Last time on 'Shit's Still On Fire Yo' Quest:
>Mysterious flying orbs suddenly flew into Ponyville.
They all freaked out and scattered in random directions.
>Everything they touch was set on fire.
>Several ponies were hurt and many buildings were set ablaze.
>Rainbow Dash flew off on her own to chase down the orbs.
>With Applejack and Pinkie's help, you started a bucket brigade and helped the injured.
>Went to Twilight's to get her help, but no one was at the door.
>Sneaked in by climbing up to a window.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human who has no memory and has found himself lost in Equestria. For the last few days, you have been in Ponyville, which has been under constant attack from monsters from the Everfree Forest.
Currently, part of the town is on fire from weird flying orbs. You are in Twilight's house to get her help. It's dark and it would appear no one is home, but there is a single light shining from the stairs leading down. Looking down, you can see the basement door is ajar, some light from the room beyond shining in.
Time's a wasting, so you hop down those stairs quickly and push open the door. You are greeted by a burst of green fire.
You kind of sheik a little and dive to the ground. You think you're OK. Looking up, you see Twilight and Spike, both surprised to see you. The room also has a bunch or weird looking machines, blinking and making whizzing noises... which strikes you as really odd. You didn't think these ponies were all that advance.
"Rusty?" Twilight says, walking over to you as you lay on the ground. "What are... what are you doing here? What ever it is, me and Spike are kinda busy."
"Downtown's on fire! There are weird glowing orbs everywhere that are setting everything on fire! Sorry for sneaking in, but we need your help!"
"Wh-what? Are you serious?"
You nod your head rapidly.
"Oh no. Oh no oh no." Twilight starts fretting, pacing back and forth in the room on the tips of her hooves. "This is bad. What are we going to do?!"
"Twilight, we need to go help!" Spike says.
"I know I know, but we need to keep working. This is important too. Oh but we can't just leave everyone, oh no.
"Twilight, you need to listen to me," You say, getting up. "Those things are still out there and they may be starting more fires as we speak! They might even set fire to your library next!"
"Hnnn! Hnn!" Twilight keeps fretting even more around the room. "I know I know, but... but!"
"Twilight, this isn’t working!" Spike pleased with Twilight. "We need to take care of this problem now. Our friends need us!"
"Don't say that Spike! This has to work!" Twilight stops fretting around and looks down at the ground, her mane covering her face. "It just has to."
"OK, what is it that's been keeping the two of you so occupied? What's so important?"
"Uhhh," Spike is looking between you and Twilight, fretting with his hands. "Well, ever since Ponyville has been having...troouble, we haven’t gotten any word from Celestia. We usually hear from here every week, but there hasn’t been anything in weeks."
"She's probably really busy..." Twilight says quietly.
"So we've been sending her a lot of letters, hoping to get her attention. But I don’t think it's doing any good."
"No no no," Twilight says, suddenly energetic again. She goes over to one of the machines and punches a few buttons. Some sheets of paper starting printing out of another in a big pile. "We just need to keep working harder!"
"Well, if you've been sending her letters for days, a few hours time won't make a difference!"
Twilight, who was going over the paper printing, looks back at you. She's biting her hoof and looks like she's thinking really hard about something.
"If a message does come up, Spike will just burp it out a soon as it does, right?"
Spike nods with you in agreement.
"Twilight, what's important right now is that all your friends are in serious danger! Think of the fillies!"
"Alright! Alright!" Twilight shouts, rubbing her eyes. "You're right. You're both right. We need to help the others."
(Missing lines here are Rusty, Twilight and Spike running back to Sugar Cube Corner and meeting up with Applejack)
Applejack goes on, pointing with her hoof.
"We've got most of the fire here contained on this side of town and are just trying to put it all out." She wipes the sweat on her forehead. "But it's hard and Dash still doesn’t have those varmints out of town yet! We need your help Twilight, with your fancy magics."
"Right." Twilight says, nodding.
"You and Pinkie go back and try to put out those flames. We got buckets going, but do what ever you can."
The two ponies and Spike run off, bringing the others with them. Applejack stays behind with you.
"You did good, Rusty. What was uh..."
Applejack stops and there’s a tugging at your arm. You turn and see Derpy is chewing up your sleeve, pulling on it.
"What is it, Derpy?" You gently push her off of your sleeve. It's the only shirt you have, after all.
"Uh uh, fire!"
"Yes, Derpy," Applejack says softy. "There’s a fire. We know."
"No no, fire is spreading!" Derpy says, pointing across town. "North side of town, one building is on fire. Rainbow Dash is there, but I think she got hurt."
"Oh no," Applejack says. "This is just what we need."
Together with Applejack and Derpy, you run to the north side of town. North side of town... why does that seem familiar. Derpy's calling out directions as you run.
"Make a left here!" Derpy says and you all come around a corner and are in front of the Carousel Boutique. It's completely on fire. Rainbow Dash, with her highly viable colors, is lying on the ground on her side, not far from the building.
You all rush over to Rainbow Dash where she lies. You kneel down by her side, careful not to touch her. She seems conscious, but not lucid. Her whole left side has a long, nasty looking burn from her shoulder to her cutie mark, though her wink looks untouched.
"Oh, Rainbow." Applejack says, putting a hoof on her friend sympathetically. Rainbow Dash immediately flinches, sucking in breath. AJ quickly takes her hoof back.
"Ow ow," Dash mumbles. "Not... fast enough."
"Dash, what about Rarity?"
Dash still can't seem to focus, her head turning in every direction, mumbling about going fast. There’s a sudden scream from inside the boutique.
"Derpy, stay with Dash!" Applejack shouts. The gray pegasi gives her a salute. "C'mon Rusty!"
Applejack kicks down the front door in one kick, letting the two of you inside. The boutique is a raging oven. You can see fabric and pony mannequins and clothes all feeding the hungry flames. It's so hot, its hard to breath, not to mention all the smoke, which is making your eyes tear.
"Rarity!" Applejack shouts, coughing. "Wh-*wheeze* where are you?!"
Again, another scream, this time from above. The two of you climb up the stairs, despite the aggressive fire and the darkening smoke. Up top, you come to a hallway, with 2 doors on the left side and 3 on the right.
Staying as low as you can manage under the smoke, you try the first door on the right side. You also tentatively test the handle, in case it's burning hot. It seems safe so you open it.
This room is a bathroom and there’s no on inside. There’s also very little fire, probably cause of the tiles. There’s also a window on the opposite wall.
You crawl over and pop open the window. Almost immediately, smoke pillows out into the cool night air. It's almost freezing in comparison to the heat inside. With Applejack by your side, you go back out into the hall. The fire is spreading fast.
"Ra*cough cough* Rarity! Sweetie!" You shout, hoping to get their attention. You hear some banging coming from the next door on the right. Again, you try the handle and open it.
This is a large, luxurious looking bed room... or it was before the fire. Now it's a burning inferno as the fire greedily eats up the silken sheets and clothes. Rarity is lying in the middle of the room. She using her magic to feebly bang a table leg against the wall, each hit getting progressively weaker.
"Rarity!" Applejack rushes to her friend's aid. You're not far behind. Rarity looks like she's about to pass out. as soon as she sees the two of you, she stops her magic and the wooden table leg falls to the ground.
"Swe *cough* get Sweetie. Please." Rarity pleads with you weakly.
"Rarity. Rarity!" You say, trying to keep the white pony awake, shaking her. "Where is Sweetie? What room?"
Try as you might, Rarity slips in to unconsciousness, limp in your hands.
"Rusty!" Applejack shouts over the steadily increasing roar of the flames. "She can't stay here!"
"Alright! Can you take her yourself? I need to get Sweetie!"
Applejack nods. You help put Rarity on her back and the orange pony carries her. You follow them back to the hallway and watch as she goes down the stairs. The fire is really picking up now. You're running out of time.
There are three doors left. One left on the right side and two on the opposite side.
You try calling out for little Sweetie Belle, but there’s no reply and the effort is making you cough so bad. It's getting harder to get air.
You try the last door on the right side. You tentatively try the handle and it burns the hell out of your finger tips despite your caution.
"Son of a!" You shout instinctively, clutching your hand.
You, throwing caution to the wind, just kick the door open. It breaks the hing and swings open for you. Another bed room, also mostly on fire. Sweetie Belle is lying motionlessly on the bed, the edge of it just now starting to catch the flame. You're not sure if she's awake or not, but through the smoke she seems to be in... some kind of body cast or something.
Between you and her, the floor has fallen out. There’s a considerable gap of flaming debris between you and her.
"Sweetie!" You call out, but she doesn't react.
You back into the hall a bit and use the distance to give you a little running start. through the fire and the smoke, you jump the gap, landing right on the edge! You frantically flail your arms, trying desperately to force your center of gravity forward. Eventually, you stabilize yourself.
You made it!
Quickly, you rush to Sweetie Belle, quickly brushing off a little fire that has caught on her body cast. She seems to be out cold, but is breathing. You hold her close to your body, her legs sticking out at all angles cause of the cast. Sorta like a star fish.
You go over the window. It doesn’t seem like it's the kind that opens. You think you could make the fall from this height, but you're still not sure. Plus you can see whats DIRECTLY below the window.
You decide to break the window and look around for a chair or something to break it. It seems to take forever.
"Come on, come on," You talk to yourself in frustration. "Wait wait. These are ponies. Probably don’t have chairs."
You instead just take Sweetie's little bed side table and toss it at the window. It shatters loudly, followed by a strong whoosh of air from outside entering the room. You try you best to get over the broken glass and get on the edge.
"Derpy!" You shout as best you can. Your throat is so dry, you think its cracking like chapped lips. "De*coughcough* Derpy! Help!"
Soon, the gray pegasi pony fly around the house and hovers in front of you.
"What's up, Rusty?"
"Take Sweetie!" You say, holding out the little filly for her. Derpy takes her, holding Sweetie close to her.
With the little pony safe, you look down over the ledge. The drop probably won't kill or even hurt you too bad. But you're directly over stairs. You think this is the back porch or something.
Taking a deep breath, or as deep as you can manage with all the smoke billowing around, you leap down as gently as you can humanly manage. As soon as you hit the steps below you, they buckle under the force of impact. Unable to possibly balance fast enough, you fall forward, taking a header into the dirt and are knocked out.