//------------------------------// // CH8: The Stolen Snow // Story: Sunset Helpers // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// Button lowered his binoculars with a grin. “She’s left her base!” Behind him, in the safety of an alleyway between buildings. Rumble continued to pile pre-made snowballs for the group. Next to him were Featherweight, Pipsqueak, Dinky, and a few other kids from both of the schools in the area. Rumble turned to his best friend with a worried look. “Button, you sure you alright, bro? Sweetie told me about what happened a few weeks ago. You were acting pretty crazy.” Pip chuckled quietly and turned to Dinky. “I heard the bloke had to go to the hospital the next day.” Dinky began laughing alongside him. Button turned around and scoffed. “I’m fine. My mom banned me from eating any chocolate ever again. She almost banned me from even getting close to Sugarcube Corner,” he frowned. “Luckily, Dad talked her out of it.” Moving away from his vantage point, Button rejoined the other kids further into the alley. Rumble gave him a skeptical look. “Alright then. Just remember what Applebloom’s big sis told us: It’s all a game, so don’t get too serious.” Button rolled his eyes. Dinky finished counting the snowballs alongside Featherweight and Pipsqueak. She stood up and nodded. “The Crusaders have lured her out like you wanted, and we’ve got a nice pile of ammo here. What’s next?” “Indeed, Captain! What’s our next plan of action,” added Pip. Button nodded and looked back out at the war-zone near the candy shop. Before, The Crusaders seemed to be holding their own alongside Rumble and Dinky’s older siblings; the five of them appearing to be evenly matched with the six in Rainbow’s group. But when Sunset also joined the fight, with the other girl making snowballs to help out, the added firepower started to slowly overwhelm Button’s attack squad. He turned back to his group. “We need to work fast,” he told them. “We are not strong, but we are small and we outnumber them. Our objective is to capture Sugarcube Corner’s flag!” Deep Fry, a pudgy orange haired kid, raised his hand questioningly. “Why don’t we go after Sweet Apple Acres’ flag first? From our intel, only Big Mac and Granny Smith are protecting it.” Dinky thought about it. “Isn’t he the one that just sits on his porch and strums his instrument all day?” Rumble shook his head. “And that’s the problem. Big Mac’s got some serious firepower. I don’t know how he got the Mayor to let him use it, but he’s got automatic snowball shooting machines stationed around the house. Not to mention it’s an open field out there with nowhere to hide.” Button nodded. “Granny Smith’s got an arm on her too. She’ll deck anyone who gets close to the flag.” Pip gave him a nervous look. “You think we have a better chance against Angel than Big Mac?” Everyone went quiet, some of them even began to rethink their options. Fry raised his hand again. “We could always go after Diamond Tiara’s flag at the mall or—” “It’s too late now!” Button screamed. “We have to move before The Crusaders have to fall back. Rumble, First Base. You two go join The Crusaders and help out.” Button looked back around the corner towards the new girl. Smirking, he turned back to his group. “Tell Thunderlane to commence operations ‘Derp Face’ and ‘Turncoat’.” Rumble and a blue haired boy with a baseball bat nodded. Grabbing the pre-made snowballs, they ran out from behind their hidey wall towards their friends. Button pointed to Deep Fry and simply said, “Alright. You probably have the simplest job. You know what to do?” Fry nodded. “Sweet! You do this and I’ll get you that game you’ve been wanting.” The boy fist pumped and ran out of the alleyway, heading in the complete opposite direction down the street. Button looked amongst the remaining kids. “Featherweight, Dinky, Pip, you guys will come with me to try and sneak into the store. It’s a snowball free area so try not to get tagged by Fluttershy while holding the flag or you’ll have to leave. If worse comes to worse only one of us needs to actually grab the flag and get out. Got it?” Everyone nodded and followed Button while he snuck out the opposite end of the alley. “Oh wait!” Button stopped to pick up a the large brown box he had brought from home. “We’ll need this too.” Pip stared at it blankly. “It’s a box…” Button gave him a shocked look. “No! This..." he held the object above his head with both arms, treating it with all the respect of a boss room key, "this is our secret weapon. The success of this mission depends entirely on this box!” Featherweight facepalmed. ~~~ Over by the store, Rainbow cheered triumphantly from behind their snow fort. “Hah!” She tossed a snowball that got Thunderlane right in his face. Soarin lobbed a snowball as well and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Aren’t The Crusaders supposed to be on our team?” Rainbow shrugged and ducked under an incoming projectile. “Doesn't matter! Just keep going, I think we’re winning!” she declared, giving Soarin a high five. Pinkie giggled as she tossed several at once and watched as the other group covered their heads from the rain of snow. “Sunny, are you having fun yet?” Taking a snowball handed to her by Coco, Sunset carefully took aim and, with a hefty toss, she sent it flying right into Scootaloo’s chin. “It’s alright,” she muttered, keeping her smirk to herself. Applejack grunted as a particularly thick snowball found itself slamming into her shoulder. She looked down at Rarity who was hiding away and grumbling to herself. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?” she asked. Rarity glowered at her. “My outfit, that’s what! I thought I had used waterproof materials in it but obviously the woman who sold them to me lied. I feel soaked!” she complained. Applejack ducked under another snowball and gave Rarity a blank look. “Honey, it’s snow… You’re gonna get wet an’ soggy. Just deal with it like ya do every year and help us defend the store.” Rarity crossed her arms, turning away in a huff. She heard Applejack began to say something, but a sudden yelp from the cowgirl forced her to turn around. “Applejack?” “What the—” Rarity stood up and turned just in time to see Rainbow, Pinkie, and Soarin get knocked out by fierce-looking snowballs to the face. “Rarity, get down!” Sunset yelled, grabbing the girl's coat and forcing her back down just in time for a fierce snowball to sail right over her. Rarity sat up and looked over to her friends who were busy dealing with the sting of the attack. “What in the world is happening?!” Thunderlane gave Rumble a high five as First Base continued to bat the snowballs that had been tossed into the air by Sweetie Belle. Whenever one of the girls would pop their heads over, she would toss a thickly packed snowball into the air and Base would aim his bat for them. He was especially interested in hitting one girl in particular. Sunset peeked over for a brief second before she had to duck. “I don’t know, but someone’s got a serious arm on them. What the hay‽ Are they trying to hurt us?” She ducked as a few more fierce hits sailed right over her. Crouched, she shivered and frowned. “Coco, can we go back inside now?” Rainbow groaned and rubbed her nose. “Wait... arm… Coco? COCO!” “Eep!” Coco flinched when Rainbow suddenly crawled over to her. “Wh-what?” Rainbow grinned and looked right into her eyes. “Throw a snowball!” Coco looked behind her at Sunset and the others. Applejack and Pinkie were busy returning fire while Rarity was hiding. This left Sunset to quickly shake her head. “Oh, okay then,” Coco answered shyly and ignoring Sunset. Hesitantly, Coco reached down and picked up a pre-made snowball. Peeking over the barrier, she carefully picked out her target. She didn’t want to hurt the children, but she figured that Thunderlane looked strong enough to take a blow from her. After a few more seconds of deliberation, she let the snowball fly… as a puff of dust. Coco looked at the dust hesitantly. “What happened?” she said, dumbfounded. Rainbow’s grin vanished. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a bunch of snow from the ground and picked it as tight as she could. By the time she was done, the ball that she formed had been at least twice the size of the ones made by the other girls. Once done, she hefted it towards Coco. “Here, try this!” Coco picked it up and weighed it for a second. She looked back towards Thunderlane who had just poked his head back up to toss a ball at Pinkie Pie. Coco looked from the ball to him. “I’m sorry!” she yelled, chucking the ball as hard as she could. Unlike the first ball, this one held together as it sailed through the air towards its target. However, her apology apparently reached him first. Thunderlane turned towards her just before she let it loose. Panicking, he grabbed the girl next to him and made a shield out of her. Coco watched in horror as the thick snowball struck the girl square on her face. The force of the throw tossed her backwards. All snow throwing stopped as Thunderlane called time out to check on her. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What did I do? Is she alright?!” Coco panicked. Rainbow waved it off. “She’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s just snow.” She turned to the others. “Come on, let’s make more snowballs.” Like she ordered, everyone took the lull of fire as a chance to make more ammo. Sunset looked at her friends her jaw open and her brow furrowed. “Aren’t you going to see if she’s alright?” she said, huffing in frustration. Sunset turned back and noticed Thunderlane pulling the girls head out of a snow pile. Thunderlane popped his head over his snow fort. “Oh no! What happened to her eyes?!” he yelled dramatically. Coco gasped and, without hesitation, hopped over the barrier. Sunset hopped up after her. “Coco wait!” yelled Sunset, calling after her. Although, just as she was about to run after her, a snowball slammed into Sunset’s chest, knocking her back behind the fort. “Strike!” cheered First Base, finally hitting his target. Coco, already halfway through the field, looked back at Sunset in concern. But before she could regret her decision, she felt two strong arms wrap around her as Thunderlane grabbed her from behind. Applejack helped Sunset get back on her feet just in time to see Thunderlane and his group run off with Coco. “Sunset, help!” she screamed. “Wait, they can take hostages now?” asked Pinkie, looking on curiously. “Is that in the rules?” Sunset growled and wiped the snow off her jacket. “It is now.” Thunderlane glanced back at her with a taunting look, enraging her further. Hopping over the snow barrier once again, Sunset ran off after them. While everyone ran off, Rarity stayed behind and huffed. Applejack turned around and rolled her eyes. “What now?” Rarity turned back towards the store. “Ugh... I believe Sunset had the right idea. I’m just going to stay inside with Fluttershy where it’s warm and quiet.” Applejack shook her head. “Fine, but you better help keep that flag safe.” Rarity nodded and the cowgirl ran off after the rest of the girls and Soarin. While Rarity opened the door to go inside, four figures came out of the shadows beside the candy shop. Silently, Button motioned for two of his more rowdy friends to run around towards the front, following Rarity. Meanwhile, he and the ever silent Featherweight ran around to the back of the store. ~~~ “Sinps, Snails! You idiots!” screamed Diamond. Stomping through the snow. You had one job! Just one!” The two boys in question cowered before her in fear. Silver Spoon stood away, shaking her head dejectedly. The group stood out in front of the mall, where the remains of a great snowball war had taken place. The battle had only just ended, with Lyra standing above the rest, holding the flag in her grip. Several groups cheered, ecstatic that they had just taken what was supposedly the hardest flag to take. “All you had to do,” Diamond hissed, “was hide the stupid flag out of sight. And what did you do?” Snips hesitantly raised his hand to answer. “Well... we heard that things blend in with other things that look the same…” he answered, a nervous grin stretched along his face. Silver Spoon turned her gaze over to the flagpole that Lyra was spinning around. After a few seconds, she responded, her voice as even as she could make it to hide her own frustration. “So you sat the small red flag… in plain sight… next to the large flag pole… on their side?” Diamond, however, was ready to tear her own hair out. The battle lasted for all of five minutes before Lyra had stumbled onto the flag. Snips and snails stared up, eyes wide in horror and fully prepared for Diamond to turn into the next She-Demon. Before she could yell at them more, Bon Bon strode her way over to them, her long pink and blue curly hair bouncing behind her. “Well kids, we got your flag. Looks like we win.” Diamond Tiara turned her death glare towards her. “No! We demand a rematch. These idiots practically gave you the flag.” Bon Bon shook her head. “Nope, sorry. Rules are rules.” She turned around. “Hey, Lyra!” Lyra stopped cheering and hopped over to her good friend. “What’s up?” Bon Bon gestured to the four kids. “You got the flag so you’re the new leader. You wanna have them join us and take on the school?” Lyra shrugged. “Nah, let’s have a rematch. I gotta admit, it was a bit too easy.” Diamond’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. Lyra poked the flag to her chin. “But we do need to go help Vinyl take the school…” Lyra grinned as she watched Diamond frown once again. Chuckling, she tossed the flag back to Diamond. “Here, we’re team players. You have twenty minutes before snow starts flying.” Lyra turned around and called out to everyone on the field. “Hey guys we’re doing a rematch. Get back to whatever side you were on and get ready.” Diamond glared daggers at her and turned back to the two boys. Snips and Snails could’ve sworn that her hair had caught fire just then. “We’re going to crush them! Silver.” Silver Spoon walked over to meet her, not batting an eye at her friend’s angry look. “This time, you hide the flag!” she ordered, stomping away and leaving the flag on the ground Silver Spoon looked down at the flag in disgust. Feeling that it was beneath her, she picked out a random kid and pointed at the flag. “Pick that up and hide it,” she said, walking away. ~~~ “Sunset, help!” screamed Coco, still being carried off by Thunderlane. The Crusaders, smaller and faster, had ran off ahead of them and were almost completely out of sight. Sunset, chasing after them like a mad rhino, reached down and grabbed some snow from the ground. With the pull back of an expert baseball pitcher, she chucked it at Thunderlane with all of her strength. Unfortunately, there was an experienced batter on the other team. First Base turned and jumped in front of his older friend, knocking the snow into dust. Sunset nearly began grinding her teeth until another snowball flew out of nowhere and hit First Base in his smug face. Sunset turned around to see Soarin smirking. Sunset, unsure how to respond, simply gave him a small smile. “Stop flirting and get him!” screamed Rainbow, dashing past the two. Just as First Base got back up to run, Rainbow crashed into him and held him down. Thunderlane briefly stopped running and turned to see his teammate get captured. Rumble said something and Thunderlane nodded reluctantly. Giving him one last forlorn look, he ran off. Sunset began to give chase but she was stopped by Applejack. “Don’ worry none. We’ll get ‘em. They gotta come back at some point.” She gestured over to their prisoner, now sitting crosslegged next to Rainbow Dash. “We got their heavy hitter.” Sunset, still annoyed looked back at the kid. She did a double take before walking over to him. Leaning down, Sunset stared at the kid for a few seconds. The kid himself was glaring daggers at Sunset. “Do I know you?” “I don’t know, did you mind control my big brother?” he snarked. “Kid you’re gonna have to be a little more specific, I mind controlled a lot of big brothers,” she deadpanned. Then it hit her. The blue hair, the familiar face. She snapped her fingers in recognition. “You’re Flash Sentry’s little brother aren't you?!” The boy huffed. “Yeah and my big brother’s gonna snow you good when you get to the school!” Sunset grimaced. “So… Flash is on the school group,” she muttered. “I can’t go there, they’d slaughter me.” Applejack tipped her hat and looked back at the way they came. “Ah reckon’ we should go back ta Sugarcube Corner in case another group comes after our flag.” Sunset shook her head. “No… we need to get Coco back.” “Umm, seems like the school group is snowballing with another group right now.” Everyone looked up to see Pinkie calling down to them from the roof of a nearby building. She was looking through a pair of binoculars. Rainbow yelled back up at her. “Who’s in charge? Principal Celestia?” “From what I remember… the Principal and Vice Principal are away for the holidays. I think the head of the student council is gone too.” “Who’s the vice?” asked Soarin. Pinkie looked down at Sunset with dread. “Octavia…” First Base burst out laughing while Sunset groaned into her palm. “Oh no… now I really can’t go over there…” Applejack rubbed the back of her head awkwardly while Soarin and Rainbow Dash looked on in confusion. “Are we missing something?” asked Rainbow. Sunset looked at them shamefully. “Band members are… easy targets for bullying. I went after her… more than once.” “Oh, Oh! It looks like Vinyl’s leading the other group!” yelled Pinkie, watching Vinyl and her friend lay siege to the school yard. “It’s a pretty awesome battle going on over there.” Just then, a window below her opened up and a crotchety old crank poked his head out. “Pinkamena Pie! For the second time this week, GET OFF MY ROOF!” Pinkie gave him a nervous grin. “Sorry Mr. Doodle…” Just like that she hopped down onto the plush snow. Dusting herself off, she found that Sunset had completely covered her face with her palms and what quietly groaning. “What?” Rainbow reached over to pat Sunset on the back. “Hey… Vinyl’s cool. Maybe she’ll help us out,” she said reassuringly. Sunset didn’t respond.