//------------------------------// // Chapter three: Escape // Story: Into The Fire // by Jack of a Few Trades //------------------------------// A few golden leaves lazily floated down from the canopy of trees. Under the canopy of the trees, a small pool of shrinking shade remained as the sun sank down in the West. The piles of leaves were starting to grow deeper with each day as the windfalls accumulated. Tomorrow the rest of them would come down in the Running of the Leaves. A gentle breeze carried the clean smell of winter with it. Snow would be here in a few days, but there were still a little bit of time left in fall to enjoy before the adult Pegasus ponies brought in the change of seasons. Aiming to make the most of the few crisp, clean days left, Coal Dust spent nearly every spare second outside. Under the safety of the canopy, his swingset was his castle. When his friends came to play, the possibilities were endless. The lightly rusted chains on the swings became vines to swing through an imaginary jungle. A few slight modifications and a good bit of imagination could transform it into an impenetrable fortress. The joys of friendship knew no bounds on those old swings. Today was a bit different. His friends could not come, so he sat on the swing calmly, looking down the path and waiting for his father to return from work. Usually his father would come down that path as the sun touched the horizon. He would be covered in black soot so thick that the only points visible were his eyes. His hard hat, filled with dents that served as a constant reminder of his many brushes with death, would ride low on his head. His every breath would be accompanied by strange wheezes and frequent coughs. Until he returned home, he would walk with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Seeing his son at the end of a long day lifted that weight and left it just around the corner, out of view of their modest home. It was almost sundown now, and the anticipation of seeing his father at the end of a long and boring day was mounting. The shadows grew long; it was almost time for his father to come down the path. He was late. The sun was halfway down below the horizon, the shadows had all congealed into one large blanket of shade, and yet his father had not come. Down the pathway, barely visible, came a stallion's figure. Excitement bubbled over, and Coal Dust leapt from the swing to go meet it. He ran as fast as his short legs would take him, nearly tripping over his own hooves, but as he neared the silhouette, something seemed off. The stallion coming down the path was not built in the same way as his father. He also walked differently. As Coal Dust neared the stallion, he slowed his pace. Just before they met, he stopped. "Coal Dust?" asked the stallion. His voice was very familiar. "Mister Sandblast? Is that you?" Sandblast stepped close enough so that Coal Dust could see his face. It was stained black with soot. "Do you know where your mother is?" A faint air of urgency mixed in with his voice. In the house, Coal Dust's mother was finishing supper preparations while watching out the window ever more frequently. Her husband's unusual lateness had her worried, and to take her mind off it, she started working herself into a frenzy. When Sandblast knocked at the door, she rushed to open it, nearly knocking a vase over in the process. Sandblast began shakily, taking his hard hat in his hooves. "Winterfly..." "Please, Sandblast. Come in." Judging by his strangely quiet manner, Winterfly expected the worst. Her heart sank as she led him inside. Outside, Coal Dust had returned to his swing. He did not know what to expect, but he knew that it was not good and that it involved his father. Dread of learning his father's fate turned to frustration. In angst, he began swinging. Higher and higher he went with each push he continued pushing his swings further still. Even when the chain went slack at the top of the arc, he kept pushing. Higher. Faster. At the top of one of the highest swings, the chains folded up on themselves. After falling nearly upside down for a split-second, the swing snapped back upright violently. Coal Dust was thrown straight down into the ground, luckily landing on his side instead of his head. Dull pain spread from the impact, though not enough to make him cry. His head did smack into the ground on impact, making his left ear ring. The wind kicked up the pain in his side turned to burning and stinging. Amongst the ringing in his head, a faint voice whispered, "What are you doing?" The burning sensation was intensifying. "Get up..." The voice also grew, as if it was getting closer. "Come on..." With the sudden wind came new cold. He thought it was strange, as the Pegasi would not bring in the cold front for two more days. Whatever the reason for the wind, it only made matters worse. ”Wake up!” He thought, why would that voice tell me to wake up if I’m already awake? The pain was becoming unbearable. ”Sergeant!” Finally, the voice screamed right in his ear, ”Coal Dust!” The autumn night rushed away in an instant, and was replaced by snow. *** “Coal Dust!” Fire Chaser yelled again, louder than the last time. A low groan from the downed stallion signified that he was still alive. Fire Chaser looked over at Greenfield, “Here, help me get him up!” Greenfield quickly ran over and tried lifting Coal Dust on his own. “Slow down, you’re gonna hurt him!” Greenfield nervously laughed and slowed down his efforts, equally pacing himself with Fire Chaser. Slowly but surely, they managed to get Coal Dust up on his hooves. Though wobbly at first, he soon came fully awake. “W-what happened?” asked Coal Dust weakly. Another beam landed somewhat farther away from them. “We’ll talk later, just catch your breath,” answered Fire Chaser. More beams sailed past over their heads. He looked at Flash Point, “ Flash! You could at least return fire!” Flash Point turned around without hesitation and fired in the general direction of the first shot, but having no way of knowing if he hit anything due to the the whiteout of the storm lowering visibility. Another shot answered him quickly, this time impacting the hill just below them. “Come on, let’s go!” yelled Gust from his still hunkered down position. Fire Chaser shot him a glare. “Flash Point, do you know where they are?” Coal Dust asked. He was still trying to get his bearings straight. In the blast, hot debris had embedded itself into his side. Though not very deep, the fragments still caused him considerable pain. “Easy! Easy,” he said to Greenfield, who was trying to throw his packs onto his back. “Are you okay?” asked Fire Chaser. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Coal Dust said through gritted teeth. In reality, the pain in his side was excruciating. “I can’t see them. We can’t stay here much longer!” yelled Flash Point as he fired another beam into the storm. “Is everypony ready to go?” asked Fire Chaser. He was becoming frantic. Another beam hit the hill nearby, sending a less intense shower of debris over the patrol. Coal Dust fit his packs gingerly over his back. “Let’s go! Run!” Without hesitation, every member of the team took off, making sure to follow the tracks they had made on the journey up the hill. They couldn’t sprint because of Coal Dust‘s injuries, but ran as fast as he could. At least, most of them did. Just as he turned to run along with the others, Flash Point’s luck ran out. A flash of green light arced down and cut into his hind legs. He screamed, falling like a stone. The blood-curdling cry that Flash Point let out as he went down echoed through everypony’s ears. They stopped dead in their tracks, whipping around to see the fallen soldier. Gust tried to go back to Flash Point, but another beam flew in, knocking him backwards. “Come on, we have to go back for him!” Greenfield yelled as he, too, started running back toward Flash Point. “Are you crazy? There’s more of them every second!” yelled Fire Chaser as another green shot flew overhead. Though he didn’t say it, it was easy to tell that he felt the need to go back for Flash Point, too. Gust had already gotten up and started going back. “Are you all coming or what?” Coal Dust looked at his group with uncertainty, but finally nodded. The three ponies took off ahead of him, since he wasn’t back to full strength from the first blast. Flash Point was coming into more and more distress with each passing second. A glance at the site of the hit revealed that his right hind leg was partly missing. Thankfully, the heat from the beam had done a decent job of cauterizing the wound. “Flash!” Greenfield yelled as he approached. In his haste, he accidentally kicked some snow at Flash’s face, but the pain from his wound kept Flash Point from even noticing. Fire Chaser ran up just behind Greenfield, followed by Gust. “You two get him up, I’ll cover you!” Fire Chaser powered up his horn and fired a beam back at the Changelings. While he was shooting, Gust and Greenfield tried to carry Flash Point. Altogether, they managed five yards before having to set him back down again. Without warning, two more beams came flying in. One landed just shy of the injured stallion, knocking his helpers away from him. The second beam came in just as they stumbled back. This time, it struck at Greenfield’s hooves. The entire group was obscured by a cloud of snow and smoke. No… Coal Dust watched it happen helplessly. The second beam sliced through the air. BOOM! Greenfield disappeared in the cloud, along with Flash Point. Gust was violently thrown backwards, away from the explosion. Fire Chaser was nowhere to be seen. “NO!” yelled Coal Dust as he tried to push himself to run faster to his team. For the first time in a long while, there was an air of stillness around him. It seemed to take hours for him to run the final few yards. Two deep craters scarred the site where there had once been an entire team of soldiers standing. As Coal Dust walked up, the first thing he noticed was a blackened and horribly disfigured form. Flash Point. Before he could even approach the body, Coal Dust felt a twinge in his stomach and threw up. Seeing it from a distance was enough. Where’s Greenfield? The rookie was nowhere to be seen. However, a slight stain of crimson in one of the craters confirmed the fact that he was indeed gone. No… No! This isn’t happening! Increasingly distraught, Coal Dust searched around for the other three, and as he did, the beams once again began firing. Though not as well aimed as before, they were increasing in number. A short distance away from where the other three had been, another crumpled form caught Coal Dust’s eye. Without getting close, he could tell it was Fire Chaser. As he approached his best friend’s body, a low groan distracted him. After a brief moment of indecision, he chose to go to the sound. Though he was certain he had heard it, he could not tell where it had come from. He looped back to the craters and again felt nausea at the sight of Flash Point. Still, no sign of Gust. “Uhhhh,” said a muffled voice from behind him. Coal Dust whipped around to face the sound, but again saw nothing. Another groan led Coal Dust‘s eyes to a hole in a snowdrift. It looked about the right size for a stallion, and Coal Dust stepped closer to investigate. “Gust?” he asked into the hole. Another groan answered him. Taking care not to hit Gust with his hooves, Coal Dust began digging into the snow at the bottom of the hole. It wasn’t long before his hoof scraped against something at the bottom. Frantically brushing the snow away, he found a hoof that connected to a chest. Judging by the orientation, Coal Dust aimed his digging so as to free Gust’s head from the snow. With Gust’s head free, Coal Dust grabbed the hoof and pulled the rest of him out of the hole. As he pulled Gust out of the snowbank, he realized that he was injured. Badly. Blood was oozing from his nose. His face was pale; starting to turn blue. One leg was twisted at an odd angle, and he had debris embedded in his face and chest. Not only were they in a worse place than Coal Dust‘s fragmentation wounds, they were much deeper and more severe. Confused and disoriented, he sat down in the snow. He suddenly remembered his friend’s lifeless form just a short distance away. He looked up and noticed an oddly placed swing set that was sitting near the crater. He blinked his eyes hard and the swingset disappeared. BOOM! Another nearby blast rocked Coal Dust from his trance. His instincts took over. With one swift movement, he picked up the unconscious Gust from the ground and threw him over his back. Adrenaline rushed through his body, and the weight of the stallion on his back became unimportant. With one final look back over his shoulder, he departed from the scene at a full gallop. With the weight of the smaller stallion on his back and the still-fresh wounds from the initial blast, Coal Dust could not keep running for long. At the same time, running too fast resulted in Gust being violently thrown about. At one point he almost completely slid off, forcing Coal Dust to slow his pace further to prevent any more injury to the blast victim on his back. The beams were steadily increasing, yet most of them fell far away from the two remaining stallions. With a generous amount of luck, they managed to escape into the cover of the growing snowstorm. “How many can you count?” hissed the officer Changeling as he walked up to the site of the encounter. “Three of ours, sir. Two of theirs. Maybe a third,” said the first Changeling to arrive on the scene. “What do you mean, ‘maybe three’? How many was it?” “That's just it, sir; I can’t really tell. It looks like one went in the explosion, one took a shot to the head, and there are pieces of what might have been one more in the explosion.” The first responder pointed to Fire Chaser’s limp body, which was now becoming covered over with snow. Flash Point lay just a short distance behind, almost completely buried next to the crater. The leader walked slowly amongst the corpses, inspecting each one personally and ensuring that the were indeed dead. Then something caught his eye. Amongst the bodies was a set of hoofprints too large to belong to a Changeling. “What are those?” he snapped at his subordinate. The subordinate cringed, “What are what, sir?” He looked around like he couldn’t see anything on the ground. “Those hoofprints. They don’t belong to any of you, so whose are they? Did you let one escape?” The leader was glaring daggers at the first responder. The subordinate swallowed nervously, “We couldn't see what we were firing at almost the entire time! We thought there were only two of them to begin with!” “You idiot, there are never less than four ponies on a patrol. You know that! What did all of that training even teach you?!” It was becoming ever more difficult for the subordinate to find the words to speak, “Well, uh…” Finally, he steeled himself, “We messed up, sir.” “You’re damn right you messed up! Do you know what the one who escaped is going to do?” “N-no, sir.” The subordinate looked at the ground. The leader blinked rigidly and stuck his face directly in front of the subordinate’s. “He is going to alert his army! Now they’ll have even more time to get ready! You blew it!” The subordinate stood silently, unsure of when the leader would finish his rant. “Well, how about it? Am I going to have to report your name to Chrytion?" The subordinate’s heart nearly skipped a beat, “No! Please!” The leader took on a different tone, looking at the holes in his foreleg. “Well, I see one way around that. You get your worthless tail on this set of tracks and hope that they don’t get covered in this storm. If you can’t show a body to me by morning then I won’t mind showing yours to Chrytion!” The subordinate snapped a foreleg to his head, “Yes, sir. I will get it done.” “Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” At the command, the subordinate sped off down the quickly disappearing trail. Alone out in the storm, Jackshot’s cabin stood as an inviting refuge for Coal Dust and Gust. The snow had even further intensified by the time the half frozen and utterly exhausted ponies made their way to the porch. Coal Dust knocked weakly on the door. Fumbling and hoofsteps sounded from the crack at the bottom of the door. After a crash and a loud ‘dagnabbit!’ from the other side, the door opened, ever so slightly. “Who’s there?” asked a much more pointed and short voice than before. “Jackshot. Please! It’s Coal Dust!” No sooner had the words left his lips than the door swung open. “Celestia in the sun, what happened to you two?!” The wooden pipe fell from his mouth and clattered on the floor. “Please, just help us, I’ll explain everything in a minute,” gasped Coal Dust as he walked through the door. “Sure, let’s set him up on the table.” Jackshot walked ahead and threw all of the bottles and other junk that littered the tabletop. A few of them broke when they hit the floor, but neither stallion noticed. As gently as possible, Coal Dust laid Gust out on the table. “Jackshot, you were a medic back in the first war, right?” “Yes, I was. I don’t know what I could do now, though.” A look of desperation washed over Coal Dust, “Come on! You have to try!” Jackshot looked at Gust for a moment, then back at Coal Dust. “I have a basic first aid kit in the cabinet over there, and I might be able to patch him up enough to get you to the Empire.” Coal Dust shot over to the cabinet on the far wall and returned mere seconds later. Jackshot muttered a thanks and opened the kit. Gust lay still, unconscious from the blast, but breathing normally. Jackshot opened the kit carefully and pulled out a pair of tweezers. “So, how did this happen?” asked Jackshot as he pulled a rock from Gust’s chest. “They were sure on to something with those new concerns…” Coal Dust trailed off. “And?” Coal Dust sighed, his ears laying flat on his head. “They’re invading.” Jackshot had just pulled a fragment of the armor free from Gust’s skin, “Those roaches, never happy with how much land they’ve got! So, how’d you find them? Where’s the rest of the group?” Coal Dust just shook his head, eyes tightly closed. “We found them up on hill near the hogback. We killed the three we came across, but they got three of us in the process…” He cut off abruptly as he remembered Fire Chaser. “How in the hay did three Changelings manage to put up such a good fight?” “It wasn’t them. Their buddies started firing at us from farther up the ridge.” “There was more of ‘em?” Jackshot had just taken Gust’s helmet off and started examining his face more closely. Coal Dust looked out the window to the north, “It’s a whole army of them. Or maybe it’s just a rogue group. I don’t know where they’re headed but I have a hunch it’s for the Empire.” Jackshot snorted, “Where else would they go? The Empire controls one of the most powerful magics in the land, why wouldn’t they go for that first? Besides, it’s the closest thing to the border!” Coal Dust walked back over to the table, “Is there anything I can do to help?” “Not right this minute, but I think I’ll have something for you coming up pretty soon.” Jackshot took a long look at Coal Dust, “Go over by that stove and warm yourself up. There’s still frost on your eartips.” Only with it pointed out to him did Coal Dust realize that he was cold. As he stood in front of the wood stove, it took a considerable amount of time before he could even feel the heat, due to the numbness that the cold left in its wake. From the table came a quiet gasp, “Uhhhhh…” A second later it was followed by one of the most chilling screams either stallion had ever heard. ”AAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!” Gust writhed around on the table violently, knocking the tweezers from Jackshot’s hoof and throwing them against the far wall. “Give me a hoof here!” Jackshot yelled as he tried to keep Gust from moving. Coal Dust ran over even faster than he had when he had to get the first aid kit. Without any instructions, he placed a hoof across Gust’s chest and another on his head, gently pinning him to the table. “Shhhh, you’re okay buddy,” he said in a vain attempt to calm the stallion on the table. Gust continued struggling, desperately trying to get away from the terrible pain and eventually lashing out in an attempt escape. His hooves never made contact. Almost as suddenly as he had awoken, he fell unconscious once again. “What just...happened? asked Coal Dust trying to catch his breath. Holding the panicking soldier was tougher work than had anticipated. “I’ll say it, I’ve never seen anything like that happen. Then again, I’ve never worked on anything this serious before,” admitted Jackshot. “At least he’s back under now. I should be able to finish patching him up without another one of those happening.” Only when he was sure that Gust was unconscious did Coal Dust finally release his grip. “Okay, that’s good.” Coal Dust stood by Jackshot’s side, waiting for any task he could do. By the time of Gust's outburst, the work was mostly done. After removing a few more large pieces of embedded debris, Jackshot pulled out an alcohol pad and dabbed at the holes left behind. Once they were clean, he took some wrap and covered each hole. He did not wrap them thickly, yet it still took nearly an entire roll of bandage to finish the job. With his task complete, Jackshot took a step back and looked at his hoofwork, “That ought to get you to the Empire. I don’t know if it’ll stop the bleeding completely, but he should be fine. Also, be careful of this here leg. It looks mighty broken to me." “Thanks Jackshot, I owe you one.” “Throw another bit on the pile. Soon I’ll have a new fire stoker!” Coal Dust chuckled, “Sure. What happened to the old one?” “It melted!” Afraid to ask, Coal Dust set about gathering Gust up. This time, the weight of another stallion on his back registered. He wondered how he hadn't noticed it before. Jackshot jumped up from the chair he had found, “Wait a second!” He ran over to the couch in front of the stove and retrieved a large blanket from it. “Here, wrap him up with this.” Coal Dust set Gust down and quickly bundled him up. All that was visible now was his head. It took a bit more effort to lift the small stallion onto his back this time, but the task was accomplished quite rapidly. Finally, he fitted the pack onto his back. “Well, I wish you the best of luck, Dusty. I’ll be seeing you…” Coal Dust looked at Jackshot in confusion, “You’re not coming?” “Dusty, look at me, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with you out there. I probably wouldn’t even make it halfway to the Empire in this weather.” “Jackshot, it isn’t safe here! You can’t stay!” Jackshot shot a glare at Coal Dust, “Since when are you the boss of me?” Coal Dust sighed, “There isn’t any reasoning with you is there?” “Nope! I’ve lived in this cabin for thirty-two years, and I’ll be damned if some little punk Changeling tries to tell me otherwise!” Jackshot smiled smugly, proud of his decision to stay. “I won’t argue with you. That never got me anywhere before." Coal Dust accepted defeat and walked reluctantly to the door. Jackshot followed him over to the exit, "I've never been big on sappy speeches, so..." Without any warning, Jackshot caught Coal Dust in a hug, "Do good out there, Dusty." Caught off guard by the unusual gesture from Jackshot, Coal Dust froze. "Thank...you," he said uneasily. Jackshot felt that he was getting out of his comfort zone, and broke from the embrace. "Go on now, you've got a sick one to get in!" Coal Dust opened the door, letting a rush of powdery snow into the cabin. He looked at Jackshot one last time before he walked out. "I'll see you around. Be safe." Jackshot smiled and closed the door behind him, and Coal Dust was back out in the storm. Alone. How far could one pony get in just a few minutes? Judging by the trail of quickly disappearing hoofprints, that were now just small depressions in the snow, the Changeling knew he could not be too far behind his quarry. After what seemed like such a long time of wandering blindly through the storm, no landmarks visible except for the trail under him, he finally found something noteworthy. The smell of smoke was his first signal. A moment later, a very faint outline of a building appeared. As he approached, it became evident that it was the cabin that he and his group were dispatched to investigate. Having taken a cautious girth around the cabin, the Changeling was now crouched down in a snowdrift, waiting for any activity to present itself. The snow and wind were bitterly cold. Just as he was about ready to move in on the cabin, the front door swung open. A Crystal pony stallion exited, carrying a rather large bundle on his back. Another yellow stallion waved him out and shut the door again. As the crystal pony disappeared into the curtain of snow, the Changeling rose from his cover and followed, taking care to keep himself at a safe distance. As Coal Dust pressed into the storm, he tried to increase his pace. The blanket helped Gust to stay in place on his back, so he was able to break into a trot as he crossed the open plain. Every once in a while, he felt Gust stir slightly in his bundle. Why does it feel like somepony’s following me? Coal Dust would often check what was behind him to ease his concern, but the thought never really went away. As he went on, it felt more and more like he was being watched. This only spurred him to run harder. *** It’s now or never. Of course I used up all of the power in my horn earlier... The Changeling started to move up ever more alongside Coal Dust. Without the ample cover of the snowfall, he knew he would now be more easily visible. He threw stealth to the wind, and began his approach from the air. *** A faint buzzing sound caught Coal Dust‘s ear. At first he thought nothing of it, but it quickly grew louder. Sure that he wasn’t hearing things, he turned his head to the left. A black blur was speeding toward him, giving him only a second to brace himself before it slammed into his side. The initial bodycheck threw Coal Dust to the ground hard. Gust was knocked a little further away, along with the small pack that he was still carrying. The Changeling continued on his trajectory and into the snowpack just a few feet away. Both Coal Dust and the Changeling took a moment to get back up, but the latter managed to get back up a bit faster than his adversary and rushed back over to the fight. Just as Coal Dust attempted to stand back up, the Changeling threw a shoulder and knocked him to the ground from the other side. Coal Dust‘s initial surprise and confusion quickly turned to anger. I just went through hell, lost nearly all of my team, and now you’re gonna bucking try to kill me now? As the Changeling came in to pounce on him, he quickly rolled over and caught his assailant mid-strike. The Changeling jumped straight into the hit, smacking his forehead against the hoof and falling to the ground. Now it was Coal Dust‘s turn. With the Changeling still picking himself up, he jumped on top of him and rained blows down on the Changeling’s head as quickly as he could. After a few hits, the Changeling delivered a kick to his belly, then a hard uppercut to the jaw. Knowing that he had lost the element of surprise, the Changeling considered running away, yet he knew that he wouldn’t be able to return to the colony without killing this stallion. He also knew that he would be as good as dead out on the tundra, with no love of any kind to feed on and terrible cold. Maybe he isn’t that good of a fighter… Coal Dust reeled back from the hit. He could feel his nose bleeding, and his jaw had popped loudly and painfully with the uppercut. Before the Changeling got back up, he looked back over at Gust, who had fallen out of the bundle and was laying on the snow, still unconscious. At the thought of the one he had already worked so hard to protect being harmed again, something snapped inside of him. The protective instinct he had always harbored bubbled to the surface and he jumped back on top of the Changeling, swinging with new intensity. The Changeling had no chance. The first heavy hit threw his head into the ground again, the second made his vision fuzzy, and the third knocked him unconscious. Even after the Changeling was knocked out, Coal Dust threw countless more hits. When he realized that the Changeling was out, he let up. He staggered over to the pack and pulled a small knife that Jackshot had given him out it’s small cloth sheath. He returned to the Changeling and finished the fight without remorse or hesitation. The silence took over once more. Though he wanted to sit down and stop for the rest of the night, he knew that Gust could not afford that luxury. With a groan, he returned to the injured stallion and re-made the bundle. He hoisted him up onto his back and began trudging through the storm once again.