To the rescue

Meet the Ponies of Canterlot Fire Department's wagon #4, a dedicated, diverse and skillful team of Fireponies from one of the C.F.D's oldest and most celebrated Firehouses. Like all Fireponies, they are dedicated to their jobs and proud to be part of one of the Equestrian capitals oldest institutions. Like all C.F.D teams, Wagon #4 is comprised of at least one of each type of pony, taking advantage of the natural skillsets of each pony type to ensure each team is able to tackle any situation they are presented with.

Ashen Draft is the teams muscle, and the first of two Earth ponies. His size and strength are greater than any other pony serving in the C.F.D (and some suspect anywhere, ever) and is the teams wagon puller, a job usually performed by two ponies in a tandem draw. He also has a habit of attracting the attention of the mares, given his rugged good looks and quiet demeanor.

Cloudburst is the teams resident Pegasus, and responsible for aerial support. Pegasi are invaluable for being able to rapidly assess the hazards of a situation from the air, and locate civilians most in need of assistance. Their ability to affect weather is also a vital part of any team, however Cloudburst has a particular talent for manipulating and directing rainfall where it is needed most.

Ember Song is the teams Unicorn member. While the telekinetic ability all Unicorns have is a great asset for any team, Ember Song has an interesting talent in fire magic. This type of magical affinity is usually associated with causing fires, but the insight such abilities give into the way fire behaves can be a great asset in controlling it and limiting its effects. This makes Ember a valuable member of the team.

Finally, riding the wagon as brake operator is the teams captain and second Earth pony, Summer Breeze. A natural leader, she has an uncanny ability to see beyond the obvious and assess even the most rapidly changing situation and adapt accordingly. Her leadership has seen Wagon #4 become one of the most decorated and successful in the whole C.F.D.
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Well, this certainly took a long time to get done. I really hit a slump over the christmas/new years break (burnout from work i guess) and as a result this piece, which i started back in November last year, kinda got stuck half finished on my computer. A few attempts to kickstart my creativity in that time saw a few vectors of other peoples work, but its only recently that I have gotten back into the swing of things properly.
That said, this still took a while, the background in particular gave me headaches. Still, it all seemed to work out in the end, im happy with it.

The inspiration for this one actually came from watching an episode of American Restoration, when they got a hold of an old firefighting cart for restoration. It got me thinking about some of the turn-of-the-century horse drawn firefighting wagons of the early 1900's. A perfect fit in the world of Pony I thought, so i found a picture of an old firefighting wagon to base this vector off and got to work.
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Created with
Adobe Illustrator CS6
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Update: Made some tweaks to this piece.  Added some extra shading and added blurs to the mid and background for better effect.