//------------------------------//
// A Torrential Flame 
// Story: Ruins 
// by TheMajorTechie 
//------------------------------//

Spike rolled his eyes. "Are you really putting a tennis ball on her horn to stop another flare-up?"

"It's the best we've got, okay?" Zipp landed with another can of balls. "I know inhibitor rings and stuff like that exist, but we'd kinda have to raid a museum these days to get one. This is how we pegasi have dealt with unicorns for as long as Zephyr Heights has existed, so hopefully, it'll be enough for now. And look, I've brought backups, too!"

"Uh-huh." Spike cringed. "Let's hope."

"So, uh--" Hitch cleared his throat. "--I think we should all be getting some rest in the meantime. It's getting late, and we've had quite a day as it is. Spike?"

"Yeah?"

Hitch nodded his head toward Izzy. "Can you watch over her during the night to make sure she doesn't flare up again? We can switch off in shifts."

A distant rumble filled the air.

"A thunderstorm?" Sunny cocked her head. "I don't see that many clouds arou--oh no."

"Oh no?" Spike slowly turned in the direction that Sunny was looking.

His eyes widened.

It was hardly visible at first; hardly even a speck on the horizon.

But steadily, it grew brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter.

"Fire." Spike muttered. "Fire! Izzy! The other unicorns! If you had that flare-up, then most likely a good number of other unicorns did as well!"

He took to the air. "Zipp, Pipp, do you think Zephyr Heights is ready for some old-school rainmaking?"

"Rainmaking?" Zipp scratched her head. Pipp only raised her brow.

Spike nodded towards Fluttershy before extending a claw to the non-pegasi of the group. "Fluttershy should know the basics. Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, grab on!"





Spike touched down with a heavy thud in a clearing. Flames licked at the air all around, lighting up the forest in brilliant orange hues. Pale plumes of smoke curled skyward, obscuring the open air above them. 

He sucked in a breath as he shook off the landing. "We don't have much time. We should focus first on saving as many ponies as we can." He lifted off again with a flap of his wings. "You three try and find whatever fire department there is around here. I'm going to check for survivors."

The three watched him disappear into the smoke. 

"Izzy, we should--" Sunny turned to her friend, though she was already gone. "Izzy?"





Singed dirt and shattered crystal crunched beneath her hooves with every step.

Careful breaths. In, out. In, out.

In.

Out.

In.

Flickers of yellow and red danced in her eyes.

She spotted the charred remains of the Crystal Tea Room sign. Maybe nobody was hurt?

She stepped past the sign. 

The door was intact.

That was a good sign.

She held her hoof over the doorknob. 

No heat.

She turned the knob and pulled.

"H-hello?" Izzy's voice came in hushed squeaks as the door creaked open. "Is anyone there?"

It was empty.

Her eyes scanned past the numerous overturned chairs and tables to the various holes burnt through the walls and roof. She grit her teeth as her attention turned to a sooty silhouette against a pockmarked wall.

"Izzy!" Sunny's voice called from outside. "Izzy, what are you doing? If you're looking for Alphabittle, I just saw him run past not too long ago with a bucket! Hitch! Can you check on Izzy for a moment?"

"On it."

"Izzy?" Hitch opened the door. "You alright there?"

Izzy's gaze slowly turned downward. More ash littered the floor just beneath the silhouette. Pale white slivers broke the otherwise nearly uniform grey.

"M-maybe it was just a teapot?" an erratic chuckle rose from Izzy. 

"Izzy." Hitch grabbed her by the cheeks. "Snap out of it. Yes, that is a teapot that's shattered there. Can't you see the porcelain glaze on the shards?"

Izzy gave a weak nod, finally taking her eyes off the ash.

"Alright then." Hitch let go of her. "Do you know if there are any buckets left in the back?"

She shook her head.

"I'll go check. You head out and join Sunny, alright?"

Another nod.

He watched her disappear through the door before turning his attention to the bar counter. He let out a small cough. Though the building wasn't burning, a thin haze still filled the room. Carefully, he stepped over the shattered glassware littering the floor around the front counter.

And Alphabittle's stuff.

So much of Alphabittle's stuff.

Something clattered against his foreleg in the dark, drawing his eyes downward.

"Ah, there we go--" Hitch took the stacked buckets by the handle. "I knew there'd be more in he--"

He paused as the building around him creaked.

"--ere." Hitch finished through grit teeth. Slowly, he backed out from behind the counter. It was probably a good idea to leave while this place was still standing, burning or not.

"Hitch!" Sunny threw the door open. "Get out of there, the fire's spreading to the trees around the building!"

"Coming, coming!" Hitch stepped past the rubble. He could see the flames licking at the siding through the holes dotting the walls. "Would've been real nice if this place had a better-equipped fire department."

Once outside, he set the buckets on the ground beside him. "Told ya he had more. Where's Izzy? She was just here a moment ago?"

A drop of... something landed on his muzzle. And then another. And another.

Quiet pings and pangs rose from the buckets as the drizzle strengthened into a downpour. Thunderous flaps began to fill the air overhead as silhouettes darted past the moon.

"They did it!" Sunny peeked through her sopping-wet mane. The pegasi are here!"

Hitch nodded, turning his head upward. "They sure did."

Fluttershy landed beside them. Worry seeped into her voice as she glanced about. "Are we too late?"

"Hopefully not." Hitch passed her a bucket. "I know it's raining now and all, but if you can, could you try and douse some of the hotspots ahead of time?"

"My my, mister sheriff here has been busy." Discord's voice rose from the bucket. His head followed after, slithering up and out. "Teaching the pegasi how to make it rain in under an hour turned out to be a little harder than we thought, so we had to make do with something else."

"Hu--"

"Strawberry milk." Sunny snorted. "It's raining strawberry milk."

"All in a day's work." Discord bowed. He snapped a claw, and a jug of strawberry milk materialized in it. "Do you know how raw my good paw was from all that snapping?"

"Okay, okay, enough talk!" Hitch shooed away the draconequus. "I'm gonna go help Spike check for survivors. Sunny, wanna help?"

"I'll join in a bit. I'm going to look for Izzy first. She seems really shaken by all of this happening, and I want to make sure she's safe."

"Alright."

Fluttershy fluttered her wings. "Do you mind if we join you? Discord can--"

Discord reappeared in a flash with a bundle of dazed unicorns in his arms. "Already ahead of you, Flutters."

He vanished again, leaving the unicorns in a pile.

Hitch blinked. He stared at the barely-conscious ponies in front of him, then cleared his throat. "Well then."





"That is three-thousand, seven-hundred and fifty-six accounted for." Hitch sat beside Spike amidst the smoldering remains of the town. "Out of this population count, of which is accurate as of the previous month according to records saved by Alphabittle, we have counted twenty-three hundred in various states of injury ranging from smoke inhalation to full-body burns and lost limbs, and four-hundred and thirty-two casualties, forty-four of which were foals." 

He looked up for a moment at the ponies watching. "Nearly all infrastructure in Bridlewood is currently unsafe due to fire damage, and the surrounding forest fire caused by tonight's events is still only half-contained."

Hitch paused again, glancing at Izzy. She remained still, curled in a fetal position as Sunny stroked her mane. "The cause of the fire according to every source we have spoken to is, for the first time in many centuries, magical in origin. It is currently believed that there may be potential for additional future events similar to tonight's due to the abrupt return of magic to the world, though we sincerely hope that this has been, and will be, a one-time occurrence."

He took a breath before continuing. "Next, we must thank the pegasi, along with the draconequuses Discord and Fluttershy, for assisting in controlling the fire, as well as recovering both the living and dead from the ruins. Without them, the death toll would surely have been far higher than it turned out to be. I will now give Sunny the chance to make a statement on the return of magic and its relation to the disaster we have witnessed tonight."

He slid the microphone to Sunny.

"I..." Sunny choked on her words. "I'm sorry. For everything. I thought that reuniting the tribes--that bringing back magic for everyone--would make the world a better place. I never expected such destruction."

She bowed her head. "If that makes me responsible for every pony that's lost their life tonight, then I accept that."

"Sunny--" Hitch mouthed, his eyes growing wide. "Sunny, you don't have to do this."

Her head remained bowed.

There came no response.