To Run Away...

Chapter 34

  While the four were arming up for their little stealth mission; Haystack chose the perfect time to look at the Vitas, by stating that he needed to use the restroom again. They just shrugged it off and let him be... genius I tell you.

  First up: "Blood Rage".

  The soldier in the video appeared distressed as he was surrounded by rebel forces.

"Surrounded? Unarmed? Or just need to clear the mass army of troops in front of you? Don't worry." Said the announcer. "Use 'Blood Rage" to wipe your enemies off the floor and into the hospital!"

  The next slide showed all the rebels on the floor with X's replacing their eyes as the soldier smiled and gave the viewer his signature smile and thumbs up.

"Have fun, comrade!" The video then ended after it's usual 'THANK YOU, RED INDUSTRIES' card in the last slide.

  Haystack giggled at the benefit of drinking that first body-builder, Imagining about using its capabilities on the front lines.

  Next: "Hawkeye."

  The soldier in this video was looking through the scope of his rifle. The video also used multiple slides to animate him brandishing the rifle in search for the enemy.

"Can't see through cover? Need to line up the shot before the enemy kills you? No prob! Use 'Hawkeye' to shoot the enemy right where you stand."

  A cartoony "BLAM!" flashed in as the soldier pointed his rifle to the right. A talking bubble would appear with the word, "AAARRGGHH!" as the soldier smiled and gave his typical thumbs up.

"Warning, only works with Sniper rifles... Have fun, comrade!"

  The video ended as that catch caused the body-builder to reach below the pony's Haystack.

  Right there, he heard the door open with Ivan shouting. "Haystack, it's time to go!!"

  He heard it loud and clear and put the Vitas back in his saddlebag before getting up on all fours and flushing the toilet. He opened the stall door, only to be confronted by the teen boy who was tapping his foot against the floor.

"Whuh?" He jumped back. "Ah'van, ya scared me!"

"Yeah, yeah. Ready to go?"

"Mmm Hmm. Just let me wash ma' hands first."

"Alright." He nodded before leaving the bathroom in order to what.

  After leaving, Haystack turned the faucet clockwise to let it rain on the sink. The giggles he had earlier faded, and were replaced with more worry as he looked back at the mirror. Specifically, he was looking into his blue eyes. And all the memories came back.

*  *  *

  *  *  *

"So Zecora, do you think it'll work?" He asked nervously, looking at the rather odd petite instruments on his hooves.

"Don't worry Big Macintosh." The Zebra answered confidently. "These contacts were made from humankind, they'll surely be fooled from your disguise."

"So, again, wh'ah do 'ah need to wear them?"

  Her response was that similar to of a scary folktale. "The humans have the power to uncove'h yoh' true identity. Even if you do comeback, the sea'hches for you will be plenty."

  He always wondered why she spoke in rhyme, but that didn't matter. "Uh huh. Anyways, all I do is stick them in there?"

  She nodded. "Gently, of coh'se. Now, put them on."

  He nodded back, and cautiously began the process.

  By then, Haystack had already finished lathering his hooves in the water. Closing the faucet, he flailed his hooves and placed them on the floor before exiting out the bathroom. He was going back home safe... and the newly acquired powers would make sure of that.

  Smiling a little, he thought. "Ah'van, are you afraid as 'Ah am?"

  A convoy of three Humvees and one Abrams tank strolled down the city's main street, patrolling every citizen that exited their home and headed out to the barren fields in an attempt to grow something and to harvest what little they managed.

"So, wh'ah can't we parkour our way to the station?" Haystack whispered.

"Isn't it obvious? Troops are everywhere throughout this time."

"Oh, r'aght."

"Hey Isabella, thanks for the new clothing." whispered Ivan marveling at the flawless attire. "And for the new pistol with silencer."

"Don't mention it."

"Hmm, so, where's the subway at?"

"Just five blocks from here." said Isabella, observing the enemy positions. "And to be clear, there is only one entrance there, and its about to open in fifteen minutes."

"You know we could just blow the entrance up, right" He moaned.

"I know, just to give you a heads up."

"Ugh, thanks though... By the way, who goes on those trains?"

"Not the civilians for starters, only Starfox commandos, Generals, and any worker who is qualified to transfer from city to city."

"Oh, no wonder it was empty when we first got here."

"Mmm Hmm." She nodded. "Now, let's move. The convoy and the civies just left."

"Got it." He turned his attention to his comrades behind them. "Alright, we're moving out."

  She stood up, causing the others to follow as the artillery drove off with the civilians at gunpoint.

  Cautiously, they walked into the next alleyway; only to stop when they heard the sound of gunshots, screaming, and crying.

"Damn." The firestorm girl muttered. "Death squads."

"I'm sorry?"

"Pay attention In history class, Ivan." said Pierre.

"I do, it's-"

"Shhh."

  She headed for the end of the hall and took out a mirror, pointing it in the direction she wanted it to go. "Crap, they just killed Chris and his family. I told him to join the resistance and not try to do it conventionally."

"You mean protesting?"

"No." She said sarcastically. "Hugging them until they get their freedom back."

"I was just asking. You didn't have to-"

"I know, I know. It's just that I keep telling him that you can't get freedom through peace anymore. The state's shown us countless times how they don't care about us. So why let them beat us down if we have the power to get them back?"

Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at...

  They looked in the opposite direction where the second round of gunshots were heard. "It also seems that they're cracking down on us."

"And what gives you that idea?" asked Haystack, feeling worried. This imposed Maribelle to comfort him with pats on the head.

"The rocketbots must've tore holes into the homes, revealing all those banners and whatnot." She looked back at the mirror to find that they were dragging the bodies and placing them into body bags. "Chris told me that they were going to protest once the troops began to rally them to the fields, but it was best that they hid them as fast as they could before everyone involved in that scheme would die. Looks like it's better off only the people they crack down on die than have all of them die."

  Ivan nodded.

"So, are we going to leave?" asked Maribelle.

"Um, I don't think we can sweetie." She said nonchalantly.

"Wh'ah not?" asked Haystack

"Enemy troops are setting up fortresses on both intersections."

  Ivan facepalmed.

"And I was hoping that Haystack would get onto the roof and take out the sentry wielders with his sniper rifle."

"On it." Knowing that there was no ladder nearby, he took his Air-grabber out as Maribelle stayed on his back.

"Just one catch thought."

  The pony stopped once he aimed for the rooftop. "What?'

"By Sentry wielders, I mean by one on one building to the left, and one on another building to the right."

"Don't worry." said the little girl. "I got this."

  She then pat Haystack behind the neck as an indication to move forward. Haystack gladly complied and trotted over until she directed him to stop in front of Ivan. The girl would reach her hand out and point at the silencer in his holster.

"Uh..." Ivan hesitated. "You want my pistol?"

  She nodded firmly.

  Understanding that there was no point in disappointing her, he put his head down and gave her the pistol reluctantly.

  Smiling, the girl squeaked. "Thanks mister."

  She then pointed upwards at the rooftop which gave Haystack the chance to use the gadget.

  The pony aimed at the rooftop once again and fired.

Tw-wch!

  The rope latched onto the edge and reeled them in as quick as possible. Once there, the stallion commenced his climb.

  Meanwhile, the soldier on the left building looked past his sentry with his binoculars like a hunter looking through his rifle. That's when he found his first prey.

"Ah ha, one of those infiltrators." He then grabbed onto his wrangler and prepared to shoot...

Thwap!

  ... Only to be shot in the head by a nine millimeter.

"We got a man down!" One of the troops cried. "Surround the perimeter!"

  Ivan slapped his face as he heard the sound of the enemy in motion.

  On the roof, Haystack had already reached the rooftop.

"Haystack." Maribelle called, getting him to turn around. "Help them up!"

"Oh, that's the plan." He leaned over to the edge and gestured the others below to get over there.

"What the-"

"Just get over here!"

"Ugh." He ran over and bounced off each wall before grabbing onto Haystack's hooves, being pulled onto the roof.

  Then it was the others' turns; and it only took five seconds for them all to be at the same place.

"So, what's the next plan, Maribelle?" encouraged Isabella.

  The girl stood there as she began to think. "Haystack..."

She pointed at the three boxes to the left corner, before pulling out his sniper rifle and handing it to him. Then, with her loading the grenade launcher, Haystack could tell what she was up to as she walked over to the boxes. The girl then turned to the other three, "On my mark... go."

  They nodded.

"Haystack... line up the shot."

  The pony nodded... before his eye began to turn red this time.

"Uh... Haystack?" Ivan uttered alongside his now gaping comrades.

'Mmm?" The pony muttered back before looking through the scope.

"Uh... y-your eye."

"Yeah, and?"

  He pointed at those eyes. "Th-they're red."

  The boy then looked over to Maribelle, who was just standing there with a smile on her face.

"Maribelle?" Ivan frowned, suspecting that something was up.

  The little girl bounced up a little before looking at Ivan timidly. "Yeah?"

  She looked back down as she placed her hands behind her back.

"What did you do to him?"

  She was silent.

"Ivan, what are you up to?" Isabella asked worryingly.

  Glaring at the four year old, Ivan replied, "I think she has something to do with the red eyes."

"What? B-but-" She looked at the pony. "Oh, wow. Um... Meh, it's probably a pony thing."

"A pony thing? I don't think ponies do that when they're-"

"Done." said Haystack in a somewhat angry tone.

  The girl then ran over to the boxes and readied her rifle. She then jerked her head at the three, advising them to prepare their advance. She raised her hand and tucked her index finger and pinkie to let the other fingers stick out. Knowing that Ivan was scrutinizing her, she looked down in fear.

  The ring finger was tucked.

"Just let it go, Ivan." Isabella whispered. "Maribelle may have the capability to fight, but I don't think she's capable of manipulating someone."

  She tucked her middle finger in.

  Ivan looked away and faced the building across the street. He was going keep that case in mind, the pony's purple eyes was something new; and with his bond with Maribelle, he was prepared to crackdown.

  Then Maribelle's index finger was tucked in, before raising her voice. "Go!"

  The three hopped off the building.

B-beep!

  Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at...

  Shwwwoooommm!!

BOOM!!

  Bullets and four rockets whooshed passed them as they ran across the street.

"I spotted them!" The soldier on the other sentry shouted. "They're running towards that alley!"

"Fire!." Maribelle ordered upon hearing

Thwap!

  The bullet was fired before being carried in by the air. While in the air, the bullet arched down flew straight down towards the soldier manning the sentry, impaling itself into his head.

  Hearing the soldier scream, she kicked the top box down and instantly fired a grenade towards the Sentry as it detected the little girl.

  Haystack fired his dice at the Sentry, demobilizing it.

BOOM!

The blast blew the turret to shreds

"Shoot them down." She told him, pointing at the troops on the street. The pony's eyes turned purple again before jumping off the roof and landing on one of the soldier's backs with his hind leg.

Snap!

  The man groaned in pain as his back broke in two.

  Haystack flipped his rifle over and swung it like a baseball bat, breaking another soldier's jaw. He flipped the rifle back and fired a bullet into a soldier to his right. He watched as his face was blown off and then took his knife out.

Slash!

  Two soldiers behind him had their throats slit before dropping like flies.

  Haystack then looked to their right after bullets started to deflect off his vest.

  In front of him now, was a single armored HMG firing desperately at him.

  Enraged, he muttered. "'Ah don't think so!"

  Like a samurai, he swung his rifle and looked through the scope while lining the shot up.

  Pfft!

  The bullet soared through the wind and in between the soldier's eyes.

  Now, everything was wiped out. His purple eyes faded back to its original eye color as he breathed heavily from the exhaustion. He was tired, killing troops in that fashion was tiresome in a way. "Ha... ha ha ha... ha..."

  That's when he felt something tap against his left flank. He hopped up in surprise before pointing his rifle at the source.

  The source jumped back in fright, trembling as she watched his glaring eyes look back at her, "Um... l-let's go!"

  He saw her eyes look back at him with such fear, telling him that that was enough. His glare faded and he stood down."Oh... Uh... Okay."

  Putting the rifle away, they ran into the alley on the other side before more troops could close in on their position. They would then meet up with the others who were waiting for them like gangsters with their hands in their pockets. It looked impressive to Haystack in his opinion, especially since they had the ability to lean against a wall without attempting to make your back sore or exposing your privates.

"Wow, n'ahce way to wait f'er us." He complemented.

  Knowing what he meant, Ivan pushed away from the wall and stood upright, "Meh, It's a human thing. So, what do we do now? We have two Humvees in front of us, fifteen troops, and a Sentry on the building to the right."

"Easy." Haystack grimaced, "We're going to fight our way there, of course... Out of the way."

  He trotted past them before going prone near the edge of the alley. His eye turned red again as he began to line up the shot.

"Haystack?" Ivan was still worried about them, especially since he was doing this again. "How are you able to-"

  Pfft!

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" The soldier behind the Sentry screamed, getting his comrades' attention.

  The pony then switched to his M16 and prepared his acquired Dice, firing it  at the unmanned Sentry.

Ka-thwop!

BOOM!

  The Sentry was obliterating in one shot, giving Haystack the opportunity to attack the troops on the ground. He stood up, and charged onto the street.

Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at!

  Three troops and the HMG on the Humvee to his left was taken out Rambo style before charging at them.

"Ugh." Isabella rolled her eyes. "Looks like the stealth mission failed."

"Yeah..." Ivan muttered as the four began to walk outside, "... because something's up."

  They exited out the alley and prepared to shoot at the remaining troops, only to find that they were all wiped out in a snap.

"Fils de Pute." Pierre said through his gritted teeth. "What 'ze hell is he doing?"

  They then heard gunshots coming from the other side of the next alleyway. This got Isabella to comment. "Well, sooner or later, we're about to find out."

  They ran through the next alley and found that there was more of this to come.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The pony screamed at the top oh his lung while shooting two M249 machine guns and standing on his hind-legs.

  The bullets would take out two dozen soldiers, one dozen on each side. Even they were no match for the pony's capabilities.

  However, in the pony's mind, it was a whole different story. Everything in his vision was... Well, purple; and all he could hear was the sound of a mare's scream in the distance pleading for rescuing. The gunshots on the other hand were muffled by his ringing ears.

"Ah'm comin', m'ah lady!!" He said internally.

  He galloped towards the next alleyway before charging at the next platoon of troops who were being accompanied by a Personnel carrier; and... you know how it went.

  His comrades in the meantime, were all one street behind him, observing the damage done.

BOOM!!

  There was an explosion , so they stopped and went onward. However, there was no escaping the fact that Haystack pretty much wiped the floor with all of them... to the extreme. Bodies were scattered everywhere, but the way they were scattered pretty much made Ivan and Maribelle want to vomit, even though they should be used it by now. Finally, they reached the last street where the explosion was at.

"Jeez, he even took out a personnel Carrier?" Ivan said, on the brink of shaking in fear.

Boom!

  There was another explosion where the subway entrance was at. In a hurry, they ran over there.

  Haystack had already breached the gate that prevented him from entering; so, he continued to go ballistic. "Die, all of you, die!!"

Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at...

  Every soldier, Sentry gun, and flying drone feel to his whims, bullets breaking all of them.

  With every soldier dead, he dropped the two LMG's to the ground, breathing heavily as he stood on all fours. He began to scoff... then chuckle... then laugh menacingly between pants. "Th-they're... all... dead.... princess!"

  Suddenly, his purple vision began to darken as his heart began to beat slow and steadily. "Ah'm.... here... f-f'er... you... m'ah... l-lady."

  His eyes returned to blue as his mind began to spin around like a ballerina, making him lose control of his consciousness once more, "Ah'm... here..."

  Then his sight turned pitch black... letting him rest after a hard hour's work.

  By the time he collapsed to the ground, the four had already ran down the stairs into the station.

  Maribelle was the first to cry. "Haystack!!" before running over to the unconscious pony. The first thing she did was hopelessly shake him incessantly for a sign of life.

"Stay back, little one!" Pierre called, gesturing the girl to stop what she was doing and get off of him. "Ivan, use one of his vaccines to revive him back to life!"

"On it!" He said, reaching into one of the vest's pockets for the syringe. Grabbing one, he inserted it through his flesh and began to press the pump.

  After doing so, however, there was no response.

"Oh shoot!" Isabella mumbled, flicking the fingers in her right hand. "The stallion's out cold."

  But then it hit her.... she herself saw the purple eyes. According to some, when the body builders are in effect, the eye color changes to red. It was a similar sight twenty two years ago when... Phineas... drank.... the...

  She stood up and glared at the little girl, who was simply  standing there; looking at Haystack with tears in her eyes. "Maribelle?"

"Um... *Sniff*... yeah?"

"Explain this to me." She pointed at Haystack's motionless body.

"Uh..." She began to shake. "What?"

"What, did, you, do to him?"

"Hmmph, I knew it." Ivan muttered.

"Uh... uh..."

"Answer me!!"

  The others were taken aback by the increase of volume in her voice.

  Maribelle began to cry even more, even as the train arrived.

"Ugh, the trains here." She groaned. "Quick, help me carry him into the train, quickly!"

  Maribelle then felt her pink shirt get tugged forward in an aggressive manner. The next thing she knew, she was looking at an enraged Isabella who said to he. "We'll discuss this inside, alright?"

  Still crying, she nodded back before being put back down.

  The two agreed and lifted the pony onto the train without a flaw. When the train doors closed, the train sped off and headed towards Spark city. They then let Haystack lie across two seats on the side as they sat there beside him. However, Isabella didn't forget about her little interrogation. She walked over to the little girl again, picked her up from the collar and slapped her as hard as she could, yelling, "What... Did... You-"

  Suddenly, Isabella felt someone pull him back and restrain her; she witnessed the same happen to Maribelle.

"Whoa, whoa!" Ivan shouted, holding the woman, "Just calm the hell down, Captain!!"

  She wanted to keep doing what she was doing; so she tried to beak free, but to no avail. Trying the best she could, she continued to squirm and fight. Fortunately, though, she knew that she needed to stop. She stopped resisting and began to breath in and breath out, watching as Pierre held Maribelle close to comfort her.

"Ugh... fine, I'm sorry." She puffed. "Now please let me go."

"Of course, Madame." Ivan grinned, doing as she commanded.

"Ah, thanks-" She was then cut off by a pistol to the face.

"Now sit down." He ordered. "I don't want any movements until we get to Spark city, alright!"

  Afraid, she nodded, and did as she was told. Ivan would then sit next to her and point the gun at her ear.

  Meanwhile, Maribelle sat on Pierre lap, only to ask Pierre if she could let Haystack rest on her lap by using her gestures.

"Uh... I think he's too heavy for-"

  She looked at him with puppy dog eyes, and the tears she produced was making it more irresistible. Pierre rolled his eyes and said. "Fine."

  She didn't smile, or do anything at all. All she did was walk off of Pierre's lap, head over to Haystack, and do what she wanted to do. The pony's head would lie on her, not causing any damage to her bones. Which was a surprise for all of them.

  A few seconds later, she just laid her head on Haystack's... and began to sob. It was yet another surprise to the group... especially to Isabella, as another wave of repressed memories attempted to break into her mind. It intensified even more as she watched the little girl mouth something. It was inaudible to everyone on board, but they simply knew what it was, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

"Oh, Maribelle." thought Isabella, the last of her acrimonious look gone. "What did you do to him? .... and what are you capable of?"