//------------------------------// // Taking Flight // Story: Fading Harmony // by TheOriginalThundersky //------------------------------// Crimson Ember, MJ and Melody were at the entrance of Equestria Laboratories where a huge crowd had gathered to watch the destruction of the facility. However the three pegasi were just there to get their friend Test Tube back home to Cloudsdale. "Ugh, how long does it take to blow up a facility and free the workers?" MJ asked, laying back on the cloud the three ponies were watching from. "Too long!" Melody sighed, her blue and green eyes looking down at her coltfriend standing in a line with the other scientists. Crimson Ember remained quiet, eagerly awaiting the explosion. Her black mane was much curlier than usual, meaning a large fire was imminent. It was one of her gifts, she could sense fire, and she loved it. She started playing around with a tuft of cloud as the last of the families were sat down at the bleachers. She started rubbing her hooves against the soft cloud faster and faster until the friction created a small flame. Another of her gifts was lighting things on fire. If she wanted to, she could light practically anything. As the last embers on the cloud died out, Crimsons hair flattened out. "Something's not right" Crimson said, realizing that there would be no fire. She readied her wings. "We need to go!" "What?!" Melody exclaimed, looking at Crimson with a bewildered expression. "We need to get Test back first." "It's already too late for Test" Crimson said harshly, spreading her wings and taking Melody's hoof. MJ Looked down and realized what was happening. The black flag was going up, indicating a high danger disease had been released into the open world. Quickly jumping into action, he grabbed Melody's other hoof and braced himself to restrain her. Crimson and MJ slowly started flying upwards, holding back Melody, who was now crying. In the blink of an eye, Melody twitched, her pupils dilated and her eyes turned the color of blood. She started yelling in an uncontrollable voice. "LET ME GO! HE'S GOING TO DIE DOWN THERE! I NEED TO SAVE HIM!" Melody pushed back against the two ponies. Melody was usually the weak one, but her struggling was now giving both Crimson Ember and MJ a run for their money. "No... can... do girl" MJ said, groaning against the superequine force. "We wont... let you die... with him." Suddenly, Melody let out a scream that would have scared away even the bravest of warriors. her eyes rolled back and her head slumped down as she drifted into unconsciousness. -_-_-_- Melody's head was ringing as she slowly came to her senses, all she could remember was the black flag rising over the campus and the sadness she felt as her friends dragged her away from Test Tube... He was gone now, and there was nothing she could do about it. She lifted her head to get an idea of her surroundings before realizing that her friends were still by her, however, they were holding her down. Realizing her eyes were closed, she opened them to give her friends a questioning look. The first thing she saw was MJ's spiky black mane. The pegasus backed off and looked at Crimson, giving her the all clear. Crimson immediately released Melody and apologized. "Sorry bout that, you kinda went into "Crazy Red Eyed Demon" mode" Crimson said, taking a step back to give Melody some air. "What do you mean?" Melody asked, finally sitting up. She took a good look around the room and almost started crying. "and why did you bring me to Test's house?" "You're really heavy." MJ responded bluntly. Crimson shot him a death stare before saying "and his place was the closest." She held out her hoof to help Melody get up. "Do you want something to drink?" "I just want to go home." She announced, taking Crimson's hoof and slowly getting up. "Umm yeahhh... about that." MJ said awkwardly, clearing his throat. "We're stuck here, if we go outside and get caught, we get killed on sight." He added. "Isn't it wonderful?" "WHAT?!" Melody almost chocked. "Why?" "Oh, I don't know, maybe it's the murderous disease travelling across equestria!" MJ responded, taking off his shades and depositing them on the table. "How does the disease even get up here though?" Melody asked, moving towards the kitchen, the soft clouds muffling her heavy footsteps. "The guards said something about hosts." Crimson said, turning on the stove with ease. "The virus takes on a host and spreads from there." She reached for a plastic bag of turnips and dumped them into a pan. "Ok, so how did you get the food?" Melody inquired. "You ask more questions than those TV hosts!" MJ sighed, tossing Crimson some season before responding. "They bring it in boxes, weekly." "So we're just expected to live it out in this apartment for the rest of our lives." Crimson said coldly. Melody noticed that Crimson had been keeping quiet for a while. That was never a good sign. "That would be awesome!!" MJ exclaimed, Melody knew that he loved being inside, unlike Crimson, who was now angrily looking at him. "No it would not!" Crimson spat back at him. Melody tensed up, but luckily, the two pegasi dropped the subject before anypony was injured. "Anyways" Melody said, turning on the TV "We're stuck here so I say we do what the government says. They've probably planned for this years ago, they'll know what to do." She looked at the others, challenging them to reject her decision. Melody had gotten control of herself, on the inside she was breaking apart due to her loss, but she knew that she had to pull herself together and be the halfway point between her two friends. So she tucked her pain and sadness away inside of her and replaced it with a cold and calculating mask, forever trying to make the right decision because if she wouldn't do it, no one would. Crimson suddenly spoke. "There is a flaw with your plan though, the government probably planned on doing research on a disease if one ever broke out. However, all of the scientists are dead or dying, which means no research and no cure." "Yeah, but how are we going to leave this place to do something about it? I'd be down to do it, but we'd risk getting infected by the disease or killed by the guards." Melody stated grimly. "Oh we can leave protected without a problem" MJ said, his ears perking up at the idea of doing something dangerous. "I know for sure that Testy has hazmat suits in his mini-lab downstairs, and the neighbor is a big weapons enthusiast, he must have tons of fun weapons we can use." Melody though for a second before answering. "So we get in the suits and make our way to the neighbors' house, grab the weapons and intimidate the guards." The more she spoke the higher her hopes got of actually pulling this off. "WAIT WAIT WAIT!!" MJ interrupted, holding up his hoof. "Are you guys actually planning on forcefully taking control of Cloudsdale?" "Yup!" Melody and Crimson responded in unison, grinning at each other. MJ shrugged. "Ok, I'll go make some cloud grenades" "Why do you know how to make those?" Melody asked "And what do you need?" "Ping Pong balls and a knife" MJ responded, making his way to the game room. "And it was shown to me by one of my Canterlot DJ friends right before one of my sets. He said it was great for confusing crowds and making a swift escape." Melody let slip a smile. It was always MJ coming up with the weirdest things at the most useful times. "Fine, and by the way, Test leaves his Ping Pong ball collection under the TV." Melody said before turning to Crimson. "We'll work on creating a foolproof plan and executing it. If everything goes well, in a weeks time, we run Cloudsdale." "We're going to have to prioritize a quarantine, so that the disease doesn't get into town." Crimson suggested, pulling out a map of Cloudsdale. "I say we use the old city walls as borders and keep a quarantine building for incoming pegasi." "Woah there!" MJ said, coming out of the kitchen with a knife. "Getting a bit ahead of yourself. We should worry about taking out the guards first." "For once he's right." Melody told Crimson. "Let's get everything ready before we start planning how to run the city." "Fine, since MJ is so eager to go take out the guards, I say we send him to the neighbors house to get the weapons. He knows how to handle them and can probably carry more than we can." Crimson said, grinning up at MJ. "I'm not going alone." MJ responded bluntly. "I'm going to need backup and a brain." Crimson's grin faltered as she realized that she would have to go with him. "Fine, Melody will stay here and take inventory, I'm going to grab some weapons with this goofball." Crimson then turned to MJ before formulating a plan in her head. "I'll go check the interval at which the guards patrol, MJ, please go get the suits from the basement without blowing up the house." "Hey!" MJ exclaimed insulted before breaking down into laughter and heading down to the basement. Crimson rolled her eyes and moved to the window. Starting a mental timer, she looked out at the guards who were now coming for a food run. The only good news she had at that moment were that the guards had skipped the neighbors home; meaning the weapons were in there unguarded. After a good half an hour, MJ and Crimson were climbing into their suits, equipping themselves with a few cloud grenades and talking over how they would proceed. However, there was a big problem. "The guards have already made their shift, and they did it here, which means they will always be there, no sneaking past them." Crimson whispered to MJ, hoping that Melody wasn't listening. MJ looked up from the town map and frowned at Crimson, mouthing the words "Plan B". Crimson stole a quick look at Melody before nodding grimly. "Alright Melody, get into a suit." MJ said, tossing her a cloud grenade. "We're changing plans a bit." "Wait what?" Melody asked, dropping the map onto the floor. "Just go with the flow girl." MJ spoke quickly. "Take everything of importance and put it in a backpack, then join me in the hallway closet." "Is this some kind of joke MJ?" Melody asked again, very confused. "Just do it." Crimson interrupted. She wore a stern expression. "And don't worry about me, just wait for the guards to walk past you and count to ten. Then run out of the closet, grab your stuff and head over to the neighbors place." "What are you planning Crimson?" Melody asked, fear and confusion seeping into her voice. "No time to explain, just go get a suit from the basement, MJ and I will pack up here." Crimson said before turning to the mess of pencils and supplies lying around the house. Melody hesitated for an instant before giving in and heading down the stairs to the basement. MJ approached Crimson and tapped her shoulder. "So, what exactly is our plan B?" He asked, leaning down and shoving the map into a backpack. "We need to eliminate the guards" Crimson said, tucking in loose fabric on her suit. "Haha, very funny" MJ responded, not realizing how serious Crimson was about her plan. "What are we actually doing." "Eliminate, as in kill, quietly if possible..." Crimson said, her gaze slipping into space. "I'm going to create a distraction at the beginning of the next guard shift, get them in here so you guys can slip out safely." "Woah, ok" MJ said quietly, surprised by the risky move Crimson was planning to pull. "So I guess you plan on bringing the guards in here and... dispose of them?" he asked, speaking the last three words with care. "Exactly, now stop talking about it before I consider how dumb my plan really is." Crimson said turning to him with a blank face. "And tell Melody NOTHING." "I get it..." MJ said understandingly. They sat together in silence for a couple of minutes until they hears hoofsteps coming from the basement and Melody stepped out in her suit. "Ok, I'm ready. Now will someone tell me what is happening?" Melody asked, looking at the two pegasi in front of her. "The guards aren't moving, so i'm just going to distract them so you two can slip by them" Crimson said, forcing a smile. "Now get to the closet with MJ and don't leave until the guards pass by." "Ok, sound simple!" Melody said, not really pondering how Crimson would escape. Minutes later, they were ready. Melody and MJ in the closed and Crimson in the kitchen. Crimson had linked the two kitchen doors, making it so that if one was closed and locked, the other would mirror it's action. She started spreading gasoline around the kitchen, thinking about her plan. She was going to start yelling for help, attracting the guards into the kitchen, then she would light the gasoline and lock the doors. She put the can of gasoline back under the sink and lay in the back of the kitchen by the back door. Picking up some matches, she took a deep breath and yelled. "HEEELLLLPPPPP!!!" Hoping the guards would her her, she yelled it louder and louder. Sure enough, twenty seconds passed by and two guards could be heard breaking open the front door. Crimson allowed herself a quick smile before dropping the matches onto the trails of gasoline. her plan was working perfectly. The two guards burst through the front kitchen door, finding a seemingly helpless mare surrounded in flames. They approached her, telling her that they were here to help her. She looked up at them through the flames with sadness in her eyes before bounding out the door and locking it, sealing off the room. Crimson leaned her head against the kitchen door. "I'm so so sorry." She whispered before turning around and walking away. The screams of the guards filled the air as the fire ate at their flesh, pulling the life from their bodies. Steeling herself, Crimson walked out the front door and towards the neighbors house, were Melody and MJ were setting up weapons. "We have twenty minutes until the next shift gets here!" Crimson exclaimed, walking into the house. "What's our equipment?" "We've got: two crossbows, three bows, seventy nine arrows, two swords, a spear, and a dart pipe with a good fifty darts. The darts can be loaded with some sort of sleeping liquid." Melody said, pointing at the different weapons and vials as she listed them off. "How do you know it's sleeping liquid and not poison?" Crimson asked. Melody just pointed to MJ, who was passed out on the couch, drooling. "Whatever works, I guess." Crimson said, suppressing a laugh. "Wake him up though, we need to leave when the second shift gets here." She grabbed a bow and passed the other to Melody. After a lot of shaking and water, MJ finally opened his eyes. he was immediately handed a sword and a crossbow, which did not help his stability as he almost fell back onto the couch. "I just have one question." Melody asked, helping MJ with his things before heading over to the weapons table and grabbing the spear and the dart pipe. "What happened to those two guards?" Crimson tensed and picked up a sword as well as a backpack. "We're going" She stated coldly, ignoring Melody's question and shoving MJ out the door. She grabbed the last crossbow on her way out and slung it over her right shoulder, looking back at Melody she uttered what everyone was thinking. "There's no going back now."