Scootaloo fought against the urge to panic as she fastened up her armor. She had been on watch when they’d seen it. She'd been talking with Pacer on the second night since their ground party had left. He was complaining about Colonel Dash, which she didn't take well. Some hot words were exchanged; as that tension was mounting, a tiny bright red light shot up from town. The two of them had fallen silent as they watched it climb. They knew what it meant; they had been briefed on it a hundred times. A red flare is a distress signal. It means something in the mission has gone wrong, and the ground team is in trouble. The second flare came up only moments later.
Scootaloo turned, trying to keep up with Pacer as he ran back shouting, "Red Flare! Red Flare! Action stations! QRF deploy to the ground team!"
Within moments the cloud had come alive; the hundred that were on standby in the QRF departed within a minute of the alarm being sounded. The pegasi team that moved the cloud immediately put it into top speed with a course for town. The rest was a chaotic mixture of gearing up and working the edges of the cloud into a static frenzy to make lightning, their most potent weapon.
Now ready for combat, she made it to the command deck where Rainbow Dash was waiting. Orders were flying one way and another; Pacer and Masher were making sure everypony was prepared and informed as to what was happening.
"Colonel Dash," Pacer said above the organized chaos, "All stations report ready for action.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and then turned to Scootaloo, "I want you to lead the next three companies down."
"You can count on me. We'll find the enemy and butcher them," came her eager reply.
"No," Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo was confused; her elation at being chosen for an important component of the mission gave way to uncertainty.
"That's not what we do here," Rainbow Dash explained. "Find our ponies and get them safely here. Once we're all back, then we decide how to proceed."
"So I'm not to engage the enemy?" Scootaloo asked for clarification.
“We don’t know who the enemy is... Search and destroy is not your mission. But don’t avoid confrontation either. Do whatever you have to do to get our landing party back safely and quickly. We need the information they have gathered. It could be vital.”
“I understand. I’ve got this," Scootaloo replied.
The company captains followed her out and within seconds they had their teams assembled. Most of Rainbow Dash's force were pegasi, which made dropping in and getting out much easier. That came at a price; with little magic to rely on, and even less brute strength, they had to be far more careful how they chose to engage an enemy.
Scootaloo led the charge and the wind lifted her and the rest of her force as they leapt from the cloud. Blood was pounding in Scootaloo's ears; she hoped that they weren't too late to rescue Sparklefly and the others. In an effort to stay focused, Scootaloo tried to calculate how much time had passed since the flares had been fired. There had only been two, what did that mean? Had somepony already died? It took at least three minutes for her to get her armor on from when she’d first seen the signal, maybe another five to get the companies ready to go. In any case it couldn't have been longer than ten to fifteen minutes. Surely they could hold out that long.
...
Sparklefly coughed, knowing that her strength was failing. The mis-aimed flare couldn't be put out, and it had caught the remains of the mattress on fire. Her lungs burned from the smoke that was again filling the room; her muscles were weary from holding the door barricade.
"We can't... stay in here," Flittergear coughed out.
"Only two shots left," Charging Lance yelled back. "It looks clear."
"We jump for it?" Sparklefly asked, coughing.
"Yeah!" he called back.
Running to them, Charing Lance helped wedge the bed frame in place again, but Sparklefly could tell it wouldn't hold for more than a few seconds. Returning to the window, he took up the defensive position with the crossbow as Flittergear climbed out. Sparklefly couldn't see the other end of the small room, but she could hear the door falling apart. She went out the window after Flittergear. She was on the ground in a second and crouching low. Moments later Charging Lance thudded into the ground behind them. The fresh air felt sweet, but they all were gasping for breath.
Somewhere, Sparklefly found the will to keep moving. The area directly on this side of the hotel led to a small wooded area. It was empty, but for the bodies of four unicorns that lay dead. Flittergear grabbed some of the bolts as they went past them. A few moments later, they were in the relative safety of the trees. Glancing back, Sparklefly decided that they were right in time. A face came through the smoke and looked out the window for any sign of them. The three held their breath, lungs aching from the smoke they had inhaled.
"We can't stay here," Flittergear said, her voice little more than a whisper.
Sparklefly began shivering. She hadn't realized that she was still soaked from before, and she had lost her towel in the excitement. The cool night air had just enough breeze to make her quite cold. Without a word, Charging Lance took off the coat he was wearing and gave it to her. It wasn't thick, but it did help block the wind a little.
"Back to our balloon?" Sparklefly asked, but she didn't think it likely.
"They'll be guarding it," Charging Lance replied.
"We have eight more shots now," Flittergear said as she distributed the ammunition.
She nearly didn’t make her next suggestion, but thought it best to at least have it considered.
“I could fly for help.”
“We don’t split up,” Charging Lance replied.
“Not unless we have no choice,” Flittergear added.
Taking a quick stock of their assets, it was discovered that they had left one of the crossbows in the room in their haste, so Flittergear gave hers to Sparklefly along with five of the bolts. With a nod of his head, Charging Lance led them away from the burning building, deeper into the small wooded area. It was a kind of park in the middle of town. The trees were tall and ominous in the night, but it was a drastic improvement over the hotel room. The darkness was thick, but they crept onward, circling around in the direction of the balloon. Moving slowly, Sparklefly was dismayed to discover that it was indeed being guarded by at least twenty of the town guards. They also had closed all of the gates, which would make moving about difficult. Sparklefly’s heart was pounding, and her lungs still burned.
Hoof steps crashing through the brush made the three of them freeze in place, slowly lowering down to the ground. Sparklefly turned to see a squad moving through the forest in a loose, spread-out formation. There had to be at least ten, and it looked like they were searching. The worst of it was that they were heading straight for her team. Exchanging a quick look with Charging Lance, the two of them raised their crossbows and took aim.