//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Awakening // Story: Tears of Fire // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Awakening The charcoal black stallion awoke to the sun pouring through a window and onto his face. The stallion’s eyes shrank as he saw that he was on a bed in somepony’s home. He frantically looked around the room and saw that it was made out of wood. The door on the far side of the room started to open to reveal a lavender unicorn mare with an indigo mane and a line of pink running through it. “Oh good you’re awake.” She said with a relived look on her face. The dark Unicorn looked at the mare in surprise and raised an eyebrow. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” “Backdraft," He took amoment to clear his throat. "Backdraft Inferno.” He said as he shook his head. “Nice to meet you Backdraft.” Twilight said with a smile. “Where am I?” “In Ponyville. I found you last night and brought you here to my house.” She said as she slowly took another step closer. “Found me?” “You fell from the sky and I found you in a crater near the Everfree forest.” She said with a gulp. The lavender mare took another step closer to the confused stallion. “Oh.....I see.” He said in a flat tone. The stallion cracked his neck and got to his hooves. Backdraft was immediately met with a wave of pain. The lavender mare rushed over to him to be stopped by a raised hoof. “I wouldn’t get too close. Unless you want to get burned.” “A bit late for that.” She said as she showed him her burned hoof. “Damn it. Sorry about that, I probably wasn’t thinking straight last night.” He took a step and stumbled a bit. Twilight hurried and caught him. His body didn’t burn her, but she did feel the heat from his coat. As she backed away she saw that there was black powder on her arm and hoof. “What the?” She said as she looked at the bed and saw that the covers had the same black substance had covered them. “Sorry about that.” He said with a groan. “What is this?” “Soot.” He said with a groan. The mare looked at his body and saw a light grey patch of gray fur coming through. “Looks like you need a bath.” Twilight left the room with the stallion following close behind. She walked over to her bath tub and turned the knobs and let the water start to fill up. “Do you have a fire place?” He asked. “Yeah, why?” She asked. “Just show me and I’ll explain.” He said as he slowly limped towards the door. Twilight sighed before teleporting the two down to the main floor in front of the fire place. The stallion managed to crawl inside and laid down. “Good now light it.” “What?” She asked in confusion. “Relax I’ll be fine.” He said in a flat tone. The mare was about to protest but remembered the inferno that almost broke out in her library the night before. “Spike. Could you come over here for a second?” She asked as a small purple dragon came out of the kitchen. “What do you need Twilight?” He asked as he saw the stallion in the fire place. “What is he doing?” “Oh for the love of Pete.” The stallion’s horn flared and a dropped a book on the dragon’s foot. Spike yelled in pain as a bright green flame shot into the fire place. The fire enveloped the stallion causing the lavender mare to panic. “Calm down. I’m fire proof.” The stallion said as he stepped out of the fire. Twilight noticed that the scratched and injuries were being healed by the flames. The mare also noticed that the stallion was chewing something in his mouth. “What are you eating?” “Fire.” He said as he swallowed causing some smoke to come out of his mouth. “Never had dragon fire before.” He said as he licked his lips. “Exquisite.” “Dude that’s creepy.” Spike said as he made a gaging sound. “Sorry about the foot.” Backdraft said as he stepped out of the fireplace. “How did you do that?” Twilight asked. “Magic.” He said in a flat tone. The stallion followed Twilight back up the steps and raised an eyebrow. “Um, I’m all for some fun in the tub, but we just met.” Twilight’s face turned red and frowned at the stallion. The mare closed the door with a slam and grunted. Draft slipped inside the tub and sighed. Twilight used her magic to watch the stallion and saw the clear water beginning to turn black. Draft dunked his head under the water and resurfaced twenty-seconds later and gasped for breath. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she saw that the stallion’s coat was more of a gray-ash color. She also saw that his cutie mark was a pair of axes criss-crossing wrapped in blue flames. Draft's ears twitched and he grinned. “If you want to look you can just ask.” Twilight jumped away from the door and heard chuckling from the other side. Twilight shook her head and opened the door. Draft was now standing on the bathmat with excess water dripping off and accented the lean wall of muscle that was underneath the gray fur. “Twilight, its two bits to look every five minutes. It’s free in private.” The mare then threw a towel at the stallion’s head that hit him a little harder than he was expecting. “Oh you’re a comedian now?” She asked in a sarcastic tone. “Among other things.” The stallion said as he waggled his eyebrows. Twilight let out an annoyed grunt as her face went a dark reddish hue. The lavender mare walked over to the edge of the tub and saw that the water was black. She dipped her hoof in it and saw small black flakes dying the water. “What is this stuff?” “Soot.” He said as he wiped his mane dry. “That happens whenever I use fire to heal myself. Like dry skin.” Twilight made her horn glow and pulled out the plug at the bottom of the tub. “Well, since you’re feeling better, lets get you to the hospital so the nurse can check your vitals.” She said in a flat tone. The mare grabbed a purple stripped scarf and wrapped it around her neck. The two Unicorns left the tree house and walked along the street. Twilight noticed that the frost covered grass was melting as the stallion got close. “Sorry about what I said.” Twilight looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I use humor to break the ice and it has gotten me into trouble. I am grateful to you for helping me out and I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m still trying to remember a few things before the crash.” “You can’t remember what you were doing?” The stallion shook his head. “Not really, it’ll come to me though.” He said with a shrug. The two were interrupted by a cyan mare with a flowing rainbow mane landing in front of them. “Oh thank Luna! There you are Twilight!” The mare said in a worried tone. “What’s wrong Dash?” She hadn’t seen her friend this worried since her first best young flier’s competition. “Sugar Cube Corner is going up in flames!” Twilight’s eyes shrank at the Pegasus’s words. “What?” Twilight yelled in shock. The grey stallion followed the mares into a gallop. A crowd of ponies were standing in worry around the burning building. The two trotted up to a light blue earth pony mare with a pink mane and a mustard yellow stallion. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake are you okay?” “We’re fine, but Pinkie and the foals are still in there!” The blue mare yelled. Both mares looked at one another in shock “The fire ponies said that it’s still too hot in there to go in and by the time they do it’ll be too late!” “Not if I have anything to say about it.” The ponies looked in shock as the grey stallion charged towards the burning building. A line of ponies in fire fighting uniforms blocked his way. Draft’s horn flared and his body evaporated into a cloud of smoke. The grey cloud passed through the line and rematerialized in the stallion’s solid form before going head first into the inferno. The gray stallion made his way through the raging fire. As his horn flared a circle of blue flames appeared around him. “Is anypony in here?” He yelled as he reached the kitchen. He heard a loud thump coming from the upper level. The stallion raced up the stairs and broke down the door. He looked around to see a foal crib over turned. He heard a series of loud coughs coming from the other room. Draft raced inside to see a medium sized bed and a puffy pink tail sticking out from it. The grey stallion hurried over to the bed side and lifted it up with his front hooves. He looked down to see a barely conscious pink mare with a unicorn filly and a Pegasus colt by her side. He grabbed the mare and rested her on his back. He put both foals on the back of his neck and slowly started to make his way back out of the burning shop. The foals held onto the stallion’s mane and watched in wonder as the blue flames surrounding them fought against the violent red flames that had destroyed their home. Back outside, the crowd of ponies were sick with worry. Twilight had just finished explaining the situation to the rest of their friends who had just arrived. “Ya mean that Pinkie is still in there?” Applejack yelled. “Yeah, but some crazy stallion just went in and-” “What’s that?” The white mare said as she pointed towards the burning building. The ponies squinted and saw that there was bright blue flame amongst the red. The flame grew bigger and the ponies saw the shadow of a stallion. The group watched in amazement as the gray stallion came out of the inferno with an unconscious pink mare on his back along with two foals holding onto his mane. The six mares hurried over to their friend and laid her down on the ground. Twilight looked at Backdraft in amazement as he kept staring at the fire. “You got her out!” Twilight yelled as she looked over her friend. “Games not over yet sweetie. There’s still this thing to contend with.” He said as he looked at the burning building. “Let the fire ponies handle it.” Twilight said as she looked at the raging inferno. “And miss out on all the fun? Not a chance.” He said with a wink. Twilight felt her face heat up either from the fire or her emotions. The grey stallion raised his right hoof and his horn started to glow a deep blue color. Twilight saw a small blue ball of flame form in the center of his hoof. “You might want to take cover.” He said as he threw the fire ball into the inferno. The grey stallion smirked as the blue ball exploded and felt a massive force come from the bakery shop. The ponies all ducked as they felt the force hit them. The red flames grew larger for a moment, then suddenly vanished from the structure. The building started to smolder and smoke the heat seemed to leave the area. Backdraft walked over to still burning piece of wood and scooped the flame up in his hoof. “Hello there.” He said as he inserted the flame into his mouth. The ponies’ jaws dropped at what they just saw. The stallion scratched his chin for a moment and swirled the ball of fire around in his mouth. He closed his eyes and focused on the flavor of the flame. Draft tasted traces of frosting, batter and pineapples within the small fire before swallowing. As he belched a small bit of flame came out from his mouth. “Sorry.” He said with a small laugh. He trotted over to the Cake’s who were holding their foals and helping Pinkie sit up. “What happened?” Pinkie asked as she rubbed her head. “Judging by the texture and flavor of the flames I’d say a burnt pineapple upside down cake is what caused the fire. Purely accidental.” He said with a grin. The pink mare then hugged the stallion. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She said with a smile on her face. “No problem.” He said as he broke the hug. Twilight and the others then trotted up to the stallion. “What did you just do?” A white Pegasus stallion asked. “That is what’s called a ‘backdraft.’ I made my fire explode inside the existing inferno to suck all the oxygen out of the area. No oxygen equals no fire.” He said with a grin. He was then surrounded by a mob of ponies with smiles on their faces. “Awe crap, paparazzi. Exit stage left!” He said as his body turned into a cloud of smoke and moved through the crowd of ponies. The mob looked at one another in shock and confusion as they saw the cloud move through them. The six mares looked at one another in shock before helping their pink friend towards the hospital. As Backdraft left the town limits he let out a sigh and smiled. Well, that was fun and I got a snack out of it. He thought as he yawned. Time to head out and-....where is it? He thought as he began searching his body. Ugh! I must have left it at what’s her name’s house...Twilight I think? With that thought he turned around and started to make his way back towards the small town.