Rainbow Dash’s face was touched by what little sunlight could get through the smoke that came from the still burning buildings the next morning. She groaned a little and turned over. A few seconds later, she looked in the direction of the hooves that had begun to shake her awake.
Annoyed, Rainbow laid on her back and half opened her right eye. Above her stood Ditzy Doo, worry on her face.
“You promised we go find Dinky,” she said, almost in a child like whine.
“Of course I did,” Rainbow stated between yawns. “Besides, there’s something else we should do as well.” Rainbow Dash groaned, rolled to her front and stood up.
“What else?”
“We need to look for anypony else who survived,” Rainbow answered, heading to the street. “Who knows, maybe one of them knows what the hay is going on around here. And they can look for Dinky too.”
The fires had gone down considerably in some places, and a few, like the flower shop, were no longer on fire at all. Here and there, Rainbow started to notice, there were burn marks from spells, or the paint and wood had scrape marks along it, and, disturbingly, there was a fair bit of blood.
Ditzy shifted beside Rainbow, clearly worrying about her daughter. Rainbow kept her head high, trying to keep up the spirits and hopes for their search. ‘This is… horrible,’ she thought. ‘I just hope everypony is ok… I don’t know how I’d take it if--’
Her line of thought was interrupted when they turned a corner and saw Sugarcube Corner, or what used to be it. It took a moment for Rainbow to recognize it, and she only knew that was it because of the location in town. Sugarcube Corner was blackened from the fire that had raged through it, but it had long gone out and the roof, structurally weakened, had collapsed. The top of the front door had splintered in half and the bottom half lay flat on the floor, the windows had all shattered, apparently in the fire.
Rainbow's eyes bulged and her mouth was agape as her mind rushed. What could have happened to Pinkie? She shook her head. No time for shock, ponies could need her. She rushed inside, followed by Ditzy.
The fire ravaged scene continued to the inside. Shelves holding the burnt remains of trays and plates had collapsed or burnt away, shattering the plates and scattering the ash of the burnt food, which smelt of a mix of burnt pastry and burnt wood. Many trays had melted from the high temperatures. Very little remained of the jolly, pastel colored room that Rainbow remembered watching the Cakes and Pinkie Pie working from.
The cyan pegasus felt a pang of guilt as she stared at the destruction. She hadn’t really thought much of her friends, having assumed they were safe. But the lack of burnt pony bodies on the ground floor led her to wonder if Pinkie Pie was laying upstairs, her body burnt to a crisp… She didn't think she could bring herself to look something like that.
A nudge against her shoulder made Rainbow Dash snap out of her thoughts. Glancing around first, she noticed the hoof prints in the ash, leading to, and up, the stairs. Beside the set on the stairs, another pair had come down, and she followed them, ending up looking directly at Ditzy.
“Nopony upstairs. All gone.” Ditzy landed beside the other mare, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Rainbow Dash felt a wave of relief wash over her. A new thought entered her mind on hearing the news. Whatever caused all this, Pinkie must have seen it coming and got herself and the Cakes out in time. Rainbow wondered how sad must they all have felt, having to run away, witnessing their home and livelihood burn.
Rainbow walked back outside to the street and sat, tilting her head to look at the sky. Clouds had quickly rolled in. Now there were no Pegasi controlling them, and it proceeded to rain on her. It was good news, the rain would probably help against all the fires, but this wasn’t on Rainbow’s mind as she sat there.
Where was Pinkie Pie? Where were all her friends? She wanted somewhere, anywhere to fly to and see if they were ok. Maybe even learn what happened. Rainbow swallowed the knot in her throat. Without her friends to help, everything seemed hopeless. Was everything and everypony… gone?
Rainbow Dash hadn’t noticed Ditzy had joined her and sat in the rain beside her. Ditzy begun crying, quietly. Rainbow Dash looked at her, not entirely sure what she should do.
“I don’t know what to do if Dinky is gone.” Ditzy wailed, her tears mixed with the rain that ran down her face.
Rainbow realized how Ditzy had it worse than her. ‘Ponies need you, Rainbow,’ she mentally coached herself. ‘Keep it strong for them!’
The rain died down just then. The storm couldn’t have passed so quickly, could it? She looked up. Flying near the low hanging rain clouds flew a yellow Pegasus with a green mane and tail. She was kicking the clouds that were heading for Ditzy and Rainbow away. Feeling it had done enough, it flew towards them and landed.
“It’s so good to see others survived.” She said as she walked over to Ditzy and Rainbow.
“Raindrops! It’s so good to see you!” Rainbow shouted, getting up and running closer to the newcomer.
“What are you and Rainbow Dash doing here?” Raindrops asked.
“Ditzy found me last night, we’re here now looking for Dinky,” Rainbow answered her, “you don’t know why Ponyville is on fire do you?”
It was a long shot to ask, but Rainbow Dash hoped Raindrops had the answer.
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but I have no idea what’s going on either. But let’s go find out. Sitting around won’t find Dinky any faster.” Raindrops said with a hopeful smile.
During the day, the three ponies had searched only half of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash noted the magic burn marks, scraping of wood and signs of blood were present everywhere in the town, and wondered to herself how she had overlooked them the previous day. As the sun begun to get low on the horizon, they only managed to find two other survivors in the town, a purple Pegasus with blonde mane named Cloudkicker, and another Pegasus who was white with a blue mane named Lightning Bolt. The pair had been found near the burning remains of Carousel Boutique. The five Pegasi were still nearby, Ditzy and Raindrops checking on the rescued Cloudkicker and Lightning Bolt, while Rainbow Dash stared at what was left of Rarity’s shop.
The shop had been badly burned out; to the point the walls had visible holes in them, showing the still raging fire inside. As of yet, the roof had yet to collapse, though smoke from the fire rose up between the holes that had been made in it by the flames. It hurt Rainbow’s eyes to watch due to the heat and smoke.
With a loud crackle and snap, the roof caved in, and set off a chain of reactions as each floor gave away with its own loud snap. In less than a minute, filled with the crackling and snaps that echoed all around, and the roar of flames getting more oxygen to fuel itself, Carousel Boutique had collapsed right to the ground, still burning where the fire had survived the collapse.
“I couldn’t even check if Rarity or maybe Sweetie Belle were still inside…” Rainbow whimpered, hoping that the sisters had left long ago.
Rainbow noticed that she begun to cry. The stress and emotions of all she had seen so far finally brought her to the edge, where holding them in to appear strong simply was no longer possible. She no longer cared if the other Pegasi behind her noticed, and they probably felt the same anyway. She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer, and sat down, crying openly for several minutes.
Blinking her eyes a few times to clear the tears as best as she could, Rainbow Dash stood up and faced the other Pegasi, who starred on at the burning remains of Rarity’s shop. She coughed to get their attention.
“We can’t stay any longer. Ditzy, lead the way back to where we were last night. We’ll continue our search for Dinky in the morning.” Rainbow said, a blank expression on her face.
At the remains of Carrot Top’s house, the other Pegasi begun to talk, taking whatever they wanted to eat off the floor, but staying away from the muffin that still sat on the table after having their hoof slapped away from it by Ditzy. They soon settled down and fell asleep, except for Rainbow Dash, who remained awake.
Being quiet, she walked back to the street and looked around. Most of the fires had gone out and more houses and buildings had since collapsed. Far away, Rainbow Dash saw the home of Applejack, most of it still in one piece. Unfortunately, it was the roof and two walls, as the rest had burned away.
She looked along the farm and noticed most of the trees had also been burning, but strangely, some had been completely uprooted and were laying on their side. The barn, Rainbow noted, had become a large pile of burnt wood.
As she continued to stare around the remains of town, she could’ve sworn she saw a dark blue pony with something black along his flank… a cloak, maybe? She shook it off after looking that direction and only seeing empty air. She sighed, held back a yawn, then decided it was just her tired and dismayed head playing tricks on her.
Rainbow sighed and looked up at the moon. Just what had she missed that caused so much damage and left only her and four other Pegasi alive? Why the burn marks, the scraping marks and the blood across every building and path in Ponyville? Was there anypony still alive who even knew any of that? …Or at least her friends?
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Ending notes;
A picture will be coming soon for this. I dont know when it'll be up, but soon with some luck.