It was a beautiful winter day in Ponyville. The sun rested behind the fluffy clouds above, and an icy blanket coated the ground below. Between them was a breeze that brought the smells of hot chocolate and baked goods through the streets. A chill clung to it with malice, gnawing at the ears of foals and the faces of street vendors until they were raw. The days were short, and the nights long. So was the season of Winter in Equestria
Promises of presents and games were made to foals in trade for their good behavior. Colts and Fillies scribbled their wishes on parchment, setting them next to glasses of cold milk and cookies, appealing to their idols in the hopes of receiving gifts. Parents hung socks over the blazing fires as the children watched eagerly, fantasies of toys and candy filling their heads. Meanwhile, the heat of the kitchen made the mothers sweat. Gingerbread cookies burnt inside ovens, dinner boiled on the stovetop, and warm drinks sat on the table in waiting. The fathers set up their Warming Trees for the little colts and fillies to decorate, cursed at the broken lights that hung from the houses, and herded their foals indoors as noses began to run. Families sat down for dinner to the sound of festive music.
The young ones not already within the warm confines of their homes were instead playing outside. Puffs of white powder would spring into the air as they leapt from snow pile to snow pile, other children taking cover behind makeshift forts to avoid the volley of snowballs. Unicorn colts used their magical advantage to topple snow from burdened trees onto their Earth pony opponents. Snowponies guarded the entrances of homes, surrounded by impressions on the ground where the young ponies had made their snow-angels. The laughter of these foals joined in with countless others as they all enjoyed the snowy day bestowed upon them.
Farther into town, carts lined the streets as the vendors displayed their wares as best they could to the bustling mass of ponies. Baked pies and cakes let their scents waft through the street. Toys lay scattered on the ground where they had been sampled. Jewelry hung from racks as they drank in the attention. Blankets draped over stalls with snow collecting on their surface. The crowd of ponies seemed to stretch from one end of town to the other, presents and other seasonally appropriate objects floating along the sea of equines.
Those unburdened by children, and instead by work, shoveled piles of snow off the weathered roads. They did not smile. They did not talk. For the wonders of Winter were not known to these stallions and mares. Even the ponies that bid them good day were shooed away by the busy bodies. Friendship had no place in their hearts. Still, their relentless efforts made it possible for other busy ponies to make it to work on time. Vendors could set up their shops. Carriages could pass through unhindered. Despite their misanthropic nature, they were an asset to the community.
All of this reminded the denizens of Ponyville that Hearth’s Warming Day was drawing closer and closer.
A beaming smile on her face, Rainbow Dash watched all of this as it passed by her window. She could hear the delightful squeals of the foals over the hum of the car's engine and began to think of her own time as a child. The older she got, the more she was depressed the Winter season. As a young filly it was a time of great joy and excitement, presents tucked neatly under trees and bags of candy laying with their contents spread across the table. Now she was older. Her time during Hearth's Warming was spent tending to the clouds; making sure that the right amount of snow fell on the town. Too little? Overtime at the weather factory. Too much? Late nights shoveling snow. It was tedious, boring, and worst of all took time away from Dash that could be spent with her friends.
So it came as no surprise that when Rainbow Dash received an invitation to the annual Wonderbolts' Hearth's Warming Eve Party, she jumped at the chance. Besides being an escape from her less-than-exciting job, she'd get to reunited with her role models after their last meeting.
Rainbow had one thing holding her back, though. She had spent Hearth's Warming with her friends every year. Whether it be decorating Pinkie's tree with absurd ornaments, racing against AppleJack through the snowy orchard, helping Fluttershy with hibernating animals, assisting Twilight in her umpteenth reorganizing ritual, and (reluctantly) modeling for Rarity’s winter fashion line, she had always enjoyed the winter holiday with the ponies she held dear.
Rainbow was both surprised and immensely relieved with her friends' reactions. They urged her to attend, Rarity even admitting jealousy. After all, only a select number of ponies were chosen to go. Why waste an opportunity like this? The weather factory was surprising lax about it as well. She wouldn't question that, though. Any chance to escape the odors of rainbow dye and the shouting of the overseers was one she would not pass up.
Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her suitcase as the car bounced. A copy of the latest Daring Do novel launched out of her lap and clattered to the floor. The entire vehicle shook as it landed its wheels back onto solid ground. The stallion at the head of the limousine quickly apologized. "These country roads aren't my forte," he grumbled, regaining control of the car. Dash only smiled and retrieved her book. She was too preoccupied with her fantasies to be upset with the driver.
To think. Her! With the Wonderbolts! It was, quite literally, a dream come true. As a tiny foal she had idolized the flyers. Their bravery! Their skill! Amazing! Astounding! She would never forget seeing them for the first time: blue blurs that raced across the sky at incredible speeds, their lightning contrails striking against the clouds. The sound of thunder ripping through the air as they swooped and dived over the crowd. They weren’t just flyers. They were legends
Rainbow Dash hugged her book tightly to her chest, letting out a squeal of delight. She could hardly wait! She hastily asked her driver how long they’d be.
"About... Oh... 2 or 3 hours," the limo driver grumbled, addressing the question with little enthusiasm.
Rainbow felt herself slump. "3... hours?" she asked, heartbroken.
"Mm-hmm"
She groaned and threw her head back against the seat. 3 hours? Dash lived in seconds. Sometimes in minutes. But whole hours? If impatience was a virtue, then it would be her element. A huff of air escaped her snout. For a while she just sat there, staring at the ceiling light until her eyes began to protest.
In a desperate attempt to distract herself, Dash looked about the cabin. All traveling expenses were to be covered by the Wonderbolts, which was a relief to the young weather pony. Her job at the weather factory did not support frivolous spending. Much less a luxurious limo ride to an up-scale Las Pegasus building.
Taking a Colt-a-Cola from the icebox, Rainbow admired the interior of the vehicle. The color scheme reflected the Wonderbolts themselves: 2 bright shades of blue carpeting the floor with a yellow band bordering the base of the seats and doors. In the center was the Wonderbolt’s logo itself, the winged lightningbolt brightened with strategically placed ceiling lights. It was nothing grandeur, but at the same time Rainbow felt her heart leap around her chest every time she looked down.
Dash took a drink from her can, relaxing into the sofa. Maybe 3 hours wasn't that bad. She let out a yawn. She had been eagerly anticipating this day, and had lost a great deal of sleep over it. Nights were spent tossing and turning in bed, thoughts wrestling each other for dominance. With her eyelids heavy and her seat so comfortable, it was only a matter of time before she fell asleep. She closed her eyes and thought of the wonderbolts, unconsciousness gently embracing her mind.
Dash waltzed across the dance floor. The world around her was obscured in bright lights, colors drifting across her peripheral like a dream. Wrapped in her embrace was a handsome stallion suited in typical Wonderbolt attire. Dash couldn’t identify the stallion through his dark goggles, but it didn't bother her much. She just enjoyed the warmth of their proximity, her idol’s body wrapped around hers. Blush flowed freely to Rainbow’s cheeks. This was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Dash had only ever dreamed of something like this.
The two ponies swept across the vacant dream-scape, soft music pouring from an unknown place. Everything felt so... perfect. All worries evaporated from her mind. Happiness flooded her. What could be better than this? Dash let out a girly squeal, one not usually in her nature. She would make a special exception.
Resting her head against the stallion’s chest, Dash watched the spinning scenery. They were inside a large ballroom. Chairs of gold and velvet lined the walls, silk curtains hung over large windows, and the marble dancefloor spun on a mechanical turntable. It was luxurious. Rainbow Dash was not one who enjoyed fancy shmacy settings, but she could not doubt that this locale was more than enough to quench her fantasies.
Was this what it was like to be truly in love?
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” the stallion whispered, pulling her closer.
“Oh, Soarin...” Dash replied, drawing upon the first name she could remember.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” he said again, bringing them to a stop.
“Oh, Soarin.” He lifted her head to the handsome stallion, their snouts inches apart.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” the Wonderbolt breathed, drawing closer.
“Oh, Soarin.” She closed her eyes, readying herself for the kiss.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey, kid. We’re almost there.”
Dash opened her eyes and stared at the aged, withering features of the limo driver.
The pegasus was thrown back into reality. The fantasy world around her reasserted itself as the limo interior. Her arms were wrapped not around her dream stallion, but around the thick book. A bright flash of red shot across her cheeks. To her relief, the driver had not taken notice of her.
A flash of light brought attention to the window. Rain obscured most of the glass, but what little view was granted to her was more than enough to satisfy her curiosity.
The streets of Las Pegasus were as bright as a summer's day. The neon glow of the city seemed surreal, painted with masterful strokes upon a canvas. Like somepony had drawn it in glitter. Each drop of rain was coated with a rainbow of colors. Puddles of water looked like pools of magic. The wet street looked like they were carved out of the night sky, the tiny potholes filled with stardust and comets erupting upwards as ponies splashed through. Mechanical carriages lined the sides of the road like horses outside a saloon, waiting for their owners to finish their business inside.
Rainbow Dash could hardly breath.
Light poured from the shops and onto the sidewalks, tempting passersby to enter. Magical glow leaked through the doors of pubs and clubs, the glistening aura of unicorn power all too noticeable. Large screens occupied the tallest of buildings, broadcasting the news and making her want to buy stuff she normally wouldn't even consider.
Turning her gaze farther upwards, the mystified Pegasus watched as towers of steel stretched up into the sky until they punctured the rain clouds above. So dominating in their presence, the rest of the city seemed to cower beneath them. They were monstrous obelisks of metal and glass that reflected the city lights below and sent them out into the night sky. They watched over the ponies below and protected them from any harm that might befall them.
Noise came from every direction. Music came from nearly every single open door and shook the limo with vigor. She could feel the heavy bass, the honking and screeching of cars creating a chaotic orchestra of cacophony. Ponies shouted to one another over the roar of the city, their voices drowning in the sea of sound.
Dash loved every bit of it. The dazzle! The scale! The... Awesomeness! It was a page out of a fairy tale. It couldn't exist. Yet... here it was!
Rainbow Dash stared out the window, her eyes sparkling with wonder. The star struck mare had her face pressed against the glass like a filly at a toy store. There was so much to look at, so much to see! Ponyville felt dreadfully small in comparison.
As the car turned a corner, another building came into view. Perched atop one of the tallest towers was an oversized horseshoe. It extended off the roof of the skyscraper and made the building look somewhat smaller. SaddleBack Bank. One of the most successful banks this side of Las Pegasus. At least, from Rarity's account. Its body looked like a really tall temple, oddly enough.
Dash scrambled to the front of the cabin to keep the building in view. The driver looked back with an amused expression. "Tourists..." he mumbled. As the tower drew closer and closer, Rainbow Dash felt her heart speed up. Butterflies fluttered about in her stomach, tickling the edges of her belly so that she squirmed. Wide pupils filled her star-struck eyes and made her look she had two huge saucers for eyes.
Her mind grew dim then. The memory of leaving the limousine and donning her dress having faded from her mind. Before she knew it, Rainbow was riding the elevator up to the party, the noises of the lift almost inaudible to her in such a dazed state. Her rosy eyes looked at the digital numbers.
Ding. 27.
Deep breaths, she told herself. Don’t want to look like an idiot in front of her role models.
Ding. 28.
In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
Ding. 29.
Oh goddess, this was actually happening. This was real!
Ding. 30.
The doors slid open. The Ponyville Pegasus let her jaw fall.
Dash's eyes first fell upon the large statue situated in the center of the room. It was of a stallion, his colors replaced with bronze, with his right foreleg tucked underneath his chest and the chiseled chin held high in the air. His mane was sleek and businesslike, and a wide smile lay on his lips. He stood on a pedestal of rocks that cascaded water down into small pools below. Beautiful flora decorated the brief, grassy area that encompassed the entire centerpiece. It was beautiful, a symbol of pure power. All around the room were smaller statues of other ponies, all in very picturesque poses.
The second thing the filly saw was the massive number of colorful ponies that crowded the room. Granted, it was a big room... but there were ALOT of ponies.
Mares in gorgeous dresses. Stallions in dashing suits. Their many conversations blurred into a loud hum that reverberated throughout the room. The smell of expensive wine graced Rainbow's nostrils. Sweet and tantalizing scents drew the weather pony’s attention to the Hearth’s Warming treats laid out nicely on the buffet table. There was so much energy in the room that Dash's heart began to beat even faster. Not out of fear. But of excitement.
While this gathering was much more contained and organized in contrast to the Young Flyer’s Competition, it certainly matched in excitement. Dash could not focus on one conversation long enough to even know what was going on.
“... like a little colt!”
“... in a little champagne? It’s come...”
“... NO! Really?! Are you...”
"... work. We’re getting by fine...”
Rainbow’s head spun. Too much information was trying to shove its way into her head. Ripping her attention from the headache-inducing noise she noticed that Warming Trees were tucked into corners around the room. The ornaments nothing spectacular, but added to the atmosphere nonetheless. Strung across the ceiling were several red and green lights, holly wrapped around several segments in a very festive fashion. Rainbow swore she saw mistletoe somewhere in there.
“Hey! It’s Rainbow Dash!”
Dash spun to face Spitfire. At first, she did not recognize the flame-haired Pegasus out of her flying suit. She was dressed in an inferno. Fire lashed up her hooves. Embers coated her back. Flames flooded from her like a cloak. It wasn’t until the shock wore off that Rainbow Dash realized it was just an outfit, and that the flames were merely fabric. Still riding the adrenaline high, Rainbow responded with brash confidence.
“The one and only!” She gave the captain a heroic pose.
She gave a small chuckle. “Hey, sorry about the Gala. Shame we didn’t get to talk more.”
“Naw, that’s okay. I don’t hold it against ya,” Rainbow said, waving a hoof.
Spitfire smiled and flagged down one of the many butlers roaming the party. Hoofing Rainbow a glass of red wine off the tray, Spitfire took a sip of her own. Another pony joined the conversation and, with a red face, Rainbow noticed that it was Soarin, the stallion in her dream.
Wanting to avoid his gaze, the young adult Pegasus looked down at the alcohol. Dash was reminded of blood by the color and thickness. It smelled something fierce, and there was a burning sensation creeping up the back of her throat as the aroma made its way inside. She dared a glance up towards her idol. She stared back with a confused look about her.
Not wanting to look lame in front of her role models, Dash took in a mouthful of the red liquid and swallowed. She forced a smile onto her face, but it didn’t last long. The Pegasus’ eyes went wide.
Fire scorched her throat, a raging inferno tearing down into her stomach. Pain was exploding from deep within her chest and tears began to escape through her eyes. It felt like a match had been struck against her mouth, and then drowned with gasoline. The vile taste stained her tongue.
Soarin let out an obnoxious laugh, bringing the attention of some nearby party guests. Before long he was lying on the carpet with a face redder than an apple. Spitfire just shook her head and watched her wingmate with mock stern.
“Oh man,” Soarin said after his laughing fit had ended. “It’s been way too long, Rainbow. I don’t remember you being this fun!”
Rainbow Dash let her eyelids fall to half-mast, a scowl tearing across her lips. Now that the alcohol had run its course, the filly flyer was back in control again. And she was pissed. It was one thing to be teased. It was another to be teased in front of her childhood idol. It was something else entirely to be teased by her childhood idol.
“Don’t mind him, Rainbow. He’s just had a few too many. Here, let me introduce you to somepony,”
The flame-colored Pegasus pushed past the Soarin and led her through the crowd of ponies . Rainbow Dash tried to take in all the brilliant dresses that flashed before her eyes, but they seemed to be moving so quickly that she didn’t have time to even admire them. No wonder Rarity was so jealous. It was like a candy store of gowns.
After pushing through a rather obnoxious crowd of stallions, the two managed to reach the other side of the room. Again, Rainbow was shocked.
The entire east side of the room gave way to a large window that stretched from one end of the wall to the other. From inside one could see over nearly the entire cityscape of Las Pegasus, the bright lights of the city like stars against the night sky. Had the rain not been so furious, the view would extend far beyond the limits of the city and into the surrounding countryside. Perhaps even to Ponyville.
A deep blue stallion stood near the window, staring out into the rain with a spaced-out look on his face. His wings, a pair of bright yellows, stuck out from his pitch black suit and his black hair (half-heartedly groomed) flowed down across the back of his collar. Aside from that, the only other notable things about him was that he had coattails hanging down over a cloud cutie-mark with bolts of electricity arcing through it, and the Wonderbolt’s symbol pinned to his chest.
“Rainbow, this is Thunder Bolt. He’s the Wonderbolt captain for Cloudsdale. He’s got quite a few years under his belt”
“I’m glad you could make it to the party. It’s an honor to have one of Ponyville’s greatest flyers with us tonight,” he said, turning and bowing towards the dazed filly.
The entire world seemed to stop.
A Wonderbolt’s captain. Had called her. The greatest flyer.
Gears spun freely in her head, not able to catch one another.
“Uhm… is she alright?”
Spitfire responded faster than Rainbow could. “She’s just a little overwhelmed.”
“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash squeaked.
Spitfire snickered through the corner of her mouth, turning back to the crowd of ponies. “I’m gonna go mingle some more. Don’t have too much fun without me,” she called back, disappearing into the chaos.
“And then there were two...” Thunder Bolt said, turning to face Rainbow Dash. He drew in a deep breath and let it out through his next sentence. “So... you’re the mare I’ve been hearing so much about. You’re the only thing my squad talks about nowadays.”
Rainbow just nodded her head, not able to fully comprehend the situation.
“I can’t blame them. Defeating Nightmare Moon, Discord, and that whole affair during the Royal Wedding. I’m surprised you aren’t a Wonderbolt already! Hah! Even the Royal Guard would be honored to have you in their ranks.”
Rainbow’s eyes lit up, awareness gripping her tightly. “Does that mean... that-”
“Well... no. I’d love to have you in my squad, but we’re full as it is. You’d have to talk to the head captain, Racing Stripe, about getting that all sorted out. Unfortunately he couldn’t make it to the party. Shame...”
He looked out towards the window again, contemplating for a bit before turning his gaze back to the completely derailed Pegasus.
“I wouldn’t be too worried though. After the attack on Canterlot, I’m sure the Wonderbolts are going to want to increase their presence there.” He tapped his hoof against his chin in thought.
Again, Rainbow just listened quietly, her stomach full of butterflies.
Thunder smiled sheepishly. “Eh… sorry. Ponies tell me I talk too much. To be honest, I’m not really all that interested in what you’ve done. I’m more interested in the pony behind all that heroism. Tell me, Miss Rainbow Dash, a little about yourself.” He had gotten close, close enough for Rainbow to feel his breath, and the heat of his body near her own. She nearly fainted.
“I... I’m just your run of the mill Pegasus, heh...”
Her attempts to be humble only resulted in a hearty laugh from the Cloudsdale Captain. Her rosy cheeks turned even brighter.
“I’d bet my bits against that!”
Again, the two ponies started closing distance between each other, electricity surging through Dash. His eyes were a deep, rich hue of baby blue, and his breath smelled like peppermint. They were so close, almost one. Just. A little. Further...
“Heeeey! Thunder!”
Thunder Bolt whipped his head up in alarm, his face contorted in fear. “Oh no...”
Another Pegasus trotted out from the crowd, his walk hindered by alcohol, and his head weakly supported on a noodly neck. He weaved back and forth towards his color-swapped brother, a glass of hard cider balanced precariously on his flank.
“Rainbow Dash... this is Lightning Bolt, my brother...” Thunder was very hesitant on introducing Dash to the drunken mess of his kin.
“Oh wow... hey you’re that filly from Ponyville right? Twilight Sparkle’s friend? I was there when her brother got married. Lot of shhhhhhhhhhit happened that day, hunh?”
“Lightning... How many drinks have you had?”
“One... bottle. Cmaaaaaaaan man. Lighten up, it’s a party!”
Rainbow Dash remained quiet, but a look of disgust had adorned her features.
“So, little missy...” the stench of bile and alcohol intruded Rainbow’s senses as he wrapped his arm around her and spoke right into her face. ”You’re the pony I’ve heard so much about. Maybe you can show my bro a thing or two. He’s not the first out of the starting gate, if you know what I mean.” He snorted a disgusting laugh.
“Yeah... sure...” she replied, pushing Lightning away from her.
“Don’t be like that, guuurl. How about you and I go somewhere a little more private so you can show me one of your... Sonic Rainbooms, hehehehehehehe?”
Dash bucked him in the face. The hit was hard enough to send him reeling back, the glass falling into the floor and the sound of broken glass merging with the sound of a cracked bone. Lightning fell back into a group of stallions in the middle of exchanging family photos.
“OW! YOU LITTLE BITCH!” he screamed, trying to hold back the blood that was flooding from his nose. “YOU HIT ME IN THE FUCKING FACE!” He tried to assault the filly, but was held back by several other party guests.
Rainbow just lifted her nose high and began trotting towards the bathroom with her integrity held high on her shoulders. The laughter of Thunder Bolt rang loudly over his brother’s drunken banter.
A delivery truck drove through the darkness, avoiding the bright lights of the city. It snuck under the veil of the night like a cat prowling through the woods. Its engine growled with the ferocity of a lion, piercing the relative silence of the street. A beam of light shone from the headlights, catching the rain in an almost angelic halo. One could easily mistake it as unicorn magic.
The diesel monster was accompanied by a single car, the tinted windows hiding the faces of several stallions inside. Its own approached was completely silenced by the heavy rainfall as it pounded against the convoy, again catching the light that shone from the car's lights.
Taking an exit off the main road, the Saddleback Tower came into full view. No other carriages rode with the carpool, and the path to the bank was linear.
"Do you have your invitation?" the stallion at the desk asked with a tired tone. He wanted nothing more than to go home. He had been sitting here since the party upstairs begun. If it weren't for them, he would be asleep right now. He was almost grateful when the tan car pulled in, as now he had something to do. His eyes still fell back to the small TV set up under the desk that played the latest rerun of “Saddle in the City”.
A pony with purple fur turned to his companion, the mohawk of blue hair whipping towards her. "I think I gave them to you before we got in the car"
The Pegasus with him began patting her dress, the gray of her coat blending in with the faded black of her evening gown. "I-I thought you had them," she said.
"No... I remember specifically handing them to you before we left."
"Well I don't have them. I’m positive that you had them," she said, stern growing in her voice.
"What do you mean you don't have them?!" the Unicorn was on the verge of shouting, his eyes narrowing at his mate.
"It means I don't have them!" the mare shot back.
The secretary was sitting upright now, silently enjoying the fight.
"You didn't think to make sure we had them before we got here? You had to wait until we're hundreds of miles away from home?!"
"Hey, don't get angry with me! You’re the one they want here! If it was so important to you, then you should have made sure we had them!"
"Don't blame this on me! You wanted to come, too!"
"What's going on?" asked the overweight security guard emerging from the security closet just behind the front desk.
The receptionist shrugged.
"You do this All. The. Time! So don't start pointing hooves at me!" The little Pegasus' grey hair shook with anger.
"Hey, hey, there's no need for this." The guard pushed into the conversation. With his largeness, it was an easy task.
The two ponies looked at him.
"I'm sure we can figure this out. Who was it that-"
Pft. Pft.
The bodies of the pitch black police pony and the beige receptionist slumped to the ground. Blood began to pool around them like ants gathering around a feast. A small hole in the center of their head marked their deaths.
The Mohawk pony blew away the smoke as it billowed from the end of his gun, removing the silencer as he did so. The small, grey Pegasus did the same. Even though she was hindered by the lack of magic, she performed the task efficiently and with obvious skill.
After storing the pistol back into his suit, the unicorn pulled out a black box and spoke into it. "Yo, Snake-Eyes! We got things up front," he said, leaping across the dead bodies and into the security room. Inside he found the main security terminal, and began giggling childishly at the keyboard. With a few rapid clicks, a window appeared to politely inform him that the buildings alarms had been deactivated.
"Haha! We are IN baby!" He reached over and pulled the feathered pony into a kiss.
In the parking lot below, the large truck rumbled through. Its growls echoed throughout the chamber to make a cacophony of machinery that only seemed to grow louder the deeper it delved. It was like a beast forcing itself into another animal's cave, intimidating out its original owner and taking it for itself.
When it reached the end of the passage the engine died, and the back of the truck opened with a scream of metal against metal to reveal several ponies armed with heavy guns. Leading them was a white pony with pitch black hair that fell to his shoulders.
Against the backdrop of the rough and tumble stallions piling out behind him, he looked pristine and businesslike, a suit among t-shirt. His features bore the scars of time and stress, years of history etched into each wrinkle and a lengthy tale behind his cold eyes. His gait was strong and powerful, each hoof coming down with the strength of a hammer, and with an unmatched finesse.
A green aura surrounded the black box hovering near his muzzle. He spoke slowly, with emphasis placed on every word like he were instructing someone to defuse a bomb. It was as if he were savoring each letter before it passed over his tongue. "Make sure you don’t lock down the elevators before we get the code.”
"You got it!" replied the cheery voice of the hacker from the box.
Rainbow Dash stared at herself in the mirror. With a sigh, she grabbed one of the hanging washcloths in her hoof and began cleaning the blood off her back hooves. It wasn't a lot, but the cold water soothed the pain. He had a hard head, that was for sure.
Returning her gaze to her reflection, the rainbow maned Pegasus thought of how to approach her new interest. It was him. He was her dream stallion. Rainbow Dash was not one for romance, but the Wonderbolts had always managed to bring out of side of her that she herself had never known.
Thunder Bolt… Rainbow Dash… the two names were like puzzle pieces. They fit into each other effortlessly. Like Romeo and Juliet. Rainbow splashed cold water onto her face.
“C’mon, Dash, you’re sounding like Rarity! Huff… alright. Just act cool. He already likes you… don’t do anything stupid. Just play it out. You got this. You’re Rainbow Dash,” she told herself, her hooves braced against either side of the sink. With a deep breath, she got back on all fours and headed for the door.
She hit her head on the ceiling when she heard the gunshots outside the bathroom. It was immediately followed by a mass cry of terror from the party guests, the sound of broken glass and toppled tables adding to the orchestra of chaos.
"Everypony!" the white stallion called out, his goons standing near him with their guns aimed towards the ceiling. Occasionally one would erupt to bring attention to the front. Unfortunately it only caused the chaos to grow.
The buffet table was overturned, its contents spread across the expensive carpet. Pools of juice bled from the shattered remains of punch bowls. Wine glasses were pounded into the ground by the flurry of hooves. For a solid minute the room was seized with pure panic.
"Everypony!" he repeated, the screams of the crowd now starting to die down. Ponies still knocked against the upturned pieces of furniture scattered across the room, and soft sobs came from cowering mounds of ponies. Many just watched the white earth pony with fearful curiosity, like the convicted waiting for the jury's response.
When all had fallen silent, the head pony continued.
"I regret to inform you that tonight's... Festivities..." His eyes scanned the cowering mass of ponies, the gaze of a hunter looking for its prey. "... have been postponed... indefinitely. I ask all of you to remain calm. Just follow our orders, and no one will be harmed."
"What do you want from us?" Thunder asked, stepping forward.
The malicious, white unicorn turned his gaze slowly towards the blue Pegasus and blinked. It looked as if his eyes were freezing the world around him.
"As of now, it's not about 'what'..." He looked towards the crowd again. "But about 'whom' ".
Rainbow Dash cracked open the door just enough to watch as the head stallion walked towards the crowd. "I'm looking for a Mr. Pockets," he called across the room, his voice echoing against the silence as he raised his tone." Big Pockets? Owner and Founder of Saddleback Bank incorporated?" He looked across the sea of ponies with small, intent eyes. They shot invisible daggers into the guests. "Born and raised in Neighjing? Son of Shallow Sums and Family Jewels?"
He moved with the pace of a turtle, putting a strange emphasis on each step. They were precise. Each one seeming to have a great deal of importance.
"No? How about you?" He lifted the chin of a nearby mare with his hoof. "Care to tell me where he's hiding?" the mare remained silent, and soon the stallion lost interest. He turned to another pony, inches away from his snout. "Come now, we don't want anyone getting hurt, do we?" Almost as if in queue, one of the goon ponies lowered the gun towards the party-guest.
Cries of terror came from the crowd as they all tried to move away from the danger and simultaneous avoid the other weaponized ponies that were keeping them captive.
"Stop!"
A voice rang out from the crowd, bringing all the attention towards the yellow unicorn pony whose round glasses caught an odd glow from the lights. "I am Mr. Pockets," he said steadily, the foreign accent suggesting an eastern dialect.
The mob boss let his eyebrows rise. A skin-chilling smile spread across his lips. "Ah yes. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Pockets. Now... If you would please accompany me to your office, I'd like to discuss a few things with you."
Deep Pockets looked at the stallion with eyes of burning hatred. With a great deal of reluctance, he followed him towards the elevator as his wife began to sob quietly into the arms of a stranger. Rainbow watched anxiously as the two disappeared into her blind spot. She was able to see them as she opened the door further, but soon realized this was a huge mistake.
A burly, brown earth pony saw the young Pegasus through the crack in the door, and immediately made a beeline towards the bathrooms. The features that appeared on her face betrayed fear of the highest caliber. No doubt seeing an oversized pony like himself would send terror through even the bravest of souls.
He moved with the gracefulness of a bulldozer, plowing through the crowd of ponies and straight towards the bathrooms. One could easily believe that he intended to make his own entrance, rather than use the door.
He did end up using the proper portal, but little was left of it when he made his entrance. The splinters of wood flew across the bathroom like flying daggers and embedded themselves into the walls. To his surprise, there was no one on the other side to receive his attack. He was greeted instead with silence.
Not caring to be stealthy, the goon clomped over to each individual stall and bucked them in, the ornate wood doors of the luxury bathroom becoming sawdust under his hooves.
WHAM! The first door was kicked in and an explosion of wood followed it.
WHAM! The second door was kicked in and a flurry of wooden shrapnel filled the small cubby.
WHAM! The third came off its hinges completely.
WHAM! The fourth was accompanied by a scream as the cyan pony hiding in the stall was pierced by the wood projectiles. A chunk of the door had managed to hit her in the head as well, and the mare found the world to critically out of focus. Blood began to stain her dress, the colors of the fabric stained with red.
Before she could even collect herself, the Earth pony grasped her dress in his teeth and drug her, flailing, out of the bathroom. At one point she managed to break free of his grasp and used a large piece of door to strike him against the head. This only made him mad. In turn, the brown behemoth flung an oversized hoof at her and sent her flying across the room. She hit the wall so hard that the vent above shook.
She didn't give much of a fight after that. She was far too outmatched.
Rainbow Dash watched on unbearably. She knew she could have done nothing to help the pony, seeing as how she was already secure within the confines of the ventilation ducts. Still, she couldn't help but hate herself a little for allowing the other pony to be her scapegoat. Rainbow hadn't even known that there was anypony else in there with her.
The rainbow racer crawled backwards through the metal tunnel with great haste. She had to make it to the police. She had to get help.
She shimmed frantically in the small space until she reached a fork in the road. She began to head right, towards one of the unoccupied offices. Once there, she'd be able to fly out through one of the windows to get help.
But then she stopped, her back legs still in the main shaft.
Rainbow's mind began to dissuade her from her current goal. She'd defeated the princess of the night, faced off against the lord of chaos, and banished the queen of the changelings. What were a couple of goons?
But the first two could have only be done with the Elements of Harmony, and she had little to do with the defeat of Queen Chrysalis. These things she ignored. Instead, she convinced herself that doing such a heroic feat would get her a spot in the Wonderbolts for sure.
With new confidence in tow, Dash made her way through the left vent shaft, towards the elevator.
Far below, the purple unicorn began tapping away at the computer console, one update after another appearing on-screen. The sound of hoof against plastic was loud in the small confines of the room. The relentless typing of the Unicorn made the alerts disappear as they came: lockdown alerts, shield status, phone line connections. Each one returned back into the virtual nether as he hacked his way deeper and deeper into the mainframe.
"How are things down there?" he asked the black box.
Even farther below him more ponies were hard at work.
"Nearly done. Just one more bundle of wires and we'll be heading back up."
The black box in his hoof beeped in conclusion.
"How much do you think's in there?" asked the full orange Pegasus. His partner sat hunched over a tangled mess of wires with an oversized knife clutched in his telekinetic grasp. "Ah reckon 'bout... Ehhh... 3 billion," the dusty brown pony slashed through the wires like knife through hot butter.
"Whoa... What are you gonna do with your share?"
"Get me a noice house by tha beach. Right onna water. Maybe get me a boat. I dunno. Have to see what boss says mai share is."
"Wouldn't we just split it evenly?"
"... I... Dunno. Boss ain't said yet."
"Why not?"
"Alright, look mate. I'd love to sit here an talk till the sun comes up, but I've got better things to do. You do to, if you want your share."
The rusted unicorn slid his knife back into his belt, a leather pouch sheathing it just above a cutie mark depicting gun-sights.
Rainbow Dash grunted and groaned as she crawled through the tight corridor of steel. Her dress was torn now, with holes worn into the fabric where her knees connected with the shaft. As of right now, she feared Rarity more than the gang. She'd probably kill her for ruining such an amazing dress. She'd have to think of a better excuse than "I had to crawl in some air ducts and fight off bad guys".
As she delved deeper and deeper, her dress becoming more and more tattered along the way, a voice could be heard along one of many routes.
"I know you're a reasonable man, Mr. Pockets. Let's try not to be so hostile"
"What is it that you people want? Company secrets? Are you government spies?"
Rainbow Dash watched silently through the duct grating, the face of the white stallion obscured by one of the bars that protected the vent. She could see Mr. Pocket’s terrified face, as well as the finely decorated office he sat in.
There was a pregnant pause.
"We are nothing more than ordinary ponies with ordinary needs. In this aspect we are very much alike, you and I. You need to keep this gun from firing at you, and I need the money in your vault."
Deep Pockets took a step back. "That's all this is about? Money?"
"When is it ever not?" the stallion nearly cooed.
"You're nothing but a bunch of lowlifes! Petty thieves!"
The door to the office opened, revealing the two ponies from below. "Whatid we miss?" questioned the unicorn.
The head pony did not respond to him, his focus locked onto Deep Pockets.
His words were slow, precise, and deadly. They dripped with venom. Rainbow shivered.
"I'm going to count to three. There will not be a four. Give me the code to the vault."
"You're insane"
"One"
Mr. Pockets said nothing, watching the white stallion with a burning hatred in his eyes.
"Two." His voice grew louder. He was obviously very aggravated.
Again, nothing came from the business-pony.
"Th-"
"Go ahead! Kill me! The code will die with me as well!"
There was a long pause. The two ponies stared at each other for a long time.
"Okay". The mob boss lifted his foreleg high into the air and slammed it down, a gun unfolding from his suit and firing directly through Mr. Pocket's left eye and into the wall behind him. It took with it a large chunk of his brains.
After having just brought another pony's life to an end, he talked nonchalantly into the walkie talkie. "You can hack the code, right?"
"You ask me like I'm going to say no," chortled the pony on the receiving line.
Rainbow Dash felt like vomiting. She shuffled backwards as fast as she could, wanting nothing more than to escape. This was not a task she could overcome. Even the changelings hadn't killed ponies. They simply wanted to feed off love. The parasprites had devoured all of Ponyville, yet never once sunk their teeth into flesh. These ponies weren't bad guys... They were murderers!
Still in a state of mass panic, the disheveled Dash fell backwards out of the vents and into an office space still under massive construction. The skeleton of the room was only partially filled, pieces of drywall littering the floor and large canvases covering the open windows.
Pushing aside one of the plastic window-covers, she took to the air and raced away from the building. All she had to do was find the police. They could take care of the re-.
WHAM.
Rainbow Dash peeled her face off the invisible wall. "What in Equestria...". A magical shield. A goddamn magical shield. She was trapped. Trapped in with murderous ponies.
An alert flashed up on the security screen. "Hey, Severed? There's a shield disturbance near the 30th floor, east side."
"Severed" looked at his two henchmen and nodded towards the door.
"Aye got this one. Prolly just some hothead," said the rusted unicorn with iron sights for a cutiemark.
He trotted off quickly as the head mob pony sat down at Mr. Pocket’s desk. His hooves ran over the fine leather armrests and across the smooth oak table.
“A shame,” he said after a long breath. “He had such good taste”
"C'mon, c'mon!" The cyan Pegasus raced around the construction site for a working phone. All of them greeted her with the same tone, the beeping now playing in the elevator of her personal hell. “Horseapples!” she shouted, slamming the phone back on the table. Why was fate being so cruel? What had she done to deserve this?
And then she saw it, a lone cellular phone resting in one of the drawers. She snatched it up clumsily in her hooves and frantically tried to dial the three digit number.
“Brrriiing. Brrrrriiing. Briii- ca-click, Hell-”
“Oh thank Celestia! You guys have to help me! There’s...”
“ -and thank you for calling the Las Pegasus Police Center! This automated answering system will help us know how best to assist you!” came the soft voice of the recording.
Well, shit.
“If you are calling about a fire, or a potential fire hazard, please press 1”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me...” Rainbow Dash slammed her head against the table.
“If you are in an accident and need immediate medical assistance, please press 2”
Rainbow groaned.
“If you are calling about any other medical emergencies, please press 3”
“Come on! COME ON!”
“If you are calling about a break in, or attempted break in please press 4”
Rainbow almost crushed the phone trying to press it.
“You are calling about a break in, is this correct? Press 1 for yes, and 2 for no.”
She pressed it even harder.
“Thank you! We will now direct y- BEEP BEEP”
“What? No! NO! NONONONONO!” She shook the dead phone as if she could revive the battery by some miracle.
"Oy! What're you doin' here? How'd you get out?"
Frozen with fear, Dash stared at the mob pony. Out of the corners of her eyes, she scanned around for something to defend herself with. With instinct taking control of her body, she threw the phone towards the rusty unicorn. The air was immediately filled with bullets, the gun screaming at the Pegasus with intense rage. Rainbow quickly leapt behind a metal workbench. Bullets struck against the metal structure like hail against a carriage. Except a lot deadlier.
The wooden beams near dash that held the room together became splinters. She had a brief flashback to the bathrooms. Bits of wood flew every which way, small pieces striking against Dash to create a sensation not unlike being jabbed with hundreds of tiny needles.
The pounding of instant death against the barricade made the adrenaline in her veins turn to poison. Fire surged through her body like a serpent, lashing angrily at her body until she was weak with fear. She was going to die. No more flying. No more Rainbooms. No more friends. No more Wonderbolts. She was going to die.
No.
Strength flooded back. She was not going to let her life end like this. Not now. She would not succumb to death. The last chapter of her book would be a tremendous one. Not one that ended with her cowering behind a desk.
After what felt like an eternity, the firing stopped, and Dash took it as an opportunity to find new cover. Her previous shield was little more than scrap metal now. What the young flyer did not expect was to come face to face with her assailant. Instincts once again took hold of her and forced her forelegs to rise off the ground and plant themselves firmly on the stallion's chest.
In a satisfying display, the pony flew back through one of the few standing pieces of wall, the plywood and insulation crumbling on top of him. Debris formed a cloud over the wreckage of pony and building materials. With great haste, Rainbow leapt towards the plume of dust with an animalistic fervor. But the Aussie pony was ready for her.
He launched himself with an even greater force, knocking the both of them to the ground. Thus began a battle for dominance, each pony trying to gain the upper hand.
The unicorn had it first. He tried to pin the filly to the floor, her squirms and bucks not permitting him to do so. "Hold... Still!" He brought a hoof across her face, a loud SLAP filling the air. This only managed to anger Rainbow, and she proceeded to turn the tables.
She shifted her weight to the side so that the other pony was now below her. His attempts to knock her off were unsuccessful at first and the only thing he could manage to do was keep her out of hitting distance. She swung haphazardly at the stallion with little result, instead only making herself look like a fool. Having had enough, the thick-accented pony made his move once more, flipping them back into their original position.
"You little cunt! I'll teach you to mess with Iron Sights!"
Several heavy blows found themselves on Rainbow's face before her hooves could provide a weak guard. Blood began to pour from her now fractured nose and coated the two of them a sickly red. Blow after blow landed against the poor Pegasus, her energy draining with each punch. She could feel her forelegs giving way to his attacks, rapidly approaching their limit.
One after another the hits came. So painful. So damn painful. Everything began to hurt. Her body began to beg for release. But Dash would not give in. She would endure. Even as the hits grew harder, she pressed on. Each break between blows she tried to strike back. Rarely did she ever hit her target, but she did get a few lucky hits.
With all intentions set on performing a wondrous finale, Iron Sights raised his head high in the air, the machete at his side rising with him. The blade was covered in an orange aura, one identical to the glow around his horn.
Before he could begin his downward strike, Rainbow bucked hard at his chest.
CRRRACK!
Cries of pain echoed through the room alongside the sound of broken ribs. The weapon expert flipped backwards off Rainbow and landed on four wobbly hooves. Expecting to, instead, land on his back his senses were contorted. It took a long time for gravity to reassert itself, and pain already flooded him. All he could do was scream.
By the time that happened though, Rainbow Dash was charging at him with his assault rifle gripped in her hooves. With a mighty swing the unicorn stallion was sent farther back, pain exploding through his head.
Another swing, this time countered by his machete. Having successfully parried her attack, he proceeded to slash wildly at her. Closer and closer the blade swung until at last it found its way onto her stomach. It ripped the fabric of her fabulous dress with little to no effort. It did not reach deep below the skin, but blood did find its way through the wound.
She let out a cry of pure agony.
The unicorn did not cease his attack, and another slash fell upon the weapon. It spun out of her grasp, leaving her defenseless.
The filly collapsed to the floor with her hooves trying to hold back the small trickle of blood. Pitiful moans came from her muzzle and her cyan hooves turned scarlet. It seemed that the fight had been lost from here, and that her time had finally come.
"Enough! It's time we ended this little game!" Again, he performed a final strike, digging his machete deep into Rainbow.
Or at least, he would if she had not rolled out of his way. With a great display of agility, she spun on her haunches and swept his legs. He fell the the ground like a sack of bricks.
With her opponent incapacitated, Rainbow dashed towards the window and jumped through a small opening in the sheets. Iron Sights followed quickly with the rifle in magical tow and a spare magazine replaced the old one. He aimed out the window at the flying pony as she tried to weave out of his vision. Light filled the air and white streaks filled the sky around the airborne aerialist. The shield behind her rippled and pulsated with each shot. They came so close that the shots whispered its death threats into her ears.
She flew closer to the building, farther down than he could aim, but not farther than he could jump. Through sheer luck, the pony had managed to land on top of the Pegasus and ride her like a steed. His legs wrapped around her flanks and held himself fast to her body.
Rainbow's flight path shifted violently. The sudden weight made flying more difficult for her, and now the threat was much harder to defend against, seeing as her reach did not extend to her backside. She flew wildly, erratically, trying to get the enemy off her back.
The wind lashed at her face as they began to plummet with the combined weight. Her wings tried to catch the air flow, but could not keep the two aloft.
The hot metal of the gun pressed firmly against her head, and Dash almost touched death's hand. Power shot through her wings and launched them into a steep climb, the wind shear whipping the weapon out the jockey's hooves. Then he began punching her again.
Growing more and more furious with her rival, Dash spun so that her back was near the building. Still climbing, she grinded Iron Sights against the stone surface of the building, ignoring his screams of pain. His body was sandwiched between the filly and the wall, flakes of concrete chipping off as he was drug along them. Before long a red streak appeared on his back, the fur having been torn off.
Rough hooves wrapped around her neck. Air was now restricted to her lungs. Panicked, she began flailing away from the wall. They moved in a tight barrel roll that flew them straight into the next level of the construction where the rest of the plywood walls became rubble. Glass showered onto them as they entered the more complete area of the building. Shard lodged themselves mostly into Iron Sights, acting as a crude guard, but many pieces found their way past the already scrapped dress and into Rainbow.
More blood began to spill from the Pegasus. This was more pain than she was ever accustomed to. This was unbearable. She was almost pleased by the effects of her strangulation, making her lose feeling in much of her body.
Rainbow Dash ground to a halt against the concrete floor. Pain ripped through her wound and drew more blood as she left a streak across the ground. The unicorn tumbled off Dash and into a pile of chairs stacked against the wall that exploded upon contact. The stallion recovered quicker than Rainbow could and flung a chair at Dash with all his might, striking her entire body. She stumbled backwards towards a workbench covered in various tools.
The unicorn charged at her full speed and knocked her off her hooves and onto the table. A hammer came into his possession, and he began trying to strike Dash in the face. Each swing was swiftly dodged by the mare, but her body was now pinned down by his weight. She tried bucking again, but found that there was no room to maneuver.
So she squirmed and squirmed, until she was eye level with his pelvis. She made quick work of it.
Iron Sights let out a terrified screen as he felt his stallion-hood assaulted. The wind was sucked out of his lungs.
Acting quickly, Rainbow grabbed the nearest weapon she could find, and was pleased with her findings.
A large nail shot out the end of the gun, striking Iron Sights in the right foreleg. He fell to the ground with a ear-rending cry.
"You bitch! You shot me with a fuckin' nail!"
Another nail lodged itself in his hoof, this time nailing it to the floor. More and more came out as tears ran down Rainbow’s face. He only screamed louder. Blood began pouring out of his wounds by the gallons. With each shot she stepped closer to the mutilated body of her opponent.
Louder he screamed, until his cries pierced her ears. With a final shot, she nailed the back of his throat to the ground.
The nail gun fell to the floor, as did she.
The silence was only broken by the last, gurgling sounds the brown pony would ever make. He went limp, his body contorted into an awkward pose.
Rainbow’s chest heaved as her vision was stained with blood, her lips quivering as her eyes locked onto the corpse. Her hooves fell to her sides, small whimpers coming from her mouth.
She had just taken the life of another pony.
But... It was in self defense, right? It was either him or her.
Realization dawned upon Dash. Her mouth shut close, a gulp of saliva and blood racing down her dry throat. Her senses returned to full function. Her breathing started to level out. She was the only hope for the hostages below. Only she could save them from this fate.
It was then that Dash realized what she had to do. Rainbow looked down at the dead pony with a new passion burning in her eyes. She would do whatever it took to save the Wonderbolts and their party guests.
Or die trying.
Author's Note
Whew! This one's been in the works for a while. This was a story I wrote several years ago, but took down when I shut down my old FimFiction account. After some extremely heavy tweaking, I'm ready to release the story just in time for Christmas. My hope is to release the other 2 acts before or shortly after Christmas, but only time will tell. Hope you enjoy!
I should also note that this happens before much of the events in the 3rd season. So apologies if this doesn't make sense in line with the episodes already in canon.
"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*
