//------------------------------// // Motionless // Story: AppleShy: The Series // by solsticebrony888 //------------------------------// The five ponies stared at a pile of collapsed trees, still burning inside; sparks of wood flying out and gently swaying to the ground. The whole pile took up their path of fighting the fire, which had been extinguished up until a few yards after the pile of debris, and with the fallen trees still encasing fire inside, the ponies dared not to move it by hand alone. The wind around them was calm, but gentle gusts every now and then told them they didn’t have much time before another blast of wind spear-headed the fire back in their direction. They buck dirt at the logs so the fires inside would die out and they could move it by hoof, but it no matter how many times they tried the fires inside only grew, just a little more discouraging them all. Big Macintosh needed to think fast because a road-block like this could mean disastrous implications on the orchard of apple trees behind them, most of which they had assumed they had saved thus far. “Keep buckin’ dirt at the pile, it won’t be too long until it’s out!” He looked at the sky and between the smoke, he noticed spots of partially-blue sky. It was already early morning; they had been fighting the fires for upwards of 6 hours now. “Eyuh…Aj, Ah have an idea,” The red stallion said through the loud wind. She walked over to her older brother, as the other three stallions continued punishing the pile of wooden debris with dirt and sand. “Y-Yes, Big Mac,” Applejack crossed her right legs over her left, something she often does subconsciously. “Ya know the pile o’ rope we saw as we came here,” Applejack nodded, ”Well, Ah need that ta get these outta our way. Ya think ya can get it?” “Sure thang,” Her confidence was only in her voice, anypony from a mile away could see that she’s physically drained. Big Macintosh started to regret his decision on letting her join the fight, the slowly rising sun shining light on the weakening mare before him. “Eeyuh-Ya gonna be ok, AJ? Ya ain’t lookin’ to good,” Big Macintosh said, knowing that the copious amount of work must have been getting to her. She sighed , ”Yes, Big Macintosh, ya don’t have ta worry ‘bout me, ah’m perfectly fine” “Don’t rush, we can handle this, use this time ta gather yer breath,” The orange pony started off, running past the dead, blackened trees and grass they had extinguished before. Braeburn looked up towards the sky, ”Ah reckon’ its bout 5 am, if ah’m right, a train should be comin’ in any time and a bunch more ponies can take over fer us, because ah’m on ma last legs, ah swear,” His higher pitched voice was shaky and physically he was the worst of out of everypony, having fought the fire and warned incoming ponies about it since the start. “Don’t ya gotta go wait fer the trains so you can tell the arrivals where ta go?” Big Apple Questioned, as he bucked more dirt into the pile of debris. Braeburn shook his head, “Naw, Ah got some ponies before ah left to do that for me, Ah felt ah could help more if ah actually joined the fight, and ah had ta tell ya ‘bout the water bein’ gone,” The 4 stallions then returned to their attempt to extinguish the fire in the debris, waiting on Applejack and the rope to help pull it out of the way when they finished. Applejack trotted along the pathway to where they came into the orchard. She needed to preserve energy, and sorely needed to rest, the lack of sleep catching up to her quickly. She couldn’t help but marvel at their work so far; they really saved an enormous amount of trees when they came in, along with Little Strongheart before she left. If they hadn’t had come when they did, the fire may have overpowered the ponies and buffalo defending it then. It made her proud to know she had done so much, but sad to know she won’t be able to do much more once she returned to the task at hoof. As she was trotting along, dead trees piled on both sides of her, she glanced towards her side and noticed a bunny hopping merrily towards the fire, completely oblivious to the danger ahead. Applejack stopped in her tracks, and sighed. What would Fluttershy do… Even though bunnies may be the one animal that she never exactly got along with, she knew it’d be a nice story to tell Fluttershy when she returned that she saved a bunny from the fire. So, putting on a friendly face through all the ash and dirt that covered her, she walked over towards the bunny, initially startling it. “Come on, ya little critter, ya don’t know what’s down yonder, ya need to go this way,” She pointed her hoof the opposite way the rabbit was going, but it went on along, ignoring her efforts to help it. “Get back er’!” She yelled, slightly irritated at the rabbits naiveté. Applejack squeezed through a pile of debris and climbed over a few dead trees to chase after it, “Ya can’t go that way, you’ll get yerself killed ya varmint!” The wind suddenly picked up, knocking Applejack into a dead tree, and flooding her eyes with smoke and ash. She rubbed them quickly, and cringed at the pain from falling into the dead tree. After a few seconds to recover from the impact, she then continued her search for the little bunny. As she jumped over another dead tree, she caught sight of a new fire that had sprung up near hear, on a dead tree that now blocked her path back to the 4 stallions, half a mile away from her. “Consarnit!” She shouted despite herself. Now ah gotta tell them that we have another fire to fight! How in the hay did we miss it? Braeburn ain’t gonna like this… She crept through more blackened debris, now unable to find the bunny again. Throughout her whole trike, the howling wind picking up speed and spreading the blaze behind her. Applejack now felt a sense of desperation, because there was a fire they needed to put out where they were at, and another fire that just sprung up here that they didn’t even know about. They needed more ponies if they were going to save this farm, and she didn’t have a way to immediately tell anypony about it. Applejack continued to search for the little creature, now worried that it was hurt by that gust of wind. Disregarding the growing fire near-by, she didn’t notice the blaze spreading around the path she was in; slowly creeping forward, using the dry dead wood of trees as fuel. She didn’t know what kind of danger she was getting into. As she searched diligently for the bunny, she suddenly was startled by the loud boom of a massive tree crushing the ground behind her, now partially blocking her path out. Applejack immediately darted out of the dead trees into the pathway they had made previously while blasting the fire with water. She was about to leave with haste, when she saw the bunny stuck under a pile of dead wood. It was clearly unable to get itself out from under it and run to safety. Applejack knew she couldn’t leave it there. So as the fire spread from across the pathway, over the newly fallen tree, she quickly saved the distressed rabbit. She pointed it in the right direction, right before the fire encased the whole tree. Applejack felt accomplished knowing she just saved a life; she looked forward to telling Fluttershy. But she wasn’t out of the woods yet; figuratively and literally. The orange pony needed to think fast, adrenaline giving her a burst of energy. With one quick jump, she could jump over the flaming fallen tree and quickly get the rope, nearly in sight. She rubbed her eyes, clearing her vision of the ash and debris that was blasted in her face during the last gust of hot wind. Applejack got in position, around 30 feet from the newly aflame tree, and took a few deep breaths. The flames beside her were growing, and she only had a short window to where she could jump over the flame and escape unharmed. Her heart beat faster than ever before. She shouted despite herself, letting the adrenaline take over as she ran top speed towards the flaming hurdle in front of her. But she didn’t even make it to the blazing tree. When she was focusing only on the dead tree in front of her, a heavy burst of wind quickly started taking down another massive tree, something she failed to notice. While she was running, she was hit directly in the flank by the side of the tree and was flung 20 feet to her side, straight into another large tree; knocking her unconscious instantly. Lying motionless next to the tree she hit, Applejack was half a mile from her brother and the other stallions, and miles from town. She was in the most danger she has ever been in her life, and was completely unable to do a single thing about it. The flickering fire spread eerily slowly, barely several feet from her motionless body. <><><><><><><><> It was early morning in Appleloosa. Fluttershy gazed out of the window, seeing the blackened shrubbery and dead blackened grass surrounding the town. A few passengers breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that no building in their sight was affected by the blaze. Still, a black plume of smoke that could be seen for miles was in the distance, and Fluttershy knew that’s where she would find Applejack. She’d be up front, fighting the fire until the end, Applejack wasn’t one known to leaving a job unfinished. The train came to a shaky stop, in front of the hazy town, seemingly devoid of life. The only ponies she could see were a few waiting outside the train, probably leaving. Even though the fires were obviously gone from the town, ponies weren’t taking chances. Fluttershy’s heart beat fast because she noticed that the wind was faster than ever now, and using common sense she assumed it was hindering their efforts at fighting the fire. Fewer ponies got off the train than she expected, most staying on to go to Manehatten, or Stalliongrad. She also noticed she was the only mare, and only Pegasus getting off at the town. Because of those facts, Fluttershy immediately gained the attention of the ponies waiting at the side of the train, clearly not going to board it. “It’s a Pegasus! Finally!,” Shouted one. With three pealed apples as his cutie mark, he was clearly a relative of Applejack’s. “Hey you!” The stallion yelled, “Ah need ya ta come here real quick-like,” Knowing they were shouting to her, she edged her way through a group of stallions to the two waiting for her. “What’s your name, Pegasus?” The first stallion said, with a shorter stallion by his side. She looked down nervously, ”I’m um, F-Fluttershy…” “Ah’m Applebunch, and boy are we glad ta see a Pegasus! That fire down yonder needs somepony to get it from all angles, and there aren’t nearly enough Pegasususeses there,” Applebunch said quickly, “We need ya to take this bucket and dump sand and dirt on top of that there fire, it’ll help like crazy since the wind is really pickin’ up!” She frowned as he handed her a massive bucket ,”Dirt and sand? Um, why not water?” “Well fer starters we’re all out of it,” Said the second stallion bluntly. Fluttershy squeaked despite herself. She quickly collected herself to ask the two stallions a question. “Do any of you, um, know Applejack?” “Yeah I know Applejack!” Exclaimed Applebunch through another massive gust of wind ,”She’s my cousin’s cousin, Actually ah think she’s my cousin’s cousin’s cousin, twice removed, um maybe she’s my cousin’s cousin’s sister? Wait no she’d still just be my cousin’s cous-“ “Can you just tell me where she is!?” Fluttershy interrupted, instantly being assertive when it counted. “W-Well sure, she should be down yonder with Big Macintosh and Big Apple and Apple…somethin’” She flew off quickly without even thanking the two stallions, towards the fire in the distance. Fluttershy accepted the bucket because she realized with it, she can prove to Applejack that she could be of help to the fire after all. As she flew, the shy Pegasus was being swayed at will by the unrelenting wind, but kept her direction as straight as possible. Not being the strongest flyer out there, carrying a massive bucket while keeping straight while flying wasn’t going to be an easy task. Squinting to avoid dust getting into her eyes, the Pegasus still managed to see something odd below her. Keeping the handle of the bucket in one hoof, she flew down slowly, landing in a soft mixture of dirt and ash. Hooked on the side of a dead tree was a hat, one she knew was Applejack’s right off the bat. She squealed as her heart sank a ton. But she knew she had to be near Applejack. She put the hat in the bucket, almost losing it to a gust of wind, and put the biggest rock she could pick up on top of it to keep it down. The rock weighed her down, but she fought through the pain of actually carrying something heavier than a bird, just so Applejack could have her hat when she reached her. Against the wind, she flew as fast as she could; determined to find her mare. It was nearly 20 minutes of straight flying and she finally was able to see both of the fires, one much closer to her and one much farther away that seemingly went on for miles. She could they were doing a good job, wherever they were, because it didn’t seem to her that too many trees were affected by the fire, except in the area closest to her. In mid-air, she nearly stopped flying when she caught sight of a bunny, hoping away from the fire. Fluttershy’s instincts to help the little animal set in and she slowly lowered down once more, the white rabbit not scared of her. “Awe, Hello there little guy, do you need any help getting back to town? I have a bucket with a nice comfy hat you can lay in,” Invited the shy Pegasus, using her right hoof to hold the bucket and her left to block her face from the wind. The bunny shook his head, and kept hopping along, Fluttershy flying idly by its side. “Well, I’m sure you’d love to be sleeping right now huh? This hat is awfully comfy Mr.Rabbit, and it’s much safer for you to be in,” The rabbit just continued along, minding its own business. “It’s a long way back to town, I don’t know if you can make it, little guy!” Instead of responding to her, the rabbit then jumped high up as if it realized something, and motioned for Fluttershy to follow it. “Oh! Don’t go that way! That’s towards the fire, which is a bad place for bunnies!” The bunny insisted, forcing Fluttershy to follow it as it re-entered the orchard, rushing as fast as it could. “Where a-are you taking me, Mr. Rabbit?” They both entered the pathway of where Applejack and the others had started extinguishing the fire hours earlier. Still carrying the bucket, Fluttershy followed mainly with purpose of picking the bunny up and taking care of it until she found Applejack and went back to town. The bunny took her towards the newly inflamed tree blocking their path. “Don’t get too close Mr. Bunny! Please come back, there’s a comfy hat waiting for you!” Knowing Applejack’s slight disliking for Rabbits, she already planned on apologizing to her for having one lying on her hat. The white bunny didn’t fall for it, with other things on its mind. He jumped and pointed in the general direction of where Applejack could be, but the rising fires on the tree kept her from seeing anything across the tree blocking the path. “What, Mr.Bunny? What’re you pointing at?” The little creature tried its best to motion for her to fly and look over. When she got the hint, she set the bucket down and flew up, above the blockage in the road. The tiny bunny watched as bloodcurdling scream escaped Fluttershy at the sight of Applejack’s motionless body below. The Pegasus immediately darted towards her, tears immediately cutting through the layers of ash on her cheeks.