Adventures Through De-trot

Part 3

"Any luck this week Ranger?" A red stallion asks a brown stallion from behind the bar.

"No, no luck this week either. I'm beginning to think the bastard must've left by now." The pony replied.

"I don't think so Ranger. Not too many ponies leave De-trot once they've ended up here, save for these fine looking fellows." Cloud Chaser had noticed the trio walk in.

"Back on the scene there Magnum?" He asked Quickshot.

"You know me too well to think that Chaser."

"So to who do I owe the pleasure?" He asks Twilight.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Ah yes, the element of magic, what an honor it is. Here, can I bring you guys some drinks?"

"Hard Cider's for me and Twi." Quickshot responded.

"Ratchet, the usual?" Chaser looks to him.

"Yup."

"Be right back."

"Hey Ranger, come sit with us man!" Ratchet called.

Ranger, the brown stallion stood up from his stool and ambled over with his drink balanced o his nose. Ranger was a big pegasus, with the muscle of an earth pony. His hair was done in the usual army buzz cut still, much like Chaser's, but it was olive drab, along with his wings, looking much like a cameo style color palate. His cutie mark was a silver star with two wings on either side, both wings colored black. Around his neck hung a set of dog tags, showing his military background. Also clipped to the chain was a De-trot police badge.

"Any leads?" Quickshot asked.

"Nope, nothing."

"What're you going to do once you do find the guy? You've spent all your waking hours since you've gotten back hunting him down, what are you going to do once you actually kill him?" Ratchet chimed in.

"I'll return to life as normal."

"Right, right."

"Here are your drinks," Cloud Chaser set down a tray with two Apple brand hard ciders and an oil-n-vodka for Ratchet, then sat down.

"Who's running the bar?" Quickshot asked Chaser.

"You are, I need a break."

Quickshot smiled and shook his head, "Only you Chaser, only you."

He got up and went and started taking over the bar duties.

Cloud Chaser was an impressive specimen to say the least. Light red coat with a three inch long mane of shining silver, he was about an inch shorter than Quickshot, but was much more muscular. His cutie mark was comprised of a hoofball (football), a tennis racket, and a pair of swimming goggles, all in a pile on his flank. His eyes were a deep green, like a meadow of grass.

"Good job distracting him." Ratchet commented

"Well I figure if I know Magnum, he hasn't told her yet." Chaser said bluntly.

"Told me what?" Twilight figured they were talking about her, being the only "her" there.

"From what I gather he hasn't, no." Ratchet replied to Chaser

"Told me WHAT?" Twilight was getting a little ticked at being ignored.

"Think we should tell her then?" Chaser again.

"Tell...Me...What?" Twilight was about to flip.

"Yes I think she needs to know." Ratchet then turned to Twilight who was turning red with anger, "Sorry did you say something Ms. Sparkle?" He smiled.

Twilight sighed, realizing they were just poking fun at her, "Just get on with it."

Chaser and Ratchet laughed a bit, even earning a smile from Ranger.

"Okay sorry. We just figure that Magnum hasn't told you everything about himself." Chaser explained.

"What has he told you so far?" Ratchet asked.

A customer came in and Quickshot began to make his trademark rainbowtini.

"He told me about his cutie mark, and why his tail is short." Twilight responded, observing her host behind the bar.

"So he just skipped over his scar. I figured as much when he cut me off." Ratchet deduced.

"I was just about to ask that. He got weird when I asked him how he met you Chaser, and how he cut you off mid-sentence at your house was weird too."

"Well that's probably because they all relate to his time on the Wonderbolts." Chaser revealed, once again very bluntly.

Twilight just sat, mouth agape.

"No, he really DIDN'T tell her," Ratchet confirmed. Chaser smiled.

"He...he was on the Wonderbolts?" Twilight asked

"Yup, keep your voice down though, he doesn't like to talk about it, or for anyone to know about it." Chaser said.

"But, but, he was on the Wonderbolts. For real?"

"Yea, that's how us four guys met." Ratchet told her.

"But he said he met you in the factory. Helped out with your shift when you didn't come into work one day." Twilight was incredibly confused, a feeling she rarely felt.

"Yes, that did happen, but that wasn't when we met. In fact, that was only a month after we started working in the factory. Right Chaser?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah, I think it was. Too bad you two didn't have this great idea like me." Chaser boasted.

"Except if it wasn't for Magnum, you wouldn't even have this here bar," Ranger chimed in on this point, "and then your sister wouldn't have that bookstore of hers either."

"Oh yeah," Chaser's face turned red.

"Anyways, what happened to him while you were all in the Wonderbolts?" Twilight asked impatiently.

"Well we all weren't actually in the Wonderbolts. We each had our separate jobs, but Quickshot was the one who was ACTUALLY a Wonderbolt." Ranger explained.

"Yup. I was the pegasus in charge of setting all the clouds for the event and announcing, and Chaser and Ranger here were on the Royal Equestrian Air-force guarding the event." Ratchet explained.

"So what happened that he doesn't like to talk about?" Twilight pondered.

"Well he feels that ponies regard him differently when they find out, and he does not like the celebrity treatment, he likes honest respect. Although when he rolls around in that one-point-oh of his you wonder." Ranger smiled a bit saying this, but frowned again and took another swig of his drink.

"That, and it pretty much took away his chance to look for his sister. He told you about Rainbow Dash right?" Chaser asked.

"Yes he did. Was he really that intent on finding her?"

"Oh yeah, he loved his little sister like, well, a little sister. He did shows everywhere trying to find her, but only picked up us three. He met Ratchet in Fillydelphia I think, and me and Ranger over in Germaney while we were on Spec Ops. That was where 'It' happened."

"'It'?"

"Yup, Ratchet, I think you should tell it this time." Chaser said.

"Why me."

"Because I'm finished giving you drinks for nothing here."

"Hehe, about that," Ratchet looked down at his empty glass, "How about you get me one of those Ciders too, I feel so left out."

The pair exchanged a grin, "Sure, start telling her while I go grab it."

"Yup."

*~~~*

So it was the year after our graduation, Quickshot was nineteen, making Dash, and I was twenty-one. I was a wanderer in Fillydelphia out of high school, and had been doing so about three years until I had the luck to make it into the crew to set up for the Wonderbolts show. I had heard they were coming soon, but never assumed that fixing the mayor's shower would result in me getting on the crew, but that's exactly what happened.

I was flying around collecting and piecing together clouds for the cloudbase, where they begin each trick from, and anchoring it above city hall using wind cables when the four of them, Spitfire, Soarin', Fleetfoot, and Quickshot, came over. Now Quickshot had made it just the year prior, but was already at Spitfire's level of style and technique. He later told me that none of them knew he was related to Rainbow Dash, who had accomplished the sonic rain-boom the year before at summer flight camp. But they didn't really take notice, since she was just a filly.

So they came up and we started talking about the set up they needed until the four of them were just about to leave when Quickshot said, "Hey guys go on without me, I'll catch up."

I'm not sure why he did what he did next but he led me to a cloud-trailer and brought me inside. He then relaxed and tossed me a hard cider. This in itself was strange since he was under-age, and was going to be doing flight practice later. The other thing was that cider was the drink of a commonpony back then, since the Apple brand Cider wasn't as refined as it is now. This was surprising coming from one of 'The Wonderbolts', the idols of pegasi across Equestria.

"You drink?" He had asked me.

I too idolized this group having seen videos of their prior shows, "Yes sir."

"No, no 'sir'. Call me Quickshot."

"Of course si- Quickshot." I was thrilled, but something pulled at me. "Um, Quickshot?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you bring me in here?"

Quickshot had sighed and sat in a cloud-chair, "Because I can't handle anymore of their upper-class garbage talk."

This caught me by surprise, almost spitting out my cider. "What?"

"I can't stand to listen to them talk smack about places like Fillydelphia and Las Pegasus. So when we talked to you, it sounded like you were normal enough, so I brought you back here to talk to."

I couldn't contain my puzzlement, "Wait but didn't you all come from Canterlot?"

"The three of them, yes. They picked me up in my home town last year when I finished high school."

"Where did you come from then?"

"Me, I came from De-trot." He had revealed dramatically.

This time I actually DID spit out my cider, all over him. I immediately started to curse myself, when he started laughing. Of all things, he was laughing.

"Of all the reactions I've gotten from that, that one was the best. Man you should've seen your face." He imitated me, puffing up his cheeks, opening his eyes real wide. It made me smile through my embarrassment. "Priceless. Now, what's your name?"

"Ratchet."

"Well it's nice to meet you Ratchet. You grow up here in Fillydelphia?"

"Yes I did, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Was that the question?" I smiled, "Shoot."

"What were the Wonderbolts doing in De-trot? I didn't think they toured there."

He sized me up, gauging the question, "Last year was the beginning of an Urban renewal project downtown De-trot, and a flight stadium was installed, so Celestia had the Wonderbolts come in and do a free show there to 'Break it in'. I had been messing out back behind the new stadium with my guns here when one went off and shot up into the sky. I saw the trajectory was headed straight for the Wonderbolts' Cloudbase, so I jumped and flew up after it. Bullets travel fast, and I had about a mile and a half to the cloudbase. I felt the atmosphere pull at me as a flew straight up and found the silver projectile headed for a possible wounding blow. I caught up with the bulletin my mouth with my teeth, and started slowing down, fast. Unfortunately, I couldn't slow down in time, and burst through the clouds, running right into spitfire herself at a pretty fast speed, though I had slowed down substantially."

"Wow so you essentially saved her life?"

"Well yeah, but I just as near killed her."

"But you caught up with a bullet! That's amazing. What happened next?"

"Well we flailed around a bit, and I landed next to her and she looked all pissed and whatnot, asking what the hell I thought I was doing, 'til I spat out the bullet, then I turned away from her and threw up from exhaustion. Soarin' then landed next to us and started speaking non-stop about how he saw the whole thing, me catching the bullet that is. So in short they took me on. But look I want to know about you."

So we talked for the rest of the day and he eventually made the decision to hire me as a permanent worker for them. I travelled around with them and set up all the bases and fixed all their stuff, and we went and toured around for 'bout 3 years until we reached Germaney. I had since learned of his connection to Rainbow Dash and learned of his motives to find her, but we didn't expect to find her in Germaney. The Spec Ops team had been there for about five years gathering intel on the dictator there, and to show support, the Wonderbolts went to cheer them on. During the show, gunfire broke out as Quickshot here was on "stage". The dictator had sent forces that breached the barrier, and were firing at the performers. One of the opposing ponies threw tear gas onto the Cloudbase and Quickshot started going down. He was falling rapidly, and I was too far away to help him. He crashed at great speed into one of the supply yard fences.

I saw the wound from where I was hovering, and it was a bad one, the red contrasting the white of his pelt. I immediately flew down to him, but one of the spec ops ponies beat me there. Cloud Chaser, as I later found out, had beat me to him. I hovered about three feet above him, observing this new pony to make sure his intentions were good. The fence he had landed on was lodged in Quickshot's flank about two to three inches, with blood coming out in spurts. It was quite gruesome, and Quickshot's face was twisted up in a look of agony.

Chaser quickly got out a first aid kit and began treating him. He shouted for assistance into his radio and began prepping him to be transported. Quickshot looked at him, then looked up and found me, took out a pistol and tossed it up. I caught it and saw him take one out too. Chaser rotated an assault rifle from a harness on his back and turned the safety off. Soon a brown stallion, that I later learned was Ranger, came running up with a medic and a gurney. Ranger did the same as Chaser with his gun and I landed next to them and helped raise him to the stretcher, and we rolled him to a tent. Not thirty seconds after we had moved from the supply area, then rival forces started marching on the location we had just occupied.

By the time we were finished successfully removing the fence from his flank and dressing the wound, the Air-force had driven back the dictator's forces, and we were safe once again. Quickshot soon conked out, obviously tired from both the show, and being gassed, and of course taking a fence to the flank was nothing to look past either. Chaser, Ranger and I all got talking and made pretty good friends, that is, until the mailpony came, and handed ranger a letter.

Quickshot had stirred and sat up as Ranger had opened the letter jovially, expecting the best from the contents of the envelope...

*~~~*

"I...I think I can take over from here...Ratchet." Ranger stared at the table, then looked up when he said Ratchet's name.

"You sure Ranger, it's the first time since it happened that you've talked about it."

"Yeah, I...I need to tell it...at least once. I need to tell it for my own sake."

Ratchet nodded, and motioned to Ranger with his hoof. Ranger made eye contact with Chaser, who nodded. Then made eye contact with Twilight, and began to tell the story where Ratchet had left off.

*~~~*

So the mailpony hoofed me the envelope, and I was having such a great time with the three of them, I couldn't have ever imagined what was going to be in the envelope. I opened it up, expecting the best, especially given the set of circumstances. I looked back at the front of the envelope and found that it was from the police department of De-trot, where both me and Chaser had come from. I pulled out the sheet and unfolded it. What a fool I was to think that it was going to be good news, I was two months from finishing my second, and last, two year tour of Germaney and I had just made the acquaintance of one of the legendary Wonderbolts. Things were going TOO well for this letter to have good news, but how ignorant I was.

I began to read the paper, headed by the De-trot Chariot seal, signifying that it was an official document from the police department, dated two months prior:

'Dear Captain Ranger,

We regret to inform you that in recent events, your home was broken into, as reported by the De-trot city police department. Once again, I personally, as the mayor, regret to inform you that during the investigation of the alarm on the property, the investigators found four bodies, one mare, a stallion, a filly and a colt, all having their throats slit, aside from the stallion, who was bruised severely, and had a knife sticking out of his flank, the presumed murder weapon of the other three ponies. The city of De-trot sends its condolences to you and offers you good health in your Special Operations tour.

Mayor Ray Shine'

I read the letter again, and again, and just kept re-reading it, to make sure it was real. I started tearing up, my face turning to a frown. I flipped the paper over in my hooves, looking at the back of it, which was blank. I turned it back and read the letter again, looking at the mayor's signature marking the bottom of the page. I couldn't speak, sobs wracking my body, tears streaming down my face, falling onto the paper, smearing the horrible words.

Chaser was the first to notice my tears and came over. He pulled the note out of my hooves, read the letter, then set it down on the table and hugged me, patting me on the back. It was Quickshot who did it next, read the note, then came over and patted me on the back, crying silent tears of his own. Then Ratchet did the same, but simply sat, all traces of happiness gone from his face.

We sat like that for about thirty minutes, until me and Chaser's commanding officer came in to check up on the condition of the camp. He saw the four of us, and the letter, but didn't understand why two of his most brave captains were shedding tears. Ratchet noticed him there, and hooved him the letter, as I was almost doubled over with silent sobbing, with Quickshot and Chaser patting me on the back, comforting me.

"Hmm, I apologize for your loss Ranger, it seems once again that there truly is no limit to evil in this world. Take as long as you need to, but I will be expecting you at breakfast tomorrow morning at oh eight hundred hours." The officer said his part, then left.

*~~~*

"And that is why now I spend every waking moment looking for the bastard that took my family from me. My mother, my father, my brother, my sister, all gone because of 'Him'. No hoof prints, no DNA, no evidence at all that he was even there at all, other than the murder of my family. And for what? All we had was a single gold necklace with a sapphire pendant attached, that was the extent of our wealth, and it wasn't even taken. It was still sitting in the fu-"

"We get it Ranger, we don't want to scare Twilight do we?" Chaser reigned in Ranger again.

"Sorry...sorry. It's just a load off my back to tell somepony myself for once. I hope you don't think any different of me Ms. Sparkle, knowing my intentions."

"Wow. I'm so sorry for your loss Ranger. Don't worry, I can't really blame the motives, but I don't condone the action either."

"To be expected. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some searching to do."

"Do you have any clues?"

"All I have is an eyewitness who saw the pony break in, and had a description for me, so I know what I'm looking for."

With that, Ranger took a last swig of cider and departed the bar. Chaser then stood up as well.

"I guess that's a long enough break for me, Quickshot you'd better not flirting with the costumers again."

Quickshot laughed, "Well a few were sizing me up, like that pink mare over there."

"Who...Magnum I swear, one of these days..." Chaser shared a laugh with Quickshot when he had pointed out Chaser's sister at the bar, waiting for him to come over.

Chaser's sister, Crescent Light, was a pink pony with a flowing purple mane. She was average height for a mare and had indigo colored eyes. Her mane was quite long and parted in the middle. Her cutie mark was two books open, one had a five bar staph and music notes coming from it and one had various literary symbols emanating from it.

"Hey Crescent, how long you been here?" Chaser asked.

"About two Rainbowtinis believe it or not. You took quite a long break."

"Jeez it must have been based on how slow you drink. When did you come in?"

"Right after those three actually, walked over from the store."

"How are sales this week?"

"They're okay, Quickshot hasn't been by to pick up his normal take of the books."

"Yea sorry, been preparing for Celestia's pupil over there," Quickshot nodded in Twilight's direction. "I won't be in for a few days actually, showing her around De-trot and such, so make sure to hold those books I asked you to. Looking foreword to reading them." He turned to Chaser," You told her, I'm guessing?"

"No, Ratchet and Ranger did. We decided to take the burden from your shoulders."

"mmm, thanks. So she is full informed?"

"All but why you don't use your wings anymore."

"That's easy to explain. Thank you Chaser." Tears threatened, but went away. He turned and walked back to the table, "So Twilight, take a picture here, then we head back home?"

Twilight looked at Quickshot through new eyes. Before she had seen a mild-mannered, if not boring, pony. Now she saw him as more, much more, but she kept that to herself for now.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. And Quickshot, just call me Twi."

"Sorry, forgot. And Twi?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Magnum.

Wow, I never thought I would be putting this much thought into backstories when I started writing. I would like to thank all the OC's and their creators, warhorsebrony, brandaxle, and my best friend Zack and his sister Zoe for letting me include them in my story. So that was all the first day, crazy I know. I plan to keep pretty true to Detroit itself, so look out for buildings that exist IRL. Until next time!

Felix Lectio

-Skiskinator