Dystopia

by LuminousRabbit

Chapter four: Fire

Chapter four: Fire

One moment I was so close, the next I was so, so far away from my dream. The fire alarm rang out, loud and clear. There was a moment of surprise from everyone in the corridor as they looked around, before Celestia spoke. "Is it a drill?"

The Administrator shook her head. "We use a different bell for drills. This is a fire, and we'd better run." She lied; we never had any drills. It was everypony for themselves if the fire alarm went off.

The entirety of this building was underground, and it was built like a fort. Each sector had separate power sources, and backups if they went off. There was also a master switch in sector A that could shut them all down remotely, but that was only for extreme emergencies.

The building could survive under a blackout, not that we ever had any, for two whole days, as there were oil lamps and oil stored everywhere. The place was especially designed to survive under siege for some reason. We had an entire other level below us that was full of canned food. Nopony knew exactly how long it would last, but it would serve for a few years, at least.

I didn't know why in Equestria this place was designed to withstand a siege that may last up to five years, but hey, I never got to ask Twilight Sparkle.

And that's just another part of the mystery: Why does a place of learning and discovery need to be protected? I could only assume the answer lay in sector G.

In the case of a fire, an actual fire, everyone was to get to the entrance as quickly as possible and get out. But everypony still had to pass all the security checks and everything to get out. It was a slow process, and (from the stories I'd heard) usually resulted in casualties. No, not casualties. Fatalities was a better word. Casualties made it sound so unimportant. This was pony life we were talking about.

We rushed quickly to the entrance, the sector G guards behind us. The trouble was that sector G was located at the very back of the building, away from everything. You had to pass through every other sector to get there, if you were coming in from the entrance.

Somewhere along the way, we were going to encounter the fire.

I bounded past the lengths of multicoloured cords, through several hatches and cream-coloured corridors, past a multitude of rainbow lights, down and down and down ever so slowly, a bit at a time, until I was into the loading zone. The loading zone was the middle level of the building, with the sectors being the top level and the food being the basement. It was the place where new arrivals were put before they could be transported to their respective sector.

Such arrivals also went through a meticulous combing, including a scan for unexpected metal, debugging, and other security processes. But for me, the loading zone was a clear path to freedom, aside from the last hurdle (the entrance) of course.

A couple of other ponies were running through the loading zone as well. I caught up with the main pack of them, about five or six ponies. "Aurora," one gasped.
"Hey," I said breathlessly, my hooves already tired of galloping. I wasn't really as fit as I'd have liked to be.

"You picked a great day to come in," he said. 'He' was called Lucky, so I figured I'd be safe if I hung around near him, ha ha.
"I know, right?" I replied. "I love a good fire. It makes life interesting." In truth I was terrified, but I was hardly going to admit it. "Do you know if it's electrical?"
"I wouldn't think so," said Lucky.

From the level above, I heard a pony scream in agony. I looked at Lucky. "Don't you dare, Aurora! Hey, where are you going? No, stop!" But I was already wriggling up a service shaft and into sector C.

I popped my head up into a room, and immediately retreated, coughing, eyes watering. This was a big fire. I took a deep breath and poked my head up again. I was in one of the labs. Across the other side of the room, flames were licking at the door. Another scream caught my attention, and I looked around for the source.

A mare in a white coat, one that was now stained with ash and smoke, was struggling to get away from the fire. She appeared to have broken something, judging from the way she was dragging her left leg.

I plunged into the thick cloud of smoke, trying not to breathe in the foul air. The heat of the fire felt like it was burning my fur. Maybe it was. I crossed the room to the mare and started dragging her to the service hatch. She screamed in pain, but I couldn't stop because I knew that if I did, we'd both die.

The fire was advancing into this room now. I tried to levitate the poor pony, but the smoke was clouding my mind and I could only concenrate enough to lighten the load a tiny bit. I needed air, but I couldn't leave her. I tried to keep myself as low to the ground as possible, away from the heat. I finally reached the hatch, and lowered the mare down.

"Lucky!" I sceamed, "Lucky!!" Lucky looked back from his position about twenty metres ahead. The other ponies were gone, and it was obvious he had lagged behind in case I needed help, torn between his natural fight for survival and concern for me.

He galloped over, and I lowered the half-concious mare onto his back. He and I galloped to the entrance side by side, and we got out of that place alive.

Ponies milled around the entrance of the building, nervously chatting to each other. The Administrator took a list of everyone's names, and compared it to the list of staff who had called in sick today. Finally, she called everyone to attention.
"It is my great pleasure and relief to announce that there were no casualites." A cheer broke out. I clopped my hooves together and gave Lucky a brohoof. The mare we had rescued was going to need some treatment, but it looked like she'd be fine.

"Thanks to the astonishing bravery of a certain pony, we can all continue as usual. There won't be any funerals tonight. We give our deepest thanks to you... Lucky."

Sigh. Figures. I went home, done for the day, with the quiet satisfaction of being better than them.

Comments

[stardust flare]

a good start im liking it wish the chapters are longer and man whats that admin got up there plot?

[LuminousRabbit]

1422994
lol

[LuminousRabbit]

If I ever get around to updating, there will be a new chapter for this story. I'm currently looking into developing Aurora's character a bit more and putting her though some challenges, which will hopefully put aside doubts about her being a Mary Sue. You don't want that, and I don't either. Don't worry