Trial by Pyre
Techorse Series: #20
By Spirals95
Running out of parchment paper to take notes on was one of the things that annoyed Twilight Sparkle the most. She normally always kept an ample supply of the scrolls back at her library, but today was the once-in-a-year moment in which she had run out while keeping busy learning new spells. Luckily, parchment paper was easy enough to buy in Ponyville. All she had to do was visit a local supply store she knew of, and purchase her next gigantic stash. However, when she went to go on her shopping trip, she had noticed one more list that she had put on her desk. The list was a number of items that she had put off shopping for in a while. Without missing a moment, she rounded up Spike and Techorse to go with her on a shopping trip. Twilight figured this would be a good time to spend time with both Spike and her coltfriend while getting her chores done.
After finding most of the items on the list together and getting the best deals they could find, the friends came down to the last item, wax to make seals for scrolls Twilight wanted to make to keep records of her progress on a detoxifying spell she had learned. She insisted on getting good with the minor healing spell, as her magic in this area was not as powerful as the others. The three found themselves in a stationary store near the center of Ponyville, trying to decide on which color of wax to get. The shop was a simple setup built into the owner's home, featuring a single glass case with many tubes of wax, two racks for greeting cards both blank and pre-written, and a bucket filled to the brim with various colors of ink wells. Behind the counter, several stamps used to mold a disk of wax into a special shape on a letter were displayed. Twilight was busy scanning the large variety of letter wax the shopkeeper had in his display. The tan earth pony kept his shop well, but was rather annoyed at the fact that Twilight hadn't come to his store knowing exactly what she wanted.
"Come on Miss, they're all the same!" said the shopkeeper impatiently. Twilight was being indecisive over what color of wax to get.
"No they're not!" insisted the unicorn, shaking her head and looking at the plastic tubes filled with colored wax, "Each color is made with a different pigment, changing the material of the wax slightly! I only want the one which is going to keep the best. What's in the blue colored wax?"
"I used blue chalkstone!" the shopkeeper groaned, "I use different colored chalkstone for all the waxes."
"Come on Twilight, we're annoying the stallion enough," said Techorse, who was at her side, "I'm sure whatever color you pick is going to be the right one."
"I just can't decide," she said, scanning over the 20 different varieties, "there's something here for everypony."
Techorse looked over the colors, and the other wares the shopkeeper had in his home-based store, and asked, "Isn't this a healing spell you're trying to document?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" questioned Twilight, hovering a pink tube in front of her face with her magic.
"I'm looking at these seal stamps behind the counter, and I've seen one that looks like a medical cross,"
answered Techorse, "maybe you should buy the red wax, and I'll get you the stamp."
"If you buy the red wax right now, I'll just give you the stamp!" said the shopkeeper quickly, hoping to get rid of his pesky customer.
"Using a red cross stamp on my letters concerning my healing knowledge? Tech, that's perfect!" said Twilight in cheerful agreement, ignoring the owner.
Soon Twilight had made her purchase, and put the brown paper bag containing the wax and stamp into the saddlebags on her sides. She walked out of the store with Spike, leaving Techorse behind with the shopkeeper.
"Sorry about Twilight, Cardstock," he said, embarrassed.
"That girl needs to stop being such a perfectionist!" grunted Cardstock, shaking his head in contempt, "Honestly Tech, I don't know how you stand it."
Techorse smiled and said, "What can I say? She's smart, fun to be around, and loving. I can put up with her quirks, and she can put up with mine."
"Like spending too much time in your fort?" chuckled the earth pony, "Haven't seen you in over a month."
"Hey, I've been busy running my appliance business!" explained the green colt as he headed for the door, "I've got to catch up with them now, but I'll come back later!"
"All right then, see you later Techorse!" Cardstock called out as his customer shut the glass door behind him.
He smiled and shook his head, having no idea why anyone like Techorse would bother with Twilight Sparkle.
Techorse caught up to Twilight and Spike, who were hanging around the center of town. The two were enjoying the bright sunny day on their way back to the library, and had decided to talk to Fluttershy, who was on her way out to buy gardening supplies for the flower plots around her home.
"So what are you doing out here with Spike?" asked the timid pegasus.
"We're killing two birds with one stone!" said Twilight.
Noticing Fluttershy's eyes growing wide from the statement, she added, "It's an expression, Fluttershy. I'm out here to spend time with Spike and Techorse while I get my shopping done for the week."
Fluttershy relaxed and bit and lied softly, "I… I knew that. It's great that you want to spend time with your boys today."
"Yeah, I have Spike with me now, but I have no clue where Tech got off to. He's probably still back at Cardstock's shop." said Twilight, looking behind her to see if she could see him.
"He'll catch up," assured Spike, "let's just hang out in the sun for a while."
Twilight nodded, knowing that Spike's reason for wanting to stay out in the sun was that it was energizing him by heating his reptile blood. They waited for Techorse, who finally arrived after a good ten minutes.
"Sorry it took me so long!" he said to them, "Hey Fluttershy."
"Hi Tech." she said, smiling, "How was your day with Twilight?"
"Great, thanks!" he answered, "I think we're done for today, as long as Twilight's list is finished."
"It is!" she said, taking the scroll out of her pack and unrolling it.
The piece of paper reached the ground when it was held from her eye level, and part of it rolled out towards Fluttershy. Twilight's back was a bit overburdened from the goods she had wanted to pick up, and Fluttershy thought about offering to help carry some of it once she was done finding what she needed for the day.
"Great. Well, I guess I'll see you both later. I need to go get some mulch for the plants around my house," she said, deciding on what to do.
Twilight turned to leave and said, "Sounds great Fluttershy, see you around…"
Before she could finish, a shadow passed quickly overhead. The distinctive black shape on the ground, belonging to nothing other than a dragon, scared the wits out of Fluttershy, causing her to shriek and drop to the ground. She covered her eyes in fear, and dropped to the cobblestone street of Ponyville.
Twilight looked up at the dragon flying overhead, along with many of the other concerned citizens. The creature made a complete turnaround overhead, and landed with a large crash onto a stack of hay in the center of town. The bales flew everywhere, sending many of the ponies nearby into a panic. When the commotion had settled down, the dragon stepped out from the cloud of dust she had kicked up. She was a rather young dragon, probably in her early adulthood for her species. Although she was at least 9 feet tall, she was most certainly not gargantuan by any definition and her wingspan probably only covered 20 feet at most. Her scales were a dark pink in color, and her eyes were a jade green. Topping her head was an orange scale set, jagged yet folded over in a "hairstyle", which looked rather intimidating. The dragoness was wearing a brown backpack for some reason, a rather unusual thing for a dragon to do. Her long tail was tipped with a pair of sharpened spines that gave it the appearance of a battle axe.
She spoke in a soothing, but somewhat irritated voice, "Hello, ponies! Allow me to introduce myself before you all scream and run around in circles."
The dragon looked down, and noticed the awed look Spike was giving her. He'd never seen a female dragon as big as she was, only some male ones who had come close to her size.
"Hey, squirt!" she said quietly, winking at him.
Spike crossed his arms in insult, "Squirt?"
The female ignored him and looked back up to address the ponies, "My name is Pyre, and I was hatched and raised in those mountains you frequently pick at for gems! Let me tell you that all of this mining you've been doing has made it much harder for us dragons to find enough gems to eat to strengthen our scales!"
"That's terrible!" said Spike, trying to win the approval of his peer.
"Now, I know what you're all thinking," continued Pyre, "You all probably think I'm here to destroy Ponyville. Let me start by saying that I'm not here to hurt any of you. I'm merely here to give you a warning as to what happens when you rob the dragons of their food."
"And just what are you going to do as a warning?" asked Twilight, glaring at her.
"I'm going to set fire to the Everfree forest!" answered Pyre, pointing a claw towards the woods in the distance, "I just became an adult yesterday, and as my rite-of-passage, I'm going to burn down every last tree!"
Fluttershy looked up from her legs and thought sadly, "The whole forest? Every last tree? So many animals will be made homeless!"
"That's wrong!" shouted Techorse angrily, "Burning down the forest will just harm the ecosystem without teaching anypony anything!"
"Well, either stop taking gems from the mountains," said Pyre, "Or lose the forest. Either way my family and I will be happy."
"But ponies need those gems, too!" argued Twilight, "One of my friends needs them to keep her business going. Some of us use them to make inventions, or power sources. Without them, it will really damage our economy."
Pyre clenched her fists and grunted, "Might makes right, pony. If you won't give back the entire mountain territory to the dragons, I'll make sure we take it back."
The pink dragon spread her wings, and flew over to Spike, picking him up with her front arms and carrying him off. She flew away towards the Everfree forest with him gripped tightly in her clutches.
"Help!" cried Spike, kicking as he tried to get away.
"Settle down, squirt!" she said, smiling at him, "I want to talk to you, not hurt you."
"Talk to me down on the ground where it's safe!" he said desperately.
Pyre ignored him, and glided gently towards a dark patch of the Everfree where the ponies wouldn't dare to follow her. Back in town, Twilight and Techorse were shocked as to what happened.
"We have to save Spike!" said Twilight desperately, "Oh, Tech, why didn't you use your laser cannons? This would have been a perfectly good time to use them!"
Techorse argued, "She was carrying Spike close to her! If I had opened fire, I might have hit him instead. I bet she did that on purpose just to keep us from doing anything."
Twilight calmed down, and said, "That's true. But we still have to think of a way to rescue him. Pyre might try to get him to help her burn down the forest."
"Spike would never agree to that," said Fluttershy gently, "but I'm sure it's for the best that we get him away from Pyre. She might do something awful to him if he doesn't agree to help start the fire."
"Fluttershy, you know the forest the best." said Techorse, "Can you go in and find Spike?"
"ME?!" panicked Fluttershy, "But Techorse, there's so many dangerous things in there, and even if I find Spike, I can't stop Pyre."
"Yes you can," assured Twilight, running a hoof through Fluttershy's long pink hair, "you've dealt with so many dragons peacefully that Pyre should be a piece of cake to handle. All you have to do is find her, and talk her out of this."
Fluttershy took a deep breath and said, "Ok, I'll do it. But I want either you or Techorse to go with me in case things don't work out."
"I have just the device to stop Pyre's plan even if she tries to set the forest on fire," said Techorse, a scheming look on his face, "it will take a little bit of setup, and some help from PAL, but I've been saving something just for this kind of problem."
"Really?" asked Twilight, "What?"
Techorse pointed to his castle in the distance with his front leg and explained, "I built a missile silo into the roof of my castle last month. I've developed a large number of harmless missiles which are designed to drop their cargo in places instead of exploding, as a way to deliver things. One of them I filled with a liquid agent which freezes before it even hits the ground. I made it to try to create instant snow, but now I can use it as a fire retardant!"
"Wow," Said Fluttershy, amazed, "what do you call it?"
Techorse grinned, "I've dubbed it the Icy-BM."
Pinkie Pie, who had happened to be watching from a nearby café, burst out laughing and rolled on the ground in front of the coffee shop. Unfortunately, this also made her spit her coffee all over her tablemate, Colgate, who gave her a dirty look.
"Ok, we'll get PAL started on the missile, and then go rescue Spike!" said Twilight, "Hopefully, he'll still be in one piece."
"Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure he'll be fine," said Fluttershy, gently brushing Twilight with her left wing in comfort.
Pyre had decided to bring Spike to a small brook deep within the Everfree forest. The light from the sun pierced through the treetops, casting just enough light to eliminate any chance of that area of the woods being scary. It was the perfect hideout in a place normally considered dangerous by any pony, and Pyre knew this meant it would be the last place she would be looked for. She dropped Spike off on a tree stump near the babbling brook, and landed by the edge of the stream, where she took a long drink from the cool and refreshing water before turning back to Spike.
"Don't worry, squirt," she said, drying her lips with her front claw, “I'll get you back to Ponyville if you really want to leave."
"First of all, my name's Spike!" said the young dragon with anger, "And second of all, why did you take me away?"
Pyre smiled and said to him, "Sheesh, I just wanted to get you away from those ponies for a bit. You spend so much time with them, Spike, that I thought you might want to see another dragon for a while."
"Most other dragons are pretty mean," explained Spike, "That's why I prefer staying with the ponies, they're nice to me and each other. Life's pretty sweet."
"Say, are you hungry?" asked Pyre, taking off her backpack.
She was trying to avoid the fact that Spike had just called her out on her mean and rude actions. To try to smooth over her new "friend's" ideas about her being evil, she took out a large sapphire from her backpack. The gemstone was quite large, being a rectangular cut stone. It glistened in the sunlight coming from the canopy, making it look quite appetizing to Spike.
"I have plenty of gems for us. We dragons gotta stick together, you know," she said, offering it to Spike.
Spike reached to take the gemstone from Pyre, and then had second thoughts, "What's the catch?"
"There is no catch," said Pyre, "I really just want you to understand I don't want to hurt you."
The young dragon took the sapphire and bit off the end, crunching down hard on the gemstone. He had never had a better sapphire before in his life, but he didn't want to admit that to what was supposed to be his enemy. She planned to commit arson against the Everfree forest, and he knew he couldn't stay on her side. But the taste of the gemstone and his natural dragon greed was beginning to override his good nature.
"See? Isn't that good? There's more of those coming once I burn the forest. The Equestrians will have to give us our mountains back!" Pyre said, cheer in her voice.
Spike tossed the rest of the gemstone in his mouth and crunched it down in a few bites.
"Maybe there's a way to both save the gem supply, and not burn down the forest," suggested Spike, “my friends can change if it's really hurting you guys.”
"Those stubborn ponies will never listen, Spike," said Pyre, shaking her head.
“You haven't even given them a chance yet!” he complained, trying to reason with her, "if you do, they'll help you get enough gems. They're always willing to help me out, and I'm a dragon too."
"I'll return you to Ponyville so you don't get burned," she answered, ignoring him, "I was hoping you'd leave the ponies and follow me, but I can tell you're on their side. Let's go. Once I get you to the edge, I'll start my burning from the points I had planned out."
Spike tried to protest, but Pyre was already dragging him for the edge of the forest. It appeared that nothing could be done to prevent the forest from burning down, as Pyre was showing absolutely no interest in resolving her kind's hunger problems peacefully. However, despite appearances, Spike's words about how ponies could get along with others had put the thought into Pyre's mind. The influence of the idea had changed her slightly, although for now, she was still intending on carrying through with her horrid plan.
Back at Techorse's castle, PAL had received instructions from his master to begin preparing his missile tube for launch against the coming forest fire. To try to get a little bit of help with the setup and launch of the device, the robot had enlisted the help of Applejack. The two worked together in the missile silo room, working out of a manual Techorse had written on how to operate the friendly payload system. The room was a large stone area in the castle, featuring a guidance computer completely taking up one side, and the missile launch tube taking up the other. Applejack was about to put a series of wires in place on the cryogenic missile placed in the tube, while PAL was bringing a fuel line over from the wall to give the rocket its propellant.
"PAL, it says here in the manual that I have to tighten a bolt inside the rocket," said Applejack, "Could ya please hold on to my hat so it doesn't get any oil in it?"
The robot stepped over and took Applejack's Stetson off of her head. Applejack stretched her neck into an access panel on the side of the missile, and began work on the internal components.
The orange pony called from inside the rocket, "Hand me a wrench, PAL."
PAL complied with the request, and picked up a red pipe wrench from off the floor of the missile room. Moving over to Applejack, he climbed on top of the missile and threw the wrench inside the craft.
"Ow!" screamed Applejack as the wrench bonked her on the back of her head, "I said give me the wrench, not hit me with it!"
"Sorry Miss Applejack, my mind's just wandering. Master's gone off with Twilight to go confront that dragon. I sure hope he's all right..." explained the machine, expressing his concern for his creator.
Applejack removed her head from the missile temporarily to talk to PAL, "I'm sure Techie will be ok against that dragon. He and Twilight can stop her without too much trouble, I reckon."
"I sure hope you are right," said PAL, his mechanical eyes sinking towards the floor, "but at any rate, we should finish construction of this missile. If they cannot stop the dragon, we can at least stop the forest fire."
"That's the spirit!" said Applejack, smiling, "Now give me a screwdriver without hurting me with it, ok PAL?"
The robot nodded and reached for the Phillips head screwdriver on the ground near him.
"With any luck,” calculated the machine, "Master will escape the dragon, and this missile will prevent the fires from spreading."
Techorse had successfully managed to escort Fluttershy through the Everfree forest without any problems. They hadn't encountered any dangerous creatures on the way to the place they saw Pyre carry Spike away, but they knew that they were probably in for a fight. Unless Fluttershy could somehow convince Pyre to not start her forest fire, Everfree would be reduced to a smoldering pile of sticks within a few days. In case all diplomatic efforts failed, Twilight had been sent to warn Zecora so she could be evacuated way before the conflagration could reach her home. Techorse figured that there would be enough time to get her to safety if they could delay Pyre's actions for just fifteen minutes.
This would give Zecora a chance to get out of her home and to safety with Twilight. Still, Techorse wanted to prevent the fire completely if possible, he didn't want the animals of the forest to lose their homes or lives just because he couldn't reason with a dragon. He couldn't live with the thought of so much habit destruction being the result of his failure to be peaceful, and as someone who was always worried about being pegged as violent and undiplomatic, Techorse was determined to change Pyre's mind. Perhaps an offer to allow her to talk to the princesses about the gem shortages would convince her to avoid demonstrating her might. Otherwise, he knew Zecora and the animals of the Everfree forest would end up losing their homes.
Fluttershy walked quietly with Techorse, and said to him, "Tech, do you really think I can convince Pyre not to set fire to the trees?"
"I'm certain, and even if you can't, I won't let that dragon hurt you, Fluttershy," said Techorse confidently, drawing his laser guns with a metallic click. The two metal tubes pointed wherever Techorse looked as he scanned the forest, in case Pyre decided to ambush them rather than confront them directly.
"Oh please don't hurt Pyre!" asked Fluttershy, "Let's try our hardest to convince her ponies can share their gems."
Techorse stopped Fluttershy from walking forward by holding up a leg. He had heard a rustling in the bushes nearby, and wanted to keep Fluttershy from stumbling into whatever was in there. Pyre emerged from the green bush, dragging a rather irritated Spike behind her. She stopped when she saw Techorse and Fluttershy, and let go of Spike, who ran ahead of her and behind the two ponies.
"Hey!" said Pyre, her eyes narrowing in anger, "Can't you ponies take a hint? I'm going to burn down the forest whether you like it or not!"
Fluttershy boldly stepped up and said, "Now, please, I'm sure you're very angry, but there's no need for arson. I want you to know that we can send a letter to our leaders to try and get them to give the dragons more gems."
Spike said to her, "Listen to Fluttershy, Pyre!"
"Your leaders will simply tell us to get lost because we're not ponies," grunted the pink dragon, a wisp of smoke escaping from her right nostril.
"That's not true!" Insisted Fluttershy, shaking her head, "I'm sure princess Celestia would be happy to mark a few mountains as reserved for you, if you're willing to leave a few others for us to use."
Pyre took a deep breath and said, "No deal."
She spat a large plume of orange flame towards a pile of dead pine needles resting underneath the tree that had dropped it over the years. The soft tinder ignited almost immediately, and bold red flames engulfed the area underneath the tree. Immediately the fire began to spread, burning dead material and catching the surrounding trees.
"Fluttershy, Spike, RUN!" shouted Techorse. The two obeyed his advice, and fled for Ponyville, leaving the inventor to face Pyre alone.
"So, Techorse is it?" laughed Pyre, stepping forward.
The fires burning behind her made her body glow an eerie orange as the black smoke rose from the tops of the flames. The forest was already burning, and she knew that Techorse was eventually going to have to run, as she was fireproof and he was not.
"That's right, Pyre," he said, taking a step forward and aiming his laser cannons up, "I'm Techorse, and you've just set fire to my friends' forest. You've threatened the lives of many innocent animals just to try and threaten us into doing what you want."
"Well, it's going to work, isn't it?" chuckled the dragon, sidestepping to avoid Techorse's gaze, "Burning the Everfree will send lots of ash into the air, which will eventually rain down on Ponyville, catching it ablaze too. Once you've all fled, I'll be back to take any gemstones and gold I can find to start my own horde. Never again will ponies try to take mountains from us dragons."
"We never took the mountains from you." Replied Techorse through gritted teeth, "You simply think you can take whatever you want because you're bigger and stronger than our species. Well, if you think you're so much better, prove it!"
"With pleasure!" said Pyre, rearing her neck back.
She spat forth a ball of orange flames which rolled towards the earth pony. Techorse jumped out of the way of the projectile, which exploded on the ground, kicking up dirt and leaving a divot on the forest floor. He returned fire once he landed, and yellow bolts of electromagnetic energy streaked for Pyre. They impacted on her front, blasting off pink scales and scorching the soft reptilian tissue underneath. Pyre gasped as the bolts hit her, but she wouldn't surrender to a pony. She instead lifted off into the air, and spat a stream of flames around Techorse. He was surrounded by the flames, which easily accepted the soft grass around him as fuel. As the fires burned, Techorse sweated and took some minor burns to his legs, but he continued to blast away at the dragon overhead. One of the bolts struck Pyre in the middle of her right wing, and she was knocked out of the air onto the ground behind her enemy.
Seeing this as his chance to win, Techorse turned around and continued to blast away, slowly stepping forward through the flames around him as he shot. Unfortunately, his saddle was beginning to smoke as he did; the internal heat of the device was reaching its critical level. Too much more firing and the device would shut down for several seconds to prevent a meltdown. Seven more beams of destructive energy hit Pyre in the back, each hit delivering heavy force to her body.
"Stop!" she begged, holding a claw out to Techorse, "I give up!"
Techorse's cannons fell silent, and he retracted them into his saddle, "I don't want to fight either, Pyre. There's still time to put out this fire and settle things another way."
Pyre stood up from the ground. She had gotten her opponent to let his guard down, and that's all that mattered. Quickly, she hawked and spat an oblong orb of searing-hot fire breath at the shocked green earth pony. Techorse took the fireball right below his neck, and was kicked ten feet. His coat was slightly singed by the damage, and the air had been knocked out of his lungs. After recovering from the blow, he stood back up shakily on his four legs, and drew his cannons again.
But he couldn't get them to fire, to his surprise. Pyre's fireball had pushed the robotic saddle on Techorse's back to its shutdown point, and the saddle refused to obey a single mental order from its owner. It would be a while before the machine would start up again, so Techorse did what most ponies usually do when they found themselves up against a dragon without support. He fled, running past Pyre while avoiding her fire breath. After he had gotten a safe distance away, he switched his direction and headed back for Ponyville.
"I really messed that one up!" he thought sadly, "I sure hope PAL and Applejack got that missile working!"
The fires had spread within the Everfree forest, and the old trees began to fall one by one as they were hollowed out by the heat. Thick black smoke rose into the air above Ponyville, blocking out the sun partly, and making the area a no fly zone for any pegasi or birds. The air was beginning to get polluted as the forest burned down, and if something wasn't done soon, Everfree would be nothing more than a scorched patch of land.
Back at Techorse's castle, PAL and Applejack had finally managed to put the finishing touches on the Icy-BM, and were preparing it for launch. The robot had successfully plotted out the missile's firing line over the patch of the Everfree forest that was burning, and was busy installing the coordinates into the missile's guidance computer. Applejack tried to be of some help to him, but the robot just pushed her away, and would not let her see the screen of the hand-held device he was using to program the utility rocket.
"Miss Applejack, I must insist you let me program this missile on my own!" he said, tapping on the touch screen of the device with a thick metal finger.
"Come on PAL, just lemme see how bad the forest fire is!" said a hatless Applejack with impatience.
PAL had left her hat, unbeknownst to her, on one of the missile's three guidance fins.
"We can view the fire's extinguishing from the roof once I launch the missile,” said the robot servant calmly, "I just finished putting in the last of the launch coordinates. The missile will launch shortly."
Applejack smiled and headed for the door, "Well great, PAL! Let's see if all our hard work paid off."
The orange pony stopped at the door, and her eyes opened wide when she realized her hat wasn't on her head. Immediately she turned around and galloped to retrieve it from the missile's fin.
"Miss Applejack, no! I set the timer for only ten seconds!" warned the robot, trying to stop her.
But it was far too late.
Applejack had already jumped onto the large fin of the rocket to retrieve her hat. The engines of the missile came to life, sending a geyser of smoke down through the launch pad and into the ventilation shafts of the castle. The missile's red nose cone started to rise out from the tube, and into the open daylight. Applejack tried to jump off, but her braided mane was caught in one of the access hatches of the missile, which PAL had failed to completely close shut. Within seconds, the missile was out of the tube, and flying into the air above Ponyville.
The ponies in the streets, panicking about the fires burning in the forest, stopped to stare at the missile arching through the sky, with Applejack stuck on top of it. PAL rushed to the roof of the castle, carrying a pair of binoculars in his arms. He hoped that Applejack would survive her unintentional flight, or else he knew Techorse would be extremely angry with him. Most inventors didn't appreciate their machines launching their friends on missiles. PAL reached the roof of the castle, and ran to the front edge of the building, making loud metal footsteps. Raising the binoculars to his optical sensors, the machine looked on, and saw that Applejack had successfully managed to get her hair out of the missile. She was now straddling it backwards, and holding on to one of the fins for dear life.
Applejack looked down at the ponies below her, who resembled ants due to her altitude. Swallowing hard out of fear of falling, Applejack knew the missile was programmed to make a gentle landing after it dropped its payload. All she had to do was hang on tight until it landed.
"I sure hope my weight doesn't make this thing spin out of control!" she said to herself, the wind blowing her hair into her face.
Below her, Techorse had met back up with Twilight and Fluttershy in front of her house. The woodland creatures that had evacuated the forest were seeking care with Fluttershy, and had surrounded her. The light yellow pegasus was eager to sit with her animal friends, she was happy that they were safe from the fires. In addition, Twilight had managed to get Zecora to leave her home, and they watched as the rocket traveled slowly overhead.
"So the missile launched, great!" said Techorse, running up to his friends.
"Yeah, it's on its way," said Twilight happily.
Looking up at the rocket and noticing something strange, she squinted and said slowly with fear in her tone, “Is… is that Applejack?"
Techorse raised a robotic hand to his eyes to try and get a better look. Sure enough, he could make out Applejack on top of the missile. He began to wonder if Applejack had volunteered to ride his invention, or if his clumsy robot servant was behind this event.
"I do not wish to speak of doom," said Zecora to Techorse with concern, "But don't your missiles usually go boom?"
"Not this one," answered the colt proudly, "that's one of my harmless cargo rockets. I'll go fly up to Applejack and rescue her if things get bad."
"Oh dear," said Fluttershy with fear in her voice, "what happens if that thing runs out of fuel?"
"It won't!" assured Techorse, "It will land way before then. We all know Applejack, she's done everything she can to make that missile work correctly."
The rocket had reached its destination over the flames, and Applejack looked down at the fires as the bay doors on the bottom of the rocket opened up. Light blue liquid sloshed from the missile, raining down on the forest, and turning anything it touched to ice in a flash. The fires were immediately either quenched or starved of oxygen. As the forest fire died down, Applejack was overcome with excitement for her success with preparing the missile, and took off her hat with her left front leg, waving it in the air and cheering.
Twilight heard her friend's happy cries from below and said to the others, "It sounds like she's doing fine. Let's make sure we thank Applejack for her help once she lands and gets back to us."
Techorse turned to Zecora and said to her, "In the meantime, we should get you back home."
"It was fun seeing Applejack fly." She said, smiling, "but please, give that dragon one more try."
"I'll try my hardest." said Fluttershy softly.
The animals around Fluttershy seemed to gasp in surprise. They all thought she was crazy for wanting to give Pyre another chance after she had attacked Techorse and set fire to their homes.
Fluttershy flapped her wings once to calm them, "Now, little friends, I'm sure you all think Pyre is horrible. But somewhere in there is a hurting dragon that I need to help."
She then turned back to Techorse and Twilight, "Guys, can you take care of the animals while I go find Pyre?"
"Yes, but please, be careful Fluttershy," said Twilight, showing a bit of concern for her friend.
Fluttershy left her animals behind to venture into the Everfree. She followed the path of smoldering debris in the forest, knowing the trail would probably lead to its creator. Fluttershy felt safer following the deforested area, knowing she couldn't be attacked by surprise walking where there was no cover. The liquid nitrogen from the missile had created artificial frost, making an artificial winter in the forest on top of the blackened woods. Eventually, Fluttershy found Pyre sitting on the same tree stump she had brought Spike to, staring into the river with a grumpy look on her face.
"Have your plans been spoiled?" called out Fluttershy in a motherly voice.
"It looks like you ponies can stop a forest fire after all," mumbled Pyre, kicking a stone near the base of the stump.
"Now look, Pyre. Even though you've been really mean to the animals and to us ponies, I'm sure there's a way we can still give back most of the gemstones and the mountains," said the pegasus, walking up next to the angry dragoness, "We'll find a way to share."
"My family is going to end up starving," sighed Pyre, "Having the entire mountains to ourselves would mean an end to the fighting over the supply we have. Dragons need to be able to horde gems in order to stay happy and strong-scaled. We'll get soft without them."
"What's wrong with being soft?" asked Fluttershy, stepping in front of Pyre, "All of us are soft, even Spike. He doesn't want to fight at all."
Pyre pushed Fluttershy with her claws and turned away from her, "All you are is a bunch of little greedy monsters. Always wanting more gems, never thinking about the other animals you have to live with on this planet. Go away, Fluttershy."
The pink-haired pony had finally been fed up with Pyre's bad attitude. Flapping her wings hard, she lifted up into the air, and flew in front of Pyre's face.
"We don't think of the other animals? I'll have you know I take care of animals for a living, and I love them very much! Just because you're stronger doesn't mean you get to judge everyone else how you see fit! Stop thinking only for yourself, you selfish…"
Pyre had also been fed up with Fluttershy, and curled her left hand into a fist. Drawing it back, she then swung it forward for Fluttershy's head. Fluttershy saw this coming, fortunately, and flew away while giving a shout of surprise from the attack, before landing on the ground and curling up slightly. She might not have been hit by the attack, but she had certainly been intimidated by it. Pyre's fist hit the hard ground in front of her, and the dragon promptly pulled her hand out of the forest floor. A large crater remained in the dirt, which Fluttershy stared at in awe.
"Aw shut up," shouted Pyre, rubbing her sore knuckles, "Might makes right! You stupid animals have just gotten so powerful it's gone to your oversized heads. Now, I'm going to restart the fires, and you're not going to do anything about it, ok?"
"Yes m'am!" whimpered Fluttershy, still curled up on the muddy ground.
"Good," laughed Pyre, "If you try to tell me off one more time, well…"
Fluttershy looked up at Pyre, and waited for the answer.
"I've always wanted to try a pegasus on wheat," she finished, chuckling at her own stupid joke.
Fluttershy started whimpering again, and hid her face in her front hooves. Pyre shook her head, and walked away to go restart her blaze.
Techorse and Twilight arrived on the scene a minute later. They had heard Fluttershy's scream a few minutes after dropping Zecora off, and rushed for Fluttershy's location when they had heard her yell. They found her crying into the brook, staring at her reflection. Fluttershy was facing away from them, and refused to look at her friends.
"What happened? We heard you scream!" said Twilight with panic in her voice.
"Nothing happened," She lied, continuing to stare at the river.
Techorse stepped closer to his friend and asked, "Fluttershy, look at us, what happened?"
Fluttershy slowly stood up, and turned around to look at her friends. Twilight's mouth fell open in horror at what she saw. The punch Pyre threw had left a crater the size of a basketball in the ground in front of the pegasus pony.
"That was almost me!" said Fluttershy, frowning at pointing at the hole.
Techorse's ears tilted back in rage, and he crouched on his forward legs slightly.
"Pyre almost did that to you?" asked Twilight, shocked the dragon had committed such an act.
"And then she threatened to put me in a sandwich!" added Fluttershy, hoping to gain some more pity.
"Where's Pyre?" he demanded in a dark tone.
"That way." Fluttershy said weakly, pointing into the woods.
Twilight said to Techorse, "Don't do anything crazy, Tech. You can't beat Pyre alone, and we can't beat her with lasers, magic, or force."
"Then what can we possibly do to stop her?” he asked.
"We'll go with you and figure something out," assured Twilight, "can you walk, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy nodded slowly in response, and Twilight held her gently as they followed the infuriated Techorse. His gaze alone could ignite the forest again, if Pyre found herself unable to.
When they caught up with the dragon again, Pyre was preparing a pile of tinder to complete her project of incinerating the Everfree. She saw Twilight and Techorse approach out of the corner of her eye, and turned to face them.
"I thought I told you to stop confronting me!" she said, "Do I have to eat you just to get you to shut up?"
“Why don't you shut up?” growled Techorse, “All day we've been offering to give you back the mountains you need, and all you've done is stubbornly think we're trying to double-cross you. How stupid can you be?”
"I'll roast you for that!" she shouted, standing back up.
"We'll see." Said Techorse angrily, "I have a feeling you won't be able to beat me and Twilight so easily."
Twilight's horn glowed a dark purple as the unicorn pony stepped up alongside Techorse. He looked at her with a frown, hoping that whatever plan was brewing in her smart mind was going to work. The dragon jumped into the air, and breathed a stream of blazing hot flames down at the two. Twilight rolled to the left, and returned fire with a spray of magical bolts and pellets. The weaker projectiles seemed to go all over the place except for Pyre, forcing her to dodge, but not really coming close to her at all.
Pyre stood defiant against the swarm of projectiles, and fired back with a ball of white-hot plasma from her throat. This hit the ground between the two ponies and exploded, knocking them to the ground. Twilight shot back with a solid beam of purple light, which tore through the ground.
Fluttershy had crept up behind her friends at this point, and noticed a fallen tree nearby from which scared chirps were ringing out. A baby bird, too young to fly yet old enough to understand what was happening, had failed to jump from the nest in time during the fire, and was now left alone. Fluttershy was not certain she would be able to find the bird's mother or father, and tears came to her eyes at the innocent creature's condition. She began to wail, and cuddled the poor, injured bird in her front hooves gently.
“Oh no, now what's wrong with her?” grumbled Pyre, stopping her fire breath.
“This poor bird has been left homeless,” sobbed Fluttershy, “and who knows how many other animals? I would have given anything to have prevented this.”
The dragoness slowly moved towards Fluttershy, and straightened her neck. The sound of vertebrae going back into a more comfortable position was heard slightly, and Pyre sighed as she worked out the soreness from the battle. She had been warned by the ponies that burning the forest would have grave consequences, but she had gone through with her deed despite that. Now, innocent third parties were getting harmed, and it was no longer about pony versus dragon.
“Gee... I didn't even think anything lived out here,” said Pyre, “I mean, you told me some animals did, but I didn't believe you...”
“Because we're ponies...” whimpered Fluttershy, “but it's true.”
The dragon leaned down, and the baby bird looked up at her before trilling a sad note. Pyre's heart, earlier filled with nothing but anger and wrath towards Equestria, now filled with sadness for those not involved in the conflict.
“What have I done,” she said, “I should have just found a way to kick out the ponies mining gems in our home. We could have just made sure we got our fair share.”
"Pyre, I'm sure we can do better than just give you your fair share of the gems." said Twilight, smiling at the dragon's choice to cooperate, "We can make it illegal to trespass into dragon territory, and we can also tax gem mining operations to help pay for programs to make sure the dragons get enough food."
"I don't get it." Pyre said looking back at her, "why are you so willing to help dragons when we almost always try to use violence against you?"
"Because we share the planet with you," explained Twilight, "and not all dragons have to be bad. Maybe it's time we start trying to cooperate with you, instead of fighting you."
Pyre nodded slowly, and carefully spoke to Fluttershy, trying not to scare her away.
"I didn't actually want to hit you," she admitted, "If I had landed that punch, I probably wouldn't have been able to forgive myself later. As it is, I can't forgive myself for what I did to the forest and its animals."
Fluttershy, still a little shaky, understood that the dragon had admitted to her mistake. She said to her softly, "Even if you had, hit me, it would have been worth it to save these creatures.”
Pyre held out her scaly hand in an inviting, open manner, and the baby bird jumped into the open palm before settling down.
“Spike was right,” she said, “being soft really does make things better. I actually kind of trust you guys to do something about the food supply. After this though... I doubt your leaders will say yes.”
“Pyre, if it's true that you and the other dragons in this area are starving, they'll approve,” assured Fluttershy, “when anyone has to go hungry, it can make them desperate.”
"Fluttershy, I'll make sure the other dragons know the ponies are passing laws to help us," she said, spreading her wings.
“But before I go... do you think maybe we should make sure this little guy gets home?” she asked.
Fluttershy closed her eyes and nodded with a broad smile on her face. It took them the rest of the afternoon, but with some help from Ponyville, the animals of the Everfree Forest had been successfully relocated into trees in the unburned part, and even the injured baby bird had been successfully returned to its parents, who built a new nest in a tree very close to Fluttershy's home. Soon after all had been amended for, Pyre left to return to her kind and explain the situation, hopeful that her family and friends would be able to get what they needed.
Later that night, Techorse and Twilight began work on writing the new law proposal to the princesses. Fluttershy joined them for the event, and her favorite animals helped to cheer her up and recover from her long, tiring day. She didn't seem upset at all now that her woodland creatures had offered to help, and many of them were thankful for the help in finding a new home. Applejack also managed to return after a long walk, although she was a little upset with PAL, she quickly forgave him when she admitted it was her own fault for trying to retrieve her hat. After a quick celebration of saving the forest, sponsored by Pinkie Pie, most of the friends had gone home for the night. The only two left were Twilight and Techorse, who stood on the roof of the castle together, looking at the stars and the mountains in the distance.
"Hopefully the princesses will be able to zone a fair amount of the mountains as off-limits to ponies so the dragons can eat better."
She said, "Thanks for standing up to Pyre with me."
"You're welcome." He said lovingly, "I just hope someday we can cooperate with these dragons, like you said earlier. Spike seemed to have some kind of an influence on Pyre, and I hope other dragons can be more like him."
Twilight smiled at the thought, "Yeah, I could see Spike going out and helping other dragons learn to co-exist with ponies. He might like that job a lot. Either way, I'm just glad we could save most of the forest together."
Techorse lifted his head slightly in surprise as he felt Twilight wrap her fan-cut tail around his. He stood shoulder to shoulder with her in the night, enjoying her warmth and company.
"I'm glad we're together too, Twilight." He said gently before kissing her on the forehead.
PAL watched his master and Twilight stand together on the roof from behind the safety of the roof access stairwell. He turned around to go back inside the castle, and ran through his robotic mind pleasant thoughts. His creator was happy in his relationship and friendships, and he had just helped to prevent deforestation. The robot walked slowly back to his favorite place to be in the castle, and knew that life would always get better so long as there was peace between his friends and the creatures they shared their world with.