"This next one's not going to be easy." Scootaloo hopped down into the small hollow where the Crusaders were hiding out. The hollow sat at the base of a tall hill, and on the other side of that hill sat another snow fort.
"See any weak points?" Apple Bloom asked hopefully.
Scootaloo shrugged. "The castle itself isn't as well put together as the last one, but there are actual ponies here. I didn't get to see who's in command —they must be inside— but they've got guards on the gates, and patrols coming and going almost constantly."
Sweetie Belle offered an encouraging smile. "Hey, we've faced worse odds before."
"Sweetie Belle, we lost. Remember?"
"Oh yeah…"
"Hey," Apple Bloom smirked. "Y'all didn't have me before. C'mon, let's figure this thing out. There's gotta be a way to get inside without having to fight a whole dang army."
"Well…" Scootaloo fidgeted, tapping her forehooves together.
"You got a plan, Scoots?"
"Sorta, but it'd take some luck."
Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Better than nothing. What is it?"
"Okay," Scootaloo began gesturing wildly. "So, like, you know how a lot of the henchponies wear scarves or balaclavas or whatever to hide their face?"
The other Crusaders nodded, slightly confused.
"I was thinking, maybe next time a patrol goes out, we can sneak up on 'em in the woods and out three of 'em when the others aren't looking. Then we hide our faces and join the rest of the patrol. When the patrol's done, we get to walk back into the castle like we belong there!"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared with wide eyes. Finally, Apple Bloom spoke.
"Scoots, that is surprisingly brilliant. I thought you were gonna say we attack 'em head on or somethin'."
"That's still plan B, actually."
Sweetie Belle leaned in. "I like the plan. It sounds like the best chance we have of getting in there quietly. Count me in." She put one forehoof into the middle of their huddle.
Apple Bloom nodded. "Me too." She stacked her hoof atop Sweetie's.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo grinned as she added her own hoof. "Let's do this!"
"Remember, if you see anything suspicious, report it immediately!"
"Roger that!"
The patrol entered the treeline cautiously. Visibility was low in the thick forest, but they had little actual fear. The Conglomerate had no real enemies. They had crushed Pipsqueak and his band of pirates, they had obliterated Dinky Doo's science team —even though they'd specifically said not to shoot— and even the rebellion lead by the Crusaders had been all but wiped out.
At this point, only a couple rebels remained active, and even the occasional guerilla raid by those two stubborn ponies was always far away anyway.
So it was that one filly saw fit to wander a little ways away from the group. It wouldn't hurt to trek just a little off the beaten path and see some nature. She was alone, stooped low to smell a delightful flower, when a pair of orange hooves wrapped around her neck from behind.
Scootaloo yanked the goon backwards and body slammed her to the ground. Before the masked filly could so much as yelp, Scootaloo shoved a snowball directly into her face. The goon tensed, then went still with a sigh.
Scootaloo smiled grimly and began to remove the filly's grey balaclava.
"Whoa, what the hay?!"
"Ahh!" Scootaloo jumped back.
"What are you doing?!" The filly sat up, glaring. "You can't just steal my clothes."
"Aww, come on!" Scootaloo pouted. "I really need it! I'll give it back tomorrow, I promise."
The filly seemed to consider for a moment, but ultimately sighed. "Fine, but if you wreck it you have to buy me a new one!"
"Deal!" Scootaloo grinned and shook hooves with her. That settled, the goon laid back down in the snow and Scootaloo set to work. She removed the balaclava and put it on, pulling down the hood of her own brown cloak as well.
With her disguise in place, she trotted towards the rest of the patrol group. She looked over the group of eight ponies until she spotted a suitable target. Two particular ponies were separated from the group, chatting between themselves. Scootaloo bore a predatory grin beneath her mask as she sidled up to the pair.
"Greetings, fellow henchponies!" Scootaloo said loudly. "A fine day for Conglomering, don't you think?"
The conversation screeched to a halt, and both ponies turned slowly to fix Scootaloo with squinting glares. They stared at her long enough to make her uncomfortable. Scootaloo's hoof began to inch to the snowballs she'd stashed within her cloak, but before she could act both henchponies broke into bright grins.
"Sure is!" The one on the right exclaimed, his smile visible through his eyes more than his scarf-covered face.
The left one wore a white balaclava, but had eyes that shone just as brightly as the other's.
"We were just talking about how great things have been going for us lately." The henchpony gestured between them. "We'd never really had friends before, besides each other, but now that we're part of a big club like this I feel like I can't even count all my friends!"
The first pony joined in. "Yeah! It's really great! I've been invited to more birthday parties in my time with The Conglomerate than I had in my entire life!"
"Yeah, cool," Scootaloo muttered, glancing around to make sure nopony was looking. "Hey… friends, wanna see something cool?"
The two ponies blinked simultaneously. "Sure!"
Scootaloo led the hapless duo away from the patrol group along a path she had committed to memory. They wound their way around snowbanks and over logs for several minutes, but never once did the enthusiastic pair of guards deem anything suspicious. Finally, they came to a stop in a small clearing situated at the base of a cliff.
"Oooh," the two goons coo'd in unison as they took in the scenery. "A clearing!"
Goon number one turned to beam at Scootaloo. "Wow! This is really nifty! Thanks a ton for showing us this."
Scootaloo smirked. "Snow problem."
Two perfectly timed snowballs flew out of the treeline and smacked both Conglomerites in the back of their heads.
"Oof!" They collapsed onto their chests in perfect synchronization.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom trotted out of the forest and glanced at the two downed ponies.
"Good work, Scoots," Apple Bloom said through a smile. "I'll take the scarf. Sweetie, you take the other mask."
They quickly removed the goons' headgear, fortunately without any protests this time, and once they'd donned their disguises, the three Crusaders marched back towards the main body of the patrol.
"You sure this is going to work?" Sweetie Belle hissed out the side of her mouth as they trudged through the snow-filled woods.
"Of course it is!" Scootaloo replied. "We just gotta keep our mouths shut and follow behind everypony else. Easy peasy."
"Alright," Sweetie mumbled, sounding entirely not-alright. "But I've got a bad feeling about this…"
The rest of the patrol came into view, and the Crusaders fell silent. They approached nonchalantly and began to follow the Conglomerate henchponies through the woods. There didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the patrol route, but after several minutes of aimless wandering, the apparent leader decided it was time to head back.
Apple Bloom fidgeted nervously as the fort came into view up ahead. It wasn't a perfectly made castle like the last one, but it was still large. A vaguely dome-shaped mound of snow stretched almost one and a half storeys high, entirely smooth across its whole surface. Not a single window was built into the place, and only one door. That door was a bit more sturdy than expected. It seemed to be made out of a slab of ice. Apple Bloom wasn't sure they could kick it down if they tried.
Fortunately, force wouldn't be needed to get inside this time. As they approached the castle, one of the two guards standing on either side of the door leaned over and knocked three times on its icy surface. Something clicked inside, and the door slid open just as the first pony of the patrol group reached it.
The patrol moved inside, followed at the back by three not-at-all-suspicious ponies that nopony else recognized from the barracks.
As they passed through the door, Apple Bloom felt her heart sink. Scootaloo tensed up and Sweetie Belle pressed against her feathered friend's side with a whimper. Fillies and colts filled the entire room. Eight of them were suiting up to go outside on the next patrol, but even with those ones gone there were far too many ponies there. It appeared to be a sort of barracks. Tables and chairs made of ice filled the center of the room in neat rows, all full of chatting goons. Stacks of snowballs were placed against the walls in any available space; more than enough ordinance to repel an attacking army. At the back of the room, a small staircase led up to a thin pair of ice doors. That, Apple Bloom reasoned, would be the location of their target.
Before they could even begin to blend in, a horrifying realization surfaced in Apple Bloom's mind. She glanced around frantically at all the Conglomerites in the room, noting one thing in particular that they all shared in common. The next patrol marched out into the snow, and that confirmed it.
Nopony in the room had their mask on, except the three crusaders.
"Wuh oh…" Apple Bloom muttered.
"What?" Scootaloo whispered hoarsely. A few looks were being tossed their way, and they weren't friendly.
"If we don't take our masks off, we stick out like sore hooves. If we do, we'll be recognized instantly."
"Giiiirls, they're looking at us…" Sweetie Belle whimpered.
"Uh…" Scootaloo was sweating. "Well, now what?"
Apple Bloom blanched. "Whadda ya mean 'now what'?! It's your plan!"
"I don't like the way they're looking at us…" Sweetie Belle seemed to be trying to absorb herself into Scootaloo's side.
"Look," Scootaloo fought to keep her voice low, "I never actually planned anything beyond getting us inside, but in all fairness to me, that part went swimmingly!"
"Oh Celestia…" Apple Bloom rubbed her face with a hoof. "We're out. We're all out. This is it."
"Will you shut up and come up with something!" Scootaloo hissed.
"No, you!" Apple Bloom shot back.
"I'm trying here! Okay, okay, let's turn around and make a break for it. We can skip to the next fort."
"The door's shut and barred, ya featherbrain!"
Sweetie Belle seemed to be the only one noticing the shifting glares being cast from all around the room to the three suspicious fillies still standing in front of the door. One or two goons were even whispering to each other and beginning to form snowballs or grab them from one of the piles. Sweetie Belle nervously hopped from hoof to hoof, hoping desperately that one of her more action-oriented friends would spring some brilliant plan into motion. She surreptitiously rolled some snow into a ball beneath one of her forehooves, and then she waited.
"Okay, let's just try to mingle. If anypony asks about the masks, tell them you suffered horrific burns as a foal."
"That's dumb! You're dumb! I can't believe y'all even roped me into your rebellion in the first place. How'd y'all expect to defeat an army anyways?"
"Hey, we were fine hiding in the woods until you showed up. We were keeping it safe, low-profile! We never would've tried a big job like this until you convinced us!"
"Yeah? Well you—shhhhhh, somepony's coming!"
The whisper-argument fell silent instantly as one of the goons got up from a table and approached the Crusaders. He was a tan unicorn colt with a shaggy, blond mane. His green eyes sparkled brightly above a friendly, welcoming smile.
"Hello, friends! Why not come join the festivities? If you want to keep your headgear on, that's fine. I know it can get a bit cold in here. Now come on, we were just about to start a game of ponopoly—"
"Raugh!" Sweetie Belle finally snapped under the pressure. She flung her hidden snowball forward and nailed the friendly colt right in the eye. He collapsed, squealing, as the rest of the room fell into complete and utter silence.
Countless sets of eyes turned on Sweetie Belle all at once. Two sets in particular, on either side of her, fell into a strange mix of anger and total awe. The rest were just anger.
"Uh…" Sweetie Belle waved awkwardly. "Happy Ponukkah?"
The room exploded into violence. Apple Bloom dove forward and flipped a table with one strong buck, upending the ponies that had been sitting there. Scootaloo grabbed Sweetie and dove to join Apple Bloom behind the table just in time to avoid a barrage of icy doom.
"Welp," Apple Bloom winced as snowball after snowball after snowball exploded against their flimsy cover. "I guess that's one way to get things moving."
Scootaloo grinned. "You know what? I like this solution. I don't know why I didn't come up with it myself." She quickly formed two snowballs and took one in each forehoof. "Party time!"
The brash pegasus dove from cover and slid across the ground on her side. She flung both snowballs with expert speed and precision before any of the henchponies could so much as blink at her sudden appearance. Two goons near the back of the room were hit, but Scootaloo had already overturned another table and crouched down before they'd touched the floor.
The hail of fire continued, now split between two targets, but not any less effective.
"You two feel free to join in!" Scootaloo shouted as she popped up to return fire, headshotting one colt and grazing the shoulder of another before ducking down again.
"Right." Apple Bloom nodded resolutely. "Sweetie, cover me!"
"What?"
Before Sweetie could do much of anything, Apple Bloom vaulted over the cover. Fortunately, Scootaloo saw her friend move, and quickly began flinging snowballs wildly into the crowd of henchponies. Two goons were struck down in puffs of white before they could take aim at Apple Bloom's running form, and in the next blink she was among them.
Apple Bloom dropped to her back and slid underneath one henchpony.
"Scoots, alley-oop!"
She kicked the goon hard with all four legs. He flew straight up into the air with an undignified yelp, only to take a snowball right in the teeth and careen back to the ground in a loose cartwheel.
"Boom shakalaka!" Scootaloo shouted from her cover. "That one's for the fans!"
Apple Bloom grinned and kipped up to her hooves in time to avoid three snowballs flying her way. She juked and dodged between henchponies, then leapt into the air over one colt's head. Apple Bloom bucked him in the hindquarters, sending him flailing headlong into a snowball being formed by his own teammate.
"Still counts!" Apple Bloom shouted gleefully as she somersaulted out of the way of a henchpony's bucking hooves. She bounced up to her hooves and slapped a snowball out of a unicorn filly's hoof. Then she cartwheeled over the confused pony, only to land on her back. Three henchponies had managed to form a line and ready their shots while Scootaloo was pinned down, but Apple Bloom saw it coming. With a grim smile, she wrapped her hooves around the filly's neck and yanked back.
The filly squawked and reared up onto her hind hooves. At the same time, Apple Bloom allowed her own hind hooves to touch down on the ground. With not a moment to spare, she swung the helpless filly around to face her three attackers. All three snowballs were thrown with deadly accuracy, and all three struck the Conglomerate filly directly in the chest.
Apple Bloom tossed the limp goon aside and leapt towards the three gaping colts who'd just outed their own teammate. Before they could react, Apple Bloom slid to a stop and spun on her hooves, she bucked one in the chest and sent him sliding across the slick floor. He slid straight behind Scootaloo's table, just in time to be met with a snowball to the face.
One of the colts had the presence of mind to actually take a swing at Apple Bloom. She ducked under the punch and lunged forward with her shoulder. Her tackle took the goon's legs from under him and flopped him helplessly onto Apple Bloom's back. She reared up onto her hind hooves, then fell over backwards. The colt exhaled all the breath from his lungs as he impacted the hard floor first. Apple Bloom rolled off the writhing goon and back to her hooves, but he was down for the count.
When Apple Bloom turned to face the last of the three colts, he simply offered her a crooked smile before lifting a snowball and mashing into the side of his own head.
A snowball streaked past her head close enough to ruffle her mane, and Apple Bloom remembered there was still a roomful of thugs to deal with.
"Whoa, nelly!" she shouted as she dove into cover behind a smashed table. "Hey, Scoots! How're things on your end?"
Scootaloo grunted as she tossed another snowball, nailing a goon in the neck and causing him to collapse with a weak gurgle.
"Things are pretty cool!" the pegasus shouted back. A colt tried to make a play, but Scootaloo was having none of it. "Krakow!" She pumped a hoof as the colt slid across the floor, his face now invisible behind smashed snowball.
The rain of snowballs only intensified, and Scootaloo soon found herself pinned down and unable to fire. She gritted her teeth as the ice table she was huddled behind slowly chipped away against the incessant assault.
Until suddenly, the assault ceased. Scootaloo blinked in confusion, but wasn't about to waste an opportunity. She quickly grabbed two snowballs and popped up out of cover. A glorious sight awaited her as she saw every goon in the room frantically trying to fashion fresh snowballs. As one, they all looked up at her and froze.
Scootaloo hefted her snowballs. "Any questions?"
One henchpony raised a hoof.
Paff!
He collapsed onto his back, twitching.
"Anypony else? No? Good." Scootaloo dove from cover and let her other snowball fly. One henchpony went flying with the force of the projectile exploding against his chest. Scootaloo landed in a roll and scooped up a fresh snowball before she'd even gotten to her hooves. By the time she slid to a stop, she was throwing two more. Two more Conglomerites fell, but Scootaloo kept moving.
She weaved around the room with the grace of a dancer, never once ceasing in her fluid movements. Some of the henchponies managed to return fire, but Scootaloo dodged around them like it was nothing.
"One for you! And one for you! Don't think I forgot about you!"
Henchpony after henchpony collapsed in snowy heaps. Scootaloo rolled and slid and threw snowballs with terrifying accuracy and speed, circling the room all the while. The henchponies grew dizzy just trying to keep up as Scootaloo circled and circled and circled around them in a blur of snowballs and doom.
Finally, when only one colt remained, Scootaloo cartwheeled across the room and landed directly in front of him.
"It's been fun, but you need to cool off!"
Smack!
She slapped him right in the face with a hoofful of snowball. The colt flew backwards, clutching at his cheek, and Scootaloo was left standing in the center of a room full of groaning and writhing Conglomerites.
"Mmm." She shivered, her wings twitching a little. "Bracing!"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle emerged from cover to join their pegasus comrade in the middle of the room. All three of them finally removed their masks and tossed them to the ground.
Apple Bloom groaned as she felt an ache settle into her limbs. "I'm getting too old for this stuff…"
Sweetie Belle blinked. "You're, like, eleven!"
"Oh yeah."
"C'mon, girls," Scootaloo cut in. "We're not finished yet."
The three of them trotted over to the door in the back of the room. It was made of fairly thin ice, certainly not thick enough to repel a swift buck.
"You think they heard us back there?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously.
Scootaloo tapped her chin. "Nah. Let's go!"
Before either of her friends could even say the word caution, Scootaloo bounded up the short staircase and turned around. "Knock knock, mother—Waugh!"
Scootaloo yelped and fell flat on her face as the door opened milliseconds before her hoof could connect with it. A figure stepped into the doorway…
"Prepare for—"
…only to be struck in the jaw by Scootaloo's flailing hind hooves.
"—Augh, jeeze!" The pony flew backwards into the room before any of the Crusaders could get a good look at him.
Apple Bloom quickly helped Scootaloo to her hooves, and the three of them trotted through the now open doorway.
Two colts were inside. One was short and round, with a green-blue coat and a spiky orange mane. The other was tall and lanky, with a yellow coat and a poorly-cut green mane. The shorter one was nursing his jaw and glaring as he restarted his previous attempt at a dialogue.
"Prepare for trouble!"
Silence.
Snips smacked Snails in the side sharply.
"Oh! Uh, and, uh… make it double!"
"Snips!"
"D'uhhh, and I'm Snails!"
"That was terrible," Scootaloo deadpanned. "Did you guys even practice?"
"D'uhhh, oh yeah?" Snails grinned. "Well you won't have nowhere to hide!"
As one, their horns began to glow.
Snips smirked. "When we've got magic on our side!"
Scootaloo nodded. "Better." Then what they'd said sunk in, and her ears folded. "Wait, magic?"
At least six snowballs hovered into the air behind each of their foes.
"Crud! Duck!"
All three Crusaders dove into the room and threw themselves to the floor. A dozen snowballs sailed overhead with magical force and exploded against the far wall. There was a brief pause as Snips and Snails reloaded, and Apple Bloom frantically cast her gaze about the room for some sort of cover. Unfortunately, the room was almost entirely barren. It lacked even the throne that had dominated Button Mash's room. Instead, Snips and Snails simply stood in the center of the room.
The two colts had almost finished gathering up more snowballs, so Apple Bloom quickly turned to her friends.
"Split up!" She waved her hooves wildly. "Just keep movin' and strike any time you see an opening! Go go go!"
The three fillies burst into motion not a moment too soon as Snips and Snails sent another barrage flying their way. Fortunately, Apple Bloom's plan seemed to work as Snips and Snails couldn't quite decide on a target and ended up firing uselessly into the wall.
Apple Bloom took a chance to form a snowball, seeing her friends do the same. She flung it with all her might, but felt her heart ice over as her projectile exploded pathetically against a magical barricade.
"Well that just ain't fair…"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle each fired their own shots in succession, only to be met with the same morale-crushing result. Then it was Snips and Snails turn. The colts seemed to have learned since last time. While all three Crusaders were still running around the room in circles, their foes chose one target to focus on. Fortunately, they chose Scootaloo.
"Hah!" Scootaloo whooped and laughed as she flipped over several snowballs at once. "You're not even makin' me break a sweat here!" She slid along the floor underneath a wave of snowballs, only to hoof-spring into the air and weave deftly between several more. Finally, the barrage ran dry and Scootaloo resumed normal running.
"Phew, not bad, but I've had better."
"Scootaloo…" Apple Bloom groaned. "Y'all've been spendin' too much time around Rainbow Dash. Your sense of humour's gotten weird."
The Crusaders formed their own projectiles again, only to have them fail to penetrate the magical shield again.
"This is ridiculous!" Scootaloo complained. "What are we supposed to do, just run around dodging until we get tired and give up!?"
Snips and Snails glanced at each other, then said in unison, "Yes!"
"Well that's dumb!"
Snips and Snails readied the next barrage, but while Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were getting ready to dodge, Sweetie Belle was rushing forward with snowball in hoof.
"Sweetie!" Scootaloo yelled. "What are you doing?!"
Sweetie Belle slid to a stop mere feet away from the two colts, who tilted their heads at her in confusion. She reared back and cocked her foreleg, then threw with all her might directly at Snips' face.
The chubby colt flinched, but the snowball splashed against the air before hitting him.
The room fell into silence.
"Oh…" Sweetie Belle murmured. "I thought you couldn't do the shield and the snowballs at the same time."
Snips smirked. "Well, we can."
"Yeah, so, d'uhhhh… See ya nora, or something."
"That's just over-powered…"
"No no no no no!" Scootaloo was already sprinting across the room. "Out me! Out me!"
Sweetie Belle sank to her knees and looked up sadly. She caught the eyes of her panicking friend, then glanced across the room to where Apple Bloom watched with wide eyes and a hoof covering her mouth.
"Tell Rarity… I might be late for lunch."
Smash!
The entire cloud of snowballs slammed into Sweetie Belle like an avalanche, sending her sliding across the room until she slammed against the wall and lay still in a mound of snow.
Apple Bloom fell to her haunches and sniffled. Scootaloo just stared, open-mouthed. Snips and Snails barked out a surprised laugh, clearly as shocked by their victory as the rest of the ponies in the room. Their laughter continued, devolving into a belly-shaking bout of uproarious mirth.
Scootaloo's gaze slowly, slowly shifted from her limp friend to the two colts. When they caught sight of the look on her face, they stopped laughing.
"D'uhhhh… uh oh."
Scootaloo flew towards them like a bullet. "You jerks!" She leapt high into the air, desperately buzzing her tiny wings for a little more altitude, and came screaming down towards them with the mother of all dive-kicks.
The magical shield shattered like invisible glass. Scootaloo landed in a crouch, then her head snapped up to fix the two colts with a burning glare.
"Sayonara."
She jumped forth and punched Snips in the jaw. He reeled back, but quickly retaliated with a buck from his hind hooves. Scootaloo ducked underneath the buck and it caught Snails in the teeth. The lanky pony stumbled backwards, dazed, and Scootaloo quickly spun and swept the legs out from under him. Before the taller colt had even hit the ground, Scootaloo jumped into the air and spun twice into a roundhouse kick that sent Snips cartwheeling in an arc across the room.
In one smooth motion, Scootaloo scooped up two hooffuls of snow and flung them in opposite directions without even looking. Two simultaneous yelps confirmed that they'd flown true, and then the room fell silent.
The silence was broken by a weak cough, at which point Scootaloo's furious glare melted into a look of pained concern. Both she and Apple Bloom sprinted over to the source of the cough, skidding to a halt next to their half-buried friend.
"Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom exclaimed through held-back tears. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be." Sweetie offered a weak smile. "We all knew the risks. I was only doing what I thought was right, and… and if that's how I go out, then I'm okay with that."
"It should've been me," Scootaloo muttered. Tears were leaking onto her cheeks, but neither of her friends saw fit to mention it. "We dragged you into a fight, and it was my plan, and this is all my fault, but you're the one paying for it." Scootaloo clenched her eyes shut and faced the ground, shuddering.
"Hey!" Sweetie Belle reached out with a shaking forehoof and lifted Scootaloo's chin. "Don't blame yourself for it. You didn't start this war. You didn't turn the game into something it was never meant to be. Only one pony is to blame for any of this, and now it's your job to stop her. Can you do that?"
Scootaloo nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah, I… I can totally do that. I'll pummel Diamond Tiara for you!"
Sweetie Belle sighed and leaned back. Her eyes closed and her foreleg dropped to the snow. "Good…" She seemed to struggle momentarily before weakly uttering, "I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. I mostly just hid for that whole first fight, and… and then I go and get myself outed like this. I'm just… I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Apple Bloom breathed. "You did your part. Ain't nopony who can ask more'n that."
Sweetie Belle smiled, but had no more words to give. With one last shuddering effort, she managed to lift one forehoof and hold it in front of her. The other two Crusaders stared in confusion for a moment, before Apple Bloom blinked in realization and held out her own hoof atop Sweetie's. Scootaloo nodded, sniffled once, then placed her own hoof on top.
All three of them shared one last, mutual smile, and then Sweetie's hoof dropped back down. Her head fell back against the snow, and her eyelids drifted closed. The last of the air was expelled from her lungs in a long exhale, and Sweetie Belle lay still.
Her two friends sat in reverent silence for some time, but they couldn't stay forever. Eventually, Apple Bloom got to her hooves, and Scootaloo was soon to follow. They gazed into each other's eyes, and each saw an identical fire burning there. Each of them held a resolute glare as they turned and stomped towards the door.
One thing was certain: They were going to finish this mission, and Diamond Tiara would have no idea what hit her.
"Uh… girls?"
They both stopped, blinking. The duo turned around slowly to see Sweetie Belle grinning sheepishly at them and waving a forehoof.
"Erm, I need to go home, but I'm stuck. My hindquarters are getting really cold." She shrugged awkwardly. "Little help?"
The other two Crusaders paused momentarily, then trotted over.
"Sure thing," Apple Bloom chirped happily.