Friendship is Survival
By Mmadhu94
Ch 5: The Mission
check out Frigid's tumblr: ask-frigiddrift.tumblr.com

“Well it’s about damn time you came to terms with it! Took you a few years but you came around to it. But remember this: I may technically be your father and you might technically be my daughter, but you won’t be truly my child until you have proven yourself to me. And mark my words, I will not fully acknowledge you as anything until you prove yourself,” said the general coldly.

“Why do I need to prove myself to you? You left mom all those years ago without ever talking to her again. Don’t look surprised! What do you expect of someone who lost someone that she loved so much!” yelled Frigid, her voice brimming with anger that drove the timid quality from her speech.

His eyes narrowed, the completely unsurprised general replied quietly, “You think I wanted to leave?”

“Well I mean why else-” started Frigid.

“You dare suggest I wanted to bucking leave!?” the general shouted, his voice visibly shaking the young mare’s confident pose.

The shout from him brought silence as time stopped a second time; nopony breathed, not even Frigid. The enormous pegasus sighed and then faced the 3 warmares, signaling with his eyes for them to talk to him in private. After he had left with the 3 mares trailing with unmistakably nervous faces, the other team members stared at Frigid, their mouths gaping.

“What?” Frigid snapped.

“You’re related to him…?”

“Well yeah. But I’m not proud of it…he left my family when I was just a filly,” she said, her voice edged with both anger and sorrow.

“Wow…um…well I’m sorry about that…” offered Scootaloo awkwardly.

With that the conversation died, leaving 11 surprised ponies and one sad one to simmer in their own thoughts. “What right does he have just to plop into my life now? I mean come on! He hasn’t spoken to us in years and he thinks it’s ok to talk to me like we’d talked just yesterday!? Even if he’s a famous general, it doesn’t give him the right to barge in and act like I think he’s anything to me just because I said father. But then again he did say that ‘prove yourself’ crap to me. Screw him!” thought the white mare irately. The other ponies starting whispering about her at the sight of the fuming anger on her face. But she paid the hissing crowd no attention, she had bigger things to worry about than some gossiping ponies. Like why her father would drop in on her when he did not care to stay in contact for years. Or why the seemingly fearless mares that had led them were so frightened by his arrival, which Frigid suspected wasn’t the only reason for their anxiety. “There was something else,” she thought.

After the general had finished speaking with Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, he proceeded to his tent on the tallest cloud in the cave, signifying his rank. The 3 mares were visibly shaken by what their “conversation” had been about. The team was dismissed to their quarters for the rest of the day, and Frigid retired to her own tent, not daring to leave it for the whispers and gossip that grew about her. She could’ve sworn that even some of the guards were talking about her. She laid down on her bed and fell into a restless sleep, her head still spinning with all that had happened that day.
From then on, she had to endure a couple stares and questionably looks, but soon everything returned mostly back to normal. Part of this was that they didn’t have any time to gossip anymore, but partly because ponies just didn’t care after a while. Frigid’s life had turned into training almost non-stop, with the exercises becoming more difficult and physically draining.

But Frigid, who knew how to read Rainbow Dash’s emotions from her stalking days, recognized something different about the Rainbow mare. She seemed distressed and saddened by something. They all did, Twilight looking a little crazy with her uncombed mane and sometimes twitchy eyes and Applejack looking extremely nervous with her eyes shifting about all the time. Everyone on the team looked different too, but that was because they were all stressed and over worked by the rigorous training. Even Frigid looked different to herself in the mirror; her mane was messy and hadn’t been combed in weeks, her coat looking dull with lack of proper cleaning, and her eyes, tired and longing for better conditions. They were all on edge, but the 3 warmares were becoming more and more irritable because of something. And tagging along with this irritability was sadness.

After a few weeks of training, they were allowed to explore the base if they didn’t get themselves into to much trouble. So when Frigid noticed how distressed Rainbow Dash was, she thought maybe she could talk to the mare and help her. She flew lazily up to the higher clouds holding Rainbow’s tent and landed softly without a sound outside it. She trotted up to the entrance, but did not enter as she had heard the voices of Twilight Sparkle and a very distraught Rainbow Dash from the inside. Frigid hid herself behind a flap and listened to what was going on.
“It’s alright to be sad about it. Even though she was a griffin, she was still a friend to you,” said Twilight Softly, trying to calm the rainbow mare down.

What caught Frigid off guard was not the sound of the mare’s distressed voice, but the sniffles that usually accompany tears that interrupted it every few minutes. The bravest pegasus ever was crying.

“It’s not that! I know *sniff* that she was my friend even in the end. But its that…IT WAS MY FAULT! *sniff* If-if I hadn’t intervened Gilda would be alive! E-even if she was in c-custody. I’m sure with my influence *sniff* I could have helped her. But now…Oh Celestia why did this happen? W-why me? I-I can’t even think about that day *sniff* without seeing her face. I still *sniff* remember it as if it was yesterday,” cried Rainbow Dash, the sniffs constantly breaking up her speech.

“Go on. Tell me what happened Rainbow. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing at all. Just let it out,” cooed Twilight lightly, clearly frightened by her friend’s condition.

“W-well it was a normal mission. We *sniff* just had to rescue a couple POW’s from captivity just inside the Griffin lands. But w-when we *sniff* got there. I-I saw…her. I couldn’t believe it. Gilda. I *sniff* tried to reason with the others to find another way *sniff* b-but it looked like she was the executioner. W-we snuck up in the ceremony and *sniff* I couldn’t bare it. I c-called out to her. And-and she looked back and-and *sniff* she pointed the gun at us and-and-” the shaken pegasus sobbed.
“It’s ok. You can tell me. What happened?” said Twilight, once again with a soft tone.

“And then when she hesitated *sniff* another griffin shot a heavy cage that was above me.It started to fall and *sniff* I couldn’t move! And then-then Gilda ran right into me and-and pushed *sniff* me out of the way. And then-and then-oh god there was so much blood. Her blood. On my hands. I *sniff* killed her. I killed her! I’m supposed to be the Element of Loyalty and I let my friend die for me! Y-you know before the war *sniff* she came back to Cloudsdale and apologized *sniff* for how she had acted. We-we kept in touch and she’d changed. She was a new griffin. OH CELESTIA I KILLED HER! And-and you know the worst part? They rewarded me *sniff* for it. They gave me a medal for killing my *sniff* friend. What have I done Twi? *sniff* What did I do to deserve this?” she sobbed on, clearly broken by this memory.

“Shhhhh. Its gonna be okay Rainbow. It’ll be fine. It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident. You didn’t know that Gilda would get hurt. If she hadn’t done what she did you wouldn’t be here,” murmured Twilight softly to her friend, hugging the crying pegasus closely, tears streaking down her own face as well.

The violet mare held her friend for some time until she thought she heard something from outside. She let go of Rainbow Dash and went outside to check and make sure there weren’t any unwanted listeners. Although there was no pony in sight, there was a small puddle of tears staining the ground right outside the tent. Twilight looked off into the distance before returning to her friend in need.

Frigid flew fast, her eyes still clouded with tears from Rainbow’s story. She wept for the mare and also for fear that something like that would happen to her. That her friends would die for her. IT was too much to bear. Her heart ached from the tears she had shed listening to the story, but her heart ached even worse when she thought of one of her friends dying like that. At least she knew even the bravest ponies have problems. And that even the braves ponies cry sometimes. Rainbow Dash used to be invincible to her, an indestructible symbol of all that is good. But with the mare’s story, another side of her had been brought to light. Frigid had seen in those sad eyes the real Rainbow Dash.

The Rainbow Dash who fears for her friends safety and can’t imagine a worse fate than her friends dying for her. In those sad eyes lay the core of the Rainbow mare’s principles; her friends were more important than anything, and are even worth giving her life for. As Frigid landed near her own tent, she collapsed onto her bed and lay there, letting what she had seen sink in. Soon she fell asleep, as exhausted as ever from the day’s training.

When she awoke, her eyes stung a little from the light, which seemed unnaturally bright for even a sun ray. She turned her head towards the source and saw it was a lamp with a note tied to it floating in her room. As she got up and stretched her body, the note started speaking. The voice of the violet unicorn had startled Frigid, but was not entirely unexpected; Frigid had been witness to the amazing magic that the unicorn could cast. The message spoke clearly and briefly.

“Frigid Drift, you and the rest of the team are needed on the loading bay immediately. Each team member has been sent a separate message so you need not fuss about telling them. Take your saddlebags and pack only what you absolutely need. That is all. Twilight Sparkle out,” uttered the lantern.

“Loading bay? Saddlebags? Private messages? Was this their first real mission?” Frigid thought, as she prepared her saddlebags with only the bare necessities. She got ready quickly and looked at herself in the shard of glass that was supposed to be a mirror. “Gotta look confident today, Frigid. You still have to prove yourself to…Dash! Not your fath-the general. He doesn’t deserve it.” She thought to herself, trying to strike the most fortuitous look she could. It didn’t really work and she ended up looking like she was having a wicked bad tummy ache. She sighed and left the tent, wondering why she couldn’t be brave like everyone else. Over the last few weeks, the other members of the team started to look more and more brave and determined naturally and were not very afraid of the difficult tasks presented to them in training.

She arrived after a few minutes of flying at the Northern loading bay near the entrance of the cave. She noticed that there were several airships like the black one she had seen in Cloudsdale, but they were whitish silver and emanating a pale purple aura of magic. The caster of the magic, Twilight Sparkle, was barely exerting herself to hold the 2 small crafts in the air, once again showing her prowess in magic. Frigid also noticed that she was a little late; almost everyone was already there. She flew up and landed next to Aurora and Scootaloo who greeted her with apprehension in their voice. Apparently they were going on a mission, a mission behind enemy lines. Even the thought of sneaking into hostile territory frightened Frigid. But she tried her hardest to keep a straight face to hide her fear. It worked partially, but she was still shaking with anxiety. Everyone was a little on edge and nervous. Soon Rainbow Dash and Applejack came up to the bay and the 3 groups were separated.

“Alright. So this is gonna be your first mission. Don’t expect it to be a walk in the park just cuz it’s the first one. In fact it most definitely won’t be. We are going to be dropped off outside a small town North East of here that was left unfortified. We intercepted a distress signal from one of our outfits that went missing a week ago. Our mission is to simply bring them back before the griffins find them. Now here’s the plan. The earth ponies and unicorns will be waiting for a signal behind a hill near the town. You 3 have to fly through the town and light a flare as the signal for us to advance. When you do I will fly in and drop a electronic disarming bomb in the center of the town just in case. We fitted your guns so that they can shield from the magic. Once that is done, the unicorns and earth ponies will come in and with us a s the eyes in the sky hope fully find and rescue the lost outfit. Everybody got it?” she asked, looking each of them in the eye to make sure that they did understand, “Alright then, let’s go.”

They made their way to one of the crafts, but was stopped by a particular pink-maned yellow pegasus from the medical department. Fluttershy moved forward and gave to each of the pegasi what she had given to the other 2 groups as well; a special medical kit meant for emergencies and survival. Although she was known for being shy, she had been changed by the war. She was in the medical tents, which were home to some of the most gruesome sights. And yet because of her love for all things living, she helped everyone she could, even lifting 3 pegasi by herself off of a battlefield once. She was definitely much tougher than people thought. The 3 pegasi thanked her and started to move on, but she stopped them again and moved closer, out of Rainbow Dash’s earshot.

“Be careful out there. Dash can be reckless sometimes, so take care of her for me. I know she can take care for herself, but if anything ever happened…”she trailed off, her eyes suddenly full of sorrow.

“Don’t worry, we’ll watch her back. And everyone else’s too. This team means a lot to her, so we’ll put in 200% effort for it,” whispered Aurora.

“Thank you,” said the yellow pegasus softly, as she took to the air and flew back to the medical tents.

The 3 young mares turned to Dash who was already on the craft and waiting for them. When they had all got in, the hatch shut and the craft was lifted into the air, speeding towards another tunnel in the side of the wall. They exited on the East face of the mountain and turned north. It was a 1 hour journey to the ghost town, so Frigid took the time to make a silent prayer that no one would get hurt. Little did she know that she was flying right into an adventure that would forever change her life and the lives of many others. As they sailed through the harsh cold, Frigid looked at the other members. Aurora was looking at her hoofs with an intense stare, miles away in thought. Scootaloo had her eyes closed and was also in an ocean of thought. The only one of them who didn’t look lost in thought was Dash. She simply looked out the window with sadness about her, as if she had seen it all before.

The hour passed quickly and soon they were parked in the shadow of an icy cliff. They put on their armor, saddlebags and gun saddles. Although it was a lot of stuff, all their things had been modified to be lighter than they seemed, only barely weighing down each pegasus. They met up with the other 2 groups behind a hill about a mile further. Frigid crawled up to the top to get a better view of what lied past it and her eyes widened at the scene.

Before her was a small town, almost the size of Ponyville before the war. But it did not posess the same charming atmosphere as the amiable town; it was war torn, fragments of stone and mortar scattered across the cracked cobbles of the empty streets, shards of glass and tiling strewn across the sidewalks. But the worst was not the derelict look of the town, but the blood that was splattered across buildings and walls. Frigid didn’t know if it was pony blood or griffin blood, but either way the training they had received to react to these situations didn’t kick in, and she suddenly felt nauseous. She wasn’t alone; her friends’ faces all looking green with repugnance. She scanned the rest of the town, trying to ignore any bodies she caught sight of. To the left of a town lay an enormous lake with a layer of cracked and crumbled ice. On the edge of the lake, Frigid spotted a white water river, flowing fast against the glacial river shore. She shifted her attention back to the town, feeling something odd. “Something is wrong. Something is very wrong here…” she pondered to herself.

Dash whispered to them that they needed to start on her signal, which was three taps on her armor. They waited for minutes that felt like hours and prepared themselves for the signal. Frigid soon heard three light taps on metal and flew into action. “Ok, here we go…” she thought, still trying to figure what seemed wrong. As they flew towards the town, she saw the it in more detail. What was wrong hit her like a sack of bricks. Dash had said it was unfortified, but there were sandbags stacked up for cover and fortified windows everywhere. She turned to the others to say something, but she was too late as an explosion detonated to their right, sending a wave of rubble and heat flying at them. “Oh Celestia it was a trap!” thought Frigid frantically. She swerved to avoid bullets whizzing by her sent by hidden assailants.

She tackled Scootaloo down and crashed behind a wall for cover. Aurora did the same on the other side of the street. They were pinned down by gunfire and mortar volleys. Frigid looked back to the hill hoping to see help on its way but was dismayed at the sight; the others had been ambushed as well. They had to get out of there now. She signaled to the other 2 to move on the 3rd tap of her hoof on the wall. 1…2…3-and she and Scootaloo moved out as fast as possible, avoiding bullets that hissed into the snow. Aurora wasn’t so lucky. A bullet grazed her wing and unbalanced her, making her an open target for just a moment. But a moment was all the time that the enemy needed, as a crossbow bold sunk deep into her wing. She cried out in pain as Frigid flew as faster than she thought she could to catch her sunset yellow friend. She caught Aurora just before hitting the ground and swooped upwards, following Scootaloo towards the lake and the wilderness beyond. Bullets and explosions were still shaking Frigid’s body, but she couldn’t give up.

They were flying through buildings and attacking anyone in their way. Frigid had never killed anyone before, but she was readily slashing and firing at any griffin that got in her way with a revengeful ferocity that she was unaware she possessed. As they emerged from the main area of building and over the vast sheet of open ice on the lake, both Frigid and Scootaloo heard a loud trumpeting noise and turned to find the source. Frigid almost dropped Aurora at the sight of a massive airship with a nefarious sized cannon mounted to the bottom of the control room. “Dear Sweet Celestia why?” she thought bitterly. She tried to accelerate, but the sunset pegasus was too heavy, so she had to stay at her speed. Frigid heard something from the pegasus below and looked down. In the yellow mare’s eyes Frigid could see her trying to say something.

“You can’t hold onto me. If you do we all die,” her eyes said.

“No, I can do this! Don’t you dare let go,” replied Frigid’s eyes.

“I’m *cough* sorry it had to be this way, Frigid. You *grunt* really were a truly g-good friend. My wing is bro-broken and I suspect my l-left leg is too *cough*. I’m a broken mare, Frigid. *grunt* Just let me go,” said the injured mare, struggling to speak.

“Don’t do it! Don’t! I can save you! We still have time!” shouted Frigid hysterically.

“No. I want this. I want you guys to live. *cough* You shouldn’t die for me. Just *cough* do two things for me. Tell my parents what happened in person. And *COUGH* remember me…” she trailed off, her eyes closing as she let her hoofs slip from Frigid’s grip.

“NO! AURORA!!! CELESTIA DAMN IT!” yelled Frigid, desperately trying to save her friend. But she was knocked away by another explosion. Her yelling caught Scootaloo’s attention as well, both mares now watching their dear friend plummet from the sky. Frigid couldn’t look away as the broken mare hit the ice hard and sunk into the biting waters beneath it, a plume of red blossoming in the murky depths. Scootaloo raced back for her, but Frigid stopped her and forced her to keep flying forward.
“What are you bucking doing?! I have to save her! I have to-” she started, but stopped at the sight of Frigid’s tearful eyes that said “She wanted this.”

The 2 mares, now with nothing to carry, flew faster to avoid the explosions. Soon they were out of the range, but still being targeted by the airship. Then frigid heard it. The cannon firing. That meant they had very little time before the detonation. She grabbed onto Scootaloo and with their combined wing strength they flew even faster. But it was no use, the projectile hit the ice and detonated, sending ice and water miles into the air. A wave of cold water followed by searing heat smashed the 2 pegasi out of the air as if they were made of paper. The explosion, although it had missed them by a hundred feet, sent them sailing towards the wide rapids of the river at the edge of the lake. Frigid tried to spread her wings, but they wouldn’t open; she had frozen up in shock from the explosion. She looked forward, to the river she was hurtling towards. She saw Scootaloo hit first, gasping for air. A few moments later Frigid herself hit the water, hearing Scootaloo calling out to her between gasps.

“Frigid!!” the voice cried out in pain.

And then everything went black.