Chapter 1: Neutral in Theory
In hindsight, this was a pretty stupid idea.
I could be relaxing in a penthouse. Hell, maybe even a penthouse with a hot tub. But nope - I'm stuck here. Wherever here is. I hear the ocean, though. That's good. It means I'm not dead.
Right?
My name is Skywing, and my job was to be, in the simplest terms, a messenger.
It sounds like a really mundane thing to do every day, but it tends to get me in a lot of trouble.
The formal term is "Courier". Everyone just calls us "Courier". I tried to not think about that for too long. In non-biased terms, we deliver messages and objects inbetween people that prefer not to use the traditional mail system. There are plenty of reasons for this; The first is that people are insecure about their mail getting lost or delivered at the wrong address, which happens suspiciously often. The second is that crazy hobos and underground criminals need to communicate with each-other, and the traditional mail system hand-checks every delivery for illegal content. The third, and my favorite, is the Movement. All I knew about them at this point was that they didn't like how things worked and they wanted some kind of change, so they created the Courier system in order to organize things between members.
And what part do I have in this nation-wide conflict? I was just their messenger and I could care less about what they did. My mom died when I was 3 and my dad "relinquished custody" of me to Equestria's Social department when I was 5, so I didn't get off to a nice start. At first, I was a resident of "St. Cerebral's Orphanage for Disadvantaged Colts" somewhere in inner Canterlot. I was taught and raised by a bunch of crazy zealots - However, the real lessons I learned were from the other students. One in particular was named Azareith; He was a few years older than me. He had taught me everything that's kept me alive to today, even if right now I'm only partially conscious. He taught me to how to fight, how to fly, how to run, how to dodge, and he even gave me a few relevant history lessons that traditional teachers shunned. For example; How Commander Hurricane and her troops had defeated and outsmarted the Northern Griffon tribes by hiding in the treetops. How the Shalak had been subject to genocide by early settlers. He even taught me the art of Ancient Combatants used by the Unicorn Tribes in pre-Equestria eras. He was my best friend, my mentor, and essentially my big brother. When he became old enough to leave the Orphanage at any time, he refused to abandon me and waited until I was 18. During that time, he got enough money for a nice apartment in upper Manehattan. That was the closest I ever got to a hot tub penthouse.
It turns out that he got the bits for the apartment - and the bits to buy my custody from the orphanage - from a loan that he was having a pretty hard time catching up on. The loansharks didn't really like this, leaving me the subject of their violent acts. Long story short, within 4 years I was working as a Courier for the "Movement" and Azareith was overseas. Like I explained earlier, I tried to stay neutral and I didn't ask questions. I did what they asked me to do, even if once in a blue moon it'd hurt my conscience. It was only a few years into my job did my perspective change.
"There he is!"
I dashed through the wet alleways of Manehattan, my pursuers not far behind. I reached a sharp turn and leaped into the air, using my wings to propel me onto the rooftops.
I still can't be sure about the whole system, but what I know is that there were always different Movements who stood for different things. Some are composed of a few hobos in a basement, others are composed of several thousand mercenaries and a whole subdivision of illegal messengers. Occasionally, the smaller Movements wanted some of the information that the bigger Movements had, and they'd shoot the messenger to get the message. In case you haven't forgotten, I'm the messenger.
"He's on the roof!"
There was a large flash of light and several of them appeared on the rooftop behind me - The rest had no wings or horns and were stranded on the ground. I quickly turned right and flew across the street onto another row of buildings, hearing sounds of confusion behind me - My chasers had flashed themselves into the middle of oncoming traffic.
"Hey, uh, Courier 8." (I was actually the ninth Courier to join, but someone higher up scrambled the numbers by accident.)
I turned around to see an earth pony standing in the alley below me. Recognizing him from previous deliveries, I remembered he was another courier. I used my mouth to open the satchel on my side and tossed down a small, brown box.
"Take this to Harlenson, and watch out for looters. They're everywhere today," I said to him.
He nodded and ran off.
Before long, I had found my way back to the dirty, faded, abandoned, pastel blue warehouse far away from the Downtown of the city. This was basically the Courier's headquarters, and it was (only slightly) less dirty and abandoned inside. I went up to the side of the building and nudged open the heavy metal door.
"Welcome back, Sky."
Anika Blossomheart had been waiting inside. She was Courier 8 (everyone referred to her Courier 7) and we were hired at roughly the same time. She's one of the two ponies in the Courier business that calls me by name. We'd been on several deliveries together (most of which went wrong in one way or another) and on multiple occasions we found ourselves overseas. I... don't want to mention Cartagena.
"Picked up a lot of police reports about your little adventure."
"Heh... Yeah, that didn't go too well."
"Those looters are getting pretty desperate."
"What was that about, anyway?"
"Hell if I know. I'm just concerned about how much traffic you caused."
I went over to the wide table in the center of the warehouse, passing by several tall shelves. I noticed a small, metallic cylinder resting on top if it.
"What's this?"
"Oh. It showed up about an hour ago. Apparently, it's a two-pony delivery."
I looked around the warehouse for anybody else.
"Where's the other couriers?"
"Securing a convoy, or something. The royal wedding's in a few weeks, so the police are on high alert. Remember?"
"I don't catch up on the news."
She let out a soft chuckle, and I couldn't help but lightly blush. You can't blame me - She was the only mare in my life and we already had a pretty close bond after what happened in that castle in Koln.
"You wanna come?"
"Right - Yeah, sure. Where's the dropoff?"
"It's engraved into the side of the canister. Must be pretty important."
She went over to a rack of equipment on the wall and tossed me a faded green saddlebag, sliding a scabbard belt around her flank.
"Ready to go?"
"As I'll ever be."
_________________
I briefly paused on top of the slanted rooftop to admire the purple, bright sunset. The streets below were coated in a cynical, dark navy blue, vastly contrasting the bright colors of the horizon. Lingering ponies on the sidewalk were ushered inside by several police officers.
Recently, there had been a terrorist threat against the construction site of the Brokelyn Bridge. Also considering the fact that the royal wedding was planned to be in a week or two, the police were on the edge. Eventually they just decided to create a curfew and detained anyone who was outside after 8:30 until after the wedding was over. Anika snapped me out of my thought.
"What do you think you're doing? Why're you just standing there?"
"I, uh- I was looking for... police."
"Right. They're looking for you, too. We've got to keep moving if we don't want to be seen."
She lightly floated over the gap between rooftops, trying to stay close to the ground.
Like I explained earlier, the curfew legally prevented us from being outside. Flying high above the ground is a general giveaway that you're not inside, and when police find you hopping around on the rooftops with a "COURIER" saddlebag, they tend to assume you're a Courier. So during night deliveries, Pegasus Couriers generally stay low to the scenery.
I drifted over the alleyway, attempting to make a minimal amount of sound.
I looked down the street below us and saw a gathering of stallions near the entrance. There had to be at least 10 of them. They seemed to be discussing something. Anika noticed I was looking at something and walked up to the ledge.
"Are they on our side...?"
"I sure as hell hope so."
We silently went up to the rooftop entrance and opened the door. Anika turned her head so that her mouth was close to the handle of the sword. We went down the stairs and were greeted by a long hallway, with several doors on each side.
"Lobby, right?"
"I can't be sure."
We continued through the hallway and found a stairwell - Anika went first. Descending, she suddenly stopped.
"...What?"
"Ssh."
I listened intently to our surroundings and heard a faint voice. It sounded like it was coming from our Transponders. I quickly opened my satchel and pulled it out - I was greeted by an artificially-generated voice spouting numbers and phrases. It sounded like a child.
"1 UMBRA 16 1 19 19 20 25 16 5
ALPHA 16 1 19 19 20 25 16 5"
Anika listened intently.
"What the hell is that..."
"We've got to get out of here. Now."
I rushed down the stairwell and entered the lobby of the building, which was nothing more than a few mail slots, a desk, a lamp, and about 15 ponies holding up various weapons.
I looked over at my friend, who had a panicked look in her eye as we backed up. I turned around to see another group of ponies blocking both of our exits. Someone from the back of the crowd spoke with an English accent.
"Hand over the package."
The stallion walked to the front of the crowd and stared at me with a harsh demeanor. Even his scent was intimidating.
"Who the hell are you?"
"That isn't relevant. Give us the container and we'll all leave here alive."
I could see Anika shake her head out of the corner of my eye.
"It looks like you aren't leaving here alive, then. You'll never take this."
The stallion still showed no emotion - He was a master of intimidation.
"Kill them."
Anika drew out her sword with her mouth and rushed towards the stairwell as roughly 30 ponies charged torwards us. I chased after her and stumbled on the wooden steps. We went up several stories and finally made it back to the top floor - We were greeted by another crowd of ponies blocking our exit. Anika quickly turned around and went down to the previous floor as the rest of them chased after us. One of the apartment doors was unlocked and we rushed in, barricading the door with a small couch.
I looked over at my friend, who was beginning to panic.
"Oh shit... Oh shit... What do we do?!"
"I don't know!"
There was a bang against the door, and I quickly looked around the room.
"Sky, look! A window!"
I followed her line of sight and saw a small window at the other end of the room.
I ran at it and crawled out onto the fire escape, noticing another window a short distance away. I waited for her to climb out before leaping across the gap, barely grabbing onto the sill. I managed to crawl myself inside before helping Anika up.
"Agh... Who-... Who were those guys?"
"Call me crazy, but I think they were after whatever's in there."
"Heh... Yeah. C'mon, we've gotta get back to Shipping."
I looked around the room where we just emerged - It was a dirty, wrecked apartment - It had to be at least 70 years old. The floors, wall and ceiling were all made out of wood, and all of the furniture was covered with dirty tarps. I went over to the door - It was rusted shut.
"Door's no good."
"Great. They know we're in here, it's just a matter of time until they find us. Is the transponder still working?"
I reached into my satchel and briefly listened to the small radio.
"CHARIE ONE UMBRA
16 1 19 19 20 25 16 5
16 1 19 19 20 25 16 5"
"Nope. Try to find another way around."
She began walking around the room.
"What do you think they were looking for?"
I inspected some of the weaker walls.
"Whatever it is, we can't check now. We don't have a lot of time."
"...Damn psychos."
I found a weak spot in the wall and began to shove against it.
"Nika, help me with this."
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
She went up beside me and began to push against the wooden boards. Her face squished against mine made me try and hide a blush.
"Er... Alright, on three."
"Mhm."
We both stepped back.
"One... Two.. Three!"
As we rammed the flimsy boards, they collapsed inward and opened up a small gap.
"Hey, your thick skull came in handy for once."
"Clever."
"Thanks."
I stepped through the gap and looked around, Anika following after me.
"Crap, look at this place. I'm surprised it hasn't been torn down yet."
"They're too scared of mobsters to send in construction workers, I think."
I traveled through the corridor and turned a small corner to find a large gap, about 7 feet across.
"Look out."
"Whoa... What happened here?"
After a moment's hesitation, I jumped down and landed in a pile of debris. I heard voices from a distance away and looked around the corner.
"Soak it all. The cylinders are fireproof."
Anika whispered into my ear.
"What the hell are they talking about?"
"I want them dead. Hurry!"
I continued through the hallways until I found a large, open-air plaza in the center of a large wooden balcony. Inside were several ponies with cans of gasoline, pouring it all around the floor.
"Oh shit..."
"Who are these people?!"
"We need to think of a plan, fast."
"Can you get past them?"
"I left my sword back in the other building."
Suddenly, someone yelled. He sounded similar to the English man in the lobby, but it seemed like a different person.
"Torch it now!"
There was a sound of a small explosion and a warm, orange light appeared below us.
"Crap. What do we do?!"
"Go up!"
Someone below us had seen me.
"H-hey, there they are!"
"Kill them!"
Someone threw up a lit match onto the wooden balcony, quickly bursting into flames. This aided the fire, making it spread more quickly.
"Sky, run!"
I ran back over to the wooden stairwell with Anika dashing in front of me. As I was sprinting up the stairs, my hoof got stuck in a divot in the old planks.
"Nika! I'm stuck!"
She turned around and began to head towards me when the stairwell began to creak and shake, causing her to stop in place. I began to attempt to pull my hoof out more rapidly. At the last second, I managed to pull out my leg as the stairwell began to collapse. The force of my pulling caused me to tumble backwards down the stairs, eventually crashing into a wall. The stairs below me lost their support on the loose side, causing them to turn sideways 90 degrees. I slid towards the railing and managed to grab onto it with my mouth. As I looked down, I saw a massive inferno below me, eating up along the walls and devouring any pieces of debris that fell into it. I could faintly hear Anika through the destruction.
"Sky?! Sky, are you okay?! ...I'll take that a yes. Meet me on the roof, the whole place is coming down!"
I weakly crawled up onto the flimsy wooden railing and looked around - Both of the stairs above and below me had collapsed, the fire was spreading upwards, and the tilted staircase was showing signs of falling into the hell below me.
The staircase creaked and began to tilt to the left, causing me to go sliding along the rail. I slid across the gap above the fire and crashed through a flame-covered wall, landing on a buff earth pony holding a sword in his mouth. I tumbled a few feet from the velocity of the drop, and slowly got up. The room was some kind of rec center, as it had a big window, lots of pillars and empty space.
But boy, was that guy mad.
He scrambled up, stared at the metallic cylinder in my singed belt, then pulled out a large curved sword and ran towards me. He slashed the sword at my head, but I ducked down at the last second as it soared over me. I couldn't help but shout at him.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys?! Don't you have another concern right now?"
He let out a vicious scream then threw the sort vertically at me - I dodged to the left and kicked him in the stomach. Suddenly, he attacked again and managed to scar me terribly in the leg. I fell over on my flank and crawled backwards as he stepped slowly in my direction. He made an intimidating, evil chuckle and raised his sword. Quickly, I used my uninjured leg to kick the sword out of his mouth, sending it flying across the room. I scrambled to my feet and stepped backward, but he had already been charging at me. He managed to headbutt me right in the forehead - I heard the sound of rushing water and everything was muted; my vision was grayed and I felt a fierce pain in my head. I regained my senses at the last second, avoiding a hoof-swing to the face. While he was stepping back, I reluctantly used my injured leg to attempt to copy what he did - I punched him right in the face, causing it to be smeared in blood. (In hindsight, most of that blood was from the wound on my leg.) He sent another punch at me, but he missed by a mile. Thanks to a miracle, the smoke was finally getting into his head. I turned around and kicked him in the jaw, causing him to stumble into the wall from which I entered. He dashed at me and picked me up in his large hooves. He then smashed me head-first into one of the tile-coated pillars, causing it to collapse on top of me. He then tossed me aside, causing me to land at the base of one of the pillars. I then realized that he was standing on top of his sword, and I was starting to bleed out. I already felt pretty lightheaded from both my leg wound, the primal headbutt, and the collapsed pillar - I wouldn't be able to fend against him much longer. He picked up his sword in his mouth then turned towards me. Suddenly, the floor above us began to creak. The brute was taking his time in walking to me, probably for dramatic effect. However, a pile of boards and a washtub fell through the ceiling and landed directly on top of him, crushing him completely.
"...Heh... agh... damn..."
I inspected myself. My right wing was singed beyond use. My tail and mane were both also burnt, and my leg was bleeding out quickly. I couldn't see it, but I felt a large gash on the back of my head and it was bleeding as fast as my leg.
I quoted myself from just an hour earlier.
"Easy as can be...agh..."
"...idiot."
I searched around the large room for any exits, but I could hardly balance myself enough to stand up. I noticed a large gap in a wall near the large window and crawled towards it.
"Anika's... uh... on the roof... damn, this hurts."
I heard a large, ominous creaking and sniffed the air.
"...Smoke?"
The floor collapsed on one side, completely tilted. I tried to grab onto something, but I was really too weak to so much as turn over. I slid down the floor as flames danced below and behind me - I was heading quickly towards the window. Again, I tried to grab onto something, but I did nothing more than leave a trail of blood behind me. I crashed through the large window, sending shards everywhere - I felt like I was falling for hours before I crashed onto a cart, smashing it into pieces. I looked up and saw that I had fell 3 stories. I couldn't even move. I closed my eyes and just waited to bleed out and die.
Some time later, Anika came. She carried me off through the alleys as I heard sirens in the distance. I half-opened my eyes to see the entire structure collapse in a fiery explosion.
"C'mon, what could go wrong? This is just a standard delivery. Easy as can be."
To be continued.
Chapter 2: Game of Shadows
Fire.
They're falling.
'Kill them', he shouted.
Flames.
The piano in the hallway plays a gentle note.
Independence is illusion.
Falling.
'Easy as can be.'
My eyes shot open as I sat up, panicked. A pile of old, dirty blankets flew off of my body.
"Anika!"
"Oh- oh god... agh..."
I laid back down as I felt a sharp pain in my back. I looked around - I was in the middle of a dried up canal, under a small bridge. I was laying on soggy cardboard. I tried to remember what happened. I just remembered...flames. A rising inferno. Then falling. I tried to slowly get up, looking down on my body to find a large amount of red/brownish stains all over my hooves and chest.
"Whoa... lots of blood."
I managed to get up and further inspected myself, trying to ignore the massive amount of pain everywhere in my body. I had several, large, open scars across my body.
"My blood. ...Lots of my blood."
I groaned and tried to stretch my wings - My left wing hurt like hell when I tried to move it, and my right wing wasn't responding at all. I went from sitting up to fully standing and tried to put pressure on my leg - It hurt in a similar way to my wing. I limped around the area, searching for any other signs of ponies. There was an old, dry bagel nearby with a note attached. It read "STAY STRONG". There were a few candles (which had all been extinguished) lying around as well. After a minute or two, I found Anika under a big pile of ragged blankets, which had been thoughtfully placed on top of her.
"Nika. Nika, wake up."
I lightly shoved her with my hoof. She remained unresponsive.
"Anika? You okay?!"
I continued to nudge her.
She let out a light groan.
"Oh, thank god."
She started rustling around and slowly sat up, looking at the small pool of blood underneath her.
"Nika, you're alright!"
"What-... who... Sky? Where are we?"
"I... I don't know. I woke up a few minutes ago."
"Holy shit, what happened to you?!"
"Huh?"
I spread out my wings and looked over myself again.
"Are you okay?!"
"Yeah-... I think."
She quickly stood up and ran over to me, checking me for further wounds.
"Nika- Nika, I'm fine."
"Your wing's trashed..."
She stepped away and began inspecting the area.
"What is this stuff? Candles? Food? Blankets? Did you do this?"
"No... I have no idea. What do you remember?"
"I found you lying in a pile of debris. You were pretty messed up. I carried you a few blocks away before I passed out."
"Huh. Someone must've done all this..."
"Looks like the local hobos are pretty friendly."
I looked down again and remembered falling out of a window - There were several small scars along the front of my body.
"They even pulled out the glass from my chest. Hobo doctors, huh?"
"What?"
"...Nevermind. Let's find out where we are."
We ate some of the food and traveled around the area. There was a downward slope nearby and at the bottom was a pool of shallow water.
"Sky, look at yourself..."
I walked up to the puddle and looked at my reflection. My mane and tail were singed, there was a big gash along my forehead, my left wing was heavily burnt and my right one had a big hole in it. Anika didn't look much better; both of her wings had been slightly burnt and she had a bad scar along her leg.
"What the hell happened in there?"
"...We have to get back to Fillydelphia. We have to find someone."
"We can't get back to Fillydelphia without figuring out where we are now."
We looked for any more of our belongings; my entire belt and both of the canisters were gone. Afterwards, we went downriver along the canal for a few minutes until we found 3 ponies sitting around a flaming barrel. One of them took notice of us.
"Sunny, it's the freedom fighters! They're up!"
A white pony with a torn beanie and dirty jacket stood up and walked over.
"Hey there, friends."
He had a soft, yet somewhat rugged voice. He had a friendly tone.
Anika eyed him suspiciously.
"Who're you?"
"The name is Sunshine Blossom. My friends call me Sunny. Are you my friend, friend?"
"...Uh..."
"I'm Skywing. This is Anika. Are you the guys who found us?"
"Yeah, man. We found you in an alley. You were both pretty beat up, so I got Appleseed here to help me take you back here."
A light-greenish pony wearing a tattered fedora stepped forward and made a bowing gesture.
"Anyway, some drifters saw you there, man. They were so surprised you were alive that they thought you were, like, Celestia's reincarnation or something. Forever immortal, you know? They brought candles and food and blankets and all kinds of stuff. We ate most of the food, though. Sorry."
"It's, er, alright."
"Then some ex-doctor came by, tried to patch ya up. He couldn't fix your wings, though. And now you're awake."
Anika stepped beside me and spoke up.
"How long ago did you find us?"
"About two weeks ago, sleepyheads."
"...What?! Sky, we've been out two weeks?!"
"Where are we?"
Appleseed joined our conversation.
"We like to call it Beautopia, man. The lost, forgotten part of the city. Washed away and forgotten in the waves of time-"
"Also known as Western Hoofington, friends."
Anika stepped backwards and began to pace around.
"Wait, uh, Sunny - What's happened in the last week?"
"You're Skybeard, right?"
"Skywing. What's happened?"
"The cops've gone crazy, man. There was a big arson a few blocks away from where we found you. Then a bunch of psycho criminals started looking around the whole city looking for something, started mass-looting and all kinds of stuff. So the cops thought it was, like, terrorism or something. They're doing all kinds of background checks for everyone, searching buildings, a whole raid of the underground network. What they found didn't help lower panic, either. They found out about this huge mafia and resistance movement. It's hell down there."
Quickly, I reached for the Transponder in my satchel - However, my entire belt was missing.
"Where's my belt?"
"Oh, about that. Well, uh, a guy said he'd give us 50 bits if we gave him your belt and the little radio thing. Hope you don't mind."
"I used my bits to buy a new hat!"
"Appleseed, quiet down and keep looking for loot."
"Alrighty, sir."
I looked up and down the street.
"Where's the metal cylinder that was on my belt?! Please tell me you didn't sell that too."
"No, man. I'd never hurt a friend. That guy was all like, 'gimmie the package yo', I said 'no way, that belongs to my friend', then he went all psycho and tried to kill Markie. I kept your thing, though."
"I like Markie."
"Appleseed, you're bumming me out."
"Sorry sir."
"Anyway, here's your box thing, friend."
Sunny went over to a small cardboard box and opened it to reveal a small, metallic cylinders.
"Thanks. You don't know how much this means to me - ...Where's the other one?"
"Oh, no idea, man. You only had the one in your belt when I found you. Somepony else must've took it."
"...Great."
Anika finally came to her senses and went up beside me.
"Yeah, uh, Applesun, where is Fillydelphia from here?"
"Not far. I have a cart, I can take you. Appleseed, hitch up! We're leaving!"
_________________________
"This guy is crazy."
"Just-... He's giving us a free ride, don't insult him."
"Why not?!"
"Would you rather be walking to Fillydelphia?
"...Fine."
"Hey, uh, Sunny?"
"...Yeah?"
"Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Yeah, man."
"It kind of seems like we're lost."
"No, no way. I'm following the stars, like an astronomicaler and stuff."
"...Sunny, it's daytime."
"Exactly. The sun's a star, friend. It's telling me where to go, man."
"Of course it is."
Anika had been bottling up her emotions for the last 4 hours - She was starting to break.
"Yeah, uh- hi, do you have any other hippie friends who can drive us to Fillydelphia?"
"...What's Fillydelphia, man?"
"Oh god."
"Nika, just shut up and let Appleseed pull us."
"These people are insane. They're going to take us to Ponyville for slave trading, or something."
I sighed and looked around. We were in some kind of woodland forest along a dirt road - The air smelled of cherries.
"Sky, maybe we should find another way - any other way - to town."
"We're doing fine, and we're almost there. I think. I hope."
Appleseed began to sing a folk tale about a turtle, which both me and Anika tried to tune out.
"Are you going to do something soon? This is almost as bad as the damn fire."
"I'll... handle it."
After a few more minutes of chanting, Sunshine and Appleseed were interrupted by a loud, distant sound.
"Sky... What the hell was that?"
Suddenly, the cart was enveloped in a transparent, purple, sparking shield.
Appleseed cried out.
"Unicorns!"
"They're after our loot, Apple! Keep runnin'!"
The cart was shoved by an invisible force to the left, then suddenly to the right - Someone was using the levitation spell to try and run us off of the road.
"Sunny, we've get outta here, man!"
"Just run, Appleseed! They can't catch us on the far side."
Anika wasn't any less worried.
"What the hell is the far side?!"
There was then a large boom of a tree falling, then something soaring through the air - I poked my head outside of the cart to see a large, uprooted tree and a chunk of dirt flying towards us, both being visibly controlled by a distant unicorn. They crashed into the ground near us as Appleseed attempted to pull the cart out of the path of the debris. Another small tree and a large bundle of rocks were hurtled at us as some of the rocks tumbled into the roof of the cart. The same force took over the vehicle again and attempted to pull us into the forest along the sides of the road - One of the wheels splintered into pieces as we were rammed off of the path. Appleseed did a pretty good job of driving around the trees, but we were still being pelted by boulders and dirt. Within moments, the back of the cart swerved into a large tree, shoving out me and Anika. We tumbled for several meters from inertia until I slid to a halt. Nearby, I heard the sound of splintering wood. I went over to the source of the sound to find her lying at the base of a tree.
"Agh..."
"Are you okay?"
"No... I don't think I can get up."
"What happened?"
"You know-... a week ago, I could've said 'Hey, this guy is attractive,' but right now I'm really starting to hate you."
"Eh... yeah, I'm starting to hate myself too."
She couldn't stand up on her own, so I had to carry and support her the rest of the way.
"Sky, this really seems like a lot of offense to put on just two people."
"It might be defense."
"What'd we do? Seriously, I'm starting to lose the plot here."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, we're just two messengers. This whole thing is a misunderstanding. Why don't we just give them the message and just get on with it?"
"I... I don't know. One thing I do know is that they don't have good intentions, and if they have whatever's in this that it'll be bad news."
"What are we even going to do when we get to Fillydelphia? Tell the police? They're not going to help illegal couriers. This isn't our fight."
"I-... uh... we can find other couriers. They could know something."
"Like what? Sky, this isn't a battle we can win. If you're trying to make up for what happened in Coltagena-"
"Don't even talk about that."
"...Right. But we can't do anything about this - Do we even know what they're looking for?"
"We can find out."
I set her down and opened the metal canister. She looked up intently.
The sound of pressurized air escaped out of the cylinder as three items fell out.
One was a piece of paper, with neat, clean writing on it.
"1B 17R 4E 0A 10K 8i 13N 6G 3D 14O 22W 13N 19T 7H 4E 4E 13N 3D 14O 5F 19T 8I 12M 4E 18S 95 22W 7H 4E 17R 4E 3D 8I 3D 19T 7H 4E 24Y 6G 4E 19T 14O 5F 5F 3D 14O 4E 18S 0A 13N 20U 12M 14O 17R 9J 20U 18S 19T 8i 5F 24Y 19T 7H 8I 18S 97 12M 4E 6G 8i 3D 3D 14O CHARLIE"
The other was a picture, pasted on a different piece of paper. It looked like some kind of courtyard with a fountain in the middle and a large blast door at one end.
The third was a steel disk with several inner circles - each had numbers and letters engraved on it.
"What the hell are these..."
"No idea, but that's only one of the canisters. The other one must have something else."
"Think there's anyone back in town that can help?"
"I think I know somebody."
