"Pinkie Pie, it's alright that you didn't bring more cupcakes. I mean it's just the two of us out here anyway." Fluttershy spoke softly.
"But Fluttershy, you only had one, and now their all gone!" Pinkie replied in a frantic tone.
"Yeah that is a bit sad, considering you brought twelve." the pegasus giggled.
"I know, I skipped breakfast today. I told myself I wasn't gonna fill up on cupcakes, but then I ate one and it was just so good that I ate another one, and then I ate nine more!" the pink pony admitted.
"We still have plenty of biscuits left, plus the tea, so there's nothing to worry about." Fluttershy reassured.
The two friends were having a picnic next to Fluttershy's cottage. It had been an admittedly slow day, with nothing exciting going on, so it was the perfect time for them to kick back and enjoy each other's company.
"Did you want more tea Pinkie Pie?.......Pinkie Pie?" the yellow pegasus turned to Pinkie to see her friend shaking frantically. The earth pony began moving side to side as she struggled to control the spasm.
"What is it Pinkie?" Fluttershy inquired.
"I dunno, but I feel like we really really really need to get back to Ponyville. Like right now!" Pinkie said, still shaking slightly.
"But what about the picnic?" Fluttershy asked with a frown.
"Yeah, I think this is a bit more important." Pinkie responded.
"Well, okay then. Goodness, I hope everything is alrighahhhhhhhh!" without warning Pinkie Pie grabbed the surprised pegasus and bolted toward town.
* * *
So what did we learn today, Thomas? Oh yes, maybe to never take off your armor after being transported to a strange alien world filled with goddamn mythical creatures! a voice in the back of the Fireman's mind scolded as he watched the spears arc up and then descend on him and the ponies.
Thomas put his arms up defensively and closed his eyes, praying for a miracle and waiting for the pain of getting skewered a dozen times, but the spear heads never connected. He opened his eyes and saw that the incoming spears had harmlessly bounced off some sort of barrier that formed right in front of him.
The Fireman turned to see Twilight's horn lighting up, casting a protective orb around the group. Once the final spear had struck, the light around her horn faded and the shield disappeared.
"Stay behind cover!" the alicorn princess instructed.
"Like hell! You clearly don't know who your talking to." Thomas scoffed. Firemen weren't trained to sit behind cover, they always charged head first at their foes, and even though he didn't have armor on, he wasn't about to deviate from his normal routine.
The Fireman noticed the bandits getting ready to throw another barrage of spears, but wasn't about to give them the opportunity. Instinctively, he ran toward the closest group of thugs and went to work.
The bandits noticed the charging Fireman and quickly pointed their spears at him, ready to thrust forward when he got close enough, but the Fireman stopped just short of them and formed a fire grenade in his hand.
"Catch." Thomas said, tossing the fire ball into the air. It landed right in the middle of the confused group of ponies, who started backing away from the burning object, but not far enough to escape its blast radius. The grenade detonated, causing a large explosion of hell fire that consumed the bandits in a massive inferno.
Thomas stood there for a moment, admiring the bonfire he'd made, before shifting his attention to another group of bandits. They were shocked by his abilities, but not enough to deter them from fighting. Several of the bandits ran at the Fireman, various weapons in hoof.
"Have it your way." he shrugged as he covered his arms in fire and ran to meet the thugs halfway. The first pony he reached jabbed at him with a spear, which the Fireman easily dodged. Not having armor on allowed him to move much faster. Before the bandit could recover, Thomas grabbed hold of the spear, heating it up and causing the pony to let go from the burning pain. He then flipped the spear around and slammed it against the pony's head with a crack. The Fireman dropped the spear as another bandit came up from behind and struck him with a club, which caused a wave of fire to radiate from his body, roasting all of the nearby assailants.
Onlooking bandits began to slowly back away from the burning Fireman, realizing that close combat wouldn't work out in their favor. Thomas looked down and noticed the large club lying on the ground, a bit charred but otherwise intact. A smirk appeared on his face as he got an idea, and while the bandits got their throwing spears ready, the Fireman grabbed the club and formed a particularly powerful fire ball in his hand.
"Batter up!" Thomas shouted as he pitched the flaming ball to himself and swung the club as hard as he could. The club connected with the grenade and sent it flying at a large group of the bandits, who attempted to jump out of the way, but were ultimately caught in the resulting blast. The Fireman frowned at the now broken club, casually tossing it aside and throwing a few more grenades for good measure. The remaining thugs fled the market square, running past the charred remains of their fallen companions and dodging incoming fireballs.
"Bring in the Riveter!" he heard one of the fleeing bandits yell. He didn't like the sound of that, but the Fireman stood his ground, waiting for whatever trick the bandits would try next. Surprisingly, only a single bandit reentered the market square, a unicorn that looked much tougher than the others. The stallion wheeled in a large object that was covered by a cloth.
"So why do they call that the Riveter?" Thomas asked cockily, pointing at the concealed device. The unicorn simply snickered as he removed the cloth and revealed a large weapon with a magazine of steel bolts being fed through the top. The barrel was pointed directly at the Fireman as the stallion used his magic to activate the machine.
"Oh shit!" he yelled as the weapon began firing its deadly ammunition. The Fireman quickly jumped behind a stack of crates as they were riddled with steel bolts. Sure Thomas didn't care for taking cover, but that didn't mean he was suicidal. He formed a sizable grenade and tossed it over the crates, but the unicorn quickly caught the projectile with his magic and tossed it away. The Fireman cursed under his breath and made two more fire balls, throwing them at the same time. Once again the unicorn caught both and tossed them to the side, laughing as he aimed the Riveter at the crates and waited for Thomas to make a move. After a brief moment of thinking, the Fireman decided on a strategy.
"Let's see how good that pony is at multitasking." the Fireman thought out loud as he charged up one hand and made one final grenade with the other. He tossed the grenade at the unicorn, and as the stallion caught it, Thomas moved out of cover and sprinted toward the distracted pony. Before the bandit could react, the Fireman covered his fist in flames and punched the unicorn hard in the jaw. The charged uppercut sent the doomed stallion flying up in the air, with only ashes floating back down.
Thomas extinguished his hand and examined it, making sure he didn't break a knuckle.
"Not too shabby, huh?" the Fireman boasted. He turned back to Twilight and the other ponies just as Rainbow Dash bucked him hard in the face. He went down with a thud, almost losing consciousness, as the blue pegasus began to shout.
"You killed them. You murdered them. You.....slaughtered them!" she screamed at the recovering Fireman. "How could you do something like that? You're a monster!" tears began welling up in her eyes.
"Are you crazy? What the hell do you think they were doing? Did you not see the spears they were throwing or the fact that they almost skewered Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle? They were trying to kill us!" Thomas shouted back. He rubbed his jaw, which was pulsating with pain from where the pony had struck him.
"I saved your lives by taking theirs!" he defended, spitting blood from his mouth. Rainbow started flying towards the Fireman to continue her assault, but was quickly stopped by Twilight, who grabbed her tail with magic.
"That's enough Rainbow Dash!" she commanded. The pegasus looked at the princess before screaming at the top of her lungs and flying away.
"Rainbow Dash wait!" Applejack called out after her, but the rainbow maned pony kept flying. Thomas got to his feet and spat out another glob of blood. Rarity seemed to still be in shock from the carnage she'd just witnessed, but Twilight, Applejack, and Spike walked over to the Fireman.
"I'm sorry about that. I know you were just protecting us and doing what you needed to. It's just that it was....very upsetting to witness." Twilight apologized, but Thomas just shrugged her off and headed back towards the library.
"Wh-what do we do now?" Applejack asked the alicorn. Twilight continued to watch Thomas as he walked away.
"Make sure Rarity is alright. I'm gonna go make sure everypony's safe." she instructed. Applejack and Spike gave a slight nod and tended to their shell shocked friend, while Twilight gave the Fireman one last concerned look before flying toward the direction the townsponies had fled.
* * *
Thomas kicked in the door to the library. He was still rubbing his jaw as the stinging pain filled him with more anger. He needed his armor. That was the last time he would get caught off guard in this God forsaken place. As the Fireman looked around, he noticed something troubling. All of the books were strewn about the floor, tables and chairs had been knocked over, and windows were broken. The place had obviously been ransacked.
"Great, looks like some of those bandits were looking through here." he felt a wave of fear as he remembered that his suit was in here as well.
"Oh God, no!" Thomas exclaimed as he ran to the guest room. He felt his heart sink when he realized the armor was nowhere to be found. This was a shattering revelation not only because the armor held most of his salts, but also because it contained something that all Firemen carried with them at all times; something that he would never need to use himself, but always kept close. Thomas kicked himself as he realized whoever took his suit of armor now also possessed his spare bottle of Devil's Kiss.
* * *
It didn't take long for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy to reach Ponyville, but before they reached the town itself, they were stopped by the site of practically everypony standing out in a field.
"Hey, why is everypony out here?" Pinkie asked nopony in particular.
"Bandits attacked the town a little while ago." she heard a voice answer. The pink pony turned to see the mayor standing among the crowd.
"b-b-bandits?" Fluttershy asked as fear grasped the pegasus.
"I'm afraid so. They attacked the town and drove us out. Princess Twilight stayed behind with several others, including a stranger that came to town." the mayor explained.
"Are they okay?" Pinkie asked frantically.
"I hope so. We've been hearing a lot of commotion coming from the market square, but nopony has gone to investigate. None of us would be much good in a fight." the mare said in shame.
Pinkie Pie turned back to Fluttershy. "Come on! We have to get in there!" she said, once again grabbing the pegasus and running to town. She didn't make it far however, as Twilight came into view.
"Twilight! Thank Celestia you're okay!" Pinkie exclaimed. A wave of relieved sighs overtook the crowd of ponies.
"Is everypony alright?" Twilight asked with concern. Unanimous nods came from everypony as they'd all made it out safely. The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly ran to the front of the crowd.
"Twilight, is everypony okay? Where are they?" the three fillies asked.
"Everypony's fine you three, don't worry." she assured. Ponies began making their way back to town, but Twilight quickly stopped the advance.
"Hold on, I need some strong stallions to help clean up a mess before everypony returns to town." the princess explained. She didn't want everypony to see what was left of the bandits in the marketplace.
Big Macintosh and a few other stallions volunteered for the job.
"Okay, everypony else stay here until I give the all clear." Twilight instructed. She then lead the stallions, along with Pinkie and Fluttershy, back to town.
* * *
Scorn looked at his prize with joyous regard. The suit of armor was unlike anything he'd seen before. The bandit leader had already ordered his most talented Black Smith to forge a copy of the armor; something that would be fit for a pony such as himself.
Scorn's second-in-command walked into the tent, patiently waiting for his leader to acknowledge him.
"What is it, Light Streak?" the leader asked, not taking his eyes off the armor.
"Well sir, I just wanted to inform you that we lost sixteen ponies during today's raid on Ponyville." the pegasus informed grimly.
"Well that's unfortunate." Scorn replied halfheartedly, still captivated by his prize. Light Streak shot the earth pony a dirty look; something he would never dream of doing unless his leader's back was turned. Suddenly, a loud roar could be heard throughout the camp.
"Sounds like my pet is hungry again. Go feed it will you?" the leader requested, his back still turned.
"But sir, we're all out of meat." Light Streak replied.
"Tell me something Light Streak, how many ponies do we have left after the Ponyville raid?" Scorn inquired.
The pegasus eyed him cautiously. "Twenty-three."
Scorn turned to the stallion. "Well I guess we haven't run out of meat then, have we?"
Light Streak felt a mixture of shock and disgust, but the pegasus merely nodded and left the tent, unwilling to challenge the bandit leader.
Scorn turned back to the armor and began investigating it, convinced that more secrets could be discovered if he looked a bit deeper....
* * *
Twilight was about to head into the Golden Oaks Library. She'd set the stallions to work in the marketplace, where they reluctantly began cleaning up the burned remains, and was now going to check on Thomas. Before she could open the door however, the Fireman stormed out of the library and put his hands through his hair, clearly upset.
"What's the matter?" she asked in a concerned tone.
"Those damn bandits took my armor while we were distracted." the Fireman spat. "And now I'm going to go burn their camp down and get it back."
"You can't!" the princess pleaded. "They'll kill you if you walk into their camp alone."
The Fireman gave her a quizzical look. "Were you not watching what I did to them back there?"
"Yes, but now they'll be ready for you. I'm sure they have other weapons and more ponies." the alicorn insisted.
"Listen, I'm going to their camp and I'm going to get my suit back. End of story." he stated. There was no convincing him to do otherwise. Twilight thought for a moment. She couldn't let this man walk off to his death.
"Fine, I understand. I'll tell you what. Stay here tonight so I can get the town situated, and then I'll go with you tomorrow to reclaim your property." the princess offered. The Fireman laughed.
"And just why should I wait for you?" he inquired.
"Maybe you've forgotten, but I saved your life back there with that shield spell. You'll need me if you want to get out of that camp alive." Twilight explained.
Thomas thought about that. She did keep him from becoming a shishkebab, and he had used up a lot of salts in that last fight, so he would have to use his powers more sparingly until his armor was back on. He supposed having some backup wouldn't hurt.
"Fine." he finally said. "We'll go first thing in the morning."
Twilight nodded. "Very well. You can sleep in the guest bedroom tonight, and tomorrow we'll head out."
"Agreed." the Fireman said. He could probably use a good rest anyway and he needed time to clear his head.
"Hey Twilight, what's that thing?" Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced over with Fluttershy following close behind.
"Oh God give me strength." Thomas muttered, shaking his head. The Fireman didn't feel like meeting anymore ponies today.