The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Twenty: Burning Districts

Explosions.

Hellfire exploded out of the last bit of standing concrete before it was all gone. Everything was gone. That solid barrier of hard cold concrete was blasted apart like it was an eye sore that Celestia no longer wanted to see. Like the sun princess just woke up pissed one morning, fired her horn off and whatever spell fired hit something with her wrath at full fury.

Smoke rose up all around the area that had been a prison to me for most of my life. Now that I was seeing a full comparison between it and the outside world, I truly understand just how small my world was. Even if I added in the buildings that had been blown and crushed to bits from the quake it wouldn’t have made much of a different.

My old life, my old world, at this very moment ceased to exist. I was just a pony standing in the middle of pure violence that ponies over two hundred years ago had never experienced. There was no going back. There had been no going back the day the Alicorn Sphere went off. All of this was the result of that one day.

I started grinding my teeth together. The ringing in my ears made it impossible to hear, but I knew what was going on. Ponies were screaming. Everywhere. No pony was safe from this gang and no pony could even guess why they were doing it. In some ways this was a good thing. That wall needed to be taken down and now it has. Ponies in here can finally see the outside world. Even with the infected and occasional violence, Equestria is still a wonderful place to live! The only thing I can’t forgive is the senseless slaughter that Bolt Action’s gang has gone around causing.

“Bolt Action, sir, we’ve destroyed the wall and are ready for our next plan of attack.”

“Meet me on Apple Core Avenue.”

I shifted into first and started galloping that direction. You can’t hide from me you son of bitch. My horn lit up and a Reaper walkie-talkie followed me. Using a bit of force with my magic, I had my voice sent out to every Reaper in the area, specifically the leader. “This is Runner, Bolt Action. I’m warning you right now, I’m coming for you.” I tossed the walkie-talkie into a trashcan simultaneously shifting into second. Without even needing to think about it, I made a left then shifted into third.

Bolt Action was three blocks away.

My back hoof hit the gear shifter and I shifted into fourth. The entire glider slowly lifted off the ground, enough so that I was only a few inches from the ground, but low enough to do the only sane thing I could come up with. Apple Core Avenue was two blocks away and Bolt Action was looking right at me from near an apartment complex. My back hoof slammed on the brake just before I landed while down shifting back into first.

White smoke rose up from behind me while I stared at Bolt Action.

The streets were empty. Not a soul around aside from the two of us. The only connecting street was in the middle of us right in front of the apartment complex. My eyes went right to his glider. It wasn’t an unmarked one like Sombra’s. His glider was one that was only considered good because of its brand. It was just as disgusting as he was. My back hoof pushed the gas pedal down.

VEEEEEEEERRRRRRRREERRRRRRRRRR!

“Oh you must be joking,” Bolt Action mocked. “A game of chicken.”

VEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRERRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUU!

“Have it your way, Runner,” was the last thing the son of a bitch said to me before revving his own engine. It was a low hum. Out of my peripheral vision I could see the needle on the wing speedometer jumping up to sixty wing power.

We looked at one another and revved our engines again. A traffic light hung between both of us blinking red. Several flyers flew by while I felt the wind brush up against me. The light blinked red. My back hoof jammed the gas pedal down. Trash cans nearby jumped up rattling with the engines rev.

The light turned green.

I forced the Integra out of neutral, slamming down on the gas pedal simultaneously shifting into second. Pushing off the ground, I had the glider rise up into the air a little bit just before kicking the gear shifter into third. The wing speedometer reached seventy miles an hour by the time I put every ounce of my attention on Bolt Action. His glider was coming at me at its best speed, which wasn’t nearly as impressive as that stallion thought. I shifted into fourth with a scowl that could scare Sour Tooth.

Bolt Action slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop.

What that hell is he doing?

I looked to my right. An armored plated wagon came flying down the intersecting street. My hoof hit the gas only to pull me just far enough to get nicked in the fender. My vision blurred. I had no idea where I was going. With my hoof still pushing the gas pedal down I could have been going straight up for all I knew. Taking my hoof off the gas I straightened out just in time to see a window.

CRUNCH!

*** ***

AIR!

I opened my eyes taking in all the air I could pull inside my lungs. Next came a just as long exhale followed by a series of quick pants. Then the pain hit me like weighted gloves in a boxing match. AGH!

Surrounding me was a pink bubble that I touched once only to get pushed back with magic. Protection spell. I looked up at the stallion using two metal wings as a hoof rest. My eyes carefully traced the room. Behind me, part of the apartment complex had caved in. The Integra wasn’t in the room, must have fallen out after I crashed. Agh. I snapped my neck to the side feeling my entire spine CRACK!

Last thing I remember was a fully armored wagon trying to ram me into the wall followed by some gibberish that I couldn’t understand before blacking out. Sitting in front of me in a snake skin jacket reading a War Never Changes: Fallout Edition comic was the Celestia damned worm responsible for all my fury right now. “You had an armored wagon waiting for me on that street, that’s like going into a race with illegal mods,” I growled. Bolt Action flipped to the comic’s next page. Outside the window a building came crashing down, however I couldn’t hear anything. From the glow on my captor’s horn I figured he used a silencer spell on the room to keep all unwanted noise out.

Bolt Action scoffed. “Leaving that threat message was your mistake. And what did you expect, a fair fight?” My teeth didn’t grind together, but at this point they would have already been moving against one another. I was beyond mad, beyond anger. I was furious. “You know my many great grandfather used to say that science is progress. I couldn’t agree more.” My hoof felt around for my saddle bags. When I didn’t find them I looked back at Bolt Action, finding he had my saddle bags sitting under the broken Integra wings. “See, your friend Silver Shoe took something of mine.” I shrugged. Yeah, that something was in my saddle bags. What of it? “That map she took,” Bolt Action paused.

“You did all of this for a damn map!”

My chest puffed in and out several times while my captor closed his comic. His hoof slithered down to my saddle bags before sliding it inside. “This isn’t just any map, you see my many great grandfather, Autumnal Den, is the creator of the Alicorn Sphere and had several locations marked on a map in case something went wrong.” My jaw dropped. “The day you and Silver Shoe showed up was the day I brought that map back. You both stole it from me and I have spent every waking moment tracking you down.” I had no idea. At any moment since I left that town I could have been followed and wouldn’t have known it. My hoof prints were all over this side of Equestria. The train heist. The casino heist. The Harbor city assassination. “Then I remembered that you two were both from District Twelve and what better way to find you then to attack this place and have you come to me.”

I slammed my hoof against the bubble only to have it bounce back like a fish hitting the edge of its bowl. This guy was pushing my anger to heights I had yet to experience and was not prepared for what lay ahead of him if he didn’t kill me now. Bolt Action snickered. “You surprised me though, I didn’t think you would come in charging like you did. Let me tell you a little secret; not very impressive. See you and I are from two very different worlds,” he paused. A loud thud from the floor above made the ceiling rumble.

“Not so different now.” I intoned.

Bolt Action scoffed turning to the window. “I’ve met ponies with a lot more brains than you.” Fair enough. Never claimed to be a badass genius pony with a mean streak that could make Celestia cringe, won’t ever claim that cause I know it wouldn’t be true. My back leg moved until I felt my pistol in its holster. “I’m going to give you a chance to live,” he spoke softly. “Silver Shoe took my map, not you. Tell me where the map is and I’ll let you go, however, Silver Shoe’s bloodline will feel my vengeance.”

I took in a long breath and exhaled slowly. My eyes drifted down to my saddle bags. Bolt Action traced my glance to my bags then set them down on one of the wings. “Top left pocket. It’s rolled up.” He cracked a smile at me while he opened my bag up. His hoof reached inside retrieving the map of Equestria. All I could do was wait for him to turn back on his word and shoot me. “Leave Showering Stone’s parents alone.”

Bolt Action’s eyes were practically sparkling at what he saw. It was like he was Daring Doo setting eyes on the sapphire statue for the first time. His greedy hooves traced the edges of the paper. “This protection spell says your deal is full of shit,” I muttered coldly to him, “just leave Showering Stones parents alone. Please.” His eyes carefully met mine.

He was trying to read me, get inside my head, but I was stone. His poker face was good and sadly I couldn’t see what he was thinking. Something was going on in his head though, I knew that for a fact. “You said I didn’t fight fairly, but I can be a generous stallion on occasion. Don’t push your luck any further than you already have.” His hoof traced the map’s surface. Plaster mixed with some dust came floating down around us while something on the room above hit the ground. Must have knocked some things loose in the crash.

Bolt Action turned and opened the door with his magic. There was brief pause before he turned his attention back to me. I levitated my pistol up, unloading the clip at him. Every bullet bounced around like a ping pong ball trying to escape a fish bowl. Several bullets struck my hooves and stomach causing me to collapse, hitting the bottom of the bubble. “You just pushed your luck too far,” he said while levitating out a submachine gun. I gave him the nastiest scowl my face would allow me to give. Bolt Action scoffed, “You actually thought I was going to fight fair.” The protection spell started to shrink and from the look in his eyes he intended to crush me inside. Another loud thud came from above us. We both slowly looked up.

A team of five ponies with full body armor smashed through pony-made holes in the ceiling making it rain plaster and sawdust. A sixth member landed on the fire escape wearing nothing but a fancy suit. Their assault carbines pierced the air with bullets aimed at Bolt Action just before he exploded in a glorious show of magic. All five ponies aimed their guns at the hallway as bullets ripped through the wood. Their horns lit up and so did mine. Everything became transparent allowing me to see Bolt Action galloping down the stairs. Obviously he can’t teleport far.

While the full armored ponies galloped after Bolt Action, the sixth one approached me while putting on a pair of shades before greeting me. “Runner, let’s get you out of there.” My jaw dropped. The unicorn mare pulled out a bottle of pure purple liquid then chugged some down. She breathed out fire that melted the shrinking protection spell like it was thin ice. I dropped to the ground with a thud. The mare let out a cough and some green smoke. “Dragon magic, tastes as good as it burns.” She blew a smoke ring.

I was awestruck, flabbergasted, every sense of the word speechless. This mare wasn’t just any mare. I knew who it was! “Who the hell are you,” was the only sane thing I could say that wouldn’t turn out to be gibberish. Sadly, it contradicted what I already knew.

The mare pulled her shades down just enough so that I could see her brilliant gamboge colored eyes. “M-me? Oh, I’m not important.” She gave me a sly smile before pushing her shades back against her eyes. That was definitely Not Important. Celestia, I love her name. Best way to meet some pony is tell them you’re not important. She reached into her suit jacket retrieving a roll of bandage rags. I took it from her, immediately tearing off scraps of rags to apply them on every bullet wound that I had self-inflicted.

This time the rags burned making my body cringe with pain. I looked out the window just in time to see another building topple down. My heart sank. That was the building I told Rusty to snipe from. “What’s with the spy getup?” The sly smile that had been on Not Important’s face turned into a frown. It was followed by a long sigh. “You actually look like you’ve done this before.”

We walked out onto the fire escape staring at the destruction that came with Bolt Action’s tantrum. There were still hordes of Reapers trying to escape the bombardment of cops coming from outside the district. If Not Important and her little band of five unicorns was anything to go off of they were probably using a well devised plan. “You know the reason why I can pull this off?” Not Important chimed to me. I hummed with curiosity. “Back in my home country I was training to become a slick government agent in clandestine operations. I made one bad judgement call with a pony and a murder was pinned on me.” Her voice chocked a little. I looked at her and could see she was reliving some form of trauma. “You could spend your entire life working for something then have it all taken away by one murder you didn’t commit.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder. She just shrugged me off.

“This might be the last time you ever see me, so you might want to get those plans to a draconequus named Discord. He’ll know what to do with them.” Not Important pulled out a bottle of unlabeled liquid that looked eerily similar to dragon magic. She took a drink and hummed. “Don’t ask how I know. I have my connections.” I stuck out my hoof offering her a hoof shake. With mutual respect, we shook, staring out at the open destruction below.

Damn, I wish there was something I could do for her. I mean she saved my life after all. “For the record, you would have made one slick agent,” I told her matter-of-factly. Not Important smiled and walked back into the room. I glanced at an overturned wagon to see Oceans being bombarded by dozens of bullets. My saddle bags landed on me with three bags of bits that didn’t belong to me. I looked at where the unofficial slick agent should have been. She was gone.

My horn lit up, wrapping my entire body with a healthy blue glow that slowly levitated me over the fire escape. Gunfire was spread out on the streets below forcing me shield myself. I landed down on the ground fast, immediately taking cover behind an overturned armed wagon. Oceans stood up, fired, and then hid back down behind a wagon. “Runner, these Reapers are starting to rally together to pin ponies down.” I took a peak around the corner. There was a machine gun mounted on top of the wagon, however the wagon’s front wheels were screwed up. My gaze went up to the floor I had smashed into after my game of chicken. The entire glider was still there minus the wings.

Engine. Machine gun. Engine. Machine gun.

Sweet Celestia, I have an idea!

I lit up my horn faster than Celestia raises the sunlight and tipped the mobile armory back onto its wheels. My magic then ripped the remaining Integra out of the apartment complex. Dinging down deep into my magic reserves my horn began to glow even brighter while I rose a shield up around my small section of street. Oceans managed to inch himself inside the spell before it was fully created. “Oceans, get ready to crack some skulls!” I connected the wagon to my broken glider just before using the easy-lift feature, which had somehow remained functional through everything I put it through, to raise the unit off its skewed front wheels.

Loud pounding sounds drew my attention to the protection spell. Each bullet sent a large crack spider webbing around the entire structure. I charged straight at the shield, reaching the edge just as the entire thing came crashing down. Oceans let the machine gun spit hundreds of bullets out at the few dozen Reapers trying to take us out. Each Reaper was fed a plethora of bullets, tearing them apart, practically picking their bodies clean of the tired-ass red coats their group was supposed to wear.

The bullets being fired exploded so loudly I couldn’t hear my own hooves clip clopping against the ground or even the screams and shouts of Reapers trying to outrun our assault. Just when I thought we were home free a loud projectile was fired at us from above. I telekinetically brought up my protection spell. Instead, a quarter shield was created, taking most of the forceful shock for us. The explosion sent the unit on one wheel, nearly tipping me over with it. Oceans held onto the gun for dear life letting bullets fire randomly through the air. Slamming the unit against a wall in our next turn, I managed to tip the son of bitch back on two wheels.

“How you doing up there,” I called out as loud as I could to Oceans.

“Never better!”

I chuckled as I saw Silver Shoe’s former home rise in the distance. My hooves put in a hundred ten percent while Oceans turned the machine gun back to the Reapers trying to follow us. Just as I pulled up to Silver Shoe’s street, Oceans fell off the unit. I came to a sliding stop, unlatched myself from the glider and galloped over to him. Nudging his body over, I could see two bullet wounds in his chest. “No. No. Damn it. NO!” The reaper that fed the bullets into him looked straight into my eyes then started cowering back. I floated up my pistol and fed my last two bullets into his head. “That’s for my crew member you swine,” I muttered between slow pants. “Thanks for everything Eleven Oceans,” I’ll miss that charismatic voice.

Several cops ran past me looking for other Reapers trying to hide out somewhere. I pushed past a few of them, aiming my sights at Silver Shoe’s house. After several seconds of walking, I sprang into a gallop heading for the back door. I pushed the backdoor open.

Pink glows slowly turned red while a unicorn stallion wearing a snake skin jacket swallowed Silver Shoe’s father up in his deadly protection spell. Bolt Action turned his gaze to me, he gave me an evil grin that told me to stay far away from him. His horn glowed even brighter before he exploded into a lightshow of magic. I put him into a chest and buried it under a house. My hooves beat against the deadly sphere while it slowly started to shrink. Behind the protection-spell-turned-killer-spell was Silver Shoe’s mother lying on the ground with a shotgun wound in her back.

I swung my hooves even harder.

My horn lit up as I desperately tried firing my gun at the damn thing. No! This isn’t fair! Too many ponies have died today!

My hooves slammed against the sphere only to have it pulse, telekinetically throwing me back into the wall. A few pictures fell down on top of me. I knocked them away as I stood back up. “Runner,” Silver Shoe’s father spoke in the softest voice I had ever heard from him, “please stop. Listen.” I slowly nodded while he put his four hooves against the shrinking sphere to keep it at bay. “I need you to give Showering Stones a message, so listen up. Tell her that she’s my little devil foal and that we love her no matter what.” I checked my bag for ammunition, but I found nothing. My heart pounded with melancholy. Nothing I did was going to save him. I couldn’t do anything. “Runner, take that picture right there. You’ll need it more than we will. Now please, go.” I put my hooves down on a picture of Silver Shoe taken at a cookout. Slowly lifting my head back up, I was pointed to the door. Letting out a defeated sigh, I walked out and stopped.

“She’s got a wonderful family now,” I said with a smile. My eyes caught a glimpse of a smile on the stallions face before I shut the door.

*** ***

During the next couple of minutes I filled my mother in on what had happened. Everything from the moment I left the District all the way to this moment in time. She didn’t wrap me in her hooves and tell me everything would be okay, she just stared at me not knowing who I was.

I stared back at her from the open front door with my horn lit up. Every board ripped from its position then clunked against the ground with nails raining down on top. All I did was turn around and face the cops chasing after a few leftover Reapers. “Would you look at that,” my mother said, “the cops are actually helping us.” There was a grin on her face.

Yeah. I guess they are.

Sheriff walked up with a limping Deputy right behind him. The injured stallion leaned against a small wall and slid down to the ground. “I’m afraid Daring Adventure took off on us after the fighting was over,” the experienced gun slinger said softly, “still no word from Rusty or Not Important.” I knew what happened to Not Important. She’s gone. Up and vanished. Rusty … I fear the worst.

From off down the street I could hear two motorscooters revving their engines. I took a quick peak behind Sheriff as two ponies, one with a snake skin jacket and the other without one, pointed submachine guns straight at us. Sheriff turned around and dove for Deputy, making him keep his head low.

Bullets exploded at us as I sprawled to the ground. My mother fell back against the wall knocking some plants over. Ringing filled my ears while I crawled over to my only remaining blood related family member. I went to put my hoof on her pulse and stopped at the sight of several bullet holes going through her chest and neck.

My heart stopped beating. I looked right at the motorscooters and just lay there helplessly while He got away.