Firetta screamed. She could see New's tail flicking a few feet in front of her. But that was all she could see in the clouds of ash and smoke.
She had no idea where Bubbly was. One second he was telling them vital information and the next she was being whisked away into a world of flames and smoke.
Something creaked, like a weeping wail, above her. A beam, with crimson flames licking its edges, fell to the ground, tumbling towards them.
"NEW!" Firetta screamed.
He looked behind himself to see the burning beam toppling towards them.
Firetta wailed and beat her wings up into the air to escape the beam.
New dodged the beam on the ground, but soon the smoke and ash became to thick and he was hidden from Firetta's view. Her heart beat furiously, and her lungs were now taking in more ash than oxygen.
She gasped one more time before she propelled herself upwards.
She broke through the layer of smoke, in a world of pristine white clouds.
She took deep breaths as she scanned her surroundings.
A pillar of sandstone, streaked with yellow, purple, and pink, stuck its tip out of the fluffy layer of cumuli.
Other then that, the only sight was a sea of white clouds with smoke licking their bellies.
Firetta tried to calm down, but after her evolving feelings for New had fully come together, she could never feel not nervous around him. And not being with him made the nervous feeling inside even worse.
She took one last breath before plunging through the alabaster cloud layer.
Smoke furled around her yellow wings, making them look like as if they themselves were smoldering.
She had dived about a half mile away from the fire consumed shack, but she could still see the pillar of orange light from that distance.
What was even worse was that the fire had caught onto the scraggly bushes that were so dry they were just asking to catch alight with flames.
She furiously flapped her wings, shooting through the sky like one of The Society's fighter jets.
She slowed to a stop.
Fighter jets.
She glanced across the sky.
And just as she had realized, a fighter jet was shooting bolts of fire lightning at the area around the shack.
All that was left of the shack now was some smoldering logs. But the area around it was still quickly burning to ashes.
Her eyes searched frantically for New.
She then looked back at the cave they had stayed at before venturing to Bubbly's shack.
A little white figure, his coat smudged with ash and dirt, was crawling over the cave's lip, his body shimming inside.
She gave one last look of regret at the remains of the shack, but knew that, if he was still somehow alive, that Bubbly would have to take care of himself.
Then she saw New's tail disappear in the cave, into the inky darkness.
But then one of the fighter jets landed. Firetta hid behind a boulder that was a rusty brown. She peered out form behind it.
Ten ponies, all suited up in pristine white Society armor and armed with the biggest guns imaginable, approached the smoldering ashes of the shack, the flames curling around their bodies, but the armor not even becoming the tiniest bit burned.
They extracted something from the ashy house.
It was Bubbly. His skin, disgustingly akin to his name, had bubbled up in the flames. Whatever hair he had had before appeared to have burned away.
But he wore a makeshift metal suit that covered the most vital body parts.
He could easily be alive.
Her eyes flitted back and forth, from the squadron of soldiers to the dark, inviting cave.
And, the feeling of guilt and regret all ready building up on her chest, Firetta galloped for a few feet before launching into the air, heading towards the cave.
She felt tears collect in her eyes. If it was from the guilt or from the speed of her flying, she could not tell. All she wanted was for New to hug her, for him to take her in his arms...
She hiccuped, the tears now racing down her face.
Yep. For sure, it was the guilt.
She soon reached the cave. She tumbled over its lip, her landing far from exemplary.
She rolled like a bowling ball, crashing into New, who seemed to be the pin. The two looked into each other's eyes as they recovered from the crash.
New tucked a loose strand of Firetta's mane behind her ear, which twitched happily at his touch.
"Yo-ou okay?' he asked softly, brushing a cheek of her smooth, soft cheek.
Firetta just pursed her lips, nodding slowly.
He leaned in close to her ear, his warm breath giving her the shivers.
"It'd gonna be okay."
She snuggled into his neck before sadly letting go. She couldn't let him know about her feelings. At least, not yet.
Not yet.
But it might be never if she didn't do it now.
Firetta wasn't one to become scared, nervous, and cowardly. But many of those things had been happening. It was unlike her. And most of them were being caused by New.
"N-new," Firetta whispered, her voice raspy from crying.
"Hmm?" he said sleepily.
And once again the feelings of cowardliness, of nervousness, came over her.
"Uhhh, ummm-" she began.
But her incoherent sentence was interrupted when a bang shot through the air.
New surged to his feet, peeking out from the cave's entrance. Firetta also got to her hooves, scampering next to him.
The leader of the squadron held Bubbly, who had his eyes open. A frantic light was inside them.
But that light wa srapidly fading. Soon it was gone with the wind.
The leader dropped Bubbly on the dusty, ashy, fire consumed ground, sharply tuning on his heels and mounting a fighter jet.
His subordinates did the same, and soon they were off.
And the two in the cave covered their mouths in horror as blood spilled from Bubbly's chest.
The Bubbly was gone, his body consumed by flames.