//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Coming to a Boil // Story: Iota Force Issue #1: Baptism by Fire // by The Iguana Man //------------------------------// Fortunately, Icy’s questions were quickly forgotten as the school day started. The first part of the day was taken up with introducing Icy to the class, and them introducing themselves to her via the “talk about yourself for a minute” exercise. They were certainly a colourful bunch. A frizzy-haired filly with an astonishing lisp, a colt who spent his minute talking about his high-scores on various video games and a blue-haired colt who didn't say anything – Miss Cheerilee introducing him as “Lance” and explaining that he didn't talk. A very thin colt who hesitantly told of his job editing the school newspaper, a very fat colt with a voice like a foghorn, Snips and Snails... yeah, their names had been the only things she could make sense of. Filly after filly after colt, earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, and all of them utterly open and friendly, the only exceptions being the two that Icy already made a bad first impression with. Of course, even Icy had seen that coming. Even Alula had apparently gotten over her issues, whatever they were. The unicorn instead greeted her with a small smile and friendly introduction. Although, thinking about it later, Icy realized that she had talked for a minute without actually saying much about herself. The highlight of the introductions had probably been when Scootaloo's friend Sweet Belle, after Scootaloo and Apple Blossom had gone, had talked about their club. To someone more aware of their surroundings, seeing the children around them, and even the teacher, covering their ears might have been adequate warning. To Icy, it was not and, as a result, she had a terrible ringing in her ears for most of the morning. After that, class time had been standard fare, though still fun thanks to Miss Cheerilee, and recess was filled with the other children asking her questions, learning about her, and laughing at her old town's name. She only remembered the questions she had for Dinky as the bell rang to end their break. She tried to talk to Dinky or Scootaloo after school, but without success. She'd seen Dinky leap into the hooves of, presumably, her father, a spiky-haired brown earth pony, and she didn't want to interrupt them. As for Scootaloo, the only thing she saw of her was a retreating orange blur with a trailer full of friends behind her - a different trailer from the one she'd seen the previous day. The scooter looked a bit different, too, though it was hard to tell. So she didn't get any more information from them. She did, however, get some more directly from another source. It was as she was walking home, when she heard weird noises coming from around the corner. She couldn’t immediately identify what could cause such noises, so she trotted around and was only a bit surprised by what she found. She was looking at the park in the middle of town. Given the time of year and the fact that most adults were still working, it wasn't strange that the park was mostly deserted. What was strange was the group of half-a-dozen-or-so lava-ponies in the middle of it, fighting what looked, from this distance, like some sort of moving white statue or maybe a snow pony with some sort of tentacle whipping around. Neither made much sense but, then, neither did lava-ponies, so who was Icy to judge? As she got closer, thoughts of safety once again far from her mind, she saw that it was actually a young colt in fencing gear, as well as a broad-brimmed hat that left the bottom part of his blue mane the only part uncovered. He was standing on two hooves and dodging better than many could on four, a long scarf billowing behind him and occasionally flicking a lava pony in the face. A thin sword was strapped to his front-right hoof. She couldn’t see more due to how quickly the blade was moving. This, Icy thought, was even more bizarre than an animated statue or a living snow pony in the middle of Autumn. They wouldn't need a reason to be fighting ultra-hot rock ponies hoof-to-hoof, since they wouldn't know how suicidal that was. This pony had to be either very brave or very reckless. She saw the pony leap over one of the lava-ponies' strikes and flip over it using his sword, the tip on his opponent's head. Then, altering their grip on the sword in midair so the blade went behind him, he fell, with the force of his fall directly on the hilt, driving the blade down through the lava-pony and neatly bisecting it. Of course, Icy thought, he could just be very, very good. I suppose that means he doesn't nee- WHOA! As was becoming a regular occurrence, Icy's thoughts were interrupted, this time by an arrow from behind almost parting her mane, flying no more than an inch from her scalp. Before she could turn around, she saw the arrow enter the raised hoof of a lava-pony. The arrow instantly burst into flames, reduced to ashes in a moment, but that didn't change its effect – the hoof that was about to go for the fencer was now knocked off course and instead fell onto the face of another lava-pony, knocking a chunk off it. Icy heard a quiet “heh” behind her and turned around. There, hanging from a tree branch by her tail and hind legs, was a blue earth pony holding a bow and pulling an arrow out of a quiver on her back. “Might want to get out of the way, there.” The blue pony said in a voice far too relaxed for this situation. “Fly up here, plenty of room.” Without losing the easy smile on the face, the bowfilly flipped herself up onto the branch while loading another arrow, then fired it as she landed. Judging by the THWMPcrrrk from behind her, Icy assumed she'd hit exactly where she needed to again. Giving her wings a big flap, Icy leapt up to the branch just above this new pony. As she landed, she recognised the pony now she was right-way-up - she was dressed ina blue bodysuit, but that did precisely nothing to hide her identity. She was one of her new classmates, and Icy was proud that she actually remembered her name – Archer. The bow and arrow cutie mark, bow and arrow in her hooves and the fact she'd just fired an arrow through the throng of lava-ponies to strike one in the back of its knee might have also given her a clue. Archer flicked a grey-purple eye towards her before returning it to her quarry. “Hey.” she greeted casually as she let another arrow fly. “You're that new filly, aincha? Icy, wasn't it?” Her voice didn't hold an ounce of tension. “Y-yeah...” The pressure of the questions in Icy's head was reaching bursting point, so she started with what was obviously the most important concern: “how come that pony's sword isn't melting?” “Just a little enchantment." Archer replied. "His sword, my quiver, Scoots's pipe and scooter - Can change how sharp and hard they are, and makes 'em real tough.” Icy could now see that, whenever Archer went to get an arrow, one would emerge from the previously empty quiver. “Pity we don't get more rock-ponies and the like – 'snot often I get to use proper sharp arrows.” Icy nodded. "Okay, so what about his... scarf?" "Oh, most of our suits have got a few enchantments. They're not all as tough as Lance and Truff's, course, but they're something." An arrow went into the head of a lava-pony behind Lance. It didn't seem to inconvenience him much, beyond knocking him back, but it did allow Lance to leap away. He turned his head towards Archer and tilted it slightly to the left. “Yeah, I know you could,” Archer spoke into her I badge as they both resumed fighting, “but it's better if I handle them so you can focus on the ones in front of you.” “Do... do you think you'll be able to defeat them all?” Icy asked. Archer just gave a shrug – an impressive feat while also firing an arrow – so Icy continued. “I think they can heal themselves.” “Yeah, noticed that. Still, Lance's taken out a few for good and, with my help, he should be able to get the rest.” “You're sure?” “Eventually.” She said, as if time and stamina weren’t factors worth considering. “But... what if they come for you?” Icy asked. “'’parently, they aren't that smart.” Archer grinned as she let loose another arrow. “Huh...” Icy thought about that, trying to reconcile it with what she'd seen the previous night. “Maybe it's some sort of distance thing – you might not be close enough to get their attention. Same with Dinky.” “Oh, yeah, Scoots said you'd seen her and Dinky in action.” Archer gave her smile. “Must be why our badges don't affect you.” Icy was about to ask what she meant when Archer spoke up again. “Didn't she also say you could stun 'em with your gusts? Mind doing that, might help speed things up a bit.” Apparently, Archer's relaxation was infectious, as Icy filed away her questions for later, turned toward the fracas and started flapping. She might have done so too casually, though, as it meant she'd started by the time Archer said: “Hang on though, she said these things have a major hate-on for you as well, so maybe you shouldn't...” Too late. The moment the lava-ponies felt the gust, they turned as one towards Icy and started rushing towards her. This did mean that Lance got some free strikes, taking out two more before they were out of his reach, so that was something. Unfortunately, the distance between Icy and the Lava-ponies meant the gust barely slowed them down. As they closed in, Icy's wings locked up and she sat, frozen in indecision. She felt a hoof around her midsection before Archer pulled her off the tree just as the first lava-pony leapt at their branch. Luckily, Icy had the sense to open her wings and glide away from them, carrying Archer. However, as light as Archer was, her weight, coupled with Icy's weak wings, made their flight very short. They skidded into the ground just next to the park's fountain. “Thanks!” Archer said, as if the narrow escape and mortal danger weren't anything worth noticing. “Got any ideas?” Icy wasn't listening, however. She was looking at what they'd landed next to - a possible solution to their predicament. “Do you think we could get them in here?” She waved a wing at the fountain. Archer looked and smiled, twigging what she meant. “No need.” She leaned her mouth down next to her badge. “Lance, you think we could get some slashes in these things? I'll take it after that.” A white blur of steel and thick cloth, with the occasional flash of blue hair, and the huge slashes in the three remaining lava-ponies' bodies when it left seemed to indicate that the answer was yes. The slashes began to close, but Icy heard a chuckle next to her that carried the distinct feeling of “Oh no you don't!” She looked over at Archer, who was taking an arrow out of her quiver. “Er, Archer...” Icy said, “That arrow's point away from them.” Archer smiled. “That's 'cos they're not what I'm aiming at.” And with that, she rammed the arrow behind her, into one of the spouts of the fountain. The jamming of the water's flow made it spurt out with much increased pressure. And it landed right in the slashes Lance had made. Here, with less water making less steam, Icy could see what was happening. Once a bit of the lava-streams flowing through their bodies cooled into rock, they just crumbled. It was as if the force holding together the stones that made up their bodies just faded away. After a while, Archer took her arrow out of the spout and the water started flowing normally again. All that was left of the lava-ponies were piles of rocks. Lance came up to Archer as the two holstered their weapons. Lance didn't seem to relax his combat posture in the slightest – a sharp contrast to Archer, who had no combat posture to relax. Icy shook her head, trying to calm herself after that battle before asking questions. “Okay, could one of you tell me what's going o-” “What the buck's going on out there?!” A loud voice interrupted them. “Love to, but that sounds like the groundskeeper.” Archer shrugged. “Don't worry, we'll contact you, but for now, might wanna run.” The two weapon-masters did just that and Icy only stayed rooted to the spot in confusion for a few seconds before doing the same.