There comes a time in every man's life when he feels a certain bravery when he's risking his life for the common good of another. Here I was, running after Applejack in an effort to save her sister towards a brightly lit building in the distance. When I smelt the distinct aroma of burning wood and heard screams just a few feet in front of us, I realized something.
This is not that moment.
Because the only thing that awaited Applejack and I was a blazing warehouse with a terrified Sweetie Belle hanging out the window. You could smell the scent of burning wood and trees from a long ways away, from the way it was on fire. It felt like an inferno, everything was smoking and there was no sign of Applebloom anywhere.
"Dear Celestia, no!" Applejack screamed as she bucked the door down, only to be met by a wave of heat and cinders. "Johnny, watch Scootaloo!" She darted inside, leaving me alone with the filly. Sweetie Belle continued screaming until she finally saw us.
"Johnny! Scootaloo! You gotta help us!" Sweetie Belle cried.
"Sweetie! Where's Applebloom?" I called out to her from the ground.
"I don't know! They took her into another room before they left. I managed to get out of that sack just after the fire started, but I couldn't open the door. It's blocked off by something!" We heard a crash as what sounded like burning wood came falling through another part of the house. I knew if we didn't get them out soon then the entire building was going to fall.
"Sweetie Belle, jump!" I yelled. I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked down from the second story window at the fire that was climbing the wood beneath her. "I promise you'll be safe, just trust me!" She climbed onto the windowsill, practically vibrating with terror as she prepared to jump. Without warning she leapt from the window and came crashing down into my arms. Thankfully she wasn't very heavy, because I caught her and managed to set her down on the ground.
"Where's Applejack?" Sweetie asked me, still trying to get over the shock. Scootaloo was trying to cheer her up by huddling close to her, wishing she had been there for her earlier.
"She's trying to find Applebloom, don't worry." Scootaloo told her. I had to admit, I was getting really worried about her. It wasn't a large warehouse, only a little bigger than the Apple family's barn with two stories. It shouldn't be taking her this long We waited outside the warehouse for several minutes, still with no sign of Applejack anywhere inside or outside. I was starting to get scared. I wasn't about to let the girl I was falling for die in a place like this, so I did the only thing I knew to do and ran into the warehouse myself.
"Look after each other, I'll be right back!" And with that I ran into the inferno that awaited me. Smoldering beams and random goods were everywhere, all covered in fires. Whoever did this did not want anyone to survive, I thought to myself as I searched for the two ponies. I searched around everywhere until I finally saw Applejack running towards me with a limp.
"Johnny, you fool! What are ya doing in here?!" She yelled at me as she hugged me. "Ah can't find her, and ah can't get up to Sweetie Belle." She motioned toward her skinned leg. It looked like she had fallen from somewhere, as she seemed a bit bruised and was beginning to feel tired from inhaling all the smoke. I told her that I had already gotten Sweetie Belle out of the burning building, or rather she had jumped down onto me. "Can ah give you a boost up there?" She pointed with a hoof up to the second floor where burning debris began to crash down from the roof. She could make out a faint door that was practically coming off its hinges until I finally saw it as well.
"Buck me." I told her.
"Do what now?" She asked me, wide-eyed.
"I'm going to run towards you. What you need to do is lift yourself up on your front legs with your hind legs in the air. When I jump and my feet meet your hooves, I want you to buck as hard as you can towards the roof. Can you do it?"
"No way, ah don't want to risk it." She said, a bit nervous about this plan. I could tell she didn't want to risk hurting me, as one wrong move could end with her seriously injuring me or herself. But I convinced her it was the only way to reach it. She leaned forward and balanced herself up off the ground with her hind legs just flat enough for me to step on. I walked back a few feet and took a short breath to prepare myself.
If this fails, I'll never have kids, I joked to myself before I went running towards her. Just as I met her head I jumped over her and landed my feet onto her hooves. What happened next could probably be described as a gunshot in pony-world terms as her hooves literally blasted me up over the floor and into a beam of the roof.
WHACK!
I smacked my head hard into the wall just by the door Applejack showed me. A bit disoriented, I reached for the handle and jiggled the locked door before slamming my full weight into it. The door came crashing down, revealing a small bedroom with a beaten filly inside.
"Applebloom!" I yelled as I ran towards her. She had been tied to the bedframe and left there to die. She moved slightly before her chest began to stop rising and falling, as though she were dead or passed out. Her left eye was coated in the blood that had been pouring from a gash in the top of her head. I looked at her legs, one of them had clearly been fractured and her hooves were slightly bloody as though she had been walking on nails. Did they torture this little filly? I wondered as I untied her and felt for a pulse. I felt nothing. She wasn't even breathing.
I began to panic.
"Applebloom look at me! Stay with me!" I yelled as I turned her over onto her back and pressed hard onto her chest, trying to remember what little of CPR I learned. I kept going until she finally coughed up a little blood and started breathing again.
"Johnny?" She asked weakly.
"Don't worry, you're gonna be ok." I tried to assure her, hugging her tightly to my chest. Now all that was left to do was get her and myself out of here.
I yelled as loud as I could. "Applejack, go outside and wait beside the window!" I prayed she heard me as I lifted Applebloom over my shoulder and carried her to the window that I threw Sweetie out of. Thank God, Applejack was there.
"Johnny, is she ok?" I heard them all yell at me.
"I need you all to catch her, ok?" I hauled her off of my shoulders, being as careful as I could be. "She's hurt pretty bad, but still alive."
They all prepared themselves as I prepared to toss her to them. "Don't be afraid, you're going to be fine." She meekly nodded towards me when I walked closer to the window. In one swift motion I threw her as best I could towards the trio of ponies on the ground. The result was better than I could have asked for. Applejack and Scootaloo caught her with ease as she met their hooves and was set softly on Applejack's back.
"We got here Johnny, now come on!" Sweetie Belle yelled up at me. She didn't have to tell me twice. I ran as fast as I could to the second floor ladder, or lack thereof, and just as I prepared to climb down, the floor gave out from beneath me. I landed hard on my leg, shattering it from the immense pain I was in. I was just infront of the door, and the look of the ponies' faces were those of sheer horror. I looked down at my leg, and instantly I felt sick. Not only was it broken, but shards of wood actually pierced through it, breaking off into splinters that "decorated" my torso and leg.
"Johnny!" Applejack cried. She ran back into the building towards me.
"Don't!" I yelled back. "Get out of here, now! It's going to come down!" The pain I was in made me want to pass out right there as the flames grew hotter and hotter around me. A beam blocked off my view of Applejack and her way to me as The space around me began to burn. I could faintly make out Applejack screaming and hearing the familiar thud of hooves of wood as I could tell she was trying her best to get me out. I felt hotter and hotter, but as the seconds ticked by, I started to feel numb, and finally sleepy. I almost didn't notice that the building I was under began to move away until I finally beheld the night sky above me, with a frantic Applejack standing over me yelling something, tears pouring from her eyes.
Until everything faded to black.