Haywire

Chapter Three: D.T.

Rainbow Dash was serving a trucker his food when she heard the beeping of a horn. She glanced out the window to see a black VW bus pulling into the parking lot. She watched as the occupants climbed out of the side-door. There were two of them: A white mare with an electric blue mane, and a beige mare with a black mane who seemed disgusted with the white one's eagerness to get out.

"Hey, Dashie!" Eldorado called, "you go get this one, Beltran and Bubba are busy!"

"Doing what?" she replied sharply, "I work here as a waitress, not a grease monkey!"

"Don't argue with me, girl!" he fired back angrily, "you'll do as you're told, or you're gonna get hauled outta here in the back of a cop car!"

Rainbow Dash growled, and began the walk out to the gas pumps. She was nearly to the door, when she spotted a familiar fiery mane.

"Spitfire!" she cried with joy, "what are you doing here?!"

"Me and Soarin' here were just going on a little trip," she replied, gesturing to her partner, "When this big Volvo came racing down the road, probably wound up at about 90 MPH, really flying. It came racing past, and it knocked our Corvette off the road with it's trailer. Then, this guy offered to give us a ride, he was a perv, and here we are now!"

"Man," Dash laughed, "what a story!"

"DASHIE, GIRL, WHAT I TELL YOU 'BOUT THAT VEE DUBYA VAN OUT THERE?!"

Eldorado's sharp yell interrupted the two friend's catching up, and Rainbow Dash had to say goodbye to her friend for then. She trotted out to the service island, and over to the Volkswagen. She then approached the mare with electric blue hair.

"Can I get you anything for the car?" Dash asked her halfheartedly.

"Sure!" the strange pony replied, "fill it halfway, and check under the hood while you're at it."

As Rainbow Dash filled the tank of the van, she watched Beltran and Bubba unload huge amplifiers and a turntable from the van. She then noticed the "DJ PON-3" emblem on the side of them.

"Hey," she inquired, "what are you doing with those?"

"I'm a travelling musician," the pony said proudly, "I specialize in dubstep, house, and trance. Haven't you heard of me?"

Dash was stumped. "Actually, no."

"Does Vinyl Scratch ring a bell?"

"Nope."

"I was at your friend's fashion show...."

"Can't seem to remember you. Hey, you said something about dubstep?"

"Yeah," Vinyl continued, "I'm gonna play here tonight!"

"AWESOME! Finally, these hillbillies can hear some real music!"

"You should stick around and watch!" Vinyl suggested, "believe me, we're gonna blow the ROOF off this place!"

Rainbow Dash was finished with the van, and was about to go inside when she noticed three more trucks entering the lot: A Mack with a Buckweiser trailer, a red Dodge flatbed, and a red Autocar with "Zeke's Trash and Garbage Removal" written on it's doors and trailer.

She came over to take a closer look at the strange arrivals, when she noticed two familiar faces emerge from the Dodge: Applejack and Big Macintosh!

"Well, howdy, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said warmly as the two walked over to her, "What're you doin' here?"

Rainbow Dash told them the entire story, with Eldorado, the robbery, and that Vinyl Scratch was going to play at the truckstop.

"Well," Applejack concluded, "I'll be sure to stick around for her performance!"

"Hey," Rainbow Dash asked, gesturing toward the two other trucks, "who's in those?"

"Oh, that's Smokey and Berry Punch," she replied, "me and Big Mac're in a convoy, and those are our partners!"

The five ponies walked into the diner, and were greeted by friendly calls.

"Berry, honey!" Eldorado laughed putting his arm around the purple pony, "nice to see ya! Which one'a those big rigs is your's?"

"Which one do you think?" Berry Punch chuckled back, pointing to the Buckweiser Mack.

It was at that moment that yet another oddity pulled into the truckstop, this one topping all of the others. The ponies inside all stopped chattering and looked out the window to see of all things a school bus being pushed by an Oldsmobile.

"I got this one," called the half-blind Beltran, stumbling out to the bus.

As he began to pump fuel for the bus, he began to notice who was on the bus. All of the foals he had seen before at school conferences were on the bus, and he watched them line up for a role call.

"Alright," sighed Checker, wiping his forehead with a hankerchief, "after that, er, unusual experience on the highway, I want everypony to line up for a role count. Silver Spoon?"

"Here!"

"Twist?"

"Here!"

"Diamond Tiara?"

"Here!"

This went on for a while, and everything went fine, until when he called the name of the young colt who always seemed to be noticed.

"Pipsqueak?"

There was no reply.

"Great," Cheerilee moaned, "now Pip's missing!"

"Excuse me!" yelled a greasy-looking red unicorn, stumbling up to the ponies, "did you say "Pipsqueak's missing?""

"Yeah," Cheerilee replied, narrowing her eyes, "why do you want to know, Mr....."

"Beltran, my name is Beltran."

"Okay, Mr. Beltran, you still didn't answer my question."

"He's my son!"

"Oh," Cheerilee chuckled, embarassed at judging him, "I didn't recognize you. What in Equestria happened to your eyes?!"

"Diesel fuel," he explained, "now, what are you going to do to find my son, missy?"

"I'll do everything I can." She then turned to Checker.

"What are we gonna do?" she whispered sharply, "we've got an unhappy parent, we could be sued!"

"Okay, stay calm," he soothed, "we'll just give him the usual excuse."

The two looked back, and faced the bloodshot-eyed unicorn.

"I'm sorry, Mr.," Cheerilee wimpered, "we can't find him."

Beltran was definitely not buying it. "You two plotholes didn't even look in the bus!" he roared over the sound of a tractor trailer starting, "that's it, I'm going to find him!"

He then ran over to a bikelock, and grabbed a rusty bmx. He then began to pedal it toward the exit of the gravel parking lot, until Ray and Applejack stopped him.

"What are ya thinkin', partner?" Applejack exclaimed, "you can't go out on the highway on a bike!"

"And besides," Ray added, "you can't see!"

"I can see just fine, Ray," Beltran replied solemnly, "I can see that my son's in danger. He's probably dead, crumpled up in a ditch!"

"Be honest, Beltran."

"Okay," Beltran confessed, "I have some double vision, but it's clearing up just fine." He then grabbed Ray, and shook him. "I've gotta find my boy, Ray, I just GOTTA!" He then began to pedal off toward the highway, unaware that someone, or something was watching him.

****

The diesel engine everypony had heard earlier had belonged to Smokey's Autocar. It had burst into life, anticipating a kill, and would get one. As Beltran blindly rode off, it snapped into gear, and took off after him, kicking gravel into the air as it went.

Beltran began to peddle faster, but it was no use, he couldn't outrun an eightteen wheeler. His bike's tire hit a rock, and he fell to the ground. He picked himself up, and turned around to see the enormous Autocar bearing down on him.

"GYAAAAAAAGH!" he screamed as it dragged him under, leaving him a broken mesh of blood and bones. The truck then reversed back into it's parking lot, and shut off.

"Oh my god, BELTRAN!" Bubba shouted, sprinting over to his friend's body. Checker followed to assist him in carrying the body inside.

"Well," Applejack whispered in fear, "if this is happening here, I wonder what kinda sick stuff Pipsqueak is endurin'!"

****

Pipsqueak was late for school, and even worse, on the day of a field trip! He raced out of the house, bag on his back, and rode his bike as fast as he could to the Ponyville Schoolhouse.

When he arrived, he found it empty, not a living soul around. He was about to call his dad's workplace to give him a ride, when he heard a miniature siren. He traced the sound to a toy police cruiser, which was lodged in all things a pony's MOUTH! The pony was definitely dead.

Pipsqueak screamed, and ran back to his bike, when he heard a familiar jingle. He turned to see an ice cream truck lumbering down the street, and was so terrified because of the body, that he hid in a bush until it past. When it did, he noticed that it had NO DRIVER! Then, he picked up his bike, and began riding again, looking desperately for someone to hide with.

As he coasted through an abandoned neighborhood, he noticed that sprinklers were turning on in his wake. He turned around to take a closer look, but they shut off. After a while, he saw a car, and rode toward it.

When he got closer, he noticed that it was a VW Beetle, ran into a tree, with a familiar face hanging out the window, lifeless and cold.

"Poor Derpy," he whispered as he coasted past, unawhere that he was being stalked. Suddenly, a bloodied lawnmower came screeching out from a back yard toward him. He raced away on his bike, barely avoiding getting savagely shredded by the little devil.

Finally, he found a radio, and turned it on for the news:

"I repeat," the radio said, "it has been eight hours now since our microwave facilities went down, but there is one thing we know for sure: While Earth is still under Rhea-M's influence, NO MACHINE CAN BE TRUSTED! If you have any electric appliances, please unplug them immediately! If you have a car or truck-"

Then, Pipsqueak felt a huge weight squash him. The next thing he knew, he was bagged, and thrown somewhere. When he opened the bag, he saw two mares looking at him.

"Why the heck did you do that, Cupcake?" one asked the other, "he's a pony, not one of the machines!"

"Eh," Cupcake shrugged, "I just felt like it."

"Who are you two?" Pipsqueak said curiously.

"I'm Silver Sketch and this is Cupcake Sprinkle," said the first again, "and we're gonna make sure you SURVIVE this little incident!"