Burnt Sugar

[X_HeartofRoses_X]

"You got me there..." Snowflake said with a sigh. "Oh, hello, Tempest."  

[Fenrir Shade]

"Hey everypony. So what could I assist with?" asks Tempest.  

[The Jolly Victini]

"Bonfire's been held up in his room for weeks 'cause there hasn't been a fire is months." Rainbow explained.

"An' he won't come out of his room 'cause he's paranoid that there could be a fire any minute." Applejack added.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"Ah. Sounds like quite the Predicament... Have we tried Muffins?" asks Tempest. He then notices the basket of Muffins in Nightshade's mouth. "Oh. Nevermind."  

[Fadedepic]

Nightshade put down the muffins, sighing. "How did I even get roped into this? They said, 'Hey, Nightshade. Can you go and deliver these muffins to this guy? He's jumpy and nervus and blahh blah blahhh..." He said, making a mock face, a mock voice, and moving his hoof up and down, simulating the human handed mock mouth movement.  

[The Jolly Victini]

Rainbow Dash quickly shot in front of Nightshade, pushing her face against his. "You picking on my friends, punk?!" she shouted hastily.

"Rainbow!" Applejack scolded.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"Alright, alright. Enough. Come on. We gotta help Bonfire out. If we don't, I think he's going to snap." says Tempest, plopping onto the ground contemplating. "What's his favorite thing to do? Maybe we can draw him out that way."  

[The Jolly Victini]

"Well... He is a big fan of Daring Do. Not bigger than me, though!" Rainbow Dash boasted.

"Ah think she's got a point. Well, not the whole 'biggest fan' thing. I mean the Daring Do books. Maybe if y'all can trick him out of the house with one of them books, we can help him out." Applejack planned, bringing a hoof to her chin in thought.

"But how?" Rainbow Dash butted in, "We've both read all there is so far!"

"Not true, Rainbow!" Twilight interrupted, walking up from behind the group, a book floating out of her saddle bag. "Look what just came in today!" she said, floating the green cover book into the center of the group.

With a huge gasp, Rainbow quickly snatched up the book and read aloud, "Daring Do an the trials of Ibex temple?!"

Almost as if on cue, Bonfire's door slammed open and there stood the firepony himself. "New Daring Do book?!" he said quickly. Rainbow held the book away from him, audibly growling at him like a hungry dog. Before she had a chance to fly off, Bonfire's magic wrapped the book in a red glow and pulled closer to him, Rainbow still holding on tight.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Tempest took this chance to lay out Bonfire, pinning him to the ground. "I'll let you have the book, if you quit being a hermit! You're driving yourself insane!"  

[The Jolly Victini]

Bonfire struggled to get out from under Tempest. "I have to be ready for any fire that might happen!" he shouted, continuing to struggle.

Applejack stared down Bonfire until he stopped squirming, obviously intimidated. "Now listen here, Bonfire. You've been cooped up in yer house fer far too long! You need ta get outside and smell tha roses! We're yer friends and we only want ta help you!"

Bonfire struggled a bit more until he finally sighed, giving in. "Alright... fine. I'll come out." Bonfire stood up as Tempest got off of him and gave a look of guilt as he scratched his head. "Sorry... I just, went a little crazy there."

"A little?!" Rainbow dash inquired incredulously.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"It's all fine. Sorry we had to take such brash measures." replies Tempest.  

[The Jolly Victini]

"Well, now that that's settled, I''m going to go to Sugarcube corner to deliver a new recipe book to the cakes. Bye!" Twilight offered. She left the group and walked through the marketplace to the door of Sugarcube corner. Upon entering, Twilight was pulled in quickly by our pink party pony.

"Twilight! You're just in time to see my newest attempt at a new recipe!" Pinkie yelled excitedly. She dashed into the back room and wheeled out a white cake that was on fire on top. "I made this especially for Bonfire! Who knows, maybe it'll get him outside! I call it: Baked Bonfire!" She declared, throwing her hooves in the air.

"Well, Pinkie, we already got Bonfire out of the house." Twilight said.

Pinkie stared at Twilight blankly for a moment before throwing her hooves in the air once more. "Then it'll be a cake to celebrate him finally coming back out of his house!"

Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake walked down the stairs from their cribs and looked around curiously. Upon seeing the flaming cake, the twins were immediately hypnotized. The two walked over to the cart which held the cake. Pound Cake tried to climb up the cart, but upon failure, Pound Cake got frustrated and slammed his hoof at the cart. His hoof made contact with one of the wheels of the cart, breaking it off, and causing the cart to tumble, slamming the flaming cake on the ground.

Pinkie Pie watched sardonically as her gift splat upon the ground. "Bad Pound Cake! You should be up in your room! Same to you, Pumpkin!" Pinkie scolded. As she disciplined the children, the flame from the cake slowly spread on the wooden floor without notice. Twilight walked up the stairs with Pinkie as she took the naughty foals to their room. The flame slowly enveloped the front door, spreading up the wall until most of the front of Sugarcube Corner was set ablaze. Pinkie and Twilight being on the other side of the building, however, caused them to not yet notice the blaze that was slowly taking the life of the colorful building.  

[X_HeartofRoses_X]

Snowflake suddenly stiffened, her muzzle going up in the air as she sniffed it. Then she saw the smoke. "Bonfire...Is that...?"  

[The Jolly Victini]

Bonfire looked around and noticed the bellow of smoke. "Fuh... FIRE!" Bonfire broke off into a sprint towards the source of the smoke. He soon realized the fire was coming from Sugarcube Corner. "Oh no! Pinkie Pie! Twilight!" He cried out. At this point the entire building was on fire. Bonfire rammed into the front door, breaking off it's hinges. He heard the sounds of crying. It sounded like the babies and... Pinkie? Bonfire ran through the building, his horn glowing brightly as it pushed the flames away from him. The stairs were still intact, so he carefully tread up them. As soon as he reached the top floor, he rammed through the babies' bedroom door and saw the group of ponies huddled together, the majority crying. Upon seeing their savior, Pinkie rushed over and hugged Bonfire tightly.

"Oh, Bonfire! Thank you thank you thank you! I'm so so SO sorry! I made a cake for you with fire on it, and Pound Cake accidentally knocked it down and when we came back downstairs..." Pinkie machine-gunned off her explanation and continued crying after she finished.

"Don't worry, Pinkie! I'm gonna get you all out of--" Bonfire was stopped as he heard a loud crack and the pained shout of Twilight. Bonfire looked over and a ceiling pillar had fallen on Twilight. "TWILIGHT!" He shouted. Bonfire levitated the beam off of her and went over to her. "Twi! Are you alright?!"

Twilight grimaced as she tried to get up. "Ye... yeah. Just, hurt my hoof. Bonfire, please hurry, we've got to get the foals out of here!"

Bonfire strained as he levitated Twilight through the house. Pinkie Pie and the foals latched onto his back as he works the flames away from them. Once he reached a window, he moves the flames away and levitated the foals out the window to their crying, worried parents. Next, Pinkie was lifted to the ground, and finally, Twilight. Bonfire then ran back through the house and made it outside, panting.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Tempest flies up, close behind Rainbow Dash. They nod at each other and fly into the heavens. They return with thunderclouds filled to the point of bursting with water. Tempest took the rear of the house, while Rainbow made her way to the front. The abundance of rain water began dowsing the flames.