Harmony's Wrath

by hahatimeforponies

The Jaws Of Defeat

At the base of the cliffs, Pinkie Pie emerged from the storm drains with an improvised fuse, humming to herself.

"All you gotta do is take a cup of sulphur, add it to the mix! Now just take a little something black, not yellow, a little charcoal, just a pinch! Making these treats is such a cinch, and a teaspoon of saltpeter! Add a little more and you count to four, and you stand back twenty metres!" She giggled, and hopped down from the pipe. She led the fuse up the hill a short way, and found a comfy, relatively hidden place to sit with a pair of flints. "Now, just wait for the signal..." She lay back in the snow and gazed out at the sky. "Daww, there are no clouds today... you'd think with all the snow lately there'd be something, but noooo..."

---

The Crusaders' scooter skidded to a halt by a rocky outcrop at the back of the city, against the mountain face, sheltered behind a bunch of old buildings. They disembarked and scurried across the bare rocks the mouth of the cave.

"Gee, it sure is dark in hewhUOA!." Applebloom nearly slipped at the edge of a crevice, only for Scootaloo to grab her just in time. Sweetie Belle screwed up her face, and just about managed to light up her horn with a simple torch spell.

"Whoa! Cool!"

"Thanks! I've been practicing." Sweetie Belle chuckled.

"Now..." Applebloom leaned over the edge to inspect the damage. "Is this even the right cave? Ah don't see any catw-oh there it is, all... the way... down there..." She gulped, looking at the rotted planks about two dozen yards down. "Ah can't work with that!" She stood at the edge of the crevice, arms folded, thinking. An idea struck Scootaloo; Hmm. Need wood here, wood out there, have a scooter. I'd say that adds up.

"I know! I can fetch some wood from outside!"

"That's a great idea!"

"Are ya fast enough though? Those ponies will be here any minute!"

"You know it!" Scootaloo smirked, and hopped on to her scooter. She was away like a shot. Heading the other way, an adult pegasus and a unicorn filly entered the cave. The unicorn ran ahead excitedly.

"Guys! You're alright!"

"Dinky!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle greeted her joyously. Derpy couldn't help but grin as she followed her daughter into the cave.

"Good to see you fillies are okay." she smiled. She had a makeshift bandage over her left eye.

"Now... what to do with this..." Applebloom resumed observing the crevice, trying to make out the other side.

"That is a bit of a problem..."

It didn't take Scootaloo long at all to return. No more than two minutes later, she skidded to a halt inside the cavern with a wagon piled high with large wooden planks, some long nails and a hammer.

"Wow, Scoot! Where didja find all these?" Applebloom immediately started inspecting the planks.

"There's a hardware store just down the street," Scootaloo puffed. "The owner... well... he won't be needing these anymore." She grimaced. Derpy gulped. Applebloom wasn't too concerned with that; she was focussing on the task at hand.

First, she nailed planks together into four long beams, two slightly longer than the other two. She sent Scootaloo away to get more supplies, because there was no way the single wagonful would be enough for the job. Once these were prepared, she added cross-beams at regular intervals between the two longer beams, then to the two shorter beams, and then between the two 'ladders', creating a long boxy structure. It looked like four ladders stuck together at their sides. At this stage, it was still on the ground in the cave mouth, where she could access all parts of it without needing Derpy's help. Finally, she added struts to each of the squares along the structure, dividing them into triangles. She worked quickly - the whole job was done inside fifteen minutes.

"Alright! We just need to push this across, and then we can send ponies in here!" Applebloom smiled at her own handiwork. She gave it a firm kick at one of the sides to test its stability. Sure enough, it held firm, and she just pushed herself on to her back. "Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, send 'em in!"

"Got it!" While Derpy helped Applebloom move the bridge into position, and Dinky lit the way for them, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle scurried out of the cave.

Outside, scattered crowds of ponies were just carrying on down the street, staggering along fearfully. A few of them looked around themselves, but none of them showed any signs of changing direction.

"Where are they going?"

"Hey!" Scootaloo jumped onto a high rock and waved her arms in the air. "Hey, over here! This w-Ah!" At the last moment, she jumped down from the rock into a gully, narrowly avoiding a gryphon swooping around to grab her.

"Whoa, that was close, Scootaloo!"

"How can we get their attention if we can't stand up high?" She whimpered. Sweetie Belle furrowed her brow, and thought of something. She hopped down to the gully - sheltered from gryphon attack - and cleared her throat. Ideally she would have liked a glass of water before she started, but pressed for time, she made do. She took a deep breath, and projected.

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders..."

"Sweetie Belle, why... are you singing?"

"...on a quest to find out who we are..." The melody pierced the ruckus, distinct from the background noise, catching the ears of a few ponies running past. "...and we'll never stop the journey..."

"It's... it's working! Sweetie Belle, you're a genius!"

"... not until we have our Cutie Marks!" Ponies started to stop and look for the source of the sound. A few spotted the mouth of the cave behind them, and started breaking from the crowd. Sweetie Belle repeated the refrain, and gradually, more ponies started to follow the sound, and stream up the gully into the cave.

Once the flow became established and ponies stuck around to direct others the right way, they retreated into the cave to rendezvous with the other two Crusaders. A few unicorns were standing around to provide light, and the bridge was holding up well.

"Good job, Crusaders!" Applebloom cheered.

"But I didn't do anything..." Dinky tilted her head.

"That don't matter, all that matters is that we saved the day!" Applebloom cried out, and the four of them bumped fists. However, they were still more used to bumping hooves than fists, and Applebloom fell over backwards. She landed on a rock, ripping a large hole in the seat of her improvised pants. "Oww..." The other three gasped.

"Applebloom..." Dinky gibbered.

"Yeah, yeah, there go mah pants..."

"No, your... your..." Sweetie Belle stammered.

"Your flank!" Scootaloo blurted out. Applebloom pouted, and when she got up, she turned to get a look. On two legs, it was substantially more awkward, but when she saw, she nearly fell over again in shock. She rubbed her upper, outer thigh with a hand to make sure it was real - sure enough, the shape remained.

"It's... that's..." She turned her head to make sense of the shape. A hammer, superimposed on a large, shiny red apple. "... a cutie mark!" Her awe slowly turned to joy. She didn't care that she had a hammer on her flank, she knew full-well why it was there. "Girls! Check your flanks!"

Scootaloo pulled down the waist on her overly-baggy pants, to reveal a wheel with purple flames spinning from it. Sweetie Belle pulled up the side of her skirt, uncovering three silver bells in a cluster.

"We..."

"... we..."

"... we got our cutie marks!" The three of them jumped for joy, and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle pulled a reluctant Scootaloo into a hug. Dinky yanked down the elastic around her waist to check hers. She let out a disappointed noise, when lo and behold, her flank was still blank.

"I guess..." She sniffed, standing apart from the other three. "I guess you guys don't wanna hang out with me anymore..." Applebloom perked an ear upon hearing this, and broke free of the squeeze, much to Scootaloo's relief.

"Don't be silly! Of course we still wanna hang out with you!" She put an arm over Dinky's shoulder.

".. really?"

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle did likewise on her other side.

"Just because we have our cutie marks, doesn't mean we can't be friends!" Scootaloo beamed, folding her arms.

"If anything, now we can all help you with yours!"

"Yeah! Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!"

"Aw, thanks, guys!" Dinky wiped away a tear. Applebloom yanked Scootaloo in for another group hug. She groaned, and let them get it over with.

---

A gryphon stumbled through the corridors of the palace, stopping at the confluence of three hallways and a pair of open doors. Twilight and Rarity, still a little dizzy, spotted the gryphon trying to make for the shattered window behind them. Curiously, rather than the hungry, predatory expression on most of their encounters so far, this one was terrified. Twilight wondered what could possibly have spooked this one into running away so readily.

Bonk.

A wooden pole came out of nowhere to skull the gryphon from above, and it fell to the ground, unconscious. Behind it, Fluttershy was standing with her staff in hand, panting.

"Fl... Fluttershy?" Boy, something must have her worked up!

"Twilight! Rarity! I've been..." Pant, pant. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Catch your breath darling. What's the matter?"

"We need to go! Pinkie Pie is setting up the sewers to explode!"

"She's doing what?" Rarity exclaimed. "Has she gone mad?"

"No! Applejack came up with a plan to use..."

"... to use the explosive gas in the sewers to flush out the horde! Of course!" Twilight laughed, gears whirring in her head. "Because Rainbow left the cover off the hole, the sewer gas has been mixing with the outside air, and the sewers and storm drains are rigged up like a thermobaric bomb! And since we're evacuating everypony to the caves anyway, we can cut our losses and run!"

"So, now the plan is to abandon the city and then completely destroy it?" Rarity quirked a brow.

"It's... it's not pretty," Twilight sighed. "But we're running out of options. This way we have a plan to take care of the horde that goes beyond sitting it out. How long do we have, Fluttershy?"

"Pinkie's waiting on my signal, or thirty minutes, whichever's sooner. And that was... about ten minutes ago." Fluttershy was still panting. Twilight chewed her lip. Spike stumbled into the room, and collapsed from exhaustion.

"Spike?"

"Final... finally... you guys shoulda slowed down and..." Puff. "... waited for me!" Twilight scooped up the exhausted dragon and stuffed him in her bag as best she could, along with the discarded copy of Magic of the Body.

"Alright, we need to head to the caves and make sure we can seal them. While I'm doing that, Rarity, you should try and track down the Crusaders, and Fluttershy, you tell Pinkie to hold off until we're ready."

"Oh m-Sweetie Belle, I completely forgot!" Rarity bolted to the door, and the others followed hastily.

---

Applejack stumbled to a stop at the foot of the cave. Most of the streets were empty, save for a few hungry, angry gryphons wandering around; she guessed that the three Wonderbolts were doing a good job shepherding ponies towards the caves. Rainbow Dash fluttered down to perch on a high rock overlooking the street. Applejack gasped, picked up a small rock, and promptly hurled it in her general direction.

"Hey, what's the big id-" Clock. "...ea?"

The stone hit a gryphon behind her square in the head, and stunned, it tumbled to the jagged rocks below.

"T'aint safe up there, sugarcube! Stay down low!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Reluctantly, Dash hopped down to street level.

"Anypony out there still?"

"Uhm... a few guards, and Spitfire and Soarin are doing another quick sweep to check for stragglers." Dash listed dutifully. Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are doing a sweep at ground level."

"What? You let them out?"

"Is... that a problem? They were handling themselves pretty well earlier. They eve-"

"Rainbow Dash, this whole city is about to blow sky high! They're in terrible danger!" Applejack barked. Dash gulped. "Which way did they go?"

"Over there, follow the wheelmarks in the snow." Dash pointed. Without another word, Applejack sprinted off after them. No sooner had she left, had Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy arrived from another direction.

"Rainbow Dash! Have you seen Sweetie Belle?" Rarity blurted out urgently. Dash just pointed the same way again. Rarity was off like a shot.

"Alright, Fluttershy, you find Pinkie Pie and buy us a few more minutes." Twilight instructed. "Rainbow, keep me covered while I figure out how to seal this cave."

"What... what's going on? Why is the city gonna explode?"

"We're cutting our losses." Twilight grimaced, and started to pick her way up the gully.

---

Fluttershy dropped down to a crevice in the side of the cliff. She could hear Pinkie Pie talking to herself, so she knew she was okay. As soon as she dropped into view, Pinkie bounced with excitement.

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Is it time?"

"No-no-no! We need a few more minutes!"

"Oh..." Pinkie frowned. "But... I already lit the fuse." Fluttershy gasped in horror.

"Pinkie!" She looked around for the burning fuse, finding no immediate traces of it. "Pinkie, where is it?"

"Oh, I hid it really really well!" She giggled, oblivious. Fluttershy smacked herself on the forehead.

"We need to get away from here, now!"

---

Applejack tore down the street single-mindedly. She didn't hear Rarity thundering along close behind, and she barely took notice of the occasional gryphon she vaulted over or just decked in the side of the head to get it out of the way. Up ahead, the scooter trundled through the thinning snow in blissful ignorance. The girls were chatting idly to each other, giggling like they hadn't a care in the world.

Screeeee.

Applejack yanked on the wagon, and Scootaloo vaulted the handlebars of the scooter, landing in a heap in the snow.

"Applebloom, we're going, now!" She yelled, and without waiting for a response, she grabbed Applebloom under the arms and threw her over her shoulder. As quickly as she came, she was off again, sprinting away with the squealing and flailing filly.

"Time to go Sweetie Belle, it's not safe here!" Rarity pulled Sweetie Belle up from the wagon and sat her on her shoulders, riding piggy-back.

"But-"

"No buts!" She replied firmly, jogging after Applejack.

A few seconds later, Scootaloo pulled her head out of the snow, and looked around.

"Guys?" She blinked. Confusion quickly gave way to panic. "Guys!"

---

Applejack and Rarity arrived at the cave just as Fluttershy was touching down with Pinkie Pie.

"Get everypony inside! The fuse is about to go!" Fluttershy staggered up to Twilight.

"What! Already?" The ethereal cloud holding up a boulder dissipated, and it dropped. "Damn! Plan B it is." She turned to the few ponies picking their way up the rockface. "Alright everypony, get inside! I'm about to put up a shield!"

"But-but-but..." Applebloom snivelled as Applejack set her down inside the cave.

"Okay, now we have some time, what's the matter?" Rarity kneeled down to their level.

"Scootaloo!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle whimpered simultaneously.

"Now, look here sugarcubes..." Applejack sighed. "If either one of us was carryin' two of ya, we might not 'a made it in time."

"But you can't just leave 'er behind!"

"I'm afraid there's no time. Twilight's about to seal the entrance." Rarity stated matter-of-factly. Truth be told, Applejack and Rarity were as distressed by the situation as their younger sisters, but they knew the facts, and were trying to keep a brave face.

Behind them Rainbow Dash was just passing Twilight to enter the cave. She was only able to catch a couple of things, but it conveyed the point quite clearly. Scootaloo... left behind? Two images flashed in her mind. One was of the night all those months ago, when they were watching shooting stars: Oh yeah, pipsqueak? How about taking out the trash? She'd heard that Scootaloo was really embarrassed at her display of hoof-licking afterwards, but Dash had tried to put it out of her mind at the time. After all, she was somepony else's problem... right? The other image, was of how she pictured Scootaloo now; alone, abandoned, with nopony to pull her out of the fire. Both images brought forth a feeling; the first gave her a sense of crushing guilt, not only for her abuse on that night, but for the general disregard she'd had for a little filly who she knew looked up to her. The second image gave her a sense of urgency, of duty. Being the impulsive pony she was, she didn't dwell on this epiphany for too long - she just went with what she felt was right.

"I'm sorry, we just have to leave Scootaloo behind." Rarity sniffed.

"Not on my watch." Dash growled, and bolted back out the cave mouth. Almost as soon as she was out, Twilight's shield went up.

"Rainbow?" Applejack felt the gust of wind from her departure, and looked up. "Rainbow!" She blundered over to the shield, pressing her nose to the translucent lilac window. Her heart jumped into her mouth.

---

Scootaloo backed up to her scooter, and fell over it. Her fearful cries had attracted the attention of a group of gryphon raiders, who were now bearing down on her and licking their beaks. This is it, Scoot. You're gonna die just the way you lived... She gulped, and choked back a tear. Abandoned. She closed her eyes and clutched her scooter, waiting for the killing blow, and praying it was swift.

"Hghyaaagh!" She yelped, and she felt something yank on the back of her neck. It wasn't the feeling she was expecting, and she judging by how she was still able to feel, she certainly wasn't complaining. She heard and felt wind whistling past her, and her sense of up and down got all screwy. Confused, she opened her eyes and looked down to see the ground and three mystified gryphons disappearing beneath her. She looked up to see somepony flying straight up, pulling her by the scruff of her shirt and cloak. Wait, I saw this pony earlier... "R... Rainbow Dash?" Dash looked back down briefly, and smiled to see the little filly's eyes light up.

"Might wanna cover your ears, kid." Wait, what? Uhmm... She blinked. She looked back down, and heard some rumbling coming from below. The city was shrinking rapidly below them, but the rumbling was still pretty loud. She gulped, and did as she was told.

Boom.

The streets below burst open, the mortar between the cobblestones disintegrating and the stones themselves shooting in all directions. White hot fronts of fire billowed up from underneath, enveloping the buildings. Multiple, resonating shockwaves scattered stone structures like sandcastles, and in the skies above the city, gryphons gliding around were burnt to cinders in a flash. Rainbow Dash kept flying straight up, away from the accelerating wall of flames, as fast as her wings would carry her. Scootaloo flapped her tiny wings as hard as she could, trying to help, even if in just the tiniest way. They could both feel the heat below them rising.

The air around them grew uncomfortably hot, and then quickly began to cool down again as the fire subsided. Dash eased off the pace, stopping at a safe height. The explosion had lasted no more than a second, but it was the longest second of their lives. Scootaloo was a little unnerved by their height - the remains of Canterlot were a mere black thumbprint on the ground. Nevertheless, she threw her arms around Dash's waist, the nearest part of her she could reach. Dash smiled, and lifted her up to her shoulders.

"It's alright kid... we're safe now."

Comments

[JOEBLACK]

"Alright, we need to head to the caves and make sure we can seal them. While I'm doing that, Rarity, you should try and track down the Crusaders, and Fluttershy, you tell Pinkie to hold off until we're ready."

The irony. The ones not looking for them will find them first.