My Little Squirrel: Friendship is Explosive

Chapter 3: Into the Fire

At the summit of Mt. Hotato, three figures stood at the rim of the volcano's crater, looking down into it. In the middle was Midi, to his right, a gray raccoon with green eyes, a blue hoodie and tan cargo pants. His name was Trey, and he stood about a foot taller than Midi. To Midi's left, standing two and a half feet taller was Rift, an android wearing black and gray armor with red stripes on his boots and gauntlets ,and red pauldrons. On his helmet was a red mask visor that completely took up his face, and on the sides were a pair of long white ear-like appendages.

Midi took a deep breath of the sulfur-smelling air and sighed. "I'll never get tired of this smell."

"You wouldn't," said Trey, crossing his arms over his chest, "Rift? Any sign of the target?"

The android took only a second to scan the area below. "Thermal readings increasing. One large mass detected inside the magma, the source of the heat increase. He is there."

Trey nodded. "Let's get this over with. I hate these elementals."

Midi held his fist up in a determined pose. "If we don't stop this guy, then those potato farms will be destroyed, and I won't get anymore potato bread! Let's do this!" Without another word, Midi leapt into the abyss.

"MIDI!" Trey shouted, holding his hand towards the falling squirrel. He promptly brought said hand to his face and sighed. "Why doesn't he ever think before he acts?"

He and Rift leapt in after him and landed just behind him. Midi was crouched down and had his hand back to tell them to remain silent. Below the ledge they were standing on, veins of orange light began to show up in the layer of flat volcanic rock, soon becoming yellow as the rest of the rock lit up and became molten lava. The lava bubbled and churned as a bulge appeared in the middle from which a firy serpentine creature with a round, flaming head emerged. The creature thrashed and screeched, puking up thick globs of lava from its mouth.

"Plasma elemental located," Rift stated.

"Duly noted," Trey replied, "How long before he causes an eruption?"

"Ten minutes, thirteen seconds," Rift said, "And he's a she."

Midi stood up and rezzed an ice bomb in each hand. "Right. I'll handle the magma. You guys get her core."

With that, they sprang into action. Midi darted to the side and began pummeling the elemental with ice bombs, causing parts of its body to cool and fall off into the magma below. The creature screeched in anger and fired molten rocks at Midi which Rift blasted out of the air with precisely-aimed laser bolts. Trey conjured a quartet of dark matter shuriken and flung them at the creature. The shuriken arced through the air and centered in on the elemental's head, striking it in the eyes and mouth. As it screeched again, Midi threw a bomb in its mouth, blasting its face off and exposing a glowing core crystal where the brain would have been.

Rift charged forward and began slashing at the core with his beam katara until the head regenerated. As they repeated the process, the creature's tactics and behaviour became more ferocious and unpredictable.

It was at this point that Rift's sensors picked up a spatial anomally. "Warning! Spatial tear detected at magma precipace. Continued volcanic activity will agitate the tear and result in a warp zone."

"You mean this volcano's gonna erupt in two places at once?!" Trey shouted as he dodged a plume of fire.

"Affirmative," Rift confirmed.

"Why don't we ever get a freaking break?" Midi asked as he threw another bomb to freeze the elemental's arm before it could reach his team mates. They were doing well, having dealt with creatures like this before, but it was still wearing them down, and the volcano was threatening to go off at any moment. Midi wiped sweat off his brow and regrouped with his friends. "This was so much easier when we had Shacklebolt here and we weren't about to die in an eruption!"

Trey quickly analyzed the situation and made a new plan. "Alright, Midi, you work on slowing down the magma flow. That'll also cut down the elemental's power supply. I'll work on pulling out the core for Rift to attack."

"Got it," said Midi.

"Acknowledged," said Rift.

Midi ran off and started throwing ice bombs at all the brightest parts of the magma. This caught the attention of the elemental, but before it could attack, a whip of dark matter pierced into its head and yanked it back.

"COME ON!" Trey shouted as he reigned the beast back, giving it all he had to pull the core out. It was exposed enough that Rift managed to get a few shots in before the creature stopped resisting and instead threw itself back towards Trey. He was forced to release it and jump out of the way, shifting into a black whisp to avoid getting burned.

Beneath them, the warp zone began to dialate from the combined energy of the magma, the elemental, and Midi's bombs detonating nearby. It opened fully as the magma started to rise towards it.

Midi saw this and took a vantage point, then began charging all his energy into a single bomb. It was now or never; Trey and Rift had the elemental on the ropes, and Midi was about to freeze all the magma at once.

Before he could release the stored energy, the elemental made one last-ditch effort to eliminate the intruders to its domain, and fired a volley of heated rocks all around itself. One hit the ledge Midi was on and broke it under his feet. Midi cried out as he plummeted towards the lava pool.

"MIDI!" Trey screamed and tried to go after his friend, but one of the rocks struck him and forced him to resolidify, taking away his dark speed. Rift flew after Midi, but the elemental's arm pinned him to the wall and started melting his shields.

The android couldn't move, and his shields were being drained rapidly by he intense heat; he was left with only one choice. His torso opened up, and all his energy was diverted to his chest cannon. The beam tore through the firy arm and blasted the core right out of the elemental's head, crashing it into the opposite wall. The power drain took its toll, and Rift automatically shut down to recover from using the breaker beam.

Trey got up and scrambled to the ledge in time to see the falling squirrel disappear into the warp zone. "MIDIIIIIII!!!!"

Midi felt his body electrify and stretch in all directions at once as the warp zone took him to the other side of space and back, then depositted him at its exit point. He grunted on impact, then leapt into the air as a red-hot pebble landed on his butt. "OW! Hot! Hot! Hot!"

He brushed the pebble off and gasped as lava started to spill out from mid air right in front of him.  He jumped back and discharged the stored magic he charged, creating a freezing blast that turned the stone into black volcanic ash. The ice magic flowed through the warp zone as well and froze the magma on the other side, effectively plugging the portal shut.

Finally, the squirrel sat down and took a deep breath, letting it out in an extremely relieved sigh. He looked around, wondering where the warp had taken him, but none of his surroundings looked familiar. He took his LINC out of his tail and opened the com line.

"Trey? Rift?... Hello? Anyone?" He paused, then recieved no answer. "This is Midi Waffle, Cloud Chasers Delta lance. If anyone is getting this, please answer me. I'm at..." He looked at the LINC's radar, which indicated it was still scanning for the lay of the land. "Aw, screw it, I have no idea where the heck I am. Look, if anyone gets this, just send me a message or a signal or... or something!"

He sighed and closed his LINC, then stowed it back in his tail. After that, he took a breath, looked at the pillar of frozen volcanic ash, then picked a random direction and started walking.

"And that's how I got to Equestria," he said, holding up his glass, "True story."

Gilda was dumbstruck. When she finally pulled herself out of her stupor, she shook her head and blinked rapidly and stammered. "Wh-whuh? Really? That's..." She frowned. "I don't believe you."

"Okelley-dokelley," Midi replied, "Then explain this." He pulled out a small plastic object colored a dull gunmetal grey that was shaped like a PSP with a clamshell folding design. On the outer casing was an extruded print that read 'L.I.N.C.'

Gilda mouthed the word 'whoa' as she examined the alien device. "What is it?"

"It's a pocket computer," Midi explained, "Standard issue for Cloud Chasers. That's the mercenary guild I'm in. Delta lance was the name of my team."

The gryphon turned the LINC around and read the inscription. "What's this stand for?"

"Lateral Intelligence Nano Computer," Midi said, "Basically, really small but really smart. It can do all kinds of stuff." He took it from her, opened it up, and logged in. "See, here's the radio, it can even pick up Equestria's radio, too. Here's the radar, the map, star charts, scanner, database... pretty much everything you need." He closed it and put it away. "Of course, I also got a lot of video games on mine."

"Video games?" Gilda asked.

"Oh, that's right, your computers only print paper." Midi took the last bite of his dinner and pushed his plate away, then took out some bits to pay for his part of the meal. "Say, any idea where we're gonna stay tonight?"

Gilda shrugged. "I'unno. Find a place that's cheap and sleep, I guess." She pointed a claw at Midi. "But you and I are not sharing a bed, got it?"

Midi waved her off casually. "Wouldn't dream of it. You seem like a rough sleeper, anyway."

The gryphon raised an eyebrow. "What's that s'posed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing," said Midi as he got up to leave, "Nothing at all."

Gilda hid a blush; she didn't like the way he smirked at her, yet all the same, it drove her nuts in a way she didn't expect. He's so much like her, except a guy... This is gonna be awkward...

Midi and Gilda left the restraunt and walked down the street together, making idle chatter. They came around a bend, and Midi held his arm out to stop Gilda.

"Shh," he shushed with his finger over his lips.

"What?" Gilda whispered.

Midi pointed at the stairs going down in front of them next to an incline in the street. It took Gilda a moment to remember that they were also looking for Jack the Tripper. Midi took a cautious step down, then put both feet on the same stair before taking the next step. Each one felt like an eternity to Gilda as she watched him slowly descend the stairs, until when he reached the bottom, they both saw that nothing had happened to interrupt the squirrel's progress down.

Gilda huffed and started down. "You might be an alien, but you're still a doo-OOF!" She tumbled forward as a light green glow wrapped around her hindleg and tugged it backwards in mid step.

Midi jumped forward and caught her before she could crack her head open on the sidewalk. "Gilda!" He helped her back up. "You OK, featherhead?"

Gilda shoved Midi off her. "Get off, I'm fine!" She stood up straight and tried to save face, but Midi didn't care either way.

He spun around and saw somepony go around a corner, and pointed. "That way! Come on!" He bolted off after the figure.

"Hey wait!" Gilda watched him run off and scowled. "That kid is unbelievable!" She chased after him.

They both came around the corner, and Midi pounced on the first pony he saw.

"Help!" the mare screamed, "Mugger! Bandit! Larcenist!"

"Give it up!" Midi shouted, "I know you're Jack the Tripper! You can't fool me!"

Gilda grabbed Midi by the shoulders and pulled him up. "Dude, get off of her!"

The mare stood up, revealing her butter-yellow coat and powder-blue mane, and turned about her assailant. "How dare you! Accusing me of being a criminal! The nerve!" She threw her mane back, revealing her horn.

"Oh yeah?" Midi countered, "Well if you're not the Tripper, then show me a magic spell and prove it!"

"Gladly." The mare levitated an aluminum can that was laying on the ground and threw it in Midi's face.

"Ouch," said the squirrel as the can bounced off his snout.

"Satisfied?"

Midi held his nose and scowled. The aura that threw the can at him was the same blue as her mane, so he couldn't press the issue any further. "Yes and no." He folded his arms and pouted as she walked away.

Gilda scowled at him. "Dude, what was that all about?"

"I saw a green light around your leg when you tripped," Midi said, "But her magic had a blue light, so it's not her. Unless unicorns can change their magic color. Can they?"

"Do I look like someone who knows a lot about magic to you?" Gilda snapped.

Midi stared at her blankly. "Uhh..."

"Nevermind," said Gilda, and pushed past him, "Let's just find someplace to sleep. I'm beat."

The squirrel raised an eyebrow as she passed. "Sheesh, someone's grouchy all of a sudden."

"Oh yeah, cuz I was so totally the one that just pounced some random pony," Gilda shot back.

Midi grinned slyly. "Sounds like someone needs her nappy-byes!"

"I just said--ugh!"

"You just said 'ugh'?" Midi giggled into his palm.

Gilda covered her face with her talon. "What am I gonna do with him?"

Eventually, the duo came to a hotel named the Silver Moon. The two of them went inside and approached the front desk.

"Two singles," Gilda said, holding up two fingers.

"Two singles, what?" Midi asked condescendingly.

Gilda glared at him out of the corner of her eye. "Two singles or the squirrel gets it."

Midi immediately looked away from her and donned the face of innocence.

The desk pony chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry, my friends, but with the Wonderbolts show tomorrow, I'm all out of single rooms for the out-of-town spectators. I do have a few double rooms, but they are expensive. One hundred and fifty bits each."

"One hundred and fifty bits?!" Gilda screeched, "That's highway robbery!"

"We'll split the double," Midi cut in, pushing Gilda aside, then fishing out 75 bits from his tail.

Gilda was about to protest when she saw Midi take out the bits. "Uh, yeah, what he said." She reached into the coin purse under her wing and took out her half of the bill.

The pony nodded and took the bits. "Very happy to be of service." He hoofed them the key to their room. "Room two thirteen on your left. Enjoy your stay."

"Yeah, whatever," Gilda said lowly.

The pair found their room on the second floor and went inside, then simultaneously gasped at what they saw. Directly in front of them was a single queen-size bed.

Gilda spoke first. "You get the floor."

"What?!" Midi cried, "Hey, I paid as much as you did!"

"I've got less money than you," said Gilda.

"Only cuz you had to go all pork mignon at dinner and not just get something filling," Midi said, folding his arms.

"That's cuz you have no taste." Gilda harumphed and turned her head away from him.

An elderly stallion behind them chuckled, pulling their attention. "So, how long have you two been married?" He chuckled again as the young 'couple' spun on their heels.

Gilda's jaw dropped. "Wh-what? Married?! How could--"

Midi got a sly grin as he looked at Gilda out of the corner of his eye. "Come on, dear, you've been on your feet all day. I'll give ya a wing rub." He brushed past her and tickled her with his tail.

Gilda's head snapped towards the cocky rodent. "Why you little--wait, did you say a wing rub?"

The elderly pony tottled away, still laughing softly to himself as Gilda went into the room and shut the door with her hind paw. She pushed Midi aside with her rump and leapt into the bed, splaying herself over the whole thing.

"Ahhh, all mine," she said and relaxed.

Midi popped up and scowled at Gilda. "You're really making me sleep on the floor?"

Gilda smiled and rubbed her cheek on the pillow. "Mhmm."

Midi grinned and sat Indian style, holding himself up in the air with his tail and slowly waving side to side. "Hey, Gilda."

"Hm?" Gilda opened one eye and looked at Midi, then propped herself up with her elbow. "Cute, but I still get the bed."

The squirrel rolled his eyes and lowered himself back down to the ground.

"Dude, you need to explain the tail," Gilda said.

Midi stroked his chin. "Hmm... gimme a pillow and I'll talk."

Gilda pulled both the pillows close against her. "No way, man. These are mine."

"Okaaaay, no tale about the tail then~!" Midi laid his tail overhimself like a blanket and curled up in a ball underneath. He reached in and pulled out the folder given to him earlier and began reading it.

Gilda lay there in defiance until she couldn't take it anymore, then threw the pillow at Midi's face. "There, have your stinking pillow! Now you gonna talk or what?"

Midi put the pillow under his head and smiled in triumph. "Have you ever heard of subspace?"

"No."

"Well," Midi explained, "my friend, who's a physics major, told me that subspace is basically space inside of space, like a box inside a box. The weird thing is that that box is larger than the box it's inside of."

Gilda put a talon over her forehead. "Ugh, thinking about that is gonna give me a headache."

Midi chuckled. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, my tail has one of those in it. Don't ask me how; I was born with it. I can store all kinds of stuff as long as they aren't too big to fit through the weird portal thingy."

"So I'm guessing I can't go in there?" Gilda asked.

"Hah, nope. Sorry princess." Midi laughed, but was cut off by Gilda grabbing him around his neck and pulling him up.

She held him beak to muzzle and glared death into his eyes. "What did you call me?!"

Midi choked and caughed in Gilda's grip.

"If you ever call me princess again, I will tear out your bowels and stuff them down your own throat. Got it?"

"Okie," Midi squeaked.

Gilda dropped him to the ground and rolled over to face away from the squirrel, grumbling to herself.

Midi rubbed his neck and groaned. "Jeesh, what's her problem?" He went back to reading the case document and spoke up again a few minutes later. "Hmm, this is interesting."

"What?" Gilda mumbled.

"It says here everypony who was robbed by Jack was either rich or just looked rich. Also, everypony described Jack as looking different; all they know is he's a unicorn."

"It was dark and ponies have bad eyesight. So what?" said Gilda.

"Well, don't you think it's odd that he only goes for rich ponies?" Midi asked.

"No," said Gilda, "Rich people have more to take. It's as simple as that."

Midi raised an eyebrow. "You haven't been chasing criminals that long have you?"

"Right, and how long have you?"

"Since I was fourteen," Midi replied, "I'm sixteen now. I know that's not very long, but still, it's long enough to know that thieves aren't picky like this unless they have a reason."

Gilda was impressed to hear that Midi, being only a couple years younger than her, had already been doing what he did from such a young age. "OK, so what do you think the reason is here?"

"Well, aside from the obvious fact that they have more to take," Midi theorized, "it could be that they have a bone to pick with rich people, or maybe it's a more noble cause; only stealing from people they think can afford it. So that's two totally different motives.

"Then there's the part about the different descriptions. Multiple suspects? Maybe, but then why are they all unicorns? Is it a unicorn-only group?" Midi shook his head. "I dunno. Catching one might be enough to get the bounty, but it won't solve the problem of ponies getting injured."

"Isn't the bounty what we're here for, though?" Gilda asked.

"Nope," said Midi, "We can't just take the money without doing anything to solve the problem."

"Hey, the bounty says catch Jack the Tripper, so that's what we're gonna do," Gilda said firmly, "If somepony else wants to don the mantle, then fine by me. We did our job."

Midi frowned. "That's not my job. I don't stop until I find the root of the problem and burn it out. I'm gonna find the leader of this group and bring him to justice, and when I do that, then I'll collect my bounty. Not before."

"Well then it looks like we'll be parting ways tomorrow," said Gilda, "I dunno about you, but I've only got enough money on me to see the Wonderbolts tomorrow and then head home. If we don't catch this Jack guy by then, bye-bye squirrelly."

"Fine," Midi said as he put the folder away, "But I'm not leaving this town until I find this guy or a bigger problem pops up." He laid down and rested his head on the pillow. "Whelp, goodnight, Gilda."

"'Night."