M.F.D.

by kudzuhaiku

Chapter 11

Standing on top of her home, the snow billowing all around her, Holly Heartwood watched as the sun dipped down in the west. It had been a long day for her, much of it spent with Knock Knock. The arson investigation troubled her, weighing heavy in her mind, causing her to think and feel a little out of sorts. Holly liked to believe that ponies were good creatures, but there was mounting evidence to the contrary, and Holly didn’t like it.

Tomorrow would be a new day in the new city, full of new chances to learn, to grow, and to do exciting new things. Tomorrow would bring ponies to talk to, to spend time with. Traveling by train all over the country for the roller derby, Holly almost always had somepony to talk to, or at least somepony around. But now, Holly’s house was empty, and with her troubled thoughts, the emptiness, the loneliness, it was almost unbearable.

In the distance, Holly could hear a hoof cranked siren making its “aaaOOOOOgaaah!” sound. The whole city was full of light, and the city’s light reflected off of the snow clouds above, causing the sky to glow purple. This city never slept, the lights never dimmed, and this city never went silent. This city was all brick, steel, glass, and concrete, with very little in the way of greenery. Holly had heard ponies talk about how earth ponies didn’t belong in the city, earth ponies needed lush green fields to be happy, but Holly supposed she didn’t know what she was missing. She had always gone from city to city, train station to train station, arena to arena, one show to the next for so long; she couldn’t even recall ever being on a farm at any point in her life.

But she hadn’t lived in the city either. She had lived on trains, staring out the window, watching as the countryside scrolled past like a movie. She had lived in hotel rooms when she wasn’t on a train going somewhere. She had an apartment, a place she seldom visited, a place she had never even furnished, and had only been used to store her few belongings.

The snow was blowing in sideways now and the wind was picking up. Holly was glad to have a home. It was cold. Holly shivered and thought about going inside. From here on the roof, Holly could see Mallory Moo’s Automat. Another strong gust caused Holly’s long coat to go whipping around. This house, even though it seemed small, even cramped at times, it also felt huge and empty. Her teeth almost chattering, Holly decided it was time to go inside, get something to eat, and then go bed early so she wouldn’t feel so alone.

---

Pushing open the door of the firehouse, Holly stepped inside and shook the snow off of her. It was quiet, and nopony greeted her. She walked through the garage, around the wagon, and then saw that something was wrong. The wagon had a broken wheel and the rear axle was splintered. Cocking her head, Holly looked at the broken axle, trying to figure out what had caused that. Examining the wagon, Holly could see that the water tank was ruptured and there was a huge dent along one side.

“Hey Holly.”

Whirling around, Holly saw Fizz Fizz. “What happened?”

“Last night was a bad night,” Fizz Fizz replied, a pained expression upon his face.

“It looks like it… but what happened?” Holly looked at the drake and began to feel a growing sense of worry. “Talk to me.”

“We got sabotaged last night. Somepony messed with the fireplug. When we went to attach a hose, it… it’s like it burst. One of the big bolts went shooting off. Tap Tap fell.” The drake slumped down and closed his eyes.

“Falling doesn’t seem so bad… is he going to be okay?” Holly asked.

The drake opened his eyes. “Holly, we firefighters don’t die on duty. We fall.”

It took a moment for the drake’s words to settle in. Holly turned around and looked at the wrecked wagon. She then turned back around and looked at Fizz Fizz. “Are Knock Knock and Toot Toot okay?”

“They’re sleeping. It was a rough night, like I said. We got sabotaged and then a column fell over on our wagon, killing our water supply. The fire spread a good bit. We had to call in airships on an out of control house fire.” Fizz Fizz scowled. “Holly, I don’t mean to be rude, but I promised I’d bring the spotter up on the roof a cup coffee so he won’t freeze to death. Feel free to do whatever. Have a look around. Read a training manual. Just make yourself at home.”

Holly watched as Fizz Fizz departed through a door, his scaly tail swishing in the air behind him. She felt as though she had been kicked. Ears perking, Holly heard a faint sound that she couldn’t quite make out. She walked off to the call room, where the call boxes for the area were routed. The sound grew louder.

In the small, cramped call room, the repetitive beeping of Morse code rang in Holly’s ears. Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. Holly only knew a little of Morse code, but knew that those were dashes. Fives dashes played in a row, a long pause, and then five more dashes, over and over, on a loop. She didn’t know what it meant. It didn’t seem to be an alarm though.

Holly’s mind reeled as she tried to figure out why somepony would sabotage the fire department. She had trouble understanding arson too. It was the act of a dirty, dirty heel, one that needed a non-kayfabe comeuppance. The real thing. A real honest to goodness beatdown.

Holly wandered around the bottom floor and then found herself in the kitchen. She smelled coffee. She looked around. The kitchen was clean with only a spoon and a bowl in the sink. There was a large cardboard box filled with instant oatmeal packets and a tap near the sink that dispensed boiling water. The side of the box listed a dozen different flavours. On a shelf, there was another box, unopened, that had packets of instant hominy grits, something Holly enjoyed eating a great deal. There were packets of hot cocoa and packets of instant hot apple cider. There was a lot of instant convenience and comfort food. By the sink, there was a box of donuts that had one sole survivor, a maple bar.

Stepping out of the kitchen, Holly walked into the dining area. Along the back wall was a giant map of the city, overlaid with red outlines breaking up the various districts. Push pins were stuck into the map and there were different colours. Holly had no idea what they signified. On one of the dining tables, there was bowl of fruit, apples, bananas, oranges, and one single pinkish grapefruit. At a loss for anything else to do, Holly began to study the map to familiarise herself with the immediate area.

---

Her nose buried in a book, Holly had lost track of time reading about practical approaches to fire survival, minding your escape routes, making sure you have air, and watching which way flames and smoke blowed. The book was full of useful, helpful, life saving information.

“Holly.”

Looking up from her book, Holly saw Toot Toot. He looked as though he had just stepped out of the shower. He was hovering just a few inches off the ground, and a bowl of oatmeal was held between his front hooves. He plopped the oatmeal down upon the table and then sat down. Holly could see that his eyes were sad, but also angry.

“Fizzy told me about what happened. I also learned that firefighters don’t die on the job,” Holly said, trying to be conversational.

“No. We don’t. We fall.” The pegasus stared down into his oatmeal and sighed.

“What is with the five dashes in the call room?” Holly asked.

“Interdepartmental message. Five dashes, a pause, then five more dashes mean that one of us fell on the job.” Toot Toot looked up from his oatmeal, grabbed his spoon, and began to stir the contents of his bowl. He cleared his throat and began to speak:

“We have a lot of traditions Holly. That is what makes us a family. Learning these traditions is every bit as important as learning how to fight fires.” Toot Toot paused, contemplated his oatmeal, and then blinked away tears. “We were once what kept ponies safe in the dark. We were the nightwatch. Not only did we fight fires, but we fought the darkness as well. We would go around the city to light the gas lamps with a fire pot on the end of a stick. We carried bugles to warn the town when something was invading or there was danger. We had pikes that not only helped us fight monsters in the night, but also fight fires.”

“I had no idea,” Holly said as she leaned forward, interested in everything that Toot Toot was saying.

“We held the darkness back… we kept the lamps lit. But we also kept the fire from devouring the city. We were the masters of fire and we shepherded its existence.” Toot Toot lifted his spoon and took a bite of oatmeal. He chewed, looking thoughtful, and then began to nod his head. “We’ve changed a good bit. We started off as a bunch of pegasi with axes, buckets, and pikes. But then the city got bigger. And bigger. And it kept growing. Buckets became useless. We faced towering infernos. Hoses changed things. Being creatures of tradition, quite a number of us believed in our buckets and we were resistant to change, at least at first.”

Holly nodded to acknowledge Toot Toot’s words.

“But when we saw what a great weapon a hose was for fighting the Beast, it didn’t take us long to adapt to something new. Some of us still used buckets for specific instances, but hoses became more and more reliable. We can’t have personal pride holding us back from fighting the Beast. It’ll devour us.” Toot Toot took another bite, chewed a few times, and gulped down his oatmeal. “My great grandfather, he was a pony that did not like change, or so I’m told, but he gave good reasons for resisting change. That pony was dead set against electric lights. Electric street lights. He said we should use gas lights… and not the fancy kind that lit themselves when the system pressurised. He said it was important for the community to see us, talk to us, speak to us about neighborhood goings on, and our nightly tradition of going out to light the gas lamps was the glue that held the community together. It gave ponies a chance to meet with us, see as what we are.”

“That actually makes sense,” Holly said.

Toot Toot gave a vigorous nod. “We’re no different than the cops. The community needs to see us… to know that they are safe.” Toot Toot took a bite of oatmeal and looked Holly in the eye. “You… you were a roller derby star. You know all about maintaining an image. How to be a big damn hero. Making the public love you.”

“Yeah, Toots, I gets that, but right now, it sounds as though somepony wants to kill you.” Holly shook her head. “I don’t get that. Seems like an act of stupidity.”

“It’s Knock Knock. And no, I’m not just saying that, he’ll tell you the same. He’s made enemies. He is very loud, very vocal, and very unafraid of ponies in power. He has gone forwards a number of times to the papers with his arson investigations, and he has made a number of cases public… cases that got ponies into trouble and made some ponies look real bad.” Toot Toot ate more oatmeal, spooning it into his mouth now with some speed now that it had cooled off some. Toot Toot lifted his head. “I think they’re going to give Knocker a white helmet to try and take him out of the field.”

“White helmet?” Holly blinked and tilted her head, looking confused.

“Grunts like you wear a black helmet. Captains like Knock Knock wear a red helmet. A fire chief wears a white helmet. A white helmet that is supposed to stay white. And clean.”

“So, to keep that white helmet looking pretty, you gotta stay out of the dirt and the smoke I guess.” Holly’s lips puckered into a scowl. “Screw that.”

Toot Toot shrugged. “Could backfire. Knocker could do a lot of damage with a white helmet. Would give him some credibility and some authority. Could go either way.” Toot Toot coughed, cleared his throat, and continued eating.

“You know, I really enjoyed that investigation I went on yesterday. I kinda wanna do that again… I hope that Knock Knock will teach me all he knows.” She looked at Toot Toot and her eyes narrowed. “And any time you want to tell me about traditions, I’m ready to listen.”

Author's Note:

Enjoy...

Comments

[marcelojj]

It´s like reading a episode of Chicago Fire.

Except this is good. And I care ´bout the characters. And they aren´t stupid.

Actually this has nothing alike Chicago Fire at all !!!!

[Longhaul]

5-5-5-5: FDNY box code for fallen firefighter.

I was sitting in the kitchen of the firehouse when the bells came in. First five short rings, a pause, five more, a pause, another five, another pause, and the final five. Signal 5-5-5-5 has a special meaning to us. Put the flag at half mast, and listen to the department radio for the message.

There is a five-by-five cubicle at the front of the firehouse. Inside the small partition there is a man writing the signal in the department company journal. He turns the volume of the department radio up as we gather around it. This is the man assigned housewatch duty, and he knows what he has to do. After recording the signal, he moves to the outside of the firehouse and brings the colors to half-mast. He returns to the watch-desk and prepares to write the message in the company journal. His face is pensive, and he is asking himself the same question we all ask ourselves: I wonder if I know the guy?

Smith, Dennis (2009-09-09). Report from Engine Co. 82 (Kindle Locations 308-316). Hachette Book Group. Kindle Edition.

[SASsoldat]

6289572
Isnt in the story there is five dah making it an 0 not a 5?

[kudzuhaiku]

6289588

In the days of morse code, it was five dashes, a pause, and then five more, and so on.

Long before the Internet was invented, or telephones and radios were used across our great nation, fire departments used the telegraph to communicate - using special codes to receive fire alarms from those once-familiar red fire alarm boxes which stood on practically every street corner of America.

When a firefighter was killed, or in the language of the military and public safety: "fell", in the line of duty, the fire alarm office would tap out a special signal. This would be tapped out as five measured dashes - then a pause - then five measured dashes - then a pause - then five more measured dashes.

This came to be called the Tolling of the Bell and was broadcast over the telegraph fire alarm circuits to all station houses in the vicinity. Heard outside on the streets - with the fire department's windows open, the resonating echo was similar to that of fire stations of old where fire alarm gongs sounded the locations of thousands of emergencies throughout the history of our growing country.

This was done for the purpose of notification, and as a sign of honor and respect for all firefighters who had made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their communities. Such symbolism has been a time-honored fire service tradition and is repeated at each service of a fallen firefighter.

[Longhaul]

6289600

Of course FDNY had to be unique and use four rounds instead of three. At least there was no mistaking it for anything else.

[kudzuhaiku]

6289728

Well, Manehatten.

[Celestias Paladin]

I tend to shy away from OC centered stories, you can probably imagine why, but the summary caught my attention and decided to give it a chance.

I'm glad I did. This is a top notch story with excellent characters and plot.

We held the darkness back…

Wonder what Luna... or really Nightmare Moon thought about that. Certainly gives me something to think about

[Dustchu]

This is such a good story man, I've never read a good story like this before. I've read hundreds of stories, and this one, deserves a special place on my bookshelf. I frigging love the characters, the mystery, and the funny bits, and the serious bits as well.

And I loved Toot's explanation on their traditions, it was really... I liked it, got my spine tingling in a good way, ya know?
Good job again dude, loving this story!

[LunaisleavingFimFiction]

The firefly reference is getting old, but good job!

[AyanamiRei]

Oh Holly...Holly...Holly. You sweet, naive beauty you. As you already seen with your own Derby Management there are bad ponies everywhere. That's not even getting into the jerks who you needed to literally beat or break some sense into.

People are often times good out of conveinance, when it's easy. When it gets hard...when they have to struggle or sacrifice...many choose to not be good. Even more so if they can profit off being bad or worse.

[DualKitsune]

We held the darkness back…

Seems like Luna should add to her army...