The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Ten: Robbery in the Frozen North

How unlucky can I be? My hooves ached from running for the past hour and I can swear I’m being followed by something airborne. I did nothing but run. The screams from infected and clickers behind me were more than enough motivation for my pace to pick up. I looked over my shoulder to find dozens upon dozens of them. That match at the carnival had attracted a lot of attention from infected. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Irresponsible and Mr. Cigar-smoking-somewhat-responsible-pony had been found then turned into one of those things by now.

The second I trotted up a small hill I had come across a swarm of them and about an hour later I ended up here. Running for my dear life.

My hooves took me right into a boarded up ghost town. Dozens of buildings were void of life aside from my own. This dump is my chance to put some distance between these guys. Might as well see how many I can lose.

I dove right into a gun store, quietly shutting the door as gently as I could. First thing I did was put a dresser in front of the door, quietly. Clickers can sense even the slightest sound from a significant range, so please Celestia if you are on my side, don’t let them find me.

I went behind the counter and leaned against it, slowly sliding down to the ground. My breathing turned into quick pants. Inside my chest my heart was pounding enough to rival a drum solo. My parents did right in naming me Runner, cause that’s what I do! I shook my hoof at the infected before letting a dry exhale out. Water. I need water.

Once I managed to catch my breath I started opening up as many drawers as I could. No ammo. Not a single bullet or weapon to be found in here. A gun store. Not to mention there were more than this stores fair share of cabinets. I looked up at the ceiling to find a banner claiming lies.

“We sell all kinds of guns!

And bullets for all kinds of guns!

We have an army of bullets for your guns!”

Bull. Shit. If this store’s name was a play on the word ‘ammunition’ I would have burnt it to the ground already.

“AREGH! AREGH! AREGH!”

The exit door!

I scrambled right towards it. My hoof hit the edge of a pot halfway to my haven only to have it hit a coat rack. That same coat rack fell over, smacking a box of tools to the ground with clattering that rang through my ears.

Buck me with a rifle. Please. Just shove it up there now. Cause that’s what life loves doing to me!

My heart skipped a beat and sank. The boards behind me thumped loudly while infected tried impatiently to beat them apart. I put my hoof on the back door pulling it with all my might. For a moment it felt like it was locked, but one good shove and it swung open. Boards started snapping behind me, the dresser hit the wall, my hooves moved. I galloped outside and bucked the door shut. My magic wrapped round two crates sending them flying into the door.

I galloped across an alley way, pushing over trashcans or crates, until stumbling into another store. First thing was first. Everything I could manage to move with my magic field was violently shoved against the doors and windows. Infected started beating at the poorly made barricades. I moved around a few counters and stopped. One of the drawers was opened with two comics laying inside. My hoof scooped them up … Swordmares issues six and seven! Nice. I kept running through the store until my eyes found the back door. The knob jiggled.

Locked.

Shit.

My eyes went to the staircase. Infected broke the door in screaming their lungs out as they shoved everything out of their way.

My hooves carried me up the staircase until I came upon a desk teetering at the very top. Even the slightest bump would make it tilt this way. I smiled.

Bringing the desk towards me with my magic I jumped into the air using my hooves to push me over it while the thing crashed into the infected like a bowling ball. My hooves hit the stairs again and I galloped all the way up to the second floor. I turned left and jumped right at a window. The glass shattered against my weight while I rolled onto the roof. Infected broke the glass next to me while I did the only sensible thing. I rolled off the roof onto a pile of hay.

By the time I got to my hooves infected began tearing the wall apart. Aching pain went through my hooves before they began to feel like a lump of loose jelly. Gotta keep moving! Clickers ran around one corner of the building while infected ran around the other. Keep moving! No guns. Just keep going, don’t stop.

My hooves ached even more, they screamed at me to stop, but I told them to shut up. Infected kept screaming while I began to feel one of their mouths trying to clamp down on my tail. My horn lit up and pulled a wagon at me. I jumped over it listened to it crunch against one of the infected. Two more crates around me went flying into the small group. I turned a corner. From out of nowhere an infected thrust itself against me taking us both to the ground.

CRACK!

A griffon landed a few feet away with smoke rising out of his revolver. He tossed it down exchanging it for two pistols. The guns unloaded their clips into the infected stampeding at us. “Where’re you headed?” His eyes remained focused on everything but me.

“Remington!”

The griffon scooped me up under one of his claws, his wings flapping fast, his free claw throwing the pistol into an infected getting to close. Several infected jumped up at me bearing their incredible ugly teeth towards my dangling hooves. Each one missed by mere inches!

I took in a few slow breathes while the infected lost interest in us. Thank Celestia there are good griffons around here.

*** ***

Whoever this griffon was, he took me exactly where I needed to go. Remington. Which was a little bit of a dump compared to Lake Water, but truth be told I’m just happy to have my tail away from infected.

He set me down and I thanked him just before he flew off to meet with some pony waving at him. I turned my attention to the small town. It wasn’t much, pretty much a rest stop for ponies traveling from place to place. A few buildings were sent up, but they were just for housing ponies. There were noticeable guard shacks with some snipers. On the bright side there was a bar!

I trotted into a room that was almost completely empty, the bartender was the only pony there. Then it hit me. I had no bits because of that pegasus. She screwed me. I took a seat and pulled out my map of Equestria. A bottle smashed somewhere above me. My eyes went up to hallway built near the staircase designed to serve like a second floor. Sounds like a great party’s going on up there. “What can I get you,” the bartender questioned. Water. Sadly, that mare screwed me.

“I don’t have any bits.”

He looked the other way pretending I didn’t exist. I’d probably do the same thing. My eyes went back to the map. I could try to go back to District Twelve. No. Celestia damn me if I try to go back now with my tail between my legs.  A feather landed on my muzzle. My nose wrinkled letting it flutter down to the counter. I looked up and a pale grey pegasus was flapping her wings above me. “Hey, we need another bottle up here.” The bartender gave her a polite nod before reaching his hoof under the counter. A bottle of Apple Whiskey was tossed her way. She spared me glance before taking off to her party.

I liked her mane color, it was dark brown borderline black, but just light enough that I could call it brown. I miss Silver Shoe’s slightly puffed up pink mane color. Silver Shoe … I’ll find her don’t you worry.

I don’t know how long I had been lost in thought, but the bartender had set down a drink for me. “From upstairs.” I blinked in confusion. Did what’s her name come back down here? No clue, but I drank it anyway … and spit it right back out! AGH! My entire mouth burned as hot as the flames of hell! I coughed uncontrollably barley able to focus on sliding the glass away. “Damn kid, learn to hold you liquor.”

Well next time give me a warning. Maybe ‘Oh, hey that’s a strong drink,’ not just stand there. “Don’t look at me like that kid, liquor and apple cider heal all heartaches.” Well … okay I don’t know if that’s true, but not a heartache this deep. My wounds will take a long time to recover.

The doors opened up behind me and some pony, I spared the pony a glance, my bad, some griffon stepped inside. It was the guy from earlier! Hey, this guy’s alright, he saved my flank. “Vin, about time you showed up. Guys of yours up stairs are having a party without you.” Vin smiled taking a seat next to me. His attention wasn’t on me. I went back to my map.

“My usual,” the griffon ordered. The bartender retrieved a bottle from the counter behind him. The griffon took it drinking from it without a second thought. “Get this stallion the usual to.” Vin slapped my back. I looked up. Hey, he actually remembers me. “You could use one after that little chase you had with the infected,” he reached his claws out to me.

“Runner,” I said shaking his claw. I got a few chuckles from the bartender. He set the bottle down and I reached for it, but he pulled it away. “Just give me the drink you ass.” Vin chuckled and shook his head. I carefully stared at the bottle, it was called Pegasus Breed. Never heard of it. “I hope this is better than that other drink,” my bottle floated up and I took a small drink.

Not bad. Decent taste, better than that dull crap I’m used to.

Vin’s eyes went right to my map. His claw pointed at a place called the Frozen North. “Where’re you headed?” I opened my mouth but said nothing. That’s a good question. My map had a few locations on it. No idea which one would lead me to Showering Stones though. In fact I’ve only met two pegasi. One screwed me and the other probably gave me a drink. I shook my head undecidedly.

I couldn’t go back to District Twelve. Wait. My eyes went to another place on the map. I could go to District Thirteen. Heck no. I can’t believe I even suggested that. If it’s anything like District Twelve then it’s probably an overgrown eyesore that needs to have its wall torn down. Vin scratched his head and nodded. “Well I’d hate to drink and run, but I’ve got places to be.” I packed up my map and figured I’d go to the closest town. Then go from there. Obviously there wasn’t any pony like Silver Shoe here and I’m assuming Showering Stones is just like her.

I felt a claw grab my shoulder after I slid off the seat, “Hold up. Tell you what if you’re lookin’ to make a few bits then follow me.” Vin got up and walked up the stairs. I blinked. Did he just offer me a job? Hell yes!

I followed him up the stairs turning into the dark hallway above the bar. My Pegasus Breed followed me. Music was coming from one of the rooms along with the sounds of two ponies going at it a few rooms down. We walked past that room and stopped at the one where music was coming from. Vin’s head jerked around like he was looking for something. “Listen, me and two friends are getting ready to pull a job. We’re a stallion short. You want in?” Finally, something that I know how to do around here.

I didn’t need to think about this. “I’m in,” I took a drink. My new acquaintance smiled and put his claws on the door knob. He pushed it open letting me in first. The first pony I saw was the mare from before, the light grey one. A pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. She pulled them down slightly her first reaction being a curious eye brow raise at Vin. There was one other stallion in the room, a tan colored pony with a dark brown mane that had a lucky clover for a cutie mark.

The other stallion looked me over. I wasn’t surprised when I saw the stallion giving the pegasus mare a few glances. The stallion spoke first, “Who’s the wannabe buster?” Hey … I would probably take some offense to that if I actually knew what a buster was. The mare nicked. I took a look at her cutie mark, but it was covered by her saddle bags.

The mare took a look at my choice of drink then chuckled. Vin shut the door before taking seat at the table. “This is Runner, he’s going to help us out tomorrow.” Wait, they’re pulling a job tomorrow. Ugh. I prefer planning things out over going in guns blazing. This better not be a run and gun kind of job. “That stallion over there is Lucky Clover,” he pointed a claw at Lucky who was turning off the radio. We shook hooves. My attention went to the mare next. “That rough mare over there is Glider.” She punched my shoulder and clanked her Pegasus Breed against mine.

“You hear anything from Diesel,” Glider questioned to Vin.

The griffon shook his head disappointingly. Glider’s expression went south of the Badlands. Her sorrows were drown inside of the Pegasus Breed. “Look, you both know my first choice for this job would have been him, but right now our window is closin’. You didn’t see what I saw. This stallion had no weapons on him and ran from the infected with skills I’ve only heard of a few ponies using.” Ponies use desks to mow down infected? Nice. I grinned at that. “I figured he could ride with you, Glider.” She took her shades off completely putting her attention on me. I stared back. Her wings cracked.

“So, you’re going to fly with me,” was her response to Vin’s statement about my skills. I don’t know how to respond to that. “Can you handle a gun?” I nodded. Glider’s disappointed look turned positive while her wing pulled me closer. “Then you can fly with me. Now tell me what you can do.”

I really have to think about that. I can work on engines. I can escape infected without a weapon. I like the first one. “I can work on engines.” Glider’s jaw dropped.

“Looks like we’ve got another grease stallion on the team.” Her spirits were lifting up fast. Who knows, maybe after this I can get them to put me in contact with a glider sales pony? Could really use one of those to get around faster. “What do you guys think, the next Hot Rod?” Lucky Clover laughed at this pointing a hoof at her as if remembering some inside joke or something. “Shit, if this works out you might be more than our friend.”

Lucky nickered. He was thinking about something, couldn’t tell what it was, but I knew it was from happier times. “Alright, we’ll talk about the job tomorrow, Vin, lets show this unicorn how we party!” Lucky’s hoof hit the radio and it started back up with hip hop music. I finished my Pegasus Breed while Glider popped the caps off two more. To my surprise I hadn’t actually celebrated leaving that Celestia-awful place known as a District. Silver Shoe, this party is for you as well. FREAKING PARTY!

*** ***

My eye twitched open only to have blinding light force it shut. A small ray of light from the window made me roll part of my head under the bed. Apparently I had fallen asleep, or in this case passed out, on the floor with an empty bottle under my hoof. I slowly opened my eyes in time see a small bit of sunshine. My head hit the edge of the bed while I scrambled over to see a very rare sight of sunshine. By the time I pulled the curtain back it was gone. I groaned and slumped onto the couch. No idea where Glider or Lucky Clover went, but I knew where I was about to go. Sleep land.

The door creaked open and I put my hooves on my head. UGH! The sound! My head pounded over and over again. It was like having a pony with a steel hoof using my head as a ball. I blinked several times before managing to focus on Vin. “Take this,” he said to me. The sound! AGH! I looked at what he had placed on the table. It was headache medication! Sweet Celestia!

I downed the medication sending water to chase after it. And, three. Two. One. GOODBYE HEADACHE!

Needless to say, I was feeling good again. Vin chuckled while his claws slowly unrolled a map. “Alright, so this how things are going down today.” His claw slowly traced a dark line around the map that went by the Frozen North. From the looks of it we were going to be taking on snow and train tracks. “There’s a train leaving Remington with some engines we’d like to get our hooves and claws on. See the station is too heavily guarded for us to do anything here, which means we’ll need to sneak onboard when it reaches the Frozen North.” That’s not a bad idea. Sneak onboard when no pony can get to them. The snow will give us some cover to. I scratched my muzzle. Only problem is the passengers on the train. If there are guards then we’ll have to make it a stealth mission.

I voiced my observation to Vin. Without a word I could see he had planned for this contingency. He was definitely smarter than he looked. “Yeah, this is going to be a stealth mission. You and Glider will drop down around here,” his claw tapped the beginning of the mountain range. I nodded. “You two will get inside the boxcar then find the engines. Lucky Clover will bring a wagon and you’ll unload them into it. He gallops away, you and Glider get out of there.” Done deal. Vin knew I knew what was going on. He put an automatic pistol down on the table and slid it over to me. I put my hoof on it examining it carefully. Brand new! He put several ammo boxes in my saddle bags. “This is a gift from us, so enjoy it.” Yeah, I’m going to enjoy this, for sure.

Vin put a few pictures on the table and my eyes widened. These are the engines we’re gunning for? Shit, they’ve got taste. All of these engines are either T-Sixty Six’s or RD’s. I’d like to see what they’ve got planned for them that’s for sure. “I’ll be giving you guy’s air support, making sure you’re sticking with the plan. Oh, and Glider will tell you what you can and can’t take.” Wait there are things we can and can’t take? That was never really my style. I always stole everything I could since the person deserved to have things stolen from them. “I know that look, yeah, there are things you can’t take. Alarms are placed on certain crates and if any of those go off we’re going to be fighting the guards in the next car.” Got it. Only take the engines. Rather be safe than sorry.

“Why steal from people like this then,” was the only thing I could say. I’ve stolen a lot more from people that had easier things to take. This mission though, this one just seemed like it was asking for trouble. Especially with the engines we we’re going for.

“If you want to win big you have to take gambles, even stealing from stallions like Dead Eye if you have to.” Fair point. I’m willing to bet there’s an escape plan if things go bad. From the look on Vin’s face I could see I was right about that. We were on the exact same page, word for word. And since he mentioned Dead Eye I’m assuming we’re stealing from him. I have no idea who he is, but if he’s sending engines like these somewhere else then he must be some pony important. “Don’t worry about the mark, he’s not important and won’t even know who’s hitting him.” Alright, I like the sound of that. No way for the target to know it’s us, get in get out and then get paid.

That brought something to my attention. I had no idea how many bits I was getting for this, I brought this to Vin’s attention. “Everything we take we’re splitting even. Three bags of gems and bits a piece.” Deal. That’s enough to buy a used glider. Which I intend to get if I get through this mission alive. “The only other thing you need to know is that when you reach this tunnel here,” his claw pointed at another location further down the line, “everything needs to be in Lucky’s wagon. This is deep Crystal Empire territory and a lot of thieves live here along with a swarm of infected.” I nodded. Stay away from it. Understood, noted, double noted, and triple noted. Consider it done. “Now go meet Glider at the shooting range, once it’s time to go she’ll bring you to the drop off point.”

*** ***

Tighter. Glider’s grip around my stomach tightened even at steady altitude above the train. I wasn’t sure if it was nerves or adrenaline pumping through her veins. AGH! I coughed, signaling to Glider that she was holding me far too tightly. Her grip loosed.

My vision was fogged up to the point I couldn’t see the train. Even if the fog wasn’t here there was more than enough rain pouring over my flight goggles to keep me blinded. I wiped one of the lenses and caught the sight of some from the train. “We’re almost at the drop off point,” Glider’s voice was almost drowned out by the sound of the train’s whistle blowing loudly. I looked over at Vin noticing his subtle descent.

We followed suit. “G, you guys get going. I’ve got you covered!” Glider gave her friend a nod and dive bombed right for the train. I kept my breath held.

Smoke blurred my vision for a minute while Glider barrel rolled out its way. Another loud train whistle went by. “Hey, you might want to close your eyes!” What for-

SHE DROPPED ME!

Butterflies flew around in my stomach! I swear to Celestia I’m about to cough one out! Wind blasted my mane all around like a whip.

OH SHIT!

I began free falling towards the train while Glider looped through the air, taking her ever so sweet time to arrive. This wasn’t part of the plan damn it!

She wrapped me back in her hooves, tightly this time, long before I actually got close to hitting anything. I tried to curse at her, but my everything was telling me to get the job done. “Here we go. Ready?” I nodded, patting my pistol several times. “Formation!” Hell yeah!

Glider dropped me an inch above the train letting my hooves slide across the roof, sending water everywhere, while another whistle loudly howled with the wind. Giving her the signal to come down, I felt water hit my head just before Glider came to a halt next to me.

My horn lit up and part of the roof turned transparent. Crates were shoved all around the passenger-car-converted-boxcar like a maze. I couldn’t see inside of the crates, which was pain since my spell only works on one object at a time. “This is our target. Looks like there are four guards, two stationed by each door.” Glider nodded and quietly trotted over to a large opening that was blocked off with a sheet of metal. She examined it carefully. I moved over to her noticing something rather interesting. Crap. Locked from the inside. “Let’s open one of the windows.” Glider wrapped me in her hooves and flew me over to the boxcar’s wall. My magic forced open one of the windows and in the blink of an eye I was immediately squeezed through with Glider. Rain came through behind us along with the howling sounds of the wind.

Glider pulled me over to some crates to keep us hidden. One of the guards came over to the window and pushed the glass up, “This train is too old for a trip through here.” He shook his head turning back to his post. Glider pushed past me and crept right up behind the stallion, she put her hoof around his neck bringing him to the ground quietly. He struggled for half a minute before falling unconscious. My light grey friend motioned for me to take out the next guard. I trotted past her and moved through the maze of crates.

Good thing these guys aren’t hired for their brains, they’re stupid enough to put crates that block the other guards from seeing what’s going on. I jumped over one of the crates and the stallion jerked his head looking for the noise. As he turned around I jabbed him in the face and wrapped my hoof tightly around his neck. His hooves moved around frantically trying to throw me off. It took roughly a minute for him to fall asleep.

Glider and I set the guards down in the corner. She leaned close to my ear, “Formation two.” My hooves felt light as feathers while I went to the right. Glider went to the left of the crates. I kept as quiet as I could maneuvering around each crate that had fallen from the structures. I galloped past the window we entered through and slipped! My magic caught me mid fall.

Phew. I got back on my hooves and found the other end of the train. My better instincts told me to stay behind the crates, and I did just that. I peered around the crates and saw Glider motioning for us to take both guards down at the same time.

We both moved from our hiding places and crept as close to the boxes as we could. The guard closest to Glider looked at his friend, “After this we should … HEY!” He saw me! The other guard looked at me. I tackled him into the boxes and a crate fell down on top of us. Using my magic with almost no focus, I threw the guard into the wall and opened a window behind me. The guard got up and felt for his gun. Without hesitation I levitated him up, throwing him into the guard Glider was choking out. Her ears perked up and she jumped up into the air flapping her wings to make her fly up higher. The two guards hit the ground with my magic wrapped tightly around their throats. Once we were both sure they were unconscious, I floated their bit bags out and dumped everything into my saddle bags.

I ain’t going hungry tonight! Yeah.

Glider galloped over to a window then back to me. “We’ve got three minutes before Lucky pulls up with the wagon.” she walked around in circles with her eyes locked on every crate we needed to look through. I slid into my transparency spell letting the crates around me became as clear as glass. “Let’s get started.” Glider was fully aware of my transparency spell, I could tell from the look on her face she was convinced that I was a good choice. I stopped walking in front of several crates. T-Sixty Six engines and a few RD engines were inside. I could see a name printed on the RD engines, it had ‘Rainbow Dash’ printed in gold lettering.

“Glider, these are it.” I gave the bottom crate a good smack while looking up at the other cargo. Six beautifully supped up engines. I wish my payment could be one of these. Now these are engines built for racing! Glider galloped over to me and sighed. There were crates stacked on top and underneath the engine crates. Most of them were filled with gems harvested from, I read the label and put a hoof against my face. A rock farm. Just roll with it, Runner.

Glider flew up to the top and stopped, “Can you move these?” I blinked; slowly looking at all of the crates in our way. Our last step in the plan was to move the engines outside and there was two ways of doing that. With my full focus coursing through my magic I wrapped every single crate we didn’t need in a levitation field. Everything but the six engine crates were moved to the back of the boxcar, slowly, painfully, straining my neck muscles and anything else my horn was somehow connected to. My body slumped to the ground with beads of sweat rolling down my head. So much weight! “Good job,” she said slugging me in the shoulder. “Come on, let’s pry the metal sheet down and use the gap as a make shift sunroof.” A sunroof. Really? Who still uses those?

I tried to light up my horn. It sparked to life, but blinked every couple of seconds. Glider noticed. “Hey, you feeling up to this?” Suck it in, I mean, suck it up. I smiled with a not-so-confident nod. It took a bit of effort, but I managed to light my horn up. Glider gave me a mixed smile of concern and happiness. She flew up to the metal sheet covering the gap. All it took was unlatching it to make the sheet fall to the ground. I caught the metal in my levitation field before it could clang against the ground and set it down quietly. “Send up the first one.”

The first engine was wrapped in my blue magic field and slowly lifted off the ground. Glider went under it and pushed it up to move things along faster. Once it reached the gap, Glider made sure the thing fit through. It did. I set the crate down and slumped back to the floor. This was going to put a serious strain on me. My heart was starting to pick up its pace. Just five more to go. A loud thud against the wall told me Lucky Clover was waiting outside. Glider was trying to gently set the crate down inside the wagon without any help. The crate slipped!

My horn lit up and caught it. AGH! The weight of this thing! It weighs a freaking ton! Glider quickly set the crate down and flew back through the gap in the roof. “Just five more.” My body gave out and I slumped to the floor. I’m already exhausted. “This isn’t going to be fast enough.” Yeah I started to notice that. We both looked at the metal door that had obviously been welded on not that long ago. Glider leaned close to me, “You thinking what I’m thinking?” I nodded. Thank Celestia.

We put our backs against the fifth crate and pushed it over to the door slowly. I need a breather at some point. These engines are so heavy, they make me so thirsty. Glider trotted over to the door and messed with a few latches. Half the wall was pulled open leaving us with more than enough room to squeeze the engines through. “So what made you want to run with us, Runner?” I chuckled; pushing the crate through the newly made exit. The moment I set a hoof outside the wind punched me in the face.

“Aside from needing the bits I figured it was something my best friend would have done,” I’m not lying about that. I honestly think that Silver Shoe would have accepted a job like this. Reminds me of the kind of stunts we pulled together back, well it wasn’t really a home now that I think about it. “Honestly,” Lucky moved the wagon over to the space between the boxcars, “I think she helped me become who I am. If you guys had offered me this job a few years ago I wouldn’t have joined. It’s like she wasn’t scared of anything sometimes.” Glider smiled and flew around to the front of the crate. I pushed the crate towards her, she caught it and let the thing carefully slide down into the wagon.

Two down, four to go. We galloped back into the boxcar. I jumped over the crated and put my back against it. Glider joined me, “Reminds me of some pony I know actually. Maybe once this is all over I could introduce you to the stallion that taught me my rough moral code.” That would be interesting. We stopped the crate between the two boxcars then bucked it into the wagon. The crate slammed into the side of Lucky’s wagon making it go on two wheels for a second. It landed back on all fours.

“Hey, you guys pick up the pace! We’re running out of road here,” Lucky demanded. Just as he finished speaking we noticed snow was everywhere. Ah, crap. We really did need to pick up the pace. Glider picked me up and flew back into the boxcar.

Three left. There had to be a faster way. My eyes went up to the sunroof while I leaned against the crate. “Glider,” she looked at me. “I’m going to lift two of these up through there.” Her attention went to the sunroof and she looked at me concerned. Before she had the chance to say anything, I nodded. She somehow understood what that meant and moved away from the crates. My horn lit up. The crates were slowly engulfed with my magic as they rose up. They formed a stack while Glider got underneath it. She helped push them through the sunroof. My mane was drenched in sweat by the time I set them down. My head was starting to pound and I was beginning to feel a little dizzy.

I looked at the window in time to see both crates fall towards the wagon. Shit. My horn lit up and I caught both crates. One of them leaned against the wagon sending it on two wheels. My body was pulled to the ground. I focused all my attention on the crates attempting to set them down without even being able to see them. AGH!

WA-THUNK!

Phew! Safe and sound. I looked up and saw the two crates lying inside the wagon. I rolled over on my back throwing my hooves up. Yeah! I did it. Glider landed next to me, “Come on, we need to get that one out.” I looked over at the crate with a wheeze. I can’t do that again. No more. Please.

She helped me up and we put our backs against the last crate. “Does this mare have a name,” Glider asked curiously. The look on her face told me she wanted to bring my friend, plus me, along for the long haul. These are the kind of ponies I can get used to hanging around.

I nodded and let out a deep breath. My wounds still ran deep. “Her name’s Silver Shoe.” Glider stopped pushing. She blinked a few times before stepping back from the crate. I looked over the crate and saw several zebras armed with assault rifles. My horn lit up, consuming what little strength I had left to slam the metal door shut. Glider locked the latches.

She stared at the door while zebras pounded against it. “Did she have two silver dance shoes as her cutie mark?” Glider turned, looking me straight in the eyes. Wha… what? How could she know what Silver Shoe’s cutie mark was? I nodded, slowly. “That’s my sister.”

No. I shook my head. “No, no, she told me her sister’s name was Showering Stones.”

Glider threw her saddles bags down and showed me her cutie mark. It depicted a waterfall of showering stones. My eyes widened. I … she. Silver Shoe, I found your sister! I found your sister! “Glider is my nickname, my full name is Showering Stones.” I leaned back against the crate just staring at her. Here I thought I was going to go across Equestria to track this mare down. She was right here with me all along. “Runner, where’s my sister?” I swallowed as my heart rate picked up.

I could feel my eyes watering, but I swallowed my feelings and shook my head. “Glider, she’s … she’s.” Showering Stones, I mean, Glider put her hoof against my muzzle.

“Stop, you can tell me about it later.” She nudged her head at the crate. We needed to finish the job. Emotion comes second. With the rest of my strength I sparked up my horn. I think I could do one more for Silver Shoe. The crate floated up while Glider got underneath it. We pushed it through the entrance and I turned to the wagon just outside the window. Glider let it slide into the wagon just before giving the signal to Lucky. Lucky Clover bolted. That stallion vanished in the blinding snow seconds later. Glider flew back through the gap scooping me up in her hooves. She flapped her wings and pulled us right back up.

CRACK!

Glider dropped me and sprawled against the roof. We looked up to find zebra’s armed to the teeth waiting for us. There wasn’t much left in my magic reserves, but I had more than enough to lift my pistol up. Glider pulled out her own gun and started firing into the small group. Two of the zebras jumped onto the boxcar and slid towards us, avoiding every bullet shot we fired. “You alright,” I shouted to my friend. Glider nodded and kept firing. I didn’t see any bullet holes in her wings, thank Celestia. One of the zebra’s landed in front of me with a shotgun pointed an inch from my muzzle. I dove down and rolled to the right. I stood up-

WHACK!

My face slammed right into a sign that tore away my goggles before it sent me face first into the snow below. All I could see was a train pulling into a tunnel before my head rested in the snow.