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Chapter 1: Call in The Fireman!2,596 words
Chapter 2: Fanning the Flames3,058 words
Chapter 3: A Burning Passion2,853 words
Chapter 4: The Heat of Battle3,011 words
Chapter 5: Out of the Frying Pan....3,296 words
Chapter 6: ....And Into the Hell Fire2,854 words
Chapter 7: Anything Goes, Everything Burns2,587 words
Chapter 8: Just let it Simmer2,740 words
Chapter 9: The Legend of El Bombero3,435 words
Chapter 10: Torched Upon Death 2,997 words
Chapter 11: A Fireman's Lament3,947 words
Epilogue: Crow's Feet435 words

Chapter 8: Just let it Simmer

"So this potion just killed the bandit leader right on the spot?" Twilight asked.

"That's what it looked like to me. The vigor fried him better than I probably could have." Thomas replied.

"But how do you know it was the bandit leader?"

"Aside from the fact that he was the only one in the big tent? I don't know, I guess if I was the leader of a bunch of gutless bandits, I wouldn't want anyone gaining powers but me."

"Well that's assuming they somehow knew what that bottle contained, which is highly unlikely. If I were the leader, I would make one of my subordinates drink a little first so that I could properly measure the affects in a controlled environment before exposing myself to the unknown substance."

The Fireman gave the alicorn a surprised, but amused look. "That seems a little dark for you, princess. Keep talking like that and you'll be a superb tyrant one day."

"I was speaking hypothetically." she quickly explained. "It's not like I would ever become the leader of some heartless bandits."

Thomas chuckled a bit as the two made their way back to Ponyville. They were only a few minutes out, which relieved the Fireman to no end. If everything went the way he hoped, Celestia would be waiting for them when they got back and he'd be able to get back to Columbia by nightfall. An extremely optimistic scenario, he admitted, but it was something worth getting excited about in any case.

"HEY!!!"

Thomas nearly let off a flame wave when Pinkie Pie popped up from behind him, like she had been riding on his back the entire trip.

"Don't do that!" he warned, quickly recovering from the startle.

"Oopsy, didn't mean to scare you." the pink mare laughed.

"There's a big difference between being scared and being surprised."

"Ooooh, so you do get surprised! That's great news, it'll make your surprise party that much better!"

Pinkie quickly realized her slip-up in letting the cat out of the bag.

"Oh darn it, forget what I just said, okay?" she pleaded, stopping in front of the Fireman to get a better look at him. "Wow Thomas, you look really different with all that stuff on."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

Soon Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined the group as well.

"Hey you guys, how did it go with those scumbags?" Rainbow asked.

"We ran into more trouble than we thought we would, but all in all it went alright." Twilight replied.

"Hey Thomas, if I put cupcake batter in the oven on your back, how long do you think they would take to bake?" Pinkie inquired, still examining the armor.

"It's not an OVEN!!!" the Fireman shouted.

"Yeah Pink, it's clearly a furnace." Rainbow Dash corrected jokingly.

"IT'S NOT A FURNACE EITHER!!!!"

Rainbow Dash fell to the ground laughing while Rarity and Applejack approached.

"Hello there Twilight, Thomas. Oh, I see you have your tacky suit back." the white unicorn commented.

"Oh God, give me strength." the Fireman mumbled, his patience steadily running thin.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly ran over as well.

"Thomas, thank Celestia you guys are okay." Sweetie Belle said in relief. The three fillies ran up to the Fireman, happy to see him safe.

"Speaking of Celestia, did she arrive yet?" Twilight inquired.

"Not as far as I know. Been mighty quiet today, in fact." Applejack answered.

As she said this, a chariot descended from the sky, landing beside the group. It was a fairly large transport, demanding the strength of six pegasi guards to pull it. Suddenly, the doors flew open and several guards quickly exited and surrounded the group, weapons at the ready.

"Your highness." one of them addressed Twilight. "I ask that you and your friends step away from the creature so that we can detain it."

Thomas didn't skip a beat. The fillies backed away from him as his arms ignited and he stepped closer to the guards.

"Let's see how that works out for you." he said threateningly.

The guards weren't dismayed by the threat, and didn't back down. Thomas formed his usual fire grenades and waited for them to make a move. The pegasi who'd been pulling the chariot quickly joined in on the stand off, flying above their fellow guards and surrounding the Fireman from the air.

"That's enough." Thomas heard a voice say from within the chariot. "Stand down."

The guards reluctantly lowered their weapons and backed away as a large white alicorn stepped down from the chariot. She was quickly joined by a smaller alicorn with darker colors. Everypony seemed to bow at their appearance, except for Twilight, who simply gave a respectful nod. The white alicorn walked up to the Fireman and promptly apologized.

"I must ask that you forgive my guards. They take their duties very seriously, but can be a tad bit overzealous at times."

Thomas didn't respond and just stood there expectantly. The princess waited a moment before continuing.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. This is my sister Luna." she said, motioning over to the other alicorn.

The Fireman hesitated before extinguishing his flames and standing up straight.

"The name's Thomas Miller." he said. "And I'm sure you can tell that I'm not from around here, but I was told you might be the one who knows how to send me back to where I am from." he replied, getting straight to the point.

The princess thought for a moment, not letting her facial features give away what she was thinking.

"Perhaps, but I ask that you and I speak privately first, in the library." she finally said.

"Fine by me."

"Excellent, thank you."

The two started off toward Ponyville with the rest of the large group following close behind.

* * *

Thomas walked over to a table while Celestia magically closed the front door of the library. She had to convince Luna and her guards to remain outside, as they didn't want to leave her alone with the Fireman, but eventually they conceded and granted the princess her desired privacy. Once the door was shut, Celestia walked over to Thomas, who was casually leaning on the table.

"So what would you like to discuss?" the Fireman asked. He could do without the small talk, but he didn't want to burn any bridges now that he was so close to getting home. If this princess wanted a few questions answered, then he would at least grant her that.

"Well first of all, would you tell me about the world that you come from?"

Thomas had expected this to be her first question. It was only natural for one to be curious about another world when they discover that their's isn't the only one.

"Can you be a bit more specific?" he asked. "Unless you'd like to sit here all night listening to every detail..."

The Fireman knew she probably would go for that proposition, but he wasn't about to.

"Okay. What do you do in your world?"

"I'm a Fireman. I get sent in to deal with people who disrupt the peace and prosperity of the city. That is my duty and fire is the weapon I wield to perform it."

Thomas demonstrated this by lighting his hand on fire.

"So you use magic?" she concluded, studying the flame.

"Not magic. My body was altered by something we call a vigor. They manipulate your genetic structure, or something like that, and then boom.....firepower."

"Well that sounds simple enough. Not the science behind it, mind you, but the process itself."

"I wish it were." he sighed. "Truth is, it's one of the most painful things I've ever experienced. Before the powers are given, the chemical does things to you that I can't even begin to describe. You feel like you're being burned alive at first. There were times when I wanted to kill myself just to be spared the agony. Firemen have to be exposed to this pain at a much higher intensity than the average Joe. It ends up doing things to us psychologically. Well, most of us."

Thomas had seen a lot of good men buckle under the pressure of what it took to walk in the Fireman's boots. Even he would sometimes get a little manic now and again, but he was one of the lucky ones.

"I can't imagine anypony going through such a process willingly." Celestia noted.

The Fireman laughed. "Most of them don't."

"What do you mean?"

"There's only a few of us who choose to become Firemen. A lot of them are just prisoners or undesirables undergoing punishment; forcibly given Devil's Kiss before being trapped inside their suits, always burning alive but never dying."

Celestia didn't realize that Thomas just told her something many people, even in his own world, didn't know about. All Firemen were loyal to Comstock and the founders, but not all had the option of choosing to be so. He didn't usually think about it too much and when he did catch his mind mulling over the prisoners, he would convince himself that they had coming whatever punishment they were given.

"That sounds horrible." Celestia gasped. The Fireman simply nodded in agreement.

"So why did you choose to go through such a thing?"

"Me? I don't know. I guess I just thought Firemen looked cool." he answered. Thomas simply gave her the short and simple version. He wasn't about to tell her the whole story. The princess seemed to sense that he was withholding information, but she didn't press further.

"So how did you get transported here?"

Thomas was relieved they were finally getting to the point.

"I was sent here by a woman with strange abilities. I don't know specifics, but she opened a portal that sucked me in and spat me out in this world." he explained.

"I see." the alicorn said, turning away from him and looking out a window. Thomas waited a moment before getting nervous.

"You can send me back home, right?"

Celestia sighed and turned back to him.

"Mr. Miller, I honestly have no idea how to send you back to your world, and I doubt we'll be able to find anypony here who does." she admitted in sorrow.

Thomas felt his whole world shatter around him. His legs grew weak and he had to put all his weight on the table to keep from falling. All of that time he spent here, all of the fighting, getting attacked by a dragon, slicing into a goddamn giant bull snake thing. All of it had been for nothing. He was trapped in this world for the rest of his life. He would never see Comstock again, nor his brother or his beloved city, not even the cute girl he had met at the ice cream stand. The Fireman was as good as dead. His brother would mourn his passing, there might even be a small service for him, a moment of silence in his honor, but then everyone would move on and he would be nothing more than a faded memory.

"Thomas?" Celestia called softly. She was clearly saddened by her inability to help him in his plight, but stood ready to react if he took the news badly.

"I'm fine I just......need a minute." he replied. After the initial let down ran its course, Thomas found that he wasn't at all surprised by the princess' words. The whole time he'd been here, there had always been that little voice in the back of his head telling him that he was going to die here, be it from some mythical creature or old age. He now realized that the voice was in fact correct.

The Fireman began dragging his feet over to the front door.

"Where are you going?" the alicorn asked.

"Oh I dunno yet. I'm gonna go walk until I find a nice clearing where the birds are chirping and the sun is shining, and then I'm probably gonna blow myself up." he said in a defeated voice.

"What!?" the princess gasped, completely taken aback.

As Thomas opened the door, the Cutie Mark Crusaders collapsed into the library. They'd clearly been listening in on the conversation.

"Thomas, are you crazy? You can't let something like this get you so down in the dumps!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Yeah, it stinks that the princess doesn't know how to get you back, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way." Apple Bloom pointed out.

"And we won't stop helping you until we find a way to do it! We promise we'll get you back home to your brother." Sweetie Belle concluded.

Thomas stood there, dumbfounded. He knew there was no way back home, yet just listening to these three fillies gave him some sort of drive. Was it hope or determination? Could that be what he was feeling? How could there be hope still residing inside him when the Fireman's tired spirit was already lost. How was that flame inside him still burning?

He didn't have time to consider it as one of the guards quickly pushed past the fillies and entered the library.

"Your highness, we have a situation." he reported.

"What is it?"

"There's a......you may just want to see for yourself."

Thomas, Celestia, and the Crusaders followed the guard to where everypony else was standing. They were all looking out at a nearby hill, watching a lone figure who was standing at the top. Thomas couldn't make out specific details, but he could easily identify the flames. Whatever this creature was, it was on fire.

* * *

Scorn stood on the hilltop as he watched more ponies join the group of onlookers who had already spotted him. The burning stallion smiled at the gathering crowd, happy that his first appearance would be witnessed by so many. His luck couldn't have been better. Three of Equestria's princesses were already present: Celestia, Luna, and the newest member of the alicorn family, Twilight. The former earth pony could barely contain his excitement at the thought of roasting the "big three" so early on in the game. His rise to power would be that much swifter.

"Today marks the end of Ponyville." he declared to himself, turning his head to the side and nodding. As he did this, conjured creatures began lining up on either side of him. They varied in shape and size, but all of them looked demonic and deadly, and they burned like their master. His army of monsters stood with him on the hilltop, eagerly awaiting his command. Scorn could just make out the looks of terror that dotted the crowd below.

The stallion charged himself up, boosting his flames and changing his shape. He winced in a brief moment of pain as a pair of flaming wings shot out of his back, his hooves grew into sharp claws, and his teeth formed into fangs.

"And Tomorrow marks the fall of Equestria." he sneered, slowly lifting a claw in the air and then letting it fall, signalling his minions to attack.

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