I hit the ground running. You've probably heard this phrase thousands of times, but this time, I mean it. Literally. I was in no condition to do so, mainly because I had just woken up minutes before, but also because I had not eaten breakfast yet. I was running on empty.
Well, I guess you could say that galloping is the correct term. Allow me to introduce myself in a somewhat formal manner. My name is Ghost Tail, and I'm a proud earth pony as well as a citizen of Canterlot. Mane color? Light turquoise and frizzy. Body color? White. Eye color? Crimson. My job? I run. A lot. I'm an independent messenger for a gang, who is either really good at making enemies or really bad at making allies.
I'm not particularly proud of what I do, although it is rewarding. If, that is, you can squeak by a day without having to pay a ransom or hospital bill. You can probably tell by now that my job is dangerous, or at least I hope you can. I'm honestly lucky to make it past a single day with cash in your pocket and your body intact.
The gang that I work for is called "Bottom Feeders". I know, sounds kind of dumb, but there is reason for it. All of us are earth ponies, and most of us are damn tired of it. This part of Canterlot we live in; the underground, as we call it; is riddled with crime and pollution. Basically the part of the city that you don't think of first when Canterlot comes to mind. There are other gangs as well, with three of them dominating the rest. Those would be us, the "Bottom Feeders"; the pegasi-only gang "Scyllas", and the unicorn-only gang "Northern Horns". To add to this, no matter how much we try, all three of our gangs are hardcore rivals. There were other gangs, like the Magiks and the Beasts, but the three worst conflicts were between us.
And when I say that they were bad, I mean it. Not only would fights break out between us that usually involved death and gunfire, but our groups of ponies were hit by some of the worst prejudices and accusations from the police and government. So, in a nutshell, we had bigger enemies than each other. Which, coincidentally, is directly related to what I'm doing now. Running for my life. Welcome to my world.
The harsh clopping sound of tired hooves lashed out throughout the abandoned alleyway and echoed down the street perpendicular to it. The early morning feeling that I had plaguing my mind had not left yet, slowing me down just enough for the police to get a clear shot at my sorry flank from the rooftops of the buildings that I was running alongside. Oh, yeah! I didn't mention to you that this morning they found my house and are now trying to kill me?
Well, it's true. And I was well aware of it long before I felt the searing wind of a near miss rip through the air just millimeters away from my tail. I kicked into high gear and ran as fast as I could out of the alleyway and into the street, where an interesting challenge came into play.
I have an interesting skillset, even though I'm only about eighteen. I say 'about' because I truly don't remember my birthday. I would if I had a family to celebrate it with, but unfortunately, I don't have one. As far as I know, my parents are dead.
Like I said, I run. I don't just run, though. I also happen to be proficient in Parkour. Growing up in this part of town required at least a basic understanding of it just to survive, let alone thrive. There were multi-story buildings everywhere, all smushed together to form one super-dense area of life. Shortcuts were everywhere, but you just had to look. Which I also happened to be good at.
Speaking of looking, I spotted a car relatively close to the sidewalk coming from my left heading to my right. I was still running and trying to escape the cold grasp of the authorities, so this was perfect...
I jumped. Hard. And, I might add, as high as possible. This one leap on my part sent me soaring up and onto the moving car, who in return honked as me. I smashed onto its roof, making a loud banging sound, but I didn’t stay long. The second I regained my thoughts, I jumped again, this time off of the car, sending me careening towards the ground. I quickly reached the unforgiving asphalt, but I was ready for it. I quickly tucked myself into a ball and rolled, letting the pain pass by me as I got back up a second later and continued to run. And before I knew it, I was back in the alleyway, this time away from the threat of police.
Although I had escaped the police, that didn't mean that the threat was over. I still had about a kilometer to go before my mission was over, which by the way, was delivering a small package to another gang. It wouldn't be that serious if it weren't for the fact that our gangs were rivals, and that meant that nopony was safe from each other. Even the messengers.
The alleyway would take me directly to the other gang's hideout, who I should probably mention the name of: Screamin' Eagles. Formed entirely out of earth ponies and pegasi, no unicorns allowed.
The distinct features of the familiar alleyway whizzed past me at searing speeds as I held the package in my backpack. As I tore through the desolated area, I thought to myself what in Equestria could be in this package to make it such high priority...
Earlier, the leader of the Bottom Feeders told me to get this package to the Screamin' Eagles ASAP, but didn't tell me what was in it. My suspicion grew as I neared the base of the SE's. Well, that's what we called them at least.
The partially underground staircase that lead into the hideout came closer and closer as I drove my speeding hooves into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and sliding me to a stop in front of the run down entrance. Checking for security traps, I descended down the stairs and ended up in front of the door shortly after. It was large and metal, and had a small slot on it for a peephole. I knocked on the cold surface, letting a cold boom echo throughout the room behind it. Almost instantly, there was a response. The metal slot slid open to reveal a pair of purple eyes.
"Who the hell is it?" said a deep, smoky voice.
"Package to the SE's." I replied.
"From who?"
"Bottom Feeders."
"Password?"
"Permiteat."
His eyes darted back and forth several times to make sure I was alone, then the sound of several locks coming loose came through the door shortly before the large metal slab swayed open, revealing the voice to be owned by a large, bright turquoise pegasus with a light bulb for a cutie mark.
"Come in. We've been expecting you. Ghost Tail, right?"
I stepped inside the bricked, dark room as he slammed the door behind me. "Yeah. And you would be?"
"Don't really have a name. Everypony just calls me Drift."
"Ah."
Drift led me through the musty basement and into a small hallway, passing a few ponies on the way.
"So, who's the boss around here?" I asked.
"Doesn't give a name. Nopony here gives real names. The leader of the SE's calls herself Rose. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea. In fact, I'm almost surprised you gave your own name in here."
"It's just a nice thing that I do."
Drift rolled his eyes and continued trotting down the stone hallway, eventually stopping at another metal door a few meters in. He knocked on the door.
"Package, miss."
A serious female voice spoke up from inside. "From who?"
"Ghost. From the Bottom Feeders."
The door made several rattling noises before the door creaked open to reveal a brightly lit wooden office. In the middle was a messy desk, and seated at it was a beautiful mare, with bright orange fur and a long, silky brown mane.
She turned to Drift. "What's with him?" I realized she was talking about me, and then noticed that my mouth was wide open from gawking at her. I shut my trap.
"Sorry." I said to her. She stared at me suspiciously. "Anyway, this package was sent to you from us. I was given specific orders not to look at its contents, so I can only assume that the contents are top secret. Have fun." I reached into my backpack and pulled out the small cardboard box, letting it plop down on the cluttery desk with a satisfying 'plunk'.
"Thank you. I shall now ask you to exit the room. Good day, Ghost."
I walked out of the room on air. I guess I had let a little bit too much of this feeling, because Drift noticed it enough to say something about it.
"You okay?"
I went back to a regular walking position. "Yeah. Fine. Who was that anyway?" I asked him.
"Dark Rose. A hottie, amirite?"
I laughed at him and continued walking down the hall. "Yeah. Sure."
As we reached the edge of the hallway and we were about to go into the main room, I heard a yell behind me. "You! Ghost!" It was Rose, and she sounded pissed.
"What? Did I forget something?"
"Yes." She swiftly yanked out a gun from behind her and loaded it.. "You forgot to die."
I panicked and dropped to the floor as her first shot was fired. I could tell that it was definitely meant to kill, so I tried to high-tail it out of there before I got hurt. The bullet fired from her pistol ripped through the air just above my head, messing up my hair further and sending my heart rate skyrocketing. The bullet impaled itself in the chest of a guard behind me, sending him to the ground in a heap of pain. I skittered across the floor as I tried to accelerate towards the door, only to find that my tail had been pinned to the ground by Drift.
"What did you do, punk?" He asked me a split second before I freaked out on him. I catapulted me upwards and in a spiral with my right hooves, causing me to barrel roll and land a wicked kick on Drift's face. He stammered back, giving me just enough time to escape his grip and bolt towards the door.
As I reached the metal door again, a second shot was fired. This one I was a little bit luckier on, because it missed me entirely and hit the door itself, ricocheting off and hitting the stone wall behind me. And if that wasn't enough, I nearly had a heart attack when she yelled "AFTER HIM, YOU FOOLS!!!"
Luckily, the door itself wasn't actually locked, so a frantic buck was all it needed to bust open. By then, I could hear several guards rocketing towards me, so I had to get out of there fast. And that I did. I bolted up the stairs as fast as I possibly could, my hooves burning from the sudden action. As I reached the top of the stairs, it was only then that I pondered the thought about what was actually in the package... Was it the package that caused Rose to go after me, or what?
I had no time to think about it, so I just kept running. I made it to ground level, skidding into a turn to my right and continuing to sprint away from the hideout. I found a small window of opportunity to look behind me and found about four guards following me about ten feet behind me.
"S***!!" That's all I managed to squeak out before I had to continue concentrating on my getaway. The guards were already on my tail (almost literally), so I had to think of a good way to escape. I noticed that the alleyway was riddled with pipes leading from the rooftops to the ground, so I could use those...
I had a small window of opportunity a few meters ahead. On my left was a drain pipe leading directly to the third floor roof of an apartment building with a ledge near it, which I was sure I could use. I slammed my right hooves into the ground and leaned left, sending me into a skilled drifting turn and spinning me towards the pipe, so I was in optimal position. I clamored up the pipe, looking down momentarily to see that after I was about three meters off the ground, they were already trying to rip the pipe off in an attempt to knock me off.
I raced ever higher in a desperate attempt to outclimb the pipe itself, which was already stripping screws attaching it to the wall just decimeters below me. I saw the ledge above me, and that gave me just enough hope to make me jump up and grab on, gripping it for dear life.
I had made it past the threat of the guards on the ground, but I noticed something else when I looked to my right that I wasn't happy about at all: Another guard, who was apparently a good climber, had already out climbed me on a different pipe and was running towards the spot where I was hanging from. Thinking fast as I saw him running towards me, I stayed calm and waited for him to come towards me. I waited for him to try and stomp on my hooves in an attempt to send me falling, and when the time came, I sprang into action. I dodged his attack by sliding a few centimeters to the right, then quickly countered his stomp by grabbing his front hoof with my front leg, placing my back legs against the brick wall and stood up sideways, taking the guard completely off guard and sending him careening towards the ground with an ear-wrenching crunch.
I heaved myself fully onto the ledge and collapsed to the floor, letting the pain of exhaustion take me by storm as I scratched my back on the grainy roof tiles.
Although lots of pain was coursing through me, only one thought was: What the hell was in that package?
