Adventures Through De-trot

Part 2

It was the first day of my senior year, my parents had passed on from the pony pox during the summer and I had no ambition and no place really to go after high school, except to one of the "Big three" factories down here. I was truly a lost soul at that point, no place to go, just wandering through life. It was just my luck that the school had its funding cut, and lost the bus system. I had never formally learned to fly, but the school was within walking distance so I did just that. My father had called me into his room the previous spring and handed me a bag, saying, "You know what to do with these."

I nodded, having discussed with him prior about what was in the bag. In there were his old magnums from his youth here in De-trot. I had spent some time in the back with him practicing with the duel revolvers and had gotten proficient on them. I draped the holsters over my back, exposing the revolvers, and left the house on my way to school.

I was walking through past one of the more dangerous neighborhoods and I started getting a little on edge. I met up with two freshpony (freshman) mares on their way to school as well. They looked extremely scared, and asked me to protect them. I was still in an every pony for themselves mindset at that point, unlike now where I'm very protective of everypony, but something about them made me take them on. It could have been their resemblance to Dash in that they were twin pegasi ponies with bluish coats, not quite cyan though, and although their manes were maroon and the other purple, I still felt for these ponies.

So that was how it went for about four months, I would walk to their house, and walk them to school everyday, and in return, they taught me how to fly. But after picking them up one day, we were about three blocks away from the school when I heard a muffled cry from behind me, and turned to find a gryphon from the Magic Eight Ball about to stab Adriana, the pony with the maroon mane. As the gryphon plunged the knife downward, I whipped out one of the pistols in a swift motion, and shot it between the eyes.

The moment was instantaneous, but to me it felt like forever, the feeling of killing another living being lingering on my mind. My pistol hoof was still extended when Adriana flew past me and hugged her sister tightly, beginning to cry. I began to lower it, but noticed something odd. The Magic Eight Ball gang doesn't normally go around on their own, and I immediately realized the danger we were still in. I heard noises coming from the alley the first gryphon had come out of, and quickly began to move Adriana and Allie out of the way of the alleyway. That was when the first, of the seven remaining gryphons, came out pounced. I shoved the twins as hard as I could to get them out of the way, and quickly rolled to get a shot at the gryphon, but it was too late. It landed on my back, digging its claws into my hide. I cried out in pain, but quickly recovered sufficiently to buck hard into the underbelly of the gryphon. Its claws came out as it clutched its stomach in pain. I drew my second pistol and fired a shot at its face, but it only grazed the temple, only fatal if left unattended.

Then two gryphs came out at once, and each received a bullet to the chest at the same time. They fell down, not dead, but close to it. With three bullets left in my right gun and five in the left with only one reload set for each of them, I made sure to stay conscience of my remaining ammo. I knew that there were four gryphs left, since I had seen four already- the gang rolled around in their pack of eight, hence the name "Magic EIGHT Ball"-. I regarded the alley with caution, and resolved myself to go for strictly kill-shots from now on because anything else would be too much thinking and a possible waste of ammo, and unfortunately it seemed to be the only way out. The final four came out of the alley at a sprint, and my adrenalin spiked. Time slowed around me, literally, I could move the same but everything else was in slow-motion. I flapped my wings twice to get myself up on two hooves and fired two rounds from each gun at them. Each bullet miraculously found its place in each of their heads, and time resumed its normal pace, and the gryphs fell before me. I then looked at the dead and wounded gryphons, and broke down and cried, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I was horrified at what I had just done, essentially killing eight other living beings.

Adriana and Allie had been watching the whole time, and came over when I broke down.

"What's wrong? You just saved our lives," Adriana said to me.

"I just wish I didn't have to kill them in the process."

"Look Quickshot," Allie began, "The Magic Eight Ball was a violent gang already, you just did this entire city a favor by killing them. I know that it's hard to accept, killing eight beings, but they were anything but innocent."

"Look, let's just get to the school, I need to think and I don't want any confrontations."

"Okay." They responded.

What I didn't realize was that I had my cutie mark, but at that moment I couldn't care less, and the girls sensed it and didn't say anything about it.

*~~~*

"Wow..." Twilight was listening to Quickshot tell his story, and was utterly amazed by what this pony before her was capable of. All of her friends' cutie mark stories ended in happiness and joy, but this pony's story was filled with sadness, even if he was really a hero.

The silence in the room was overwhelming.

"So what happened after school?"

"Hmm?" Quickshot had been really deep in thought, remembering the feeling of killing something, the eternal scarring of having taken not one life, but eight in one go.

"What happened after school?"

"Nothing, really. I walked the girls home...

I walked the girls back home and they wanted me to go inside and meet their parents. I declined but they insisted that I do so, so I went with them inside. They called for their parents, who then came out from the living room. I told them that I was the pony that walked them to school everyday, and they thanked me for that and introduced themselves to me. I was mid-sentence telling them that I should be on my way when Adriana blurted out,

"He saved my life today."

"What was that sweetie?" The mom asked.

"Today, a gryphon from the Magic Eight Balls came out and tried to kill me, but Quickshot saved my life."

I started to blush a deep red, I could feel it, especially when their parents started looking at me.

"Is this true Quickshot?" The father said

I cleared my throat out of nerves, "Well...Yes it is."

"Then the other seven in the gang came out and he took them out as well." Still Adriana.

"'Took them out'? What does that mean exactly?" The mom was worried, maybe that they would return for their lives.

I sighed and responded before Adriana could say anything, "I killed them." My voice was flat, but I could feel tears in my eyes.

It was silent for quite a bit of time, until the father spoke up.

"Quickshot why don't you come out back with me for a minute, honey, you stay here with the kids."

"Yes dear." Responded the wife.

We headed to out back and he confronts me.

"Quickshot, you've escorted and kept my girls safe, and, as it seems, saved their life. I just want you to know that you are always welcome in our household, and if you ever need anything, just ask."

I nodded and simply replied, "Thank you sir."

There was silence, then, "I don't remember you having a mark when I first saw you. When did you get it?" He asked.

I looked at him quizzically, then looked at my flank, and sure enough there was my duel pistol revolvers, forever imprinted onto my body, forever reminding me of the first time I killed something.

*~~~*

"And that is the story of how I got my cutie mark, to cater to the cliche." Quickshot finished, "Any more questions?"

Twilight shook her head. She was thinking of her five days in De-trot, thinking how great it would be just to get to know this stallion better. But she knew that she had a responsibility to Celestia.

"Alright so what next?"

"Your choice, It's your story." Twilight was content with spending the first half of her day hearing these stories, but she knew she had to get out at some point.

"Hmm, how about what happened to my tail."

"That must've been recent based on the length."

"Yup it happened about a month ago...

*~~~*

I was working at the factory building the new chariotfire v6.2, but they're all the same really. My mane was originally two feet long, and I kept it nice, and it really didn't pose too much of a problem. I was working overtime to get some extra dough for a...side project, and the pony next to me was doing the same. It was pretty late at night when it happened, like about 10:00. It was storming outside, thanks to the pegasi weather pollution uptown, and I didn't hear the other colt start to snore.

Suddenly, I heard a thump as he fell onto the conveyer belt, headed for the heater that bakes the paint onto the chariots when we finish. My station was the last one before the oven, painting the chariots the desired color, and by the time the chariots got to me the belt changed gears and speeds up significantly. The poor pony was going headfirst into the oven, and I had almost no time to react. He was about to get kilned when I hopped forward and took him by the tail and swung him out of the way, but not before getting my own tail torched in the process. The fire was raging as I galloped out of the chamber, and was about to spread to my coat. The stallion had sufficiently woken up by now and found a pair of scissors used for the upholstery, and chopped off my tail before the fire spread.

*~~~*

"And that was it?" Twilight asked.

Quickshot raised an eyebrow, "Yeah we shared thanks for saving each other and never spoke of the incident again. Sorry, was that too short for you?"

"No no sorry, I just...never mind."

"Right. Oh look at the time! It's twelve and I haven't shown you any of De-trot."

"You know what Quickshot, I think we can just spend today getting acquainted."

"Cool, how about we go downtown for lunch?"

"Sounds like a plan, maybe you can tell me about that scar on your flank."

Quickshot was about to take a drink, but stopped midway to his mouth and stared at Twilight. He narrowed his eyes, "Yes I did say I was going to tell you that didn't I."

Twilight wondered about this sudden change of attitude but didn't make it apparent, "Yes you did. Where are we going for lunch?"

Quickshot stood up, "We'll go to my friend's place, it's called Hoof Chasers."

"And what's your friend's name?"

"Cloud Chaser."

"Where'd you guys meet?" Twilight extended the questions, prompting him further.

"Here we should me up with Ratchet too, I need to talk to him about his book reader."

"How'd you meet Cloud Chaser."

"We work in the factory together." Quickshot said evasively.

Twilight decided to let it go, but remembered it for later discussion, "Alright then let's head out."

Quickshot grabbed a leather holster out of the kitchen, and led Twilight outside to his garage, which was separate from the home itself. After re-locking the front door, he went and pulled open the garage, revealing a vintage chariotfire v1.0, not even in the Canterlot chariot museum. It was mint condition and apparently still ready to ride.

"Hop in Twilight."

"Sweet Celestia, I didn't even know these still existed!"

"Last one of its kind. They were given to employees back when I started working if they made a certain quota as a bonus. All the other ones got pitched after the v2 came out with full auto capabilities. So you hop in and I'll pull us to Ratchet's, then to Hoof Chasers, just make sure this doesn't move around too much." He motions to the book gadget that he sets on the seat next to her.

Twilight, still amazed at the chariot sitting before her, tentatively stepping into it, feeling the upholstery, beautifully kept, still soft underhoof. Although it wasn't auto like the newer ones, it was still incredible, and insanely hard to handle, due to the power exponentiation system, where a flywheel takes the ponies power and returns that power to add to the initial power. It was a wonder of science then, and still was currently, but since it was a less efficient way to create power, the technology was no longer used.

Twilight held onto the gadget as Quickshot stepped into the harness in the front of the chariot, and released the brake. He flipped a few switches on the foreleg harness and stepped foreword. Twilight heard some whirring from the wheel wells on either side of her, and they were off. The garage door closed behind them when Quickshot pushed a button on the mailbox, triggering one of Ratchet's mechanisms. Quickshot navigated them to a neighborhood 20 minutes away and parked in front of a house in a slightly more modern neighborhood closer to the nice parts of the city.

Quickshot stepped out of the harness after successfully parking the Chariotfire in the garage, which seemed to be connected to the house itself. He went forward and knocked three times on the door, then twice more after a one second pause. Immediately, a slot in the door opened in the door and a pair of deep sapphire irises, with a charcoal strand of hair splitting the two eyes.

"Quickshot?"

"You know that page flipper blows right?"

"I'll figure it out I'm sure. Who's that with you, is she safe?"

"Yeah she's Celestia's student from Ponyville."

"Oh."

The slit closed up and a series of clicks indicating locks being undone. It sounded like three before the door hissed and opened before them. Before them stood another white pegasus with charcoal hair and stunning blue eyes. His mane was shaggy and topped by engineers goggles with various tools spring-attached to a harness sitting on his back. He seemed to be smaller than the usual stallion, being about equal with Twilight in terms of height. His cutie mark was two crossed wrenches matching the color of his mane backed by a gold cog.

"Twilight, say hello to my good friend, Ratchet." Quickshot announced.

"Hello my name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Enchanted," Said Ratchet.

"Likewise."

"Mind if we go on in Ratchet? Or do you have your ever elusive "Special Somepony" over." Quickshot snickered.

"Ha ha, good one Magnum, she's coming over for dinner this weekend so you can meet her then."

"Well I'll be showing this pretty thing around De-trot this weekend, which I almost remember telling you now that I think of it."

"Really? I don't recall." Ratchet responded coyly.

The trio walked down the hall, Quickshot holding the contraption on his way in.

Twilight whispered to Quickshot, "Magnum?"

"Remember how my cutie mark is two revolvers?" Quickshot's voice was somewhat hindered by the contraption."

"Yes."

"Well they're magnums, so Ratchet calls me magnum as a nickname."

"Oh."

"What're you two lovebirds whispering about back there? You'd better watch yourself Ms. Sparkle, this one's quite the Casanova when he's on the club scene." Ratchet commented.

"Ratchet, when's the last time I've had time to go to a club let alone have a ponyfriend?"

"At least not since you were on the W-"

"Well it's been a long time since that happened." Quickshot cut off Ratchet and a look passed between them.

"Yes, yes it has. Now let's take a look at this gadget here. How's it working?" Ratchet let the subject drop and focused on his invention.

Ratchet's house was identical to Quickshot's in how it was constructed, but the interior itself was different, and there was a hallway leading from the house to the garage. Where Quickshot's living room was, held a fair amount of steel parts, several workbenches with various cutting tools and elements of assembling. The kitchen area was the same, but gadgets seemed to cover everything in it. Pieces of unfinished gadgetry were hanging from the walls and were strewn across the floor. Quickshot went to the table in the center of the room and set down the gadget.

"Well the right hoof turner works, but when I tried the left one, the whole thing stopped working. I tinkered with it a bit and got it working again, but the left flipper didn't work period."

"Hmm, thought I fixed that last time."

"No, you fixed the right one, since the left worked last time, but not the right one. I think all you need to do is reset the book holding rig, and pull out the hoof holders, and replace it with the fitted chain mail that I showed you last week."

"Actually...I think you're right Magnum." He pulled down a wrench from the harness on his back and pulled down his goggles. The wrench hung before him and he grabbed it and began to work, "You know what, Magnum?"

"What?"

"You should leave that assembly line and become my partner full time. With my ideas and your problem solving we could be unstoppable."

"I'll stick it out until the next round of layoffs, then I'll find you," Quickshot joked.

"Hey come check this out," Ratchet called him over, Twilight had went to the kitchen to examine some of the contraptions.

"What?"

"You know you have to tell her at some point," Ratchet whispered fervently to Quickshot.

"Yeah I know, I was going to tell her at Chaser's place and was gonna bring you with me."

"Oh," Ratchet spoke louder, "Well then let's go, think Ranger will be there?"

"Definitely, every Tuesday remember?"

"Oh yeah, we takin' the one point oh?"

"You know it."

"Alright let's go."

"Twilight come on we're going to Chasers."

"Excellent."

Ratchet removed his tool harness and engineer goggles and grabbed a set of keys. He flipped a few switches and followed Twilight and Quickshot to the garage. Upon resetting the three locks on the door, he opened the garage door and hopped into the chariot with Twilight as Quickshot prepared to set off once again.

"You have no idea what he did to get this chariot."

"He said he got it as a work bonus." Twilight said non-comprehensively.

"Oh did he," Ratchet looked to Quickshot.

"Not right now, gotta stay focused."

"Something isn't adding up here."

"Look Twilight-"

"Please call me Twi."

"Look Twi, navigating this chariot takes a lot of focus, so if you would be so kind."

"Sorry."

Quickshot took a left and pulled the chariot all the way downtown to where they were in the revived sector. As they entered the city, Quickshot slowed to a cruising pace to get reactions from the ponies and gryphons alike. If there was one thing he liked about this chariot, it was the reactions. He pulled around the back of Hoof Chasers sports bar, and parked the chariot in a private garage reserved for Cloud Chaser and his sister Crescent Light, Quickshot, Ratchet, and Ranger. Two spots were already occupied by Cloud Chaser and Ranger. Quickshot took his spot and parked his ride. The trio then headed into the bar through the side door

A/N: Well that's part two. Still looking for just a few more OC's, just introduced one this chapter, and two or three will be in the next one. What is Ratchet and Quickshot's REAL past together, just working the assembly line? Where DID Quickshot get the Chariotfire 1.0? These questions and more answered next chapter!

Felix Lectio

-Skiskinator