Fluttershy put a pillow over her ear, trying to sleep in spite of the inconsiderate noises from loud passengers around her on the train. Lying on her side, facing the window was the best she could do to escape the loudness that surrounded her; though she admitted to herself that she probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep even if it was perfectly quiet. The shy Pegasus couldn’t help but over-hear other pony’s conversations on the train. Every single one seemed about the fire, which made sense since a majority of the ponies were getting off at Appleloosa. Even though she tried to keep a positive outlook on the day before her, the shy Pegasus couldn’t help being bothered by the things the ponies around her were saying about the fire.
“I heard the whole fire is a mile long, and the cloud of smoke couldn’t be cleared by a whole team of Pegasi!” Somepony above her said, with no clue of what they were talking about. Even when knowing this, it still sent chills down her spine.
“I heard the fire’s already taken out half of the trees! Appleloosa could go bankrupt!”
“I was told the fire spread to the town, and the whole town could be gone now!”
They’re just rumors, Fluttershy. No need to panic when it’s obviously not true The Pegasus rationalized the rumors floating around her to make herself feel better.
She gazed outside the window, onto a dry desert plain, that seemed endless. The moon seemingly shining extra bright, not aiding in Fluttershy’s attempts to sleep. It seemed awfully hazy out there, and it worried her that it could be ash from the fire…she dismissed the thought because they seemed to still be so far away.
Soon, the repetitive motion of seeing all of the cactus, shrubbery and small trees fly past constantly, over and over again, finally lured the Pegasus to into a deep sleep.
“Big Mac!” A distant voice yelled from behind him. Each pony still diligently sprayed water onto the endless fire, barely making any progress, Little StrongHeart breathing heavier than the rest. She was the only one remaining from the group from earlier in the day. Big Macintosh turned around. He wiped the sweat mixed with ash and dirt from his forehead as he walked to meet Braeburn.
“What ya need Braeburn?”
The light-brown stallion approached him quickly, though obviously exhausted and over-worked.
“T-there ain’t much water l-left, the wells darn near dry,”
Big Macintosh took the news calmly, ”Ok, when do you think we could get more?”
“W-we get all of our water from a river down yonder, but it’s cut off by the fire,” Braeburn lowered his head in disappointment , “What’re we gonna do now, Mac?”
The red stallion thought for a second, ”Ah have an idea,”
The two walked over to the Applejack, the two stallions and Little Strongheart, still working hard on a fire they’ve been at for nearly an hour.
“Y’all, Ah have some news, Ah’ll tell ya quick. The waters gonna be gone soon, but we can still fight this fire,” He winced when some debris from the wind got in his eye, but continued soon after, ”When the water is gone, Ah want all of us to buck dirt into the fire. Ah’m sure it works juss as good as the water, maybe even better, but it’s our only choice once it’s all gone,”
Standing just a few yards from the fire, the 4 agreed that it seemed plausible.
Big Macintosh changed his focus to the exhausted Little Strongheart, ”Hey, you! Ah’m awfully sorry, but ah forgot your name, but ah think you need some rest, ya’ve been here darn near since the fire started,”
Stopping just for a second, the little buffalo stood shakily, she was smart enough to know when not to argue.
“I Hate to leave…But I can’t last much longer..”
“Go on, we’ll handle it from here. Thank Ya kindly, ya helped more than most ponies that live here in Appleloosa,”
Said Braeburn graciously, “Is it alright if ah join ya’ll? Since it’s ‘bout to get much harder without water,”
“Of course Braeburn, but ya sure look awfully exhausted yourself,”
“When it comes to ma town, I’ll work until I can’t anymore,”
Big Mac nodded at Braeburn, and then warned the 3 ponies still attacking the fire again that they’ll need to be very easy on the water until they all have to start bucking dirt into it. Applejack was near exhaustion, and if it wasn’t for the meager supply of water, she would have drunk some, thirst catching up to her fast. But she put on a strong front and still did her best despite the sinking feeling that fighting this fire may be a lost cause, a feeling everypony there held, but didn’t want to admit too.
The water lasted them about 20 minutes, and luckily for Applejack, Big Macintosh let everypony quench their thirst before they had to begin an even harder task of bucking sand and dirt into the fire. The only mare there drank the most, the stallions there understanding that she needed it more than they did. The 5 ponies then lined up next to each other, facing the opposite way of the fire, and began kicking dirt into the inferno, with surprisingly good results. Though, the smoke from a fire so near-by constantly made everypony stop every minute or two just to cough. They soon had a light chuckle about how everypony was the same shame of grey-ish black from being blasted by ash from the fires for so long.
Nopony had an idea what time was, they could only guess that it would be morning soon, and that they weren’t going to quit. Applejack constantly looked around for Bloomberg, a tree she had planted near-by a long time ago when the mane 6 had come there. She knew she could point the tree out if she saw it, but the smoke around everything made trees nearly impossible to see while bucking sand into the blaze in front of them.
The fire surrounded almost one whole side of the acres of trees, and when they could see far along in the distance, they could see a line of fires for nearly another mile, all within feet of the trees. The part they were fighting was the only part that it actually had burnt down some trees. They were confident that buffalo were helping extinguish fires in other areas, because something had to have been, or the fires would have hit the trees in that area of the orchard already.
“The winds dying down,” Big Macintosh pointed out, sending a collective sigh of relief through everypony there, “I don’t how long it will last, so let’s take advantage of it,”
With a new burst of energy, all 5 ponies there started making large headway in the fire, slowly but surely pushing the fire back from the trees. They didn’t know far back the fire went, but they knew they had to be close the end of the orchard. When she got into a rhythm, the work seemed less exhausting and the lack of wind added motivation on top of it.
Aim-set-buck, aim-set-buck, aim-set-buck. Try and get as much dirt on the fire without getting too close. There had already been several close calls of one of the ponies nearly kicking the fire itself, after getting a little to close when they set. As exhausting of a procedure it is, the stallions beside her showed no signs of letting up, and the adrenaline rush of fighting the main fire had worn off quickly for Applejack. Ignoring her conscious once more, she pushed on.
The motion became so repetitive that Applejack would get lost in thought while mindlessly bucking at the fire, obviously doing a well enough job on auto-pilot that she wasn’t told to focus. Or they just didn’t notice. When she shook herself out of her day dream, she noticed how labored her own breathing was, so she paced it. She felt obligated to give it her all, even through her exhaustion and weakness. The only mare there couldn’t let her cousin’s orchard go down in flames, and if she took time to rest, she wouldn’t be able to anyway, because all she would think about was the orchard. So, after a deep breath, she continued alongside the 4 stallions, not giving an inch to the raging fire in front of them.
Aim-set-buck, Aim-set-buck…