"Come on, come on! Everypony wake up! We have to leave, NOW!" Applejack yelled.
The three filly's jumped up when they heard Applejack. Their sleepiness vanished, and was replaced by adrenaline.
"What's going on?" Applebloom asked.
"Is somepony hurt?" Sweetie Belle asked worriedly.
"Uh, Rainbow. Are you ok?" Scootaloo asked, seeing Rainbow staring blankly out the window.
Rainbow snapped out of her trance and opened the window, making the room get slightly warmer. "Applejack." Rainbow turned around to face the orange earth pony.
"Yeah Rainbow." Applejack replied, not sure what the blue pegasus was up to.
"Promise me you'll get all the filly's out of here." Rainbow looked at Applejack sternly.
"Wait, what! Somepony tell us whats happening!" Applebloom yelled. Scootaloo just looked at her sister worriedly, she wanted to say something but the words wouldn't come out.
"Rainbow, I won't let..." Applejack started, seeing what her friend was about to do.
"APPLEJACK, PROMISE ME!" Rainbow yelled, not looking for an argument.
Applejack took a step back involuntarily at her friend's tone. She looked at her friend with a mix of shock, horror and admiration. She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. She stared at her friend for a moment before gathering her emotions. She slowly raised her hoof to her chest and made a cross over her heart before raising her hoof higher and placing it over her eye, a single tear cascading down her cheek.
Rainbow nodded at Applejack before bending down a bit lower so she was eye level with Scootaloo. "I need you to do everything that Applejack says. And under no circumstance are you to come after me, ok."
Scootaloo looked from Rainbow to Applejack. "But, I don't understand. Whats happening?" Scootaloo looked back at Rainbow as she spoke.
Rainbow smiled at her younger sister. "You just have to trust me."
Scootaloo looked at her big sister. She trusted her more than anypony in all of Equestria, but she was afraid that she would get hurt. "At least tell me what's happening." Scootaloo finally said.
Rainbow stood up to her full height. "Applejack will explain everything."
Scootaloo was about to say something but before she had the chance, Rainbow jumped out of the window and flew towards Ponyville with breathtaking speed. Scootaloo jumped up and raced over to the window, and that's when she saw it...the raging inferno towering above Ponyville. Scootaloo caught her breath when she saw that Rainbow was flying straight towards it. "No." Was all she could manage.
"It's ok sugar-cube, she'll be just fine." Applejack tried to comfort Scootaloo. "We have to go." Applejack continued.
"I'm not leaving without my sister." Scootaloo said stubbornly.
"What did your sister say you had to do?" Applejack asked.
Scootaloo sighed. "That I had to do everything you said and that I couldn't go after her. No matter what." Scootaloo slumped to the ground.
"And Ah said, we need to get out of here." Applejack told Scootaloo.
Scootaloo sighed and stood up, her gaze still fixed upon the fire that was rapidly consuming Ponyville.
Rarity came into the bedroom now. "Is everypony ready? I've got some supplies that should last us for a while." Rarity took a moment to look around the room. "We seem to be one pony short. Where's Rainbow Dash?"
Applejack pointed slowly at the rapidly approaching fire.
Rarity caught her breath. "She didn't go over there did she?" Rarity asked in disbelief.
"She's the element of loyalty. She would never leave if their was a chance she could save somepony." Applejack answered. "But that doesn't matter now. We have to leave, NOW."
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Rainbow flew as fast as she could towards Ponyville, she was determined to save everypony she could. She was flying towards Sugarcube Corner to see if the Cakes and Pinkie had got out when she heard a scream.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
Rainbow stopped in her tracks and turned to see Derpy's house alight. She heard a foal crying inside. Rainbow smashed though the front door and raced into the house. She saw that Derpy and her foal were trapped in the kitchen. The window frames and doors were on fire, making it impossible to get though. Rainbow cracked her neck and lowered her shoulders. Then she flew as hard and as fast as she could into the only wall that wasn't on fire. She crashed though the wall and landed in a heap on the kitchen table. Derpy looked at Rainbow in utter surprise.
"Get out of here!" Rainbow yelled over the roar of the fire. Derpy looked at the hole in the wall and nodded, before scooping up her foal and sprinting out of the house. Rainbow stood back up and followed Derpy out of the house.
As soon as Rainbow cleared the building she turned to look at Derpy. "Get outta here!"
Derpy took the hint and started to fly away as fast as her wings would let her. Rainbow took to the air and quickly looked around at the mayhem below her. There were ponies lying unmoving on the ground, houses falling apart around her, ponies screaming for help or from pain. She saw that one pony was stuck in her house and was struggling to stand, Rainbow looked to see that the roof of the pony's house was about to collapse. Rainbow looked down at the pony again and saw she wasn't going to be able to get out in time. She shot towards the helpless pony and landed just inside the house. Rainbow quickly looked up to see that the roof was starting to fall apart. She grabbed the pony by the forelegs, and spinning, threw her out of the burning house. The roof started to fall as she let go of the pony's forelegs. Rainbow spared the burning house once last glance before flying out of the house as fast as her wings would carry her. She was flying so fast that she couldn't stop in time and flew right into the next house, cracking the bricks. She struggled to stand to see that the pony she had thrown out was shakily walking towards her.
"I'm fine, get moving!" Rainbow yelled. The pony didn't need a second hint. She started to gallop away, swaying lightly as she ran.
Rainbow quickly checked herself over to discover she had dislocated her shoulder. She leaned against the wall, forcing her foreleg up as far as it would go, then quickly leaned in further against the wall, forcing her shoulder up even more. There was an audible pop as her shoulder popped back into its socket. Rainbow sighed in relief.
She checked herself again and, besides a few minor cuts and bruises, she was fine. After her quick self evaluation, she flew into the air to regain her bearings. Rainbow scanned the surroundings below until she found the street she was looking for. She followed the street all the way to Sugarcube Corner to see that there was nothing left. The entire building was nothing but a pile of ash and rubble. Rainbow's eyes started to swell with tears at the thought of what might have happened to her friend. She pushed the thoughts aside and decided to go see if Twilight was alright.
She had trouble flying over the houses as the heat from the fires rose into the air. She lost control several times but maintained a course towards Twilight's treehouse. She landed awkwardly outside the front door. She opened the door to find Twilight and Spike running around their house and shoving as many books as they could into saddlebags.
"Twilight!" Dash yelled.
Twilight stopped what she was doing and looked at Rainbow in surprise. "What are you doing here Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.
"Making sure you were ok. What are you doing anyway? You realise that there is a massive fire about to burn this place to the ground."
Twilight looked shocked. "I can't just leave all these books here to burn, there's so much ponies can learn from them."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "For Celestia's sake Twilight, leave the damn books! Your house is about to be burned to the ground with you in it, and all you care about is your books!"
Spike looked at Rainbow and mouthed the words 'Thank you.'
Twilight looked at Rainbow before allowing her gaze to fall towards the ground. "You're right." She said, lifting her head back up with a new determination in her eyes. "Come on Spike, we have to get out of here."
Twilight ran to the door and helped Spike onto her back. When Spike was steady she teleported them both away. Rainbow just shook her head. 'Why bother running to the door, if you're going to teleport away.'
Rainbow didn't waste any time after watching Twilight depart. She flew out an open window, quickly got her bearings, then flew off towards Fluttershy's cottage. When she was almost there she could see that the cottage was on fire. She flew even faster to make sure her friend was okay.
Rainbow slammed into the door, almost sending it off its hinges. She looked around and saw Fluttershy and a group of rabbits cowering under the kitchen table. Dash flew over to where they were hiding.
Fluttershy's eyes were closed and she was shaking uncontrollably. "FLUTTERSHY!" Dash yelled as loudly as she could.
Fluttershy's eyes popped open and her shaking mellowed a bit when she saw Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, what are you doing here? Oh sweet Celestia, you're bleeding. Are you ok? What happened?"
Rainbow smiled at Fluttershy. "I'm here to help get you out and I'm not leaving until you are safe. And I'm fine, just a scratch."
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow worriedly. "I don't know, it looks pretty deep."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. 'Never thought it would be so annoying to save a friend.' "Fluttershy, for the last time, I'm fine. It's just a scratch. It looks worse than what it is. Now, you have to get outta here. Your house isn't going to hold for much longer."
As if on cue, the roof started creaking. The two ponies gasped and looked towards the roof as it started to buckle. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow before nodding. She slowly got up from under the kitchen table and crept towards the door, the rabbits safety on her back. As Fluttershy walked out the door the roof buckled completely and started to fall. Rainbow sped forward and shoved Fluttershy out of the house. As she did so, a section of the burning roof came crashing down beside her. As she turned to flee the inferno, a burning pillar knocked her to the ground and took her breath away. She struggled to stand but the weight of the pillar was too much for her. Fluttershy was just about to fly back to try and save her friend, but as she looked over she saw Rainbow hold up a foreleg in protest. Fluttershy started to cry when she saw her friend; bloody and broken, yet determined. Rainbow shook her head slowly. She attempted to lift the pillar but it was too heavy and it was searing her forelegs. In agony, she turned to look at her friend. Fluttershy could only watch as the roof came crashing down.
The last thing Rainbow saw was an orange blur.