Belly of the Beast
Whirlwind was soaring over Ponyville happy as can be. She had finally gotten her dream job. She was a professional flyer for the Wonderbolt, the most elite fliers in all of Equestria. She may have gotten the job a few weeks ago, but the thought of it always made her happy. She enjoyed going for a flight after almost every show just to help get her energy out. Today she was on her way to her hometown of Ponyville after a particularly successful show in Cloudsdale. She couldn't wait to tell all of her friends about how things have been going. Whirlwind hadn't seen her friends very much since she got into the 'Bolts'. Most of her friends still lived back in Ponyville, and those who didn't (Claire, Illusion, Amber, Lucky, and Hot Head) lived in Canterlot.
Whirlwind sped toward Ponyville performing flips and tricks along the way. However as she approched the small country town, she saw a bright light in the middle of town. Piercing through the pre-dawn darkness like a hot knife through butter. Whirlwinds playful attitude instantly ceased as she flew toward the light to evaluate the situation. As she got closer she began to get a better idea of what was going on, but she didn't like it one bit.
"Is that house.....on FIRE!" Whirlwind screamed after she realized that two story home was engulfed in a torrent of flames. She landed near the front door of the house which has already been burned away.
The purple mare trotted back and forth, locked in a battle between her own conscious and instinct.
"Oh no this is bad. What if someone is trapped in there? I have to do something" She shouted in her head as she started to take a step toward the doorway.
"Ok ok calm down. I'm sure the fireponies are on their way right now." She reasoned as her judgement battled for dominion over her actions.
"If their not here now, who known when they will get here. I have to do something and I have to do it now!" She ran up to the door and prepared to go in before turning around and started to walk away.
"No no no. I would have heard if someone was in their by now. There is no point in getting myself killed for nothing. I should just sit here and wait for...."
"HELP, SOMEONE ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME!" The sound of a young filly screamed from the upper floor of the house.
Before she had time to give it a second thought, Whirlwind spun around and ran into the burning house.
The sudden heat hit her face like a freight train, and she instantly began sweating. Whirlwind looked around the house trying to get her bearing, but all she could see was fire. Fire everywhere she looked. It was on the walls, the furniture, the ceiling, even the floor in which she stood. As she looked around the room, the inferno seemed to close in on her. Trapping her in a cage that could only bring about a slow and painful death. However as the fear began to grip her mind, and yell reminded Whirlwind why she was here.
"HELP ME. PLEASE HELP ME!" The filly continued to scream from her hiding place upstairs.
Whirlwind's eyes shot open and she quickly stood up. Keeping her mind focused on the event at hand, she tried to push the thought of fire out of her mind. She quickly located the stairs and began making her way upward. About half way up one of the steps broke out from under her. Luckily she was able regain her balance and stay on her hooves. "Note to self, burning buildings are unstable."
Whirlwind continued up the stairs until she reached the top floor. It was a narrow hallway will a few doors on each side. The entire hall was covered in flames. "Hello?" Whirlwind called out into the blaze. "Is anyone up here? Please say something!"
"HELP ME! I'M IN HERE!" Whirlwind zeroed in on a the last door on the left side of the hall. The door was still intact when she got there so she had to get rid of it. "Back away from the door!" she waited a few seconds after her warning before giving the door a quick kick and watching it crash down into the room.
Whirlwind stepped in to the burning room and looked around. At first there was no sign of anypony being here. Whirlwind noticed that there was a closet in the back of the room with the door slightly open. She ran up to the closet and she found a small green pegasus filly with a bright yellow mane and tail, that almost blended in with the fire around her. Whirlwind hoisted the filly onto her back and started toward the door. However before she got their the ceiling caved in and blocked the door. Looking for another way to escape, Whirlwind spotted a small window back near the closet. Whirlwind made her way over there and sat the filly down on the ledge before she opened the window. Taking a quick glance out Whirlwind noticed that a few ponies had begun to take notice of the incident, and a crowd had started to gather.
"Ok we're not too high up." Turning to the filly, Whirlwind continued. "Can you fly yet?" The filly just shook her head as a steady stream of tears hissed as the fell to the hot wood below. Trying to comfort the filly Whirlwind put on a brave face.
"Don't worry, I'll help you. I'm going to drop you out the window. I want you to extend to your wings as far as you can to the side and keep them there. You'll just glide down to the ground. You ready?"
The filly nodded and Whirlwind grabbed a hold of her and held her out the window.
"You ready kid?" The filly just nodded.
"Ok, on three. One, Two, THREE." Whirlwind gave the filly a slight forward push to get her away from the building. With her wings spread wide, the filly gently floated to the ground. Granted her landing was a little rough but she was safe none the less.
Whirlwind began to climb out the window herself, but the ceiling above her began to give way. A big piece of burning wood fell and slammed into her side. The wood stuck to Whirlwind's left wing as it burned more and more by the second. As the adrenaline rushed through her veins, Whirlwind pushed through the pain in her side as she started to climb out the window herself. After a few seconds, Whirlwind climbed out the small window and was now hanging on the edge, facing a two story drop. Whirlwind spread her wings as far as she could as she let go of the burning windowsill, she started flapping her wings but the pain returned to her as he burnt wing faltered. Unable to use one of her wings whirlwind plummeted to the ground, crashing with enough force to make a small crater.
With blurred vision, Whirlwind tried to stand but in her dazed stared along with the intense pain in her wing, she quickly fell back to the ground. Opening her eyes once again, Whirlwind saw three figures running toward her. She couldn't make out who they were, but she could tell that one was a light purple color, another looked to be tan or maybe a darker peach, and the third looked mainly red but also had shades of gold. Almost like it was wearing armor. As the three figures approached, and the pain in her wing began to push consciousness further away, Whirlwind could hear someone calling out to her.
"Whirlwind!!" The voice was quiet, and only seemed to get further and further away as her vision faded to black.
"Whirlwind! WHIRLWIND!"