Izzy and Azurine went right to work, figuring out how to make a DIY hot air balloon so they could take to the skies without wings and catch Ratigan so they could save Olivia… but it was taking quite a bit of time.
Up in the skies, while Fidget pedaled and Ratigan steered the dirigible, Olivia decided to let them know where she stood and where they were about to stand. “Just wait! Basil’s smarter than you! He’s going to put you in jail,” she threatened, pulling on Ratigan’s tail for emphasis. “He and my pony friends are not afraid of a big, old, ugly, rat like you.”
But, Ratigan, being much stronger, yanked his tail away from the girl and decided to put her in her place. “Would you kindly sit down and SHUT UP?!”
The force of Ratigan’s yell was enough to send Olivia flying backwards, knocking her over a stool and into the wall. Before he could make another move toward the young girl, Ratigan turned and saw the British flag flying in front of him and blocking his path.
Turns out, what Izzy was missing from the balloon was a matchbox they could use for a base, and after that, the rest came easy.
Izzy, Misty, Hitch and Sunny each stood at a corner of the flag, pulling on it to help the balloon steer, while Pipp and Zipp were there to keep the balloon from bumping into hazardous objects and Azurine was there to guide them. As Ratigan turned to make a quick getaway, Azurine turned to Dr. Dawson and Mr. Flaversham. “All right! Let her go, boys!”
At her commend, Dr. Dawson and Mr. Flaversham released the air from the balloon, closing the distance between them and Ratigan easily as the ponies made an effort to steer. Ratigan lead them around roofs and chimneys, up and around a statue of Lord Nelson, and straight ahead towards the Tower Bridge.
Fidget pedaled as fast as he could as Ratigan steered the dirigible just below the bridge. Dawson braced himself for a crash, but at the last moment, Zipp and Pipp pushed the balloon downward, missing it by much mere inches. “Nice moves, sis!” Zipp said with a smile. “Don’t say that yet!” Pipp said. “We’ve still got a lot of fight left in us, and I for one don’t wanna jinx it until we get Olivia away from that creep”
Further up ahead, Fidget finally stopped pedaling, out of breath and exhausted. Ratigan glared at his assistant as the bat hopped inside and gestured toward Olivia. “We have to… lighten the load!”
“Oh, you want to lighten the load!” Ratigan snickered. “Excellent idea!”
Fidget snickered at Olivia, preparing to throw her overboard, but Ratigan seized him by the ears and tossed him over instead. In mid-air, Fidget tried to flap his wings and get back to the dirigible, but this proved to be an ineffective tactic. “No! Not me! I can’t fly! I can’t fly!!”
“FIDGET!!!” the ponies cried out in terror, but Fidget had already fallen too far and too fast for them to catch him, causing the poor bat to fall into a watery grave, never to be seen again. With Fidget finally out of the way, Ratigan moved to the propeller and pedaled ahead to get away from Basil and the others. However, Basil and his friends had finally caught up, and the detective and Sunny were preparing to make a jump so Sunny could use her alicorn powers on Ratigan. “Steady now, Miss Starscout!” Basil shouted. “And… JUMP!!”
Sunny grunted as she made a daring leap, just landing on the aircraft while Basil managed to grab the tail of it, swinging forward, but Ratigan ducked when Basil’s feet came near him. “Olivia!” Sunny rushed toward the girl and hugged her tenderly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Olivia nodded. “How’s my father?”
“He’s fine, just worried about-- wait a sec…” Sunny said, immediately realizing something. “If Ratigan is back there… who’s steering this thing?!”
The truth was, without Ratigan to steer the aircraft, it was left on an out-of-control route… straight toward Big Ben! Olivia and Sunny each let out a terrified scream, breaking the glare between Ratigan and Basil just before…
…CRASH!!!!
They crashed right through Big Ben’s clock face. On the mouse-made hot air balloon, the remaining ponies, Dr. Dawson and Mr. Flaversham watched in horror for some kind of movement. Well… all of them except one. “SUNNY!!!” Hitch screamed, tossing Sparky to Izzy. “HANG ON, SUNNY!!! I’M COMING!!!
“Hitch, no!” Zipp cried. “It’s way too dangerous!”
“We can’t get too close!” Pipp agreed. “Otherwise, something could puncture the balloon and we could plummet! Sunny, Basil and Olivia will be fine… and if it’s not, Zipp and I will go in there and get all three of them out!”
“Yeah! Wait… what?”
XXXXXXXX
“Miss Starscout… Miss Starscout!”
Sunny groaned and finally woke to Basil’s voice calling for her, and opened her eyes with a pounding headache. “Basil…? What happened…?”
That’s when some sort of noise caught her attention, looking around and seeing the gears and clockwork inside Big Ben… the perfect common ground for Ratigan to finish them off. Creeping up behind them unnoticed was Ratigan, his left fist poised, ready to knock the two of them down, while the other hand was clamped over Olivia's mouth. The little girl struggled for a moment and finally pulled Ratigan's hand off her. “SUNNY!! BASIL!! LOOK OUT!!!”
Sunny and Basil immediately turned at the shout, but Ratigan knocked Sunny down immediately, sending her tumbling to the edge of the gear, but luckily, Basil was able to run over and help steady herself to not go over the edge. As Ratigan prepared for another devastating blow, this time to Basil, Olivia bit down hard his hand, making Ratigan scream in pain, and giving Basil and Sunny the opportunity to run over and seize the professor's cape, and tangle it between two gears.
Unfortunately, this caused Ratigan to drop Olivia onto the cape, but as he tried to keep from getting strangled, he accidentally kicked her off the gear and onto a much larger gear, connected to another one that could kill her in a matter of seconds.
Sunny gasped quickly and managed to kick Ratigan in the stomach to buy her some more time. “Basil! Hop on!”
Basil immediately hopped on her back before Sunny jumped from gear to gear, finally unleashing her alicorn form and flying up a long chain. Olivia tried to flatten herself against the gear she was on until Basil and Sunny got there, and as the gear was about to crush her, Basil swooped in on Sunny and grabbed her, Sunny carrying them to the top of the tower where they could get somewhere safe.
As Ratigan watched the trio make their escape, his sanity finally snapped and with a burst of strength, he tore his cape in half, freeing himself. Gone is the egotistical gentleman; in his place is a terrifyingly dangerous monster. He ran through many gears, his clothes becoming torn and ragged in his attempt to finally kill Basil.
XXXXXXXX
“This way, guys!” Sunny said as she guided them out the hole on Big Ben’s face. “I think we’ll be safe out-- WHOA!!”
Sunny was about to stumble out on the edge, prompting Basil and Olivia to grab her tail and pull her back. The others then approached with the balloon, with Pipp and Zipp trying to keep it steady in the wind. “Pipp, Zipp!” Sunny cried. “Get Olivia and let’s get out of here!”
“We can’t, Sunny!” cried Zipp over the winds. “We have to keep the balloon steady in the wind, or it might tip over!”
“You’re gonna have to get Olivia to Mr. Flaversham yourself!” Pipp agreed. Sunny sighed and nodded, lifting Sunny up into her front hooves as Basil held her steady, with the ponies trying to hold the balloon steady while Ratigan kept getting closer. “Closer, ponies!” Sunny strained. “Closer!”
Basil tried to lift Sunny up a little bit to get Olivia closer, but even this proved difficult, as Olivia was mere inches from her father’s hold. “Daddy, I can’t reach! I can’t reach!”
In that moment, Basil turned just in time to see Ratigan leap forward to tackle him, causing him to throw Sunny and Olivia toward the balloon in a burst of strength. Olivia was able to land in her father's arms, while Misty and Izzy helped to get Sunny back aboard the balloon, Hitch hugging her rather tightly.
Basil tried to get a good grip of the top of the tower, but between the rain and Ratigan's weight, he couldn't get a good grip. They separated as they fell down the face of the clock. During the fall, Ratigan grabbed Basil again, and they hit the hour hand. Basil was sent flying across and landed, his upper body laying over the edge.
His vision blurred for only a second, he moves back, the thunderstorm being way more intense. He couldn't move... otherwise he was going to fall right to his death. “Basil!” he heard Izzy call as the balloon got closer. “Over here!!”
Basil looked on in relief, but before he could make a move to reach out for the pony chain that was being created, Ratigan attacked him from behind, lifting him up with one arm. Basil manages to wriggle free and ran up towards the edge, but with frightening speed and agility, Ratigan is there, blocking his path. “There’s no escape this time, Basil!”
“Zipp, we have to help him!” Pipp said, but a bolt of lightning caused both of them to shriek and dive inside the balloon. “No way, Pipp!” Zipp cried. “It’s way too dangerous for us to be flying! We can try to get to Basil manually, but it’s too dangerous for us to be out there!”
Basil slid down the hour hand and tried to put distance between himself and Ratigan, but the evil rat was there once more, blocking him. Ratigan held out his hand and unsheathed his razor-sharp claws, hitting Basil twice with such force, it sent him flying back. His friends tried to reach him as fast as they can, but it was evident that Basil couldn't hold out much longer.
Before Basil could even stand, Ratigan hit him square in the face, finally drawing blood. Basil stumbled back, his hands covering a gash across his muzzle. A hard swipe across the chest knocked him off his feet. Gnashing his teeth, Ratigan swung downward as Basil turned his back on him to try and stand up. The black claws truly met their mark this time, slicing into the flesh of Basil’s back and sending pieces of fur and cloth flying, making the ponies and Olivia scream at the sight and not being able to do a thing about it.
The next heavy blow smacked Basil to the very tip of the hour hand, so he scrambled away from the edge and staggered up again, clutching his bleeding arm in pain. Ratigan was upon him in a moment, still too rage-blind to recognize that Basil was on the verge of collapse.
This was too profoundly satisfying to quit now.
With yet another brutal smack to the throat, the battered mouse was flung up in the air and over the edge, where he just managed to grab hold. Ratigan snarled with savage frustration before he looked down, surveying the drop. It was a good seventy or eighty meters to the ground...
...a drop that could end Basil for good.
Basil stared up at the rat's eyes with terror in his own, his tattered jacket blowing in the gust-- it almost made him let go at seeing his enemy like this. Lightning struck as Ratigan reared back. Basil braced himself, but Ratigan's blow sends him down. Dr. Dawson, Olivia and Pipp and Zipp tried to grab him, but ended up missing, watching Basil plummet toward the ground. “BASIL!!!” the ponies shrieked. “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”
“I… I gotta go get him!” Azurine shrieked, and the ponies, though shocked about her losing her quiet demanor, tried to hold her back. “Azurine, no! You don’t have wings!” Misty said. “Neither of you would survive that fall! It's too dangerous!”
“But… but Basil…”
“I know,” Sunny tearfully hugged her. “I know…”
Ratigan himself almost didn;t believe it, but a cruel smile spread across his face as he leapt up and laughed maniacally. “I WON!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!”
“On the contrary!”
Everyone, including Ratigan, looked down to see Basil had managed to catch the propeller of the ruined dirigible, as well as something else of value for Ratigan. “The game’s not over yet!”
He then rung Felicia’s bell, and Ratigan only had time to check his pocket for his missing bell before 10:00 struck. The striking hammer fell, and Big Ben sounded off, forcing Ratigan over the edge and he fell.
During his fall, he made one final grab at Basil, catching him by his jacket and causing the rope to snap under the extra weight. Ratigan fell as Basil clung to the propeller, which snapped free. The ponies, Olivia, Dr. Dawson and Mr. Flaversham are helpless as both Ratigan and Basil, screaming, disappeared below the clouds. Ratigan was defeated… but Basil was gone.
The ponies’ heads lowered in sadness for the loss of their friend, and Olivia sobbed into her father’s chest, leaving Pipp to leave a gentle hoof on her shoulder… just before a squeaking noise caught their attention, causing them to look down.
Basil was slowly making his way back up, pedaling with all his might as the propeller is lifting him higher.
No one could believe it... Basil was alive!
“WHOO-HOO!!”
“It’s Basil!”
“Jolly good!”
“He’s all right!”
“I knew he would be fine!”
“Yay, Basil!”
Basil pedaled a little closer before Pipp and Zipp grabbed him and pulled him onboard. “Oh, Basil!” Azurine hugged him tightly, as did Olivia, Sunny, Zipp and Pipp. “We were so worried…”
“Worried enough that Azurine was about to commit the Death Plunge in order to save you!” Pipp smiled. “But… story for another time.”
“Let’s get all of us back to the palace to check on the queen,” Sunny said. “Then… we have some celebrating to do.”