Horizon Falls

“Bolt actions speak louder than words.”
― Craig Roberts

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“Do stun rounds work on dragons?” Gears asked.

“Usually takes a few shots but yeah,” Spitfire said as she hefted her gun under her wing. In her saddle bags she had several magazines of both nonlethal and lethal ammunition. Gears had his long rifle hanging below his wing with the pieces all disassembled for stealth. Again he carried both sets of ammunition.

“Well if things go bad then this should be loads of fun,” he said.

“Hopefully it doesn’t,” Spitfire said rubbing her good eye and slipping an earpiece into her ear, “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Yeah, the sooner the better,” Gears replied doing the same.

Spitfire kicked open the car door, her gun concealed beneath her wings as she stepped out into the rain. Gears followed though he trailed at a distance. Spitfire trotted up the stairs into the diner ahead of him. She entered the diner with the ring of a bell. The din of conversation slowed to a stop as one by one, ponies glanced over and looked at the scarred pegasus mare.

Gears entered in behind her and got a similar reaction.

Spitfire trotted up the counter and rang the service bell. This time Thorn arrived first. Once she saw Spitfire, her demeanor morphed from irritation to something resembling fear.

Spitfire blinked, “I assume you know why we’re here?”

Instantly Thorn turned and jumped the counter, clearing over Spitfire and sprinting on all fours towards the door. She tackled Gears to the ground who grunted loudly as he landed on his back. The dragon paid him no mind as she continued out the door, accompanied by an explosion of metal bar and glass.

Spitfire turned and helped Gears to his hooves, “Come on, no time to rest, we have a dragon to catch.”

She jumped out the door after the dragon, flipping her gun out from under her wings and firing a burst of stun rounds after the dragon. Just as Thorn went to take to the air the burst splashed across her right wing and shoulder. The dragon fell back the ground with a thud, her wing now numb.

Spitfire kept her gun aimed at the dragon, “You might wanna stop now.”

Thorn growled, “If you think I’m going to give you shit you’ve got another thing coming!”

She turned and leapt into the air and gripped the sides of the freeway support and went into a leaping climb.

Spitfire sighed, “Why do they always run.”

Gears ran up to her, “High?”

Spitfire turned, “Low.”

She turned and bolted for the car while Gears tossed his sling aside and with some difficultly, leapt into the air and followed the dragon.

Spitfire pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed to the nearest on ramp.

Gears followed the dragon, “She just crossed 51st street on Level 2.”

Spitfire pulled onto the freeway, chasing the dragon, “I see her.”

Thorn galloped down the streets with a speed to match most of the cars on the freeway. She jumped a sports car, her claws scratching the windshield. Spitfire sped down the street, weaving between traffic as she chased the dragon. The blaring of car horns followed the two of them as Gears struggled to keep up in the air.

Spitfire opened the window and aimed her gun out the window and fired. Most of the rounds went wild.

“Be careful! You could hit someone! You’re not helping there!” Gears yelled.

“I agree. Bad idea.”

Thorn bolted to the left, causing a car to spin out. Spitfire pulled right and out of the way of the spinning vehicle. Again more horns this time accompanied by the screeching of tires.

“You need to get her off the road before she kills someone!” Gears shouted.

“And how the hell do you expect me to do that?”

“I don’t know! Drive her into a guard rail or something!”

“Fine. I’ll give it a good college try!”

She accelerated the vehicle and pulled up next to Thorn. Thorn turned and growled and shoved the car. The vehicle shook as the dragon impacted the side. Spitfire growled and returned the favor, her hooves gripping the wheel white. She reached for her gun again and shoved it towards the window. A burst of broken glass followed by a stream of blue splashed towards the dragon.

Thorn ducked low, dodging both the glass and the rounds. Up above, Gears watched at the road began to incline as he struggled to keep up.

Suddenly Thorn took a hard right and approached the guard rail. Spitfire was on her tail.

“I think I can catch her!”

The freeway was beginning to head higher into the skyline.

“Spitfire be careful! We’re getting pretty high up here!”

“She’s not getting away this easily!”

She pulled up parallel to the dragon and set the car to auto before climbing into the passenger seat and kicking open the door. Just as Thorn jumped the guard rail Spitfire jumped out of the car and onto the dragon’s wing. The two flew through the air, clearing the gap between the edge of the suspended road and crashing onto the balcony of an apartment, shattering the glass as they slid into the building.

Thorn growled and threw Spitfire off of her as she skidded into the living room of a very surprised family. Spitfire bounced onto a nearby couch and recovered. Thorn snarled and spat a burst of flame at the pegasus who dove out of the way and into the kitchen.

“Spitfire?! What’s going on in there?” Gears called.

Spitfire poked her head up and glanced at the large hole burned in the wall and into the now flaming but thankfully empty bedroom. She glanced towards the destroyed front door and watched a tail flick out of sight.

“Thorn decided to do some redecorating,” she said bolting out of the kitchen and into the hallway out of the complex. Thorn’s large size left several marks on the walls on the ceiling as she ran through the long hallways of the apartment. Spitfire galloped after her.

Thorn reached the entrance to a staircase and turned and spat a large sheet of fire down the hallway. Spitfire gasped and jumped to the left, busting down the door to another apartment just a column of flame shot down the hallway.

“What was that?” Gears asked.

Spitfire poked her head out into the burned and partly on fire hallway, “More fire.”

She galloped out into the hallway and towards the stairs. She glanced up. The scratching of claws on concrete gave her prey’s position away.

“Gears, she’s heading to the roof. Can you get somewhere where you can get a clear shot on her?”

“Yeah. There’s a high rise on the other side of the street.”

“Good,” she responded as she panted galloping up the stairs, “I’ll send her to you. You just be ready and shoot her.”

“Got it.”

Up outside in the rain Gears landed on a rooftop with a grunt. His wing ached from the flight but he ignored it as he spread out a sheet containing the parts of the police sniper rifle and began screwing the parts together.

He slacked the scope into place and locked it down before calibrating it. He opened the butt of the weapon and inserted the power supply. He grabbed the stun rounds and slid them into place before kicking up the bipod and set the gun on the edge of the roof and aimed.

“I’m in place,” he said.

Thorn burst onto the roof and glanced right and left before heading left, in the direction of Gears. Spitfire soon followed and chased after her.

“Good. Can you see me?” she asked as she jumped over a vent after the dragon.

Thorn jumped down to a lower level roof. Spitfire jumped down after her, landing in a puddle.

Gears saw Spitfire bathed in green light through the scope.

“I can see you but you’re not in effective range for these rounds. Keep coming this way.”

“How far?!” She panted as she ducked under a few power lines.

“900 meters,” Gears counted.

“Can you spot Thorn?”

“Yeah, she’s just about 10 meters ahead of you,” Gears said, the large form of a dragon sprinting through the rainy night in his sight.

“Keep tracking her, when she’s in range tell me. You’ll only get one shot at this, target her chest.”

Gears switched to bio sensors on the scope. Instantly the dragon’s heart beat and other bio signs were displayed. The reticle was aimed right at her heart.

“Got her. She’s at 600 meters.”

“Good.”

Gears continued tracking her, “500 meters.”

Spitfire galloped through the rain and jumped over a glass sky window. She could hear the sound of Thorn panting now. Up above, a bolt of lightning could be seen striking the top of a skyscraper followed by the sound of thunder.

“400 meters… 300 meters… 200 meters,” Gears said, “Got it.”

“Shoot her!”

Gears squeezed the trigger and instantly the long arc of a sniper stun round streaked through the air and rain towards the dragon. The round impacted the dragon’s chest, deforming and releasing the blue stunning liquid, splashing over her chest.

Thorn gasped as her front leg gave out in front of her. She began coughing, feeling like she’s just been punched by a dragon alpha. She wheezed and glanced back at Spitfire chasing after her. Spitfire stopped on a higher roof and aimed her rifle and fired.

A stream of stun rounds splashed over the dragon’s back legs. Instantly they gave out. Thorn growled and began to crawl as fast as she could away from the pegasus.

Spitfire lowered her gun and began panting, holding her head, “Shoot her again.”

Instantly a trail of hot air and rain water was visible impacting the dragon’s back.

“Gah!” Thorn howled but still continued crawling.

“Again!”

Another bang followed by another growl. Still Thorn continued to move.

Spitfire sighed, “Shoot her in the head.”

Another brief splash of blue and then the dragon was out, slumped over on the ground.

“Fuck…” Spitfire panted, “She’s got a lot of fight in her.”

Gears slung the gun over his shoulder, “She down finally?”

“Yeah, she’s down.”

Gears jumped and glided down to Spitfire’s roof, landing next to her.

“Good job,” Spitfire greeted him.

“Thanks,” He replied.

A gurgling sound got their attention. Thorn’s unconscious body got their attention.

“I hate to bring this up,” Gears said, “But how are we getting her back to the safe house?”

Spitfire groaned, “Fuck.”