//------------------------------//
// 36. And Into the Fire 
// Story: The Rock Farmer's Daughters 
// by Sketcha-Holic 
//------------------------------//

So, Cheese and Pinkamena went through the house, looking in room after room for Igneous. So far, they only came across various rooms, ranging from those with clean floors and well made beds to indoor dumpsters. One room smelled so bad that Cheese had nearly fainted, and another, to their surprise, was filled with petals and smelled like roses. Igneous was in neither of those rooms, so they kept on looking.

Pinkamena looked in yet another room and groaned. It was yet another bedroom, one that hadn't been cleaned in a long time. She slammed it, and turned to Cheese, who had opened a door as well. He yelped and recoiled in horror before slamming the door. 

"What is it?" she asked. 

He turned to her. "One of those guys owns a snake!"

Pinkamena pursed her lips. "Well then..." She set her sights on the door at the end of the hall and headed toward it. "All right, let's check that door before we check another area."

Cheese nodded and followed her. Having looked in room after room on two floors had been a little discouraging, but they only covered half the farm. Finding Igneous was their top priority, and they were not going to give up on it any time soon. 

Pinkamena opened that door, and found that it led to the barn's loft. They gazed in, scanning the space. The walls were dry and wooden, the smell was of hay and dust, and there was hay in the loft, and mountains of vegetables and bags of flour and other grains on the ground floor, lying upon a fair amount of straw. There was variety, but Cheese was focused on the one pile of cabbages, which towered above the rest. 

"That's... a lot of cabbages," Cheese commented. 

A raspy voice coughed. "Who's there?"

They turned their heads to face the far right corner, where a blindfolded figure sat. His fur was covered in dirt, his mane was matted, and his head bore a scar upon the crown. He looked exhausted, and held a grimace that told them he was sick. 

But there was no doubt about it. They had found Igneous Rock.

Pinkamena stared for a moment, and let her eyes grow misty. She smiled and broke into a run, jumping over a couple of hay bales and exclaiming, "Pa!"

Igneous' ears twitched, and his muzzle pointed to where he heard the voice. He was startled by a sudden embrace, but his expression softened as his nuzzled his daughter. Cheese only looked on happily, taking in the warm reunion between father and daughter. 

Igneous sighed in relief. "I can't believe you came back, Pinkamena."

"I know, Papa... I know. I had to once I heard you were missing."

"How'd you know I was missing? I was attacked in the dead of night, waiting for a train."

"Oh, they forgot to pick up your hat. Bluejinx found it, told Ma and my sisters, and then Maud passed it on to me once she ran into me. She, uh... took the train to see if you were all right."

"Oh, I was afraid they wouldn't know until it was too late. But it doesn't matter now, I'm so glad you came back."

Pinkamena broke the hug and slipped the blindfold off. Igneous blinked to let his eyes adjust to the light, and looked around. He caught sight of Cheese, who sheepishly waved at him. "Oh... I see he came back too."

Pinkamena sighed. "Pa, just let me explain the whole thing about the letter--"

"It was forged. I know, I figured it out when I found that paint pony's smell matched the letter." Igneous shook his head. "They sure did take me for a fool. Fired a good pony because I was afraid of losing you to somepony who only wanted to use you." He turned to Cheese. "It's okay to come closer, boy!"

Cheese timidly walked toward him, stepping around the hay bales, though accidentally knocking a couple off the loft and breaking the railing. With his head down, he shuffled to the older stallion, as close to the wall as he could be, and brushed his hoof against the ground, focused on a hole in the floorboards. 

"Look me in the eye," Igneous said.

Cheese looked up, with a face asking for mercy. 

Igneous sighed. "Look, Cheese, this predicament doesn't change the fact that you disobeyed me. I let you go, and you had all the freedom to just move on to the next town, forgetting all that has happened in this town and all about your employment here. I wouldn't be surprised if you resented me for firing you. So, I have to ask... why did you come back?"

Cheese was silent, glancing around the barn in search of the answer. He squeezed his eyes shut, and said softly, "I... I guess Pinkamena's not the only thing I fell in love with these past few months."

"Don't call my daughter a thing."

"Oh, sorry... but in all honesty, I think I just ended up loving all of you. I mean, it's kind of crazy, I was starting to think of you as my father, Cloudy as my mother, and your daughters as my sisters... except Pinkamena, I mean, I kind of fell in love with her, as in romantic love, but you already knew that..." Cheese nervously looked at Pinkamena, who held a raised eyebrow during his mutterings.

"I get it, Cheese, I get it. But, I think you should try again with your brother, with that letter I found being a fake."

Cheese nodded. "Yeah... maybe I should."

Igneous then smiled at him. "You're a good colt. I'm glad that we've gotten to know you."

Cheese blinked at the sight of Igneous smiling, and smiled back. "Thank you."

Pinkamena smiled as well, but then frowned when she realized that Igneous wasn't tied up. "Um, Pa? How'd they keep you up here for all this time?"

Igneous groaned. "I pulled a muscle, they put tar on my back, and they stuck me to the wall. You two mind pulling me off?"

Cheese winced. "Won't that hurt?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take to see my family again." Igneous shook his head. "Nopony's going to believe me when I tell them Cortland's behind this. I swear, that Apple seriously needs to be punished... he's out of his mind!"

Cheese and Pinkamena nodded, and started digging at some of the tar between his back and the wall. They scooped out bit by bit, piece by piece, and were just whittling down the tar so that it'd be easier to remove Igneous with minimal damage. Both were annoyed at how sticky the tar was and how hard they had to wipe their hooves on the floor to get it off, but the effort was going to be worth freeing Igneous. 

Pinkamena stopped and sniffed the air. "...huh? Why do I smell smoke?"

She stood up and walked to the old railing, where she looked down at the food being stored. Much to her horror, a fire had started on one of the bags of flour, and was spreading to some of the other bags and the straw. With a gasp, she turned back around and started digging faster. 

"Whoa! Ow, ow, OW!" Igneous growled. "What's going on, Pinkamena?"

"Fire! And it's spreading fast! We need to get you out quick!"

Hearing that, Cheese also dug faster, and Igneous gritted his teeth as his back screamed in agony. He wished that speed didn't mean that they had to be so rough, but he had to bear it if he wanted to escape the fire. 

Pinkamena stopped digging and looked over the railing again. The fire had grown, and she could already feel the heat coming from it. With a grimace, she announced, "Okay, Cheese, that's enough! Let's pull him off the wall now!" She grabbed her father by the shoulder and started to pull, and Cheese did the same with the other shoulder.

"AUGH!" Igneous cried. "For goodness' sake, you'll dislocate my shoulder!"

"It's either that or death by fire, Pa!" Pinkamena snapped. 

She and Cheese pulled and pulled, tugging with every ounce of strength that they had. They were beginning to sweat as the heat rose, and the smoke was hitting the ceiling. They grew more and more panicked as the fire progressed, and already a few coughs had been sputtered. 

Finally, Igneous popped off the wall, and the sudden release made Cheese stumble into the wall, and Pinkamena stumble to the railing. The railing snapped under her weight, and she began to fall toward the flames. However, neither Cheese nor Igneous were having that, so both leapt forward--the latter with his good leg, though the injured leg still hurt--and managed to grab her back legs before she got too far. 

However, in the action, Cheese's glasses flew off and fell into the fire. Even worse, he heard Pinkamena cry out in pain, and his blurry vision was unable to tell him what exactly happened. Did they break something? Did she hit her head? Did she get burned?

He and Igneous pulled Pinkamena back up into the loft, and Cheese asked, "Pinkie, what happened? How bad is it?"

Pinkamena breathed through her teeth. "Fell off... foreleg... caught fire... pain... pain... pain!"

"And it doesn't look so good," Igneous said. "You better keep weight off that leg just to be safe."

Upon hearing this, Cheese took off his poncho, ripped it in half, and then gave the pieces to Igneous. He sat there as Igneous presumably wrapped Pinkamena's leg, while thinking about how lost he felt without his glasses. Last time, he was useless in the Diamond Dog fight until Cloudy found his glasses; now he was in a fire, had no way to retrieve his glasses, and it was getting hotter by the second. He coughed, his vision only full of bright orange and yellow. 

Well, I guess we're going to die here.

Igneous grunted as he finished wrapping and raising Pinkamena's front leg with the rent garment. "All right, that'll do." He glanced at the flames and murmured, "Now, listen carefully, Pinkamena. I want you to lead Cheese and me out of here." He grabbed Cheese and dragged him over. "And Cheese, you are going to latch onto Pinkamena's tail while carrying me."

Cheese jumped. "I have to carry you? But she--"

"I don't want to hear any excuses. Her carrying me on three legs will throw her off balance. All your legs are in good shape, and your time at the rock farm should have built your strength up enough to carry a stallion my size." Igneous paused to cough and wipe his forehead. "We don't have time for arguments, let's just get out of here!"

Cheese nodded, stood up, and bent down to allow Igneous to climb on. While he was a little winded from Igneous' weight, he found that he was supporting it quite well. He was tickled on the nose by some hair from Pinkamena's tail, and he clamped onto it with his mouth. 

Igneous glanced at the railing. "Fire's getting ready to jump onto the loft, let's go!"

Pinkamena moved forward, pulling Cheese and Igneous with her. With one front leg marching forward and the other wrapped up and still feeling like it was on fire, she headed to the door leading into the main house. Once Cheese was fully in, he used his hind leg to shut the door behind him, and breathe a sigh of relief. 

Still holding on to Pinkamena's tail, his talking was muffled. "M'kay, weega outta da day-truss par. Should be swoo say-wing fom--"

Pinkamena stopped suddenly and gasped. "Oh, no..."

"What?"

"I'm at the stairs... and I'm telling you now that downstairs is on fire too."

"What?!"

Igneous shifted on his back and said, "And our buddy from the loft is following us."

Pinkamena turned to look behind her and Cheese, and the fire had crept under the door to the loft, and was igniting the floorboards. She looked between those flames, and the fire that was burning on the lower floor. Her foreleg hurt just looking at the fire, and within her arose a sense of panic and the urge to cough.





Cloudy knew something wasn't right when she smelled smoke and heard crackling from the house. But when she had turned her head to face it, she couldn't bring herself to believe it. 

The house was on fire. 

Cloudy's daughters and sister-in-law stopped fighting with the thugs, who were shocked at the sight of the boarding house burning. They all stood there, gawking at the brilliant oranges and yellows that were engulfing the house. 

Seddie appeared on Cloudy's right. "How did that happen?"

Cloudy gazed at the fire fearfully. "I don't know--but Pinkamena went in there! Cheese is there with her, and we don't know if Igneous is there or not!"

"Well, we need to put it out! Unfortunately, we'd have to enlist the whole town to--"

They heard the ringing of a bell, and turned to find Maud at the neighboring schoolhouse, having ran there faster than thought possible and climbed it just to ring the bell. The thugs blinked in astonishment, while Marble and Limestone just glanced at each other and nodded. 

From her perch, Maud could see the townspeople shuffling out of their homes, wondering what the ruckus was about. She could see pony upon pony headed toward the schoolhouse, to see what emergency there was. All the while she kept glancing at the connected farm, still burning with her sister, their former employee, and very possibly her father inside. 

She also saw a figure limping away from the house, and narrowed her eyes at it. There had been one other pony inside, and she had a feeling that he started the fire. 

She would have to track him down and confront him about this after the fire was taken care of. For now, there were confused townsponies gathered, staring in horror at the fire. Maud jumped down from her perch, and tilted her head toward the house. Of course, in the front of the crowd, Bluejinx stepped forward. 

"Maud! What's going on? Why is that house on fire?!"

She simply answered, "Cortland," and then zoomed back to the house. 

Bluejinx blinked, and shouted, "Expand on that, please!"

Purple Prose put a hoof on Bluejinx's shoulder and said, "Dear nephew, it looks like the answers will have to wait... as well as our fliers. I think she wants our help putting out that fire."

One pony piped up, "Well, why do the Pies care? That's not their house on fire!"

Lemon Drop and Sugar Glider, holding their little foal, stepped forward from the crowd, the former saying, "Does it matter? We should just work on putting it out! That's what they're doing with that sand throwing over there!"

His wife took to the air. "We have pegasi in our midst! We can grab some of those spare clouds!"

Purple called up, "That's a great idea, Sugar! But you might want to leave Butterscotch with a sitter!"

"Hey!" somepony else shouted. "What about us earth ponies and unicorns?"

Bluejinx huffed. "We'll get water from any source possible. Personal wells, the river over the hill, anywhere! Anything to put out that fire!"

One pony sat down and crossed his front legs. "How do we know the Pies didn't start it?"

He was suddenly accosted by an angry Sedimentary Rock, who yelled, "Maybe instead of just whining about them, you help them put out this fire because there are ponies in there!" She snorted. "Sheesh! You townsponies are still stupid, just like thirty years ago! Stop questioning what my sister-in-law and nieces are doing here, and haul your buttocks to work!"

The pony blinked. "Sister-in-law? Wait... Sedimentary Rock?"

"Yes, now move it!"

The pony jumped up, and the townsfolk started cantering toward the fire. They murmured between each other about the hows and whys of this fire, and worriedly wondering who was going to tell Mr. Green about this when he returned from his family trip. 





Pinkamena hated how tentative she had to be while descending the stairs. With one leg out of commission, one false step could send her, Cheese, and Igneous tumbling down, possibly breaking a bone, if not sliding headfirst into some flames. She wished that there was a safer way out--but unfortunately, all the exits were downstairs, and the windows were not big enough for them to fit through. So, here she was, leading a pony who was practically blind carrying a crippled stallion down the stairs, slower than any of them would like. 

The air got hotter as she drew closer to the bottom, and her lungs were starting to burn. She could hear her father coughing behind her, and she was feeling sick to her stomach. Cheese's breathing was becoming raspy as well, and she was growing more and more worried as they descended. 

She reached the bottom of the stairs, only for Cheese to trip and crash into her. He had released her tail, and then started a coughing fit, only to be interrupted by Pinkamena jumping up and shouting out "OW!" She looked at the tip of her muzzle, having been burned by a flame on the floor, and groaned. Cheese shook his head, said an apology, and latched onto her tail again. 

Pinkamena looked ahead, and gulped at the sight of the flames licking the walls and the smoke above them. "Come on, we gotta be quick."

She pressed forward, stepping around every flame that was on the floor, while Cheese behind her chanted, "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" She cringed upon remembering that he couldn't spot the flames on the floor like she can, and hoped that he didn't get too burned. 

She kept on going through the hall, raspy coughs coming out of her mouth. Cheese was suppressing his coughs, forcing himself to bear the irritation and burning in his throat lest he release Pinkamena's tail and lose her. Igneous clung on tightly to Cheese's neck with one hoof, and covering his mouth with the other, wheezing from the bad air. 

When they made their way to the front room, the smoke was thick and dark. All three of them squeezed their eyes shut in response, and all air passageways in their bodies were stinging worse than a dozen bee stings. 

"Kitchen..." Pinkamena coughed some more. "...kitchen door..."

Igneous had a coughing fit in response. "...hurry!"

Pinkamena reared up and felt the walls, and scooted as much as she could against them. She could feel the flames licking her foreleg, and her sling was feeling hot. The foreleg in the sling was in searing agony. But all she was thinking about was the kitchen door and the two stallions with her. Were they feeling every lash of those burning whips like she was? How bad were their burns? How long would be until they would pass out from all the smoke?

She found the open space, and led Cheese through it. She cracked her eyes open, and nearly recoiled from the brightness of the flames. Black smoke was on the ceiling, and all tables and chairs inside were ablaze. However, she was elated at the sight of the kitchen door, leading to the outside. 

She heard a thump behind her, and snapped her head around to find Cheese scrambling to put an unconscious Igneous back on his back. 

Cheese was growing more panicky and coughing violently. "Pinkamena! He passed out!"

"Don't worry! We're almost there!" Pinkamena jumped to his side and helped him pick up Igneous. Once they had him, she took her hoof out of her sling and took his, and they walked toward the door together. Pinkamena gazed at it hopefully, chanting, "Almost there... almost there... almost there..."

Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed just in front of them, and it blocked their exit, as well as crushing the window beside it. Pinkamena screamed in frustration, and then went into another coughing fit. 

"Pinkamena, Pinkamena!" Cheese said. "Calm down!"

Pinkamena coughed some more, sat on the floor, and let tears fall from her eyes. "The exit... it collapsed and now we're trapped... I'm so sorry..."

Cheese, still holding Igneous, shook his head. "No, Pinkamena, we still have the carriage house... hopefully that exit's open." He put a hoof to her face. "Don't give up... we can beat this thing together... and I'm sure the others are working on putting out this fire."

"But... but they'll find us charred and smoking and most of all DEAD!"

"Don't give up so easily." Cheese leaned forward and gave her a peck on the lips. "Come on, Pinkie... you can't give up until we give the carriage house a try. Okay?"

Pinkie looked up at him. She would have nodded, but remembering his eyesight, she stood up and muttered, "Okay." She coughed some more, and winced at the burning her haunches took during her sit. She regained her place under her father's unconscious form. "All right, to the carriage house!"

Still holding Cheese's hoof, she trotted through the rest of the kitchen with him by her side and Igneous on their backs, and kicked open a door at the end. They came into a house with a dirt floor, and was filled with cart after cart after spare cart. All were on fire, but it was nothing compared to the rest of the farm. 

They trotted through the burning carts, dodging each one, and widening spaces that were too small for them to squeeze through. While they could still feel where they had been burned in some places, they did not slow down, as they went as fast as they could to the exit without dropping Igneous. This was their last chance at escaping, and they were going to take it. 

They stopped upon coming across a large door, which, much to their chagrin, was locked. 

Pinkamena cracked her neck. "All right, we're going to have to knock this thing down."

Cheese set Igneous down on the cool dirt floor. "Eh, but what about paying damages?"

Pinkamena put a hoof to her face. "This farm is on fire. Knocking down the door is the least of our problems." She exhaled, turned to buck at the door, and then muttered, "Anyway, knocking it down should be a piece of... cake!" She launched her hind legs at the door, expecting the door to fall down with a thud. However, much to her surprise, it barely budged. 

"Huh?" She bucked again, and it didn't fall down. She bucked a third time, and her front legs just buckled under her, and the searing pain coursed through her body. She looked at the door, and murmured, "But... but... I break rocks with those hooves! Why can't I bust open a door?!"

Cheese frowned. "Pinkie... I think the smoke's making you tired and weak."

Pinkamena's eyes widened and she shakily got back to her hooves. "No! No! No!" She bucked at the door again. "Fall down you stupid door!" She bucked at it again. "Fall! Down!" She bucked at it again, and once again she fell on her face, leaving a stinging sensation throughout her. Her stomach stirred, and she heaved, with the only thing coming out being soot-colored saliva. 

She shakily got back to her hooves and looked up. The fires had gotten bigger, and there was more smoke in the room. She attempted to buck again. "Cheese... help!"

Cheese squinted his eyes, walked to the door, felt it, and turned to buck at it. The door didn't budge. 

Pinkamena growled. "On three! One... two... three!

Bang!

The door budged more than it did with either alone, but it was not enough. 

Pinkamena snorted. "Again!"

Bang!

Pinkamena looked at the smoke filling the room, and and her lungs burned at the thought of breathing in some more of that. "Again!"

Bang!

She coughed and heaved once more, but still ordered, "Again!"

Bang!

Both she and Cheese were coughing, and growing weaker with each buck. Try as they might, the door budged less and less, and they fell on their faces more and more. Pinkamena's face was burning, her throat and lungs screamed for relief, and her legs were aching. She kept on having dry heaves, and tears were just flowing out of her eyes. 

After one last buck, Cheese had a coughing fit, and then collapsed in a heap. 

Pinkamena gasped, and jumped to where he laid. She picked up his head and neck, and cried, "Cheese! No, don't you pass out on me now!" She shook him, but he did not respond. She coughed some more and wiped her mouth. "Come on! Wake up! Wake up!"

She looked at the burning carts, and the smoke swirling around the room. In a panic, she jumped on the door, and just banged at it with her front hoof, ignoring how much pain she was in. 

"Somepony help us! Please, somepony, anypony!" She banged on the door some more, sobbing as she turned to look at the unconscious stallions on the floor. She banged as hard as she could, not caring if she popped any blisters she had received. "Mama! Maud! Marble! Limestone! Aunt Seddie! Somepony! Anypony!"

She coughed and heaved some more, and the banging on the door steadily grew weaker and weaker. She crumpled on the floor, still weakly smacking the door. She thought she was hearing voices, but her head was hurting too much to think about it.

"Please..." she whispered. "...help..."





Limestone had been passing by with a bucket of water when she heard the banging from the carriage house. When she first heard it, she turned to the door, and wondered if she was hearing things. Once she heard more banging and the muffled sound of Pinkamena's voice, she gasped and turned to her sisters just coming down from the hill with their own buckets. 

"Maud! Marble!" she hollered. "I think I found Pinkamena!"

The two gray mares glanced at each other, set down their buckets, and then ran down the hill. They stopped short of crashing into Limestone, who pointed at the carriage house's large door. 

"I heard her in there! I think she was crying for help or something." Limestone started searching for the lock. "Come on, help me open this thing!"

Maud's brow furrowed, and she reared up, reeled her front leg, and punched the door into splinters. What came out was a lot of smoke, which surprised the three of them and threw them into coughing fits. However, once the smoke cleared, they gasped at the sight of those inside. 

"Oh, my goodness! Pa!" Marble said, jumping in and picking him up. 

"There's Cheese, too!" Limestone hopped in, picked him up, and then she and Marble hopped out. 

Maud silently picked up Pinkamena, and looked into her dull, blue eyes. Sitting down on the grass, she noticed Pinkamena looking at her. Her face was stoic, but her voice was shaking as she said, "Pinkie... Pinkie... it's me, your big sister..."

Pinkamena slowly blinked. "Ma... Maud?"

Maud nodded slowly, her eyes growing misty. Pinkamena croaked and tried to move, but suddenly went limp as she passed out. Maud closed her eyes, her face unchanging, but not fighting the tear trickling down her cheek. 

Marble hollered, "Ma! Ma! Ma, get over here!" 

The sound of hoofbeats signalled Cloudy Quartz hearing Marble, and soon enough she was there, along with Aunt Seddie. They both gasped at the sight of the burnt bodies of Igneous Rock, Cheese Sandwich, and Pinkamena Pie. Cloudy crouched down over Igneous, and held him, shock evident on her face. Seddie was beside her, wanting to stroke her brother's face, but also unwilling to touch him in fear of worsening the injuries. 

Seddie looked up. "Are... are they dead?"

"I, uh..." Limestone answered. "No?"

"Well, get the town doctor over here!" Cloudy snapped. 

Marble jumped up. "I'll go! I'm not holding anypony!" With that, she sped off.

It wasn't long before she returned with the town doctor--a blue-gray, black-haired unicorn. Panting, she said, "Well, turns out he's the midwife's husband."

"Oh, well..." the doctor said. "What seems to be the problem here?"

Cloudy glared at him. "They're unconscious! Do something!"

The doctor took a step back. "Calm down, calm down... judging by how they look and the fact that there's a fire, it looks like they have inhaled too much smoke. I better cast a breath spell on them."

He tilted his head forward and let a white magic aura envelope his horn. Not five seconds later, the heads of Igneous, Pinkamena, and Cheese were wrapped in that same aura, their mouths forced open and the sounds of breathing heard from them. 

The doctor straightened up and smiled. "All right, then, that spell shall make it easier for them to breathe." His smile fell into a grim frown. "But it's only temporary. My advice is to rush them to the nearest hospital before the spell wears off."

Cloudy nodded. "Right." She turned to Seddie. "Come on, let's go right now. The rest of the town can take care of the fire."





Cortland limped away from the house as it burned, chuckling to himself about how he had managed to trap them, by striking both the front room and the barn. He was expecting satisfaction in finally having gotten rid of Igneous Rock and Cheese Sandwich. 

However, he also felt a little sad that Pinkamena had to go as well. Not to mention terror at the prospect of somepony finding out from those thugs that he was involved with the whole ordeal. And anger at having to run away because his life had just fallen apart. 

"Ah swear, if it hadn't been for them two dumb stallions, Ah'd still be comfortably at home, livin' mah life as it should be... argh, doggone hobos always ruin everythang."

He was crossing the river, using the railroad as a bridge. While he noticed ponies going to the river to fetch water--most likely to put out the fire, he figured that they were too focused on their job to care. Not to mention it was dark enough that they couldn't recognize him. 

"Ah'll start a new life," he mumbled. "Build mah own town. Make it successful so Ah'll be famous. Yeah, the name of Cheese Sandwich will fade 'way, while Cortland Apple will be remembered for gener--"

His hind leg fell through a gap between the railroad ties, much to his discomfort. With a groan, he tried to pull it out. When it didn't slip out, he started to panic, and tug wildly, making sharp pains run through his ankles and fetlocks, all the way up to his haunches. He looked at the ponies at the river, considering asking for help, but then realized that they'd ask questions. Besides, he could free himself, couldn't he?

He heard a train whistle, and he snapped his head to a light that was coming toward him. He tugged some more, to no avail, and his heart rapidly pounded as the train drew closer and closer. It looked like a monster as it approached, and seemed to roar at him and open up jaws of sharp teeth, promising him a trip to Tartarus. 

The ponies at the river witnessed a gruesome scene that night.