//------------------------------// // The Ravages of Fire // Story: Stolen Fire // by Tzelael //------------------------------// Stolen Fire by Tzelael Chapter 8: The Ravages of Fire __________________________________________________________________________ “If you need anythin’, you know where to find me.” Applejack walked out the door of the library, and gently closed it behind her. When she looked up, she noticed the clouds covering the sky above her where none had been a few minutes ago. “Well, ain’t that peculiar... I don’ remember there bein’ a storm scheduled for today...” “There wasn’t,” the professor replied. Applejack turned around after she heard him. “Oh! Uh, howdy there. Didn’t see ya.” She smiled and tipped her hat, her voice shaking slightly. “Name’s Applejack. What’s yer name?” “Flamebearer, Professor Flamebearer.” He fidgeted for a moment, pushed his glasses up, then looked over his shoulder. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Applejack, but I really must be going.” He immediately turned and galloped away from her. She stood still and rose an eyebrow at his sudden departure. “Alright then.” She turned back and headed back toward the town. While traveling through the roads and past a few houses, she looked up at the sky again. She had a feeling that it was getting close to sunset, late afternoon at least, but because of the cloud cover, she couldn't tell for sure. “Land’s sakes, I’ve never seen a day in Ponyville so gloomy, and without a drop of rain to top it all off. It ain’t natural...” As she passed through the town square, she heard frustrated grunts up in the sky followed by thuds in the clouds above. “Ungh! Come on... Stupid... Clouds... Break!” Rainbow Dash zoomed through the clouds. She tried to get rid of them, though with no success. Applejack called up to her. “Rainbow Dash!” Hearing her name, the pegasus stopped for a moment and looked down. “What? Oh, hi Applejack,” she responded with a hint of frustration as she burst through the cloud again. “You have any idea where these clouds came from?” “I have no idea! I’ve been left to take care of these by myself!” “You normally don’t have much of a problem with these things.” “Not normally, but these clouds aren’t exactly normal.” She rammed through the cloud another time, but the fragments she broke up earlier began to merge together and reformed into another cloud. Rainbow Dash growled and shook her hooves. “I had a team working with me earlier, but they all got angry and quit in the middle of it.” “That wasn’ very nice of them.” “No, but I can see why they quit!” Rainbow Dash punched and kicked the clouds around her, each strike accentuated each syllable through gritted teeth. “These– Clouds– Are– A– Pain– In– The– Flank!” Worn out from her attack on the clouds, she slowly landed back on the ground. “... I think you could use a break, Dash. How ‘bout you come with me to the farm? You’ve got a lot on yer mind.” “Yeah...” Rainbow Dash huffed. “I guess you’re right.” She looked up at the cloud she pounded. “I suppose it isn’t going anywhere anyway.” **** “Get out of my café, you little ruffians!" Shouts of rage boomed out of Ponyville’s local café while the door swung open. Out of it flew three fillies, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who fell onto each other in that order. The restaurant owner fumed at the three, his mane frazzled and moustache out of sorts. “We just wanted to help out!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she struggled to get out from between Scootaloo and Applebloom. “Yeah, and we weren’t gonna charge nothin’!” Applebloom gasped out, the weight of the other two fillies on her back starting to get to her. “I don’t care! The three of you! Out! Now!" He flailed about while swinging his foreleg and pointing to the streets. His voice cracked ever so slightly when he bellowed his orders. The three of them sighed and began to walk off, their heads hung low to the ground. While they passed by the other customers in the café, all they could hear were the angry mutters of all the ponies sitting at the tables, an almost tangible tension hanging in the air. The Crusaders kept walking along the road and discussed their current predicament. “Why’s ever’pony bein’ so mean today?” Applebloom asked while straightening out her bow. “Whatever, Cutie Mark Crusader Waitresses was a lame idea anyway!” Scootaloo huffed indignantly and kicked a rock to the side. “Applebloom, what’s next on our list?” “Well... Says here we were gonna try... Par-kour? What’s a Parkour?” The three of them bumped into a bespectacled unicorn, who simply stood and looked down at the three foals. He pushed his glasses back up his snout, pressing it firmly in place. Sweetie Belle put on a nervous smile at the scholarly-looking stallion. “Hehe... Sorry about that,” Sweetie Belle said, rubbing the back of her head. “It’s quite alright,” the stallion replied. “Well, least you’re nice about it unlike ever’pony else. I’m Applebloom!” “I’m Sweetie Belle!” “And I’m Scootaloo, and together, we’re...” “The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Their collective cry of their names nearly blew the stallion off his hooves and knocked his glasses askew. After he straightened them again, he cleared his throat and bowed his head. “A pleasure, I’m sure.” He put on a smile, the kind a teacher would give students he met for the first time. “My name is Flamebearer. I’m a professor from the University of Canterlot.” “A professor? A professor of what?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Of Equinology. I study ponies and the way certain ponies do certain things wherever they are.” “Blegh.” Scootaloo stuck out her tongue and looked up at him with apprehension. “So what are you doing here? Probably boring egghead stuff.” “Scootaloo!” the other two shouted. “What? He’s a professor of somethingology, he does egghead stuff.” “Well...” The Professor looked around for a moment. He then leaned down to the three of them and lowered his voice to a whisper. “To tell you the truth, I’m actually on a Monster Hunt.” Scootaloo suddenly beamed. “Oh cool, you’re hunting a monst-” Flamebearer held his hoof up to his lips and hushed her. Scootaloo then lowered her voice in turn. “What kind of monster are you hunting?” “Is it a Manticore?” chimed in Sweetie. “A Cockatrice?” asked Scootaloo. “A Timberwolf?” Applebloom asked. “No, it’s none of those things. It looks like a pony, but it isn’t really one.” “So it’s a changeling?” Sweetie Belle shivered at the thought of one of those creatures wandering around the town. “No... There isn’t really a name for this creature, since, as far as I’ve discovered, it’s the first- and only one- of its kind.” “Well, there’s gotta be somethin’ that you call it. If you found it first, you’d get to name it.” Applebloom nodded quickly at her own remark. “Well... I suppose a good name for it would be a Leaden One.” “Is it a Pony Golem made of Metal?! Oh, that’d be so cool!” Scootaloo’s wings began to flutter as she thought about it. “Though how would we fight a pony that’s made of metal...?” “Well, it’s a good thing that it isn’t made of metal...” The Crusaders let out a sigh of relief after the Professor revealed this. He continued, “See, I called it a Leaden One because it’s a pony that was made using ancient magic called alchemy. It has this symbol for a Cutie Mark...” He drew the symbol on the ground with his hoof. “And, in alchemy, this is the symbol for Lead.” “Well, that’s nice and all...” Applebloom rubbed her chin. “But you said you were lookin’ fer this thing? If it’s a monster, wouldn’ it be in the Everfree Forest?” “I looked there first, but when I found him, he escaped. I know he is hiding in the town somewhere.” “He’s hiding...” Sweetie Belle stuttered slightly. “In P-P-Ponyville?” “Yes. In fact, I think he’s been here for a few days now...” “Maybe it’s the Monster of Market Street that everypony’s been so scared of for the past few days.” Scootaloo looked over at the professor. “Is that it?” “Yes, actually. I’ve heard someone say that this thing was last seen around... What was her name... Flutterby...” “Fluttershy?!” the Crusaders asked at once. “Yes, that’s it... I heard it was lurking around near her house. I figured I should go there and take a look to see what’s going on.” The Crusaders fell silent as he mentioned Fluttershy. They looked at each other for a minute, then back at the professor and smiled. “I don’t think you need to worry about your monster, Professor,” Sweetie Belle beamed. “Yeah, ‘cause no monster stands a chance against Fluttershy!” Scootaloo grinned. She stood up and punched her forehooves back and forth. “After all, she’s got the stare! She’ll sen’ that thing cryin’ back to its momma!” “It doesn’t have a mother, it was created.” “Oh, right.” Applebloom took a moment to correct herself. “Well... She’ll sen’ it cryin’ back to its... Uh... Maker! Yeah! She’ll make him meet his maker!” Applebloom closed her eyes and nodded, satisfied with her comment. “Well... If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather make sure she’s alright. This monster has terrible powers.” “Like what?” Scootaloo asked. “Well, it can change the weather, like you see above you, and it drives ponies insane just by being here.” The three looked at each other, then back at the professor. The three of them shivered for a second. “Come to think of it, the ponies we’ve met today were actin’ a mite strange...” Applebloom rubbed her chin in thought. “Wait a minute!” Sweetie Belle held her hoof up as though raising it in a classroom. “If it drives everypony crazy just by being nearby, then how come we’re not going crazy, and why aren’t you all nasty and snappy at us?” The professor stopped for a moment, running his hoof across his chin. “Well... That’d take a while to explain, but the short version is that children don’t seem to be affected, and neither do some... Special ponies, because it drives ponies mad because it does something to their perception of reality.” “Uh-huh...” Sweetie Belle pursed her lips for a moment. She turned to the others. “Crusader Huddle!” The three Cutie Mark Crusaders bunched together and circled around each other, whispering as low as they could. “Guess we need to bring him to Fluttershy’s anyway...” Scootaloo suggested. “If that thing does all that crazy stuff just by being around, imagine what’d happen if it actually tried to hurt her.” “I dunno... He seems mighty suspicious. I can tell he knows way too much ‘bout this stuff, an’ I only understood half of it.” Applebloom then looked to Sweetie Belle for her input. “Yeah, and he didn’t really tell us why he isn’t going crazy. I think he might’ve made that thing in the first place, or maybe he’s just crazy to begin with!” Sweetie Belle looked down. “We can’t just do nothing!” Scootaloo whispered, a bit louder than the other two. “Well...” Sweetie Belle weighed her options for a moment. “Rarity’s been spending a lot of time with Fluttershy lately. If anypony knows something about this, it’d be her. I’ll ask when I get home!” “Applejack’s been visitin’ Fluttershy a lot, too. Maybe she knows somethin’ ‘bout this monster business.” “And I’ll... Um... What can I do?” Scootaloo asked. “Maybe you can do some checkin’ up on this Flamebearer guy, see what his deal is. He’s gotta have talked to somepony else about this monster thing, otherwise he wouldn’t’ve known it was at Fluttershy’s without knowin’ where she lives.” “Yeah... Maybe he’s been to the library. I’ll ask Twilight if she’s seen him around.” The three broke the huddle and turned over to Flamebearer. “Well, we shouldn’ take you there now since it’s gettin’ a mite late. We’ll do it t’morrow.” Applebloom nodded quickly. “Yeah, our families will be worried about us if we don’t get back home soon.” Sweetie Belle and the others put on their most convincing pouty faces they could muster in Flamebearer’s direction. The professor gave a soft smile and nodded in turn. “Alright. Tomorrow it is then. I’ll be at the town inn when you get out of school.” The Crusaders nodded and went their separate ways. They waved back at the professor while they ran off. “Goodbye!” “See ya!” “Later!” Professor Flamebearer pushed his glasses back and looked up at the clouded sky. “Soon, Leaden One... Soon, you’ll be back where you belong.” Lightning lit the sky behind him as he gazed off in the distance, lost in thought. **** They kept walking through the town square, Rainbow Dash crouched slightly while Applejack took a look around. Most of the ponies they passed by gave them wary looks and did everything they could to put more distance between themselves and the others. Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack and whispered to her, keeping her eyes on them. “I thought you told me back at the farm that ponies only acted this weird when the stranger was around.” “Yup...” “So why are they doing it now?” “Can’t say I know... I oughta get Applebloom home. She said she was in the clubhouse with her friends, but... Well... Ya know how they manage to fin’ trouble everywhere they go.” She sighed and pulled her hat down tighter on her head. “If the ponies are actin’ so strange, then she might not be sa-” Applejack turned, hearing a heated argument coming from further down the road, near the café. “What in tarnation...?” She and Rainbow Dash galloped toward the sound of the argument, finally hearing it more clearly. “I’m telling you, Bonbon, it’s charcoal, not dark gray!” “Ugh, you’re blind as a bat, Lyra! Can’t you tell it’s obviously dark gray?! Actually look at the cloud first!” “What, are you saying that I’m too stupid to tell the difference?!” Applejack stopped suddenly as her eyelids drooped halfway over her eyes. “...They’re arguin’ about the color of the clouds.” “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash muttered in disbelief. “They’re taking it really seriously, too.” “That’s... I don’ even know what to say ‘bout that.” Before Applejack could contemplate it much further, other petty arguments clamored over each other as though they were in a competition over whose point can be heard the loudest. “It’s sunset, not afternoon! Once the sun is setting, it’s not afternoon anymore!” “You can’t even see it setting, you dolt!” “The bread has been lightly toasted, not browned!” “It's a recipe book, not a cook book!” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and threw her hooves up in the air. “Would all of you just shut up?! You're arguing over nothing!” The town square fell silent and all the ponies turned around to face Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Applejack stood in front of her pegasus friend and laughed nervously. “Eheh... I s’pose we best be goin’...” Applejack started to pull Rainbow Dash away. They inched along the road toward Sweet Apple Acres. “Pay no attention to us! Please resume yer pointless arguin’.” The crowd closed in on the two of them. The ponies in it muttered angrily as they approached the two ponies in the center. “Um, Applejack... I think we should get going.” She bumped into her earth pony friend. “Like... Right now.” “Couldn’ agree more, Rainbow.” The two turned toward Sweet Apple Acres, then bolted for the road. “Run!” Applejack galloped as fast as she could away from the stampede of angry ponies, lowering her head to ensure the wind didn’t blow her hat off of her head. She made several sharp turns to evade and divide the mob, and took several twists that would eventually lead her back to the path to the farm. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash took to the skies and headed right for the storm clouds. The other pegasi who initially attempted to meet her in the air hesitated and landed as soon as she got too close to the thunderheads above. She painstakingly maintained a distance between the clouds that was close enough to cause the other pegasi to hesitate to approach her, but far enough that she wouldn’t be electrocuted by a stray discharge. Seeing the hat of her friend below her and none of the mob behind her, she dove in for a quick landing. “Applejack.” “Yeah?” “What in the hay just happened?” “Dun’ know for sure.” “What’s your best guess?” “I suppose the craziness that the ponies get from the stranger being nearby is startin’ to spread. The way they were all itchin’ for a fight sounds a lot like how Fluttershy said they acted ‘round him.” “How would it be spreading, though?” “I don’ know, Rainbow! I don’ even rightly know how he drives ponies crazy. All I know for sure is that he doesn’ do it on purpose and it usually happens when he’s nearby.” She sighed and walked toward the barn. “Now I guess he doesn’ have to be close anymore.” Rainbow Dash sat down while Applejack headed into the barn and rummaged through some of her stores. “Applejack, you know this is going to be a big problem. If it’s spreading and it only happens when he’s around...” “I know, I know. It’s just, Fluttershy-” Applejack was cut short by Winona, who barked and growled at a mailmare. Ditzy Doo curled her lip in a sneer at the dog. Applejack tilted her head, confused that Ditzy showed any form of anger or contempt for anyone or anything. When she shook off her initial shock, she hurried over and held her hoof between the mailmare and her dog. Winona growled at her owner, turned around and ran off. “I’m awful sorry, ma’am. She’s usually nice to folks. What can I do ya for?” “I’m looking for Rainbow Dash.” “Yeah?” Rainbow Dash walked closer to the mailmare. Ditzy held out her hoof and signaled the other pegasus to keep her distance. “I was told to give you this.” She handed over an envelope with the return address of the hospital. She fiddled with another letter, this one addressed to Rarity. “Thanks, Derpy.” “Get bent,” Ditzy snapped at Rainbow Dash. She lifted her wings and flew off toward Carousel Boutique. Rainbow’s mouth hung open after Ditzy insulted her– less at the insult itself and more that she insulted her at all. “Okay, this is getting really weird.” Rainbow Dash opened up the envelope while the mailmare walked away. She quickly glanced over the letter and a smile beamed on her face. “Pinkie Pie’s operation went off without a hitch! We can see her tomorrow!” Applejack smiled a bit as she leaned back. “ Least tha’s one bit of good news.” The two of them grew quiet, looking away from each other as the smiles vanished from their faces. “Guess when we see her, we’ll know what really happened.” “And we’ll need to talk about what to do with Fluttershy’s visitor before everything falls apart...” “We’ll have to decide what to do soon. Might as well be when all of us are together again.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked up at the clouds. The farm pony held out her hoof to feel for rain, though none was falling. Seeing some of the clouds spark with electricity, Rainbow Dash cringed and looked toward her friend. She shuffled her rubber-covered hooves nervously. “I guess it’ll be a bit of a chore to get through to find a cloud to sleep on... Do you mind if I stay here for the night?” “Sure.” Applejack turned toward the farmhouse. She walked toward it while she led Rainbow Dash to the door. “I think Granny Smith’ll fix somethin’ good up for dinner tonight.” **** “I think that will be enough for now, darling.” Rarity smiled as she patted Stitches on the back. She looked down at a sheet of paper in front of them. On it were all the things that Stitches had written to her previously, only now with mostly correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. The name he was given was also written at the top of the sheet, a bold, prominent “STITCHES” scrawled on it. “You’ve made wonderful progress today, Stitches. I’d dare say you’re learning writing fairly quickly. Now, if only we could work on your speech...” She frowned and touched her hoof to her chin. Stitches tilted his head at her, but the unicorn quickly smiled at him once he made eye contact. “I suppose that’ll be for another day. I’ll have to be going now.” Stitches nodded slowly and turned over the piece of paper and dipped the quill in ink, then very slowly wrote down, Rarity looked at the message and smiled. “Farewell, Stitches.” She then stepped out of the room and saw Fluttershy next to the door. She smiled softly at Rarity. She walked her down the stairs with a hand on Rarity’s shoulder. The unicorn yawned, her eyelids half-closed when she finished. “Thank you so much for teaching him, Rarity. I don’t know if I could’ve done it without you.” “It was nothing, darling. I said I’d help you and I did just that.” Rarity ran a hoof through her mane, hastily smoothing it out. “I’d better be getting back home. I can only imagine what sort of trouble Sweetie Belle and her friends must’ve gotten into on their outing... At least they’ll just destroy that little clubhouse that Applejack left for them.” “I suppose... Thanks again for your help.” Rarity smiled at her and slowly stepped toward the door to the cottage. “I’ll come back to see how things are tomorrow.” “Bye, Rarity.” Fluttershy waved while Rarity left and shut the door behind her. She looked out the window, seeing that the night sky was entirely black with no sign of the moon or the stars. “That’s odd... I knew there was a cloud over my house, but I didn’t think there were this many...” She occasionally caught glimpses of flashes in the clouds, thunder rumbling from above. She squeaked before turning away from the window leaning back against it. Fluttershy pulled the curtains off the window and covered her head with them. She took heavy, labored breaths. “Okay... Breathe, Fluttershy," she muttered to herself. "It’s just thunder... Nothing to worry about...” The sound of hooves began to thunk unevenly down the stairs. Stitches arrived with his head hung low while looking at Fluttershy near the window. Before she could say anything, he rushed down the stairs and stood in front of her. He threw his forelegs around her in a hug. Fluttershy slowly returned the gesture. “Iiiit’s... Ook-k-kaaaaaay...” He squeezed Fluttershy tightly. The two leaned into each other silently into the night.