//------------------------------// // 7 - Unforeseen Consequences // Story: Cutie Mark Crusader Superheroes // by infernape612 //------------------------------// Biggs' vision was a haze. Looking up from the makeshift stretcher, he saw a maroon unicorn on his left and a cyan pegasus on his right. The unicorn screamed "Get him inside!" Boot camp, 10 years ago. The fresh recruits all stood at attention upon meeting their new drill sergeant. All except one orange pegasus, who was sleeping on the ground and pointedly ignoring the dirty looks of the maroon unicorn standing next to him. The pegasus said, "The hospital is up ahead!" The unicorn nodded in response. "Keep moving!" Biggs and Wedge received their orders from Captain Shining Armor, leader of the Royal Guard. "You're being sent to Ponyville, a small town just north of the Everfree Forest. Their police force isn't very big, and they'd like a couple of our elites to help them with any problems that come up. They were in the hospital. The unicorn screamed, "Out of the bucking way! Get a doctor!" The blue pegasus with the purple mane smiled as she first saw her child. "Her name... her name is Scootaloo." The unicorn turned to the pegasus. "Keep pressure on that wound!" The pegasus shot back, "I'm trying!" She turned to Biggs. "Hang in there, Biggs..." Biggs' wife read the letter, and then buried her head in her hooves. "Leukemia... I'm so sorry, Biggs... Promise me you'll take care of Scootaloo..." The group finally reached the emergency room, and the unicorn screamed, "He needs help!" A doctor nodded, and quickly examined his patient. "We've got multiple lacerations all across his body and a large puncture wound in his chest." His horn glowed as he looked for more details. "Oh, for- his lung's been hit. What happened to him?!" Biggs managed to recover from the blast enough to see the attackers barging into the room. He managed to subdue two of them before the third brought him down. "...you are now in a hostage situation... if she does not cooperate, me and my men will kill every single pony in this building." The two unicorns telekinetically lifted him and sent him flying out the window, tearing him to ribbons... The doctor telekinetically grabbed a defibrillator. "We're losing him. Charging... three, two, one - clear!" He pressed the paddles against Biggs' heart and fired, and all went black. The foals whimpered in pure terror. Scootaloo was utterly catatonic - this was to be expected after helplessly watching the five criminals mercilessly attack her father and then reveal that they did so because of her. Everypony else had huddled together in fear and were whispering to each other as they prayed for rescue, and Cheerilee tried her best to comfort the class. Silver Spoon moaned, "Those.. those are the ponies that tried to kidnap me last night. How did they get away? HOW DID THEY GET AWAY?!" She began to cry, and Diamond Tiara reached over to comfort her best friend. Meanwhile, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had separated from the other fillies and were frantically trying to figure out how to get out of the mess. Apple Bloom said, "This is bad, this is bad, this is really really bad..." Sweetie Belle grabbed her shoulders. "Calm down! Panicking won't help us! We just need to think..." Apple Bloom nodded. "Do we have our gear?" Sweetie Belle shook her head. "OK... one of us has gotta sneak out and get our stuff, and then... come back and... and beat them up, right?" Sweetie Belle nodded. "I think I should go. Scootaloo and I did the sneaking last time, and she's in no condition to do anything..." Scootaloo was rocking back and forth, muttering under her breath with an empty, faraway look in her eyes. Apple Bloom said, "I'll distract 'em so you can get out..." Sweetie Belle shook her head. "DT's got us covered." As Diamond Tiara bravely stepped up to the thugs and tried to bribe their way out, Sweetie Belle began making her way silently to the door. She watched in horror as Roughneck shoved Diamond Tiara back with the rest of the fillies. She turned back to the door. "And where do you think you're going?" Sweetie Belle barely had time to blink before a kick to the head sent her flying. The pegasus who had impaled Biggs rounded on her and prepared to kill her, but Roughneck stopped him. "Don't. If we start killing the hostages early, we'll have every pissed off cop in the town crawling up our asses!" The spear pegasus growled, "Why are we even waiting? We know Mare Do Well is a bunch of fillies! We should just kill all of these brats right now!" The foals screamed. Roughneck shook his head again. "We don't know that every filly in town goes to this school at this time. If we jump the gun and fail to kill our target, we're bucked. Just keep your head on, and we'll find them... and then they die." He turned to the foals. "That being said, the next wannabe hero who tries something funny is getting a spear to the head. AM I CLEAR?!" The terrified class nodded. "Good." Outside the school, Twilight Sparkle was pacing back and forth nervously. Finally, Wedge and Rainbow Dash arrived at the scene. They looked around and saw the growing commotion. The local police force in its entirety of three ponies was present, and Big Macintosh and a local bodybuilder pegasus were working together to restrain the mailmare from trying to rush in and rescue the hostages on her own. "LET ME GO! THEY HAVE MY MUFFIN! THEY'RE GONNA HURT MY MUFFIN! LET! ME! GO!!!" "No can do, Derpy. If you run in like an idiot, you'll just get everypony in there killed, including yourself!" "YEAH!!!" The two ponies sighed sympathetically before approaching Twillight. She turned to greet them. "How's Biggs?" Wedge replied, "He's holding on, but just barely. The doctors have him in surgery, and they're trying to put him back together, but it's touch and go at the moment." Twilight nodded. "Spike and Discord are out of town, so we can't contact the other princesses or have our resident reality warper snap his fingers and turn these guys into rubber chickens... How many law enforcement ponies do we have?" Wedge growled, "Just me and the three cops over there. This is a small town with a very low crime rate, so there isn't much budget for law enforcement... And of course, Biggs, the only other pony with any training appropriate for this situation, is currently bleeding to death in the hospital." Twilight groaned. "So there's no way we can use force to save the hostages..." Applejack, who was one of the first on the scene, screamed, "Why do we even need some fancy schmancy cops to do this? We're the Elements of Harmony, and you're an alicorn princess! We should just go in and take these guys on ourselves!" "That is not an option. We're not trained for hostage rescue, and I haven't even begun to master my alicorn abilities. If we slip up once, just once, your sister and Rarity's sister and Rainbow Dash's friend and every other foal in there could be killed. Do you really want to risk it?!" Applejack could only shake her head and begin to cry. Twilight hugged her friend. "At this point, our only move left is to wait for Mare Do Well and go from there. I don't like it... but it's all we've got." Applejack nodded, and so they waited. And waited. And waited. Rarity moaned, "It's ten minutes to the deadline, and Mare Do Well hasn't come! THIS IS THE WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!" For once, she was not exaggerating. Applejack had begun to hyperventilate, and the mailmare was continuing to struggle against Big Mac and the bodybuilder's grips. Twilight turned to Wedge. "Get the police ready. Five more minutes, and I'm sending you in. The hostages' safety is the first priority," Wedge nodded and began preparing along with the police. Rarity, who had recovered from her sobbing fit, approached Twilight. "I... I know this will sound strange, but could you use a cloud-walking spell on me?" Twilight shrugged and humored her. That task accomplished, she approached Rainbow Dash. "Dearie, could we go to your house and talk? I... just need to confide in somepony." Dash nodded. "Of course, but isn't your place closer?" Rarity sobbed, "Yes, but... right now, that place reminds me of Sweetie Belle, and..." Dash nodded again, and picked her up. The two flew to Rainbow Dash's cloud house. Setting her down, Dash walked in first. "If you want something to drink, I don't have any tea, but I've got coffee, soda, water, energy dri-" *CRASH* That was as far as she got before she felt a blunt object crash into her head. Dazed and confused, it took Rainbow Dash a moment to gather her senses. Seeing Rarity flee into her bedroom, she stumbled in after her. "Rarity... what... what are you... oh, no. You can't... be thinking... no..." Rarity had just finished digging through Dash's closet and had pulled out a very familiar costume. As she began getting dressed, she turned to her friend, who had just collapsed on the floor. "I'm truly sorry, Rainbow Dash, but 15 foals' lives are at stake, and Mare Do Well is just going to sit there and watch as these brutes slaughter them all. Tomorrow, if I'm not around to do it myself, tell Sweetie Belle I love her." She telekinetically pulled the mask over her face before putting on the hat. "I know you understand." She vanished in a flash of light. Rainbow Dash dragged herself to her front door, but she blacked out before she could stop her friend.