A bright orange light flooded the night sky above the Everfree Forest. As the residents on Ponyville slept, a fire raged.
By this point, the flames had begun to die down. In the middle, a pony slept. His entire body was hidden in a strange red suit, with a gas mask covering his face.
It was hours before anything happened, or rather, was even able to happen. Through the smoldering ashes, a zebra carefully stepped towards this red pony. She had seen him disappear into the blaze the night before from her house located inside the forest. Fortunately, it hadn't been damaged.
To her surprise, he seemed completely unharmed. The suit he wore hadn't even been damaged.
But that was just the outside. She didn't know if there was anything damaged underneath.
"Is he dead, this pony in red?"
She examined him for a few moments. He was still breathing. She wanted to make sure he was safe, so her first course of action would be to remove the mask he wore. Her hoof slowly reached out to him.
As soon as she touched him, he sprung to life. A hoof flew towards her, but she was able to pull away in time to avoid it.
The strange pony stood up, and shook his head. Behind the blackened glass, she could feel eyes staring right at her. Empty eyes.
He tilted his head, then looked away, ignoring this unfamiliar character. He sized up where he was to the best of his abilities. The signs of a fire brightened his mood.
He started to trot away from the one who had awaken him, bouncing with his steps. Before the fire, he remembered escaping from a dangerous wave of robots with his friends Scout, Heavy and Spy, so his current goal was to find them.
The zebra followed him. She was curious about him, but a little frightened. She felt a magical power from him, as if he were a unicorn, but he lacked a horn.
He paused, and slowly turned to face her.
She backed away from him, feeling that if she were to stay where she was, he may have attacked.
She decided to try and talk to him. "Can you speak, or is your speech weak?"
He stepped towards her, staring at her greyish coat. The woman who gave him orders had stated that grey was the enemy, but the creature in front of him seemed harmless. Cute, even.
He tilted his head again, and sat down.
She heard him attempt to speak, but it was mumbled behind the mask he wore.
The last time she had gone for his mask, she was almost struck, so she was somewhat wary as she said, "Perhaps you should remove your mask so that you may better accomplish your task."
He simply shook his head in response, and repeated what he had said. 'What is your name?'
It took one more time before she could grasp what he was saying, and responded with, "Zecora is my name. What of you, with your bed of flame?"
He stared at her as he repeated her name. She made note that, while he may have problems communicating, they primarily stemmed from the mask he wore. His listening was fine, and his speech seemed normal enough.
He gave her his name, or at least what he was called, but she was unable to understand no matter how many times he said it, so he traced the letters of his name into the dirt beneath them.
"Pyro is your name? Pyro, as in flame?"
He jumped up excitedly, and his tail began to wave like a dog. A few seconds later, he calmed down. He started to walk around her. She was an interesting creature.
She made the obvious connection between his name and the fire from last night, and began to think that he had started it. As he circled her, she noticed a patch on his suit. It pictured a flame.
There was no hard evidence to suggest that he had burned this area, but she was suspicious of him. She decided it would be best to inform her friend Twilight Sparkle of this. She would be able to make more sense of this whole situation.
"Pyro..." she started.
He stared at her, waiting for her command as if she were the woman behind the intercom.
"Can you come with me? There is somepony we need to see."
He nodded, and stood up. He had a strong sense of respect for this mysterious creature. Perhaps it was because of her accent. He definitely liked it. Or maybe it was because she reminded him of the Announcer.
He followed behind her as she began to take him from the forest. He was very curious about what she was. He had never seen anything like her. He also noted that his own body had taken a similar shape to hers.
Even in this pyromaniac's delusional mind, he had never seen this kind of creature before.
He was led out of the forest, and into a town. It was so colorful, so lifelike. Many candy-colored animals walked around them. He felt so cheerful, like he was living in a dream.
He wasn't as interested in bathing the town in rainbows (burning it to the ground) as he typically would've been. He realized that he was on a mission, and could always do it later. At least it seemed like a mission to him.
He figured that Heavy would probably be found elsewhere, but Scout would be in a populated town like this, showing off what skills he excelled in to whoever, or whatever, would pay attention. It would be easy to find him if he were here. Spy would be impossible to find.
He was led to a house inside of a large tree, which his new friend walked inside. He followed, and gasped in surprise as he saw the rows and rows of books on shelves inside.
He felt an urge to light it ablaze, but knew that his friend would be upset about it. After all, she would be caught in it. Later.
Zecora called out to Twilight, who quickly entered the room.
Pyro watched as another creature like his friend entered the room. This new one was colored purple. He hadn't fought anyone colored purple before, so he simply waited for his next command, almost like a dog.
His gaze shifted back onto the book cases as the two of them began to talk. This whole place... Lighting up like a Smissmas tree...
Pyro was almost drooling at the thought of it.
He heard his name in their conversation, and his attention snapped back to his grey and purple friends.
Twilight approached him.
"Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle." she said cheerfully, "You must be Pyro."
"Mmm-hmm." (Yes)
"Now, my friend Zecora here said that she found you in the middle of a burned section of the Everfree Forest. Why were you there?"
He explained that he had lost his friends after their retreat. Twilight was able to understand what he said after he repeated himself a few times.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Maybe we can help find them."
"Excellent!" he replied cheerfully.
"Now, about the fire in the forest."
She had his full attention. "Was it like that when you arrived, or was it normal?"
He shook his head.
"No to it being normal, or no to it being burned?"
He had already lost interest with this conversation, despite it being about fire. She was boring.
He began to wander around exploring this new place.
"Um... Excuse me?" Twilight curiously approached him. She wanted to get his attention, but he wasn't responding. "Hello? Mr. Pyro?"
He was ignoring her as if he didn't even hear her. If she didn't know any better, she would've believed that to be the case.
She tried talking to him again. The thought that he was blatantly ignoring her had crossed her mind, but she dismissed it.
"He doesn't seem to want to answer me." she told Zecora.
"He listens to me. Allow me to try." she replied, "Pyro."
He tilted his head in her direction.
"You are ignoring my friend. Why?"
He shook his head at her, and began to head towards the door. His gray friend was beginning to bore him as well.
His friends might be in this town. He knew it wasn't home, and this strange new form he had taken would likely limit his firemaking abilities.
He looked back to his new friends, but didn't hesitate to exit the perfectly flammable house he had been shown to.
His friends were just as important as fire, and he could always... always... frolic around later.