Sunset vs the Neckbeard

by Autistic Witch

Bonus Chapter the Great Appleville Fire

The Great Appleville Fire started on August 31, 1847. The fire started in the principal’s office of the Appleville school building. During the middle of the school day, the nearly 200 year old stove exploded, catching the school principal in the initial blast. The fire blocked off the only entrance to the school and quickly spread through the rest of the structure, forcing teachers to break open windows and lower the children out. For classroom number one, however, it was already too late. Of the five classrooms, classroom number one was the closest to the office. The flames had already engulfed two of the classroom walls, so when the teacher broke the glass, that caused the fire to chase the fresh oxygen. The entire class of 15 students and the teacher were killed. The other 60 students and four teachers were able to make it out of the building and to safety.

The fire jumped from the building to the dry grass and began spreading to the nearby fields and community. The village of Appleville never had an official fire brigade. It was left up to hastily assembled bucket brigades to take care of any fires in the village. This proved to be Appleville’s undoing as no matter how many bucket brigades were formed, they could not keep up with the fire. The village mayor requested aid from the nearby Canterlot City, but they did not make it in time to save the buildings or fields.

By the time the fire was put out, the only thing left of what they had built over the last 200 years were the tombstones in the graveyard and the chapel building. The 2,137 remaining residents were left with nothing. Their homes and fields were nothing but ash and 15 of their children and two of their neighbors were dead. The villagers only had the fortune to not lose anyone else to the fire.

However, not all hope was lost. The City of Canterlot provided shelter and food for the survivors and gave as much support as they needed to rebuild. As thanks for the help of Canterlot, the new town was named Canterville and the new school, the Canterlot school building (later changed to Canterlot High and Middle school). Once the two towns had expanded to the point where they both met, Canterville became a suburb of Canterlot.

The surviving chapel building still stands today as the Appleville Memorial Museum. It serves as a memorial to those who were lost in the fire and to preserve the memory of the original village.

The new school was built on the same site as the original school. It is said that even to this day if you go into the oldest part of the school at night, you can hear the sounds of young children or the sound of the stove exploding. If you get a whiff of burning flesh, that means the ghost of the old principal is near. Those who have seen him have said that he can barely be recognized as ever once being human. With his skin being so badly burnt it looks as black as the shadows, his missing eye, the deep gashes that still bleed, and the bits of stove and wood jutting out from where they are still embedded in his ghostly body, the only remaining human looking part of him is his brilliant blue eye. So many members of the night staff have quit due to witnessing these apparitions that it is now school policy to not go into or let anyone into any part of the school, built before the 1900’s, after dark.

Comments

[Captain Neckbeard]

Damn, this story is literally about me.

[Starlight Nova]

Are all of the stories in this series going to be slice of life stories?

[Autistic Witch]

11593319
That will always be a focus, but there will also be combat once we get to post-Camp Everfree events.