Inferno

by DemonBrightSpirit

Containment

Several pegasi gathered on a massive cloud system above Ponyville. Below them, the fires were being inundated by nothing short of a torrential downpour. “It’s almost time for Celestia to raise the sun. Please tell me you have some good news to report this time,” Rainbow Dash demanded once the last of the pegasi arrived.

“Thanks to the help from Cloudsdale, we seem to be winning,” Raindrops confirmed. “The southern line is receding.”

The pegasus next to her, Thunderlane, saluted in turn. “The eastern line is making huge strides as well.”

“The northern line is holding steady, but we definitely have it contained.”

“The western region is looking good. Fully contained, but we are having trouble pushing the flames back.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Good. If we have full containment, we can shift our personnel to rescue and recovery operations,” she announced. “South, North, and West Teams, send any pegasi you feel comfortable doing without to help the rescuers on the ground. They are pushing in from the east. East Team, use any spare ponies to redistribute the heaviest rain to help those on the ground.”

The pegasi saluted each other before darting off in different directions. Dash flew along with Thunderlane to the eastern edge of the fire. They parted ways as Rainbow headed down towards the ponies coordinating the rescue efforts. Alongside Twilight and the mayor, was the Princess of the Night: Luna. Unlike everypony else under the hammering rain, Luna’s mane and coat were clear and dry.

“Hey,” Rainbow huffed a greeting as she landed in front of the trio. She took a moment to catch her breath as they looked to her. “We’ve got it,” she said, forcing a smile. “The fires are 100% contained. I’ve asked the weather teams to spare anypony they can to come help with the rescues.”

“Finally, some good news,” Twilight replied.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “We should have the fires extinguished soon enough. How’re things going down here?”

The trio looked to each other before Luna stepped forward. “We have done well to save everypony that we could,” she stated, looking down at the soaked and weary pegasus. “However, as we feared, not everypony was able to escape the fires.”

“How-how bad is it?”

“Fourteen,” Mayor Mare spoke up, her voice carefully measured. “Seven mares, six stallions...a-and a filly.”

Dash’s eyes widened before she looked back at the blaze. They had just now gotten the fires under control. The rescue teams haven’t even had the chance to check most of Ponyville. “Th-that many? Already!?”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s not even counting how many have been taken to the hospital.” Her voice cracked as she continued, “It’s...I can’t believe this is happening.”

Dash took a lingering look at the fires before turning back to Twilight. "The weather teams can handle things on their own at this point, especially with Cloudsdale's help. What else can I do to help?"

Twilight considered it a moment before rocking her head, urging Dash to follow her away from Luna and the mayor. Once they were out of earshot Twilight turned to face Rainbow Dash. "I know I should tell you to keep working with the weather teams or help with the rescue effort. However there is something else I want you to do for me," she explained. "I know it's selfish, but I haven't heard from any of our friends since this whole thing started. I'm worried sick about them." Twilight shook her head. "I wish I could go check on them myself, but I'm needed here."

Dash hung her head. "I don't know about everypony else, but I—" she breathed out a long sigh, keeping her gaze away from Twilight "—I got Pinkie and the Cake twins out earlier."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "That's good news, right? Why do you look...ashamed?"

Rainbow finally looked up, her tears masked by the rain. "I-I couldn't go back! Pinkie told me they were still in there, but I could barely get her and the twins out. I just-I couldn’t go back in there after them!”

Twilight took a deep breath and released it before speaking up, “You mean that Mr. and Mrs. Cake are…?”

Dash hung her head. “There… I wish there was something I could have done! But there wasn’t. I couldn’t do anything and now… Now they’re gone and it’s my fault!” Rainbow spun round, kicking nearby puddles. “Pinkie’s never gonna forgive me! I wouldn’t blame her if she hates me!”

Twilight quickly got to Dash’s side. She tried to put a hoof on her shoulder, but Rainbow batted it away. “You don’t know if they made it out or not, right?” Twilight asserted as Dash kept her gaze firmly away from hers. “Even...even if they didn’t—I know you, Rainbow Dash. Everypony does. You’d do anything, risk everything, to help somepony in need.”

“Then why did I leave them behind!?” Dash shot back, glaring at Twilight. “Why didn’t I go back!? I didn’t even try!”

Twilight’s ears folded back. After an agonizing moment of silence, she sternly spoke, “You made the right choice. I can’t say I know much about the situation, but I know you. I’m sure you did what you had to do.” Draping a wing over Dash, she pointed back towards the blaze. “We’ve gotten it under control. We couldn’t have done that without you—at least not this quickly.”

Dash shrugged the wing off, taking to the air. “If I made the right decision, then why do I regret it?” she shot back. “I’ll go check the boutique,” Rainbow curtly announced as she took off.

Twilight watched the rainbow trail vanish into the fog of rain and smoke. She hung her head before heading back over to Luna and the mayor. “Wh-what now?” Twilight asked, looking to Luna.

“I have royal guards helping with the search and rescue as well as inquiring about the source of the fire,” Luna announced. “This is your relief effort. The calls are yours to make,” she continued, looking at both Mayor Mare and Twilight.

“Our first priority should be to make inroads to get any ponies still trapped in there out,” Twilight asserted. The mayor nodded her approval.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t even thought about her tragic decision for hours. She had been so busy coordinating relief efforts that she hadn’t time to come to terms with what had happened. And then, like a bit idiot, she took her frustrations out on Twilight.

Landing next to Rarity’s door, she gave it a sharp series of raps. Later, she told herself as she pushed the destructive thoughts from her mind—a mantra she’d used too often in the past several hours. Several seconds passed, and the door didn’t open. Dash knocked again. Nothing, again. Getting fed up, she tried the handle. It was unlocked.

Stepping into the boutique, she called out, “Rarity? Are you home?” Taking wing, she started to explore. Rarity wasn’t in the shop, her workshop, the kitchen, either bedroom—not even the bathroom. She wasn’t here.

Flying out the nearest window, Rainbow headed straight up. Where could she have gone? she wondered as she looked about. She could have gone to help with the fires. Most everypony else did. Anypony that didn’t go help with the fires…

Dash turned her gaze to the Ponyville hospital. She felt a lump in her throat as she gazed upon it. “No…”

A few seconds later and Rainbow Dash was already in the jam-packed waiting room. There was a crowd clamoring both around the reception desk and a wall off to the side. Not one for waiting, she flew above the crowd and to the desk where a blue nurse braved the desk alone. “Hey! I’m looking for somepony!”

“So is everypony else!” an indignant voice sounded from the crowd.

As the clamor rose to a din, Nurse Tenderheart shouted out, “Everypony! Please! I will try to help everypony, just—one at a time, please!” After the outburst the crowd quieted considerably. “Good. Now, if you give me a name I can tell you if they are here and what their status is only. Don’t forget that we don’t know all of our patient’s names. We have pictures up on the wall over there,” she said, pointing to the wall where several other ponies had gathered. “Should anypony recognize any in those pictures, please bring the picture here and identify them.

Rainbow Dash was lucky enough to get a spot near the front of the line. The ponies ahead of her sometimes asked for names she never heard of. Sometimes the names seemed to trigger a sense of nostalgia. Still other names were familiar enough to make her cringe. The worst was when one of the ponies asked for a name she barely recognized and the nurse told the poor stallion that she passed away.

Finally, Dash’s turn came and she clopped her front hooves up onto the desk. “Pinkie Pie,” she demanded, not even waiting for the nurse to acknowledge her.

Flipping through pages in the log book she nodded and looked up. “Treated and discharged.”

“Pumpkin Cake.”

“Stable condition.”

“Pound Cake.”

“Stable condition.”

Rainbow Dash sighed as the next name lingered on her tongue, not wanting to be spoken. “C-Carrot Cake.”

The nurse flipped through the book a couple of times before looking up with a shake of her head. “Not here,” she denied before pointing to the wall with pictures. “You can check to see if they’re on the wall.”

“What about Cup Cake?”

The nurse sighed and turned to the book again. “Not here.”

Rainbow Dash hung her head in defeat. As she breathed in and out, she tried to think, to do anything, but nothing came.

“Next?” Nurse Tenderheart asked.

“Wait!” Rainbow Dash urged as she put her hooves on the counter again. “I’m not done. What about Rarity?”

Frowning slightly, she turned a few pages. “Critical condition.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened as her pupils shrank. “Critical!? Is she okay?”

Tenderheart shook her head. “I can’t say.”

Dash leaned in, frowning. “Can I see her!?”

”If you are an immediate family member, I can give you a visitor’s pass. Due to overcrowding, I can only allow one family member per patient,” Tenderheart explained studying the book before her. “It says here that Rarity is a unicorn.”

Rainbow clenched her jaw and just barely suppressed the desire to growl. “Fluttershy! What about Fluttershy!?”

Nurse Tenderheart started going through the book, but hesitated. “Wait, a yellow pegasus? Pink mane?”

Dash nodded emphatically. “Yes!”

“She is a volunteer nurse here. We don’t have the staff to handle this kind of disaster, so she offered to help us,” Tenderheart explained. “She’s helping tend to the injured.”

That sounded like Fluttershy, all right. That just left one pony on Dash’s mind. “Is Applejack here?”

One more pass through the book and the nurse shook her head. “Not here. I’m sorry.”

Grunting, Dash flew away from the desk and headed straight for the wall of photos. She cringed as she actually saw it. Each picture was a still face—eyes closed—picture. The faces were all smudged with ash and some of them quite burned. Right next to each face was another picture with a cutie mark to help identify the unknown ponies. The only thing that made the wall a little less awful was the fact there couldn’t have been more than a dozen faces there.

Dash’s eyes skimmed over the pictures and only stopped on the very last one. It was a picture that had no accompanying cutie mark. Snatching it from the wall, she rushed it back to the main desk.

“I know who this is!” Dash announced, clopping the picture down onto the desk.

The pony Nurse Tenderheart was attending to glared at Dash as the nurse picked up the picture and turned it over in her hoof. On the back was a room number. Setting it down next to the book, she turned through the pages. “What is her name?”

“Give me a visitor’s pass,” Dash defied.

“What?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Dash.

“You’re not gonna let me see her otherwise,” Rainbow shot back. “Give me a visitor’s pass, and I’ll tell you.”

The nurse looked down at the picture and sighed. “Here,” she said, draping a band over Rainbow’s head. A card was dangling from it; a visitor’s pass.

“Her name is Scootaloo,” Rainbow said.

Tenderheart scribbled the name in. “She is in critical condition. You can find her in room 311.” The words barely left her maw and Dash was gone, leaving nothing but a burst of wind and a rainbow trail.

After racing up a few floors and down a couple of hallways, Dash found room 311. Inside, on a lone bed, was a tiny, orange filly. The sheets were pulled up to her chest and she wasn’t moving. There was a machine Dash couldn’t identify hooked up to a mask over her muzzle and an IV bag and tubing leading down to her foreleg.

Dash found her way to Scootaloo's bedside, her eyes never leaving the filly. Although her face was still, it looked as though she was in pain. The smoke and soot left Scootaloo's hide marred with patches of black and grey. Gingerly, Dash brought her hoof to Scootaloo's cheek. She didn't stir. Drawing her hoof back, Dash ran it through Scootaloo's mane. It felt matted and rough. Even a cursory glance revealed that the fires got close enough to scorch the hairs.

“I wasn’t there for you, either,” Dash softly spoke, looking away from Scootaloo. She squeezed her eyes shut, heralding tears down her cheeks. “I left you behind, just like everypony else. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh!” a voice sounded from across the room. “Excuse me, miss?”

Dash quickly wiped away her lingering tears before looking up. There, in the room’s entryway, was a unicorn doctor she didn’t recognize. He had a white hide and a greying mane. His face was just starting to wrinkle in old age.

He smiled at her. “I’m glad we had a family member show up after all,” he said, grabbing Scootaloo’s chart from the base of her bed. “Can you tell me her name?”

Rainbow locked her eyes on Scootaloo again. “Scootaloo,” she said, her voice wavering oh-so-slightly. “Wh-what’s wrong with her?”

After scribbling the name on the chart, the doctor sighed. “The same thing that’s wrong with most of the ponies here—she breathed in too much smoke. It’s...kind of like suffocating or drowning. The smoke prevents you from getting air. Unfortunately, smoke can be worse since it’s effects linger, too,” he explained, checking Scootaloo over and looking at the equipment. “She’s still struggling to breathe.”

“She’s going to get better though, right?” Dash desperately asked.

The greying stallion shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know,” he admitted. “Her O2 stats… I mean, she breathed in a lot of smoke. She's alive, but there have been no indications thus far that she is improving. At this point, it's hard to tell if she will ever wake up.” The doctor trotted over and put a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “There’s still hope.”

As much as she hated it, Rainbow Dash just couldn’t stop her breaths from catching in her chest as tears overflowed. “I-I should’ve been there…”

“I’m not sure there is anything anypony could have done,” he offered as he pulled his hoof back. “Just be here for her now. She’ll need it.”

The doctor left without another word, leaving Dash alone with Scootaloo, her thoughts, and her regrets.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t say how long she’d been there at Scootaloo’s bedside, whispering apologies, empty promises, and confessions to the unresponsive filly. All she knew was the sun was out, and Twilight was still waiting for her to tell her about their friends.

Everypony was accounted for—everypony but Applejack. Dash really wasn’t that worried about her. There were acres of orchards between Applejack’s farmhouse and the fires. There was no way the Apple family was in any danger. The only way something could have happened to her is if she decided to go help with the fires. If that was the case, then there was no telling where Applejack could be.

As much as she hated to, Rainbow had to go. Running her hoof through Scootaloo’s mane one last time, she whispered a goodbye to the filly. After prying herself away, she headed back into the busy hallways. Halfheartedly walking over towards the nearest window, something caught her eye.

“Rarity?”

Looking around to make sure she wasn’t drawing any attention, she darted into the room. Unlike Scootaloo’s, this room had two beds. Much like Scootaloo, both ponies had tubes and breathing equipment hooked up to them. Rarity was in the closest bed. Half of her tail had been burned away and she had an enormous cast on her right thigh. The other bed held Sweetie Belle. She looked just like Scootaloo—marred and charred by the fires.

Rushing to Rarity’s side, she tapped her cheek with a hoof. “Come on, Rarity. Wake up,” she urged. She didn’t stir. “Sweetie Belle,” Dash said, zipping to her bed side. “Somepony has to be able to wake up!” she demanded, rocking the bed with her forehooves.

“Is everything all right in here?” a sweet voice sounded.

Dash spun round to face a familiar nurse. “F-Fluttershy! Please, tell me what’s wrong with them!”

“Oh! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy greeted, rushing over to hug her. “I was so worried about you and everypony else.”

“I’m fine,” Dash claimed, pushing Fluttershy away. “Rarity isn’t!” she asserted, pointing.

Fluttershy sighed as she looked Rarity over. She gingerly pulled up the sheet and checked the mask on her face. “I heard that she got hurt saving Sweetie Belle,” Fluttershy said, turning to Dash with a smile.

“How can you smile at a time like this!?” Rainbow nearly shouted. “Just look at Rarity!”

Fluttershy’s smile faltered just a bit. “I-I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but if-if I don’t smile then I’ll cry.” She shook her head, struggling to keep her smile. “If I start to cry, I don’t...I just don’t think I would be able to stop.”

Rainbow’s anger evaporated completely. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I just… I don’t know. So many ponies are in trouble—suffering—and I can’t do anything to help them!” she confessed. “I’ve never felt so...so…”

“Helpless?” Fluttershy suggested.

Dash nodded. This time when Fluttershy hugged her, she returned the embrace. “I hate this, Fluttershy. How could something like this have happened?”

“I don’t know, Rainbow Dash. I just don’t know.”

Shortly after the sun arose, a royal chariot descended from the sky. It clattered down right next to Twilight and Luna. From it stepped the regal figure of Princess Celestia.

“Princess!”

“Big Sister.”

“Greetings, Princess Twilight. Luna,” Celestia returned the greetings. She fixed her gaze on Twilight. “You have my sincerest apologies, Twilight. I came as soon as I could. I have been busy rallying support for Ponyville from all across Equestria.”

Twilight nodded, pulling her rain-soaked mane back with a hoof. “I’m just glad you’re here,” she said, smiling.

“What can you tell me?” Celestia inquired, taking stand next to her sister as she looked out at the blazes.

“We have separated the blaze into five isolated fires,” Luna announced. “It is only a matter of time until the fires are completely extinguished.”

“Estimates are that fifty to seventy percent of Ponyville suffered major damage from the fires,” Twilight added, her ears drooping. “Last I heard, at least thirty ponies have died. I...I knew most of them.”

Celestia draped a wing over Twilight. “This must be so very hard on you. Know that you have done well. From what I have heard, you have handled this crisis deftly.”

“There is more, my sister,” Luna spoke, taking the time to gaze about. She leaned in close, keeping her voice low. “I have had our guards investigating the source of the fire.”

Celestia looked her sister in the eye, giving her full attention. “What have you found?”

“In a crisis like this, it is only natural to hear of a few different stories, but there have been no less than two dozen conflicting reports of the fire’s origins—all of them spread out all over Ponyville,” Luna explained, keeping her voice just loud enough for Celestia and Twilight to hear. “The hospital alone put out three separate fires in three different rooms all within minutes of each other.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean to say…”

Luna nodded. “This was no accident.”