CH10: The Ice Forever Frozen
Rainbow, Vinyl, Octavia, Sunset, and Lyra all burst through the doors to Sugarcube Corner, only to see Button Mash sitting on a chair, one leg folded over the other, on top of a table, in the middle of the store. The Crusaders, Thunderlane, Rumble, Deep Fry, Dinky, Featherweight, Pipsqueak, First Base, Ditzy, and a rather beat up looking box all sat in chairs around him. Every single one of them looked either victorious, cheery, or smug.
Button Mash himself was fanning himself with three flags.
Scootaloo chuckled. “ ‘Bout time you all got here.”
Rainbow struggled to speak with her jaw hanging near the ground. “Bwa… H... how?” Her gaze drifted over to the corner of the store where Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and a very angry-looking Angel sat.”
Octavia stepped forward, trying her best to compose herself. “Would… would you mind explaining to us how you managed to sweep three of the four flags in one day?”
Lyra looked down at her watch. “It’s five thirty. We have to stop by six anyway.”
Vinyl turned to Lyra, her shades slipping off her face. “Yeah but we have a whole ‘nother day!” Vinyl readjusted her shades, grabbed a seat, and turned back to Button. “So, kid. How’d you do it?”
Button’s face lit up in the most smug way possible. “Well, mortal, I’ll tell you if you must know. Though, you’ll need to grace your knees and bow first.”
“Button!” everyone sitting around his table warned. Applebloom continued. “We let you sit on the table. Don’t push it.”
Button rolled his eyes. “Fine, spoilsports.” Button pointed out the window to Silver Spoon, who flinched in response. “The mall was easy, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon basically gave Fry their flag.”
“What?!” Diamond screamed, her voice muffled by the window.
Octavia ignored them. “Explain.”
The Crusaders quickly raised their hands. “Oh! Ohh!” Sweetie urged. “I know. This one was our idea. Well... we gave him the info anyway. We knew that Diamond Tiara would be lazy and just give the flag to someone to hide. I guessed that it would be Snips and Snails and that they wouldn’t hide it right. Then when Diamond figured it out she would get upset and tell someone else to do it. Button made sure Deep Fry was the one she gave it to.”
Button shook his head. “Didn’t even make sure he was on their team.” He glanced towards the window and noted that Tiara and Spoon were gone.
“How did you get past Fluttershy’s animals?” demanded Rainbow.
Everyone in Button’s group groaned while Buttom himself lit up like a light bulb. “Here it comes... Again,” muttered Scootaloo.
He reached down and plucked the brown box from its seat. “SECRET WEAPON!” he screamed, staring directly at Pip and Featherweight. “TOLD YOU!” Smug as a rug, he sat back down in his seat. “Get ready, this is the interesting part.”
~~~
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.
Featherweight poked Button on his shoulder. When he turned around all he saw was his friend’s skeptical face as he pointed to the large box Button was still hefting around.
“Ugh,” Button groaned. “Will you just trust me? This box could be the deciding factor between victory and failure.” Featherweight shrugged, still apprehensive, but willing to roll with it.
He and Button stopped by the backdoor of the store. After making sure it was unlocked, Button pulled out his phone and sent a text to the group at the front door.
A small vibration caused Pip to check his phone. It read, “Are they back yet?”
Pip looked around, seeing no signs of Rainbow’s group returning. “Nope, looks like Thunderlane did it.”
New message. “Are you two ready?”
Pip looked to Dinky, who nodded. He replied. “Now or never!”
“GO!”
With that, Pip and Dinky burst through the doors and instantly alerted the residents inside. “First Mate, retrieve the treasure!” yelled Pip, pointing forwards.
“Aye-Aye!” she answered, darting straight towards Fluttershy whom had pulled out her phone. With surprising speed she snatched it out of the girl’s hand.
Rarity watched in shock. “What are you two doing?! This is not part of the game!”
Pip popped up behind her, grabbing her purse and holding it hostage. “Yes it is. You just have to stop us before we can grab the flag and leave with it!” He waved the purse tauntingly. “In addition to this other bountiful booty.” Rarity dove down to catch him but it was no use; both he and Dinky had retreated to the other side of the store.
Fluttershy, panicking, turned from the two of them to the flag behind them. “Angel, little critters, could you please protect the flag while we tag those two?”
Angel, his two bunny friends, and Ms. Slither, all gave a sort of salute to her. Those four animals were the only ones the Cakes allowed Fluttershy, after much convincing, to help her. So long as they didn’t go into the kitchen that is.
Meanwhile, no one noticed the inconspicuous box that had appeared next to the doorway leading into the kitchen.
Angel Bunny looked on in amusement as the two wily kids made fools of the girls. However, just when he was about to silently laugh at the silly humans, something bonked him on the head and he instantly went on the defensive. Putting both of his paws out to cover the flag, he looked around for anything. His gaze finally located the small wrapped mint by his foot.
He picked it up with a curious look. Another something bonked him in the head and he found another piece of candy. Now annoyed, he directed the other animals to his position. Bringing them out of their corners, all of them formed a protective barrier around the flag. Angel desperately looked for the source of the disturbance.
Angel was a smart bunny. He was looking directly at the kids, and the candy had come from a different direction. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that the kids were not alone. Angel trained his eyes on anything that could hide a person from him. His eyes darted from the counter, to a large box that could’ve sworn wasn't there before, to the kitchen.
From his position in the back of the store by the flag, he could see nearly everything in the store, so those places were the only things that could hide from his superior bunny vision.
He hesitantly left his place by the flag, wordlessly ordering one of his bunny friends to cover him.
Cautiously, Angel hopped over to the counter to check if someone was hiding behind it.
Button, still under his box, peaked out through a small hole he had made. Suddenly, a small vibration buzzed through his coat pocket. He was quick to answer it.
Angel’s ears perked up just as he was about to check the counter. He had heard something, though he was not sure what. But it was something that came from the box. Narrowing his eyes, he hopped over to the box and began to inspect it. He moved around the perimeter of the piece and sniffed it. It smelled to him like oranges… and pizza.
Another noise caught his ear, this time from the opposite direction. Scowling, Angel hopped in the other direction, convinced someone was messing with him.
Button let loose a silent breath of relief. He had just received a text from First Base, telling him that he had been captured like he planned and they were nearly back. He didn’t expect Angel to hear the silent vibration and nearly panicked when he noticed Angel snooping around his box. So he hurriedly forwarded the message to Featherweight, along with the message to get ready for the next step.
“And stop messing with Angel!” From his hiding spot, Featherweight frowned when he read the message.
Over in the front half of the store, Fluttershy and Rarity had finally gotten their stuff back and had tagged Pip and Dinky.
Rarity huffed and directed the two to sit on the couch by the window. “My word! Dinky, wait until I tell your sister about your behaviour!” Dinky just giggled in response. Rarity went back to her seat next to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy herself let out a little sigh. Unlocking her phone, she got ready to text her friends. However, Applejack and Soarin just happened to enter the store at that moment.
The cowgirl looked on with confusion. Rarity was frustrated and fixing her hair while Fluttershy looked beyond winded.
“What in’na hay happened here?” she asked. Rarity simply pointed to Dinky and Pip. Applejack just chuckled and walked over to them while nudging First Base over to join them on the couch. “Tried to get the jump on us did'ja?” None of the kids responded. She walked back over to her seat. “Well joke’s on you. Now you guys’ll hafta wait till someone not captured tags you before you can go play in the snow.”
Pip, Dinky and Base all looked at one another with devious smiles. “Alright!” they cheered like horned angels.
To every teens’ surprise, Featherweight dropped from the ceiling in front of the kids. Light as his namesake, he barely even made a sound as he touched down. The girls sat in shock as Featherweight proceeded to high five all three kids, freeing them like they had said.
The three freed players proceeded to dash to the back of the store towards the flag! Applejack and Rarity quickly jumped out of their chairs and ran after them.
Easily hopping over Angel and the other animals, Pip grabbed the flag and tossed it back towards the front, over the girls' heads. They turned to see Featherweight, who had not moved, catch it. Fluttershy stood in front of him nervously.
“Umm… could you please give that back?” she asked.
Featherweight looked at her, then at the flag, then he tossed the flag in the air when Applejack dove at him. He easily hopped over her and caught it as it fell. Though, when he landed, Rarity was waiting to tag him. Before she could, the boy tossed it over her head and towards Dinky. When Rarity turned around to get her, Pip unfroze Featherweight with another high five.
Almost immediately, the chase turned into one large game of freeze tag inside the store. Applejack, Rarity, and Soarin would close in on one of the kids, only for them to toss the flag on before their capture. In the teens’ haste to follow the flag, another child would swoop by to unfreeze their captured comrade.
Fluttershy spent the majority of the time trying to plead with them as best she could, only to be ignored. Eventually, she simply resorted to guarding the door while Rarity tried her best to keep an eye on the back exit in addition to chasing the kids in and out of the kitchen. The animals also jumped into the fray, distracting and stalling the kids in order to help the girls.
In the ruckus, Sugarcube Corner’s flag must have changed hands more than two dozen times, at least two hidden party canons were prematurely triggered, one or more donuts may have gone missing from the kitchen, and an inconspicuous box was trampled by at least three different sets of winter boots.
Finally, after several minutes of giving them the runaround, all four kids found themselves on the couch, flagless. Applejack and the others slumped back in their seats, exhausted.
“Whoowee!” said Applejack, grinning widely. “That was one heck of a chase. You all ain't half bad. Reminds me of pig catchin’ in a rodeo tournament.”
Dinky turned to Pip and whispered, “Did she just call us pigs?” Pip shrugged.
Soarin glanced back to the animals who had also seemed exhausted. “Hey girls…” The others looked towards him… “Where’s the flag?”
The store went deathly silent when each of them realized that, at some point, everyone simply gave up on running to wherever the flag was tossed, and simply focused on trying to catch the kids.
Rarity turned to the kids with a scrutinous glare. “Do any of you have it? Fess up.”
All of the kids emptied their pockets and shook their heads. Applejack groaned and got up to look for it. None of them noticed that the box that was sitting by the kitchen entrance through the entire duration of the chase was gone.
Button scooted his way out the door. His box was a little beat up from Base and Pip jumping off of him—twice each—during the chase, but he viewed it as a necessary pain. Tossing the box off he grinned as he held the flag in his grip. He waited outside, listening to the people inside struggle to find his flag.
After a few minutes, Deep Fry made his way over to him, huffing in exhaustion. In his hand was another flag.
~~~
Button nodded, looking down from his improvised throne. “And that’s how we did it.”
Octavia, Vinyl, Lyra and a bunch of other players had all taken seats around the table while Sunset and Rainbow had joined their friends. During Button’s story, the entire store became packed with cold players, recuperating from their snow-time fun. Pinkie, like the good worker she was, ran around providing hot chocolates and coffee. All of the players had looked either impressed, frustrated, or a mix of the two.
Octavia herself was glowering at him. “Y-you abused the rules!” She pulled out the rule book and pointed out a specific rule. “Not to mention your teammates cheated. ‘When tagged while holding the flag, the tagged player must leave the flag where it is and return to their side’s home base before resuming active combat’.” Octavia grinned madly.
Button simply nodded. “True, true. But none of them were tagged while holding the flag.”
Rainbow turned to Applejack who shrugged. “It’s true, they kept on tossing the flag back an’ forth before we could up an’ catch ‘em. Reminded me of this game we played in elementary. That monkey keep away game.” She refilled her coffee and took a long sip from it. “Personally, Ah don’t mind. It was fun.”
Rarity scoffed. “Speak for yourself! I came inside for some peace and quiet. Now I’m tired and sweaty!” she whined.
Button and his group laughed. Thunderlane pointed to their leader. “Even so, Button was the one to take the flag outside in the end. He was never tagged.”
Octavia looked like she was about to tear the rule book in half. Luckily, she calmed down enough to set it back in her pocket. After a deep breath she continued. “Ahem… fine… One more question then. I hid my flag in a barely visible spot near the storm drain in the corner of the school. How in the world did you find it?” she demanded.
“You told us,” answered Button.
Octavia gave him a blank look. “Beg pardon?”
Button stood up and pointed towards the kitchen. “May I announce our OTHER secret weapon!”
Everyone turned to see Coco Pommel bashfully sneak her head out of the kitchen. A grinning Pinkie Pie gestured to her to add to the drama. Then once the surprise had worn off, she then set off some party poppers to add to the comedy of the whole ordeal.
“Coco!” yelled Sunset, running over to her. Before Coco knew what was happening, Sunset had wrapped her up in a big hug. “Where have you been?!”
Sunset quickly realized what she was doing and let her go, blushing furiously. “S...sorry. I mean… yeah.”
Coco, also slightly red, gave her a small smile. “I was helping Button’s group. When Thunderlane caught me, I was about to throw him off when he whispered that it was just part of the game. He explained everything to me before we met Octavia.” Sunset gave her a weird look. “I let myself be captured since I didn’t want to ruin it,” she clarified. Coco gave her an apologetic look. “Did I worry you?”
Sunset turned away from her and muttered. “N-no. I was just playing along.” Sunset moved back to the table, scooting over to make room for Coco to sit next to her. Sunset tried her best to ignore the others’ snickering and Octavia’s death glare.
If she had looked, Sunset would have seen that Octavia’s glare was actually directed at Coco. Octavia quickly turned to Pinkie who was still behind the counter. “Miss Pie, she broke a Pinkie promise!” she yelled, pointing at Coco.
Everyone around her pointed moved a few seats away from Coco, much to her confusion. To Sunset’s credit, she held her ground beside her friend, but looked very nervous.
Coco’s confusion turned to fear when she noticed Pinkie staring at her with narrowed, unblinking eyes.
After a few seconds, Pinkie smiled and looked back to Octavia. “No she didn’t.”
“What?” gasped Octavia. “Yes she did, she told someone—”
“No, you did,” said Button, interrupting her.
Octavia was about to argue when Apple Bloom held up her cell phone, and gaped when Coco held up hers. Octavia quickly connected the dots and slumped back in her seat, realizing that she’d been outsmarted.
Vinyl burst out laughing. “We got punked by a 13-year old!” Soon enough Lyra joined her.
Next to her, Bon Bon was still fuming. She smacked Lyra on the back of her head, stopping her laughter. “This is partially your fault you know.”
Lyra gave her a hurt look. “What? Why me?”
BonBon slumped in her chair and pouted. “If you hadn't given that brat her rematch we’d have at least one flag.
Lyra patted her shoulder and gave her a comforting look. “We could always try to take Sweet Apple Acres’ flag. Actually…” she turned to face Applejack. “Aren’t there some people still throwing snowballs at the farm?”
Applejack nodded and sipped her coffee. “Yeah, but that's mostly where people and kids who aren't playing the game are.”
Pinkie hopped onto the table and grabbed Button in a tight hug. “Plus, this one’s already got three of them!” Button, suddenly engulfed in the pink one’s cushy chest, blushed, unaware of Sweetie Belle’s jealous stare.
Octavia sighed. “How did you come up with such a reckless plan and make it work? I can’t even count how many things could’ve gone wrong.”
Button, after shoving Pinkie away and refilling his lungs with air, finally showed a moment of humility. “Well, really they were all three separate plans that I took from some of my strategy games. I was actually only trying to get one or two. A lot of stuff happened that I didn’t account for.” He pointed at First Base. “For one, he joined at the last second.”
Base raised his hand. “I just wanted to hit Sunset,” he admitted. Almost everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Sunset sat her head on the table in shame.
“So you just got lucky,” deadpanned Octavia.
Vinyl finally calmed down and gave him a thumbs up. “I guess so, he’s got a pretty big brain in that game system of a head.”
Octavia stood up. “Well, no helping it then… Though you must realize,” she directed a fiercely competitive gaze at Button, a matching grin gracing her face, “that tomorrow everyone in this room will be aiming for you and your flags now.”
The Crusaders gave the other players nervous looks. Button simply stood up and raised the flags high. “Come at me bro!” he yelled.
The entire room burst out in cheers. Sunset simply looked around curiously, her brow rose in confusion. “Why is everyone so excited over some stupid flags?” she wondered.
Coco, sitting next to her, leaned over to answer. “It not about the flags, it’s the game. People have fun with the challenge.” She got an excited look in her eye. “It’s like the people in this town somehow mixed hide and seek, tag, snowball fights, and like... every other fun game!”
Sunset looked around at all of the other excited kids. Some of them, like Rainbow, were drafting plans, others were just excited for more snow tossing tomorrow. Sunset wondered how much of this she had missed when she hid away every year. To her it had all been just yelling and annoying snow slamming against her window. She smiled. “I guess so.”
~~~
Rainbow leaned over the table excitedly. “So then Big Mac and I just jump over and grab two pieces of a snowman. I toss mine at Soarin and he throws his at Caramel. While they’re digging themselves out of the snow, we swoop in and grab the flags. Then Caramel jumps out of nowhere and—”
Sunset, still listening in on Rainbow’s epic victory tale from last year, caught something out of the corner of her eye. During the after party, she had noticed that some people were staring at her oddly, but those were just the normal stares she usually got. However, now she noticed that someone was leveling a glare at her that could evaporate glaciers.
Octavia met her eye for a split second before turning away. She said something to Vinyl and stood up to leave. Sunset, remembering her promise to Vinyl, excused herself from her seat and followed Octavia out of the store.
“Octavia wait!” called Sunset, letting the door close behind her. Octavia stopped in her tracks, her back still turned. Sunset opened her mouth to say something, but found her mouth dry and barren. A cold breeze blew through the streetlamp lit area. Sunset’s wavering slowly ceased. She knew what she had to say, but then she began to wonder if it would even help.
Regardless, she knew it was worth a try. “I—”
“What do you want?” Octavia began, her voice colder than any of the ice surrounding them. “Ahh, yes, I suppose it has been awhile since you last approached me like this. Sorry, I don’t have my cello on me. I suppose you’ll have to pick something else to make fun of.”
Sunset folded her arms nervously. “Octavia… look… I know that some of the things I did to you were bad but—”
“Bad?!” Octavia nearly screamed, turning to look at her. “You don’t know the meaning if you’re using something that trivial. You robbed me of everything I held dear. I didn’t do a thing to you and you… you...” Octavia trailed off. Finally, she took a calm breath to compose herself. “I don’t know what you’re pulling at, trying to make up for what you’ve done. But, no matter what you do, I still can’t stand you.”
Sunset flinched back from her fierce gaze. “I’m…” she began, her voice rising from a faint whisper. “I’m sorry for what happened that day. You were right… about everything. But I’ve changed I—”
Octavia’s brow furrowed. “No…” she said, low and dangerous. “No you haven't, I still see the same girl. You’re still the same meretricious one-dimensional drama queen you were the last time you approached me. The only difference is that instead of you taking out your issues on the students just to feel like you have some power over them, you try to apologize and play the remorseful act. Then when all is said and done you act like that will make up for what you did before then.”
“But I am sorry!” yelled Sunset, sounding as genuine as she could.
“But being sorry won’t bring back what you took from me will it?” Octavia shot back. Sunset’s head fell dejectedly and Octavia ground her teeth. “Answer me!” she screamed.
“N-no...” answered Sunset. Still looking down at the ground, Sunset could hear the soft crunching of the other girl’s boots on the snow heading away from her. However, when the crunching stopped, Sunset glanced back up.
Octavia stopped one final time to address Sunset. “Do you want to know what my new year’s resolution will be?” Sunset gave no answer, instead she waited for the girl to finish on her own. “It’s to make sure you finally deal with the full consequences of your actions.”
Sunset watched as the girl calmly left, leaving her alone in the dark streets.
Oh, I’m sorry, did you think that this story wasn't going to have an underlying plot or central antagonist? 
This won’t be like the flower trio, you won’t know who to hate by the end of this MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!
Back to the Christmas arc next chapter.
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Well, dunno if you've been featured before, but congratulations on the feature!
And congratulations with playing with our feelings surrounding Octavia!
Huh, Octavia has an ax to grind with Sunset and apparently it's a rather serious ax to boot. Okay, color me interested, kind of wondering just what the heck Sunset could have done to piss her off so much, especially the line "You robbed me of everything I held dear," which could mean anything.
I'm interested to see where this goes, nice work.
Finally we have someone out for Sunset's blood who's a little easier to take seriously than Button. Sorry, but I never took Button seriously and just see him as a pain when he's in the story. Maybe that's the intention, but that's how I feel. Looking forward to Octavia's role.
Okay this just got interesting. Octavias role will be fun to see.
See? Video games do make you smarter!
Damn. Sh*t is definitely going to hit the fan now.
6285889 Button was a character that I wrote in for my own enjoyment. He wasn't supposed to be a serious threat, he was meant to make the chapters interesting while the story progressed to this point.
Sort of like a mid-boss in a dungeon
6286052 That they do.
Octavia's really busting out the ten dollar words here. "Meretricious" is not a word I'd expect a high-schooler to be using as an insult.
Oh well, at least I expanded my vocabulary today.
Oh my, this is getting really interesting. I eagerly anticipate more.
Nooooooooooooo
Ice reached the end already, and so many questions! WHAT'D SHE DO TO HER?!
I promise I won't tell
Daaaaamn. What a plot twist.
So What, Sunset busted her cello? Ruined her chance at being in a real orchestra? Or is Octavia just that bad about holding grudges? I have a feeling it's not going to be as bad as Octavia is making it.
6288945
I always enjoy seeing my favorite words in fanfics. Caught Reverie either in this chapter or the last. That also happens to be the name of my OC. I swear if I had a nickel for every time I've found one of my vocab terms in a fanfic (and not a legitimate fiction novel), I could buy a dictionary or something. Fanfic writers know their vocab.
Well, to put it in Button Mash terms (or trope names), he pulled off a hell of a Xanatos Roulette. Meanwhile, Octavia's the MidBoss I bet, the Dragoness or the Woman Behind the Woman, who's deadset on disproportionate retribution.
Round of applause for Button Mash! That was a good gambit!
Little confused on the team's. Half of Buttons team belonged to other teams. I don't even think he was one of the Team leader's.
6285809
Sorry it took so long, but we're finally about to find out >:D