The Great Foal Escape
IC date: Autumn 16
OOC date: October 5
Location: Belly of the Beast
PCs: Makuru, Lavender, Tricker-Treat, Magpie, Fugue, Page, Sadaka, Siyana, Freeze-Frame, Dream-Daze, Spearmint, Dragonheart, Snapdragon, Cross-Redfeather
NPCs: Snakebite, Spin Doctor
GM: Applejack

The past couple weeks have seen a great influx of little foals to the foalworks, to this dungeon, this place of endless running for little legs. Every day for the past couple weeks more cages have been filling. Until the entire room of cages is nearly chock full of misplaced kids. More than half of them are bat-winged foals, but there's a fair chunk of Harbor fillies and colts too, none of them looking too happy to be there.

Yet the past couple weeks have had many whispers among the foals. Whispers of escape and plans to that effect have been bandied about. There's a couple foals able to get locks picked. Another that has skills (and has been sneaky enough to get ingredients for) some sneaky alchemy. There's a couple potential escape routes… All that's left is for the right moment to come along.

For the foals, it's 'morning'. Outside of the cells, to the rest of the world, it's closer to evening. That's what happens when one is using primarily nocturnal ponies for labor. All the foals have been given all day to sleep, soon the attendants will show up with their breakfast cart to pass out little fruit cups to all the foals. After that they'll be expected to run. Right now, at this moment, it's all mostly quiet, save the rustle of many wings and the yawning of many mouths, as the various caged foals wake up from the day's slumber.

Page is awake and, as has been her wont for the last few days, more or less inert. Without any books to read or consult, she's feeling pretty useless, and so has been taking a 'wait for other ponies to come up with something brilliant' mood. She eats her cup of fruit in silence. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Freeze-Frame has somehow still not lost her pudge from all the running she's been forced to do. her dull pink coat is quite grimey, because if nothing else, Freezy does certainly sweat a lot when she does her thing. she's currently snuggled up with hoarfrost, one of her wings protectively outstretched over the sleeping unicorn.

Magpie flops on her back and groans. She waggles her hooves. "I dunno about you," she says to the room in general, "But I'm about ready to leave." She tosses the fruit cup back, sucking it down without really tasting it. "How 'bout you, Page? Ready to do some damage?"

Siyana is dozy in Cross's cage, still trying to wake up. "Mmmnh. I don't wanna run anymore," she whines. "I like Magpie's idea."

Lavender stretches out as she wakes, and nudges Fugue. "It won't be long now. I hope you're ready… Even if you've never saved the day before, we'll all get a chance soon." She ambles to the bars and looks around. "I hope we all make it out okay."

Page looks up from her fruit. "Do we have a plan? If we've got a plan, then I'm for it."

Fugue makes a sleepy noise, wobbling to the nudge Lavender gives him. He tips, then leans towards the filly instead. Mumblemumble "..Gonna save father.." mumble.

Magpie says "We have a plan…ish."

Freeze-Frame blinks and looks up at magpie… she ends up wrestling around with something she has hidden under their cage's Hay pile just a bit.

Lavender stands up on her hindlegs, and punches the air a couple times. "Personally…I don't think I'm willing to leave until Snakebite gets what's coming to him. For trapping all of us here and keeping us here, I'm gonna get my revenge. Besides, someone's gotta keep him distracted."

There's a squawaking groan, a shrill voice and a poof of feathers followed up sharply by "Oww Oww Oww, Ponyfeathers!" and a suddenly upright mini-griffon freshly dumped in here and looking deshevled and slightly drowsy. One wing is up, the other wrapped up tight in bandages and a sling as Cross weakly wakes up amongst another cage and a still dozing foal, "Apparently I got the right place" she grumbles as she streaches out and looks around

Page nods again, finishing her fruit cup. "Well, just let me know what I have to do. It sure beats having to run for another day."

Magpie eyes Lavender. "When we go, you go. I'm not leavin' you behind, y'hear?" She looks very serious about this. She tugs her lockpicks from out of her tail-braid and starts after the cage again. She's been practicing every nig— day? Whatever. She's gotten much better, honest.

Freeze-Frame looks over to magpie's cell after she's checked what she wanted to, tilting her head and keeping her voice low. "What's the plan…? I like… can't stand it down here, and Maku's mom totally made my favorite cookies… that are prolly stale. how long have we been down here?"

Magpie bites her lip. "I've been…. a week maybe? Dunno about you."

Fugue stretches out his legs, then his wings, and finally neck and tail. Mmmh. One more wide yawn, pink mouth and little fangs contrasting with his darker pelt, and he looks much more awake. Ears twist and swivel, listening to all the conversation. And noting the presence of yet more new bodies. "Perhaps someone should inform our newest club member what's going on?" he suggests, voice shaking off the remnants of sleepy tones.

Lavender gives Magpie a similarly serious look. "Alright, but you make sure you get the other young foals out before you do anything crazy. That's what matters, getting us all free, or as many as we can. Don't worry, I'm not going down without a real fight." She seems a bit grimmer than she has the last few days. Apparently she's been thinking on this.

Siyana pokes her head against the bars. "Lav, where you go, I go. And Siyana too, I bet. I'm not gonna just leave you here either. We're a team, right?"

Magpie huffs! "I'm not doin' anything crazy, I'm tellin' you not to do anything crazy! I wanna get Snake-face back too, but not if it means somepony gets left back. Especially if it's you, Lavender!"

Cross-Redfeather does indeed look a tad confused as she gazes around recognizing a few foals from the picnic. She stands upright flexing that bandaged wing a little and spots magpie for whom she recognizes from briefly seeing her at the NICEco Picnic, "Hello?" she queries with a singsong voice, "I remember you from up above, the Picnic I do believe?" she asks softly, "I came down here on purpose, brought some first-aid supplies, some cookies, and some small tools" the griffon notes, "I'm Doctor Cross Redfeather, but you all may call me Cross" she introduces herself.

Lavender nods to Siyana, holding onto the bars in her direction. "Yeah…Yeah, okay. I've…really missed you two. Both, a lot. This is going to sound crazy, but the one nice thing about all this is that I've spent some time around you again. We need to do more stuff, once we're free."

There's a sound from down the hallway. It could be the sound of a distant door opening. The one that usually opens when someone other than the attendants has shown up. The heavy sound of thick metal scraping open.

Freeze-Frame takes her fruit cup and eats first and foremost before Magpie does something and she's forced to action, she tries to tap the bars to get Makuru and Sadaka's attention, as well as hoping it'd wake Hoarfrost up too.

Magpie sighs and quickly stashes her picks. "Makuru? How's it going? Are we ready for Operation Smokebomb?"

Cross-Redfeather has not as of yet revealed her stash of supplies, but does listen intently to the other foals, she tucks herself back down into her 'just dumped here position' and pretends to be mostly asleep, much like the neighbor foal she's with, evidently the sleeping drug still in effect, or so it would seem to anyone just looking in.

Makuru looks over at Freezie when she taps on the bars. "One second," he says to his friend before turning back to his cell mate. "I'll give you all my berries if I can have your apple slices," he asks, holding his fruit cup out to Sadaka. Magpie's question draws his attention away from the breakfast trade momentarily. "Should be. I stowed the gel in my saddlebag back in storage and filled the cauldron with tarcaps and bouncy balls. All we've gotta do is cut the rope in the vents and bam! Smoke out the wazoo." He looks back to Sadaka expectantly. Apples?

Magpie says "I don't care about the wazoo, as long as it gets out the vents to the surface."

Lavender looks to Makuru, "Hey…Do we still have any of those uh, tar things, glueshrooms, black mushy sticky things? Because I might not be able to do much to Snakebite in a fair fight, but if I can take out his wings…"

Sadaka nods to Makuru, fishing the apples out of her cup. This is not a new morning routine by now. She glances up, smiling over at Lavender and Siyana. "Yeah. When we're home we gotta hang out more. I /missed/ you guys."

Makuru explains, "It's the building's wazoo." His cheerful expression drops instantly the moment Lavender talks about his ingredients. "They're called /tarcaps/," he corrects. "And I've got one left in my saddlebag. The other ones went into the bouncy gel. When we bust open storage you can have it."

The sounds of another door opening down the hall echo into the foalroom. This time it's joined by a cheerful whistling. A familiar whistling. A whistling song that has happened almost every time a certain batpony has come down bringing yet another group of foals for the cages.

Lavender gives a nod to Makuru and becomes quiet, except for a low, quiet, but unmistakably foalish growl at the hall.

Cross-Redfeather errs and does rouse some, though only to appear like she's barely coherent. She's a doctor, so she knows the look well enough to simulate it herself. One handpaw deftly digs under her bandages to retrive something from under that, a tiny little packet of 'smelling salts' in case she must defend herself or others with an altogether akward distraction. Tucked under feathers its unnoticable again.

Freeze-Frame goes over quietly to the haystack and pulls out her camera… she's been taking photos as evidence to document this whole thing for when she sees the town guard… she also knows snakebite didn't like it the last time he got flash bulb to the face.

Makuru doesn't go quiet because he is loudly eating Sadaka's apple slices. OMNOMNOM.

Moments later the pea-green pony himself rounds the corner. Aussie hat and all, grin from ear to ear, Snakebite trots merrily into the foalroom with a bag dragging behind him along the smooth floor. A bag that's likely squirming, hissing, growling, and otherwise not being very calm about anything.

"Well hello kiddos!" the gravelly voice calls out. "How's my little social rejects doin' tonight huh? You all settlin' in? Gettin' cozy? Comfy? Bahahahah!" It's pretty routine by now. The taunting and laughing, as Snakebite looks for an available cage to dump his lates catch. Oh look, there's maybe one left at the end of the room, on the highest row of cages! He drags the bag over that way, still humming, opens up the cage door, and unties the rope keeping it closed, so he can heft the bag up and begin the arduous task of depositing more foals for the foalworks. "Upsie daisy, little kids! Get in there!"

"Rrrr…rrrr…" comes from one of the foals. And in a rather sudden turn of events, the foal starts kicking WILDLY into life. "RRARAARRRHHRHRHH HHIISSSSSSS REEEWAAWRR!!!" Is that a rocky mountain lion? No! It's Dragonheart!

Get in there? Snapdragon, much like his sister, apparently intends to do NO SUCH THING. "RAWWRAAAAR AAAAAEEEEEEEEAAAAWAAAAH KLUUUUUU OOOOUUAAAAEEEEAAAAA!" he howls articulately, kicking and flailing out his wings and trying to bite at hooves through the sack.

Lavender rattles the bars. "You'll get what's coming to you Snakebite," she shouts over the din. "You're gonna regret that you ever messed with a bunch of foals!"

Makuru is distracted from his apple nomming by the sound of /wild animals in the cages/. "Hey, it's you two!" he exclaims. "Miss Blossom's foals! Heeey!" He waves his forehooves at them. "Remember me?" He does not seem disuaded in the least by their panicked screeching.
Magpie is literally shaking with rage. "You… You did NOT just grab the twins!"

Grunt! Snakebite goes from his happy-go-lucky self to a more focused concentration. "Hey… HEY stop thrashin'! Gah! No you don't… Don't make me… Get the darts!" Shove! Push! Flail! There's wings and hooves and blunt pony teeth involved. Snakebite's definitely not having the easiest time getting those two little half-feral foals locked up! It's very difficult to keep ones hooves on two thrashing kids when they don't want to go into a confined space.

In other words, it's a total distraction…

Magpie hits her cage door at a dead run, and it gives no more resistance than any other unlocked metal mesh. If Snake-face thinks he has his hands full with two angry dragon-twins, add one furious Magpie! And she's goin' for his darts! "RRRAAAAAAH!!"

Page gets up onto her hooves. "Hey! You leave them alone!" It's not really clear what comes over her at this moment: Page has been awfully docile up until now, but the sight of this stallion ponyhandling little foals is apparently what it took to get her off her duff. She snorts, lowers her head and charges his rump, horn down, with a speed which would surprise anypony who's used to seeing her wandering around town with saddlebags over-stuffed with books.

Cross-Redfeather says "Right now there are teams of ponies scouring the town to find all of us, and they will find us!" she shouts "They'll find You, and when they do, I'll happily file my report to the griffon council!. She whips out her smelling salts takes aim and flings them towards Snakebite, hoping to catch him in the muzzle, to inflict that sharp smelling and oh so distracting scent upon nose or even in his eyes"

Lavender yells, "C'mon! Everyone out, get these doors open!" Chaaarge~. She gives a dash for her own door.

Makuru blinks in confusion as Magpie busts out of her cage. "Was that the cue? Are we going now?" He turns to his cellmane and asks again, "Do we go now, Sadaka?"

"DON HURT MAI BRUVVER!!!" shrieks Dragonheart, as she "claws" and "swipes" at the terrible Snakebite pony. And when she hears Magpie, she yowls, "MAAAAAGPAAAIIIII!!!!!"

Freeze-Frame pops her cage door open and pulls out her camera as well… those two really, REALLY look angry about getting put in there, and magpie is making her move too… so it's time to catch Snakebike in the act again and make him smile for the camera! FLASH!

Sadaka springs to her hooves, berries forgotten. (Well, except for that strawberry she's half-nommed. Gulp.) "Yes!" She answers Makuru, scrambling for the door. Apparently now is go.

CHOMP. Snapdragon chomps down on bag and hoof and possibly leg and clings, growling and yowling and kicking his hind legs in the general direction of Snakebite's face. He only lets go to perk his ears and give his own answer to the familiar voice. "Maaaaahgpiiiiii!" /Now/ he knows where she vanished to! And he is not happy about it. More kicking shall ensue.

Siyana bursts from her own door and lands on the floor with a little hoof scuffling. "YOU BULLY!" she yells, ready to add her own body to the pile-up. Tricker-Treat, meanwhile, starts unlocking all the cages she can! "Hi! Hi pony! Hello! Ready to go? Let's go! Hello!"

Fugue's ears flick back. It's as good a time as any! He charges the door with Lavender to make sure it doesn't stand much of a chance, lock or no, busting that little gate open and flitting out! For his part, he begins to flit around and open up all the other cages as quick as he can, as all the once-trapped foals suddenly find themselves with an opportune moment to not be in a cage any longer!

Snakebite verily finds himself with more than his hooves full! Two feralish foals were bad enough, all the kicking and biting and such making it so very difficult to manage, but now there's angry fillies involved! Just when he thought he had one of the two up in the cage proper, a sharp pain in his flank sends the bat-winged menace hissing. HSS! He jumps, his grip on the Dragon twin he'd just had in the cage gone! He spins about… And stares. Several of his darts have apparently gone missing, but that isn't the problem.

The problem is that he's got four foals on the ground already looking at him with angry faces. And a whole slew of slitted eyes peering out from many, many open cages, all of the bat-winged foals staring and /hissing/ in near unison. Not to mention the Harbor foals in all their angry glory.

Snakebite frowns, limping back a step or two, shaking one foreleg from where one Dragon or the other had chomped or bitten, trying to keep his flank away from other pointy objects. "…Hmph. So that's how it is. Think yer all gonna show ol' Uncle Snakebite what bein' a big pony's all about, is that right?" *FLASH!* …That's going to make a neat picture. Snakebite, cornered by foals.

Magpie shrieks, "YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT!" And jabs as many darts as she can hold into Snakebite's haunch. /Hard./

Lavender busts down her door and grins a big, mean nightmare-inducing grin for Snakebite. It glints. "Yeah…Yeah we are. Hey Makuru! I need it now!" she says, and rears up to bring her hooves to bear at Snakebite, and prepare to gum him up once she gets what she needs.

Cross-Redfeather is out and freed by one of the little batponies. she promtly removes the fake bandages twirling them up expertly and stuffing them into a pouch in the first aid kit that she had stashed under her bandages. With her little first-aid kit back-back on and satchel beside it, she is flight worthy again, with a few flexes of her wing and a little bit of stiffness, she's ready for action, any action against this attacker.

Makuru sticks his head into his hay pile and removes it with a wad of something strangely blue colored clenched between his teeth. "I'm on it, Lavender!" he shouts from around the gunk as he plows through his own unlocked cell door. The gunk is dropped, his hooves mashed into it and then…

* POING *

Makuru leaps to the ceiling with ease, clamboring onto the tops of the cages and dashing towards the open vent grate there.

Page is looking eager in the face of having just poked a grown stallion in the butt with her horn. "That felt great!" Prod prod prod! "What do we do next?"

Another sharp hiss! Snakebite rears back, his flank sporting a few of his own knock-out darts sticking out of it! "GWAH! You…little street brat! When I get my hooves on you—" His wings flare out! A sharp snort rises from the green pony's snout, his red-slitted eyes glaring at the miniature army of foals cornering him. It's a short-lived glare though, the hunter pony already starting to slump. "Nngh… Don't think yer gonna get out of this…"

Looks like Snakebite's going to have a difficult time chasing after anypony for a moment. The commotion, however, has apparently alerted other forces to the fact that there are some events going on, two of the burlier attendants poking their heads around the corner. What! Foals on the loose!?

Fugue flits down to land next to Lavender, as many of the other escapees begin to hover around. "Well! That much was a great success. But what now?" Do the foals take the vents out? Or do they take their chances with the now-open doors that all the adult ponies use to get in and out of this big ol' jail? Where do they go from here?

Lavender gestures to the hallway. "The vents are too small, we'd be trapped. We're all loose, their big guy's roughed up, let's bust on out the front doors! Nobody can stop us if we're all together!" She scuffs her hoof on the ground.

Freeze-Frame starts to flap and take after Magpie; she was the one that explored the vents and learned they lead to a furnace initally, so maybe she could help the piebald out too? maybe some of her stuff and camera could help along the way too!

Magpie arms herself with a dart gun and the few remaining darts. She hugs her brother and sister. "You two stay close to me, y'hear? We're gettin' outta here."

"Plans, were these part of your plans?" the griffon asks around as the mean ol' snakebite slumbers. "I can tie up that one if you'd like, I am a Doctor afterall, and I'm sure my bandages would do /some/ good for him. "the vents? but not everypony is flyers here, Certainly each of us flyers can take hold a non flyer mayaps?

"Mah!" Snapdragon presumably agrees, hugging onto Magpie and giving one last kick at Snakebite for good measure.

Sadaka scurries over to Lavender and Siyana. Bounce. "We're right behind you, Lav!"

Freeze-Frame starts to flap and take after Makuru; she was the one that explored the vents and learned they lead to a furnace initally, so she could help the zebra out too? maybe some of her stuff and camera could help along the way too! Then again, she's thinking maybe they should follow lavender's lead. "Maku, like, what are you thinking? I got everything useful from the store Room and like… they're all going that way!

"Yeah! Lead the way!" Siyana follows Lavender with Sadaka, a great big silly grin on her face. Tricker, meanwhile, finds that all the cages are opened so she lands by Cross. "Yeah! I got wings! I can fly foals up there too!"

The feral filly, meanwhile, hugs Magpie, and then takes a bulldog stance, growling around as she tries to protect her family. "Rrrr!" Dragonheart growls.

Lavender begins to charge down the hall, leading the way for others to follow! She aims herself for that corner and the attendants, planning to take them head-on if they don't scram out of the way.

For the most part Makuru had an idea of his own that involved the vents. Usually there's fire in there.

Magpie shouts to Freezy, "It's Operation Smokebomb! He'll catch up, just stay with the group!"

Magpie charges after Lav, then, half assaulting and half herding.

Freeze-Frame nods and darts on down after the rest of the group, gliding on above the ones that aren't already flying about.

Cross-Redfeather takes that batillion of fliers along with her, "We'll create a swarm like effect, confuse the enemy with all the flyers! Duck and Weave, Duck and weave!" the griffon chants, "and we can carry any foals that can't run or are too tired!" she adds

The supply room door bursts open as the foals begin galloping and flying down the hall. "Hey!" Makuru shouts from inside the room. "If anypony has anything that was taken, grab it from here before you go! And Lavender! …Lavender?" Looks like he took too long opening the door, the filly has already led the charge away from the cages. The zebra colt shrugs and with another mity *POING* jumps back to the ceiling vent and clambors out of sight. Operation: Smokebomb is go!

Page joins in the chase, surprised with herself at how easy it is to keep up with everypony else: usually she's out of breath by now!

"Duck! Weave! Duck! Weave!" Tricky starts chanting with Cross, wings flapping excitedly as she comes to help!

"AAAOOOUUUUAUUUUU!!!!! NO NO NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Such is the battlecry of Dragonheart as she charges with the big ponies! RAR!
Magpie feels a battle-cry is called for, but she can't find one really appropriate to this company. "For— For…?" Aha! "FOR CANDY!" she shouts.

Freeze-Frame isn't the best flier, but she tries to get into the flow of thing behind the the other flying ponies… she does take a photo or two of the inspiring charging foals.

Cross-Redfeather flies to one side of the main pack, still chanting her mantra of "Duck and Weave" as she dodges this way and that, but edges closer to the side of the fray so that she can keep an eye on the foals in case she were to have to double back and assist any stragglers.

Tricky swoops in a loop de loop, so that at the bottom she's below Freeze; and then she swoops up beneath her so that Freeze straddles the batpony's back, to help the pudgy pegasus keep up. "Take more pictures! They'll last longer!" she says cheerfully.

Onwards! The attendants watching all this get very grumpy looks. Then very wide-eyed looks. Whoa! Horde of angry little ponies! Both of the big lugs scramble backwards, one charging off down the hallway, the other tumbling backwards! And probably getting darted. Or kicked. Or bitten. Or trampled by many, many tiny legs.

The doors are wide open! Doors leading to another hallway, this one colored…purple. Ending at a thick pair of metal doors, that are also conveniently open. That'll teach Snakebite not to close doors behind him.

Topside, the group of foals come to find the factory floor largely free of pony shapes. Wait, factory floor? Yes! It seems all this time all the foals really were just lurking beneath the NICE factory. The setting sun allows there to be enough light to put all of the hulking machines on display in all their productive glory, so many conveyor belts and stamping machines and golems.

Golems?

At least half of the factory floor seems to consist of humanoid giants of various metal and mayhem, still operational despite the factory supposedly being 'after hours'. Small objects of various type and quality tumble down the various production lines, without more than a handful of workers to make sure they're still operational.

In fact, most of the 'workers' seem to be golems too. Huh. Look! There's even a golem pasting up posters along the walls! More than half of the factory walls, covered in adorable posters of a kitten hanging off a branch. Hang in there!

What ponies there are have banded together. Apparently some kind of alert, and what workers were in the know about the extra workforce, have gathered in an attempt to block the mass escape of so many foals. It's this group of ten, mixed between earth ponies, unicorns, and a couple pegasi, all with NICE jumpsuits, that are right there near the door all the foals have bounded out of, making a semi-circle. Mean faces, the lot of them.

Magpie did indeed use a dart on that guard who didn't run away. That leaves two shots. She skids to a halt in front of that cluster of grown-ups, the little pea-shooter straw tracking back and forth across the group. C'mon, then. Who's first? Somepony make a move. She double-diamond-dog-dares you!

Lavender whoops and hollers as she rushes on forward, then screetches to a halt as the chevron of foal fury reaches the group of worker guards. There's a beat. Then she yells, "Eeeeverybody get 'em!" and charges into the workers with head and hooves!

Page lowers her horn again. "Chaaaaaaarge!" And charge she does!

Freeze-Frame is snapping all sorts of photos. She catches one of the ponies in the NICE jumpsuits… and then goes wide-eyed; What a twist! she sees if they left a window open or something in the factory for her to get out of.

Cross-Redfeather Calls out a loud warcry of "Skkreeeeeee!" she shouts and flies at adult flyers, of the pegasus type going for the wings of the defending adults. Griffons are sharp and pointy flyers complete with beaks, and talons and claws, best not get in the way of that!

Meanwhile, in the ventilation system…

Makuru finishes climbing over the rope suspended high above the furnace. Hanging from said rope, dropping down towards the burning furnace far below, is a the dome of an immense snowglobe, warped and distorted from the heat but still intact. Within it is a large, half-broiled mushroom leaking black sap and what was once a great number of bouncy balls but is now a multicolored mess off goo. The colt grabs the rope in his teeth and gives it a hard tug, tearing it free from the sap gluing it to the walls.

Without its support the snowglobe plummets into the furnace far below. Within seconds a thick, noxious-smelling cloud of multicolored smoke begins to plume upwards. "Hah! It worked!" Makuru shouts excitedly before realizing the cloud is HEADING STRAIGHT FOR HIM and begins crawling through the vents to safety! It shouldn't be more than a few minutes before the smoke begins spilling into the factory, not to mention billowing up and out through the external grates.

Most of the windows have posters covering them and are decidedly not open. The only exits seem to be up past the pony barricade, to the upper part of the factory floor, and out the lobby! That's a decent amount of space between this basement entrance and that exit.

When Lavender sounds off a charge all of the captive bat-foals hiss and flit in almost a cloud of swarming bat-winged adorableness! Right behind Cross in fact, following her lead to barrel into the nearest surprised-looking pegaguard. Waugh! When did they get so scary! Griffon screeches and battish hisses echo in the air!

Several of the ground-bound attendants balk as Lavender and Page in particular bound forth, several of the other Harborish foals following suit (including a little blue unicorn with her mouth open like she were shouting a battlecry. "…!" she says!), leading to one of the earth ponies getting simularily tackled, hornpoked, and cuted. But one unicorn guard in the back of the group drags over a box of recently-manufactured nets, breaks the box open, and starts flinging said nets around! Time to start foal-catching!

Behind the chaos, down the hall, a pony stumbles up the stairwell. Snakebite? But didn't he get drugged? "Don't let'em escape!" the gravelly voice roars, as foals and guards begin to mix it up. "I'll skin anyone that lets my prizes get out those doors!" That being said, Snakebite himself bounds up the rest of the stairwell, wings flexing powerfully as the hunter shoots into the airspace above the factory floor! He brings a bag out in his hooves, chasing after the nearest flying foal! "C'MERE!"

It's probably an interesting sight from outside. Smokestacks starting to billow out colorful plumes of rainbow-hued smoke. That'll be an interesting press release! Inside the factory, the first hints of those clouds lurking in the vents begin to wisp forth…

Tricker-Treat, near the back of the congregation as she tries to herd the flighted ones, finds herself beset by Snakebite. "HEY!" she yelps, looping out of the way. "I'm not even a foal!!"

Page had no idea running around could be this much fun! I mean, yes, there are bad ponies trying to capture her and her friends, but here she is, running and jumping and weaving and, yes, prodding and she's having FUN with it! She ducks under one net-wielding pony but runs right into the grasp of a second. "Leggo!" she cries out, flailing.

Sadaka bounds forward after Lavender, kicking her little hooves out at the nearest guard. She might not be tall enough to kick 'em in the face, but she sure can kick 'em in the shins!

Near the back of the group bumbles a mint-green, somewhat confused looking colt. He's got no idea what's going on! He's just following all the hoofbeats. Which echo /really weird/ in here by the way. "Where are we going? What's going on?" Spearmint, apparently, slept through the explanation part of this whole thing.

"Lav!!" Siyana shouts, elbowing her friend and pointing behind them to the impending batpony. Only to see Page get netted! "No!! No ponies gonna get netted on my watch!!" She barrels forward and snatches at the net, dragging it with her as she runs! … It's not a very fast run, granted.

Magpie stares at Snakebite. What?! How?! This isn't /fair/! She leaps up on the nearest assembly line and stares at the big, scary golems. "The time has come to throw off your shackles! Rise up! Strike down your evil masters! Raze this factory to the ground! PUNCH STUFF REAL HARD!" she cries, then starts scooping up anything she can throw and chunking it ineffectually at Snakebite!

Cross-Redfeather ducks and dodges and keeps up that battle cry of hers then changes it up some, "Flyers, make for the windows, break and fly, let the Harbor know whats going on in here! Go Go Go!" she cry's out then sees Trick get caught. "Oh It Is ON!" Swoop and spirial, she whirls back towards Snakebite foretalons wide, beak open giving a wild warcry. "SKREEEEEEEK!"

Lavender kicks and hooves her way through the crowd, ducking and weaving workers and kicking them in the backside. All the exercise has been good in some ways. "Hey Snakeface!" she hollers as she worms her way to a way up to a narrow factory catwalk. "You want a piece of this? Come and get it, unless you're too afraid to take on somepony in a fair fight!" She makes swinging motions with her forehooves in the air.

Makuru's head appears in a grate in the ceiling. "Guys!" he shouts. "Guys guys guys! Get this stuff on your hooves and you'll jump super far! Don't let 'em catch you!" There are a few loud bangs from the grate before it finally breaks free of its bolts and clatters to the ground. It is soon followed by a large blob of shockingly blue colored gunk, hurled at the ground as hard as Makuru can manage. It hits the ground and tries to bounce back up but appears to be stuck fast against the ground.

The colt himself does not jump out of the grate. The sound of hooves on metal echo through the ceiling as he crawls away into the walls.

Freeze-Frame is legitimatley scared just a bit, and there's a lot of chaos around. she then sees nets flying around and smoke and she looks all over the place. "oooh, what do I do, what to I dooooo~! uhm…" she turns aorund and sees Snakebite and ulps… but finally decides to start flying towards the foreman's office.

Siyana bolts for the blue stuff and bounces on it, smearing it on her hooves before SPROINGing away. "YEAH!!!! Ninja mutant pony grasshoppers ARE GO!" Her next landing pad it one of the workers' FACE. "TAKE THAT!"

Sadaka also scrambles for some of the blue goo. It's not wings, but it'll have to do! BOING.

Spearmint, meanwhile, totally still has no clue what's going on. Even moreso as he manages to trot right into some of the goo. "Yah!" Suddenly he is a super jumper! This was not intentional.

Snakebite shoots off after Tricky, but before he can quite catch up there's a griffon air-bombing him! Hmph! Snakebite drops the bag he was carrying, letting it get tangled up in the griffon's claws, his wings beating twice to carry him higher above the scuffle.

For the record, when Cross ends up with a bag in her talons, it clinks inside. There's stuff in there! Were she to peek inside, it would consist of a set of metallic wings, and a small glittering earring that looks to be made out of some kind of super-shiny seashell.

"Bah! You know what you are? Yer a pile of bits, that all you are! I was gonna be so stinkin' rich…" Snakebite hisses out. Another beat of wings carries him out of range of Magpie's throwing arm too! "Don't think I haven't forgotten about you!" And then there's Lav. Red eyes narrow. She started this, didn't she. The first Harbor 'capture'. It's her fault… Yessssss… Snakebite growls, wingbeats carrying him to land on the catwalk opposite Lavender, head hunkered, lips curled back, hissing. "That's /enough/… Y'know what I'm gonna do? I got a whole vat of that sleep-poison just /waiting/ for a whole mess of targets. I'm gonna put all these ponies to sleep. And when you all wake up in your new, shiny, pretty holes in the ground, bein' sold to the highest bidder, you'll WISH you'd stayed in a cozy place like this!"

Below this DRAMATIC MOMENT, the chaos resumes. Ten adults vs. a horde of foals? How did the adults ever stand a chance? There's ponies bouncing around! Blue goo getting all over objects, turning them into impromptu bouncy-balls! Egg beaters zooming by, little toy hats rebounding off of conveyor belts, snowglobes ping-ponging between golem heads…

One of the guards gets tromped on by so many blue-coated hooves that, when he falls over, he actually bounces up involuntarily, crashing into a pile of boxes to send even more junk scattering about! But several of the other guards have taken to Net Pony's idea… They couldn't keep a hold of Page's net, thanks to Siyana, but they've got a few other nets filled with bat-winged foals already. One guard has a bouncing net dragging him along like a mad dog on a tight leash. Boing, boing, boing!

When Freeze gets near the Foreman's office, she's met with a locked door. Covered in posters. All the windows? Plastered over with posters. The only way to look in is through one small viewport in the door.

Lavender crouches low on the catwalk and gives a meaningful glance to Makuru before putting her attention back on Snakebite. She scuffs her hoof on the metal and leans back and forth, already starting a duck-and-weave kind of posture. It's not entirely skilled, mostly picked up from watching pirates fight, but she does have the advantage of her balance and small size on a narrow place like this, watching for a good opening, a swing to duck in and counterattack.

Freeze-Frame frowns at the locked office. she was hoping to hit a bunch of buttons and give ponies a chance to escape. Snakebite's foreboding words also makes her frown even more… she's afraid and confused and… and and… she ends up cowering by the foreman's office, looking for an oppertune moment to help somepony out or escape or something…!

Magpie glares up at Snakebite. But she can't help there right now… have to hope Lavender will be okay. She turns back to check on the Dragon Twins and — Wait, where'd they go? A *phoot* drives one of those sleepy-darts into the pony that's being dragged by the superball in a net… and other than that….?"

got a bag, not a pony, but that pony got away, and so did Trickey, mission successful with that run, but she's got something else, stuff in a bag, what stuff? Wings? and jewlery, 'odd' is her thought, but, wait these belong to a stripey pony, oh yeah they belong to one of the bouncing Zebra's! *Tuck and roll and a spiral down down down toward a bouncie one one, that of Sadaka, "Stripey Wings, I have your wings!" she shouts to the Zebra, "and a cute Shiny too!" she calls out

Dragonheart, meanwhile, is wailing in surprise and confusion as she soars through the air on bouncy hooves. She KLONKS straight into one of the attendants and goes spinning to fall flat on her back a few feet away. "Yawww!! OW!"

Sadaka freezes mid-bounce. Which is to say she drops a bit gracelessly to the ground, and then boings right back up, flailing her hooves to try and get her bearings and catching ahold of a pipe, which is an effective enough way to stop bouncing momentarily. "You got my wings? An my earring?!" Now /that/ has her attention.

Makuru finally escapes the ventilation system in the main factory floor, a torrent of rainbow-colored smoke hot on his hooves. He pauses to hack and wheeze but can't spare more than a moment before he has to take off again. He looks around to figure out where everypony is… and sees Lavender and Snakebite up on a high catwalk!? "Lav!" he shouts. "I'll be right there!" The zebra *POING*s into the air and lands on top of one of the factory machines. He looks up at the catwalk and begins planning his next jump.

Snapdragon is having a bit of fun with the bouncing, apparently. He's got /wings/. He has precisely negative 5 clues on how these wings are supposed to work, of course, but that doesn't stop him from flailing them wildly and occasionally managing short glides. Mostly so that he can flail his hooves at the guards. "Raawr!" Wheeee!

"HEEEEELP!" There goes a Spearmint, sproinging around wildly and flailing.
Someone has awarded you karma! Keep being awesome!

Cross-Redfeather flits down to land by Sadaka, "Have your wings and yourPretty Shiny earring too, need help with putting them on?" she ask/offers to the hanging onto pipe Sadaka.

Magpie makes another "phwoot!" and she's out of sleepy-darts, so she just tosses the dart… straw… thingy away. Time to just start throwing random objects! RAAAAAAH! … if only she'd been standing beside the Sharp Pointy Objects assembly line instead of the Teddy Bears assembly line…
The gross-smelling, rainbow-colored smoke begins to come out of the vents in ernest, rising towards the roof of the factory in thick plumes. Good thing the ceilings are so high here or it might cause trouble.

Sadaka earperks. Yup, those are hers! "Yay! You found them!" She'd hug the griffon, if that wouldn't mean letting go of the pipe. "Uh, um, sure! Yeah, it just, um, hooks around me here…" she holds out a hoof. Then blinks. "But, um, gimme my earring first please." That needs to go right back in its spot in her ear, like, yesterday.

Snakebite, meanwhile, has his wings spread wide. Playing up the intimidation factor, the bat-winged hunter hisses a challenging hiss, paws a hoof at the catwalk, and launches into the air! Hooves outstretched, he's diving with full intent to knock the littler filly right off the catwalk to the ground below!

Speaking of. The blue goo seems to have done quite a trick in turning the tide. The two fliers have been brought down, one laid low with so many scratches of possibly griffon nature, the other knocked around by random flying objects and plummeting into another case of stuff. Several of the guards have been knocked out by sheer force of jumping foals! And at least one was sleep-dart'ed.

Throughout all this chaos, a couple of the wayward foals had made it as far as the lobby doors! Glass, they are, but Fugue and Dream-Daze don't seem to be quite strong enough to batter the darn thing open. A flock of bat-foals comes to land behind Fugue…just as a guard stalks up the catwalk. The last one, it seems, but he has gone as far as to skip the net, and grab a heavy blunt pipe. He ain't playing around no mo'. Fugue ducks down, ears laid back, him and many of the foals behind him hissing harshly, as the big attendant with crazy eyes lifts his pipe threateningly. "I… Am so gonna squash all yo—"

*CRASH!* *BOING!* Suddenly Spearmint goes hurdling right into the side of the crazy guard's head! Which sends him tumbling sideways, off-balance, pipe and all, through the lobby doors! They shatter like paper under that impact.

The way out is now free and clear.

Another mighty *POING* sends Makuru towards the catwalk that Lavender and Snakebite are dueling on… but he doesn't quite make it!

The colt yelps in pain as his chest impacts the edge of the catwalk at speed, the wind knocked out of him. The colt begins slipping off the edge of the platform and scrabbles desperately for a hoofholf. Which he… sort of gets? The blue gunk on his forehooves hits a railing and gets stuck to it, letting Makuru hang freely from the catwalk… so long as the gunk's elasticity holds. "Lavender!" he coughs. "My saddlebag! The tarcap's in my saddlebag!" He wiggles around, trying to jostle the bag tied around his midsection open even as he hangs for dear life.

Page runs around in a circle for a moment before managing to get out of the net and rejoining the fray. But look! There's the way out now. "Come on, ponies, it's not far to go!"

Cross-Redfeather applies the earring promptly and easily enough so, deft talons make short work of installing the pretty shiny, "That is a Very pretty shiny" she notes to Sadaka as she reequips her and and her wings in short order, "Welcome back to the skies stripey flyer" she offers as she shoots off again, hoping to heard ponies to saftey through the freshly broken glass, and out to saftey

Freeze-Frame sees the way is open and DARTS on out. this is probably the fastest anypony's ever seen Freezie move, tears flowing out of her eyes as she flies for everything she's got to get out. She doesn't mean to abandon her friends, but she really, REALLY hates running. really bad.

Lavender hits a moment of panic. Nemesis and a friend in danger, both at the same time! She darts forward in a roll, just fast enough to duck out of the way of Snakebite's hooves and wind up behind him for a scant couple of seconds, landing by Makuru. "Hold on…I'll pull you up in a second!" she says through gritted teeth, and reaches down into his bag to grab the tarcap. She wheels around and wields it at Snakebite's wings, if she still has the time…

Siyana bounds — boings! — past Sadaka, flashing her a grin. "YEAH! Go divebomb em good, Daka!" And then she boings her way to Page and helps her herd the ponies!

Sadaka beams. She has her wings again! FINALLY. She loosens her hold on the pipe and spreads them out, and… "Ow ow ow!" She blinks, clinging back to the pipe and looking back at the metal mechanations. The frame is intact, but a lot of the lower 'feathers' are all bent up! "Hey!" She shouts angrily up towards Snakebite. "You messed up my wings!" Not that he's paying attention. And not that that's going to stop her. She grits her teeth, releases her hold on the pipe, drops a few feet, and flaps awkwardly to catch herself, listing to the left but managing to stay in the air. "Everypony, the door's open! Let's get outta here!"

Tarcap ahoy! Snakebite, almost upon Lavender and Makuru, hisses all the way to the moment the mushroom practically explodes over his wings! The impact sends him listing sideways, and when he tries to flap those wings to gain a little air, they wind up stuck together! This makes the green-hued pony immediately flail and crash into the catwalk, skidding, almost completely falling off, but hanging on with one hoof to the edge. Hanging over one of the open vents, with so much smoke billowing out right behind him. "Gah…!" He can't fly. He can only fall. Or just, maybe, hang there. "…Grrrr. When I get my hooves on you..!"

The way out is open! Ponies are being herded out, mindful of the broken glass and everything. Fugue is also helping with the efforts, though he's got one eye lifted to what's going on above. That moment when Snakebite crashes, Fugue is quite suddenly in the air, flapping up to the catwalk! He…wants to help too! Even if it's late.

Wherever Spearmint landed after all that bouncing and crashing into badguys, Dream-Daze trots up, tries to help the blind colt to his hooves, and gives him a cheek-nuzzle for being so brave. And then acts as his escort to start wandering home. Because this place stinks and it's time to go home.

Page works with Siyana to help herd the younger foals, looking relieved. "Oh my goodness. When this is all over, I'm going to take a nice, long bath. With bubbles."

Makuru shakes around when Snakebite impacts the catwalk, the entire rig shaking about, but manages to hold on! Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that the super bouncy gunk gluing his forehooves to the railing stretches and creaks around but doesn't break. He yelps in fear, regardless.

Sadaka follows after Fugue, working hard to adjust her course to compensate for the listing. It's harder when actively trying to go up! "Hang on, Makuru! We're coming!"

Freeze-Frame darts off to go get help! maybe a shower… and a meal that isn't fruitcup… but help too!

Makuru shouts back, "I'm hanging, I'm hanging!"

Spearmint blushes. He's not /entirely/ sure what he did! But, y'know, apparently it helped, so yay? He steps carefully after Dreamy, trying not to wind up bouncing again. "…I'm so getting grounded for all this."

Lavender gives a death glare to Snakebite and comes to Makuru's aid, to help drag him far enough that he's not about to tumble right off even if she doesn't get him up quite all the way. Then she gets straight back to Snakebite and his hanging on, "You're never going to put your hooves on another foal again… You're never going to hurt any of my friends!"
Makuru kicks desperately at the air as Lavender pulls him up, trying to find purchase with his rear hooves on the catwalk. "Phew!" he sighs in relief once he's up. The zebra colt will need a moment to recover before he's of any use… looks like Lav is on her own to deal with Snakebite.

Right about then, among the myriad of objects bouncing like crazy around the factory, some poor pony's desk comes whistling through the air to crash into the catwalk! SMASH! The impact makes the whole precarious thing shudder, several places snapping, the whole mess tilting with the strain of the weight of Snakebite hanging on one side and not much left keeping it upright. The hunter pony almost gets shaken loose from that alone! Yet he's doggedly hanging on, a hoof hooked through a railing, expression grim, looking up at Lav (if she's still even there) looking down at him. "You…" Snakebite starts to say, suffering a coughing fit after as a plume of smoke rises up beneath him. Augh. "…Ain't got the guts ta finish me off… An' that means I got all the time in the world to get even, little filly." Cough, cough!

Fugue didn't even have a chance to land! But now he flits uncertainly around the wrecked catwalk. "What do I do!?"

Somewhere down below, amidst the smoke and chaos and explosions, a tall, lean figure in a suit- a dull purple suit with a grey pinstripe pattern- is picking his way through the chaos with a look of utter shock. His pale green eyes are wide, his mouth slack, and Spin Doctor can't help but run a hoof through his mane. "What…" seems to be all he can manage to say. That, and… "Who…?" And the occasional "In Luna's name, how…?!"

He stops after a moment, though, looking upward, and squints at the collapsing catwalk. Realization dawns on his face soon after, before he scowls. But he stays quiet for now- he may recognize Snakebite, but he's not about to intervene on his foul behalf.

Sadaka flits away from the shaking catwalk, trying to circle back around under Makuru in case he falls. "Oh geez, um… uh… We g-gotta get 'em down somehow!" she calls up to Fugue. Since at this point, just climbing down may not be an easy option!

Makuru cries out in surprise and fear once more as the catwalk partially collapses. Without the blue goo holding him down anymore Makuru slips and falls off of the platform. "Waaagh! Help! Helphelphelp!" he screams as he plummets… towards a waiting Sadaka!?

Lavender skids slightly as the catwalk tilts and leans, lowering herself as she meets Snakebite's eyes. But Makuru's cries distract her to something much more urgent, the life of a friend! Before she tears herself away from her nemesis, she hisses "You've got an enemy for life…Sleep with one eye open!" Something she read in a pirate story. Then she runs up the increasingly-tilting catwalk and grabs for Makuru's hooves…too late! She flails at the air, not seeing Sadaka there, before stumbling back and staring at Snakebite. "/You./"

Below, as most of the foals have filtered out into FREEDOM, Siyana looks up at what's going on on the catwalk. "Agh! Makuru! Lav! Sadaka!!" She dances on her hooves, boinging a little with each bounce.

"Eeep!" Suddenly Makuru! Sadaka scrambles to catch him, half-succeeding - it's as much a catch as it is just 'him landing on her' - and flaps frantically to try and keep them in the air, giving a slightly strained yelp. Damaged wings might be able to hold /her/ up, but with a second zebra in the mix… Nope, going down! The best she can do is flap like crazy and try to keep the fall slow and controlled and away from landing on anything too dangerous.

Makuru is terrible cargo. His limbs flail wildly as he and Sadaka list dangerously through the air, throwing her even more off balance. "Aaaaagh" he states elloquently.

An opening! Siyana yelps and jumps, slamming her hooves into the ground for a BIG bounce! She aims for the plummeting pair, hoping to grab them and … and… do what? Sprout wings like Sadaka's?? Provide soft cover probably! AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaa

"if I had a bit for every time I heard that…" Snakebite grunts. He's reaching up with his other hoof already, trying to see about getting himself back on the high ground. It's taking tremendous effort! But he's already got two hooves hooked into the tilted railing now, starting to pull himself up. When Makuru ends up falling? He starts to roar in laughter. "Baaahahahahahahah! All that tough talk, and ya missed!" Yeah, so what if the falling zebra got caught anyway? He's partially back on the catwalk! And there's Lavender staring at him. "Me? Me what? Shouldn't you be runnin' home now? Bahahahah!"

Fugue starts! He starts to dive after Makuru! But… But then Sadaka catches him. But they seem to be spiralling out of control! And then there's another zebra. what. They're falling, but at least it seems to be a controlled falling. Sort of. Urg. The bat-winged foal glides down, swooping beneath the ruined catwalk, calling out above him! "Lavender! Your friends!" Is he offering to be a platform? Is that even safe for a batpony to do?

Spin Doctor's eyes widen once more as the zebras plummet nearby. He glances back behind himself, then takes a step back, better distancing himself from the growing brawl. The unicorn takes a moment to fish his little silver pocketwatch out and check its face, the faint green glow it casts playing off the surrounding smoke, before snapping it shut and glancing back up. He doesn't look especially happy about Snakebite's cackling, and soon slips out of sight with a determined expression.

Lavender spits, "Curse you, Snakebite!" But he's starting to look like too much to takeShe missed her chanceThere's so much else to worry about, like, yes, her friends! She looks down at the calling-out Fugue and jumps to him. "I'm sorry!" she says on the way down, apologizing in advance for plowing right into him in midair so she can hop more safely to ground

AAAAAAAAAAAA *THWACK* AAAAAAaaaaaahhh *THUMPH*. Zebrapile. At least Siyana smacking into them gave Sadaka a chance to readjust course in the other direction! And made them fall faster. Hey, it's a trade-off. And now she's sprawled in the middle of a zebra sandwich, apparently, wings askew, wind knocked out of her. But not dead! So yay!

Siyana, splat on her back, has managed to keep her friends from hitting concrete! Yay! But talk about wind being knocked out of her! @_@

Fugue gives a hard 'oof!' of protest, but he serves his purpose, giving Lav a split-second spot to perch and jump for other hoofholds! He even dives again to repeat this, until both he and Lavender have landed near the crash-site of so much zebra. He's out of breath, but ultimately none the worse for wear. "Can… Can we go now?" he says, now that pretty much all the other foals have escaped. Freedom!

Snakebite, balanced on the catwalk again, snorts down at the scene below. "Hmph… What a day. …Ah well. It was fun trackin' that whole lot down once. I can't wait to do it again." He turns towards the non-broken, only slightly twisted part of the catwalk. Time to escape!

Makuru forms the top of the zebra pile, face down on top of Sadaka's… uh, face. Mouth pressed against hers. Tongue lolled out, which is pretty unfortunate since presumably with the air knocked out of her Sadaka's own mouth may very well be open.

Sadaka blinks. Blinkblink. Welp. There's a Makuru on her. She turns quite pink, and squeaks faintly, and looks quite at a loss for what exactly she is supposed to do in this sort of situation. "Uh…" seems the best she can manage. It's a bit muffled.

"…c'n you gerroff," wheezes Siyana.

Makuru blinks himself back to lucidity. Why is everything in front of him gray and purple? And why does he taste… "Eep!" The colt pushes himself upright, face flushing. "S-Sadaka!" he squeaks. "I'msorry!" He scrabbles back off of the two fillies.

Unfortunately, Snakebite will soon find that way closed to him. Standing at the exit of the catwalk is Spin Doctor. The tall, suited unicorn is reviewing his pocketwatch once more, with a slightly irritable expression, as if he were waiting for a late train.

He snaps it shut and looks up at Snakebite as he reaches over to return the watch to his pocket. "I'm very disappointed, Mr. Snakebite," he says. "As you can imagine this is hardly the results we were anticipating when we made our original arrangement."

Lavender finally arrives down to where the zebra pile is. "Wha—Oh Makuru thank —" She doesn't finish the phrase as she sees what is /going on/, but all the same runs up to them "C'mon! Out out! Get up we have to go NOW before they lock us up again!"

Sadaka squirms about a bit before managing to roll off of Siyana, still rather pink as she clambers to her hooves. "Sorry! S-sorry. I, uh… eheh. …A-are you okay?" It's difficult to tell if this is directed at Makuru or Siyana. Or both. She extends a hoof to Siyana to help her up, which might be more useful if she wasn't the shorter of the pair.

Siyana straggles up with a wheeeeeze. "Oof. You guys are cute but Lav's right! Come on, let's get out of here!" She flashes them both a grin, and gets ready to run!

Makuru's voice cracks as he hastily says, "I'mgood!" Cough. "I'm, uh, I'm good." He nods to Lavender. "Yeah! L-let's get out of here! He rushes straight for the door and doesn't turn back.

Fugue nods in full agreement with the 'get out now' idea. He's practically prancing about it. "I can't /wait/ to get to a real bed again. And have a real breakfast again!"

Snakebite pauses, up above, precariously perched and eyeing Spin Doctor. "Eh… What can I say? Not my fault yer facility couldn't handle the prey I was catching to staff it. Maybe next time ya should invest in stronger cages." Awfully casual about this, even crossing his forelegs over the railing. "I assume you'll have something better set up for the next bunch I bring in?"

Spin Doctor's expression curls into a severe frown as Snakebite speaks. "That you even think to call them 'prey,' Mr. Snakebite, underscores the grave mistake that was made in choosing you to help us address our problem." He sits back and takes a moment to straighten the cuff of one sleeve, sighing. "As such there will be no 'next bunch.' We are considering an alternative approach as of this moment. Your services are no longer required, effective immediately." He sits up and glances about the remaining suports of the catwalk, quickly surveying their structure.

Lavender glances aroundthere was a lot going on and she missed a few ponies in the ruckusand darts here and there to look for them, glancing around quickly, not spotting anyone. She takes up the rear in running out, and so nobody is behind her to see the cutie mark that has appeared upon her flank~

Makuru spares a glance at Sadaka as the foals rush out into the chilly air of the Wintersong edge. He opens his mouth to say something then changes his mind and turns his head forward again. But maybe not so fast that Sadaka is able to see him?

Snakebite's eyes narrow. He starts to straighten up, righting his hat, then waving at a cloud of smoke that billows dangerously close to him. "You can't just cut a Syndicolt contract… That ain't how it works. You got a service, payment don't stop 'til it runs its course. Ya paid for foals. Yer gonna get foals. And we're gonna get bits…" He tries to flex his wings. But they're still gummed up. Tsk.

What few bolts are keeping this section of catwalk upright are pretty well stripped and hanging. All it would take is one solid blow to finish the job.
The threats don't seem to have much of an effect on Spin Doctor. He continues to observe the supports as he speaks. "The contract is ended, Mr. Snakebite, and you no longer maintain any sort of privileged status with NICE Co. As such, this means you are now trespassing in a private, secure facility." He finishes his survey of the support structure and turns his attention back to Snakebite, expression flat.

"As such, I'll have to ask you to leave."

There's a bright flash of pale green magic; one by one, the remaining bolts burst, flung by powerful surges of magic, shooting across the factory floor like bullets. As the glow around Spin Doctor's horn subsides, the walkway creaks, clatters, and crumbles away, dropping Snakebite off and down towards the ventwork he thought he was going to escape.

Sadaka does indeed notice the look. She turns slightly pink again, and glances sideways at Makuru before turning forward again too. Ahem. Yes. We're fleeing. This is what we're doing, yup.

Whatever Snakebite had thought of doing, it's replaced with a look of first outrage, then shock, and last, as the bolts explode out and the catwalk gives way, a moment of genuine fear. "Gah! Nooooooooooo!" Hooves flail! The mighty hunter and foalnapper, plummeting down into a rising cloud of smoke, to disappear into the mess below.

Lavender looks up to Fugue as they flee the facility as their captor falls, unseen, behind them. "…We need to find your parents," she says as she gallops along. "Right? I mean…What are you going to do now?"

Spin Doctor remains up above, watching, his expression a grimace of distaste. He stares downward for a few moments, then stands up and turns about. A pair of jumpsuited pegabrutes are nearby, waiting for orders; he gestures for them to follow as he makes for a doorway headed into the offices. "Get that door sealed. Secure the other entrances. Make sure that the office workers leave only through the fire exits and do not see anything on the floor." He's soon gone from sight, along with his burly entourage.

Fugue flits along behind the entorage of foals, bringing up the rear beside Lavender. "I suppose I should return home first, see if they're there. If they're not then I shall have to mount some kind of rescue, won't I?" He peers down towards the lavender filly, "If they /are/ home, father is going to need a /stern/ talking to. After that… I don't know." Slitted eyes blink in the dim light of the twilight skies. "I have new friends now. That means new potential for adventure. Perhaps I can convince Sablema—" Pause. "Ohmygosh! Sablemane! I didn't see him in the cages! I… I hope he's alright! Maybe a detour to see if I can find him before going home…"

"I hope you guys don't go away now…" Siyana frowns a little as they gallop. "It was cool meeting you guys. You're not gonna be all stuck in your cave forever, right?"

Fugue flaps. Flappa. He's pondering this intently! "I think I can convince father to let us visit." he states. "But it might not hurt to have some backup. He can be loud in his objections."

Lavender looks up and nods, "You'd better come back. Or we'll have to come visit /you/ all the time. Hey, that's what we can tell him. Unless he wants company he'll have to let you visit. But you know what? We got out safe. All by ourselves. I mean, we really did it—we saved the day, all of us together. That has to count for something for growing up, right?"

Makuru glances over his shoulder at Lavender. "Yeah! We did get out! And I did my homework and everything! I need to tell Miss Fizzy when we get back!"

Sadaka smirks faintly over at Makuru. "Well, whatever it was it sure was bouncy." She frowns, slowing a bit as she tries to spread a wing. "…My feathers are all bent up. Ow."

Fugue certainly nods his agreement. He might even have his chest puffed out. As much as one can puff ones chest out while flying. "We saved the day…" he echoes.

Makuru gallops a little closer to Sadaka to look at her wings. "Are they poking you or something? Maybe you should take them off, I can carry them in my saddlebag."

Lavender slows along with them. "And we can stop for a little bit if you need to. They /are/ really cool wings."

"/Really/ cool wings." Fugue mumbles in quiet agreement. He comes to a landing just shy of Lavender. Then blinks at something. He squints, licks his hoof, reaches out, and rubs at…something…on Lavender's flank. "You got a smudge…"

"No!" Sadaka yelps quickly, tucking them back in again. "I mean… I don't wanna take 'em off. I just got 'em back. They're just all bent up an' it kinda hurts to mo-…" She trails off at Fugue's words. Blink. Blinkblink. Squeal. "Lav!" Boingboingboingboing. There goes a zebra forgetting to run so she can bounce in circles, pointing at her friend. "Lav Lav Lav! You got it! You got your cuite mark!"

Lavender blinks, then blinks again, and turns a little…then starts spinning in circles trying to get a good look before eventually stopping and craning her head over. "Oh wow! What is it!"

Makuru skids to a halt as Sadaka stops to start boinging. Amazingly high thanks to his super bouncy gunk. "Hold still!" he says as he tries to chase Lavender in a circle to catch a glimpse of the new mark.

Siyana blinks and bounces as well! (Boing boing!) "Ohmygosh!! I don't know but it's there! It's there! Congratulations!!" She flings her hooves around Lav and laughs. "Oh my god we all— we all got our cutie marks!!" It's enough to bring tears to her eyes. And it does!

Lavender squeee's. "It's…Scales or something?" She starts thinking. "Um, for balancing I guess! I always knew it had to be something like that! Oh yay!" She hugs Siyana back tight, and gestures Sadaka over too. Well, not gestures. Drags. Hug!

Sadaka is a bit glad to be hugged. It stops the bouncing. She hugs back eagerly. "Yay! Now all three of us have our cutie marks! An'… an' we're all friends again!" She blinks, and lays her ears back slightly, looking between them hopefully. "…Right?"

Siyana says "We'd better be, or I'm gonna have to follow you guys around til we are again!"

Lavender nods, "Yes! We are! And when I'm not out stealing boats I'm gonna hang out with you /all/ the time."

Makuru looks at the three hugging fillies and tilts head head. "Hey… can I hug you guys, too?" he asks. It's no fun being left out.

"Oh, get over here, stripeybutt! And you too!" Siyana waves at Fugue. GROUP HUG!

"Hurray!" Makuru shouts as he *POING*s high into the air, coming down awkwardly a few seconds later. "Woah, okay, no more jumping!" The colt trots over to the fillies and wraps his hooves around them! Making sure to stay on the opposite side of the group as Sadaka. Because reasons.
Lavender grins. "Only /cool/ ponies get hugged." Then she tugs Makuru into the hug moreso. Yay! Foal celebration.

Yay group hug! Yay celebration! Sadaka happily hugs everypony. Then she blinks. "…We should kinda go home, though. I bet Papa Blackbird's real worried." She glances up at the sky and tilts an ear. "…It's nighttime an' I'm not even tired."

Makuru looks at the sky as well. "Didn't we just have breakfast…?"

Fugue, standing outside of the hugzone this whole time, scuffs a hoof against the ground. He's smiling, but in the darkness that might not be so easy to tell save faint gleaming of two tiny fangs. Yes, this will be a fun group to hang out with…

Lavender nods, "Yeah… My family'll by real happy to see me again. They probably think I was still out pirating though." Probably not. She glances back at her flank again. "Eee, and they'll be so proud…"

But someone is missing. She looks away from the group to see Fugue, and wriggles out of the hugs. Scootches over and makes to hug him. "You're cool too," she says with a hint of shyness.

Siyana just hugs everyone so tight. Q_Q "My dad's probably ticked too! I bet he'll be real happy to see me." Of course, her dad's ship has also been out at sea for a while so…

Makuru looks horrified. "Momma! I haven't seen momma in days! Weeks!" He begins trotting in place in a panic. "Come on come on! We can't stay here, let's go!" The colt charges ahead! …then comes back. "Which way is the town!?"

Sadaka blinks. "…Yeah, I thought it was morning." She looks after Makuru and giggles faintly, looking around. "Um… I… think it's… that way?" Point. "Or that way. …Maybe I should fly up and look around."

Hugged! Fugue doesn't resist. He even hugs back! It's nice being one of the 'cool kids'. And then the moment passes, the bat-winged colt coughs, and flits back up into the air hovering low about the group. "I really should go make sure the others make it back to the cave alright. I shall…visit again. soon. Or at least send an invitation to come visit us."

Makuru points at Sadaka. "That's right! We can look from up high!" He JUMPS into the air with the bouncy gel and looks around. "Not that way!" Bounce. "Not that way, either!" Bounce" Wait, I think I see the oce—ack!" CRASH. The colt appears to have landed in a tree.

"Yeah, I'm kind of turned around too," says Lavender. "And…Good luck with your father," she says to Fugue. "Look forwards to seeing you again." She winces as Makuru goes into the tree.

Fugue winces as well. These Harbor foals… They're not so bad. He wheels around in the air and flits off towards the rest of the cloud of bat-winged foals speeding along towards home.

Sadaka blinks up at Makuru and sighs. "Last time the tree climbing didn't work so well."

Makuru kicks his hooves helplessly, stuck as he is in the crook where a tree's trunk splits in half. "Can you at least give me a push?"

Sadaka sighs again, though she can't help but grin. She spreads her wings, wincing a bit as she flaps her way up to him and tries to tug him loose. "How do we get this bounce-stuff off?"

Lavender hmms. "I guess tie you down so you can't go anywhere, then soap and water? Something like that anyway."