The inside of the school was sweltering but Violet ignored it as best as she could. She focused on finding any ponies still inside and found the first of many huddled behind some debris in the first room she entered. The hardest part was convincing the foals to follow her but eventually, she managed to lead them out of the building and once outside, they fled in many different directions. Violet wasted no time in returning to the building.
She went about this method systematically, working through the building room by room. The deeper she ventured, the more ponies she found, and the greater strain was put on her to convince them to not only follow her, but make their way through the many small fires that littered the floor. Quill and Petal were indeed there, lending their words and even volunteering to cover different sections of the school. Much to their surprise, however, they found Juniper in their classroom, huddled against a wall with a pillar of fire in the doorway, separating her from the main hallway.
“Juniper!? Why are you in there!?” Violet called out.
“I… I forgot my bag!”
“What could possibly be so important in your bag that you went back into a school ablaze to get it?”
“M-… my doll…”
“Your what!?”
“My doll, okay!? I forgot my cat doll! See?” and Juniper held up a doll with silver and black patterned fur. It had yellow eyes but one seemed to be burned off. From behind the fires, the three of them looked at each other.
“We can’t just leave her…” Violet insisted. Quill readily agreed and after a moment, Petal nodded as well, albeit with hesitance.
“Where’s a fire extinguisher?” Quill wondered. The three of them searched in the immediate area for one but upon seeing some debris collapse from the roof, they decided time was running out. They had to save her here and now, if at all.
“Forget it,” Violet muttered. “I got this.” She braced herself, backed up a few steps, and started galloping. She heard Quill yell in alarm as she jumped through the fire and landed in the room. “Juniper, come on, we have to go!”
Juniper’s eyes were alight with fear as she jerked her head from side to side. “No! The fire…”
“Won’t do as much harm as the building collapsing on top of you!” Violet insisted but upon seeing Juniper only wail and bury her face into her doll, she sighed and changed tactic.
“Juniper, look… we need to leave. Take my hoof and I promise you’ll get out of here alive.” Extending her hoof, Violet gave a reassuring smile. Juniper looked from her hoof to her face and back multiple times.
“I… I don’t understand… even after everything I said?”
“That doesn’t matter when lives are at stake, Juniper. All that matters is that we all get out of here alive.”
Tears slipped from her eyes and trickled down her face, meeting the upturned edges of a smile. “R-really…?”
“Yes,” Violet said with tried patience despite the collapsing building around them. Juniper replaced the doll in her bag and took Violet’s hoof, rising to all fours. Nodding, Violet turned and jumped back through the fire to meet Quill, whose mouth was gaping open, and Petal, whose eyes were completely bugged-out.
Grinning, Violet turned and called to Juniper, “Your turn! Just run and jump and close your eyes as you’re coming through the fire!”
“A-are you sure, Violet?”
After roaring “Yes!” in response, Juniper swallowed hard. She took the doll out of her bag once more, hugged it close, and replaced it in her bag. Another moment was spent bracing herself but at length, Juniper started galloping and when the time came, jumped, closed her eyes, landed, opened her eyes, and it was over. Just like that. She breathed a great sigh of relief and looked at Violet.
“Thank you, Violet. Thank you…”
“Sure thing, Juniper. Now get outta here while Quill, Petal, and I get the rest out.”
The three of them had already turned to leave and Juniper watched them go. She looked behind her to the end of the hallway that lead outside and back to the three foals leaving her. Her stomach lurched and she cried, “Violet, wait!” She galloped to them and spoke quickly.
“I know I haven’t been the best pony to you or Quill… but I’m sorry. I never should have said those things or acted that way.”
Violet smiled and hugged her, whispering, “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re alive.” She let her go and nodded behind her. “Now go, Juniper. I don’t want to see you again unless we’re both outside the school.”
“Okay,” Juniper said, turning and galloping away fast but before she left eyesight, she waved a hoof back at them. “See you later, Violet!”
Not too long after that, they found Omni in the teacher’s lounge. She was there on her way from the back of the school, from which she had gathered a group of foals and a teacher who were stuck behind some debris. She had cleared it away with levitation and looked back at them as they just entered the teacher’s lounge. “Wait a moment,” she told the group.
“Violet, what on Equestria are you doing here!? And you two, Quill and Petal! What’s going on? I thought I told all of you to leave!”
“We’re here helping what ponies you can’t get to, to leave!” Violet answered irritably. “We already helped more than ten, including Juniper!”
Omni stared at them and shook her head in amazement. “Alright. But leave, now! Your lives can’t be risked; you’re just foals!”
“No!”
“Violet—”
“Miss Omni, once Violet has her mind set on something, it’s hard to convince her otherwise. I learned that recently. Besides, there are three of us…” Quill interjected. When Petal nodded, Omni looked at the three of them in turn and ended on Violet. She sighed.
“Fine. Just… be careful…”
“We will.”
“Take care.”
They parted ways, Omni leading the group back outside and Violet, Quill, and Petal delving deeper into the school. But as time wore on and the work took its toll, Violet found she was forced to stop and take a breather; and then, more and more often. It got to a point where she had to rest for minutes. At this time, Quill returned and cried out in alarm when he saw her on all fours, heaving.
“Violet, can you keep going?” he asked swiftly, all too aware of the failing integrity of the structure. The ceiling was falling to pieces here and there and the stairs had all but collapsed. Somewhere frighteningly near, a support beam whined.
After still another minute to catch her breath, Violet nodded. “I have to.”
Upon seeing her struggle to all fours, Quill instructed sharply, “No! Take a break.”
“What…?” she looked back, nonplussed, to her friend.
“Violet, you’re exhausted. Leave now; it’s too dangerous.” His words were spoken quickly, insistently, as if time were running out. When Violet actually took a moment to look around her at the building instead of for wayward ponies, she began to notice it. Failing support beams. Burning doors. Decay. Death.
Sighing, she conceded and looked back to Quill. “Alright…”
“I’ll make sure she stays safe, Quill,” Petal said.
“Thank you, Petal,” Quill responded, smiling and hugging her. “It really means a lot to me.” Petal returned the hug in full grinned herself.
“No problem. You’ve changed a lot since I first saw you.”
“Yeah, well… Vivi’s responsible for a lot of that.”
There was a silence between the three of them. Violet and Quill looked at each other for a good, long while. Before they could stop themselves, they embraced tightly.
“I’ll be back soon, Vivi.”
“I know.”
Quill kissed her on the muzzle for a brief moment before turning and venturing deeper into the school; but before he exited through the door to a side hallway from the teacher’s lounge, he looked back once more at Violet and mouthed the words, “I love you,” before departing.
Violet gasped and froze. Her heart raced and she breathed faster than she ever had before. It took Petal’s insistence and physical push to get her to start moving and even when she started to move herself, she did so as a snail. Violet wanted him nearby right now, not in there, risking his life. But she couldn’t ask such a thing and she was already halfway outside. Shortly, she was outside, back in the storm. She didn’t leave, though. She stayed some distance from the school, under a tree, using it to block the raging wind. Petal remained by her side, not saying anything. There was nothing to say… until, however, Petal saw a new mark adorn Violet’s flank. She inhaled sharply and was about to bring it up when Omni spotted and rushed to them.
“Where’s Quill?”
“Still inside. I got too tired… so I’m waiting for him. Petal joined me to make sure I was safe.” Petal nodded in affirmation.
“You three… you really are something else. I’ve rarely seen such camaraderie among adults, let alone foals.” Omni placed a hoof on Violet’s shoulder gently, wresting her eyes from the school. She gazed into her student’s eyes and saw worry, concern, and guilt.
“You’re older than your years, Violet. How? Why?”
“I… I don’t know what you mean.”
“Nevermind,” Omni said, dismissing the matter with a hoof. “I just hope Quill’s okay.”
There was a siren beginning to be heard and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
“Finally, the professionals are here.”
They watched the fireponies enter the building, douse it, and otherwise make short work of everyone else who was inside, escorting them out. About ten or so ponies were still left inside; that is, those that were alive.
Violet didn’t see Quill among them for several minutes and when she grew too worried to stay put, somehow forced herself to walk to a firepony and ask, “Did you see a dark blue colt with white and gray hair?” The firepony stared and for a moment and shook his head, pointing a hoof to the west. Violet’s heart sunk and she looked in that direction. She spotted a stretcher with a small obtrusion underneath a white blanket.
No, no, no…
Tears already streaming, she rushed to the stretcher and threw the blanket aside. Several third-degree burns coated the pony’s body and its face was nearly indistinguishable but that was definitely Quill.
"Vi... vi..." he said weakly, reaching out with a hoof. Violet couldn't find any words to say, just grasped his hoof with all the gentleness she could manage and stared on in horror.
"I want you to be loud, Vivi. Live long, live full, and live loud… because, even if I was quieter than you were…” He smiled. “I was loud enough for you... and that’s enough for me.” Quill's strength seemed to fade then. He exhaled softly, began to close his eyes, and let his hoof drop from Violet's grasp.