Author's Note

Now that Cadance knows of where exactly her husband is, it's time to suit up and go find him... yet, if only something like that were so simple...
-Frost

07- Mayday!

After finding out the truth about where her husband was, Cadance’s first reaction… was not one that Photo Finish saw as ‘productive’ or uplifting. She had spent the last ten minutes crying her eyes out and using up close to two tissue boxes as she heard the pegasus try to speak through her sadness. “I-i felt like I was the one who let this happen, you know… The new car, getting in shape…” She weeped, taking another tissue as Coco pushed the tissues that were already used into the built in incinerator. “The blonde mane hair, the lies… And now I’m losing him!”

“Yes, it is quite difficult.” Photo Finish replied.

“Sensitivity.” Coco spoke.

Yet, despite all attempts in order to try and sound sensitive and helpful… One sentence from the crying pegasus did not settle right with the suit designer. “Oh, w-what am I going to do?”

“What are you talking about!?” Photo spoke, taking her glasses off, showing her twitching left eye.

It was in that moment that two things happened. One, Cadance looked back at her with a confused expression. Two, Coco placed what appeared to be a magazine that she had finished reading on the table next to where Photo was at. “What are you going to do!?! YOU ARE AMOROUS!!” Grabbing the magazine and rolling it up, she now began to smack the upside of Cadance’s head. “My goddess, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!!”

“Oww! Oww!! Oww!!” Cadance said, putting her hands up in self defense. “Photo, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing? I’m knocking some SENSE into you!!! That’s WHAT I am doing!!” Photo snapped, going as far as to stand up on the table and tower over Cadance as she began to explain what Cadance should actually be doing. “You know where he is, so GO!! Show him that he is Iron Steed and remind him of who exactly YOU ARE!! GO!! CONFRONT THE PROBLEM HEAD ON! FIGHT!! TRIUMPH!!!”

Afterwards, she gave the magazine back to Coco for her to put away as she stepped off the table and looked back towards the pegasus. “And make sure to call me when you come back home, dear. I enjoy our visits.”

Not long after coming home, Cadance looked towards Flurry as she pulled down what looked like a duffel bag from her closet as she was explaining a series of specific instructions to her daughter. “We have a lot of food that you can reheat in the microwave, make sure that Val does his homework and remember. Both of you need to get to bed on time… I’ll be back this evening. Late. You think you can be in charge for that long, Flurry?”

In response, a rather confused Flurry looked back at her mother as the crystals on her back began to move up to her shoulders. “Yeah but… why exactly am I in charge of the house again?”

“Nothing… just some trouble with your dad-”

“By that, do you mean he’s in trouble… or he literally is the trouble?” The unicorn then asked as Cadance was about to step out of the room and head back towards her bedroom.

“What I mean…” The pegasus began to clarify as she turned back around to look at her daughter directly. “Either he is already in trouble… or he’s going to be once I find him.”

It was shortly after saying those words that the pegasus began to pack her travel bag. The three suits that Photo gave her were neatly folded and spread out on the bed. But just as she was adjusting one of arm gauntlets on her wrist to see how it would fit her, she began to realize one small mistake.

Leaving the door open for Valiant to see.

“WOAH!!! WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE COSTUMES, MOM!?” He yelled in excitement, running and grabbing the one that would fit him. Yet, before he could leave, Cadance’s gauntlet fired a small bolt that slammed the door closed as he tried to make his escape.

“Val, give that back right now-.” Unfortunately, the moment that she heard the phone ring, the pegasus was distracted and provided Val just enough time to grab one of the other suits and escape through the door. “Bronze? Hi! Thanks for getting back! I know this seems short notice but I was hoping that-”

Unfortunately, around that point was when both Flurry and Valiant came into the room. Valiant with his suit on while Flurry had… some questions.

“Uh, mom, what is this about?” The eldest daughter asked.

The pegasus stopped speaking for a moment as she looked back at her daughter, before asking the pony on the other end a simple question. “Bronze, could you please hold for a moment?” She asked, just as she saw Valiant trying to do heroic poses next to a mirror. “Val, take that off before somepony see you!!”

“But you have one just like this…” Flurry pointed out as Cadance tried to hide it from her. “Are you not telling us something?”

“Aw please, sweetie. I’m on the phone and-” As she was trying to talk, that’s when Valiant snatched the suit out of his mom’s hand and gave it to Flurry Heart. “Val!! What did I just say-?!”

“Check it out! Mom's got one for you as well!” Valiant spoke.

Now was when Cadance was getting irritated. Using her wings and pegasi weather magic, she conjured up a light wind to blow the two of them out the door to her room. “You’re not coming with me! You’re staying right here and that’s final!!” Before they could go for the door, Cadance shot two bolts from her wrist. One was to shut the door closed. The other was a polyester bolt that sealed the door so the two of them could not barge in again. All that before she finally was able to get back on the phone.

The pony she was calling was Bronze Wing. An earth pony that was not only an excellent mechanic, but also a master at flying aircraft. She was Cadance’s teacher in how to pilot an airship for when on long trips because of the possibility that her wings might tire out on her. One time though, she gave him a hand at helping him with something important All in exchange for a favor.

And now, she was cashing that favor in. “Sorry about that… Bronze, remember that favor you owed me. Well, it looks like I need to cash that in.”

“Wow… and just when I thought you had forgotten about me,” The stallion chuckled. “So, what do you need Cadance?”

“I need an airship. One that's quick and fast… Got something?”

“Let me see…”

Around the same time that Cadance was on the phone, both Flurry and Valiant were looking at each other for a moment as the mare looked down at the suit that she was holding. “So… why do you think mom had something like this for us?”

“I don't know. Maybe it's for something neat?”

“Really? What, you think she’s going to make us attend one of those convention things whenever she comes home with dad?” Flurry asked him, only leading to Valiant shrugging as he looked back at her.

“Don’t look at me… Why do you think mom tried to hide it from us?” Her brother then asked her. Which, had Flurry look back at the suit before placing an arm in one of the sleeves. Conjuring some crystals as they punctured holes in the fabric.

Only for the suit to repair itself the moment that Flurry call the crystal shards back. Causing her to gasp out of sheer shock. “W-what the?”

“Whoah! Cool!... What can my suit do!?”

“Don’t look at me! How am I supposed to know how yours works?!” Flurry replied back, before she noticed Valiant trying to snap his fingers and use his powers with the suit on. Only to watch as she saw what appeared to be small electrical fields come from his hands. “Val… what do you think mom’s actually doing?”

“Oh yeah… you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“What exactly are you thinking?” Flurry then asked her brother. Anytime that Valiant was thinking of something, it meant that he was going to do something that got him… or in this case, them, in trouble.

And the grin that was on his face was not helping.

After getting her bag ready and proceeding to the airport, Cadance realized that the only thing that Bronze had available for her was a standard passenger airship. Though, there were some added modifications just in case that she got herself in trouble, but it seemed highly unlikely that she would ever need to use those features.

While she was in the air though, she attempted to try and message the radio tower that was on the island that she found when using the tracker that she got from Photo. “Island approach, this is the E.S.S Neighagra Falls, checking in VFR on top, over?”

All that she got back was what sounded like static. Which, did not entirely sound good to Cadance’s ears as she tried again. “Island tower, this is the E.S.S Neighagra Falls requesting vectors to the initial… over?”

Again, more static. But around now, she thought that she could put the ship on Auto Pilot and change into her suit. Though, as she unzipped the bag, she refrained herself. “Easy now… Easy Cadance. Everything’s just fine. They’re just… all getting lunch… Together.” After having that thought process for a few moments, she let out a deep sigh. Giving in as she activated the auto-pilot controls for the airship and proceeded to the bathroom behind the captain’s cabin.

Meanwhile…

Shining Armor was slowly beginning to open his eyes as he felt something clamp down on his hands and feet. His vision adjusting as he looked to find himself encased in what looked like black crystals as he found it hard to move. Getting an idea, he tried to turn into his metal form… but a few moments afterward, he felt himself being pulled apart.

Only one thing could come into mind when he looked back at the restraints and turned back to normal. Ferro Magnetic energy. It was coursing through the crystals… and if he tried to transform now, they would end up tearing him apart. So his only real choice here was to stay where he was and wait until somepony else happened to show up.

Of course, that somepony happened to be Bloodstone. And when the doors opened, that was when Shining saw two desks to the left and right of where he was being held. And at the controls… was none other than Fleur de Lis.

But before he could say a thing, that was when Bloodstone spoke up. “You there! You are definitely the Iron Steed for sure,” He proclaimed, holding his arms behind him as the villain approached the captured hero. “I must admit, back then, I was right to see you as my idol… I mean, I always knew that you were strong and tough… but tricking my inquiry stone by hiding behind the skeleton of another super?! I still find that as both surprising and hard to believe!!”

However, there was a brief pause… and then the tone in his voice began to change. “But then you had to mess it all up… I mean, I thought your motto was that you always flew solo! But you last night were all like ‘help me! Help me! SOS!!! SOS!!’,” The villain went as far as to imitate Shining and the words he was saying to make it sound more like a damsel in distress… before raising his voice. “That is just straight up PATHETIC!!! Alright, WHO DID YOU REACH OUT TOO?!”

“Reach out? I don't know what you're talking about.” Shining replied in pure confusion. All that had Bloodstone do was snap his fingers as one of the guards pressed a button at their desk. Seconds later, hundreds of gigawatts of electricity began to course through Shining Armor briefly, forcing him to cry out in pain.

“What I am talking about was about what you were doing last night, around midnight. While you were sneaking around and trying to find out more information on what was going on,” Bloodstone said, before pointing a finger at him as he spoke. “YOU send out an emergency signal!!”

“I… don't know… how that happened.”

Again, another snap and another surge of electricity. This time it was much higher than normal and considered to be lethally dangerous to the normal pony. “You don’t know?! Well, maybe you can give us context of how A ROYAL PARLIAMENT AIRSHIP knows where we are and why it is now requesting to dock here!! WHO DID YOU REACH OUT TOO!?!”

“I don't know… who contacted me…” Shining could only wheeze. Leaving a disgruntled Sombra to look back towards where Fleur de Lis was sitting at.

“Play the transmission! Maybe hearing it will jog his tired memory…” Fleur’s only response was a small nod as she pressed the center of the keyboard. And shortly afterwards, the intercepted transmission that they received echoed throughout the entire room.“Island tower, this is the E.S.S Neighagra Falls requesting vectors to the initial… over?” Shining gasped as he heard the voice.

“Cadance.”

Bloodstone, upon hearing that, could only smirk as he walked over to the desk where Fleur de Lis was at. “So… It looks like you know who they are after all… Well,” He now moved his hand to what looked like a ruby colored button on the dashboard as his finger pressed down on it. “I guess I’ll just send them a proper greeting.”

After Cadance had gotten herself suited up, all that she had left to put on was her mask and return back to the cockpit of the ship to put it off of auto pilot. Seeing as that her bag just contained the clothes that she was wearing earlier, the mare just tossed it aside towards one of the seats behind her.

Little did she know that it didn’t just land on something… but somepony. “Oww!! What the hay?!”

Cadance gasped at that upon realizing who exactly was on board… and the fact that a crystal was now pierced through the bag that had her clothes. “Flurry!!”

“It's not my fault!” Flurry stood up, taking her mom’s now ripped clothing off of her shards. “Valiant ran away and I had to-”

“That's not how it went!” Valiant shouted, popping right out from behind one of the back seats. Both kids began to yell and talk over each other, making Cadance stop them when she realized one thing.

“Wait a minute… you left Skyla alone!?”

Both children looked at one another, before looking back to Cadance as Flurry began to speak. “What are we, crazy? Of course we got her a sitter!”

“Yeah, that’s right. We got her a sitter before both of us followed you!” Valiant then added on. Oddly enough, that subject was the one thing that the two of them could seem to agree on… but it left Cadance with one new question.

“Okay… Well, who did you get?” That question… left Flurry with a look of embarrassment on her face, all while Valiant just smirked.

“Remember that boy in Flurry’s class? Pound Cake?” He said, getting a small glance from his sister. “Well, his sister works as a baby sitter…” He then went on to explain a bit about them making sure to pay her for her work, how she got here really quickly and even gave Cadance one of her home made business cards. Which, prompted the pegasus to use the on board phone to call the babysitter. Pumpkin Cake.

Of course, the moment that Cadance called, Pumpkin could not stop trying to assure her that she had things all under control. “You don’t need to worry about a single thing, Misses Heart! I got this whole baby sitting thing figured out. I’ve taken numerous classes, CPR lessons and even all the optional items in order to make sure I can be prepared for anything…”

“Pumpkin…”

“I mean, I even have Moztrot on me to play when she sleeps, and according to recent studies from Canterlot University, playing Moztrot while they sleep makes babies smarter!”

“Pumpkin…”

“I mean, I wish I had my parents or our babysitter play Moztrot in the Cafe while they were raising my brother and I because now half the time I try to listen to Pinkie Pie, I barely even know what she’s talking about nowadays!”

Now though, Cadance was able to get her to listen as she was able to properly speak a full sentence. “Pumpkin, I don’t really feel so… comfortable with this. If you would like, I can pay you for your trouble when I get back, but I would really like to call a service-”

“Come on now, you don’t need to worry about me! I got this babysitting thing handled! Once you’re back, I’ll surprise with you with how well taken care of Skyla here is,” She proclaimed, before saying something else over the phone. Which sounded like her talking with Skyla. “Who’s a good baby? You’re a good baby! Yes you are!! Yes you are!!”

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Upon hearing the noise from the cockpit, Cadance rushed over to the cabin and realized what was going on. A pair of projectiles were being picked up on the radar and now we're headed straight towards them. Immediately, she jumped for the controls and flipped off the auto-pilot setting and flicked another switch. “E.S.S. Neighagra Falls, relaying to the Blind Garden. Disengage! I repeat, disengage!”

Now a sign lit up in the cabin where Flurry and Valiant were at. Telling them to fasten their seatbelts. But before they could even get buckled in, Cadance had to make a sharp right turn to launch out a series of chaff flares. Throwing the two of them around the cabin like they were loose luggage. Cadance herself, since the flares she fired only stopped one of the incoming projectiles, proceeded to take the ship into a deep nose dive and heading straight towards the ocean. Before pulling up just as they were close to the surface.

The other missile collided with the water, but it was as Cadance used the ships thrusters to pull back up, two more of them appeared on her radar. “Disengage, repeat DISENGAGE!!”

From where he was being held, Shining was horrified to hear what was going on. Sombra’s ‘greeting’ for Cadance was an all out attempt to shoot her and the ship that she was on out of the sky! It was something that he couldn’t bear to let happen. “NO!! Please, stop this! I’ll do anything!!”

“Sorry, but… too late!” Sombra said, before glaring directly at him with a venomous look on his face. “Fifteen years too late.”

“Friendlies at 3-0 miles south-southeast of your position! Eagles ten, track east! Disengage, over!” She said, before thinking of an idea as she grabbed something that was on the seat and looking back towards Valiant. “Val, put this on!! I need both of you to help me out right now!!”

That something happened to be Valiant’s mask as he looked back at her. “A mask!? What's that going to do, mom!?”

“It’s not any ordinary one-!” Cadance said, before hearing something crash with the side of the hull. “Just put it on! I need both you and your sister to use your powers to help protect the ship!!” Valiant hastily put his mask on. But it was Flurry that soon had doubts.

“But you said we weren’t supposed to use our powers-!”

“I know what I said!! Listen to what I’m saying right now! Val’s mask is supposed to help him with his powers, so help him find a way to keep this ship stable-!” Cadance shouted back, before getting back on the radio and having the ship perform evasive maneuvers. “Disengage, repeat disengage!!”

Scanning area. A robotic voice was heard through Valiant’s mask, making the colt jump.

“What th-?” Valiant yelled in surprise.

“Language!!!” Cadance shouted.

Updating now.

“Come on, Val! Hurry up!!” Flurry told him before proceeding to the stairs and onto the top deck of the airship. Her crystals growing much longer now as if she was preparing for a fight.

“It's updating!” Valiant screamed. “What's up with this-!?” He stopped as Cadance pulled up. Almost causing them to slip and fall as Flurry tried to shoot some of her crystals to send the missiles crashing down. However, with the speed they were going at, she kept on missing as they got closer.

“Abort! Abort! Abort!” Cadance repeated herself, trying to get their attention. “Mayday! Mayday! E.S.S. Neighagra falls has been shadow spiked! There are children aboard!! I repeat-”

“-There are children aboard!! I repeat, there are children aboard!!” At her desk, Fleur de Lis’ eyes widened immensely at the alarming new details. However, Bloodstone remained unfazed.

“NO!!! STOP!!!” Shining screamed in both pain and terror. “I'LL DO ANYTHING!!! ANYTHING!!!”

“Like I already said before… too late!” Bloodstone replied. “Fifteen years too late.”

“Both of you, get back inside!!” Amorous shouted, leaving the ship on auto pilot and ditching the controls. But it was just as she left the cabin and got back up with Valiant and Flurry that the rockets converged on the front of the ship. Blowing the entire front hall to pieces as it left all three of them plummeting into the ocean below. With debris falling all around them as they were in free fall.

Though… there was one thing that did happen. Update completed. Projecting creation choices now.

Valiant’s eyes widened as blueprints and schematics flashed right before his eyes, with a targeting ridicule that highlighted objects, quickly revealing the context it. Looking around, he noticed both Flurry and Cadance were unconscious, unable to react.

“Mom! Flurry! Wake up!” He screamed.

Device for waking. Pieces found. Valiant’s mask highlighted various small pieces. With only a few moments to spare, he used his powers to get the pieces, feeling both stronger and faster doing so, and easily followed the instructions to piece it together. What came about was a small, pipe bomb looking device, which let out an ear piercing sound. Cadance woke up, seeing they were just a few feet from colliding with the ocean.

“W-wha-?” She said, before realizing what was going on and using her wings to fly above the ocean. Going as far as to catch Flurry and hold onto her before looking towards Valiant. “Val, you-”

Pieces found for watercraft vehicle. Stand by.

Valiant slowed down his descent, as though the plane came crashing down onto them, various pieces started to fly over and around them, quickly assembling into a watercraft.

Attachment possible. Propellor fan. As Valiant looked to his left, he saw one of the fans that was once on the back of the airship had broken off and was slowly beginning to sink in the water. Cadance landed on the craft, a bit surprised at how Photo and Coco’s designs actually worked. She placed Flurry down, who woke up screaming.

“WE'RE GONNA DIE!!! GAME OVER!!!”

“Flurry, calm down, we’re okay…” Cadance told her, placing her hands on her shoulders for a moment as she turned her head to watch Valiant use his powers to lift up the propellor that was in the water and attach it to the back to the boat alongside what looked like some kind of motor. “Your brother saved us.”

Flurry looked at her mom, then to Valiant, and back. “... This is all a dream. I’m home, asleep, ready for a test tomorrow and-” Valiant pinched her. “OW!!!”

“You're welcome.” Valiant replied sarcastically.

“Both of you quit it, this isn’t the time to be messing with each other,” Amorous sternly told the two of them, while also noticing the lines of smoke that were in the sky. Pointing a finger at them as she realized what it was. “Hmm… Those were homing missiles. Long range. That’s where we’re going.”

“Hold on… you want us to go straight for the ponies that tried to blast us out of the sky?” Valiant then asked. “Aren’t we supposed to go away from them?”

“Well, if it means land… and if it leads to where your father is, then yes.” The pegasus replied back, before looking towards Flurry. “Remember when I told you that your father was in trouble?”

The pegasus nodded her head for a small moment, before realizing something. “Wait… you meant that literally?”

All that did was cause Cadance to nod her head as Valiant now looked towards her. “So, are you expecting for us to row oars all the way over there?”

That just had Cadance look back at her for a moment, before thinking of an idea as she looked towards Flurry and back towards where Valiant had the propellor. “I expect for the two of you… to trust me. I have an idea… Flurry, how much magic can you put into one of your crystals.”

“Um… maybe enough to last for a couple hours… why?”

That was when Amorous explained what exactly she had in mind so they could be able to reach landfall. “Have your brother make a small engine that runs on crystals and attach it to the fan. It’s going to get us there faster so we don’t need to row oars.”