Jump in the Fire
It was a nice morning in Ponyville. In the kitchen of one of the large, detached houses in the outskirts, a grey earth pony mare wearing a “wub the cook” apron was preparing a breakfast. Humming a cheerful tune along with the radio, she sat at the table with her tea.
A song ended, and she heard the pips marking the full hour – 7 AM, to be precise. She cranked the radio up to listen to the news.
Suddenly, a teacup fell from her hoof and smashed itself on the floor.
***
It was a nice morning in Detrot. The hospital room was completely silent, except of silent beeps of heart monitor, and the similar signal coming from the radio standing on a windowsill.
Rainbow Dash opened one eye, and looked to her right. A white unicorn, covered in bandages, was lying on a neighbouring bed, breathing calmly.
“Bucking DJ…” she muttered under her breath. She tried to adjust herself only to feel a sharp pain coming from her chest, “Bucking gravitational acceleration… Bucking radio…”
Ironically, most of the news were about the events of yesterday.
“Kannst du die Fresse halten? Ich versuche schlafen,“ she heard a grumpy voice from her right.
“Fan, huh? A bit hard to sleep on a bed, like most of the ponies?”
“Fick dich,” Schwalbe turned away from her.
It’s gonna be a long day… Rainbow Dash thought.
***
“Dash! Are you ok?” she heard a panicked Twilight’s voice.
“Bucking DJ… If I had known she was so heavy, I’d never try to catch her…” she almost passed out from the pain when she stood up, but with a great effort, she managed to sit down. Twilight sighed with relief.
“Well, technically it was the gravitational acceleration, which caused…”
“I DON’T GIVE A BUCK!” Dash yelled, “We gotta save Scootaloo!”
“Don’t worry, the bat-ponies are chasing that cart, and you should wait for an ambulance.”
“I’m fine! Three years ago they removed a bucking arrow from my lung, a few cracked ribs can’t stop me!” suddenly she collapsed on the pavement.
“Ok, I’m not fine,” she muttered, “And don’t tell me that it was a bolt and not an arrow, ok?”
Twilight nodded, and turned to Freebass, who was holding Vinyl in his hooves.
“How’s she?”
“Good thing your friend slowed her down,” his voice was a bit shaky, but quite coherent, considering the fact that five minutes ago he had a panic attack and Twilight had to conjure a paper bag to keep him from hyperventilating, “She hit the ground quite hard anyway, but she doesn’t seem to be dying…”
“Where… am I?” Vinyl asked, half-opening her eyes.
“Shh, it’s ok,” Freebass said, “Don’t move, we’re not sure about your spine.”
Vinyl muttered something and fell unconscious again.
***
Stopping the cart was a piece of cake. The stallions, unaware of their passengers, weren’t in a hurry, and when Flammenwerfer appeared in front of them, they quickly pulled to the roadside.
However, there was nopony in the cart, and the only trace was an orange feather, lying on the floor.
“Have you stopped anywhere?” Flammenwerfer asked.
“Well, there was a red light, two blocks before you caught up with us. There’s an abandoned brickyard there,” said one of the stallions. Flammenwerfer cursed under his breath, and, with his companions, took off to fly to the brickyard.
The building was dark, but it didn’t make any difference to them. Falter was the first to see the traces in the dust covering the wooden floor.
“Somepony dragged summfin’ heavy here,” he said. He and Flammenwerfer followed the trace through the empty production hall, to an old office on the first floor, while Schwalbe took her knife from its sheath, put it between her teeth and flew to the office’s window.
“Flitter, we know that you’re here!” Flammenwerfer shouted, “Leave Scootaloo and come out with your hooves visible!”
“Not so fast, honey,” she laughed, “You’ll leave me alone, or I’ll shoot this kid!”
Flammenwerfer and Falter stood in the office’s door. They saw Flitter standing in the middle of the room, pointing the sawed-off shotgun at Scootaloo, who was resting against a metal locker, trussed with a duct tape. She regained consciousness, and was looking around panicked, with tears in her eyes.
“Hello boys,” Flitter said coldly, “Get outta here, or I’ll shoot her. You’ve seen Cloud Counter and you know how messy it looks to have a load of buckshot suddenly fly through your skull.”
“Put the weapon down. You’re surrounded, you can’t escape!”
“Don’t worry, I have some more cartridges for you…” she smiled and raised the shotgun.
Suddenly, the office was filled with the sound of shattering glass. Flitter quickly turned to the window, only to be tackled by another dark pony. Flammenwerfer and Falter darted forward to disarm the deranged pegasus.
A shotgun fired, filling the room with the stench of cordite. Scootaloo rolled on the floor to hide behind a locker.
“Scheisse!” Schwalbe yelled, dropping her knife, and jumped away, holding her hind leg. Suddenly everything calmed down. Falter was pinning Flitter to the ground. She was still smiling, despite a fresh cut on her face, vertically to the old scar. Her shotgun was lying safely in the corner of the room. Flammenwerfer took Schwalbe’s knife and cut the duct tape on Scootaloo’s legs and wings.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” she panted, and suddenly hugged him, sobbing like a little filly.
Schwalbe, who was using a duct tape to make a provisional tourniquet, said something angrily, staring at the gun and Flitter.
“ Schwalbe, I like your imagination, but zis would require a lot of cleaning and paperwork,” Falter said.
“I’ll call Royal Guards and paramedics,” said Flammenwerfer, still comforting Scootaloo.
***
“Nurse? Nurse! Is there anybody in this hospital who isn’t unconscious or speak the language other than one in which every word sounds like an order given to a firing squad?” Rainbow Dash yelled. On her right Schwalbe put a cushion on her head, muttering something about being a nocturnal creature.
The nurse, an old and unlikeable mare appeared in the door.
“What’s up?” she grunted.
“I want to leave this place! I’m healthy, and I want to visit my sister!”
The nurse looked into her card.
“Well, I might not be a doctor, but “four broken ribs, fractured cannon bone and possible concussion” doesn’t seem “healthy” to me,” she said.
“But I really feel good!”
“Yeah, everypony with concussion feels good, and then the morphine wears off, or they have an internal hemorrhage,” the nurse deadpanned.
“Could you at least turn the radio off? Thank you,” said Rainbow Dash, and the nurse did so.
“You’re welcome. And no, ‘having a dozen of pellets surgically removed from the thigh’ isn’t ‘healthy’ either!” she scolded Schwalbe, who wanted to say something.
“Alte Hexe…” the bat-mare muttered, when the nurse left the room.
“How’s your leg?” Rainbow Dash asked. Although her Germane consisted mainly of swears learned from Gilda, she hoped for some conversation just to break the ice.
“Als der Doktor hat gesagt: “gefickt”,” fortunately, Schwalbe’s answer was understandable for her. Rainbow Dash smirked.
***
“I hope Dash isn’t bored to death,” Twilight said to Surveillance.
They were walking down the hospital corridor, guided by the doctor. The guard was smiling – soon he was going to bring the Toolsmith back to Ponyville to seal her in new, better guarded cell – this time, hopefully, forever.
“With the DJ and that uncivilized mare? They either killed one another, or…”
“And then she said “No Sweetie, these toys are not for the little fillies!”,” they heard Rainbow Dash’s laugh, followed by a strange high-pitched sound that could be only a bat-mare’s laughter.
“Seriously, it’s scary sometimes, what Derpy has to deliver to other ponies… Oh, hi Twilight,” the pegasus said.
“Hi, Dash! I’m glad to see you in good shape.”
“Yeah…” Dash’s tone suddenly became more serious, “How’s Scootaloo?”
“Much better too. She’s also here, talking with the psychologist, but I’ll bring her here soon. We’re going back to Ponyville today.”
“Too bad I can’t go with you. This guy,” she pointed at the doctor, who was reading something on Vinyl’s card, “Listed all the bad things that can happen to me if I get up now, so I guess I’ll have to stay here for a few days.”
“By the way, I have to congratulate your new friend, who helped us catch Toolsmith,” said Surveillance, turning to Schwalbe.
Suddenly, upon hearing his voice, Vinyl opened her eyes. For a moment she was looking around, but then she focused her gaze on him and said:
“There was no need to turn me into stone, officer, that was a medicine!”
“Vinyl, it seems that you were stoned…” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, causing Twilight and Surveillance to facehoof.
“You weren’t turned into stone, your lower half is covered in gypsum plaster,” Doctor explained, “Can you feel your hind legs?”
Vinyl thought for a moment.
“Now when you said it I can feel them itch. And I can’t scratch them…”
“Good. This means your spinal cord wasn’t severed,” he sighed with relief.
“Great…” she murmured, focused on trying to scratch her legs.
“Oh, by the way, somepony called Octavia Melody called the hospital. She’s coming to meet you.”
“Twilight, I think we should leave,” said Surveillance, “We have to take Flitter to Ponyville.”
***
Although the captain of the Ponyville Royal Guards was in hurry, Twilight hadn’t left Detrot Hospital with him. She found Scootaloo and brought her to meet Rainbow Dash. The orange filly was a bit glum, but she cheered up when she saw her idol alive and in relatively good condition. She spent several hours talking with her and Vinyl, till Twilight had to remind her that their airship was departing soon, and her parents are probably worried about her.
Surveillance met them at the airport. It was easy to find him, he was walking through the main hall escorting Flitter with Cold Case, Flammenwerfer, Falter and some other guards. They were surrounded by the reporters. The wicked mare tilted her head down, smirking at the cameras.
“We won’t sit next to her, will we?” Scootaloo asked.
“No, I told Surveillance that we want to sit somewhere else. She was caught and I’m no longer involved in this case.”
They sneaked past the reporters and joined the other passengers of an airship. Some of them were worried about the serial killer travelling with them, but others, especially the younger ones were blabbering excitedly while taking their seats.
“Your parents are not here?” Twilight asked.
“No, dad’s in Fillydelphia and mom is now coming back from Vanhoover. She’ll meet us in Ponyville, I think,” Scootaloo replied, her tone blank and indifferent. Twilight noticed that.
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m just… tired,” filly said and yawned. Twilight noticed that she was also exhausted: since she visited the Detrot sewers with bat-ponies, she had hardly slept. Four hours of nodding off on a bench in the hospital didn’t count. She sat on her seat and a few minutes later she was in a deep slumber.
When she woke up, she noticed that Scootaloo’s seat was empty. She looked around, but the young pegasus was nowhere to be seen. She saw Surveillance in the back of the cabin. Flitter was sleeping next to him, and if she hadn’t been hoofcuffed to her seat, nopony would recognize her as a serial killer.
“Excuse me, have you seen my companion?” Twilight asked a yellow earth pony mare with green hair, sitting behind her. She had a feeling that she saw her before.
“Oh yes,” her accent was very similar to Applejack’s, “She went to…”
“FIRE!” somepony in the back of the airship yelled. They looked back only to see a black cloud of smoke. Some more cries pierced the silence, many ponies stood up from their seats, trying, in panic, to run away from danger.
“Stay calm,” a pilot’s voice was heard from the speakers, “We’re going to evacuate the ship. Those who can fly or teleport, help those who can’t.”
Soon the four pegasi propelling the airship forward darted into the cabin, and, with other pegasi on deck, started to help passengers get out of the burning vehicle.
“SCOOTALOO! Where are you?” Twilight shouted, but it was soon interrupted by a fit of coughing. Behind her, a yellow mare was crying.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” said the unicorn, “What’s your name?”
“Apple Fritter,” the mare sobbed.
“Catch my hoof, Apple Fritter, I’ll teleport us outta here!”
The mare only nodded and grabbed her foreleg. Twilight saw a unicorn colt running near them and caught him too – so far she had tried to teleport with two ponies at once only twice, but she had no choice. The fire engulfed a large part of the airship, and the balloon could explode in any moment. Twilight closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, focusing on the spell.
Suddenly, she felt a wave of fresh air around her. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in the forest below the burning airship. She felt dizzy, the view was distorted, and everything seemed to have a shade of red. The last thing she heard was a loud explosion, and then the darkness embraced her and all her thoughts drifted away.
***
She woke up a minute later, and saw Apple Fritter’s face above her. In the glow of fire from the burning remnants of the airship she could see the mare looking at her with a worried expression.
“We made it,” was only thing Twilight managed to say. She heard muffled voices of other ponies calling each other. An older mare who was just saved by one of the pilots, was crying loudly.
“Yeah,” Apple Fritter said, giving her a napkin, “Don’t move, ya don’t look well – ya have a nosebleed and yer eyes are red.”
“Broken veins in eyes and nose, side effects of the teleportation,” Twilight panted and wiped her face, “My hearing isn’t good either.”
“My babies! Where are they?” somepony on Twilight’s left cried.
“I got them,” even though her hearing was impaired, and the voice was strangely emotionless, she recognized it instantly.
“Scootaloo!”, she turned abruptly, and hissed from pain and dizziness. An orange pegasus, her fur covered in ash, landed on the clearing, with two small foals on her back. Their mother ran to her, took them from her and started to thank her loudly, much to filly’s bewilderment.
“Is everypony here?” one of the pegasi asked, looking at the survivors gathered on a clearing. Some ponies were still calling each other.
“Where’s that Royal Guard escorting the prisoner?” Apple Fritter asked.
“Surveillance?” Twilight just realised that she hadn’t heard any snarky comment regarding the disaster yet. She tried to get up, only to be calmed down by Apple Fritter and Scootaloo.
“Leave me alone,” she snapped, “Where’s Flitter?”
Suddenly the voices of the passengers silenced, when a terrible realisation fell upon them.
“She can be somewhere here!” a mare whose foals were saved by Scootaloo shouted.
“She was cuffed to her seat…” one of the pilots said calmly, “She’s probably frying in Tartarus already.”
“What if she caused the fire to free herself?” a colt who was teleported with Apple Fritter by Twilight asked.
“Red’s missing!” the other pilot exclaimed.
“She got him!”
“I don’t think so,” said the third pilot grimly, “He was trying to save somepony when the airship exploded.”
He took off his aviator hat and threw it on the ground.
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Chapter titles are Metallica song titles?
Now I have to read this...
3439946
Or Scootaloo's grandparents have a weird sense of humour...
3441623 probably both lol
3443807
Might be - after all, their other son is called Rainy Water, which is, I'd say, moderately normal name for a pegasus.
Not to mention that in the first part Scootaloo ran away from a meeting with them. Maybe their jokes were too much for her liking...
3443866
i think we're on to something here!