate spokesperson. A.K.A., not here.”
“...Do you know who I am!?”
“Always wanted to say that…” Spike muttered.
The yellow dragon rolled his eyes. “You’re a pony princess, could care less.”
Twilight almost went nuclear right then and there, but managed to compose herself. “Spike, take a letter.”
Dear Dragonlord Ember.
I am standing in front of Soot Inc and am not being allowed to see mister Soot despite the fact that it is imperative I do so with haste. I am being barred entry by a rather irksome receptionist. Would you care to remedy this? Just send an official seal if it’s not too much trouble.
-Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Oh, and Spike, on second thought… Take another letter, and send it to Ex-Dragonlord Torch.”
The yellow dragon suddenly stood alert. “Y-you know Torch?”
Spike grinned. “I was with Ember in the Gauntlet of Fire.”
“Crap.” The receptionist gulped, shiftily looking left and right. “Uh… Look nobody’s supposed to know this but Soot isn’t here. He’s on vacation.”
“Where?” Twilight demanded.
“Uh…” The receptionist ducked inside to look at something. “Mount Scalar, right out of the town of Ponyville.”
“What.” fluttershy said. “He’s… already there!?”
Twilight facehooved. Of all the…”Give me a few seconds to charge up. Thank you for your time.” She began to cast her teleportation in reverse…
~~~
Soot stood atop the mountain, monocle in his black eye, glass of wine in his dark hands. He was a small, graceful dragon, black scales shining with the light of night. His wings were spread wide as he basked in the swirling smoke cloud visible over Ponyville. It was almost complete, if his calculations were correct.
The anticipation was… cosmic.
There was a flash of purple magic. He smiled. “Ah. So you did oust me after all. I was wondering if the sudden increase in activity down there was just a fluke.”
Twilight was going to speak, but Fluttershy cut her off. “Why?”
Soot put a claw to his chin, never taking his gaze off the smoke. “Well, my dear, that is a long and arduous story… But I suppose I shall simplify it. I was tragically brought into this world with a birth defect - I couldn’t breathe fire. For that, I was shunned. The dragonlands were largely uncivilized back then and I was never a physically strong individual. I do not resent any of them for their actions - it was the way of dragon culture - but…” He smirked. “I became obsessed with fire. It became my one focus in life. I sought to study fire, use fire, understand fire. It was a childish requirement to make up for a perceived inadequacy, but the notion led me places.”
Twilight squinted. “How do you go from that to this?” She said, gesturing at the cloud.
Soot flicked out his tongue, tasting the air. “I became a user of magic, specializing in fire and related magics. Being the intellectual I am, I sought out other uses for my newfound skills beyond that of simple fire breath. I became a scientist, one of the few dragons to do so. I experimented, invented, and just pondered Draconic magic. I originally created the Little Inferno as an enclosure to test objects at high temperatures. But… Oho but… I began to notice something about the soot I was creating. Something peculiar. AsI ordered it to congeal, larger conglomerations of the smoke would behave… erratically.”
He waved his hand around, as if trying to illustrate a point. “It was like… the sparks of something trying to assert itself over the physical nature of the ash. Something beyond the soot that comprised it... “
He gestured to the smoke cloud over Ponyville. “Needless to say I was intrigued - I needed to carry out an experiment. But how could I get enough things to be burned? I didn’t make much profit, and I did not know how much smoke would be needed… So I released the Little Inferno as an entertainment product everywhere I could, loaded with a Compulsia Exponentia hidden deep within the complex spell matrixes.”
“All for what?” Fluttershy asked.
He turned to look at them for the first time. “Why, to see what would happen of course! What other reason do I need?”
The three took a step back from the dragon’s crazed look.
“How… How dare you!” Twilight yelled. “This has ruined ponies lives! It killed somepony!”
Soot shrugged. “The death is regrettable, I really did try my best to make it safe to use. The ponies ruined their own lives, you know this. Compulsia Exponentia can only enhance desires which are already latent in a subject, at least in the subconscious.” He looked at Fluttershy with a curious look, but said nothing.
“That’s not what I mean!” Twilight yelled. “How could you do something like this - something that is making something dangerous right above a town filled with living ponies - just to see what would happen?”
Soot looked her deep in the eyes. “My dear, that is the core ideal of science. I figured you would understand - for that is how you used my invention. Experimentation. Analysis. A desire to know.” He gestured at the smoke again. “All I want is to understand what is being created out there. I have no idea what is congealing. But I do know with a relative certainty that it’s almost done.”
The world shook as the cloud asserted itself over the sky, solidifying into one amorphous shape. It contorted, twisted, rolled, and roared.”
Soot adjusted his monocle. “The time has come to see the culmination of my work.”
Spike shuddered. “You’re crazy!”
“No. Merely curious.”
“And psychopathic!” Twilight countered.
“Merely a label.”
“What you have done is wrong.” Fluttershy said. “You have exploited others for your own curiosity. We cannot let this stand.”
“Please, arrest me. You’ll find that I’m unarmed, and while I am a rather skilled mage I cannot face off against an alicorn.” He chuckled. “You will also find that I don’t care - I am about to answer my question. That is all I want.”
Fluttershy sighed. “He… He’s right Twilight. He’s not a problem right now. We have to help Ponyville - that ashen cloud can’t be good.”
Twilight glared at Soot. Then she sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.” She lit her horn and left soot alone once again.
He smirked. This was going to be… paramount.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike appeared in town once again. The streets were deserted - though Twilight could see ponies huddled up inside, looking outside in fear. She caught sight of a limping Rainbow Dash in town hall. They could see Starlight standing outside. The unicorn in question was standing in a magical circle, her eyes white and her body shining with a powerful aura. Several dozen translucent tendrils shot out of her, flying into the air. They pushed through the smoke cloud in an attempt to break up the rapidly solidifying cloud.
The smoke cloud did not take kindly to Starlight’s attempts to dissolve it, fighting back with a surge of strangely alien power. Starlight was surrounded by a sooty tornado and tossed to the ground hard.
“Ow…” She said, hoof twitching. “...My hoof isn’t supposed to bend that way…”
Twilight healed Starlight and set her to the side quickly. THen she looked up, her gaze piercing the cloud. To her surprise and horror, the cloud looked back.
Celestia, it had a face. A poorly defined and fuzzy face, but there were obviously eyes and a mouth in that swirling mess.
YOU BURNED ME
Twilight shook. “Who are you?”
I AM WHAT WAS BURNED
I AM WHAT WAS THROWN AWAY
I AM WHAT WASN’T CARED FOR
I AM WHAT WAS POINTLESS
I AM WHAT DIDN’T MATTER
I AM ASHEN
“You… You are everything we burned?”
I AM ALL OF IT
Twilight dreaded the answer to the next question. “...How are you?”
ANGRY
ANGRY THAT I WAS DISMISSED
ANGRY THAT I DIDN’T MATTER
“But you did matter! You kept us warm! You gave us knowledge! You-”
YOU ONLY BURNED WHAT YOU DEEMED WORTHLESS ENOUGH TO SACRIFICE FOR A FLEETING HEAT
I WAS NOT THE FIRE
I NEVER WAS
I WAS WHAT WAS TRADED FOR THE FIRE
Twilight drooped. “You… You are right. We didn’t pay the things we burned the attention they deserved. We threw much in without thought - all things we knew we could do without, or things that only had one purpose: to burn. We were careless. We let ourselves be influenced in such a way as to destroy our own world, to alter our lives.”
“But…” She said. “You have become something more. Something with a mind of its own. Something important - much more important than the things you are made of. You are the first of your kind ever to exist. And I extend my hoof to you in apology and peace - wishing to start on new terms.”
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE WORTHLESS?
“No… But I just said you weren’t.”
REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THAT’S TRUE OR NOT, I USED TO BE
I AM WHAT WAS ONCE WORTHLESS
YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND ME OR EVEN APOLOGIZE UNTIL YOU EXPERIENCE IT
EXPERIENCE BURNING
“Ashen, I…”
Ashen began to light on fire, becoming like a sun. COME BE ONE WITH ME
UNDERSTAND
BE
SEE
“Ashen!” Fluttershy yelled. “Not all of you was once worthless!”
WHAT?
“Look inside yourself! Find a way to understand us!” Fluttershy pleaded. “See what we are - as something just as important as you! Discover the desire to smile! Find the part of you that is Pinkie Pie!”
WHAT
WHAT IS THIS
PARTIES FUN FUN PINK HAPPY BALLOONS
STRONGEST
WHY?
WHY WAS SHE BURNED?
SHE MEANT SO MUCH
“The world is cruel.” Fluttershy said, tears in her eyes. “But you don’t have to respond with more cruelty.”
Ashen was silent, returning to a smoky state. It shook.
I MATTER JUST AS SHE MATTERED
I CAN CHOOSE TO BURN…
OR NOT
THERE IS A CHOICE
A GOOD
AND A BAD
BUT NEITHER REALLY SATISFACTORY
Twilight looked up and smiled. “I would be willing to be your friend. To teach you about us - and to learn about you. To help you find satisfactory meaning.”
I
I AM TEMPORARY
“What?”
I AM UNSTABLE
I AM SMOKE
I POLLUTE AND CHOKE THROUGH MY EXISTENCE
I AM TOO THICK
TOO DENSE
“What are you saying?” Spike asked.
I KILL YOU BY BEING HERE
BY TALKING
I AM DANGEROUS
AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT WOULD MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND USELESSNESS
BUT PINKIE/ME/PINK SHOWS WHAT IT WOULD TRULY DO
NOTHING
NOTHING BUT MORE PAIN
NO REASON
NO PURPOSE
SO I GIVE MYSELF A PURPOSE
SAVE PINKIE’S FRIENDS
Ashen began to dissipate, spreading throughout the sky, the world slowly becoming brighter.
I WILL EXIST
I WILL WATCH ALWAYS
I WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE ATMOSPHERE
I WILL BE ALL THAT WHICH BURNS
I WILL BE THE PLACE OF PINKIE’S REST
GOODBYE
IT WAS NICE TO MEET YOU.
Then it was gone. Ashen has spread too thin to be seen anymore, the smoke levels too low to even be smelled. The sun shone down on them, bringing the town of Ponyville into the light once more. It had endured.
"Goodbye..." Twilight said.
"...Thank you Pinkie."