//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: In Case of Fire... // Story: Frozen Equestria // by Flashburn37 //------------------------------// Chapter 26: In Case of Fire... The boat landed with a crunch as the crew hurriedly tied it to the shore. They had seen smoke over Cantorlot and the river was edged in frost. Rainbow dashed out with some of the supplies for making camp and began work. Pinkie hopped out to assist her while Shadow hung back, having not yet come to terms with James's death. She had been in disbelief at first, but after she saw the look on Rainbow's face she knew it was no lie. She had been mad at Rainbow and locked herself away in her room, slashing away at a wooden stake, she had lost soldiers before, but she had thought... she had thought Nopony in Auto's team would fall. Somehow they had seemed above reproach and no matter the odds they'd come through. She realized that Rainbow could have done nothing, and by her retelling, had even saved them from the center of the enemy fortress. She forgave Rainbowdash, but still his death troubled her. James was a wilily son of horseshoe. He may have survived. They should've gone back... It was too late now though. How would Rogue react? She had seen how those two looked at each other. She sighed and trotted out to help with the preparations, it was too late for them to journey towards the city tonight and they had only a few hours before the sun would fall. *** "Ms. Shadow! Wake up!" A hoof prodded her as she slept in her bedroll. "Yes? What's the matter?" She shook into alertness. "I'm sorry, I was unsure of your rank, you may be the highest rank here and thus the one to ask how we react to that." He pointed high into the sky where a Freezer marked Blimp slowly descended upon them. "Pony Feathers! They must've seen the fires! Awake the rest of the crew! Get the Elements and their bearers into the boat with three guards! That leaves me and the other twelve to ambush. I want four in those trees, four over there, and me with the four surest swordsponies out there in the open. We will be bait. When I give the word, attack. That's the order of a former Captain." "Yes Captain." He ran to the others giving out the commands. Rainbowdash and Pinkie both ran up to her looking quite steamed. "I don't cotton with what you're doing here! It's making me furious! You know I'm good in a fight!" Pinkie huffed. "I'm the fastest in Equestria! There's no way I'm going to just hide in the boat!" Rainbowdash fumed. "I know," Shadow bowed. "But..." She looked both of them in the eyes, "I can neigh risk losing either of you to a stray arrow. We need the Elements if we seek a peaceful victory in the end. Now, I know neither of you would feel fine just sitting out, there are ballista on the boat. Those siege weapons would be a massive help and need at least four ponies to operate both of them. When you hear me yell "Attack" then launch a barrage at that ship, take it down so they can't just fly away and tell Evandra about us. This is a vital role that only happens to be out of the line of fire." "Fine..." "Oaky Dokey Loki!" Both zoomed towards the boat. Shadow sighed as she trotted into position with the others. They stood, blades drawn in the light of the fire pit. Any pony on the airship could see them. "Land and lay down thy arms! Your ship is being commandeered for the use of the Equestrian Armed Forces! If you come into custody peacefully your lives shall be shared! If not, you will all be slain!" A figure looked down at her and was followed by a voice that called down, "Oh yeah!? Bye you an' who's army!?" The figure was immediately pulled back and hushed, harsh voices seemed to chastise it. Another voice called down, "What is the fourteenth sworn code of the Equestrian Armed Forces?" "To never strike an innocent, unarmed, and or otherwise detainable suspect..." Shadow called back. "We pass ourselves unto thy custody!" The voice replied as it landed softly in a nearby clearing. Shadow signaled her forces to circle the craft. She peered through the gloom and saw a pegasus, Unicorn, and ground pony leaning against the ship. "Reveal yourself! Keep those hooves above your head!" She commanded. "I'm not doing this in a threatening way, Airmane over here won't let us detach a lantern, says it'll mar the ship!" The unicorn yelled before his horn glowed bright whitish blue. Shadow couldn't believe it! "Hold your fire! Somepony get Rainbow and Pinkie over here!" She galloped over towards the Pegasus, "Auto you old buffoon! We almost shot you out of the sky!" She wrapped him in a hug. "Glad to see a friendly face after all this time!" "Shadow!? You made it!" He hugged her back, "Have any of the others?" "Others?" "Cantorlot has fallen. He must make for the alternate rendezvous point in the Forest." "This is terrible... Are you sure the city is fallen? I can't imagine it's might crumbling so quickly..." "It would appear they had help. Half the city was burning as the other froze. Freezers have never used flame magic before, we had no answer for it. We now are without a base, we must regroup and hope we can get the Elements to work." "We have Loyalty and Laughter with us, have you recovered Magic?" Auto shook his head, "Pony Feathers! Do you know where it is?" "Evandra has it still... and... Shadow... I have bad news..." "What is it?" Shadow asked, worried. "Wildpaw... she... didn't make it out..." "Oh no... Rogue..." "I know, she'll be devastated..." "James didn't make it either! She'll be crushed!" "He... no... James? He's... gone? I thought if any would make it back it would be him!" "We must find the others... with Cantorlot fallen, how many other ponies will have lost their lives? Shoot, I don't even know if Rogue yet lives! We must go to the Forest as soon as possible! Dawn is too late, we must march sooner." "No we don't, we must go now! The trek is to dangerous at night whilst on the ground, but... In this we can cover the vast distance easily. How many are in your company?" "Fifteen." "Airmane! How many can your ship hold?" "Comfortably?" "At max capacity!" "Well, without any supplies I guess around forty three and a filly. Well, I don't guess. It was a test I ran." "Are there any weapons on that thing?" "None." Shadow yelled out towards the one named Airmane, "Oi! Can we attach some Ballista to that thing?" "What color are they!?" Shadow looked at Auto who only shrugged, "Well, Purple and Gold! I think..." "Well..." He thought, "I guess if we keep them more towards the Larboard it should be okay! We can repaint later!" "Alright," Shadow sighed then turned toward her crew, "Ponies! Gather our supplies and get the Ballista over here! We fly in twenty!" Thirty minutes later the ship was floating high above Equestria drifting towards the Everfree Forest. *** "So... this is where Rogue has been living all these years... quant." Celestia commented as she sat on the Rogue's couch next to a rather nice Timber Wolf. "Some of my memories are returning Loony! You were a bit of a jerk. You stinking shot me! Thug." She shook her head disappointedly. "Hey, Tree Dog thing. Get me that book. It's on my right hoof side." She lifted her broken right hoof slightly. "Wow... you are useless." She levitated it towards her and grabbed it with her left hoof. "Hey Da Ta!? What's that stuff you gave me called!?" "Vicahorn... and Morphoof... for the pain." "Well I like it! Can't feel a thing!" Data Core turned to Power Hacks angrily, "I swear if you ever design anything without landing in mind I WILL kill you." "Hey she stopped us at least!" Swift Code whispered, "Maybe if we tire her out?" She then called out. "We have a bogey in the area! I've locked on to them! It's a blimp of some sort! I know Luna is asleep but maybe you can shoot it by yourself?" Celestia put on some of Rogues reading glasses just so she could take them off when she said, "Challenge Accepted" Then said, "Challenge Accepted!" *** "Speed up! Speed up now!" Airmane freaked out. "A laser is falling from the sky and will hit us any second if we don't speed up!" He pulled a lever that got the rotary engines to go into overdrive and the Pegasi that were pulling the ship put all their strength into it. The blast hit the back end of the balloon and the engines, absolutely destroying the propellers. "Put out that fire now! The balloon is compartmentalized so one hole won't cause it to crash, but it is NOT fireproof!" "I got the balloon! You guys get the back of the ship!" Snowchaser called out as he climbed up the maintenance rope. He sprayed the flickering flame with a blast of icy cold wind mixed with water. The balloon stopped in mid air as its momentum ceased and the fires were put out. "We've got nothing left..." a pegasus panted as he landed. Auto landed and more fell than walked towards Airmane, "What... was that?" He panted. "I don't know... and until we fix the engines and propellers we are dead in the air. And thus, vulnerable." *** Celestia yawned and stretched out on the couch quickly falling to sleep, her good hoof wrapped around the slightly irritated yet immensely trained Timber Wolf. "Oh thank Luna she is asleep." Data collapsed. "You're welcome..." Luna snored in her sleep. *** "I still don't see why the rendezvous point has to be here of all places!" Rarity complained. "It's so dark and icky!" "Once you see Rogue's house you'll say otherwise I'm sure." Anti assured her. "Why couldn't we just go to the Palace of the Two Sisters?" "Too obvious." "But Applejack and Fluttershy have Nopony in their group who've even been there! How are they supposed to find it?" "We'll find them. I mean, it is a large forest, but Rogue has taken more control of it and her wards will hold strong as long as she does. The animals and monsters won't threaten us while we are here. Besides, I've never been there either." "Wait, really?" "Well, I got really detailed instructions about how to find it!" "I can't believe we've been out her without a clue where we are going!" "Hey! I can find it. In fact we should be only a couple dozen yards from the cleari..." A great explosion filled the air and Anti spun about, daggers drawn. "What was that!?" Rarity panicked. "I don't know... but it is time to find out... You stay here, I'll climb that tree and see if I can spot anything." Rarity nodded and Anti jumped up to the nearest tree. She made it to the top quickly and looked around the sky. "Do you see anything dear?" "Oh yes... Shh!" She shushed Rarity as she hopped down, "There is a Freezer blimp right above us. We must be silent in our search... now follow me. It should be near." *** "Comon Shy! It's only a little ways to yer cottage, then ya kin see Angel again! I'll check up on the farm an' we kin be on our way to the forest!" Applejack told her. "I can't wait to see Angel again! We had to leave in such a hurry last time I didn't even get to say goodbye! Oh I hope he isn't too upset... What if the ponies that took over his care didn't fluff his tail right?" She ran past Applejack toward Ponyville. "That Fluttershy..." She shook her head slowly, smiling. "Wait up silly!" She ran after her. The town was almost deserted with only a few ponies running around doing the errands they couldn't put off. Fluttershy was already down the road to her cottage so Applejack trotted back to her farm. She got there and was surprised to see that Big Mac and AppleBloom had already harvested! She trotted up the house and walked through the door, "I'm hom..." she had to duck as wood cutting axe imbedded itself in the doorframe next to her. "What in tarnation!" "AJ?" Big Mac excitedly asked. "Yeah it's me ya big lug!" She taunted back. "Why'd you try an' take my head off?" "Sorry Sis, word is that the Freezer's are comin' an' I thought you were one." "I understand. Where's AppleBloom?" "She went to defend Cantorlot." "She... she went to Cantorlot!?" "Eeeeeyup. Left me here to guard the farm." He wrenched the axe from the door. "Oh this is bad... Cantorlot fell Mac! The city was lost! That's why I'm here instead a there!" Big Mac looked deeply troubled when he said, "AB wouldn't take Nope for an answer... She'll be fine. You need to find yer friends an' fix this! I'll let Caramel take over the farm fer now. I'm goin' with you until AB's home again. "It's too dangerous Mac!" "Nope! I'm not gonna potentially lose another Sister because I let her go while I stayed! Where're we goin'?" Applejack almost lied so he'd have to stay, but she couldn't do that to him. "We are goin' to "Rendezvous" at this Alicorn, Rogue's house in the Everfree." "If yer goin' there then you'll need mah help more than ever. 'Bout an hour ago a Freezer balloon flew past and there was a big explosion. Kinda why I swung this at ya." He held his axe aloft. "You get Fluttershy, I'll tell Caramel then you I'll meet you two by the Forest entrance." "Alright Mac, alright..." She trotted towards Fluttershy's cottage wishing, for the first time in her life, that she hadn't gone home. *** "Would you look at that... Such a nice blimp, slowly drifting down into the forest. Beautiful isn't it?" Data Core whispered to Swift Code as they sat on watch, hidden beside the cave. "If it wasn't for the fact that it probably contains enemy soldiers that have come here to kill or capture us... well... It still is beautiful just... marred a bit I guess." "Shh! I see movement... Ready the Ballista!" "Where?" "You're sitting at its control port..." "No duh... I meant where do you see movement?" "Over in that brush! Do not fire until we have confirmed it to be a hostile." Data Core ordered as he pulled out the flip book that had pictures of the allies that were supposed to come to the rendezvous point. He saw a light blue mare poke her head out from the brush and slowly trot forward with a dagger in her mouth. "Target locked... Is she a listed friendly?" "Give me a sec! Light blue... light blue... Does she have wings?" "No, she is a ground pony." "What's her cutie mark?" "A heart." "She might be Anti-Freeze, do you see a white mare with her?" "Not yet... wait... I see movement... I see a purple mane... She's sticking to the bushes I can't tell if she's white or grey." "So far it fits... I'm going to go in to talk to them." "Be careful and stay out of the line of fire. I'm not too good at this, by Celestia I'm a technician not a soldier!" "I wil," Data was caught off by a small burst of flame that emanated from a small hole in the ground. "Potential additional hostile! New plan! Observe the new threat and I'll keep an eye on the others." "There is movement in the pit! I see a purple horn. Could it be Twilight? Wait... I see green boots... and a brown mane! Do any fit that description?" "I think... Flashburn... but he was reported missing in action..." "It's a stallion. He's spotted the blue mare!" "She's spotted him as well..." The two ponies ran towards each other and wrapped the other in a hug as the mare with the purple mane slowly followed. "I think we have our allies! I'm going out!" Data ran out and spoke with them, then led them into the cave. Swift saw more movement and out of the brush strode none other than Captain Auto Tomaton, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbowdash, and a squad of other ponies. "Looks like we all made it..." Swift Code laughed. *** "Ugh..." Celestia slowly opened her eyes, she was in intense pain, especially her right foreleg. She slowly sat up from the couch she had been sleeping on. "Where am I?" A form moved behind her, "Oh thank goodness you're awake!" Luna trotted up with a bowl of oats. "Hungry? You should be after all that happened." "Which was what exactly?" "Oh, well, Power Hacks built a thing but forgot to put in landing things so you flew out and stopped it with your magic right before it hit the ground but it was too heavy for your drained magic alone so you caught it with your bare hooves! It was quite heroic really. Long story short we lifted it off your hoof then shot you up with meds. You were kinda loopy after that." "My head is pounding... Do we have word from the rest of Equestria? Do we have any clue where the parties you sent out are?" "We have all the Elements but one back in our possession, and Equestria is being turned into the stage for the most terrifying Winter we've had yet. Windigos roam free, currently only in Cantorlot and the northern provinces but they will migrate down... We haven't much time! We need a plan!" "I know... give me a day and I'll know what to do." "Alright Sister, I trust you..." *** Discord scoured Cantorlot for any signs that the Equestrians had escaped, but none could be found. He phased down to the caverns to mope a bit after changing some of the ice that clung to the city into grape jam and found a surprise. Hoof prints! They led to an exit Discord knew of so he snapped his fingers and he was there, sitting face to face with Twilight Dorkle. "Why hello Princess," He snapped his fingers and she was in a robe with a crown and holding her Twilicane, "Fancy finding you here." "Discord! Where were you during the attack?" She shrugged off the cloak. "Helping Shutterfly! I come back after only a few days and look at the place... I guess it's my fault you didn't have a plan in case of fire..." He pulled a rope that said in bright lights "Chapter 26: In Case of Fire..." "Well, no need to apologize, we really must hurry! Don't you think?" "Yes, anything you can do to help would be nice, I need to get all these ponies out and away from here but Evandra won't allow the Sun to be lowered until she finds Celestia so we can't escape under the cover of darkness. Can you fix that?" "Why of course!" He snapped his fingers and suddenly they all vanished.