Just Where Did They All Go?

The smoke and dust cleared.

Tire marks stained the marble floors, with debris,(such as chairs, tables, etc) strewn willy-nilly across the ballroom.

Scootaloo could see White Flash glancing nervously around the room, expecting them to return. Sweetie Belle stared at the ground, remorseful for expecting that ammunition came with the guns. Applebloom had gone to get their backpacks, and Southern Pacific had disappeared.

"Alright," one of the higher-ranking cops instructed as he got up, and dusted himself off, "We're going after them. Loose Cannon, you come with me, and Quince, Stetson, you take the foals. We need to keep a close eye on them."

The four were hustled into the back of an awaiting cruiser, which Scootaloo identified as a '92 Chevrolet Caprice. The car took off down the road, accompanied by a another Caprice. The four survivors were silent, while the stallion in the car, apparently named Stetson, chattered away on the radio.

"No, Dispatch," he answered, responding to a call from dispatch, "Still no sign of that 10-38. We need units to spread out, and search the vicinity, over."

"Uh, yeah," a voice rasped over the c/b, "This is Charlie 2-4, we've spotted the suspects, Southbound, toward Equestrian Highway 18, all available units are advised to intercept."

"Well, kids," Quince muttered, "We found them..."

Engine roaring, the car sped up drastically as they raced through the crowded dirt streets of Ponyville, toward the freeway onramp. Foals dressed in costumes scattered as the cops came thundering through. The Crusaders and White Flash huddled together in fear as the cruiser slid sideways on the gravel-dirt surface, barely avoiding destroying a gypsy wagon parked on a streetcorner, and drifted onto a new street.

Eventually, the highway intersection was in sight. Just before they turned on, the Cadillac sailed past, bogged down by the tremendous weight of it's armor. on the blacktop onto which they were to turn onto, 3 Plymouth Fury cruisers following at a distance.

While the police kept their distance, and assessed the situation, Redheart was bleeding severely from her eye.

"FIRST AID KIT!" she wailed, gesturing to the entrance to the rear, patient-compartment of the ambulance, "GET THE FIRST AID KIT!"

"We don't have one," Red Cross warned, opening the curtains of the compartment to reveal an empty space, "If you want medical assistance, we're gonna have to stop."

"We CAN'T!" the nurse fired back, "I won't survive in prison, Cross, I look to sweet! I didn't even WANT this job!" She broke down, sobbing. "I'd rather die than keep on living with the burden of knowing I delivered innocent foals to their deaths!"

"Neither did I, Red, but you've gotta stop, you're gonna BLEED TO DEATH if you don't."

"NEVER."

"Alright then, I'm COMING THROUGH!"

Red Cross scooted over on the bench seat, unfastened Redheart's lapbelt, and opened the driver's side door.

"Uh, Sarge?!" a voice exclaimed over the C/B, "This is Wilcox, up front, right behind the suspects. They've opened their driver's side door, I think they're gonna shoot!"

"GET OUTTA THERE, WILL!" a voice, presumably the police sargeant, yelled back, "Evasive actions!"

Stetson decided to assist Wilcox, who was in the lead Plymouth Fury, and slammed on the gas to pull up alongside him. But, instead of seeing them shoot, The Crusaders saw Nurse Redheart flung out of the ambulance, and land on the hood of Wilcox's cruiser.

"Yeah, uh, Dispatch?" Wilcox continued, "Disregard that last statement, this mare needs medical attention, taking her into custody, over."

Being the only one remaining in the Cadillac, Red Cross immediately set to work trying to shake off the metal armor. He attempted to loosen it by making the car traverse a zig-zag pattern along the two-laned highway, but, after a while, it was obvious that his strategy wasn't working.

Drawing his peppergun, he engaged at firing at the weld points between the armor and the carbody. This was far more effective, as Mel the mechanic had not had time to do a quality job on installing the panels.

One by one, the panels were blasted away, police cars swerving each time they came tumbling off, until there were no more, except for the back window's protection, which couldn't be reached.

****

Suddenly, the cops found themselves chasing the old Miller-Meteor at speeds above 100 miles an hour, which became increasingly dangerous, as there was no time to stop traffic anymore.

"We're near the Hillard Bridge, guys!" Scootaloo whispered to the rest of the foals, "Except for Scootaloo and me, you and all of those cops can't walk on clouds, they're not pegasi! And their cars can't either!Cloudsdale's cars are modified to not fall through, but OTHER cars aren't!"

White Flash was confused. "But what about Redheart and Red Cross? They're earth ponies, and they've done it just fine!"

"They probably have that spell Twilight put on US," she explained, "I have a plan! When I say, 'jump', we jump out!"

"Dispatch," Stetson reported, "The pursuit is nearing the Hillard Bridge, alert the Cloudsdale Police, over."

"This is dispatch, we need to you to break off pursuit, Cloudsdale's not sturdy enough to support your units, I repeat, nor sturdy enough to support your units."

"It's held up those heavy marble buildings for centuries!" Stetson reasoned, "I'm SURE it can hold us."

Dispatch began to protest, but Quince flicked off the radio before they could clearly hear the message.

"Sometimes, I think Lyra signed up to dispatch just to be a stickler," she chuckled.

Rapidly approaching the end of the bridge-span, Scootaloo concentrated with all his might to time the jump right. Fortunately for them, Stetson and Quince had been in such a hurry to go after the ambulance, that they had left the safety lock for the rear doors disengaged. Spontaniously blurting out "NOW!", she flung open the door, and the four lept out.

Sweetie and Applebloom were lucky, but Scoot and White Flash had put too much power into their leaps. They flew over the bridge's edge, missing the railing that protected them, and began to fall, the ground rapidly advancing to meet them, and crush them on impact.

"WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!" Scootaloo screamed, holding the grey pegasus tight, "WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"WE'VE GOTTA FLY!" White Flash told her, "IT'S OUR ONLY HOPE!"

"BUT, I CAN'T!" she protested, weakly flapping her wings, "I DIDN'T PASS MY FLIGHT TEST!"

"I KNOW YOU CAN!" He staired over at her, emotion flooding his gaze. "I BELIEVE IN YOU, I LOVE YOU!"

Their eyes met, and when Scootaloo looked into his emerald green eyes, tearing up with his true feelings for her, she believed him.

Flapping their wings hard, the two managed to regain control of their freefall. The wind that swirled past their eardrums died down, as their descent slowed, and they landed.

The two took a moment to realize they were still alive, and appreciate the gift of living, until they heard the whooping of a police siren, and looked up to see a familiar Caprice screaming down from above them.

When it hit the ground, it was destroyed instantly. The car was thoroughly crushed, but, curiously, the gas tanks didn't ignite. The other officers had heeded their superior's warning, and had stopped short of the end of the bridge.

"They're...they're dead...." White flash whispered, "Gone....Just like Featherweight...."

"It's alright," she soothed him, giving him a hug, "It'll be over soon."

"BUT, YOU'VE BEEN SAYING THAT EVER SINCE I ESCAPED!"

"I have a feeling that it's true this time."

The two took a moment to remember the duo of earth pony officers, before beginning the journey back up to Sweetie and Applebloom.

While Scootaloo and White Flash began the flight back up to the bridge, Red Cross had evaded the Cloudsdale police, and had returned to the Weather Factory, day beginning to dawn.

When he got back, Miller and Meteor were shocked at his newest proclamation:

"You and Redheart are QUITTING?!"

"You....You must be kidding us!" Meteor stuttered, wiping his glasses nervously, "You're the CORNERSTONE of our operation!"

"It's true," he admitted, "Me and Redheart never wanted to have to kill innocent foals. The Hippocratic Oath states, "You shall do no harm." We BROKE THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH, Meteor! And, unlike YOU, we TOOK IT when we were in med school! You two didn't even GO to med school, either, you're just two greedy buisinessponies who hold profit over foals' lives." He threw them the keys to the ambulance, and began to stomp away. "I'm telling the police EVERYTHING you did here, and SO WILL REDHEART!"

When they left, the two disturbed pegasi began to scheme.

"Well," Miller proposed grimly, "We'll have to turn in a final profit to meet the City of Cloudsdale's demand for Eldarius next year. Since that last raid didn't go well, we're quite behind in production, but I have a plan."

"And what would that be, brother?"

"We need a pony with all the colors of the color spectrum in their hair," he explained, "If we can find somepony like this, we might be able to water the Eldarius down, because instead of just one, drab color, we have a miniature rainbow!"

"Good idea," Meteor mused, "But where will we find this special, "Rainbow Pony"?"

Miller flicked through some files of the office above the factory floor. "Theres a pony by the name of Rainbow Dash. She lives in Cloudsdale, and she's very close to that little chickenhawk that's been snooping around here. If we can get all three; the escapee, Rainbow Dash, and the little detective, NOT ONLY will we meet our order, we'll dispose of all the witnesses as well!"

"The plan," Meteor whispered in cold delight, "It's EXCELLENT!" He grabbed two M16's lying on a gun rack on the wall. "This time, if we can't subdue them, we'll SHOOT THEM."

It was all over for these two madmen, and they knew it. With the odds stacked against them, they still had to turn in a profit, or the City of Cloudsdale might send an official to inspect the privately-owned plant, and their secret would be spilled. The two brothers, hunger for blood in their eyes, climbed into the ambulance, and sealed their fate.