Chaser

Chapters

Chapter 1: Welcome to Manehattan
Chapter 2: The Chasers
Chapter 4: Sprint
Chapter 5: The Best Sister
Chapter 6: Family
Chapter 3: Crash Courses

Chapter 1: Welcome to Manehattan

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 1: Welcome to Manehattan

By: SleeplessScribe

Life at the Apple farm was starting to get crazy, what with giant, evil griffons making storms in the sky, weird monsters running through Ponyville, waking up with Rarity’s cutie mark, and Twilight becoming an alicorn, but after a while, things finally started to settle down. Work resumed as usual, but we still had a few dead trees despite it being prime time for ‘em to start bearing fruit. Didn’t put too much of a hurting on the farm, though.

About three weeks after the whole cutie mark fiasco, Big Macintosh came to me with a letter from our relatives in Manehattan, the Oranges. “What’s this now? A letter all the way from Manehattan?”

My brother had been getting much better with his shyness and his little speech impediment, but he still didn’t go out of his way to say more than what the situation needed. “Eeeyup.”

Before reading it, I called Applebloom over, but we all agreed it was a better idea to go to Granny Smith rather than have her come here. When the whole family was together, I read the letter aloud.

“Dear Apple Family,

You are invited to the coming home celebration of Citrus Orange, who after 8 years of dedicated service in Equestria’s armed forces, is returning home with his honorable discharge. We would like to have at least one member from all the extended family, though as many as possible would be preferred. The celebration itself will be held in three days in our home in Manehattan. The address is in the envelope, and we look forward to your presence!

We hope to see you there,

The Orange Family”

My little sister threw her hooves in the air with an excited shout. “Manehattan! That’s the big city! I’ve always wanted to go there!”

Setting my hoof on her head, I had to shake my own. “No can do, sis. That trip would be way too much for a little filly like you, and there’s no way Granny Smith could make that trip, either.”

Granny had obviously been listening, but she was probably in and out, given her response. “Eh? What was that about chocolate chips?”

“Make the trip, granny.”

“Ooh, well why didn’t you say so?”

Big Mac patted my shoulder, turning his head in the direction of the city in question. “You’ve already been there, so you should go. I’ll stay and take care of the farm while you’re gone.”

I let out a sigh of relief; while my desire to live in the city was long dead and gone, I’d always thought about returning for a visit some time. However, the trip to Manehattan would probably take two or three days itself, so I had to get packing as soon as I could.

* * *

Seeing as how it was probably going to be a one night stay at most, I packed lightly, bringing only enough spending money for a train ride to the town nearest Manehattan, which happened to be Fillydelphia, and a few meals. We couldn’t really think of a fitting gift for a family as rich as the Oranges, so we decided to bake a nice apple pie for me to take and serve it at the party. I don’t mind talking about how excited I was, seeing as how I hadn’t seen my aunt and uncle Orange in ages, even though I didn’t know much about Citrus.

With my bags packed, and as many goodbyes said to my family as possible, I made my way to the train station. Saying goodbye to my friends never crossed my mind with how excited I was, but luckily it didn’t have to. Before I could get to the train, I was on the ground underneath a pile of pony friends, each giving me their own goodbyes.

I couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the surprise group hug. “How’d y’all know I was leaving? I know I didn’t say anything.”

Before anypony else could say anything, Pinkie Pie poked her head up out of the pile and took a deep breath. “Well, I was walking by Sweet Apple Acres and I heard you reading that letter so I was like gasp I have to tell everyone so we can say goodbye and so we all decided to hide and give you a surprise hug right before you left!”

I could still understand her, but would it kill that pony to talk normal once in a while? “Well I sure do appreciate it, this was mighty kind of y’all. But you don’t gotta worry about me, I’ll be home before you know it!” They were still waving at me even as the train station disappeared from view. Even by train, the trip to Fillydelphia would take a couple hours, so I decided it was a good time for a nap.

Taking a snooze probably wasn’t a good idea, seeing as how it took someone shaking me a little to keep me from missing my stop. I gave the polite pony my thanks and hopped off, checking my map to see just how long of a trip I was about to take. Things would have been a lot easier if the tracks to Manehattan itself weren’t being worked on right now, but hey, where’s the fun in always doing things the easy way? The good thing was that Fillydelphia’s train station wasn’t far from the road to the city, so rather than just sit around wasting time, I set out. It was actually a pretty busy road, but that didn’t surprise me. What with the train tracks being out, the only way to get to Manehattan was by walking, flying, or by stagecoach. As I made my way, I heard quite a bit of chatter from the pony folks around me, and a lot of them were talking about “barely getting out”. Their conversations made me curious, but I knew better than to stick my nose where it didn’t belong. The sun was starting to go down by the time I had passed the area where the tracks were being repaired. However, thanks to a stroke of dumb luck, I managed to hitch a ride with a traveler who happened to have extra room in his coach.

It was still late when we got there, but at least I would be able to sleep in a hotel or something. As we approached the city, the bright lights from within blocked out the stars in the sky. The city most definitely was not like I remembered it. It was surrounded by a tall wall of steel topped with barbed wire, and we had to go through three checkpoints before we actually got inside the city. Once we were in through, the only difference from what I remembered as a filly was the lack of ponies in the streets. Unfortunately, the kind pony that offered me a ride had somewhere to be, so I had to find the address on my own. It wasn’t really that bad, though.

The streetlights made it quite bright and easy to see, but even without them, the light from all the skyscrapers and apartments probably would’ve made it bright anyway. I kept having to look down at the letter and my map as I walked; Manehattan was a pretty big city, and I did not want to end up getting lost. After a while, though, I realized that I had passed the same apartment complex three times. “Consarnit! Now where the hay am I?”

I probably should have been paying attention to where I was going just as much as where I was headed. Fortunately, I was able to find where I was on my map pretty easily, so I decided to stay still while I planned out where I needed to go. My luck was incredible today; I wasn’t but a block away from the Orange’s estate. Setting my map back in my bag, I turned right around and made my way down the road. As I walked, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was… being watched, or something. I quickened my pace a bit, and that’s when I began to hear the faint tapping.

After a quick spin I lowered myself, ready to fight whoever or whatever was following me. “Come on out, I know you’re there! Y’all should know better than to pick a fight with a country pony!” No response. There were no sounds, no movement, no nothing but the echo of my voice into the night air. That is, nothing but the echo until I turned around.

From my new position face up on the ground, I stared up at a mountain of meat. No, not that kind of meat! The stallion that stood before me was massive, even bigger than Big Macintosh, and fifty times as scary. Two scars stretched across his left cheek, and a black patch covered what I assumed to be an empty right eye socket. His voice was low and gruff, and there was less friendliness in it than an angry bear.

“Awful late for a mare to be out by herself, ain’t it? If you’re lost, I’d be happy to help you find your way.”

“Oh, no thanks, I’m fine. I know where I’m going, don’t you worry!” I started backing away, getting up on my hooves only to bump into another stallion just as big as the first. Before I knew it, I had at least one on all sides of me.

If anyone had the brains, it was the one with the eye patch, since he was the only one that seemingly knew how to talk. “No, you’re not. It’s way too late for a pretty mare like yourself to be out all by herself. I don’t charge much, either, just fork over that bag and everything will be fine, you need someone to help you fight off all the… bad ponies here.”

He flashed me a sly grin, and I knew I wasn’t gonna be getting away any time soon. All I could do was take a stand and hope they backed off. If it was just one of these guys, or if all of ‘em weren’t so huge, this wouldn’t have been nearly as hard. “I ain’t scared of you! This bag is for family, not a bunch of greasy city folk that look like they bathe in the pigs’ feeding troughs!”

The grin remained on his face as they began to close in on me. “You got spunk, lady. I like spunk, and I think I’ll be taking more than just that bag, now.” He turned to the good behind me, stomping his hoof on the ground. “Hold her.”

So he wasn’t just a sack of trash, he was a horndog too. I felt the pony behind move to grab me, and now they were all too close for me to move. The thug’s forelegs were around me before I could kick him away, and the leader towered over me, directing the two on my sides to take my saddlebags off. “I’m going to enjoy making you scream.”

He froze as he started leaning towards me, looking up past his buddy’s head. “Aw no. No, no, no, you idiots said they wouldn’t be around here!” The two side goons shrugged, and I really wanted to try and kick ‘em, but I was still being held by the rear fool. However, I didn’t have to turn around to see what they were freaking out about. I saw silhouettes rise up from some of the lower rooftops and fire escapes on nearby buildings, and finally I was released as a voice came from behind tall, dumb, and ugly.

“You’re right, cyclops, a mare as pretty as her shouldn’t be out this late.”

The big guy turned to face a dirty, grey colt with a long mane and tail of oak brown hair. I couldn’t really see his eyes from where I was, and the low brim of his baseball cap didn’t help. This colt looked just slightly bigger than my brother, but he had the muggers shaking in their nonexistent boots. “Back of, guy! She’s mine; one step closer and my buds will make her part of the pavement.”

He let out a loud laugh, and that’s when I noticed the red stitches in his right cheek. Were facial injuries some kind of fashion statement in the city? “What buds?”

Both One-Eye and I turned around, and all three of the goons he had brought with him were out cold and in hoof cuffs, being taken to… somewhere by other ponies. When the mugger saw this, he took off, and still had my bags. He ran pretty fast for such a big guy, but what surprised me even more was how quickly the other stallion caught up to him, tackling him to the ground and pulling a pair of hoof cuffs from beneath the red band around his left foreleg. A few of the ponies that had been standing on the rooftops came to join him, and he handed the cuffed pony over to them. “Lock him up. We’ve been after this guy for weeks.”

He made his way over to me, with my bags, and tossed them to me. His brim was now raised, and I saw not only the bright blue eyes, but the bandage across the bridge of his muzzle. “Old dead eye there won’t lying; it’s really not safe out here this time of night. If you don’t mind, I can help you get where you’re going. Free of charge.”

The dirty stallion gave me a smile, and there was a whole lot more friendliness coming from him than what I was just faced with. “Name’s Jet, Jet Rush. The guards around here are about as straight as a candy cane, so these streets belong to me and my crew.”

I raised a brow at him, looking around. There were no more silhouettes, nor were there any others out on the road now. “Your… crew?”

“Yeah, my crew. Like I said, the law enforcement officers around here are pretty dang crooked, so we took it upon ourselves to bring some real justice to this city.” Jet gave a chuckle and looked at my map. I had the route I planned to take marked out, and he looked up at me with a very serious expression. “You know the Oranges?”

His question, and the tone he asked it in, completely distracted me from the fact that he had somehow taken my map out of my bag without me noticing. “Well, yes. I’m Applejack, part of the Apple family, and we’re relatives. I got a letter from ‘em asking us to join them for Citrus’s coming home celebration, but I was the only one that could go.”

Immediately he brought himself as close to me as possible, putting his foreleg around my shoulders and leading me through my route. “Look, Applejack, it is not good to be associated with the Oranges right now, believe me.”

Before I knew it, we were at the door of the Orange’s estate, and the apparent vigilante released me. “Look, you seem like a nice enough pony, so I’m going to give you this warning: take care of your business here, and get out. As fast as you can, get the hell out of here.”

There was no time to ask what in the world he was talking about before the door closed in front of me. “So, you save my pie, money, and dignity, and then tell me to get out and slam a door in my face? Huh, so much for ‘great city’.”

The sudden voice made me jump, but considering all that just happened, who wouldn’t have? “You’ll have to forgive Jet. Harshness like that is his way of protecting others.” His coat was a similar color to mine, and his rust-colored mane and tail were cut short. Heck, his mane was almost gone. He bore two crossing spears on his flank, and a pair of kind eyes on his face as he reached out his hoof to me. “Citrus Orange. And you are?”

I took his hoof and shook it for a moment, unsure if I should’ve just gave him the pie and left or not. “Applejack. Sorry to say that I’m the only one from Sweet Apple Acres that could come, but everyone else had different reasons for staying behind.”

Citrus rolled his eyes at me, but his grin told me it was more of a “does it matter” kind of gesture. “I’m sure you’re pretty curious as to what just happened. If you follow me, I’ll fill you in.”

Before he had said anything, I never noticed how… plain this room was. Not that I really cared, but what would a pony like, say Rarity, think if she entered a mansion and the first thing she saw was just a white room with stairs? My cousin led me up those very stairs, and that’s where the actual wealth showed itself. Despite it being almost midnight now, there were chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling with lights brighter than Nova’s mane after he bathed. The entire floor was a thick jungle of light blue carpet, and the first thing you saw when reaching the top was about ten chairs and expensive-looking sofas surrounding this big, flat screen nailed to the wall. To this day I don’t understand why anypony would rather watch television instead of being outside and having fun themselves. Must be a rich pony thing.

That wasn’t what Citrus wanted to show me, though. He brought me through a curving hallway behind the TV, and at the end was this large, empty room with a wall at the end made entirely of glass. The veteran led me to it, and pointed out a skyscraper that towered over every single other building in the city, though from this distance it looked like a chocolate fountain. “You see that, Applejack? That’s TimeTech Industries’ business headquarters. They manufacture and sell watches, clocks, and timers, and the owner of the company just swooped in here one day and made an empire within weeks. Everypony was suspicious of his methods for obtaining so much money so fast, but his newly acquired wealth and power prompted them all to keep their mouths shut. We’re sure he’s been doing something illegal, we just don’t know what.”

My brow was once again raised as I looked out at the bright city. “Alright, so what’s this got to do with Jet and the Oranges and whatever?”

Citrus gave a stern glare, holding his hoof to his mouth for a moment. “Keep your voice down, these windows aren’t great for blocking out sound. Right about the time TimeTech started growing, big business leaders started… disappearing. A lot of wealthy CEOs and powerful politicians vanished, and a lot of us think TimeTech is behind it. The guards in Manehattan do nothing about crime, and I think it’s because their pay has been getting quite the boost. Thugs have gotten away with a lot of kidnappings, robberies, and assaults, but they only seem to when their crimes are against those that could cause competition for TimeTech. That being said, the Orange family made their living off of selling pocket watches and grandfather clocks, and since then the business has expanded even beyond just time-telling machines. We are TimeTech’s biggest rivals, and it’s only a matter of time before we start getting attacked. I’m sure Jet told you that he has a ‘crew’ that owns the streets, right?”

This whole story made me speechless. I was so blown away, all I could do was nod when he asked me.

Citrus turned back to the tower, letting out a sigh before he spoke. “Most of the ponies in Jet’s little law enforcement group are members of families that have lost their jobs. Not only that, but while most of them are your age, there are quite a few young ones that have lost their parents. Jet and his gang aren’t just keeping the streets clean, they’re trying to get this company out. We all want TimeTech out of our city. They’ve got this city beneath their hoof, and they don’t care who they crush to keep their power.

I wasn’t quite speechless, but I was still completely astounded at Citrus’s story. “Why would anypony let this happen, much less make it happen?”

He let out another sigh, leaning against the glass. “Cousin, welcome to Manehattan.”

Chapter 2: The Chasers

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 2: The Chasers

By: SleeplessScribe

I was still completely dumbfounded. One would never thing that there was such a big problem going on in this city. “Why not get the Princess involved? Surely one of them is able to come down here and take care of this, right?”

Citrus shook his head slowly, still leaning against the glass. “I’m not sure. I don’t know all the details, just what I’ve either been told or seen for myself. If you ask me, the royalty can’t do anything right now, as I’m sure their aid has already been requested. I just wish I knew what it was.”

As I thought about just what was going on here, I followed Citrus’s example, leaning against the glass. All this was so much to take in, and there was still no proof that everything Citrus said was true. “Sorry, Citrus. I wish I knew what to tell you.”

He let out a small yawn, turning to me again. “It’s getting late, and you don’t need to tell me anything. You need to get out of here as soon as you can. If you can get up early, I’ll help you leave, alright? You’ve already put yourself in danger just by entering this city and being part of our extended family.”

I guess there really wasn’t much I could do. I came here expecting a day of reunion with some distant relatives, and what do I get? A power struggle between the local rat pack and some grease ball with too much money for his pockets. The more I thought about it, though, the more I couldn’t help but feel bad for those ponies. As Citrus guided me up to a guest bedroom- after accepting the pie I had baked- my mind drifted back to that whole ordeal with Flim and Flam, and how I almost lost Sweet Apple Acres. The memories kept me up for a good, long while. Eventually I was able to get to sleep, but my rest didn’t last long. As I felt myself shaking, my eyes slowly opened to a wide awake Citrus standing over my bed.

“Applejack, come on! It’s still early enough for you to slip out!”

With a loud yawn and a rubbing of the eyes, I stepped out of bed to grab a hold of my hat. Well, actually, I sorta rolled out. Still half asleep, I was pulled out of the room and down the stairs. When I finally was completely coherent, I realized that Citrus was bringing me out of the city, and that, ironically one entrance to the city wasn’t that far from their manor. Unfortunately for me, this entrance was the way trains came in, and as I’ve stated before; the train tracks were out, so no trains for a while.

A few guards stood before the gates, and two were stationed in towers on either side. Citrus readied some kind of badge, which I assumed to be from his service, as we stood a little out of earshot of the guards.

“Alright, Applejack, with this badge, the guards will have to let you leave. However, you cannot come back until this situation is dealt with, you hear? If I can, I will send a letter to your farm when it’s safe to return, but until then, don’t even come close to this city. Let’s get going.”

He moved toward the gate, but I stayed put. It took him a moment to realize I wasn’t following him, and he turned around, raising his brow at me. “Come on, Applejack, safety is in our reach.”

“No.” It was all I needed to say. I made a decision, and I wasn’t going to let Citrus keep me from carrying it out.

“No? Mare, are you crazy? You may not be known, yet, but once it’s found out that you not only associate, but are related to the Oranges, you will become a target! I’m trying to get you out before that happens!”

“No. Take me to Jet.”

Now he was actually giving me that “are you crazy” look. “Applejack, I think you must’ve hit your head or something. Why would you want to see him?”

Turning my back to the veteran, I let out a sigh. “I need to know the whole story. If what you told me is true, I can’t just leave and do nothing. While you may be distant, y’all are still family, and nopony who messes with family can expect me not to do something about it! That’s not all, either. I may not know how it feels, but I can imagine what these ponies must be going through. Their families have owned these companies all their lives, so they’re not just losing their jobs, they’re losing their livelihood. I almost lost Sweet Apple Acres once, and I ain’t about to just let other ponies actually have to experience that.”

“Applejack, you have no idea-“

I stomped my hoof on the ground, making sure he knew I had had enough. “If you know where Jet is, take me to him. Now.”

It was kind of funny how Citrus reacted. He just kinda stepped back as his ears lowered. “Yes ma’am.” With his head lowered a bit, he took me the exact opposite of the way we came. “I’m not exactly sure if he’s there right now, but I know he’ll be where I’m taking you at some point today.”

Giving him a nod, I started following him as I looked around. “That’s good enough, I reckon.” The city looked really different when the sun was up. The only times I had been here were when it was night, and when I was a filly I left just as the sun came up. It was like all the buildings gave their light to the sun, and even thought it wasn’t anything like Sweet Apple Acres, there was some kind of steel beauty to it, if that makes any sense.

Just seeing the tall skyscrapers looking as if they could touch the sky was amazing, and the crazy amount of different types of attractions, restaurants, and business left me with my mouth agape. Citrus led be down an alley between a bowling alley and what I read to be an insurance agency, and at the end was the back entrance to a movie theater. The door was solid steel, and as we approached it, a rectangular slider opened to reveal a pair of brown eyes behind it.

“Password?”

My cousin cleared his throat and stared at the eyes. “Lauren Faust. And don’t worry, she’s with me.”

The door opened, but there was no pony behind it. I just assume he was probably behind the door, but at this point, who knows where he might’ve been? “What’s a Faust?”

He simply shrugged, giving me one of those long “m” sounds. “Your guess is as good as mine. We’re almost there, and even if Jet isn’t here, the team will be.”

“Team? Exactly what team are you talking about?”

Just as he started to speak, we entered the main part of the movie theater. It was like something out of one of Twilight’s books in her make believe section; wires and cords everywhere, all connecting machines that I didn’t even recognize. The screen itself was displaying what looked like dozens of different parts of the city, and there were quite a few mares and stallions walking around. Some were working on these machines, some were just talking, and others were doing some weird stretches and exercises.

“They call themselves the Chasers. As I’ve said, the guards around here are no good, so this group of ponies is the only kind of justice there is on the streets of Manehattan.”

“Not only that, be we also dedicate ourselves to digging up dirt to get TimeTech out of our city.” I almost jumped when I saw Jet coming up to us from our right. “Alright Citrus, let’s address the elephant in the room.” His eyes widened as he looked at me, letting out a nervous chuckle as he realized how what he said might be taken the wrong way. “Why is she here?”

Before he could answer, I put my hoof down between the two of them. “I want to join.”

At the same time, the both of them shook their heads, dropped their jaws, and spoke. “You wanna who what?”

I gave them both a roll of the eyes, turning to Jet directly. “I. Want. To. Join.”

Citrus put his hoof on my shoulder, trying to pull me back. “I don’t think so, Applejack. You can’t help, and this isn’t your fight.”

Swatting his hoof away, I shot him as menacing a glare as I could muster. “It is now. I’m not about to sit by while these ponies fight for their way of life! You may not think I can help, but I’m sure Jet can find some kind of use for me. Back home, family and friends are the most important things in life, and as far as I’m concerned, friends of the family are friends of mine.”

I turned to Jet to ask him what I could do, but I was met with half closed eyes and a smug smile. “So you want to help us just because your moral code tells you to?”

After a nod, I stood as straight as I could, still not quite as tall as him. “I reckon that’s what I just said.”

The stallion let out a small chuckle, pulling me into a quick hug. “Well then, AJ, welcome aboard. Spunk like yours is hard to come by, and, for lack of a better phrase, I could find quite a few uses for you.” Letting go of me, he turned to all the working ponies near the back of the theater. “Somepony get this mare a legband! Now!” Within minutes, one of the workers came to us with a band just like Jet’s, and he lifted my leg foreleg and slipped it on me. “Before we do anything, I’m going to have to give you some background. Thanks for bringing her, Citrus.”

My cousin left without a word, simply giving the big guy a nod as he ascended the stairs back out. Jet nudged me and motioned his hoof around the room we were in right now. “See that screen? We have cameras hidden all throughout the streets so we can watch for crime, and this is where our tech ponies normally work. They make sure the cameras are always running, and they sound an alarm whenever there are signs of crime.”

As he directed me, I followed, tilting my head a bit. “Jet, what exactly is the Chasers’ goal?”

He let out a long sigh, pausing for a moment. “We want TimeTech out of our city. To do that, we need to prove that Monopoly, the owner of the company, didn’t make the bulk of his money through the company, but what we believe to be illegal trading of drugs and slaves. Our goal is get proof of this so the royalty can act.”

Alright, that answered my question, but I was still confused as all heck. “Why can’t they just help now?”

Jet tipped the blue cap on his head, lifting it again so he could see me. “We’re vigilantes. Unfortunately, the princess can’t aid those who take the law into their own hooves. She sympathizes with our cause, though, and if we can get undeniable proof that TimeTech’s behavior has warranted our actions, she will see fit to help us.”

I was taken to what looked like the lobby of the theater. There were a few refrigerators, one large freezer, and two ovens that they had rigged up in addition to the popcorn maker, cotton candy machine, and all the candy bars. “This is obviously where we eat. Sometimes the members will cook something up, but mostly we just run in, grab something quick, and go. Not all that exciting, but I think you’ll enjoy our next room quite a bit.”

He led me through the lobby and into another one of the theater rooms, but all the chairs had been removed. Instead, treadmills, dumbbells of all sizes, bench-presses, and punching bags were laid out around the room. “Here is where we do most of our exercises. For what we do, a fit, strong body is an absolute necessity.”

Flashing him a grin, walked over towards one of the bags and turned to face my back to it. “Oh, you mean like this?” I let loose with a flurry of kicks, finishing with a kick with both hooves and sending the bag about a quarter of a full circle in the air. “Years of apple buckin’ can make a pony stronger than you imagine.”

His front hooves banged together in a clap, and he met my grin with one of his own as he followed up. Jet’s kicks weren’t near as fast as mine, but when he was done his double kick sent the bag in a one-eighty, swinging between us as it came down. “Wow, Jet, and what have you been doing to get so strong?”

He gave a simple shrug, the grin still on his face. “Years of supporting my own weight. If things go well, and you end up getting out there with us, you’ll see what I mean. We’re called Chasers for a reason.”

As soon as he brought up time, I jumped, slightly worried. “That’s right! I got family that’s expecting me back home soon! Oh, what are they gonna do when I don’t come back for who knows how long?”

“Nothing. They know you’re in good hooves, Applejack.” Citrus saw my reaction to him and smiled. “I figured since you were serious about this, the least I could do was let your family know. If any of them are anything like you, I don’t expect them not to react, but at least they know you’re not dead or missing.”

I’m sure both of them knew I wanted to say something, but the long haired colt put his foreleg around me, apparently eager to continue showing me around. “So, now that that’s settled, all that’s left is to show you where the living quarters are, and show you how teams work.”

Jet began to push me, and despite my slight resistance, I still started moving. “Wait, Jet! This is all still a little much to take.”

He stopped, patting my back gently. “AJ, Citrus said it best: you’re in good hooves. I understand if you want to back out, and if so, we’ll help you leave. None of us will judge you if you don’t feel like you can help.”

Shaking his leg off of me, I stomped my hoof to the floor. “I never said that! I said this was a right much to take in, but I don’t recall sayin’ anything about quitting!”

“Alright then, tell me why you think so.” We began to walk again, and I started explaining just how I felt.

“Well, after seeing all this, the only two things I can say are that this either must be something serious, or y’all are all crazy.”

He let out a loud, hardy laugh, nudging me in the shoulder. “Applejack, honestly, it’s both. We Chasers are just a tad bit crazy. But hey, in times like these, you just have to go a little crazy, and maybe everything you touch will turn to gold.”

I tilted my head a little bit, confused yet again. “…Okay then. To be honest, Jet, do you really think that this little group can take on a power like TimeTech if it’s as big a threat as you say?”

The stallion stopped for a moment, raising a hoof to his chin. “That’s a good question, AJ. Now let me respond honestly: we’ll never know if we don’t try. If we just sit back and let this happen, Monopoly will own Manehattan, and as a result, he’ll own our lives. I feel the same way as you; I’m not about to just let that happen.”

There was a lot I wanted to say, but I could decide where to start before we came to the third theater in the building. I gotta say, for what seemed like just a bunch of ponies with workout equipment and some fancy machines, they were pretty good builders, too. Again, all the chairs had been cleared out, and they had made rooms with walls of double layered plywood. In each room was at least one bunk bed, and some had two. The internal walls of each room were layered with what Jet told me was the carpet from the bottom of the fourth movie room, to give the ponies sleeping in them some privacy if they wanted to talk.

I came to two conclusions when I saw this room, and I made it a personal goal to get answers from Jet. Turning to him, I held one foreleg in front of him and lifted my other hoof to his mouth. “Alright Jet, I got questions. First off, this setup seems a might extensive for what seems to be going on. Just how many ponies are in on this operation? And second, how long has this been going on? You’ve had enough time to pull up all these theater seats, set up all that fancy technology, that workout equipment, the food, and these rooms! Just how long have you been trying to catch this guy?”

After a long sigh and a lowering of the head, he looked back up at me with a hint of shame in his eyes. “Five months. We’ve never been able to get close enough to him to have a chance to do any spying or snooping. Monopoly keeps his tower locked up tighter than Celestia’s rear end. Not only that, but every time we try and come up with a plan, some kind of robbery or kidnapping comes up that we have to deal with. As for how many ponies are part of this group… I think it’d be better that you see for yourself.”

Once again I found the big colt leading me somewhere new. There were five theaters in all; I had seen three, and one had been stripped for materials to make the rooms in the third. Jet took me to the fourth, which was across the lobby from the first one we came out of. When we got there, the theater itself was empty, but I could see movement from the projector room way in the back.

When Jet brought me up there, all heads turned to us. There were four of them altogether. Three of the four looked to be around my age, but the one that actually walked up to us was a little filly that looked closer to Applebloom’s age. She had bright blue eyes, like Jet’s, and her coat was a light brown with a cute white spot between her eyes, and her mane and tail were the same color as Jet’s. She hopped up on my new friend’s back, waving at me.

“I’ve never seen you before, hi! What’s your name?”

Before I could actually answer, Jet leaned his head back towards the filly. “Sprint, this is Applejack. Applejack, this is Sprint, my little sister.”

He then directed me to the other three ponies in the room. The one on the left was a stallion even bigger than Jet, though he looked to be older as well. His coat was some kind of teal, with a mane of alternating shades of green stripes. His eyes were a bluish gray, and a yellow hardhat was stamped on his flank.

As Jet point to him, he gave me a proud smile with one eye closed. “AJ, this here is Jackhammer. He’s our go-to for big time strength jobs, and he’s the head of our Assault section. They’re the main ones who do the fighting and make arrests; a hit from someone under Jackhammer’s command is liable punch through stone.”

The big guy let out a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. His voice was surprisingly… I wouldn’t say high, but it definitely wasn’t as low as I thought it would be for a stallion his size. “That was just one time, and I was really mad. You don’t gotta make it sound like some kind of super power.”

Attention was then directed at a slim, emerald-coated mare. Her mane was apple red, though the glare from her glasses kept me from seeing what color her eyes were. On her flank was a diagonal screwdriver with a screw forming an x across it, and I noticed her face reddening a bit as Jet began to talk about her.

“This is Quick Fix, one of the smartest earth ponies I know. She heads up our tech section, who make sure our communications and cameras are functioning, and take care of the technical repairs. If you ever have anything from a tractor to a television that needs work, she’s your mare.”

Her glasses slid down her face a little as she circled the ground with her hoof, trying to avoid anyone looking her in the eyes. Finally Jet addressed the Pegasus floating around the room. He sported a solid, dark-blue coat with shiny yellow hair, and a dark tornado for a cutie mark. “This here is Dust Devil. He’s in charge of our Recon team, and they normally do the stealthy scout work. So far Dust here is the only pony to get close enough to TimeTech Tower to see the front doors. These three ponies all are in charge of a different part of this group, each with their own specialties. And the sections consist of about ten ponies each, so not counting everypony in this room, that’s about thirty.”

I looked around at all of them for a moment before turning back to Jet. “So, where will I be going then?”

Jet flashed a smile and patted me on the back. “You’re with me, AJ, and I’m in charge. Applejack, say hello to Team Chaser.”

Chapter 4: Sprint

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 4: Sprint

By: SleeplessScribe

It didn’t take too much time getting the two back to the base. After we had them both securely tied to columns inside the theater, it was time to get to work. All of us, except Sprint, were there, and we didn’t bother with names.

“Alright, here’s how this is going to work. You talk, we listen. If the first step is too hard, we have plenty of ways to make it… easier.”

I decided to simply name them by color: Grey, on the left, and Blue, on the right. It took a few minutes and a kick to the stomach from Jackhammer to make Blue speak, and Grey stayed silent. “Do what you want, even if we knew anything useful, we wouldn’t tell you nothing. All we do is follow Firecracker around and take orders.”

It was my turn to kick him. I have to be honest, it felt kind of good just to hit these guys for being involved with something that was taking our lives away. “You know what those orders were. You know where you went with her. Those two things alone make you useful.”

Their silence persisted, and even after half an hour of punching and kicking, they both sat there, keeping their lips sealed.

Finally, the farm pony had had enough, letting out a frustrated grunt. “All right, y’all move aside!” She pushed between Jack and myself, staring down Grey and Blue as she stomped on the floor. “I don’t think you realize what your boss is doing to the lives of all these ponies. You two are on the wrong side, and that means you don’t get any mercy from me. You’re gonna tell us exactly what you’re after, and where you were going right now, or I’m gonna show you what years of bucking apples can do to a pony’s kicks!”

Grey blew a raspberry, spitting in AJ’s face. “You really think we’re afraid of country bumpkin like you? A little hayseed like you couldn’t hurt a fly, no matter how hard you tried.”

There was definitely blood, and I think I saw a tooth fly out of Grey’s mouth as the hoof collided with his lip. I knew she was tough, but I had no idea she had the guts to make blood leak out of a pony’s mouth like water from a cracked faucet. “Who’s the scared one now, huh? How about I ask again: where were you?” Her next hit slammed right into Blue’s jaw, resulting in an audible crack, bleeding gums, and a bleeding lip.

After spitting out some blood, Blue turned back to her with a cocky grin. “Gonna have to do better than that, you ornery bitch!”

Now I had had enough. By the time my front hoof was back on the ground, there was already a bruise underneath his eye, and now blood was coming out of one of his nostrils. “First off, don’t be using that kind of language around here, you got that? Second, never insult Applejack and expect me not to respond!”

My words brought both a small blush on Applejack’s face and a scoff from Quick behind us, but I really didn’t care. I don’t know why, but hearing him insult AJ just really, really pissed me off. It took a couple more good hits from both of us, but finally Blue cracked, shaking frantically.

“Alright, alright, you psychos! Stop, stop, I’ll tell you what we know!” He spoke hurriedly, but we could still understand him. “Monopoly told us it was time to make a move on the Oranges, so Firecracker went to the Orange Industries building to plant explosives at key points in the basement but you Chasers found us so we took off and then you came along and she can’t go and do it herself because we dropped the bombs and I know you all aren’t stupid enough to just leave them there!”

“Good golly, he talks faster than Pinkie Pie.” Applejack shook her head quickly, wiping the little bit of blood on her hoof of on the floor. “Does that help you at all?”

I gave her a nod. “It does. If we know who they’re targeting, we know where to go to stop them.”

Dust poked his head between us, looking at our prisoners. “Do we get rid of them now? Don’t want them running off and tattle tailing.”

Giving Dust another angry stare, I pushed him back. “We let them go. They’ve served their purpose, and now we let them go.”

Both Jack and Dust shook their heads quickly, their mouths agape. “Let them go? Are you nuts, Jet?” They both were speaking in unison, but that was apparently all Dust had to say. “Jet, if we let them go then they’re going to run back and tell TimeTech our counterplans and where we’re based. They’ll no doubt break in here and turn this theater into a slaughterhouse! I say we kill them.”

Jack and Dust both raised their hooves, knowing that decisions like this always ended in a vote.

Quick Fix raised the opposite hoof, as did I. “I’ve already said this: you can either save lives, or you can take them. The Chasers are dedicated to doing the first, we are not killers.”

Dust looked at Applejack, scoffing at me. “Well, looks like you’re our tiebreaker Applejack. Do we kill them, or do we let them go?”

The stress was evident in her expression as she bit her lip. Her ears fell flat as she looked from me to Dust and back again, circling her hoof on the floor. After about a minute, she looked up at our prisoners and untied them. “We let them go.”

Both the guys clicked their tongues at her, but AJ spun around like someone had stepped on her tail. “Don’t you give me that, you two! Maybe they are a couple of no good thugs, but what good would killing them do? What would doing that make us, huh?”

I set my hoof on her shoulder and Grey and Blue ran off, nodding at our friends. “She’s right. Look, guys, I understand why you think killing them is the best option, but we are not TimeTech, and we’re not going to lower ourselves to their standards.”

They both rolled their eyes and left, grumbling. Quick came over, her gaze focused on the floor. Her glasses were slid down a bit, but I’m pretty sure I saw a blush. “Thanks, Applejack… for being on our side.”

AJ waved her hoof at the shy mare, patting her shoulder. “Ah, shucks, it ain’t nothing, Quick Fix! It was the right thing to do, I wasn’t about to let those guys die for no reason.

Quick gave me a small smile before walking off, and before I could say anything, I had two big grey forelegs around my neck. “I knew I was right about you, Applejack. You’ve got a sense of justice about you that I really admire.” He smiled at me, patting my back before he let me go. “I’ve gotta go talk to the team that found those bombs, alright? Take a look around, talk to some ponies, and I’ll meet up with you later so we can practice more, alright?”

I gave him a nod as he walked off, but a small little voice kept me from moving.

“He’s totally smitten, you know that?” The little filly hopped up on one of the bench presses and sat down on it. Sprint swished her tail, giving me a sweet smile.

As sweet as she was, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Aw, Sprint, were you eavesdropping?”

She shook her head quickly, hopping off the bench press. “No! I just… overheard, is all.”

“Uh huh. Anyway, Jet’s just being friendly. I mean, we barely know each other, sugar cube. I highly doubt he’s ‘smitten’ with my just after a few hours.” I teasingly ruffled up her mane, causing it to fall over her eyes.

“So you don’t believe in love at first sight?”

I was actually really glad she couldn’t see right now; it gave me the chance to roll my eyes. Was I really having this discussion with a filly about as old as my little sister? “Sprint, it takes more than a first glance for something like love. It’s a big pony thing, and it takes time for a relationship like that to form. I’ll admit, your brother’s a nice guy, but I really don’t think he’s in love with my like you say.”

The little filly swatted my hoof away, giving a small grown. “I am a big pony! Has he told you about his problems yet?”

I shook my head slowly, returning my hoof to the ground. “He hasn’t. Your brother told me that he’d tell me when he felt comfortable, and if he was ‘in love’ with me, you’d think that he’d feel pretty comfortable telling me anything, right?”

Her ears fell flat as she backed away a little. “I thought for sure he’d have already said something….”

My hoof was just all over the place today as I rubbed the girl’s head again. “See, Sprint? You’re just a little too young to understand things like this right now, and-“

She swatted me away again, turning away. “Applejack! Stop talking to me like I’m a baby! I’m a big pony, and I’m gonna prove it!”

Sprint was gone before I could even say anything, though I must admit, she was a quick little filly. If she was anything like Applebloom, all she needed was a little time to think and she’d come back, we’d both apologize, and share a sweet and fun hug. After a few minutes, Jet tipped my hat over my eyes and chuckled.

“Boo!”

Lifting my hat up, I have him a teasing wink. “I don’t scare that easily, sugar cube. So, what’cha got?”

“Well, we’ve all decided that those explosives will be our weapon to bring down TimeTech Tower once we get clearance from the royalty. All we need now is proof of his transgressions, and we’ll be good to go! So, are you ready to get back out there?”

I found myself thinking about what Sprint said, but also, oddly enough, about Jet’s Assault failure. “Hey Jet, mind if I ask you some things before we go?”

He spun around lickety-split shaking his head with a grin. “Nope! You only get one, and that was it.” Jet stuck his tongue out after he saw my face, laughing a little. “Just kidding, what’s on your mind?”

Twilight would’ve been nice to have around, seeing as she’s so organized, but I was still able to explain what I was thinking well enough. “Well, you know how you were talking about this being… what was it? The fourth time this week an Assault team was outrun? Well, I’ve been thinking of an idea.”

I had a tendency to talk with my hooves when I had a point to make, and this was no exception. Those things were flying around like the Dash siblings in a race. “See, on the farm, we split the work between the three of us: There’s me, and I normally kick the apples off of the trees, my little sister Applebloom, who normally picks up the apples and loads ‘em into the buckets since she’s so, and my brother, Big Macintosh, who’s the only one strong enough to carry the buckets all the way from the orchard to the barn. We each have our own specialties, but we work together to get things done. See what I’m saying?”

He rubbed his chin a bit, his face morphed into a purse-lipped, goofy thinking expression. “I think so. Are you suggesting we kind of merge the teams?”

Shaking my head a bit, I tapped my hoof on the floor like it was actually going to help me explain myself. “Not really merge them all, but what if, instead of entire teams built for one thing, you make teams with a combination? For example, let’s have Quick Fix, Dust Devil, and Jackhammer all on one team. Dust and Jack can go around patrolling the streets while Quick keeps them updates one what’s going on with her fancy cameras. So, we make up teams of at least one Assault and one Recon with a Tech keeping them posted on what’s what.”

He gave me a smile, ruffling up my mane a bit. “I like that idea! Pretty and smart! AJ, you’re a mare after my own heart. I’ll tell everyone to get fixed up right away.”

I couldn’t help but blush just a little at the comment. “That’s… something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Mentioning the subject was a might embarrassing, but for the life of me I just couldn’t think of some kind of cover. It took at least five minutes of thinking before I just spat it out. “Oh, I can’t lie to save my life! Jet, your sister was talking to me earlier, and got me to thinking. Are you… in love with me? Even in the slightest? Little Sprint insisted that you were, and I tried to tell her that love takes time, and we’ve only been together for a day.”

Anypony would’ve blushed as his lips came real close to mine. However, he drew back quickly and let out a laugh. “Haha, just kiddin’. Applejack, you’re sweet and all, and I really admire your moral code, but you’re right, stuff like that takes time. Though, I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you some more after we kick Monopoly’s as- I mean, tail.” He gave me a nervous grin, chuckling as he almost let out one of those words.

I, however, returned his grin. “Nice save, Jet. Almost made me slap you again.”

My friend walked off to, I assume, tell the gang about my idea. “Glad I pulled it off. AJ, you hit hard, girl. And I mean it, you hurt.”

*---*---*

Returning to the boss empty-hooved was, for most ordinary underlings, a death sentence, but Monopoly absolutely loved me, regardless of little failures. As I made me way to his office on the top floor of the bright, bustling tower, I honestly wondered how he managed to stay in that dark, dank room. Knocking on the door, I readied myself for an explanation.

“It’s open.” His voice was low and raspy, as usual. I told him to lay off those cigars, but he never listened. Sure enough, the sunlight from his massive window illuminated the room enough for me to see the fat roll of tobacco in his mouth in the reflection of the glass. That nasty habit of his made me really glad I wasn’t his wife… if he even had a wife.

The back of his chair was facing me, as usual, but his face was still somewhat visible in his reflection. “So, Orange Industries still stands, Hardhat and Stone were taken by the Chasers, and you left those bombs out in the streets. Not to mention almost losing your life. Firecracker, you’re lucky you’ve served me so well thus far, especially considering your history with their leader.”

I shook my head, giving him a frown. “That’s old history. Even if I still felt anything, it wouldn’t get in the way of my duty.”

A grin formed in the glass; I was surprised his teeth weren’t yellow from his chain smoking. “Good, good, you’ve always had a way with words, my dear. Had this failure not included the loss of very expensive, military-grade explosives that could blow through steel, I’d simply let you go. Unfortunately, it has, and unless something miraculous happens to get you off the fence between my good and bad graces, you will be punished.”

Those two idiots couldn’t have had better timing. Their faces looked like someone had used them for kickboxing practice, but the first thing my eyes were drawn to was the little surprise they were both carrying. “Boss! Look at what we got!”

“Ah, you two lunkheads. Go on, tell me.”

The hankie they had used as a gag muffled every noise, and the grins on both their faces told me they wanted to surprise him. “I think you might want to see for yourself!”

As his chair turned, his grin got even wider when he saw their little “gift”. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? You boys might’ve just given us the tools to win this little war.”

They both gave him stupid nods, laughing like the idiots they were.

“Tie up our little present and get it sent to the Chasers. They won’t be able to refuse this.”

Stone gave another stupid laugh. “That’s more good news! We know where they’re base is!”

Monopoly let out a loud laugh, the cigar almost falling out of his mouth. “Excellent! Give Firecracker the location as soon as you finish taking care of our bargaining chip.”

He turned around again, and that was our cue to leave. The two dumbos made their way into the basement, while I took the elevator to the first floor and left, eager for something to drink to calm my nerves. As I thought about how close our victory was, I couldn’t help but grin. “You won’t be worming your way out of this one, Jet.”

Applejack was amazing! After just a few days of practice, she was already climbing like a pro. She had trouble sliding under things and jumping over obstacles quickly, but when it came to climbing, my little farm pony had it down pat. Her final test was a race up the wall of an apartment complex to the fourth floor and then back down via the fire escape, and she managed to stay even with me for the entire thing!

About midway through our practice, Quick got a hold of me and guided me through the list of newly made teams, and after I had approved them, we figured up a dispatch schedule and resumed freerunning practice. I took advantage of Sprint’s little “talk” with my friend, teasingly flirting with her, resulting in rather fun banter between us two. Maybe Sprint was right; maybe I did have a little crush on AJ, but I wasn’t about to just jump the gun and say I loved her. Actually, the more I thought about Sprint, the more concerned I got.

I was sure AJ noticed too, as I stopped making comments about how she kept bumping the crates she was supposed to jump over. She came over to me, nudging my shoulder with a forlorn look on her face. “Hey Jet, what’s up? You look like something’s bothering you.”

A nod and a sigh was my response. “Have you seen Sprint anywhere in the last two days? I know she might be upset, but I just kind of assumed she was hanging out with someone at the base these last two days. She has done that before and asked the others not to say anything, but it’s never lasted this long.”

Before Applejack could even say anything, Quick came back on my headset. “Jet, drop whatever you’re doing and get over here now! I don’t care if you’re in the middle of an arrest, get the fu-“ I heard her clear her throat before resuming; Applejack had made her dislike of swear words clear to everyone in the gang. “Get here as fast as you can.”

My friend was already on her way to the theater, and I followed suit. We were fairly close to one of its side entrances, and Jack was already waiting for us when we got in. AJ and I both were out of breath, but Applejack got the words out before me.

“What was so important that we had to get here so fast?”

“Me.” You know, had I not known the mare as well as I did, I’d say there was nothing but evil in her voice. However, I knew her better than I wanted to right now, and that was probably what kept me from slamming Firecracker square in the face with both hooves.

Instead, I just stared at her, and then turned my focus to Jackhammer. “One: Why is she here? Two: Why is she not in cuffs?”

Jack didn’t even try to speak. Firecracker herself let out a small giggle, tossing me a few photos. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to start a fight. I’m just here to propose a deal.”

My eyes widened at the pictures of my sister, tied up inside of TimeTech Tower with Monopoly, Blue, and Grey smiling at the camera, before returning to the smug mare, glaring at her with more anger than I realized was possible. “What do you want?”

“You. Monopoly offers this proposal: You surrender now, and your sister is released. Not only that, but he will have mercy on you and allow you Chaser to work as his private police force. He’ll let little hayseed here go home scot free, and give your father quite the high position at TimeTech.”

This is the first time in quite a while I actually felt an overwhelming desire to hit a mare. Seriously, I wanted to see her on the ground, bleeding. However, I fought back my anger and tossed the photos to the ground. “Fine. Take me to her.”

She gave me a wide grin, wrapping her foreleg around mine as she made her way to the exit. “Splendid! I promise, Jet, Monopoly is really a nice guy when you’re on his side.”

“Hold on there, rodeo clown!” Applejack pushed her off of me, giving her a similar glare to the one I was. “If Jet is going, I’m going. Somepony’s gotta make sure you varmints keep your end of the deal.”

Firecracker smacked AJ’s muzzle with her tail, opening the door for us. “Whatever, it really doesn’t matter. The more the merrier, I guess. Let’s get going, the boss really doesn’t like waiting.”

Chapter 5: The Best Sister

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 5: The Best Sister

By: SleeplessScribe

I turned to Jack, shaking my head at him as he took a step forward. “Stay here. Whatever you do, do not follow us, you got that?”

He let out a grunt, closing the door behind us. Firecracker bound Applejack and I with a pair of hoof cuffs that were chained to each other, apparently expecting us to be able to walk like that. The silence remained unbroken as we were taken to the tower. I only had two things on my mind: Sprint and Firecracker. Of course I wanted to see my sister safe and unharmed, but I knew Monopoly would never hold up his end of the bargain. However, I knew Firecracker well enough to know that she wasn’t going to let him kill us. My only hopes were that either we could figure out a way to get ourselves out of this mess once Sprint was free, or that by some great, coincidental miracle, something would happen and give us a way out.

It wasn’t long before we were standing before the massive tower. The skyscraper looked as if it actually was touching the clouds when I looked up, but there wasn’t much time to admire the view as we were pushed inside. The interior was a major contrast to the outside; instead of some kind of poopy brown, the walls were a bright blue, and everything but the lobby you entered into was a series of hallways and doors. We were taken to the elevator across from the reception desk, and Firecracker took it down.

“State your business.” I looked back when I heard the two door guards talking, but I didn’t get to see who they were actually talking to before the elevator began its descent.

This place had almost as many below ground floors as it did above ground, and there was no doubt in my mind that they were used for whatever illegal crap Monopoly participated in. We stopped at the fifth floor underground, and immediately after the door opened I saw her. Sprint didn’t have but a scratch or two, but I was still worried sick. Sadly, I had to resist running over to her, despite how much I wanted to. The room seemed empty aside from two guards standing at the back wall, a red light with a clearly visible cable trailing off from it into the wall, a few chairs bolted to the stone floor, one of which my sister was tied to, and a door on the left wall. Why would anyone want to take the stairs down here?

After all three of us were out of the elevator, Monopoly showed his face. He was just as I’d imagined: black, greasy mane, ugly-ass bifocals, a typical rich-guy suit, though one sleeve was missing a cuff, dark blue coat, and the look was completed with a cigar sandwiched between his teeth. He had been out of our line of sight, right beside the elevator door while he waited for us.

“Welcome, my friends, welcome. So glad you could make it. I’m sure you know who I am, and I of course know who you are-“ He shut up as soon as he saw Applejack. “And who is this?”

Firecracker shrugged at him. “His marefriend who wanted to tag along.”

If the situation weren’t so serious, I would’ve chuckled at AJ’s blush. “I am not his marefriend! We’re just friends.”

They both rolled their eyes, and Monopoly circled us. “So, I assume my assistant here has given you the conditions of my proposal, correct?”

I had wanted to avoid talking to him if at all possible, but I guess we can’t all have what we want. “Yeah, and I’m here. Now let my sister go.”

The greasy jerk grinned, his teeth surprisingly white for being a smoker. “Ah, ah, ah. I will release her after you both are safe and secure in the custody of my guards.” His two front hooves came together in a single clap, and his guards brandished their spears and slowly advanced towards us. “Of course, I mean dead, as I’m sure you two knew. However, once you are dealt with, I will hold up my end of the deal and release your sister. I already made some room on my payroll for your little freedom fighters, and I will extend the offer to work for me to each and every one of them.”

Just as I thought, Firecracker stepped in front of us, keeping the guards from coming any closer. “I thought we agreed that they wouldn’t be killed, Monopoly.”

The stallion let out a laugh, his grin getting wider as she spoke. “And I thought you said you no longer had feelings that would get in the way of this! You do realize that what you are doing right now is a form of treason, and I punish traitors to the highest extent of my law!”

She shook her head, glaring at her boss. “You promised nopony would actually die!”

“I lied, you dolt! Deal with her!”

Both guards lunged at Firecracker, and though she was able to jump over one and land on his head, the other slammed her into the wall with the shaft of his spear, knocking her out as her head banged into it. Fortunately, that gave us enough time to do… whatever it is crazy people do. Using the chain that linked our cuffs, we held down the guard that was already on the ground by his neck while Applejack kicked the spear out of the loop on the other guard’s gauntlet.

The guard we had down managed to push us back while we were distracted by his friend, throwing us into the way. He tried to swing at us, but we both raised out hooves to block it with the chain, causing the spear to break. You would think with all the money Monopoly had, he’d invest in better arms for his security. Although we got rid of his primary means of defense, that didn’t keep the guard from pinning us to the wall by our necks, and before we knew it the other guard had regained his spear, pointing it at AJ as Monopoly held the head of the broken spear in his hoof, advancing towards me.

“Bravo, friends, you almost got away. Too bad nice guys don’t actually win. You should’ve killed Stone and Hardhat when you had the chance. Because you let them live, they told us the location of your base, and that knowledge brought you here much more quickly.” He leaned forward, inching the blade closer to my throat. “Say your prayers, Jet Rush.”

Cue that great, coincidental miracle I was hoping for. By some stroke of extreme dumb luck, an alarm began blaring in the room, the red light flashing on and off like a strobe light. Numerous shouts could be heard behind the wall, and before I knew what had happened, the door flew off its hinges, hitting all three of our captors. A large, bright-red colt ran into the room, spotting us and stomping on our cuffs so hard that they broke. The minute I was free, I grabbed the broken spearhead and cut my sister loose.

“Come on, Sprint’s free, let’s go, go, go!”

About five guards were running down the steps, and I heard Applejack shout “Big Macintosh?” I could only assume by the name that they were related somehow.

I realize the situation we were in didn’t allow for many words, but I still found it odd that all he responded with was a long “Eeeyup.”

With Sprint lifted onto me back, plowing through the guards was an easy feat. Big Macintosh was pretty dang strong, taking out three of the guards with one kick each. We all booked it as fast as we could, hoping for dear life that no other guards would get to us in time. As fate, or more of our amazing luck, would have it, we managed to get out of the tower with only two guards chasing us, both of whom gave up the chase after a few blocks of running.

Turning back, I saw the big guy staying beside AJ, so I made it my goal to let him know I was the good guy. “Applejack, come on! Let’s get back to the base, it’s only a matter of time before Monopoly wakes up!”

She nodded, turning to the big colt. “He’s right, come on, Big Macintosh! Jet’s on our side!”

There was a big old welcome wagon waiting for us as we approached the theater. At least three of our newly made teams were outside the open door, slamming it shut as soon as we were inside.

Quick fix ran over to us, patting our sweating faces with a cool rag. She stalled a bit once she got to who I assumed was probably AJ’s brother, but eventually helped him as well. “I won’t even ask where he came from.”

* * *

All of us, including Big Mac, sat around the bed we had dragged out for Sprint. After a few inspections, Quick Fix assured me that aside from a few scratches, the only issue was the fact that chloroform was used to keep my sister quiet. While we waited, we found out the Big Macintosh had come all the way from Ponyville to find her sister, and forced his way into the tower when he saw us go in. I guess fortune really does favor the bold.

After a few hours and some medical care, Sprint was awake. I rushed over to her the minute I saw those little eyes starting to open, caressing her cheek with my hoof.

“Sis? A-Are you alright?”

The small pony gave a slow nod, coughing a bit before she spoke. “I have a surprise for you… when I feel better.”

She closed her eyes again, and Quick pushed all the rest of us out. “Alright, give me some time, and I’ll help her get situated again. Don’t disturb me!” The brainy mare closed the doors to that particular theater, and every Chaser knew a closed theater door meant “Do not enter”.

I sent Jack and Dust back out to patrol around the perimeter, and they took off after giving their salutes. My next objective was to both thank and scold Applejack for coming with me, but I decided to mark the second one off the list when I turned around.

“Just what in sam hill were you thinking, doing something like this? Little sis, what has gotten into you to make you think that running away and putting yourself in danger like that is okay?”

It was obvious she was struggling with a response, but I had the perfect one as I stepped in front of her. “Look, big guy, it’s my fault. I was the one that let her join. Even if she volunteered, I should’ve said no. This isn’t her fight, and I’m sorry for bringing her into it.”

His expression didn’t change as he turned his attention to me. I take that back, he looked even angrier now. “So you brought her into this? I swear, if I find one hair in her mane out of place-“

“Big Mac, stop!” The stomp was almost as loud as her shout. “Don’t get angry at Jet. I’m here by choice because I want to help! These ponies are fighting to keep their city from falling under the rule of that grease ball you saved us from! He’s threatening to take away their very lives, and you expected me to just leave and not even give it a second thought? Big brother, you know me better than that!”

For being such a big, and decently scary guy, he got shot down rather easily. “I read the letter, but I really thought it was a lie. Some excuse somepony was making to keep you here.”

The farm pony shook her head, wrapping her forelegs around her brother for a moment. “No, Big Macintosh, I want to be here. I want to help. It’s just… the right thing to do.”

Unfortunately, the sentimental moment was interrupted by a loud bang as the doors behind us flew open. Quick Fix’s eyes were sparkling and the grin on her face was the biggest I’d ever seen. I never realized she wore an invisible retainer. “Jet! Applejack! Um… handsome big guy! You will not believe what I found folded up underneath Sprint’s leg band!”

Before any of us could respond, she handed me a few pieces of paper. I felt my own grin starting to form as I read through them, dropping to my knees and shouting. “Sprint Rush, you are the greatest sister a stallion could ask for!”

Both the Apple siblings backed away a bit, and the sister tapped my shoulder. “Uh, Jet, what exactly are those?”

I held them up in front of her excitedly. Half my brain said she wouldn’t understand because she was from the country, and they probably didn’t use stuff like this, but the other half said she’d knew immediately what they were because she ran a farm and made a living selling stuff. “Look! Quick found these in Sprint’s leg band! They’re sales records dating back to the last three months for several thousand units of Seahorse Dreams!”

She and her brother tilted their heads. “Seahorse Dreams?”

“It’s a very potent and highly addictive drug capable of creating such strong addictions that ponies will do literally anything to get it. Not only that, but in high enough doses, it’s fatal. Do you know what this means?”

Slowly, AJ’s eyes began to light up too as she grabbed me, pulling me into a tight hug. “If we can get this to a princess, we’ll have proof that Monopoly’s breaking the law!”

“Exactly!”

We both shouted with excitement, and it wasn’t long before Quick joined in the laughter and rejoicing with us.

Sadly, there was still one issue. I froze, causing the two mares to bump into each other. “We need to get out. We need to get out of the city if we even want to get this to somepony with power, and there’s no way we’re going to get past the exit checkpoints.”

My adorkable friend was one step ahead of me. With a smile, she handed me a map she had drawn up of the city and the walls around it. She had drawn a bright red circle at a certain point in the southwest side. “This will get you out. Look,” she set her hoof on a sequence of buildings, sliding it along the route until it got to the wall, “If you hop along this series of buildings, there’s a chunk missing in the wall that you should be able to jump to. It’s a bit risky to jump from that height, but ground on the other side is soft enough to make a rolling landing hurt a lot less.”

A couple bits fell on the ground at our hooves, and we both looked at the big guy. “The fastest way to get anywhere is by train. I guess I owe you for keeping my sister safe, considering she’s chosen to do all this, so take that to pay for tickets. You go, and I’ll help your friend here take care of the little one, now go, before I change my mind!”

I gave him a courteous bow, taking off. Slowing down to let Applejack give him a thank you, I sped up again when she caught up. “Come on, AJ, it’s not that far from the theater!”

It didn’t take us too long to get to the tallest of the buildings before the wall, and Quick was spot on; there was a big old hole in the top of the wall, and even the barbed wire was missing. She was also right about it being kind of a far jump, but Jet patted my back.

“I have an idea, Applejack. Did you bring your claws?”

I had to shake my head. “I left all my gear back at the base.”

He gave me a smile, handing me one as he slipped on his other. “Don’t matter, I guess. It’d just be easier with both of us having two. Alright, AJ, stand back.”

I did as he said, and after taking a few steps away he rushed forward, kicking off the edge of the roof to propel himself further. He didn’t go quite far enough of his own, but he was able to catch the edge with his claw and lift himself up. Jet reached out to my, beckoning me forward. “No doubt, girl, just jump! You know I got you!”

After a gulp and a deep breath, I followed. I didn’t go as far as he did, but just as he promised, he hooked his claw into mine and caught me, pulling me up and onto the wall. “See? Told you!” I was met with a wide grin as I looked up at him, but that grin soon faded as we both looked down.

Not only was it a decent fall, we also had to clear the water. Manehattan was on an island, and while the wall came out into the water a little there was still a decent gap to jump. Feeling a foreleg wrap around me, I looked to my friend. His eyes were closed as he pulled me close, standing up. “AJ, brace yourself, I’m about to do something crazy again.”

I was ready for it. Both of his front legs were around me, and as we flew through the air, I barely felt a thing as we hit the soft grass and rolled. Were we both not laughing at how surprisingly easy that was, I’m sure we would’ve both been blushing at the fact that I was now on top of him.

After a bit of laughter, we both got up, making a beeline toward Fillydelphia. “Now you see where this cutie mark came from! I may not be a Pegasus, but I was born to fly!”

Up until he brought it up, I had never even paid much attention to the winged horseshoe on his flank. However, now that I was, it actually looked pretty cool. By a stroke of luck, we managed to find an abandoned wagon on the road, and took turns pulling the other along the road, switching places whenever the other got tired. With our combined efforts, we were at the Fillydelphia train station after just a few hours.

We were both exhausted, so a train ride to Ponyville was not only the quickest route to a princess, seeing as how Canterlot was also uphill, but also a nice rest. Jet and I stayed in a train car by ourselves, resting in the beds they had.

“Hoowee! Can you believe it, Jet? All your problems are about to be solved!”

I lifted my head to look at him after a few minutes with no response. He was just lying there, absentmindedly staring at the bunk bed above him. “Jet?”

Finally, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “It was my mother.”

“Pardon?”

“My mother is the reason I got so mad the first day you arrived. AJ, Sprint and I are only half siblings. My mom was raped in an alley on my eighth birthday. She was impregnated, and a few months later, out came the Sprint Rush I now love with all my heart. Everypony in the city called her a whorse and slut, and it burned me up inside. It’s not like my mom had any control over what happened!”

My ears fell flat as I looked at him. The beds weren’t that far apart, so I was able to reach out and touch his hoof. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

He opened those deep blue eyes and looked at me, reaching out himself to make it easier for me to get to him. “Then, just a few days after Monopoly came to the city, she was found dead outside her office. She had been stabbed to death with the words ‘No good whorse’ dyed into her fur. I’m positive it was one of Monopoly’s damn thugs that did it!” Realizing what he had said, he looked back to me, covering his mouth with his other hoof. “Sorry.”

I shook my head, getting up from my resting place to hug him. “Don’t be, Jet. I’m mighty grateful to you for telling me this… it must be a hard thing to bring up.”

“It really is.” He patted my back before I broke up the hug, still holding onto me as I tried to get back to my bed. “AJ, I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done.”

“Aw shoot, Jet, you don’t have to thank-“

I probably should have seen it coming, but it still caught me off guard. However, I can’t lie; not only was I blushing hotter than a desert in August, but I pressed my lips to his cheek in return. We both let out nervous chuckles, backing away from each other. Jet gave me a nervous grin, tapping his hooves together as he looked at me. “I guess Sprint… may have been right.”

“Maybe just a little.”

Chapter 6: Family

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 6: Family

By: SleeplessScribe

As the train slowed to a halt, it took us both a moment to actually realize. Neither of us could keep from laughing a little bit as Jet nudged my shoulder a little. “That was a beautiful little moment we just had.”

Nudging him back, I made my way towards the library, showing him the way. “Yeah… let’s not tell Big Macintosh or Sprint about that.” That only made him laugh more, but he silently agreed.

“Applejack!” Before I knew it, I was on the ground underneath a pile of pink. “Oh my goodness Applejack where have you been we were so worried and who is this guy is he your friend ooh I love meeting new friends!” The hyperactive pony jumped up, grabbing Jet’s hoof. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie!”

My friend seemed completely unfazed by the sudden Pinkie. “Hey there! My name’s Jet Rush.”

I set my hoof between the two, keeping my attention on Pinkie. “Pinkie, I’m sorry, but I’m not here to stay. Do you know where Twilight is? We really need to get to her.”

“I’m right here.” Just as they had when I left, all of my friends, including Nova, this time around, came out from inside the train station. Upon seeing my alicorn friend, Jet gave her a polite bow, but she lifted him up. “No need for any of that! Any friend of Applejack’s is a friend of ours.”

Jet gave her a nod. “Thank you, Princess…” He motioned with his hoof for her to continue.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. We’re all very good friends of hers.” One by one, each pony introduced themselves, aside from Pinkie, starting with Rainbow Dash, and, ironically, ending with her brother. “Now, you need not explain your situation to me. Princess Celestia received a letter from one Citrus Orange in Manehattan, and she sent me the letter. She has given me the power to give you legal immunity for taking action against this tyrant, provided you have ample proof of his crimes.”

Before anypony else could even open their mouths, Jet handed Twilight the papers. “Princess, my little sister recovered these documents from inside his tower. They’re sales records dating back at least three months, and they describe, in detail, his the distribution of highly potent, and of course, illegal Seahorse Dreams.”

Her eyes widened as she read through the papers, looking at Jet with quite a bit of concern. “Seahorse Dreams? I’ve read a few books on that; how could anypony have gotten a hold of so much?”

It was my turn to interject. I stepped between them and shook my head. “That’s not what matters here, Twi, what matters is that we put a stop to him!”

She gave us both a nod, taking out a quill and scroll. “You’re right. I’ll let the Princess know that not only do I have these sales records, but the word of the Element of Honesty. I’m sure she won’t mind if I give you the go now, however, so by all means, get back to Manehattan and stop this pony!”

Jet clapped his hooves together, letting out a loud shout. “Yeah, son! We’re finally going to take this guy down!” We both gave each other a high hoof, but that’s when I realized we forgot a big detail.

“Wait Jet, it’s still going to take us some time to get back. Monopoly may already be attacking the base as we speak!”

Both the Dash siblings spoke at the same time, sporting wide grins. “Who said anything about taking the train?”

-*-*-*-

Holy hardcore hill midgets, the pegasi were fast! Riding on their backs, the trip back to Manehattan took less than an hour! Not only that, but they flew right over the wall and took us to the base without any trouble at all. Not a moment too soon, either, as I saw a horde of guards making their way to the theater.

After dropping us off, neither of them left. When they saw our confused looks, the orange one who called himself Nova Dash spoke up. “Do you really think we’re just going to leave you guys hanging? What kind of friends would we be if we did that?”

I was left with no time to respond as my favorite munchkin jumped on me in a tight hug. “Jet! I’m okay, I’m okay! Did you see the stuff I got?”

She was all excited and hyper and bouncing around as I set her down. “I sure did, Sprint! Even if you were stupid enough to sneak into TimeTech Tower all by yourself, you’re still the best sister ever!” I lifted her up into another hug, but it seemed today’s trend was not being able to enjoy moments for any amount of time.

Citrus ran up to us, fully dressed in his military armor-which they got to keep for some reason-and tapped my shoulder. “Jet, I hate to break this up, but we’re running out of time.” He tossed me my headset, giving me a moment to put it on. “It’s set so that everyone can hear you.”

Alright, it was finally time. I already had a plan in mind, so I turned the headset on and let it rip. In a non flatulent way, that is. “Everyone, listen up! We got guards up the wazoo coming at us, so I want everyone in the Assault section attacking them and keeping them away from the base! The Recon division,” I turned to the speedy pegasi, pointing a hoof at them, “that means you two, also, will sweep through the tower and evacuate everyone, also giving me time to take care of Monopoly. Once the building is empty, I want out Techs to place those bombs we recovered at key points in the tower, and we’ll take it down. Everyone got that?”

A loud, resounding “Yes sir!” echoed through not only the room we were in, but wherever everyone that I was talking to through the headset was. I then sent everyone, except Sprint, who I sent to lie down some more, off to their places, but Applejack stayed behind.

“I ain’t leaving you, Jet.”

I turned to her, giving her a grin. “You’re not leaving me. Don’t worry, AJ, I’ll be out of there before you know it, I promise you. I’ll be fine.”

My friend opened her mouth to speak, but, again, today’s trend was getting interrupted.

“He will be.” I knew it had to happen eventually, so why not when the fight was almost over? The bright yellow foreleg now sported a red band as Firecracker walked over to us. “Applejack, never doubt Jet when he makes a promise like that, trust me. I’ve known him long enough to have learned that.”

It was obvious she was still angry at Firecracker for the things she’d done, but after a long sigh, she gave me a tight hug and a nod. “Alright then. I’m sure Big Macintosh is the with Assault team, so I’ll go help them out.”

She took off, not even giving me a chance to say goodbye or good luck or anything. Our new ally walked up to me, wrapping her forelegs around me as I heard obvious, but soft crying. “Jet, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

This was one of those moments I knew couldn’t be interrupted as I patted the mare’s back. “Stop, Firecracker. I’ve forgiven you, alright? You know I loved my mother, and I still do, and now I’ve learned what Monopoly’s been doing to you to keep you under his control. You weren’t yourself when you did what you did. We’re going to get you help, when this is all over, and there won’t even be any more drugs for you to get a hold of.”

She was still crying a little, but she was finally able to let me go. “Make me a few promises I know you can keep?” After a nod from me, she continued. “Take care of your sister. Enjoy your life. And above all else…,” she turned back in the direction AJ had taken off to before giving me another hug. “Be good to her. She’s a sweet mare, and she really cares for you. She’ll be much better than I ever was.”

Patting her shoulder, I lifted her now lowered head. “Don’t put yourself down. It’s time for you to help the winning team.” Now it was her turn to nod. “You know that tower better than any of us, what’s the fastest way to get to Monopoly?”

She didn’t even wait for me to finish my question. “The stairs. He’s pretty high up, but he’s probably disabled the elevator. That colt is far too proud and stupid to leave his tower, so arresting him should be easy.”

After another pat, I took off, but not before she grabbed me and pulled into one last hug. “Be careful.”

“I will, you go help the Recon team evacuate the tower, alright?”

* * *

I actually just followed Firecracker all the way to the tower, avoiding the fighting right outside the theater doors. As we approached the massive building, pegasi could be seen zooming in and out of the doors, carrying ponies with them as they came out. Once we were in, Firecracker turned to me. “Just go up until you can’t go up any more! He’s always at the top floor, and hardly ever leaves.”

Giving her a nod, I did just that. After a while, I gave up counting how many flights of stairs I had gone up and just kept running. I seriously felt like it took me ten minutes to get to the top, but once I was through the doors, there was only one room at the end of the hallway. Rushing into it would probably send me right into a trap, so I made my way down the hall slowly, kicking the door open rather than tackling it.

The back of his chair was facing me, but I could see the reflection of his face in the massive window. He began a slow, mocking clap as he turned his chair, now facing me. “Bravo, kid, bravo. I must say, I’m quite impressed with your tenacity. Who would’ve thought that your integrity and moral code would eventually lead up to this?”

Grabbing a pair of cuffs from underneath my band, I slowly approached the stallion. “Party’s over, Monopoly. You’ve lost.”

Before I knew it, he flew over his desk and kicked me into the wall. Strangely, he didn’t capitalize on my temporary stun. “Don’t count the enemy out until they’re dead, Jet Rush. I know why you’re here, but getting rid of me won’t bring back mommy dearest.”

Shaking my head, I picked myself up and glared at him. “This isn’t about revenge, this is about justice. I want to see you thrown in a dungeon where you belong!” I was getting sick of words, so before he could speak again, I tackled him, crushing him between myself and his desk as his cigar fell out of his mouth.

He had a plan, though. I felt a sharp pain in my side, dropping to the floor as Monopoly pulled the blade out. So that’s why he was missing a cuff on his sleeve. “You’re a fool, boy. You can’t take me down, and you never could!” I managed to dodge his swing, but his followed up with another that sliced the bridge of my muzzle.

That crap stung, but I didn’t let it keep me from grabbing the leg with the blade and slamming my head right into his face. The head-butt shattered one of the lenses in his glasses, cutting him under his eyes as he threw them off. “Do you have any idea how much those cost?” In a rage, he stabbed at me, but my roll made him miss as the blade got stuck into a wall.

As he struggled to get it out, I let loose with a few hits to the face, bloodying his nose before his other hoof met my jugular, forcing me to back away as I started coughing. He made his way over to me again once he pulled himself out of the wall, but I turned him around, pinning him against the wall.

Dust came on the headset as I held our enemy. “Jet, everyone’s out and the explosives are planted!”

It was now or never. I did not need to think about it, my mind was already made. I was going to get Monopoly out of here no matter what, and if that meant being a little crazy, then that’s what I had to do. “Bring down the house.”

Dust Devil knew me as well as Firecracker, and as a result knew not to argue when my mind was made up. There was no doubt in my mind he didn’t want to give the order, so he shut off the communications, but within moments there was a loud, resounding boom as the tower began to fall.

“So this is it, boy? You’re going to sacrifice yourself to end me?”

“No. I told you, I’m out to see you brought to justice, not for revenge.” I reached out for the cuffs that were still on his desk as a section of the wall fell.

I heard a small, sinister chuckle come from Monopoly just before his last hurrah. “Too bad.” Taking advantaged of my relaxed grip, he kicked me right through the glass, his laughter echoing as I shouted in cliché movie fashion.

“No! You idiot!” There was no time for me to even see the tower fall. On my way down, I hit a large piece of debris that knocked me out before I was even halfway to the ground.

Rainbow Dash managed to catch him just as the tower completely fell, and she laid him down in the middle of all the friends now gathered around. Not only that, but a rather large amount of the citizens still living in Manehattan had come, and were now gathered around. Of course, it was Sprint, Quick Fix, Dust Devil, Jackhammer, Firecracker, and myself that made our way through the decent sized crowd, huddling over him.

Although everypony wanted to say something, both Firecracker and Jet’s little sister held back all but me as I kneeled over to him. Shaking him a bit, I felt myself tearing up as I realized what may have just happened. “Jet?”

No response. There was no stopping myself now. As the thoughts of losing such a good friend took hold of my, the tears fell onto Jet’s chest. In the short time we had spent together, I had built such a close bond with him, and now he was gone. I lowered my head onto his chest, crying into him. “Jet, you jerk! Y’all promised me you’d be fine! Y’all promised!”

As my hoof pressed against his neck, I jumped up and looked at him. “He… he’s alive! He’s still got a pulse!” I’ll be honest; I expected a more excited response, but all I got was silence. Immediately I began CPR-it’s a good thing I learned it- pressing down on his chest for the reps before breathing into him. After no response, I did it again, and in the middle of my breathing, I backed away as the stallion began to cough, opening his eyes.

When his coughing fit was over, he looked up at me, gently caressing my cheek. “Heh, you know, AJ, if you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask.”

There was the excited cheering I had expected. Everypony that was being held back made their way over to Jet and I, wrapping us both in a tight group hug. All at once, everyone but Jet managed to shout “We did it!”

-*-*-*-

I made it a point for everyone to search the wreckage. Applejack, however, demanded to stay with me while I rested in the Orange’s mansion. The whole time we talked, she was smiling and holding my hoof.

“Jet, don’t you ever do that to me again. You have no idea how scared I was that you were dead.”

A simple shrug was all I gave. “I didn’t care, to be honest. Remember what I said? You just have to go a little crazy, and maybe everything you touch will turn to gold. Throughout our struggle, Monopoly truly believed that I wanted him dead, but he was wrong. Regardless of the things he’d done, killing him wouldn’t bring my mother back, nor would it have cured Firecracker’s addiction. It would’ve just made me a murderer.”

The mare leaned forward, giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek. “You’ve got a good heart, sugar cube, you know that?”

As corny as it was to say, I just couldn’t resist as I let out a small chuckle. “This good heart of mine belongs to you, now.”

She got a laugh out of it too, softly hitting my shoulder. “I didn’t think you were capable of something so cheesy, but thank you, Jet. I guess Sprint was right after all.”

Reaching out to her, I pulled her close to me as my lips met hers. The kiss didn’t last that long, but it didn’t have to. “I love you, Applejack. You’ve done so much for me and my friends, all out of the kindness of your own heart. You’re just… an amazing pony.”

Who would’ve known a pony’s face could turn that shade of red? She rolled her eyes, hitting me again. “Oh, stop.”

I couldn’t be too upset, as I really didn’t know where this moment would go, so Citrus’s entrance didn’t bother me much. What did bother me is his shaking of the head.

Looking up at him, my ears fell flat. It was weird to feel them do that, since my hat normally kept them that way to begin with. “He’s dead?”

He shook his head again. “There was no body, but there was no way he couldn’t gotten out. He just… disappeared.”

My gaze shifted from Citrus, to AJ, and then just down. “That’s the exact opposite of what I wanted.”

The veteran smiled at me, stepping up to the other side of the bed. “That’s another reason I’m here. Jet, a reward has been prepared for you, and I’d like to ask that, as soon as you feel ready, come see everyone TimeTech’s ground zero.”

I was still a little weak, but I managed to get myself out of bed and get my hat on. “I’ll go now.”

Even as we left the mansion, the effect of our actions was obvious. The whole city just looked, and felt, safer without that massive tower looming over everyone. It was bright out, the sun was shining, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky as we made our way over to the wreckage. The ponies had made some kind of makeshift stage, and Citrus dragged me onto it.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, it is with great pride that I now declare TimeTech out of commission!”

His statement received a roar from the now massive crowd, all of them throwing their hooves up and shouting. “Our city is free once again, thanks to the effort of Jet Rush and the Chasers! Their continued attempts at taking down this tyrannical company have finally paid off, and it is at this time, that I would like to thank the leader of this organization! Jet Rush, not only did your determination bring down the biggest threat Manehattan has ever faced, but your integrity has set an example for all of us!”

As the crowd shouted and cheered, Citrus snapped a golden medal around my neck, the center of which resembled the horseshoe in my cutie mark. “Go on, say something.”

I was never good with speeches, but I did have some things to say and this was probably the best place to say them. “Everyone, I have to get this out now. It was just me who made this happen, it was every single one of these Chasers, and the combined efforts of all of us. I’ve made a lot of friends on this journey, and at the very end of it, met who I believe will be the love of my life. Now, that being said, I must inform you all that this is not that mare’s home, and when she leaves, both my sister and I will follow.”

That got a loud gasp from the crowd, but I raised my hoof to silence them. “However, I leave you all in good hooves, and I leave my team in better ones.” She knew I was talking about her, and I didn’t even need to look at her for Firecracker to know to join me. “This is Firecracker, the new leader of the Chasers, and from now on, the Chasers are the law here in this city! Always remember, my friends, we fight for justice.”

Yet again, the crowd began to roar and cheer again as I took off my leg band, handing it to the mare. “As much as I love this city and the ponies in it, my role here is done, and I now have a new one to play. So, as I prepare for my new purpose, I would like to say goodbye to you all. Never forget this day, and never let anyone knock you down again!”

It was my turn to throw up my hoof, and everyone in the crowd did the same, still shouting as I left the stage and approached my leaders. Neither Jackhammer nor Dust wanted to say anything, but as I walked past them with hoof bumps, Quick blocked my way with tears in her eyes.

“Jet, do you really have to leave?”

I brought the saddened mare into my embrace, holding her close. Nopony actually knew how long we’d known each other, but I knew Quick Fix before I even knew Sprint. I was ready for this. “I do, Quick. My place is with AJ now, and that’s where I belong.” Reaching up, I wiped away her tears. “Don’t cry, Quick, it’s not like I’m not going to visit a whole ton, and you all know you can come see me whenever you’d like.”

After a sniffle, she pushed out of my hug, trying to keep from crying again as her glasses fogged up. “I know that, but… I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”

With a smile, I patted her shoulder. “I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re gonna do two things: help my dad finish what he started with this long range, instant communication,” leaning down, I gave her a small kiss on the tip of her nose, “and you’re going to stay beautiful and smart. Am I clear?”

Her retainer, though hard to see, was still visible as she grinned, tears falling from her eyes again as she gave a salute. “Yes sir!”

* * *

It was evening by the time all goodbyes were said, all attempts to convince me to stay were given and failed, and both of us packed the things we were taking. Sprint hopped on my back excitedly, hugging me.

“You ready to go, squirt?”

She nodded quickly. “Uh-huh! I’m ready, Jet!”

There was no crowd waiting for us, as most were at home, tired from a day of tearing down the wall Monopoly had put up. Everyone from Ponyville was waiting for us at the train station, as some of the citizens decided to aid the workers with fixing the tracks.

Nova, Rainbow, Applejack, and Big Macintosh all smiled when they saw us, giving us a round of applause. Apparently the trend of interruptions still wasn’t over, as Big Macintosh spoke out before anyone else could. “When I first found out about all this, the only thing I wanted to do was bring my sister home, but right now, all I want to do is make sure you’re ready to keep her safe when I’m not around.”

As the train pulled up, I gave him a nod. “I am, ready. But, Big Mac, believe me, your sister can take care of herself.”

“I know.”

All of us started to laugh as we got on the train. The Pegasus sibling slept in one train car, and Big Mac wanted to be in the same with AJ and myself, but Sprint wouldn’t let him. I gotta say, it was pretty funny to watch a little filly change the mind of a guy bigger than me, but eventually he agreed and both of them stayed with the Dashes.

Applejack and I shared a bed, but we were both so tired we just kind of fell onto it. By the time anyone was awake, Ponyville was in sight, and the sun was shining again. The little town itself was a stark contrast to the city I grew up in; the steel, concrete, and pavement that made up my home was replaced by wood, stone, and dirt. We said our goodbye to the pegasi, and Applejack showed me the way to their farm.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many trees in all my life! Once you got to the actual house and barn, you could look out and still never seen the end of them. “Wow, AJ, I can see why you like it here.”

Sprint immediately began running around the farm, giggling as she did until she bumped into a rather cute, yellow filly sporting a big, pink bow in her red mane. “Hi there! I’m Sprint!”

The filly looked from her, to me, and then to Applejack. “Um, Applejack, who are these ponies?”

My marefriend chuckled and walked over to her. “Applebloom, meet Jet Rush. He’s the reason I was gone for so long, I’m sure someone told you about it, right?” After Applebloom nodded, AJ turned to my sister. “This here is his sister Sprint.”

She looked from me to my sister repeatedly until finally focusing on Sprint. “So you’re from Manehattan? Do you happen to know a little filly named Babs?”

I actually had to put my hoof under my chin to keep my jaw from dropping. Talk about a small world! My sister’s eyes lit up as she looked at who I assumed was AJ’s sister she had told me about. “You mean Babs Seed? She was my best friend back home!”

Applebloom’s eyes did the same as they both jumped up. “She’s my favorite cousin! Applejack, what exactly are they doing here?”

Now it was my turn to keep the trend alive. Walking over, I ruffled Applebloom’s mane teasingly. “We’ve decided to live in Ponyville. AJ and I have gotten… close, and I really didn’t want to be so far away from her.”

“Are you kidding? You’re gonna be staying here?” After a nod from me, she wrapped her forelegs around my sister, squeezing her. “Oh, this is gonna be the best thing ever! Come on, I gotta introduce you to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

My sister raised her brow as the other sister took off with her. “Cutie Mark what now?”

The random series of events got all three of us to laughing, but my laughing was cut short by a green hoof pressing against my cheek. An old mare rubbed my face, staring at me with unblinking eyes. “Um… hello?”

She didn’t say anything, poking at the stitches in my cheek, which honestly needed to come out, that gash was probably healed by now, and the new bandage over my muzzle. Removing her hoof, the old lady got up in my face, staring me in the eyes.

Finally, she backed away, slowly holding up her hoof. “You can call my Granny Smith, sonny. I can tell you’re a good apple, and it’s my pleasure to welcome you to the family.”

As I shook her hoof, I gave her a courteous and grateful bow. “Thank you, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

So, that was it. My fight was over. I had a new home, a new life, a new family, and a new love. By the time everything settled down, it was time for everyone to go to bed, despite the groans from both fillies. AJ and I stayed in the same room, but all throughout the night, Granny Smith’s actions made me feel like we were being watched.

It was weird waking up to what I would soon learn was called a rooster instead of an alarm clock, but honestly, I preferred it. Both Applejack and Big Mac taught me about the everyday farm work, but I had more fun climbing the trees and knocking apples down from there than I did just kicking them.

Eventually we found that having my jump from tree to tree knocked down a fair amount right off the bat, so the regular routine consisted of me getting up a little earlier than the rest and doing just that, then helping to kick down the rest of them.

I liked it. This new life was calm and peaceful, and I soon found out that it wasn’t all about working on the farm, either. I got to know AJ’s friend well, too, and while it was a little awkward being one of the only two guys in the group, the shenanigans Nova and I cooked up more than made up for it.

Sprint made new friends too, and apparently joined a group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders with two of Applebloom’s friends. Though on Sprint’s end, not much changed aside from the kind of trouble she got in. I’d catch all four of them doing all kinds of crazy stuff, let me tell ya.

It felt like I had just started living life, like all the things in my past were just things I had to do, and I was now free to do what I wanted. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel needed, but I still felt like I belonged.

Chapter 3: Crash Courses

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 3: Crash Courses

By: SleeplessScribe

As soon as Quick heard what I said, she grabbed a hold of me, dragging me into the corner. Without the light reflecting off her glasses, I saw her bright green eyes glaring a hole through me. “So you’re not only going to let this hayseed join, but you’re making her your equal within five minutes of initiation? Jet, what has gotten in to you?”

She hated when I rolled my eyes at her, and I’m sure my grin wasn’t helping. “When was the last time my judgment was wrong? I see something in Applejack here, and I think she’s going to prove to be more help than you can imagine. Besides, I’ve already gotten a little glimpse of what she can do in-“

The brainy mare’s frown turned to a vicious scowl as she got up in my face. “And what’s that supposed to mean, huh? Did our frisky new friend give you a nice view, Jet? Well I hope you enjoyed it, you jerk! I don’t care what you say, or what you do, I will never accept this… hussy as one of us!”

This was about the time she stormed out of wherever we were, and I followed her trying to apologize. However, I stood still as her words twisted the grin into a frown of my own, and my tone froze her in place. “Quick Fix! You listen right now, you hear? If you had let me finish what I was going to say, you would have known that I was talking about her power! She beat on one of those punching bags so fast you’d have thought she was a machine! Look, I don’t know if you’re jealous, offended, threatened, or whatever, but you do not, I repeat you do not speak of anyone on this team as if they’re some common whorse! Do you understand me?”

Okay, I’ll admit, seeing her knees shaking as she bit her lip did make me feel a little bad, but she knew how I felt about the subject I ended on. Dust and Jack just stood there with blank expressions on their faces- as usual- and Sprint was kind of hiding behind quite the concerned looking Applejack.

After a long silence, Quick finally turned back to the door, her head lowered. “Sorry, Jet, I… I wasn’t thinking. You know I didn’t mean it like that. I just….” She trailed off, slowly leaving the room at a snail’s pace.

When I had finally calmed down, I turned back to Applejack and let out a sigh. “Sorry you had to see that, AJ. I don’t normally lose my cool like that.” Even a light chuckle was impossible at this point, so I just made for the exit myself. “When you’re ready, come see me in the last theater. It’s torn up, but we still have a use for it.”

I closed the door, but I stuck around for a bit, listening as I heard them talking.

“So, what exactly was that?”

I heard both Jack and Dust’s voices, but Sprint shut them both up by talking a little faster. “It’s no secret anymore that Quick Fix has a big crush on my brother, and she gets real jealous real easy sometimes. She has a habit of being hostile towards any mare that Jet seems attached to in some way. And, honestly, with you it’s probably worse.”

“Why would it be worse with me?”

It was now my goal to get out as soon as possible. If Sprint was about to say what I think she was, I’m sure my face would have turned as red as AJ’s probably was right now. Everypony knew I kind of had a thing for blondes, but I really wished my sis would keep that detail about me to herself. Rather than think about all the possible reactions the farm pony might have, I tried to focus on my new task: training her.

I had yet to tell her the Chasers were freerunners; we stayed hidden by keeping to rooftops, and we trained ourselves to climb buildings and hurl over obstacles in order to more easily catch criminals. There was no doubt in my mind Applejack could easily learn these skills, but I wanted to make sure she did. She also needed an introduction to our equipment that was both quick and informative, and it normally took the guy I put in charge of training rookies ten minutes just to explain all of our gear.

Applejack had something the Chasers needed, I could just tell. I just wasn’t sure what that something was yet. However, it didn’t really matter; if you ask any member of this group if I’ve ever had a hunch that was wrong, you’ll get a solid “no”.

While the carpet had been pulled up to pad the insides of the sleeping quarters, the theater still function quite well as a storage space for equipment. The typical Chaser arsenal consisted of two leather bracers with claws at the end used for holding on to ledges, one of my dad’s experimental headset radio thingies that still blew me away, three pairs of hoof cuffs, and a head-mounted flashlight. Each recruit received a little “starter pack” with these items in a saddle bag, but as they gained more experienced and poked their way into a specialty section, their gear would change. Applejack, however, would keep the same gear that I used, and this was it.

Ten minutes seemed to be the trend today as the country girl walked through the door. “Jet, can we talk for a second?”

I was putting together a bag for her, but I wasn’t too bad at multitasking. “Sure, what’cha wanna talk about?”

When I was finished I turned to face her, and she was pulling a Quick and circling her hoof on the ground. “Well, a couple things. What exactly is it that you see in me?”

After a little bit of thought, I set the bag down as I let out a sigh. “I’m not exactly sure. Something about you tells me that you’re just all around good, and I really admire how you’ve thrown yourself into a fight you had nothing to do with just because you thought it was right.” Picking the bag back up, I handed it to her. “Integrity like that is hard to find right now.”

AJ tilted her head at the bag, looking inside. “What in tarnation is all this for?”

There were plenty of small buildings for me to choose from, but most of them were a few blocks away, which gave me time to both explain the gear and answer any more questions. “Basic gear. You’re going to be sticking with me, so this is all you’ll need.”

Her lips kind of curled inward, forming a thin line on her face. “Okay… but that doesn’t tell me what it’s for.”

I motioned with my head for her to follow, and we made our way out of the theater. The best place to start her training would probably be Cheddar Charlie’s Pizza, and it was also the closest to where we were at two blocks away. “Well Applejack, I told you you would find out how I got so strong, right? Well, we’re freerunners, meaning we make a joke out of obstacle courses. We can vault over fences, slide under road blocks, jump rooftops, and even climb buildings. The Chasers are still vigilantes, so the guards would be after us regardless of Monopoly’s generous donations to their payroll, but that just makes them even more adamant to catch us. So we figured that we should travel in ways they couldn’t possible match.”

The freckled farmer raised a brow at me. “So you’re saying you climb buildings? How in the world do you manage that?”

“When we get where we’re going, I’ll show you, and I’ll explain what’s in that bag. Any other questions?”

“Um, yeah. Why were you so upset at what Quick Fix said about me?”

I froze at her question, causing her to bump into me. Helping her up, I looked her straight in the eyes with as serious of an expression as I could put on. “That’s very thin ice you’re treading on, Applejack. I like you, but that doesn’t mean I trust you enough with something as personal as that. I’m sorry to say this, but don’t bring this up again. If I feel like I can tell you, I will.”

She lowered her hat a little, giving me a nod. “I understand, Jet, I was just curious. I’m not one to pry, so I’ll leave it at that. So, where exactly are we headed?”

Until AJ brought it up, I hadn’t even noticed how fast we were walking. Charlie’s was in sight now, so I pointed over to it. “Since you are gonna be my co-leader, I figured it was best to start teaching you the ropes myself. That pizzeria over there is one of the smaller buildings in the city, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble.”

Applejack shook her head quickly, causing her hat to flop over her left ear before she set it right. “Wait, so you think I can learn how to climb buildings? Are you out of your mind?”

I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, reaching out and patting her shoulder. “Applejack, didn’t I say we Chasers were just a little bit crazy? Besides, once you get good at it, jumping from place to place can get pretty fun.”

She rolled her eyes at me, making the same face she had when I spoke about her gear. “I’ve climbed many a tree in my day, what makes you think I can go up a flat building?”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, but a smile spread across my face. “You really are new to this city. Nothing is perfect, and that’s especially true for pretty much every building in this city. Cracks, depressions, protrusions, all these things are what help us pull ourselves up along walls. However, we do have our limits and don’t climb anything too tall. If I had to give an image, I’d say the highest we’d go is the third story of any building. We’re not that crazy. Some of the gear you have helps with climbing, too.”

The pretty mare let out a sigh, raising her head back up. “If you say so. So how long do you think this should take? I know I said I wanted to help, but I’m sure you can’t blame me for being worried about my family.”

She was absolutely right; I didn’t blame her. Lucky for us, we were now just across the street from the restaurant, and no guards had come through here on patrol, yet. Teasingly opening AJ’s bag for her, I took out her headset thingy and lifted her hat, slipping the headset, and her hat, back on.

I felt a small wisp of air every time Applejack blew on the little microphone near her mouth, her eyes crossed as she tried to look at it. “What the hay is this thing, some kind of head mounted harmonica?”

A shrug was all I had to give in response. “My dad has been looking into ways to communicate without the need for letters. He’s explained to me how it works, but most of the time what he says goes over my head. All I know, and all I need to know, is that these things lets us talk to our techs back at base. If any of us is out while a crime is going on, they can tell us instantly so we can respond.”

She began poking at it with her hoof. Honestly, her lack of knowledge was kind of cute. “Huh, talk about fancy.”

“Hey, is someone there?” The deep, somewhat muffled voice no doubt was coming from a guard. That wouldn’t have been a problem had I know where he was and what route he was taking, but obviously I didn’t.

Grabbing Applejack’s hoof, I made a mad dash for the shadows between the pizza joint and the building next to it I didn’t care to look at to see what it was. “AJ, ready for a crash course in climbing?”

“I guess I gotta be, don’t I?”

“Got that right, just… watch me, alright?” Luckily, Charlie’s wasn’t built by the greatest of craftsmen, and there were quite a few bricks poking out to take a hold of. In a hurry, I leaned my front hooves against the way, slowly moving them up as if I was walking until I was standing straight up on my hind legs, then pushed myself up with a small jump. I did have to look down to make sure my new friend was watching, and sure enough, she was. In fact, she was already trying to mimic me as I made my way up. “Alright, it’s not that hard. Just look for anything you can put under your hoof, and use it to pull yourself up. It’s more a matter of- shit shit shit!”

The guard was making his way towards us. Though the fact that he wasn’t running meant he hadn’t seen us yet, if Applejack didn’t get up in time, he would. As soon as I was at the top, I reached my hoof out to help her. The restaurant was only 25 feet, not too tall for a first climb.

She managed to grab my hoof, but was giving me a glare the whole time. “Excuse me? You mind repeating tha-“ Before she could finish her sentence, her hoof slipped as she tried to grab the gutters and pull herself to the top.

Grabbing her was easy, but pulling her back up? Not so much. Applejack wasn’t heavy, but she definitely wasn’t as light as she looked. Fortunately, with a bit of effort and a little help Applejack managed to pull herself up. I think the guard heard the commotion, but lucky for us Cheddar Charlie’s had a big sign with the name of the place on the roof, giving us both a decent hiding spot while we waited for the guard to pass.

After a quick inspection of the area, he shrugged and continued on his way. I was about to let out a sigh of relief until I turned around and was met with the same glare AJ was giving me a few moments ago. “What?”

I had been slapped in the mouth before, but that was a whole new breed of smack. There was no doubt in my mind she was trying to make it hurt, but I wasn’t sure if she intended for it to leave a mark. “I do not appreciate that kind of language, Jet, and the next time I hear you use it, I’ll hit you so hard you won’t be able to use it again!”

Raising a hoof to the spot she slapped, I just stared at her wide eyed. I was starting to like her more and more, to be perfectly honest. Not because she slapped me, but because she reprimanded me for doing something she thought was wrong. “Sorry, AJ, it’s a bad habit. I’ll work on it.”

Soon after, an orange hoof was poking into my chest, and Applejack’s face was still locked in its rather frightening position. “You had better. I don’t wanna hear another swear word come out of your mouth, you hear me?”

Shrinking back, I was almost afraid to look her in the eyes now. “Yes ma’am.”

She crossed her left legs in front of her right, giving a satisfied smile. “Good. Now are you gonna explain these gizmos?”

With a nod, I pulled out each item from her bag, pointing at each item. “This right hear I know I don’t have to explain. No offense, but I highly doubt that you wouldn’t know what a flashlight is considering your line of work.”

After a small giggle, she gave me a nod. “None taken, and you’re right.”

“These are basic hoof cuffs in case we run into bad dudes. Slap a pair of these on ‘em and they won’t be getting away from you any time soon. And these,” I picked up one of the bracers, strapping it on and showing her the claws, “we use these for harder to climb surfaces. These claws here dig in to stone and brick, and they can also be used to grab ledges.”

Applejack snatched it off of my foreleg and stared at it. “Well this wouldn’t been helpful a few minutes ago! Why didn’t you tell me about them?”

I cleared my throat before my response. “Well, to be fair, we were kind of in danger of getting spotted.”

She gave me a shrug, seemingly accepting of my simple response. “Fair enough. So, what’s next? Now that I know I have these claw thingies, going up walls is gonna be a lot easier.”

Before I could actually respond, I heard a voice through my headset. As they spoke, I heard one of our three alarms in the background, as well. “Jet! Bad news! Firecracker’s been spotted with two more thugs, but they outran the Assault team that caught them!”

It took actual though to keep from swearing again as I stomped my hoof. “Ugh! That’s the fourth time this week! Any idea where they are?”

“That’s the good news: she’s coming to you.”

Turning to Applejack, the serious expression returned to my face. “Getting down is just as easy, if not easier, than going up. Are you ready for your crash course in pursuit?”

She scoffed, giving me a grin. “Are you kidding? I’ve run more races than you could imagine, ain’t no two bit good gonna outrun me!”

I shook my head before setting both hooves on her shoulders. “Applejack, Firecracker isn’t an everyday thug. She’s a ringleader, one of the few ponies we know of who has vital information we can use to convict Monopoly.”

Her eyes widened as she looked down at the street. “So if we can get a hold of her that could very well be the end of your problems right there?”

“Exactly.”

She was quite the brave, and or crazy pony to just jump off the roof as she did, but AJ did follow all the rules of reducing the impact of a jump. I followed suit, and almost immediately the mare in question zoomed by us, her bright yellow coat and red and white mane sticking out like a pigeon at a crow convention. “That’s her! Let’s get her!”

We both took off after her and her two lackeys. She knew we were chasing her, and it sucked. Firecracker and I had run races together before this whole mess with TimeTech, and she’s only lost to me once. However, I had a new secret weapon: Applejack. The farm girl was quite a bit faster than I was, and she was closing the gap with Firecracker quickly.

However, the goons quickly caught on as one moved to cut her off. We ran through alleys, across the park, and after so long of keeping on their tails, we finally were given an advantage. The only Pegasus in Manehattan rushed out from behind a building and tackled our target to the ground. While it did give us time to take down the two lackeys and cuff them, it wasn’t long before one of my fears came to light: Dust’s personal vendetta against the mare getting in the way of him being a Chaser.

Firecracker was on the ground, underneath Dust who had one of his claws on and raised to strike her. He came down quickly, but was stopped by a bright orange hoof. The Pegasus turned to Applejack, glaring at her with just as much rage as he harbored toward the earth pony beneath him. “Applejack, let me go.”

She shook her head, keeping a firm grip on his hoof. “No can do, Dust.”

Before he could say anything, I grabbed a hold of him as well. “Dust, you know the rules. Once you cross that line, you don’t go back. Remember our rule: we save lives, we don’t take them.”

He let out a low growl, lowering his hoof as he looked down. “Oh, well that’s just great!” Slamming his hooves down, we both saw that in during our argument, Firecracker had vanished, quite literally from under our noses. “Now look, she’s gone! I would’ve had her too!”

We both let him go, and I jerked the bracer off of him. “I think I’m going to have to take these away from you, Dust. These are only to be used in a fight if we’re faced with armed opponents. You know that.”

“Pfft, whatever.”

After all of us were on our hooves, Applejack gave us a much needed reminder. “Well, she may have gotten away, but we ain’t going back empty hooved.”

All attention then turned to the two colts still cuffed and on the ground. Firecracker, in her haste to get away, had left them behind.