Uprising - A Saga of Rebellion

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.