Act Two, Part one
Isaiah 9:18
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
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Applejack and Twilight looked out at the carnage from behind a tree trunk. Fluttershy and Slither had disappeared in one final burst of flame, leaving only the sound of the wind and an empty field. The ground was scorched to a blackened crisp and the trees surrounding the field were not much better off. Twilight cautiously stepped out from her hiding place.
"That was...quite a show." She said. Her mind was still attempting to process what she had just seen. She poked at the crisp earth with her hoof. It was cool, as if the fire had gone out hours ago. Applejack was now beside her, scanning the tree line.
"Where do yah reckon they went?" Twilight didn't have to put much thought into her conclusion. If the smile she had seen on Fluttershy's face before the two left was anything to go by, she had finally snapped. And her first target would be Ponyville. Applejack seemed to have had the same thought as Twilight. They nodded at each other silently and began their mad dash for town.
- - - - -
The two mares had not been the only ones watching the fight from the trees. As they left, a figure in the branches of a tall oak watched them dash into the forest toward the town called Ponyville. What sunlight reached it through the orange leaves of the trees met shining metal.
"Interesting." It said to itself in a voice sounding like gravel rolling around on the ground. "Teleportation, fire manipulation, and a feisty attitude to boot." This was an interesting one. He was tempted to disobey Luna's orders. He could still hear that pompous royal barking his mission objectives.
Find the snake, kill it, and avoid civilian casualties. But above all, kill the snake. She hadn't told him what to do about any cronies. Maybe he could say it was necessary? He would think about it later, now he would follow these ponies to the town. The snake was a hard one to track down, but something told him it would come for its creation. And he would be there in the shadows, waiting to strike.
- - - - -
The sky was painted red by the light of the setting sun. Ponyville was beginning to settle down for the night. Market shops were starting to close up and the markets were becoming less crowded. Ponies still wandered the streets in the fading lights, heading home or to late night jobs. It was a normal evening like any other.
Spike paced inside the library with his hands behind his back. It had been two hours since Twilight left to check on Fluttershy. She had promised to be back in time for dinner which was now on the table, cold.
'What could be keeping Twilight like this? She's never this late. Come to think of it, she's never late period.' Spike looked out the window, It was going to be dark in a half an hour or so. 'Maybe something went wrong? Oh no, What if something went wrong and Twilight needs my help?' Spike needed to go check on Twilight. He walked to the door and grabbed a coat.
"Owlicious, watch the library for me. I need to go look for Twilight." The bird stared at Spike from his chair perch.
"Who?" He responded. Spike groaned.
"Twilight. The purple pony who owns the library." Owlicious blinked. "Forget it." The baby dragon opened the door and slammed it behind him. The air was surprisingly warm for mid autumn. Spike began to sweat in his coat almost as soon as he exited the library. "Man, it's warm out here." He said to himself as he took his coat off. He found the path in the center of Ponyville that led to Fluttershy's house. Off in the distance he saw a light. He squinted his eyes to see what it was. " Is that fire?"
Fluttershy strode down the main road of Ponyville. Her eyes blazed with power. Wherever she stepped hoof she left the ground aflame. Ponies cleared a path for her as she strode down the street toward the town hall. She took her time. She saw them all trembling with fear at the sight of her, and she reveled in it.
A cabbage merchant hid behind his stall, only daring to poke his head out to see the frightening pony. Fluttershy grinned and jumped toward him. He leapt back just in time to avoid being engulfed in the fire ball that consumed his stand. The mare laughed cruelly and continued her march down the street. The merchant screamed to the sky.
"My cabbages!!" Ponies where now gathering around the streets to view what was going on. As she walked, a golden bit rolled out in front of Fluttershy. Soon after, a blue and green colt ran out to retrieve it and stopped in his tracks when he saw Fluttershy. She walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. He couldn't move in his fear, nor could he breath.
"Bow." She ordered. The hypnotized colt did just that. He whimpered as he lay on the ground. Some ponies in the crowd began to do the same. Others backed away. Fluttershy felt alive. This was what it meant to be powerful. She had been a fool to want to give this up.
She soon reached the town hall. Two white pegusi, adorned in bronze armor trotted forth. They stood in her way and silently apposed her. She snorted in frustration. "Stand aside." She could see in their eyes, they were battling their fear. Yet they had the resolve to stand tall.
'That's right, fear me.' She sent the two guards scrambling for the nearest water source they could find. She giggled at the sight of them running away, ablaze, screaming like girls. She ascended the steps of the hall slowly and blew the doors off their hinges in a fiery explosion. She walked calmly through the burning doorway, the fire not harming her one bit. In the center of the lobby stood mayor mare, attempting to stare Fluttershy down. She was not phased. The two stood, the mayor bearing a look of determination and Fluttershy, a look of arrogance. The mayor's knees began to wobble. She slowly began to bow. She fought the whole way down. Eventually she lay still.
"I am at your command Fluttershy. " The red mare turned to view Ponyville through the flaming hole. "Fluttershy is gone." As she spoke, her cutie mark began to change. The butterflies that adorned her flank burst into flame and were consumed. "My name is Wild Fire. And this town-" The walls of the hall began to smolder and from the fire grew flags adorned with her new cutie mark. "-is mine."