//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Sonic and Equestria Girls in Freezer Burned // by SonicAKG //------------------------------// Back in the restaurant, it seemed as if it was half empty, including both the staff and customers. If it was closing time, this would have been normal, but the place was still supposed to be open for another three hours. It was now confirmed that something weird was going and it became a concern to Tails and the remaining Rainbooms, especially since they had been waiting for almost 30 minutes since Shadow and the others left. They looked around with worried looks on their faces before AppleJack spoke up. "Ok, just what the hay is goin' in this place? Ever since Sonata left for the bathroom, everyone just keeps dissappearin'! Where in tarnation are they!?" She exclaimed. "Now I'm really worried." Fluttershy anxiously said as she fiddled with her fingers. "They're not in any kind of trouble, are they?" Tails shrugged. "It could be. They've been gone for way too long. The fact that even Sonic of all people isn't back yet makes me consider the idea." "Well, in that case, what should we do? Should we call for help?" Rarity asked. "Uh, aren't you forgettin' somethin' Rarity? In weird situations, we are the help." AppleJack reminded her as she got out of her seat. "Ah'll go find em." "I'll come too. It could be safer with the two of us." Twilight offered. She then took the still sleeping Spike and handed him over to Tails as she stood up to join AppleJack. "Ok, but be careful darlings." Rarity cautioned. AppleJack and Twilight nodded reassuring before they headed in the direction of the bathroom. As DJ-Pon3 was bobbing her head to her music despite the intense cold of the freezer, her fellow new arrivals were coping with the temperature less than she was. Aside from a bunch of students and Canterlot townspeople, her close friend, Octavia Melody had a displeased look as her teeth chattered from the cold. The 3 Crusaders, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were huddling together for warmth alongside AppleJacks older brother, Big Mcintosh. Across from them, was Diamond Tiara, Filthy Rich's own daughter and her friend, Silver Spoon. The two of them were shivering and shooting daggers at the Crusaders, which Scootaloo noticed. "W-what?" She managed to ask the two of them. "T-T-T-This is your fault for getting us trapped in here! Y-Y-You should have followed me to the way to the bathroom!"Diamond Tiara accusingly said. "H--H-How were we s-s-s-supposed to know it would have lead to the f-f-f-freezer?! I-I-It's not fair blaming u-u-u-us!" AppleBloom shot back. Aside from the Canterlot students, the two Flim-Flam brothers had managed to lock themselves in. When they heard that Sonata had been the cause of this whole mess, they weren't happy. Sonata at first thought it was their fault, but when they explained the whole situation, it was pretty clear now that Sonata was to blame one hundred percent. "We could have gone through with our plan if it wasn't for this meddling kid!" Flam groaned. Speaking of Sonata, in front of her was a very displeased Luna. She stood down at her with a heavy glare, making Sonata a little uneasy. "I said before you would need to earn our trust before we welcomed you with open arms. Well, young lady, you've just taken a big step backward." Luna scolded. "Ok, I know the situation looks bad." Sonata began in an attempt to defend herself "But I didn't mean to get everyone trapped in here. I pinkie promise!" "Yeah. She even pinkie promised!" Pinkie added, trying to defend her friend. "Luna, ease up on her. She didn't mean any harm. Everyone makes mistakes. Besides, I'm sure the next person will be able to rescue us." Celestia said. Hearing this made Luna raise a skeptical eyebrow and caught Sonic's attention. "Look, I know it's good to remain positive in these kinds of situations or whatever, but Principal Celestia, please stop jinxing it." Sonic requested as he slumped against the wall. "Sorry, just trying to be helpful." Celestia said. "But in the meantime, everyone, we should huddle with each other in order to keep warm." Just after hearing that, Shadow felt a body latched on to his from the behind. He turned his head to see Aria clutching him tightly with her eyes shut. Shadow stood there surprised for a while. "Uh.." Aria heard Shadow say as her eyes opened up and she noticed that she was hugging Shadow. She looked up at him and realized what she was doing before her entire face turned bright red and she quickly detached herself from Shadow. "G-get off me, you weirdo." Aria said as she turned and crossed her arms, still blushing and clearly embarrassed. "You hugged me." Shadow reminded her, making Aria's blush even redder. "N-no, I didn't." She quickly said. "Yeah, you did. I saw you." Rainbow Dash said, making Aria turn to her with a furious look. "Sh-Shut up, Rainbow Freak!" Aria snapped, making Rainbow Dash frown heavily at her insult. "What?!" Rainbow Dash said as she began to march to Aria. Before a full argument could erupt again, both she and Rainbow felt arms come around them. They turned to see Manic trying to huddle with the two of them and they gave him an intense glare. He didn't notice as his eyes were closed. "You've got till five to let go." Both girls said in unison. Manic's eyes opened and he saw their angry glares and he immediately backed off. Sonic sighed an icy breath as he turned to Sunset. "You think this is what it feels like when people wait for me to rescue them?" Sonic asked, making Sunset shrug. Suddenly, the trapped people heard the swing open. Standing in front where AppleJack and Twilight. When they saw all the people trapped they formed confused looks on their faces. "Big Mac? Sis? Everyone? What are y'all doin' here?" AppleJack asked. "And isn't this supposed to be the bathroom?" Twilight questioned. When the two girls began to step into the room, Silver began to say "AJ, Twilight, don't close the-" The door then immediately shut forward, making a loud slam and everyone already trapped inside groan. "The door." Silver finished as he hung his head. AppleJack took some time to study the room and it's inhabitant while Twilight still stood there, not sure what was going on. She turned around to the door and noticed the broken handle before she turned back to the crowd and lowered her eyelids. "So...everyone's been stuck in this freezer because the arrow sign to the bathroom got mixed up and the door handles been broken. Also, super powers can't bust us out of here and every time someone new comes in, they end up shutting the door behind them, leaving us to maybe freeze if someone doesn't save us?" AppleJack said in a deadpan tone, summing everything up. "Eeyup." Big Mac just answered nonchalantly. "What?!" Twilight screamed as she turned back to the door frantically. "No, no, no." She then said, beginning to freak out as she began to sink to the floor. Sunset came over to Twilight and tried to calm her friend down while as AppleJack looked around the room, she noticed the two Flim Flam brothers. When she recognized them, her face grew into a frown. "What in tarnation are you two doing here?!" She called out, making the brothers turn to her. When they realized who was calling them, their faces sank "Oh, well, we were.." Flim nervously said as he exchanged glances with his brother. They couldn't admit out loud that they had been planning to scam Filthy Rich. "I bet you two were scammin' is that?! I betcha this whole freezer incident is yer fault!" AppleJack accused, taking the two brothers aback. "Actually-" Flam tried to say but AppleJack cut him off. "Serves you two right being caught in your own scam!" AppleJack continued before Knuckles came next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "AppleJack, for this time, these two had nothing to do with our current situation." He explained, making her gain a confused look on her face. "What? If it's not their fault, then whose fault is it?" "Take a wild guess." Aria sarcastically said. AppleJack looked around the room, noticing all the trapped people in there before her eyes landed on Sonata. She was exhaling out in order to see her own breath, which made her laugh slightly. AppleJack then put two and two together. "Sonata....." She said, catching Sonata's attention. "What?!" She called out, looking at her innocently. AppleJack remembered how Sonata had ruined the casserole, making them go out to the restaurant in the first place. And now she had got them trapped in a freezer. She stood there for a while, taking it all in. "Man, I'm actually getting hungry now. I could sure go for a meal, like a casserole."Sonata said out loud. Saying that caused AppleJack's eye to twitch slightly as she inhaled deeply. "10...9....8....7....6" AppleJack started to do in order to remain calm, which Sonata didn't get as she turned to Pinkie. Meanwhile, Sunset was still trying to get Twilight to calm down as she began to panic. "Twilight, you need to relax." Sunset was saying. "How can you say that?! We're stuck inside this freezer with no way out! And every time someone comes in, they get locked in as well! Each time that happens, the probability of us getting out of here decreases by .75 percent! With the amount of people trapped in that gives us..." Twilight took a pause to get an approximate number of the trapped residents before her face began to show signs of more distress. "....a 23.797 % chance of getting out of here!" She shrieked as Sunset grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her firmly in the eye. "Ok, I get that the situation doesn't look good, but we need to remain focused." Sunset insisted. "Twi, how about you use your brain to help us maybe think of a way to get out of here instead of calculating our likelihood of death?" Sonic suggested. "They're right. In the meantime, we should wait for help to arrive." Celestia said before the door swung open, causing everyone to see a quite angry looking Filthy Rich. "Just where have my workers headed off to?! They better not be slacking off! It's costing me, money!" Filthy was saying before stopped in his tracks and noticed everyone in the freezer. "The do-" AppleJack started to say before the door quickly slammed shut behind Filthy Rich, once again making everyone groan out loud. Rainbow Dash turned to Celestia with an irritated look. "Didn't Sonic say not to jinx it anymore?" She said, making Celestia blush a little with embarrassment. "Dad?!" Filthy Rich heard Diamond Tiara voice said, making him even more perplexed at the whole situation. "Diamond Tiara? What's the meaning of this!?! Why are my customers and workers in the freezer alongside my daughter?!" He demanded. As he looked around, he spotted Sonic and the others and his eyes glowered. "You....of course you people had something to do with it!" He said as he pointed an accusing finger towards the group. "It's always you!" "Hey, that's not fair! It's not our fault!" Silver yelled back. "Well, Sonata did get us stuck in the freezer and you've said she's part of your group." Trixie brought up, making everyone turn to her with slightly annoyed looks. "Not helpin' Trixie." AppleJack said through grit teeth. "That does it! You're always ruining my businesses! You're banned you hear me, banned! I never want to see you around me or my restaurant again!" He shouted. Suddenly, Celestia and Luna came in front of the angry businessman with scolding looks. "Now hold on just a minute. Whether or not your own this place, you can't just come in here and bully our students." Luna said defiantly. "You're students are always costing me money!" Filthy retorted. "Is that what's really important now?" Celestia replied. "If I recall from that Camp Everfree fiasco, you're not exactly perfect yourself." "It's called business!" Filthy defended. As the two sisters were arguing with Filthy, Sonic had nearly had enough of waiting in the back and in anger he clenched his fist and slammed it into the wall behind him. Doing so made a few cardboard boxes fall over from a shelf. As he turned to see what he made fall, Sonic saw the wall that the boxes were covering and he noticed a faint symbol on it. He squinted his eyes. "That looks a little familiar." Sonic said as he got closer to the wall and began to rub the frost off to reveal the symbol. Manic noticed and called out to him. "Sonic, what are you doing?" He asked just as Sonic finished getting the frost off to see the full symbol. As he did his eyes widened. "Eggman!" He exclaimed out loud as he was looking at the doctor's trademark symbol. Saying this made the rest of the group turn around. "I beg your pardon?" Adagio said, not sure if she had heard him right. "Eggman's an evil scientist who always attacks Sonic using robots powered by tiny little animals in order to take over and make Eggman Land." Pinkie quickly explained to the three Dazzlings. Adagio and Aria exchanged glances at what they had heard while Sonata blinked. "Ohhh....is he a giant talking Egg?" Sonata asked, making Aria slap her forehead as Adagio pinched her nose. "No, but he's shaped like one." Pinkie said. "What does the doctor have to do with this?" Shadow asked Sonic. "I dunno yet. But the fact that this symbol's here means somethings up." Sonic said. He continued to rub the frost around the symbol and in doing so, he found some writing. It read: "Power dampening chamber. Anyone who enters this room will have their special abilities restricted due to having the walls being reinforced with negative ring energy."  Sonic said out loud for the others to hear. "That explains why we can't use our powers to get out of here!" Sunset exclaimed with a snap. "Eggman, even when he's not here, he still finds a way to screw us over!" ˚Knuckles said as he put his fist into his hand. "But why would one of Eggman's chambers be in a restaurant?" Rainbow Dash asked. Sonic walked past the others and he came in between the argument Celestia and Luna with Filthy Rich. The three adults stopped and looked down as Sonic turned to the latter with a glare. "What do you want?" Filthy said annoyed. "How'd this restaurant start up?" Sonic asked. "Why do you want to know that now?" "Just answer me!" Sonic said impatiently. "If you must know, this place used to a pretty abandoned building I happened to stumble upon. Didn't know what it was used for, but it looked like a good place to start up a restaurant." He explained proudly. "Well, let me tell what it was used for. IT WAS THE BASE OF SOME CRAZY SCIENTIST AND YOU TURNED HIS ROOM THAT INHIBITS POWERS INTO A FREEZER, WHICH IS WHY WE CAN'T JUST BUST OUT OF HERE!" Sonic yelled loud enough for the entire room to hear, making Filthy shrink back a little. "You're a huge reason why we're still stuck in here!" Manic added. Filthy looked around and saw that many of the trapped people were giving him glares. He gulped and adjusted his tie. "How-how was I supposed to know that? You can't pin the blame on me." He said weakly as he began to sweat a little. "Really? Well, you keep blaming us even though we didn't know any of this could happen." Aria told him, driving him further into a corner. Filthy looked at the still angry residents and saw Celestia and Luna with victorious smiles. He cleared his throat. "W-well, we shouldn't be pointing fingers. No one knew this would happen. We should all trying our best to work together to find a way out." He said out loud, making Sunset and Twilight roll their eyes. Back at their table, Tails, Fluttershy and Rarity were still waiting for their two friends to come back. Fluttershy looked around with a worried expression as did Rarity as Tails checked his watch. When he saw the time, his eyes widened a bit. It was a quarter to nine. "It's starting to get late and the others still aren't back yet." Tails brought up. "Now I'm actually scared for our friends. What could they have possibly gotten into?" Fluttershy wondered out loud. "Well darling, I think it's up to us to find out. They've been gone too long." Rarity decided as she got out from her chair. "Good idea. I'll come too." Tails said as he took the sleeping Spike from his lap and placed him carefully on his seat in order to not wake him up as he and Fluttershy joined Rarity as they headed down the hall. "I hope they're all right." Fluttershy expressed. "Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing too serious. When we find them, everything's going to be ok." Tails said reassuringly. In the freezer, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Tails had now joined the others in shivering from the cold as they shook, especially Fluttershy. "I still don't understand how no one was able to stop the door from closing!" Rarity shrieked at the top of her lungs, while she was met with sighs from everyone else in the room.