No Two Flakes

By Mist

Chapter XII

Tonight was a big night for everyone. With only a few days before Christmas, Pinkie had sent out invites days ago for a huge party she was planning. She pulled a few strings with a friend of hers’, a DJ that hooked her up with a gathering place for all of their mutual friends for said party.

“So, you think you can make this happen?” Pinkie asked her DJ friend whom was finishing taking notes.

The other girl jotted down the remainder of her notes and looked up, adjusting her expensive Oakley sunglasses that were perched upon her chiseled nose. Looking close enough, one could see her reddish eyes shining behind them.

“Shouldn’t be an issue, the studio has a giant center downstairs that would be perfect for this set up, I can pull some strings and make this happen. This shit is going to be insane.” The DJ responded.

Pinkie smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Vinyl. I know this party is going to be incredible.”

Vinyl chuckled and nodded as well as she placed her planner down. “So, what’s new in the life of Pinkie?”

Pinkie grinned and winked mischievously as she stood up to go and fetch another soda after downing her previous one. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Vinyl sat up intrigued. “Ooooh, something juicy then?”

With a laugh, she responded from the kitchen. “Nah, just me and a friend hooking up a lot, I suppose.”

“Damn girl, you get more tail than I do.” Vinyl pouted.

Returning from the kitchen, Pinkie popped open the soda and sat down back in her seat on the couch. The two had been sitting in Pinkie’s apartment for some time now discussing this party.

“I take it you and Octavia are still on a break or something?” Pinkie responded.

Vinyl frowned and looked to the floor with a defeated expression. “To be honest… I don’t really know what is going to happen with that. Octavia has been avoiding me since I got out of prison, and truthfully… I’m not really sure I am ever going to convince her to hear me out. She’s pretty livid about the whole thing and despite a good few weeks passing, she hasn’t really calmed down about it like I thought she would...” Vinyl sighed and shook her head. “I think I may have fucked that up for good.”

Giving her a reassuring wink, Pinkie tried to lift her spirits. “Just keep trying. If you truly love her, she’ll realize it soon enough.”

Vinyl chuckled sheepishly before brushing her long blue hair with her hand. She could feel the shaved size of her head’s stubble hairs as she did so. Her hair was a lot longer than Pinkie remembered it, Vinyl used to keep more of a pixie cut, but since she came back from prison, she had decided to go with a longer side cut look with her hair being tied at the end as she kept it to one side. She had gone for blue this time and surprisingly had kept it that way for a while. The party planner had known her to change the color more regularly.

“Truthfully, my life is kind of weird right now. I have no idea what I’m going to do...” Vinyl admitted.

Pinkie just shrugged. “Do what I do.”

“And that is?”

Sitting back down she offered Vinyl a drink, but she declined. “Just do things and don’t question it. It sounds like you spend too much time worrying about what’s out of your control. Just focus on what you can control and let the rest fall into place.”

Somehow that advice calmed her a little. “I suppose you’re right… Thanks.” Vinyl replied with a genuine smile crawling up on her face this time.

Before everyone knew it, Pinkie’s big before Christmas party that she had been planning for some time was finally upon them. With only three days before the holiday, Pinkie pulled every string she could to get the best of the best for all of her friends and acquaintances. Invitations were sent out to friends, friends of friends and so many more. The turnout was far larger than many anticipated and the large basement center that Vinyl’s record studio provided while massive felt tiny with so many people showing up.

There were at least two hundred guests of varying ages along with over two dozen party staff members keeping the order and handling the party favors. On top of that, live music was provided by the studio and the studio staff showed up as well to join the festivities.

Among her friends, Pinkie was known for finding a way to not only get the word out, but getting people to show up. No one quite understood her secret, but it was obvious she had talent when it came to this.

Arriving just after the party had started was a rather plain dressed Applejack, who was spending a good amount of time looking around the scene for a familiar face, with no such luck. While she knew her and Cloudchaser weren’t on the most ideal terms, she still wanted to see her there. Though part of her feared bumping into her as she had no idea what she would say.

After poking her head around she finally got the nerve to ask Fluttershy whom she had run into.

“Y’all seen Cloudchaser?” AJ asked.

Brushing her luscious hair out of her face, Fluttershy chirped such a quiet response that it was nearly impossible to hear her over the loud music, Applejack had to practically shout to get Fluttershy to hear her, but the quiet girl seemed to refuse to break her volume barrier even in a setting like this. Leaning in closer with an open ear, Applejack was just barely able to catch what Fluttershy was saying. “No… She told me she wasn’t coming. She said she’d rather stay home… Sounded pretty upset about something...”

“Did she tell ya’ what?” Applejack asked, already guessing the answer.

Fluttershy shook her head as she sipped some punch from a clear plastic cup she held. Finishing her sip she provided a further explanation. “No, sadly. I didn’t want to pry...”

Applejack frowned and nodded in understanding.

“Did you need something from her?” Fluttershy questioned.

Shaking her head, Applejack gave a dismissive gesture. “It’s nothin’. Enjoy the party.”

Fluttershy nodded in response before Applejack took her leave, placing herself at the counter of where all the beverages were being served. It took a moment, but a red head that she recognized who was donning her trademark bow in her hair stood next to her finishing off a cup of something. The young teen turned to AJ with a chipper smile. “Oh, hey sis! Haven’t seen y’all in some time. What’s shakin’?”

Applejack could smell alcohol on her and raised a concerned brow. “Y’all been drinkin’, Applebloom?”

She snickered and winked. “Only a sip or two, hard to get booze when yer’ under age an’ all.” She sounded like she was pouting.

“Does your aunt know ‘bout that drink?” Applejack quizzed, rather surprised by this behavior.

“Oh please, Aunt Orange wouldn’t know if ‘Ah was an alien come to suck her brains out.” Applebloom replied.

She wanted to be more concerned as she didn’t expect this from her little sister, but her mind was in other places. “’Ah see… ‘Ah guess ‘Ah didn’t notice how much y’all have changed...”

Applebloom shrugged as she adjusted her simple white dress. “People change. There’s a lot y’all don’t know ‘bout me, but that’s alright. Truth is, Ah’ve always been this way, no one ever noticed before is all.”

“Y’all ain’t worried about yer’ aunt findin’ out?” Applejack blinked.

Applebloom retrieved something from the inside of her bra and shrugged again. “Y’all can’t waste life worried about what others think.” She gestured for Applejack to follow her if they wished to keep talking.

Obeying, Applejack followed her teenage sister to the emergency stairwell away from the crowd. Once the door was closed behind them, Applebloom opened her hand to reveal a cigarette and a lighter. The cigarette quickly got perched between her lips and she flicked the lighter. Applejack gave her a surprised expression to which Applebloom blinked and offered her one. Refusing, Applejack kept her expression. With a shrug and a laugh, she broke the silence, “Well ‘Ah figured since it wasn’t a secret at this point.”

Applejack sighed and calmed down, realizing it wasn’t worth scolding her given that she really wanted to ask her something else.

“Hey… Kinda’ random but like… If y’all really cared about someone, but you just couldn’t get over always worryin’ about them… What would y’all do?” Applejack asked.

Taking a long drag, Applebloom exhaled as she spoke. “Y’all mean that punk rocker girl?”

“Cloudchaser...” Applejack assumed that Applebloom had heard about her from their mutual friends.

“So you decided y’all are finally gonna tell me about the two of you bein’ a thing?” Applebloom asked.

Applejack blinked and felt her heart pound faster and faster as she panicked. “Y-y’all knew about that…?”

With a smirk, she responded with, “Now ‘Ah do.”

The elder sister gave an awkward face and looked down. “She jus’… She worries me… Ya know?”

Applebloom didn’t even turn to her sister, instead she puffed her cigarette again and gave a simple response. “All ‘Ah know is if y’all love her, then ya’ should be with her.”

“Y’all don’t think our family will kick up a fuss?” Applejack asked.

Inhaling and exhaling the younger sibling laughed with a cough. “Fuck ‘em. Mac used to get on me for Scootaloo bein’ a bad influence, but that never stopped me. If y’all love her, then Ah’m behind ya’, and if’n they don’t like it, Ah’ll at least stand with ya’.”

Applejack nodded and headed towards the door suddenly. “Where ya’ goin’?” Applebloom quizzed.

“Somewhere, ‘Ah gotta be.” She replied as she made her exit.

Taking the last puff of her cigarette, Applebloom tossed the butt onto the ground and stepped on it with her flats as she talked to herself. “That Cloudchaser girl definitely could make me give it a shot.”

Preening herself in a bathroom mirror, Rarity made sure her makeup was up to par. She had decided on a big ponytail for the party, and a slightly shorter dress than usual, should the prospect of having to actually dance arise. In the mirror, the light glinted off of her gemstone hair clip as she tried to tame any loose strands. While many marveled at how amazing Rarity looked, her hair was actually rather thick and difficult to tame at times. Satisfied with her look, she reapplied her lipstick and tossed it into her bag.

Within seconds she was surrounded by a party after she left the bathroom. The event was far larger than she imagined, she never really recalled going to an event like this back home, and it certainly was more lively than what she was used to. There was a mixture of overdressed and casual, but Rarity somehow never felt overdressed for any occasion.

She was walking along for a few seconds absent minded until she caught a whiff of a rather strong body spray. It screamed masculine, but was somehow appealing to her. She turned to see its origin from behind her. A rather baby faced teen stood sheepishly and smiled at her. He had actually wore a button up shirt, which she had never seen on him before.

“Spike, it’s nice to see you, darling.” She smiled as she offered him a hug.

It took Spike a moment to register the hug offer, but he cautiously accepted. Letting him go after a brief second, Rarity pulled back a bit to get a better look at him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so… Formal...” She added.

Spike chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yeah… Well… Don’t get used to it.” He commented.

With a playful pinch of his cheek she winked. “Oh stop, you look great.”

“Thanks… You too...” He blushed a bit trying not to meet her eyes as he complimented her.

“Thank you, Spike.” She giggled.

He offered his hand gently, deciding it was best not to beat around the bush. “Care to dance?” He asked boldly.

She looked down at his palm and then back to his face and nodded. “Of course.”

Taking his offer, the two began to converse as they moved together. “I never took you for these kind of parties...” Spike commented.

Rubbing up against him playfully as she moved, she smirked. “A friend recently turned me onto them.”

“You hang out with some interesting people then.” Spike replied, a bit too nervous to put his hands upon her.

Rarity took his hands and placed them on her hips, realizing that he was too polite to do so himself. “What’s wrong? Never danced with a girl before?”

Spike shook his head. “No, actually…”

She leaned in carefully and whispered in his ear. “What else haven’t you done with one?”

His whole body froze up. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t move, everything around him just locked and he felt his heart racing. Spike wasn’t exactly prepared for such a question, not from her and not like that. He could still hear her gentle voice with that soft British accent singing in his ear. Finally he managed to get a stutter out of his mouth. “I… I… Uh… I...”

She laughed and pulled back. “Your face… It’s priceless!” She teased.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, he tried to laugh it off.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell.” She promised.

“T-thanks...” Spike replied.

Swaying slowly with him, she decided it was best to apologize. “Sorry, I was only teasing.”

He shrugged. “It’s cool… I mean I know I’m not exactly the best catch out there… I’m just some guy who came from nothing after all.”

“Sometimes it’s better to come from nothing...” Rarity replied.

“How so?” Spike’s eyebrow went up.

Rarity sighed. “When I was growing up, I had all the money in the world… My parents let me get whatever I wanted… When I came here… For the first time I saw people who lived so poorly… I felt so… Terrible… Terrible that I didn’t know there were people living such awful lives and I was doing nothing about it when I had so much to myself...”

“It’s not your fault though.” Spike defended her.

She nodded. “I know it isn’t, but also… Sometimes I feel like all of this is wasted on me...”

Spike never took Rarity for someone with low confidence. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… Sure I know I’m good looking, smart, and I try to be a good person… But really… I don’t have the same kind of passion that someone like Rainbow has...” Rarity replied.

Spike had noticed he had seen the two together a few times and she had mentioned Rainbow before. He never really thought much of it except that the two were an odd pair, almost polar opposites in his mind.

“How do you figure?” He asked.

“Rainbow may have come from so little… But her hard life has made her stronger… More determined… She’s willing to go many more steps further than I ever would… I’m not sure I’d be strong enough to handle what she handles every day...” Rarity replied.

“What does she handle?” Spike was actually starting to get more and more curious about Rainbow’s secrets.

Rarity leaned in closer so that she could hush her voice a bit with the music so loud. “This stays between us… But Rainbow’s brother who more or less raised her...”

“Yeah?” Spike said leaning in to hear her better.

“He was murdered.” Rarity revealed.

“Shit...” Spike said before covering his mouth. “Sorry… Didn’t mean to say that...”

“Shit is right…” Rarity said.

Spike had never heard her curse like that before.

“Rainbow promised him she would get out of the ghetto and make a better life for herself… She did that with no one… Rainbow has no family left… She’s alone in the world and yet she pushes on...” Rarity explained.

Taking her in, Spike thought she could use a hug which she accepted. He caught a gentle whiff of her hair which smelled heavenly. “It sounds like she has you at least.” He remarked.

Rarity smiled and closed her eyes for just a minute as she relaxed. Upon opening them she noticed Rainbow out of the corner of her eye preparing to leave the party, still in a familiar black dress. Rarity took notice of a backpack with her, and could see the contour of a pistol on the front pocket.

“Spike… I would love to stay, but there’s something super important I have to do right now. I’m really sorry, but I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t do this.” Rarity said as she pulled from the hug.

She didn’t even give him a chance to respond before making a quick exit. After she was far out of earshot, Spike sighed and sulked, “Bye… I guess...”

Part of him was expecting something like that to happen, especially after their last encounter where it happened before. At this point, Spike knew it was too good to be true.

Snow was starting to fall once again, and it made Rainbow’s fingers twitch a little as she adjusted her gloves. CJ’s house had already had the heat and power shut off, but she decided it was going to be a base of operations while she prepared. She threw her bag onto the table as she slipped out of her dress and unzipped the bag.

The dark skinned girl grabbed the hair hand holding her long thick hair up in a ponytail and pulled it out in a single motion, letting her long locks fall. The girl shook her head to increase her comfort with her hair before retrieving some old black skinny jeans from her bag and a black hoodie.

She slipped the articles on over her slender body. Reaching back into the bag, she retrieved a black winter cap and placed it atop of her head snuggly and adjusted it to ensure it was comfortable.

Her traditional black combat boots were the next piece, and she made sure to lace them up tightly.

Reaching into the bag one more time, she retrieved her pistol and checked the clip to make sure it was loaded. A full clip of twelve rounds rested in the gun. Pushing it back into the weapon, she slipped it into her waistband and covered it up with her shirt. She was determined not to do this the way the police wanted, she would be damned if she let Ice go.

The rest of the way there was a forty minute walk. She had negotiated a deal with the police to help them bring down Ice’s drug ring if she could be involved; otherwise she refused to give them any information. They weren’t thrilled about the idea, but eventually they caved in and agreed to allow her assistance so long as she followed their rules and did as they instructed.

Upon arrival at the police hold up, they ran Rainbow down on what she would be doing. An older officer handed her an assault rifle and began fastening a headset to her ear. Another began explaining the situation to her.

“Alright, listen closely. You signed a waiver that says we’re not responsible for anything that happens to you, however for your own safety you may want to listen up.” He said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she cocked the rifle and tested aiming it. “Whatever.”

“Keep your head down if they start shooting and don’t try to be a hero. That weapon is not loaded with live rounds. All rubber, designed to take down enemies non-lethally.” He explained.

“So just shoot them in the dick then.” Rainbow joked.

“You’re here as assistance, not a first resort, leave the fighting to the professionals.” He scolded as he walked away. Rainbow just rolled her eyes again knowing she had no intention of doing so when it came to Ice.

“Alright, Rainbow, you’re with us.” One of the other officers said as he gestured for her to join a group of fully equip warriors ready for a battle.

Nodding, Rainbow joined the group and readied her weapon. The group briefly went over their plan to break into the back room of Ice’s house that they had located. Ice lived in a rather large two story home near the edge of the neighborhood. The police had parked some distance away so as to not draw attention. They hoped to surprise him by sneaking in the back and taking the place by storm.

Rainbow’s group would be one of the first inside under her insistence. As they got into formation sneaking behind the house, one of the men in front of Rainbow gestured for her to stay behind him when he popped the back door open. She nodded and kept patient as he quickly thrust the door open and unleashed a stream of shots of rubber rounds taking down a small group of men who were taken by surprise. Quickly he shouted for the others to enter over his headset. “We’re in! MOVE MOVE MOVE!”

Everyone followed suit and soon the front door would be burst open with officers, and the windows started getting covered. Rainbow stayed in the back of her group, her weapon raised.

Within a minute, all she could hear was gunfire followed by a broadcast over the radio. “Shit, he’s not here!”

Rainbow poked her head out the back door and noticed a man climbing out of a cellar door making a run for it. Her brain quickly drew the connection to the photo of Ice she had seen and knew it was him. He didn’t even try to get dressed to flee, instead he ran out still in his undershirt and jeans.

Giving chase, Rainbow called out over her headset. “He’s heading out the back, I’m following him.”

After that, she switched her headset off before anyone could object as she knew they would. Running as fast as she could, she hopped over a few snow covered hedges and a fence or two chasing him probably half a mile to the old abandoned glass factory. Back before she was born this town actually had a relatively big business that sold stain glass windows, however when times got hard they went belly up and shut down the factory, it always sat here at the edge of town as a reminder of times past.

Rainbow rushed up to the building to see Ice standing there with some children that had been playing near the area as he stood with a little girl clenched tightly in his left arm, with a handgun in the other pointed to her head. Rainbow stopped in her tracks and kept her weapon pointed at him.

Turning on her headset Rainbow gave her position to the rest of the team. “He’s over near the abandoned factory, he has a child hostage. I repeat, he has a child hostage.”

“Put the girl down.” She instructed plainly.

“Drop your weapon.” He threatened as he pushed his gun tighter to the girl’s skull.

“Not a chance. I’m only going to ask you one more time, put her down.” Rainbow replied.

The child whimpered and tears were streaming down her cold red cheeks. “You’re going to be okay, I promise.” Rainbow tried to calm her.

Ice grunted and lifted the kid off of the ground as he held her tighter. “Are you sure about that?”

“If you kill that little girl, then you are pissing away the only chance you had at living today.” Rainbow threatened.

Before either of them could do anything, a familiar British accent was heard calling out to the group. “Hey!” They yelled trying to create a distraction.

The sound caught Ice’s attention and he quickly turned his gun and fired in the direction of the noise, hitting a young woman sending her to the ground motionless. Rainbow reacted quickly and fired at his hand, knocking his weapon directly out of it with a rubber shot. He released the kid and bolted into the factory. Rainbow could see the police cars arriving at the scene and surrounding the area.

“The hostage is safe; I am going in after him.” Rainbow stated as she took the child’s hand.

“Go to the police little one, okay?” Rainbow instructed as she gently lead her towards the police vehicles arriving. The girl nodded through sobs as she ran. Turning her attention to the woman who got shot, she could see Rarity’s hair on the ground as she laid there motionless.

“You bastard…” Rainbow growled as she ran into the building after him.

Applejack had taken the bus downtown to go to Cloudchaser’s apartment. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but she knew that she had to say something. Applebloom had inspired her to just tell the girl how she felt and see what happened from there.

Walking the small distance from where the bus dropped her off to Cloudchaser’s apartment, Applejack could see smoke in the sky. Turning her walk into a jog, she raced to the scene where fire trucks and emergency vehicles were parked in front of the building.

She craned her neck to try and get a look at what was going on, but no luck. She looked around to see if she could see Cloudchaser anywhere, but found nothing.

Listening carefully she overheard a firefighter's radio. “Sir, there is a handicap woman trapped on the fifth floor. We can’t get to her.”

The moment Applejack heard that, she leapt into action. Pushing her way to the front of the crowd, she ignored the screams of danger from the firefighters and pushed her way into the burning building with gusto. She could hear them demanding she retreat, but she didn’t stop, she kept running as far as her legs would take her.

Climbing the stairs, she rushed to the fifth floor only to be blocked by flames on the stairwell at the fourth floor. Taking a chance, she got a running start and jumped as far as she could through the flames and landed on the other side. She quickly dropped and rolled out a small fire that had started on her jeans before continuing.

Despite the building looking different covered in smoke and fire, she followed her instincts to Cloudchaser’s apartment at the end of the hall. Reaching to her key ring in her pocket, she retrieved the spare key she owned and unlocked the door to get inside. The living room was already completely covered in flames, but she managed to navigate to the bedroom to see a terrified Cloudchaser huddled in the corner with her arms covering her head trembling.

“Cloud, It’s me!” She called out as she stepped closer and offered a hand.

“Applejack!?” Cloudchaser responded as she lifted her head a bit.

“Yeah, take my hand.” Applejack instructed.

Cloudchaser felt around and eventually found Applejack’s hand and took it into her own. Applejack helped her to a stand and held on tightly. “Okay, don’t let go of my hand. Ah’m gonna guide us outta here, alright?”

Cloudchaser simply nodded as she kept close.

Under Applejack’s lead, the two slowly made their way into the living room only for a large piece of the ceiling to cave in and block their path with fallen debris and more fire. “Shit…” Applejack cursed.

“Okay, we gotta make a little detour… Come on, through the window we can use the fire escape.

Not objecting, Cloudchaser allowed Applejack to help her through the window onto the fire escape. Applejack guided her across the escape to the first set of stairs only for a large chunk of the escape above them to fall. Pushing Cloudchaser backwards, Applejack then leapt in the opposite direction to stop either of them from getting hit by the debris. When she stood up, she saw that it took a large hunk out of the entire fire escape putting a sizable five foot or so gap between her and Cloudchaser.

“What just happened!?” Cloudchaser panicked.

“Fuck…” Applejack replied.

“Fuck what? What’s going on?” Cloudchaser was shaking from not knowing what was happening.

“Ummm… Alright… Listen closely Cloudchaser… The fire escape broke… There’s a big hole blocking me from getting’ to y’all… ‘Ah need ya’ to follow my instructions exactly, alright?” Applejack called out from across the hole.

“Alright…”

“’Ah need you to trust me…” Applejack added.

Cloudchaser nodded. “I trust you, AJ.” She responded.

Applejack took a deep breath and exhaled. “’Ah need ya’ to take three steps backward, then get a three step run an’ then I need ya’ to jump as far as y’all can.”

“What!?” Cloudchaser responded.

“Ah’ll catch ya’, ‘Ah promise.” Applejack reassured.

“A-alright… I trust you…” Cloudchaser nervously replied.

She took three very cautious steps backward feeling around with her foot to make sure that she wasn’t walking into the railing. Once she had made the third step she took a few big breaths to mentally prepare herself for this leap of faith. With one last breath she took three full speed steps and leapt as far as she could.

Cloudchaser caught Applejack’s hands who pulled her up from over the ledge. “You did it…” Applejack said as she embraced the girl. “Come on, we gotta go through the window to take the other stairwell down, the fire escape is a no go.”

The two smashed through the neighboring apartment’s window and crawled in. As the two navigated out into the hallway, Cloudchaser stopped Applejack. “Do you hear that?” She asked.

Applejack tried to hear anything that wasn’t the crackling of fire, but to no avail. “Nah, what is it?”

“Shit… It’s Ollie, a kid from a few doors down from me, I can hear him.” Cloudchaser said.

“There’s no time.” Applejack reminded.

Cloudchaser stood unmoving from her position as Applejack tried to pull her to follow. “I’m not leaving him here, damn it!”

Deciding that there was even less time to argue, Applejack nodded. “Alright, we’ll get him, but let’s hurry.”

The duo made their way to the room and Cloudchaser had Applejack use her tremendous strength to smash the door down using her shoulders and a running start. “Ollie? Are you in here?” Cloudchaser called out.

The child poked his head out from behind a couch. Applejack instructed Cloudchaser to wait as she stealthily moved in and retrieved the child. Calming him quickly, she picked him up and carried him out of the room, setting him down next to Cloudchaser who knelt down to his level to speak. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. Applejack is going to get us out of here okay?”

The little boy nodded as her whimpered and Cloudchaser took his hand and then took Applejack’s hand in her free hand. “Lead the way.” She said.

With the three of them, Applejack lead and got them down to the second floor before the staircase was blocked by flames again requiring another detour. She navigated to the hallway only to see debris in the way. She instructed the other two to wait as she moved to the center of the hall to try and lift a large piece of debris out of their way. With some effort, she was able to create a small path for the three to squeeze through, but not quite as quickly as she had liked.

Above her, parts of the ceiling collapsed again and smashed directly through the floor of the hallway leaving nothing but some support beams between her and the others. “Today is not likin’ me…” Applejack complained to herself.

“What happened?” Cloudchaser called out, Ollie screaming and crying.

Applejack looked to the beams seeing a possibility to get across. She could try crossing herself slowly and then leading them back, but she wasn’t 100% confident that they had the time for that. Realizing her best option, she called out to Ollie.

“Ollie! Listen!”

The boy looked up with a whimper.

“’Ah need y’all to be brave right now… Ya’ need to help Cloudchaser across! She can’t do it without ya’!” She instructed.

The kid shook his head and called out to her. “I can’t!”

She responded trying to sound as encouraging as she could. “Ya’ can do it! Ya’ jus’ need to be brave! ‘Ah know y’all can do it!”

Ollie took a few breaths to get himself to stop crying and nodded as he took Cloudchaser’s hand and guided her slowly across the planks. Gently giving her warnings to take it slow as the two crossed. Cloudchaser kept as calm as she could as she put her trust in the boy.

With a little luck, they both managed to get across to Applejack who instantly took their hands and started to guide them through the opening she made, but not before praising the boy for his bravery.

The group was able to make it down the final flight of stairs and push through to the front door and into the crowd of people waiting outside. The firefighters scrambled to surround them and get them as far away from the flames as they could.

A woman ran up to them through the crowd screaming as she grabbed the boy and lifted him. “Ollie!” She yelled.

“Thank you both! Thank you so much!” She yelled as tears fell down her face.

Cloudchaser smiled and nudged Applejack’s shoulder. “Look at that, AJ… You’re a hero.”

Applejack smiled sheepishly and rubbed her shoulder where she was punched. “Yeah… ‘Ah guess so…”

“Thanks for… Saving my life…” Cloudchaser responded awkwardly.

Applejack didn’t know what to say… She couldn’t think of a thing except how she was just glad that she had arrived when she did.

“Don’t mention it.”

Ice rushed to the back of the factory as he kept his head down. Seeing a chance to get out through the back door, all he’d need to do is lift it up and slip out and make a run for it. He’d slip away long before the police realized where he was, and there was nothing that girl could do about it.

Running, he could see the door, just a few more steps and he’d be on his way to freedom, however out of nowhere a woman popped out from behind a machine and swung at him, hitting him in the cheekbone. Staggering a bit, he noticed she was the same girl whom he had shot earlier.

He tried to swing back only for her to dodge and take a boxer stance and swing again, making a direct hit with his other cheek. Brushing off the damage quickly, he took a few jabs, all of which missing causing her to take a few more hits on him, all making direct contact with his head.

Swinging as hard as he could, she ducked down and jabbed him in the gut twice, bringing him down to his knees panting as he tried to catch his breath. The girl kicked him and kept her fighting stance. “Had enough?”

He panted and brought himself up, pulling out a spare firearm he had. “Where did you learn to fight suddenly, bitch?”

She swung quickly and knocked the gun out of his hand and took another punch at his face; a direct hit. He staggered back a few more steps. “I’ve been taking boxing classes since our last encounter and unfortunately for you, I’m a very fast learner, love.”

The conversation was cut short as Rainbow made an appearance. She had dropped her rifle and this time was sporting her signature pistol, gripping it tightly in her left hand, she kept it pointed at Ice as she stepped closer. Ripping her hat off, her eyes darted to Rarity who was sporting a very unusual black hoodie which Rainbow didn’t feel suited her.

“You’re alive?” Rainbow asked confused.

Rarity nodded. “Knowing you’d try and do this without me, I got in touch with the police some time ago. They gave me a bullet proof vest in case things got out of control.”

Rainbow chuckled as she stepped closer, keeping her gun on Ice whom had held still albeit with an uninterested expression on his face. “Looks like we have the upper hand.” She responded.

Ice laughed. “What are you going to do? Hit me with another rubber bullet?”

Rainbow fired directly next to his foot, leaving a hole in the floor. Her gun moved back to him pointed directly at his head. “Do those look rubber to you?”

Ice remained quiet.

“Before we do this, I need to know the truth… Why did you kill my brother?” She quizzed.

“Who the fuck are you talking about, you stupid bitch? I’ve killed plenty of homeboys before, you’ll need to be more specific.” He smirked.

“Years ago, you issued a hit on a little house down the street from the grocery store, do you remember that?” She said.

Ice stood in thought for a moment, trying to recall that incident until it clicked in his head. “Oh yeah… I remember that… Those guys are so fucking stupid, amazing that they didn’t get themselves killed” He laughed.

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow spoke sternly.

“Those retards had the wrong place. They got the wrong house again after that funny enough.” Ice laughed. “Fuckin’ idiots.”

Rainbow’s anger grew. “You mean to tell me… That my brother died for no reason? All because your fucking crew got the wrong fucking house!?”

He shrugged. “A lot of innocent casualties happen in this business, kid. You just gotta learn to deal with it.”

She couldn’t contain it anymore. She took a step closer and gestured to the ground with her gun. “Get on your knees.”

“You ain’t gonna do shit, bitch.” Ice responded.

Rainbow pointed her weapon down and fired at his foot, causing a scream out of him and brought him to a kneel. “I said get on the fucking ground.”

He finally followed the instruction and brought himself onto his knees. Rainbow pointed the gun back at his head and pressed it to his forehead. “Now open your mouth.”

Ice laughed. “Fuck you, bitch.”

Rainbow quickly whipped the hilt of her weapon across his jaw, followed by a second whip from the other side. Blood spewed out of his nose and from his lip as she hit him the second time. “I SAID OPEN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!” She screamed. His mouth opened for a brief moment giving her enough time to shove her weapon directly into it.

“There… How does that taste?” She asked, not actually expecting a coherent answer.

“I’m going to kill you today, but first I want to hear you beg… I want to hear you tell me why you deserve your pathetic life… I want to hear why I should give you the chance that Light never got…” Rainbow went on.

Rarity finally stepped in and got closer. “Rainbow! That’s enough.”

“Stay out of it, Rarity. This is between me and him.” Rainbow hissed.

“Rainbow… I know you… You don’t want to do this…” Rarity approached carefully.

“You don’t know shit. After all he’s done… I can’t let him live…” Rainbow justified as she pushed the gun down his throat more.

“Listen… Ice came to my room and threatened me to my face… I know how you feel… However… You can’t kill him… You promised Ice you wouldn’t turn into a killer like him… He’s not worth breaking that promise, Rainbow.” Rarity explained.

Rainbow remained silent and kept her gun tightly gripped her finger on the trigger.

“Rainbow… You’re not a killer, you don’t have to do this… Give me the gun… Let the police do their job… Please… You don’t want to live with the burden of killing someone over you forever… Not for this… Not for revenge… It’s not worth it…” Rarity coaxed.

Finally listening to reason she nodded and lowered her gun, handing it to Rarity, who took it gracefully and smiled. “You did the right thing…”

Ice laughed and brought himself to a stand. Rarity however pointed the gun directly at him. “I believe the street term is… Get stepping?” She said.

Rainbow laughed. “Close enough I guess…”

Ice smirked. “Oh please… After that speech? You aren’t going to do shit.”

Rarity responded by shooting only a few inches from his head. He jumped back.

“I only told her that she shouldn’t kill you. If you give me a reason, I will end you. You’re going to walk out that door and the police will decide what to do with you. Now get moving before I change my mind…” Rarity threatened, keeping the gun firm.

He laughed as he made his way to the door. “Fine… You made the wrong move, bitch. I’ll be out in a week. I got people that’ll put the pigs in my back pocket.”

“I said move.” Rarity growled.

He turned around and chuckled as he approached the door and began to lift it so he could make his exit, several police cars lined up outside. All he would need to do is put his hands up and surrender and this ordeal would be over.

Rainbow spoke quietly to Rarity. “Thank you… Even if he gets free… You stopped me from doing something I’d regret… At least I know the truth now…”

Rarity kept her gun pointed and her eyes on Ice. “Oh don’t worry, he won’t go anywhere.”

Rainbow raised a brow in confusion as she heard Rarity let off a shot. The bullet didn’t hit anyone, but it made a hole in the pavement outside in front of Ice and the police officers. In a panic, an officer shouted something about returning fire and they all open fired upon Ice with every weapon they had. Blood sprayed out of freshly made holes in the criminal before he tumbled to the ground and didn’t get back up. His body eventually stopped moving and Rarity lowered the gun.

Rainbow looked over to her with a shocked expression, Rarity turned to her with fire in her eyes, and a serious face. “I don’t take kindly to being threatened like that.”

Author's Note

With such a long chapter it was hard to condense it. The original version had a longer fight scene with Ice and Rarity, however for timing's sake it had to be shortened. Though I did enjoy where she kicked him in the balls, that ultimately got cut though because I felt Rarity wanted to show she was a classier fighter than that.