The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Seven: Fun

Silver Shoe’s humming caught my attention after I had gone over the events in the mine again. I joined in with her until we both noticed a large giant metal snake that stretched around a few fenced in attractions … I think those are called rollercoasters. “We are not riding that thing.”

Silver Shoe’s face said otherwise.

“Come on, live a little!” She hit my back hard while trotting up to the open rusted fence. I looked up and read the sign, Pinkie Pie’s Party Time Fun Land: Biggest Carnival in Equestria! There was a poster of a pink pony with puffy hair, her hoofs spread out wide, welcoming every pony that walked in. I wasn’t going to argue with that, although time had not treated this place well. Most of the stands had rotted away, every prize looked deteriorated to the point they would turn to dust just from touching it, in latent terms it was crap. Silver Shoe pointed a hoof at a sign that read: Pinkie Party Ride! I wonder if the mare that built this place liked to party.

Several animatronics were thrown across the grounds with flies swarming all over there grime covered bodies. Silver Shoe kicked a bottle in front of us and kept doing so until it hit a trash can. A gust of wind blew through making us both shiver. “Hey, hey look at this!” Her horn lit up and telekinetically lifted up three large soda bottles that were lying on top of a counter. She picked up a tennis ball while I leaned against the counter. Silver Shoe held the ball in her hoof, pulled back and let it fly straight into the bottom bottle.

BINK!

The bottles shook, but they stayed standing up. “What. That’s bull shit, I had that!” Silver Shoe stomped her hoof. I chuckled and looked away from Silver Shoe. A sharp pain ran up my fore hoof. I looked down and saw a tennis ball on the ground. “What’s so funny?” I just smiled at her, floating the ball back to her hoof. Silver Shoe pulled back again, she let the thing fly through the air straight at the bottles. It missed.

Her horn lit up, levitating three balls into the air. All three of them flew at the bottles and knocked them all down. One of the bottles hit the counter top, spinning around before finally falling to the ground. I saw something stuffed lying next to it. My horn lit up telekinetically levitating a moldy ruined stuffed animal over to her.  She took it in her hooves and starred at me. She set it back down, “Prizes here suck anyway.” I laughed with her while we moved on.

The next thing we found was a booth that had fish bowls all stacked in a tower. Silver Shoe galloped over to it jumping clean over the counter. She disappeared for a second and popped back up with a set of ping pong balls. “Step right up, step right up, no pony’s a winner here a Silver Shoe’s rigged carnival game!” We both started laughing while I light up my horn. I floated a ball over and starred at the tower of fish bowls. Five tiers to the tower. I tossed the ball at the highest one. It hit the rim of the highest bowl and fell down.

“Argh, almost!” The ball rolled around the rim of another bowl then fell off. It dropped into the third tier and bounced around inside of a bowl. Damn thing bounced back out. “What the hell! I had that!” Silver Shoe started laughing and rolled another ball towards me. The one I had tossed hit the ground. I took the ball, pulled my hoof back and let it fly lightly this time. The thing flew into a bowl and bounced back at me. I ducked down letting it flew right over my head. “What kind of game is this?” Silver Shoe shrugged, she knocked another ball my way. I scooped it up and tossed it again.

BINK!

It hit the fourth tier before rolling around the rim of a third tier bowl.

Come on. Fall in! Fall in!

It finally dropped into a second tier bowl. I threw my hoofs up and cheered. Silver Shoe jumped over the counter, “Winner, winner we have a winner!”

“What do I win?”

Silver Shoe grinned, “A one way ticket to helping me out.”

A one way ticket to helping her out. I don’t like that prize. “Can I get a refund?” She shook her head and pushed me over to the next couple of booths. Nothing really stood out. Most of them had fallen apart over time. I’m actually surprised that some of these games still had some form of prize lying around. A low rumble in the sky caught my attention. It had stopped raining a while back, but this weather was becoming very common to us. We need to find some shelter soon. Well … after we finish up here.

Silver Shoe galloped past me and jumped onto a Merry-Go-Round. She sat down on a bench that wasn’t supposed to be there. I joined her. My eyes went to the machine’s parts, most of them had fallen out of place and were too rusted. Even if we got the power back on it wouldn’t do anything to this thing. I looked back at Silver Shoe, she was staring at the rollercoaster. “Do you think you could get the power going?” She looked at me. I might. I mean I’d have to see what I’m working with here.

“Find me a power supply, circuit breaker or something, I’ll see what I can do.” Silver Shoe got up, lighting her horn in the process. She pulled me with her and we started looking around. There was a large building that caught our attention. It could be that.

We decided to save that for last. If we couldn’t find anything out here then it was obviously going to be in the building somewhere. I just hope there aren’t any turbines I have to worry about. I doubt they’d need something like that for a carnival, but I’m no expert. Silver Shoe and I found a large shed sitting near the rollercoaster, she pulled it open. Circuit breakers were all mounted on the walls, most of them ruined. That wasn’t what caught my attention, nah, what caught my attention was what had been powering the rollercoaster. It was an engine, built for a glider that was converted to be a generator. I galloped over to it, my eyes glued on the parts that went inside. It was in good condition. Just needs … a piston, some cleaning. Ugh, a few spare parts actually.

Silver Shoe sat next to me and kept quiet. I tried to start it up, but it did nothing. Yeah. It’s going to need some work. “We need some spare parts,” I told her while pointing to which parts were jacked up. Silver Shoe got up, I followed her out the door. We stepped outside and I turned my attention to the rollercoaster. From the looks of it that thing could still run. And if that engine is any indication then some pony’s been here before.

“I’ll see what I can find,” Silver Shoe trotted back to the carnival games. I went to the coaster. Several overturned coaster cars had given me some of the parts I needed. Most of them were in crappy condition, but they would do just fine for their purpose.

I moved away from some of the other cars and found Silver Shoe laying on top of one. “I forgot to give these to you.” She levitated two different books over to me. Every Pony’s Guide to being a Mechanic and Equestria: A History in the Making. I looked them over carefully and have to admit they were in great condition. “I know how much you like to read.” Silver Shoe slid off the car before galloping back to the games. I flipped the history book over. Pinkie Pie’s name was mentioned on it. Along with several other mares that I didn’t know about, aside from Princess Twilight. Every pony knew about her.

“Thanks,” I called out to her. Silver Shoe waved a hoof and disappeared into the booths.

Magic engulfed my horn while telekinetically floating up the parts I found. I galloped back to the shed setting them down next to the engine. Now to wait for Silver Shoe. I sat on my haunches and pulled out my Equestria: A History in the Making. I flipped open to the first page and started reading.

“A long, long time ago, in the magical land of Equestria, a young unicorn named Twilight had become the princess of friendship.” Something fell out of the book. A … purple gem. I scooped it up in my hoof carefully examining it. Inside the gem was a still of Princess Twilight talking with a small purple dragon. My horn lit up and I focused on the gem. Holy … I something felt wrong, or weird. Colors swam around my eyes, the entire world felt like it was being ripped away.

*** ***

Where am I? I couldn’t blink. I couldn’t … I couldn’t move. I blinked? I was staring at a mirror. In the mirror was Princess Twilight Sparkle. She blinked or … I blinked. I was her? No … I’m just seeing things through her eyes. That was a memory jewel.

I turn faced the balcony. It felt weird seeing things like this. Just sitting here in someone else’s mind, watching events go by. Twilight just stared out at the fields past Canterlot. The sound of someone’s pit-patting steps caught her attention. She turned around and the entire building began to shake. Twilight’s hoof reached out taking hold of the railing while Equestria itself felt like it was falling apart. “Spike, where are you?” A purple dragon came stumbling out from the room and grabbed one of Twilight’s wings.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” My host looked down at Canterlot and she saw what I saw. Buildings shaking apart, ponies scrambling for safety. The next thing I knew I was standing next to Twilight Sparkle. What the hell? The shaking didn’t affect me at all. I was just viewing this after all.

Twilight lit up her horn, elegant and regal like, forming a pink bubble around the entire castle. The shaking was noticeably less violent inside the shield. She galloped into her room pulling out books from her bookcase. “I don’t know, but whatever’s going on is happening at the Empire.” I looked out at the Crystal Empire’s direction. Even from here both Spike and I could see something going on. Shit was going down and we didn’t know what was causing it.

KA-BOOM!

Something that looked like a blue magic pulse hit the mountain shaking everything in Canterlot with its violent surge of power. The pulse kept going, shaking everything in its wake before disappearing from view. Spike ran into the room, “Twilight! Are you okay?” I looked back at Twilight. Surrounding her entire body was a veil of blue magic. It pulsed for a second then burst apart dropping the Alicorn to the ground. She picked up her head placing a hoof against her forehead.

“Yeah,” she stood up, “I’m fine. Pack your claw cleaning tools. We’re leaving now.” Spike pulled out a small suitcase and shoved his cleaning tools inside it. There was a small urge to chuckle at how small those tools were, but I managed to suppress it. I looked back at the Empire noticing dark clouds hovering in its direction. Shit. What the hell just happened? My body started feeling weird. The entire world pulled me in one direction. Colors swam around my head and the entire world felt ripped away.

*** ***

AGH!

Ugh …

I blinked. Slowly turning my head I could see the glider engine. I tilted my head with a smile, it was a V8. Nice. I turned my attention back to the history book and my eyes moved like a type writer. I wanted to find out what caused that earthquake. Nothing. This book ended right there, the day the quake happened. Damn, the chance of finding another memory jewel that happened after those events wasn’t very likely. I kicked the jewel into the corner. The door creaked.

I jumped.

Silver Shoe trotted in with a few cans of food accompanied with a full bottle of Apple Whiskey. I looked back at the engine spying the horde of parts that had been left in what I assumed was an unconscious state. Holy. My eyes had to be joshing me. There were dozens of spare parts to choose from, even the pistons were … well they were still crap, but everything looked good enough to use. “I found those, some food. Let’s eat dinner!” Silver Shoe opened a can of still somehow good watermelon, her hoof slid it over to me. She had a can of … something. No idea what it was, but she ate it anyway. “Not bad.” I just ate the canned watermelon not paying her any mind. “Who knew this shit would still be good.” I hummed.

Once we finished I looked back at the engine-turned-generator with my horn fully aglow. I looked at the mechanic manual and found a transparence spell. The unicorn using it can see through solid objects. Well that certainly has its uses. Mastery of this spell would let a pony see mechanical problems without needing to take everything apart. I turned my full attention to the engine. I looked back at the book. Then back at the engine. Alright … just focus. This spell isn’t too hard to master, it’s used by other mechanics or at least that’s what the manual tells me. The engine slowly became transparent. I could see two cracked pistons and some sludge.

It wasn’t in bad shape aside from those details. Plus with my knowledge of engines I could … maybe get that power output up by about twenty percent. It’d take a skilled mechanic to get the horse power higher than what it would be after I finished and while I might know some things about engines, I don’t know everything about them. “Alright, it’s going to be a while before I get this thing going.” I’ve got to rip it apart. Clean it. Rebuilt it. This is going to be fun!

Silver Shoe yawned and curled up in a corner. “Good, I need some shut eye. You have fun over there.” She closed her eyes, leaning her head against her saddle bags.

It took me about two hours and thirty seven minutes to fix the minor problems with the engine. Silver Shoe had stayed asleep the entire time. While I continued my work on the engine I used the mechanic spell enough that I felt like a true master of it. Sadly, my Mustang wasn’t with me and I couldn’t put this engine in it. Then again it would take a few skilled mechanics to convert this S.O.B back to an engine and not a makeshift generator.

I wrapped my hoof around the cord and pulled it.

Blurrrrp. Blurrp Buuuur.

I pulled it again.

P-pat-pat-pat!

“Is it working?” Silver Shoe pushed herself up, trotting excitedly over to me. I looked at her with a smile then back at the engine. Does it sound like it isn’t working? I made this shit work again! YEAH!

I galloped over to the door and pushed it open. Lights flickered around the rollercoaster for a moment until they all lit up. The coaster was just sitting in place, probably because we didn’t hit the ‘go’ button on the control panel. Silver Shoe pushed past me and starred at it. She didn’t say anything. There wasn’t even a smile on her face. “You okay,” I nudged her a little.

She nodded but remained speechless. I took a few steps out while she galloped past me. “I’ve never been better!” With my horn aglow I brought our saddle bags with us. After this we needed to head out. Silver Shoe ran up a set of stairs and climbed into the middle of the coaster. “Come on, let’s go for a ride!” I hit the start button on the coaster shaking my head in protest. I’m good. Silver Shoe’s horn lit up. Magenta colored magic wrapped around my body while it picked me up off the ground bringing me over to the coaster. She strapped me in before I could get out. “Let’s go!”

PSH-SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The coaster lurched forward and I looked back at the control panel. “Silver Shoe, come on let me out!” She shook her head in defiance while she kept me from jumping out. As the coaster pulled out of the station we started going up higher and higher, and higher, and the higher we went the louder the ticking under us got. Silver Shoe threw her hooves up in the air cheering at the top of her lungs.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

CRACK!

OH SHIT! The coaster spiraled down and flung me to the side. Silver Shoe cheered, laughing while it went over a hump. We were thrown up a little just before the thing went upside down. GET ME OFF OF THIS THING! Silver Shoe grabbed one of my fore hoofs and tried to throw it up with hers. “Come on! This is fun!” My hoof ripped away from her, trying to coil around something to keep me stationed. I wrapped my hooves around the safety harness while we went upside down again. AND THEN AGAIN!

“I can’t believe you wanted to try this!”

“I can’t believe you didn’t want to try this!”

Silver Shoe yelled out at the top of her lungs, keeping her hooves thrown up through the next spiral. The coaster rattled around and I swear I heard part of the track break off after we went over it. The thing twisted around into another spiral and threw me into Silver Shoe. The thing threw us in the other direction and started going up again.

Please, please Celestia get me off of this crazy coaster!

The coaster dropped down throwing us in another direction before pulling back into the station.

PSSSS-SHUSSSSSSSSSSH!

The safety harness popped up and I scrambled out. My legs wobbled while a trashcan floated over to me. Ugh. No more. Please. No more. My throat started warming up. I looked down at the trash can and felt ready to hurl everything I had eaten. Gritting my teeth together I suppressed the urge the best I could and swallowed hard before taking a few deep breathes. “Never again.” Silver Shoe smiled and put her hoof around me.

“Not even for me?” I shook my head defiantly. She started laughing and punched me in the shoulder. I sunk to the floor trying to forget about the coaster ride. Silver Shoe looked at the control panel and was thinking about doing something.

“Who the hell turned on the Celestia damned coaster!”

We both froze. I looked at Silver Shoe and we knew we were both thinking the same thing. We weren’t alone here. Whoever it was shouting was pissed. I crouched near the control panel while Silver Shoe ducked down next to it. Our eyes darted around, but we didn’t see any pony moving towards us. Silver Shoe scrambled into the coaster and jumped down from the car. I followed her hearing the grass under us crunch loudly.

“You hear that,” a pony was right above us on the platform. Someone was with that pony. There were several hoof steps above us. The wood creaked and the steps grew louder.

Something clamped down on my mane and brought me under the platform. Silver Shoe tossed her blanket over us with her horn fully lit. Just as the spell, I’m assuming started to work, went off two ponies dropped down and took a look around. Old face paint covered most of their muzzles while some armor platted shirts, more than likely made by them, covered the rest of their body. Clown ponies. Only time I saw clown ponies was when … no … he couldn’t be here. I held my breath. If they heard us … we’re dead.

The two clown ponies looked right at us and kept moving. Silver Shoe grabbed a bottle and lit up her horn. It floated off somewhere shattering loudly against something near the carnival games. The two ponies galloped over to the sound. We burst out from cover and ran. This wasn’t the time to fight, we just ran. We headed for the building we saw earlier. Silver Shove shoved her blanket back inside of her saddle bags only once looking over her shoulder. We weren’t being followed, but we still needed to hide.

*** ***

I hit my head against a desk while Silver Shoe’s hooves clip-clopped against the ground. She was mumbling about something, but I wasn’t listening. We were stuck near the Hall of Mirrors and from the looks of it we weren’t going to be able to get outside the carnival grounds. Infected had been drawn to the area. Not many of them, but enough so that we were going to let the clown ponies deal with it. Now we were stuck inside of some building five stories tall. We were sitting in a room on the fifth floor.

Silver Shoe started opening up drawers, lockers, anything that might have something inside of it. My head started to hurt so I stopped bumping it against the desk, I stood up. “What are you doing?” She pulled another drawer open and tossed it on top of a box. That said box was then ripped open.

“Looking for some sort of layout of this place,” she pulled open another locker. “We find that and we can find the closest exit out of here.” Good point. I started looking around as well. Silver Shoe lifted up the desk matt and found some blue prints of the building we were in. The best exit we could take was literally right below us. We scrambled over to the window but the fence closest to us was blocked by some garbage. “We can use the hall of mirrors. There should be an emergency exit that we can use to get around the garbage.” I nodded in agreement.

I looked around for the clown ponies. Nothing. My hoof tapped against the windowsill. I needed to tell her about what Sheriff told me. Now might be as good a time as any. I swallowed. “Silver Shoe … we need to talk about something.” She spun around heading right out the door. I followed her out onto a catwalk that rattled under our hoof steps. Machines lay underneath us on the fourth floor. There was a large hole through the floor as well.

“Talk to me,” Silver Shoe looked over the edge. We listened for any infected or clown ponies.

With any luck they’ll have taken each other out and we can move on with our lives. I tapped the edge of the catwalk and looked at Silver Shoe. “What are you going to do if we find your sister and she doesn’t turn out to be what you expect?” She froze and starred down at the machinery. Silver Shoe opened her mouth then closed it. She turned away from the railing keeping her hoof steps aimed at the stairwell.

I cleared my throat. “Don’t worry about.” She didn’t look back.

Don’t worry about. That’s it? I trotted over to her and cut her off. She looked up at me and her smile was replaced with a look that told me to back off. The one she only gave when someone was talking about something she didn’t want to be a part of. “Don’t worry about it?” I paused and reminded myself that we needed to keep it down. “Silver Shoe … you remember when we split up with Deputy and Sheriff?” She nodded. “You know what Sheriff told me? He said that the pegasus and griffon were trying to find in Remington stole a lot of supplies from them.” Silver Shoe starred at me and walked around me. Are you kidding me? Sometimes you can be so headstrong.

I cut her off again. “What of it!” Silver Shoe put her hoof against me, shoving my back a little. Just from that push I could tell she was tense. That wasn’t helping me out much. I started to tense up as well. “Look, if my sister turns out to be some murderer then I’ll become one to. You can either come with me now or we can part ways.” Silver Shoe’s horn flared up. So did mine.

“Silver Shoe, I’ve gone along with your lead since we left. Hell I’ve even gone along with your lead since we were in District Twelve, but not anymore.” I stopped my hoof against the catwalk. It rattled. Silver Shoe’s horn kept flaring up. So did mine. “If your sister turns out to be a pony we shouldn’t be around then we walk. Find some other place to live. Do you understand me?” I stomped my hoof down again until she got the message.

“You can do whatever you want.” Silver Shoe started walking to the stairs again. I trotted behind her and cut her off again. This time I pushed her back. “I’m going to find Showering Stones in Remington. If you want to go do something else, then go. Some friend you are if you do though.”

I’ve done everything you wanted me to do. I’ve been shot at, I’ve been nearly blasted apart by spore bombs that look like pumpkins and you’re telling me I’m not a good friend! “So what’s your plan then? Go down there guns blazing and get your throat slit by some psycho clowns?” Silver Shoe wanted to levitate up her gun, I could see it in her eyes. She didn’t though. Neither did I. We won’t ever turn a gun on each other, but at this rate I think that might change.

Silver Shoe slammed both of her hooves down. “We’ve been surviving because of me!” I heard other voices from the third floor. My horn lit up sliding me into my transparency spell, I made part of the floor transparent, but only enough to catch a glimpse of the ponies looking for us. Those clown ponies were still looking for us! Crap. We need to move before they get here. “You are treading on some very thin ice, Runner.” She pulled out her blanket. Maybe she had a plan after all.

They could hear us. This isn’t good. Silver Shoe kept on talking. I finally opened my mouth again, “Surviving doesn’t mean stealing things from good ponies like your sister!” Silver Shoe slammed her hooves down. The catwalk rattled even louder.

“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT MY SISTER IS LIKE? YOU HAVEN’T EVEN FUCKING MET HER!”

Our horns lit up at the same time and we levitated one another into the air. We wanted to punch the other and at this point those murderers knew we were here. “Let me go.”

“You first.”

We dropped each other down hard. Our bodies hit the catwalk and it gave with a loud metal screech. The walkway swung out and hit a machine making us both slide off of it. Silver Shoe fired off a spell that hit something sending it right back at her. It hit her blanket. I hit the cement floor with just enough time to see Silver Shoe fall through the hole.

Scrap metal from the remaining catwalk above me broke apart and slammed down on top of me. I started coughing and crawled over to the hole. My eyes were watering. Silver Shoe, please be alive. I looked down into the hole and saw scrap metal all around. Silver Shoe wasn’t anywhere to be seen. My heart stopped beating.

Silver Shoe. Please. Just tell me what to do. Please.

Silver Shoe …