"Where's Mr. Pockets?" asked a voice from the crowd.

The elevator doors slid shut behind the pair of ponies, the white stallion looking down at the cowering mass of the hostages with eyes carved from Hell's brimstone. Slowly, dangerously, they scanned their faces. Looks of fear. Looks of anger. Looks of confusion. They knew whatever news this pony brought would only bring them unhappiness. The silence following felt like an eternity. They stared up at his face. So cold. Like the face of the dead. No emotions. When he spoke, it felt as if the Princess herself spoke, his presence almost as equal.

"I'm afraid Mr. Pockets was... unresponsive to our demands. So he's going to be busy with the task... of being dead."

Mrs. Pockets fainted. The rest of the crowd exploded into not-so-hushed whispers. A wave of panic rippled through the crowd, a flood held back only by the gun-toting ponies. Occasional moans of distress came from the young mares. Stallions started trotting in confusion. The entire mass conflicted with so many emotions. He was dead! They’d killed him! And they were next!

Severed Snake cared little for their reactions. He moved past them and into one of the larger offices formerly belonging to another employee. The orange Pegasus followed closely behind, his own face twisted in annoyance. He hated when the hostages got unruly. It made him nervous. And he shot alot when he was nervous. One of the stallions from the crowd pushed his way to the front and began shouting death threats. He was quickly incapacitated with a strong blow to the head by one of the henchmen, leaving the pony in a crumpled heap. Inside the room they found one other unicorn with his weapon grasped loosely in the red glow of his magic. His focus shifted briefly to his leader, and then return quickly to what was playing on the small television in the office.

Snake took a seat in the large office chair behind the stallion and watched the sports ponies run across the screen. "I've never really cared for hoofball," he commented nonchalantly, taking one of the candies resting on the table.

The party guests had grown silent now, but worried looks still swapped between them. Only the occasional whisper or sobbing broke the silence. Spitfire, doing her best to keep face, finished wrapping an adolescent filly in a temporary bandage made from her dress. Wood splinters lay around her. The poor medical treatment would hold for now, but she needed to get ahold of proper first aid if she had any hope for easing the filly’s pain.

Thunder began making his way through the crowd. He tried not to catch the attention of their overseers, as they would think him to be conspiring. Unfortunately for them, he was.

"Hey." He approached the flame-colored Pegasus.

"Thunder," she replied, placing a gentle hoof on the filly's head.

"How's she doing?"

"I think she'll be fine. For now at least”

The young one’s coat, once a bright blue, was stained with blood from the bathroom assault, and her pink-cyan hair was disheveled and unkempt. Her pink eyes seemed to dim with fear, looking between the two ponies with uncertainty. She had conflicting emotions that jumped between comfort, fear, and a growing need to cry. It was like a child at their first day of school. Except this involved a lot more blood and guns.

"I thought I saw her go into the bathrooms," came the hopeful remark from Thunder.

"That pony you're talking about? With a Rainbow mane?"

Both of the Wonderbolts were surprised to hear the young pony speak. Spitfire was the first to respond. "Yes. Did you see her?"

"I saw her climb up into the vents."

Thunder let out his breath. "Good. That means she's okay"

"Well..." Spitfire was not so sure. "That's if she doesn't do anything stupid. She’s a good pony… but I’d rather her not end up dead"

Thunder nodded slowly. He knew it was true. He just had to hope Rainbow had her wits about her. But as of right now he had to worry about the safety and well-being of this group. He had no idea if these... terrorists planned on letting them live. As of right now, they were hostages. But who was to say they wouldn't start executing ponies to make a point? Should they plan an escape? That could get them all killed.

Was that a risk he was willing to make?

Rainbow Dash let out a whimper through her teeth as she clamped down on a large piece of shrapnel poking out from her body. With a deep breath and a firm grip, she yanked it out. “NGRAH! FHHH…” she hissed through her lips. Her body was slowly growing numb to the pain she had endured over the course of the fight, but her limbs felt sore. Like she had just been out jogging for days.

She dropped the shard onto the growing pile of wooden pieces that had come out of her body. She was still bearing her scars from the battle only moments prior, and they were starting to take a hefty toll. The blood loss was making her head feel dizzy. With the last remaining pieces of her garment she had created herself a new fashion line. She called it “Oh God, I Hope This Stops the Bleeding.” She was fairly certain it would catch on. With bands of ruined fabric now tightened against several gashes in her body she resembled more of a do-it-yourseelf plumping attempt rather than an actual pony. She had managed to keep her golden hairpiece in tact, at the very least. It might not be for long.

"Iron? Iron, do you copy?"

Her head whipped up at the voice. The wide eyes searched around for its source until they settled on the black box.

"We heard gunshots. Is everything alright?"

Oh crap. Crap crap crap. What should she do? Think fast. C'mon!

"Errr... Yeah. Jus some weapon issues," she said in a poor Australian accent.

" ... Are... You alright?"

"Yea, jus some sawdust in mah throat"

"Right... Did you find the shield disturbance?"

Her fake accent began to falter. "Uhh, naw. Musta been a bird or sumtin."

"... Who is this?"

Oh shit! "Iron Grip! I mean... Uh, Iron Sights!"

Silence. That did not bode well. She licked blood from her lips and tightened the tourniquet around her right hoof.

"If I were you, kid, I'd turn myself in now. No need for anybody to get hurt."

She spat out a scrap of fabric and furrowed her eyebrows. "Yeah? You should have told that to your friend here before he ended up with a nail through his throat."

Dash was taken aback by what she had just said. She could almost taste the venom in her voice. Such ferocity was not unknown to her, but she had not meant to sound like that. There was no response from the other side, the crackling of static the only thing keeping Dash company. That frightened her. One of these guys was bad enough, but now that there were more this job would get a whole lot harder.

"I think you've just signed your death warrant kid" the walkie-talkie shut off with a loud click.

Fuck.

Rainbow dropped the black box and hurried towards the body of her opponent. With shaking hooves she managed to undo the belt around his waist. On it was a sheath that once held a knife, what looked like a handheld tv, and a pouch for the walkie talkie. She did her best to ignore the smell of blood and death.

Retrieving the walkie-talkie from the ground, Rainbow Dash made her escape.

"Sir..."

Snake looked over at the orange Pegasus. He could tell something was wrong by the look on his face.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Iron Sights is dead."

For a long while he just stared at his feathered accomplice, letting the words sink in. The chair creaked as he leaned forward with the speed of a glacier.

"He's... dead?" He said in a tone that suggested it to be more of a hinderance than a tragedy.

"Yeah."

He slowly dropped his head into his hooves and let out a long sigh. This complicated things. Their numbers were small as it was, losing more ponies would make this job even harder. Or perhaps not. It all depended on what happened to the pony that killed him.

The unicorn behind Snake dropped off the table and onto his hooves. His red coated seemed to turn redder. "No." he whispered. Snake whipped his head towards him. "No!" his voice jumped up to a bellowing roar. In a fit of anger he slapped the bowl of candies off the desk and into the full length windows, making a spiderweb of cracks form along it. The bowl shattered into millions of pieces, glittering in the light as they spread across the floor. Still angry, he pushed the TV off its stand. The cord was pulled taut, and snapped away from the wall with an electronic hiss and a shower of sparks. The glass screen shattered as it hit the ground.

"WHO DID IT? I'LL KILL THE BASTARD!" he shouted.

"I-I don't know!" the orange Pegasus replied, cowering back at the pony's rage.

"Heavy."

The unicorn ignored him and continued his fit of rage. A chair was grasped in his glow and smashed against the floor, shattering into splinters.

"Heavy! Enough!"

He stopped, his chest heaving with rage.

Snake turned back to the orange pegasus. “Have you found his body?”

“What.. oh! Yeah! We did, but all his stuff was gone. Even the map.”

Snake raised his eyebrows. “The map?” Maybe it isn't hopeless after all. “Track it. I want you to find that little twerp so I can deal with her myself. Unlock the elevators, but stick to the plan. " he commanded, rising from his seat with a burning purpose. As he left, the orange pegasus fumbled with his communicator and relayed the command to the other ponies with urgency. Severed stomped through the office and into the main banquet hall, looking around at the ponies. His eyes had changed. They were angry. Enraged. Like a cobra the second before it springs. They darted across each and every pony before the heavy weight of his gaze fell directly onto the small pony Thunderbolt and Spitfire were tending to.

"Her." His word came down like an guillotine.

The filly, looking to be just entering her teens, looked up. "M-m-me?" she whimpered, Spitfire separating the two with her body before the others could act.

"Stand aside, woman," he said with a savage growl. Spitfire stood her ground until the goons all lowered their weapons onto her, the barrels all pointing towards her head.

"Spitfire..." Thunder said quietly, his eyes looking up at her. Pleading.

Her eyes, and her willpower, fell. She stepped aside as Severed reached in and pull the pony out of the crowd. The flight captain sank back to her haunches, feeling powerless. Weak. Useless. She could not bear to watch the filly squeal and squirm as the soulless unicorn held her fast to his body.

"You are all about to witness the true power of persuasion," he said with a soul-rending grin.

"How in Equestria do you work this thing..."

Rainbow fiddled about with the small TV as she racked her brain to try and operate it. There were at least 20 different buttons around the machine, and tons of weird symbols across the front and back. It might as well of been a nuclear bomb with the amount of trouble she was having just trying to work the damn thing.

After several minutes of bumbling, she managed to press the right combinations of buttons to bring the screen to life, an excited squeal escaping her. She put it on the counter of the bathroom she currently occupied and used the faucet to wet some paper towels so she could remove the debris and blood from her face. The TV was apparently a high-tech map with several options spanned across the screen. They were in some, strange foreign language, but from experimentation Rainbow was able to find a tab that showed the building's individual floorplans and another that showed the location of the other terrorists. Talk about dues ex machina. She had the upper hand. Every other map showed up as a blinking, pulsating dot somewhere in the building. Several of them were near the bottom entrance, one other in the basement. The others were all scattered on different levels of the facility, save for 3 dots that appeared to rising up through the levels faster than they had any right to be. No doubt, she told herself, if she can see the other maps, then they could see her. Rainbow twisted her lips and groaned, quickly looking around for something to defend herself with.

She still had the knife and sheath from her battle with the Aussie pony, but considering that most if not all of these terrorists were packing heat she would have no chance getting in close to do any damage. These guys were not going to give her any legroom, that was for sure. Her hoof rubbed against her chin in deep thought. She would have to use her own wits to outsmart these guys, because it was obvious that brute force alone wasn't going to cut it. Her eyes darted around the bathroom. No... no... no... wait... perfect.

A sly grin cut across her lips.

"1... 2... 345? That's the same combination for my luggage..." The hacker rose from his chair after successfully convincing the terminal to open the door farther below, granting the group access to the vault door. The first hurdle was cleared. Now they just had 10 feet of steel standing between them and their goal.

He vaulted himself over the desk before giving the little gray mare a peck on the lips across the counter. She waved him a goodbye before readjusting her seat for a long night of guarding the front entrance, the channel on the TV having changed to a late-night comedy show.

The mohawk pony pushed through to the stairwell and into the newly opened room with an odd little dance. There, he found a row of screens and keyboards all centered around a single shaft of steel with the company's trademark hoof logo plastered on the front.

"Time to cash out!"

The elevator doors opened up with a hiss to reveal one of the many floors under construction. This one had the luxury of glass windows, but the floor was still missing carpet and the ceilings had yet to hide the many wires and pipes that snaked between floors. The air was tainted with the pungent odor of sweat and sawdust, the fluorescent lights creating cones of visible dust. Several workbenches sat against plywood and sheetrock. Their tools were laid out like a surgeon's operating table. The only noise that could be heard above the hum of the A/C and the buzz of the lights was the sound of running water from deeper into the office space.

Severed Snake placed the barrel of the gun against the filly's head, letting the two goons that accompanied him go first before leaving the elevator himself. Looking over their shoulder, he could see from one of his henchmen's own maps that the stolen property was somewhere in the next room to the right. Not moving.

"I hope that by now you've come to your senses, little pony," he called out. His voice, deep and dripping with hate, filled the room and those beyond. Even after he had spoke him the words seemed to cling to the air like a cat on curtains. The young girl did her best to hold in her whimpers.

"You are not saving anypony..." he said after a painfully long ten seconds. "... by continuing this foolishness. If you wish for more ponies to die tonight, then by all means... continue this little game of yours. However, I will not be the one with a guilty conscience..."

The world was quiet, save for the faucet.

The white unicorn locked eyes with one of his mooks and nodded towards the sound, several strands of his grease-black hair falling over his face. Lifting his automatic rifle the other pony nodded, the cones of light creeping across his dark-blue coat with each step he took towards the door. His hooves led him into what would one day become a row of cubicles, now only a collection of unpainted wooden boards sticking up from the ground like some sort of half-assed maze. Computer terminals were piled on a desk in the corner with a series of cookie-cutter rolling chairs clumped together like a pile of corpses. From here the sound of water was louder. He moved closer. Each hoof he laid down made the floorboards creak and squeal in protest.

The two other ponies stepped into the room behind him. Severed took his place in the middle of the hallway as the other gun-toting pony took a spot behind one of the cubicle walls. They both watched as the third poked his head into the bathroom. His eyes first fell onto the large puddle of water that was spreading across the ceramic tile and under the stalls. His gaze traveled upstream up the counter and to the clogged sink. The drain was stuffed full of soaked paper towels, and the electronic map sat with its base on top of the knobs as it leaned against the mirror. After shifting his eyes back and forth across the bathroom for the 5th time, he reached in and quickly nabbed the device, backed out, and turned to Severed.

His last words were, "he's not here."

Rainbow leapt from the shadows above and onto the sea-blue pony as they both let out their respective screams of terror. Rainbow's was wild and chaotic as she plunged the combat knife deep into his throat, while the subdued let out a cry of true fear, his gun firing wildly in a desperate attempt to save his own life. Severed ducked down as the bullets passed just overhead, his hoof tightening around the little mare's neck before disappearing through the door. With the earth pony and Rainbow hidden behind one of the unfinished desk spaces, all his comrade could do was keep his gun aimed at where he hoped she would pop up.

There was an unnerving silence that followed. The sharp ping of bullet shells was the only sound that greeted the expectant ponies on the other side of the room after several seconds. There then came the quiet yet distinguishable sound of a reloaded clip, and the second of the two henchmen felt beads of sweat roll down his face and into his lips. The wait was physically painful. They were two chessmasters waiting for the other to make their move, gauging the pawns, bishops, and knights at their disposal. Severed watched carefully, his body hard and motionless like a tower as his head and his pistol peered around the corner.

The flooded sink had spread water into the next room, several streams snaking across the wooden floor and towards the hidden fighters. A light flickered with a static gasp, the jumpy gunpony unloading a good five shots into it before frantically training his sights back down on the wooden board. His forest green hair was plastered to his face with sweat, and the wood-brown of his coat was covered in bits of plywood.

The light caught against a dark blue, the coat of the victor rising into view.

The tree-pallette pony let out a sigh of relief as he started to move from his cover. Microseconds later he was cowering behind it as Rainbow, one side of her body drenched by the spreading pool, unloaded on him. They ate through the wood and landed in the wall just behind the mook. Severed backed up further into the elevator room, the filly squealing into his hoof.

Rainbow kept firing into the wooden boards as she closed the distance between her and the door, keeping herself on the outside of the desks in case she need to fall back into cover. The gun choked on the last bullet, giving her opponent an opportunity to return fire. Her multi-colored mane slipped out of view as she threw herself onto the unfinished floorboards. Her limbs burning with pain and her veins crying from adrenaline-induced agony, Rainbow fumbled with the release of the empty clip before letting it drop to the floor to be replaced by another. All the while bits of wood and wall rained down onto her. Her hooves kicked in and out as she shimmied herself along the ground to get her closer and closer to the pony. Then it was her turn to rain down hell.

But just as he was going back to reload, Severed decided to turn the tables in their favor by firing at her from the safety of the other room, the bullets whipping through her hair as she ducked back down. "Horseapples!" she cried, looking around the room for something to even the odds. Her options were very limited. Aside from the desks and chairs, little else was at her disposal. She was at an extreme disadvantage, and she had serious doubts about the thin wooden wall she was using for cover. It was time to play dirty.

She backed up to the more solid of the two walls and aimed carefull over the top of the cubicle, lining her sights up on the light fixture above tree-pony's hiding spot. With several well placed bullets -or half the entire goddamn clip- the anchors gave way. Dash smiled as she heard the surprised shout of her duelist as he was smashed by the ceiling light. Papers and sawdust leapt into the air at the force of the impact. She stood up to admire her handiwork.

"Oooooo, tough break. Don't worry, I'm sure you can file it as a 'work-related accident' ," she chortled, quickly losing her spunky attitude as Snake's gun reappeared around the corner. Again, she was forced into cover.

"Ghhh! I'm starting to hate cover-based shooting..." she spat under her breath, waiting for his clip to run out before making forward progress. She heard the empty click of his hammer and wasted no time in clearing the rest of the office. She sped through the doorway and unfurled her wings as dust followed her dramatic entrance. She leaned back on her back hooves to let the automatic rifle rest firmly in her two forehooves. She would have torn him to pieces, if he wasn't keeping the filly between them.

"Come now... we don't want anything to happen to this poor... innocent young girl..." He lowered the barrel of the gun to her cranium. "... do we?" The wicked grin on his face made Rainbow want to punch him so goddamn hard.

"Let her go, asshole."

"Language, my dear. Language," he spoke so soft and calmly, a harsh contrast to Dash's fed up tone.

"Yeah," she breathed. "And if you speak mine, you'll understand when I tell you to let. Her. Go."

Severed simply gave her that stupid, punchable smile. "Have it your way." He shoved the filly towards Rainbow, forcing her back onto all fours. With Dash momentarily incapacitated, he stomped his hoof down to bring out the weapon Rainbow so painfully remembered. "GET DOWN!" she yelled at the filly, throwing both herself and the young mare to the ground as the first shot passed through her right ear. The cry she let out was out of shock rather than pain, and it charged her with enough anger-induced power that she pushed off her back hooves and tore through the air with blinding speed. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to get her to the elevator before the sleezy white unicorn managed to shut the doors. Dash bucked her hooves against the stainless steel doors to no avail, screaming obscenities through her blind rage.

A good thirty seconds passed before she finally gave up. Her flanks fell to the floor with a heavy THUMP, and her chest heaved with every strained breath her lungs struggled to take in. Her fur stood up on end, nose crinkled back with fierce rage. Her pupils had grown to match the size of her eyes, and each breath made them pulsate.

"A...a... uhm... are you al... right?"

"Huff... huff... yeah. I'm fine. Just really... really pissed," she said, groaning through the second half of her sentence as she brought herself back up to her hooves. She turned to face the adolescent pony with a somewhat calmer expression when compared to the one she had donned just moments earlier. Her eyebrows still tilted dangerously inwards, and her breathing was labored to the point where she was shaking with each inhale. "I'm fine."

The little girl nodded slowly.

"Ghuh... hwuh... whew. Alright... just give me a minute. Mhhhuh... got a phone?"

The tiny pony blinked, the chaos of the situation having lagged her brain. "Phone...? Oh! oh, yes! Yes, I do!" She stuck a hoof into her plain white dress, pulling out a slim, rectangular-shaped device that sported the symbol of a bitten peach on the back.

"Geez..." Rainbow exclaimed, still working out the whole breathing thing. "How's a kid like you got... huhh... one of those?"

"I got it for my birthday."

"Fair enough... can I use it?"

The phone passed between their hooves with haste, Rainbow silently mouthing... something to herself as she dialed in the emergency number. Her legs proved to not yet be ready for the task of holder her up, and she sat herself against one of the walls. As she waited for the call to be picked up, she decided to vent a bit.

"My friend Twilight's been going crazy over this phone lately. The whole company, really. Peach Inc. Weird name for a company. I mean like... a fruit? What does that have to do with phones? But not just phones, Peach is everywhere. In nearly every thing. Maybe it's just some sort of stupid fad going on... I dunno..."

"Briiiing. Briii- ca-click! Hello! And we-"

Rainbow tapped 4. She didn't even let the voice respond before jabbing 1. She was greeted with another ringtone before finally reaching a real policepony.

"This is the LPPD Dispatch, how can we help you?"

"Thank Celestia... alright..." She took in a deep breath, her heart still beating in terror. "Saddleback Bank. 30th floor. A group of armed ponies have taken control of the building... huff... unknown number of them. I've counted, like... one... two... dhdhuhb... seven at least. They've got hostages. Already killed one, and potentially others, I don't know... huff..."

"Hold on a moment, please." And the phone went quiet.

"Hold o... what? Lady, listen... hello? Hellooooo?"

"... ... ... c-click, ma'am this line is reserved for emergencies only"

"Emerg... no shit, Sherlock!" her voice cracked. "Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?!"

"Ma'am, please calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down?! I have been shot, bitten, punched, stabbed, and mounted. I will NOT calm down! I need HELP. Do you hear me?" She put the phone right up to her mouth. "H. E. L. P. HELP"

"... ... ...We'll send a patrol cruiser down to check things out."

"Patrol? No, listen lady, I don't need... she hung up on me... c... can police officers do that? Ugh... who cares." She groaned and let her head fall back against the plywood, letting out a whinny. She handed the device back and sighed. With her body still aching in her wounds, adrenaline slowly draining out of her system, and pain flaring in her right ear, all she could do was sit there and sigh.

"... do you need some water?"

Dash looked over at the small pony with one raised eyebrow. Eventually, she let it fall and nodded. Slowly at first, but then much more rapidly. She hadn't realized how dry her throat was, and with a swallow she felt the burns of dehydration run up and down her windpipe.

Without another word, the filly rushed off to another part of the office. Rainbow tried to get up and follow after her, but her body was having none of that. She might as well be nailed to the floor.

An uncomfortable shiver ran through her. She didn't want to think about that.

Time and space were still struggling to find their rightful stage positions as Dash rested, her limbs all moving with a mind of their own. Even her neck felt like rubber. The pain she had felt moments earlier felt numb. Like somepony had held an icecube to it for too long. In fact, she lacked feeling in most of her body. Only her mouth seemed to still respond faithfully.

Minutes passed before the filly eventually returned, quelling the many fears Rainbow had managed to think up. Her hooves flopped out lazily for her drink. Her throat was now a desert, the scorching sun of her thirst baking the inside of her mouth. Her mind was so set on the water that she didn't even hear the filly speak.

"I couldn't find any cups for water... but I... uhm..."

Rainbow's eyelids flared. "WHOA!"

Turns out a mouthful of hard scotch was all the pegasus needed to yank her into gear. "Holy horse-feathers...! W-where did you find this?!" she asked as she clutched her throat, feeling awake but much more thirsty.

"Under one of the workbenches."

"Whew... Ghruuh... alright. Well... right on... ech..." She spat out a glob of blood and saliva, taking another hit to knock her head into gear. A new vigor spread through Rainbow's veins as the heavy drink worked its magic on her. Feeling returned to her body as the cuts and gashes started to ache again, but Dash was happy just to be back in control of her body. She took one last swig before setting it down. "Whew! Rainbow's back in business! Now... water. I'm sure the faucets will do. Wonder how bad the damage is..."

She turned the corner into the bullet-hole ridden, half flooded, blood-splatted room.

"Welp. Not my problem." She stepped through the growing puddle and into the bathroom proper before leaning her mouth into the still-running spicket. The cool, refreshing taste slid down the back of her tongue and down into her belly with a satisfied splash. Her gulps were greedy and less than ladylike, but she couldn't have cared any less.

"Aaaaaah. That hit the spot. How about you kid. Need some?

She just shook her head, trying her best not to stand in the deeper sections of the flood. Rainbow gave her a raised eyebrow. "You're a quiet kid."

"Mhh... my daddy usually didn't want me being loud during his meetings."

"Oh, so you're dad works here?"

"No... not anymore..." her voice was barely a whisper. It took Dash a second, but the coy smile on her face quickly flipped. She felt a pang in her heart.

"Oh... I'm sorry. Guess Mr. Pockets was..."

The small pony nodded slowly, a sniffle coming out before...

"No, no, wait don't...!"

And then she was crying. Tears rolled down her rounded cheeks as she frantically tried to wipe them away. But they just kept coming, her tiny sobs causing her chest to jerk up as she drew in air.

"C'mon... don't... look..."

She just kept sobbing, holding her hooves to her eyes as she sat down with a splash. Rainbow grimaced. A tentative hoof forward brought her close enough to the filly that she could whisper. "Hey... listen," she said softly, putting a hoof on her head. "What's your name?"

"Sniff... sniff... P-Pocket Sized..." she sobbed, keeping her hooves plastered to her face.

"Heh... that's a cute name. I'm Rainbow Dash."

One of Pocket's hooves lowered back to the flooded ground, the drains in the bathroom having a much easier time emptying the room. "N-nice to m- sniff... meet you..." she whimpered. Dash couldn't help but crack a small smile before the pony continued. "M-my dad said you were a s-stubborn mare w... who didn't know a-a good offer if it h... sniff... hit you in the face."

Rainbow let out a huff of a laugh. "He hasn't been the first. Course, you can't put a brand on my special kind of awesome, hah!"

That didn't seem to make matters any better, and the filly's lips started to tremble.

"H-hey, look. I'm sure your dad was great..."

The sobbing came again. Rainbow let her ears droop.

"Pocket Sized... sigh..." she let out a deep breath, composing herself before putting a hoof to Pocket's chin so she could lift her gaze to meet her own. Her voice was soft and gentle, not even the tiled walls of the bathroom able to echo her voice. "Can I tell you a story?"

She sniffed and slowly nodded her head.

"It was... way back when I was even younger than you. I met this guy. And he was so super cool. He was one of the coolest friends I had in school. He had the best grades, the best looks, the best moves, and all the girls wanted to be his fillyfriend. In... cluding yours truly... heh... but even though he never made me his special somepony, we were like the best of friends until I... uh... 'left' school. We didn't talk much after that, and I only got to hear about him every now and again. He grew up and became one of the best racers in Baltimare. He smoked the competition when I went to see him in pony. It was so good to see him again, it was just like old times." She smiled nostalgically but then let her eyelids close with a sad sigh.

"I just found out a couple months ago that he died in a lightning storm accident. I remember getting a letter in the mail. I..." she bit on her lower lip, hesitant. "I... I hid myself in my room and just cried. I don't know why. It was just... the emotion was like... wham! I didn't see it coming..."

The filly had forced her tears to cease, for the most part. The occasional sniffle and tear managed to escape, but she had her eyes locked solely onto Rainbow.

"I just... it hurt. Knowing a pony as great at he was. One of the best flyers I know. Just... gone. I'd never see him again. All those years we spent as friends... all that time we spent together was just... gone. And I just couldn't handle it." her voice cracked, a hoof going to her mouth as she begged herself not to cry. "But you know what?" she huffed, gripping hold of her emotions. "I have another friend. Applejack. She's an earth pony. So... heh... you can bet how surprised I was when I saw her kicking down my cloud door. 'Rainbow Dash!' " She gave a terrible imitation of her friend's southern tone. " 'You been spillin more tears than a onion farmer! You need tuh get off yer sorry flanks and kick it into gear!' And then she punched me in the stomach."

The filly giggled into her hoof.

"And I tried to tell her what had happened, and she got up in my face and said this: 'Dash, every winter the crops on a farm die. They all shrivel up, every last one. But you can't be cryin over em! If you don't get rid of the old crops, you ain't gonna have room fer the new ones! Ya gotta wipe your eyes, grip em by the roots, and rip em right out. You got other ponies dependen on ya to grow food for them to eat! What're you gonna tell them when you can't put food on the table?' "

Pockets' tears had stopped, the light of understanding growing in her eyes as she listened intently.

Rainbow smiled and sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I was out that door a second later. The wind felt so good under my wings. It felt great."

"You have nice friends"

"Yeah... you know what... I do." Dash smiled, water starting to well up in her eyes. "Damnit Dash, don't you cry. I swear to Celestia, if you cry..."

"Will you be my friend?"

"I.. hunh?" "Aw, damnit..." she cursed herself, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I... heh... sure, kid. I'd love to. OOPH!" She took the force of Pocket's hug as her hooves wrapped around Rainbow's neck. Not entirely offended by the gesture, Rainbow chuckled and returned the hug, sighing peacefully.

"This is getting way out of hoof..." Severed stomped out of the elevator, Mrs. Pockets leaping to her hooves.

"Where is my daughter?!" she screamed.

"Shut up and sit down or I'll throw you into the same grave as your husband." His words were sharp, but quick and frantic. "Heavy, get on the radio with Green. We have to speed things up. This little hero problem of ours has quickly spun out of control. I will not have this entire operation fall apart because of that winged rat," he spat.

"Boss... I think we got bigger issues," admitted the burly brown pony with bits of bathroom stall in his hoof. He pointed towards the window and down to the police cruiser just outside the building.

"It was only a matter of time. Stick with the plan. Lower the shields and let Trigger-happy will deal with the pig. Just focus on keeping the rainbow one at bay."

The crowd of ponies whispered to one another as Severed stomped into the office again. Spitfire and Thunder leaned in and exchanged frantic and hushed words. The former spoke first.

"What's going on?"

"Rainbow, that's what."

"But... what do you mean?"

Thunder cracked a grin. "I mean she's kicking their asses."

"Every night, it's the same old bullshit... sigh. Some kids get it into their idea to start callin' up the station cuz they think it's sooooo funny," the pony frustratedly spoke to himself. As he stepped out of the cop car and into the building's foyer lighting his black coat turned to a coal color while his hair, or lack thereof, hid underneath a LPPD hat. Though of the attributes most noticeable about this particular pony, his size definitely ranked as the most apparent. Suffice to say he was not a very slim horse. He shuffled his belt farther up his torso as the handcuffs jingled against his keys.

"Evening," sighed the grey pegasus working as receptionist. A janitor must have been through recently, as the smell of bleach filled the air.

"Good evenin' ma'am. Got a call about some suspicion activity. Any idea who might've rung it in, and why?"

With a confused look, the pony turned to her computer and shook her head. "Noooo... I... don't see anything about any suspicious activities... unless you consider an office party 'suspicious.' " She gave him a grin, the cop chuckling in response.

"A bunch of paper-pushers managing to stand each others company on Hearth's Warming Eve, rather than being home? If that ain't strange, I don't think I know what is" he chortled, the grey mare laughing with him. "Heheheh. Anywho, mind if I just take a quick look around? It'd be nice to stretch out my hooves a bit."

"Sure, sure. By all means" her smile quickly turned into a sinister frown as he passed by her and slowly paced down the hall. He whistled idly as he slowly trotted closer to the elevators, each step echoing off the elaborately decorated walls. A grey hoof slowly made its way over to the handgun hiding under her dress, ready to silence the law-pony should he seem intent on using the lift.

"Hmmm..." he said, looking at the elevators with a suspicious eye. He considered the steel doors with a fair amount of skepticism. "... Nah..." He waved a hoof and trotted back towards the front. The grey pony let out a silent sigh of relief before pulling her arm away from the concealed weapon. "Sorry for wastin' your time, ma'am. You have a good night." He tipped his hat and pushed out to his car.

"He's... leaving?"

"Maybe to get more backup?"

"No... no... something's not right. Crap... crap crap crap! We gotta do something!" she spoke in a frantic tone, running around the room in search for something to signal the officer with. Pocket tugged at Rainbow's tail and pointed at the perfect tool.

"Gotta get back... back to the past..." the large pony sung to himself as he slipped back inside his cruiser. His weight cause the car to shift heavily with his entrance. With a heavy grunt, the earth pony jammed his car keys into the slot and cranked the car to life.

He reached over and grabbed his packet of Nutty Bars, ripping them open with an ecstatic glee. "Come to papa..." He laughed and placed the peanut-butter and chocolate wafer into his mouth, moaning happily as he devoured the snack.

"Gotta get back... back to the past, Samurai J-WHAAAAAAGH!" he bellowed out as the corpse of the tree-colored slammed against the hood of his car. His hoof slammed against the accelerator as the clutch fell into reverse. In that moment, the entire situation changed.

A trio of muzzleflares erupted from several floors of the building, bullets raining down on the car like deadly hail. The cop screamed as the vehicle swerved back and forth, the wheels squealing as they skidded over the stone and onto the grassy embankment that surrounded the parking lot. He hoofs were clenched to the steering wheel as the sense of weightlessness gripped his body. All around him the old packages and soda cans lifted into the air, old napkins and papers floating towards the ceiling before it all came down with a heavy KA-CLUNKSCHPFSHCHUK. The ruined car lay on its side behind one of the concrete barriers. Just as he wrapped his mind around what the fuck had just happened, a blue aura shot up around the building, the shield retaking its place.

"By Celestia's Sunspots..." he breathed, a hoof bracing him against the door. He fumbled with the radio before screaming into its speaker. "Dispatch, this is officer Huss Key, requesting immediate backup at SaddbleBack Bank! Repeat, this is patrol officer Huss Key, requesting additional support at my location at SaddbleBack Bank, corner of 7th and Greenwhich! Shot have been fired, I repeat, shots fired!"

Rainbow and Pocket bro-hoofed, the rainbow-maned pegasus leaning out the shattered glass.

"Welcome to the party!"

Again, her cockiness was interrupted by more serious matters. The elevator dinged from the other room, Rainbow gasping as she clutched Pocket's hoof. "Bathroom, go! Stay hidden!" The little filly wasted no time making herself disappear.

"Think, think, think, think.... ah!" she exclaimed with great joy as her hooves latched onto a rather intriguing piece of explosive weaponry from one of the mook's corpses. She stood at the entrance to the elevator room and listened intently, waiting for the sliding of steel to queue her entrance. The wait was painfully long, the sound of priming hydraulics being her only clue as to what might be happening on the other side. Finally, that beautiful noise reached her hole-y ear and sent a chain reaction down to her hooves.

First, she pulled the pin on the grenade. Then, she dived through the room. Next, she rolled the grenade off of her hoof and towards the two ponies stepping out of the lift. And then... uh... profit?

Rainbow slammed hard against the ground before skidding into the other room. Might have been a good idea to have thought this a bit farther. She reached up and grabbed the edge of a desk as an explosion of light and sound came from the other side of the wall. To her dismay, the gun-happy gang members had swiftly rolled away from the blast and now had their sights set on Rainbow. She had the option of either finding safety further into the construction zone, or she could enter the maintenance halls next to the elevator. She didn't want a repeat of the last gunfight, so she opted for the latter.

It took two tries to break the lock, but eventually Dash managed to break through the door and almost immediately fall into the yawning abyss. Her stomach hit the railing of the catwalk just as solid ground escaped her line of sight. She felt vertigo grab her head, and had to pull back with all her might to avoid the sensation from sending her to her doom. With a mighty battlecry, she succeeded, and found herself slamming into the two ponies as they tried to chase her through the door. They were both met with hooves to tender places.

With their stallion weaknesses fully exploited, Rainbow ran across the walkway and into another set of rooms wrapping around to the other side of the building. Her eyes fell on a piece of mistletoe wrapped around one of the overhanging pipes and took a mental note. No doubt these shafts would prove to be a maze. Whatever cosmic powers rested above proved to be maleficent today.

An open door led into a room with boilers and water heaters supported by a spider-webbed tangle of pipes and bars. Her ears flipped back as she heard the impending approach of her new friends. In a move she attributed to her incredible athletic abilities, she threw her hooves up around one of the bars and swung with enough momentum to throw her onto a platform of pipes higher above. With the tightness of the corridor, and the apparent stupidity of the goons, there was no question that they'd miss her.

And they didn't. Rainbow let out a shout as bullets whizzed past her from the doorway. She leapt higher and higher in her vain efforts to avoid the crosshairs. But no matter how high she climbed the bullets always seemed to find her. One of them clipped the bottom of her back, right hoof and sent a ripple of shock through her flanks that momentarily paralyzed her. She was forced to drop onto another level of the catwalk. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't on her wing. "NHHHH-H-HUUU! Oh the poninity!" She had no time to nurse her wound, as the other mercs climbed the pipes after her. Her head whipped back and forth frantically, but she couldn't find any places to run except directly back towards the ponies. So she leapt down.

The landing was enough of a surprise for her to disarm one and smack the other across the face with the butt end. He went flying off the platform and onto the original level while Dash''s temple was met with the unicorn's own pointed head. Flashes of white obscured her view for a moment before slowly oozing back into full consciousness. She, too, had fallen off of the platform and onto the original level. But she was lucky enough to have been cushioned by one of the two very hostile ponies in the room. So she bailed. But just as her torso cleared the doorway, her back hoof was gripped by the fallen fighter and forced her to face-planting against the metal grating. The impression made her face look like a waffle.

The one still holding the gun gripped said gun in a red aura, firing towards Dash with every intent on making her a corpse. Lucky for Rainbow, her upper body strength let her vault herself forward using the railing. Which is impressive alongside the fact that she was pulling the other pony with her. This didn't stop the gun-toting goon to empty the rest of his clip at the spot she had been. And he had not thought to bring any extra ammo with him. So with the three of them now all upright on the catwalk, it all came down to hoofti-cuffs. Rainbow threw the first punch and felt her hoof land against hard muscle. The unicorn she opted not to engage first leapt off his back hooves and screamed for blood. His body arced directly towards the pegasus, and it was only by her innate speed that she managed to duck down in time for the mook to crash into his Earth-Pony friend.

With the two now entangled in one another, Rainbow was able to rip free one of the pipes hanging just above with the strength of desperation. Steam poured out into the already musty room once the bar came off in Dash's hooves. Getting a nice, firm grip on one end, she swung the makeshift weapon down and sent the Unicorn into unconsciousness. His friend, however, took the opportunity to slide out from the bottom of the pile so he could stand face-to-face with Rainbow. No matter how many times she swung the metal tubing, he continued to knock it away or block the attack all together.

Dash put all her weight into her last attack, aiming an uppercut slash with the pipe only to have it come centimeters away from hitting its mark. She gasped as the momentum spun her around and onto the floor. She had to act fast to avoid the flurry of angry hoof-stomps that were aimed at her head. One got dangerously close, stamping directly on her would ear so that she was pinned in place. Her cry of agony did not phase the goon as he aimed another hoof towards her head with the hopes that he'd be able to turn her into applesauce.

Once again fueled by adrenaline, Dash contorted her lower body to curl in. Her cyan hoof filled the terrorist's field of view as a large, red hoofmark appeared between his eyes. It was enough to get him to let go of her ear, at the very least. Back on her hooves, Rainbow locked eyes with her assailant and let out a deep growl. The pony at the other end of the catwalk did the same.

The two ponies became one as they crashed into one another with a flurry of hooves, wings, and tails. Bites, punches, kicks, and shoves all happened in the blink of an eye as the fight brought them closer and closer to the railing. It was by dodging a wide left hook that Rainbow was granted the perfect window of opportunity to stunlock the pony and pin him against the railing.

"Y-you crazy bitch... y-you are toying with forces you know nothing about!" He shouted, Rainbow holding him farther over the edge.

"What are you guys planning?"

"H-heh... wouldn't you like to know?"

She pushed him an inch farther over the drop.

"B-basement! The basement! T-they're rigging the vault to blow and bring the tower down as well. T-then we'd leave in the panic."

"Goddess... and the hostages?"

"Bait"

Bait? Bait for what? Unfortunately, pondering this question left her wide open for a strike to the stomach. But even as the wind was knocked out of her lungs, Rainbow recovered faster than the offender could dismount the bars. With a might buck of her hooves, he went screaming down into the deep, dark hole.

"Ghuh... pfffhuh..." She looked over the edge, holding her stomach. "Sorry, pal. Looks like you got... shafted."

She was met with only the groaning pipes and whining spouts of steam.

"Ehh... tough crowd..."

Author's Note

Well, here it is. Hope it stands up well to the first act. My hope is to get the last act out at Christmas time. Or, at the very least, New Year's. Depends on whether or not I can rip myself away from New Leaf.

*cough*isabelleisbestdoggie*cough*