> A Creature of Black and Yellow > by Scorch215 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Fire > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a city that looks much like Manehatten a column of smoke rises towards the sky. The column leads to what appears to be an apartment building that has flames visible in many of its windows and the roof is ablaze. Outside arriving in large red vehicles, lights flashing and a siren blare are creature of black and yellow. They are tall and bipedal and when they arrive they climb out of the red vehicle and begin to unload equipment from many compartments on the vehicle with what can only be described as practiced ease. Within minutes the creatures are using hoses to spray water at the fire as the fire is slowly consuming the building; the battle for the building has begun. Many other creatures have gathered to watch the battle or are receiving aide from other creatures after escaping the flames. As one of the creatures of black and yellow looks over the crowd it hears a faint cry over the other sounds. Not sure if it heard right the creature listens closely, and hears it again coming from the building. The voice of child calling for help from within the building. The creature reacts quickly by calling for help and grabbing a length of metal from the red vehicle designed to aide in removing of debris and opening doors. Donning a mask of sorts attached to a tank on its back the creatures along with two others set forth and enter the raging inferno that once housed families of the creatures. The inside of the building is nothing but smoke and flames and the creatures are forced to moves slowly and carefully, led by the one who hears the cries for help. They walk deeper and deeper but the cries do not seem to be getting closer and there is no direction to them, they are coming from everywhere. Still the creatures press on as the flames dance around them trying to harm them and failing. One of the creatures says they need to turn, the fire is getting to dangerous and neither of the other two can hear the cries for help but the first one refuses to leave and pushes on. As they reached the third floor disaster strikes as the sound of splintering woods filled the air. The creatures move quickly but the one in the lead is not fast enough and the floor beneath it gives way and it plummets to the floor below, vanishing into the swirling smoke and dancing flames. The creature awakens lying on the floor, flames dancing around on the walls. It slowly gets to its feet and finds itself in a large room with dresses lining the wall that adds fuel to the fire. Looking around as if confused the creature does not see anything that resembles the building it had been in before, the only thing familiar are the flames. “HELP ME!” the voice that drew the creature cries out much clearer now and coming from the floor above. Not wasting time the creature retrieved the length of metal from the floor and begins to make its way to the only door that does not have light streaming through it, meaning it goes deeper into the building and towards the voice. The fire races along the walls and tries to consume the creature but it seems to repel the flames as it walks through them seemingly without fear. It can tell this is not the building it had been in as it passes what looks to have been a kitchen, now a raging inferno. “Somepony help me!” the voice cries and the creature quickens its pace as the flames grow more fierce as more of the building is consumed, the fire seeming to race the creature for towards the voice. The creature eventually finds the stairs it had been seeking and begins to climb and soon reaches the upper floor. The hall before it is nothing but smoke and flames, the walls completely hidden but still the creature pushes on. “Rarity!” The voice cries from behind a door to the creature’s right. It tries to open the door but the frame has warmed do to the heat and flame and the door refuses to allow entrance. The creature places the length of metal it carries between the handle and the frame and throws its weight against it. With a loud pop of wood the door give way, opening to the room of a small child slowly being consumed by flames. The creature begins to search for the child. “Help me! Anypony!” The voice calls from beside the bed. The creature moves towards it and find what it can only describe as a small horse hiding under a table, its hooves over its head, coat once white not darkened by smoke as it squeezes its eyes shut in fear beneath a small horn. “Rarity save me!” It cries out in the child’s voice. The creature recoils in shock at first but then looks at the flames around it and decides it can’t allow it to burn. Carefully the creature approaches the small horse and kneels beside it. Gently it places a hand on its back to try and calm it causing it to open its eyes and recoil at the sight of the creature as it cries out in fear. “Monster! Get away from me! Somepony help me!” the small horse cries out as it tries to move away from the creature. “Easy…I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help.” The creature says in a soothing voice, the small horse pauses and looks at the creature with its strange mask as it does not sound like a monster. “You need to come with me; I’m going to get you out of here.” Slowly the and wearily the horse approaches the creature as it holds out its hand. Once it is close enough the creature gently picks it up and turns to face the door just as the sound of splintering wood fills the air again. The creature dives forward just as a support beam breaks through the ceiling and crushes the small table the horse had been hiding under. The creature climbs to its feet clutching the small horse close who clings tightly to its neck its eyes close as it quakes with fear. The creature makes its way from the room and finds the hall far worse than it had been as the fire rages on unchecked. It wastes no time as it begins to walk, its destination the door with the light it had seen bellow. As it walks through the smoke the small horse begins the cough and choke as the smoke grows thicker and thicker. The creature looks at the small horse and back at the smoke before it shifts the animal into one arm having already made a decision. The creature removes its helmet and mask and places it on the small animal. The horse gasps as fresh air fills its lungs, supplied by the tank on the creatures’ back. One it is sure the helmet and mask is secured the creature begin to walk again, its lungs begging to burn as it breaths the smoke but it ignores the protest of its lungs for it cannot fall yet, not when a life depends on it still. The creature makes its way through the building towards the only exit it knows of. <<>> Outside the burning boutique the ponies of Ponyville gather to try and fight the fire while waiting for the Ponyville Fire Department to arrive. A ways from the burning building surrounded by a group of other ponies sits a white unicorn mare, her once pristine mane now disheveled and its white coat smudged by soot. “I don’t know what went wrong, one moment I was making lunch and the next the stove was on fire and it spread to the wall before I could do anything.” Rarity said as she sighed. A purple unicorn placed a blanket around her shoulder. “Thank you Twilight darling. “She said as she looked from her purple friend and back at her home/business as it was slowly consumed by the flames and she sighed. “All my work, undone.” “Well you had insurance right?” An orange earth pony asked. “Of course I did Applejack but that still doesn’t change the fact all the dresses I had made are now ruined.” Rarity said looking at her friend. “Well you can just make more!” A pink earth pony said trying to cheer up her friend. The white unicorn sighs again. “Yes I suppose you are right, still I had a lot of dresses ready to be picked up by my clients.” “Hey Rarity what’s going on?” A small voice asks from behind the group. When they all look they see an orange Pegasus filly and a yellow earth pony filly with a large red bow. “Oh just a little accident with lunch is all.” Rarity said trying to keep her spirts up. She then looked at the two fillies. “Where’s Sweetiebelle?” The two fillies look at each other. “She said she wasn’t feeling well so went home to take a nap…she’s not with you?” The orange filly asks. A look or horror crosses the unicorn mare’s face. “SWEETIEBELLE!” She screams and turns to gallops for the burning boutique only to be stopped by a purple magical aura grabbing her tail. Rarity you can’t go back in there, it’s too dangerous.” Twilight tells her. Rarity looks at her. “I don’t care I’m not leaving my sister in there!” She yells and tried to break out of the magical grip. Just then the Ponyville Fire Department arrives and begins to set up their hoses as the white unicorn mare manages to break free from the magical grip and gallops for the front door of the boutique her friends chasing after her. As she nears it there is a loud bang from the door and it shakes causing her to skid to a stop as the gathered ponies all look on in confusion. Another bang sounds as some of the glass cracks. A third band sounds from the door and it collapses from its frame, crashing to the ground as a tall bipedal creature dressed in black and yellow stumbled out clutching something close to its chest. It makes it a few feet from the burning building before collapsing to its knees in a fit of coughing as it drops what it was carrying to the ground and collapses beside it. Rarity looks on in shock at the creature that just came from her boutique till she notices the small bundle it had been carrying shift and she recognizes the small white form attached to the creature by a hose and mask. “Sweetie!” Rarity yells and rushes to her sister, her friends right behind her. When she reaches her sister she pulls the strange mask and helmet off and her sister leaps up and hugs her tightly. “Rarity!” She says holding her sibling tightly and burying her face into her chest. “I was so scared.” She said and looked back at the creature lying beside them, the creature is clearly not breathing right. “We have to help it! It saved me.” She said looking at the gathered ponies pleadingly. “What in tarnation is it?” Applejack asks. “I don’t know, it said it was here to help and then it picked me up and carried me through the fire and to the door.” Sweetie said. “You have to help it, please!” The grouped looked at each other and nodded before Twilight picked it up in her magic and moved it away from the fire as Rarity tended to her sister. Twilight lays the creature in the grass and looks over it not entirely sure what to do as she has never seen a creature like this before. She sent the cyan Pegasus to get a doctor while she tries to do what she cane for the creature as it’s breathing getting weaker. A doctor arrives from the hospital and Twilight steps out of his way as he begins to work though the doctor does not know what to do either. As he works the creature slowly stops breathing and despite the doctors best efforts he is unable to revive the strange creature. The group of friends look on as Sweetiebelle buried her face in her sister’s neck and cries as the creature that saved her dies. The doctor apologizes and explains he did what he could but the creature had breathed in too much smoke, he apologizes once more before stepping to the side as Twilight approaches with her friends. They look upon the creature that gave its life for another, despite that life being alien to it. Carefully Twilight picks it up so as to move it away from the scene till she can contact the princess; she already plans on finding a way to honor the creature. As she moves it she notices letters printed on the back of the creatures coat under the tank on its back. She gently removes the tank and turns the creature so the group can read the letters. N.Y.F.D