Grand Theft Sparkle

Chapters

Chapter 1: A Titan of a Job
Chapter 2: Welcome to Los Santos
Chapter 3: Don’t Come Close
Chapter 4: Hot Pursuit
Chapter 5: Criminal Ambitions (Part 1)
Chapter 5: Criminal Ambitions (Part 2)

Chapter 1: A Titan of a Job

Author's Note

This is my first dedicated/actual attempt at a fanfic besides just thinking “it’d be cool if this happened” but not expanding it further than a stray thought, and in all honesty this should be called a shitfic with how bad it is both structure wise and plot wise. I got 4 years worth of english classes to tell me I can’t write to save my life so yes I know it’s poorly written, yes I know I should probably have a proofreader, and yes I know I should probably get some help. I’m mostly attempting to mimic other good writers (I won’t name them cuz i don’t want to drag them down). I wanted to write a story that has an actual story, and not just a one off “what if?” idea that only gets a single chapter and doesn’t explore the idea further since it’s based entirely upon fridge logic.

I know GTA V has been beaten to death by R*, but still, just like MLP:FiM has its golden era, so did GTA, and I’ve had this tossing around my head for a while. This chapter is brought to you by self-loathing, some very basic writing advice from some of the bigger names on FimFic, and "The Battle of New Orleans Remix But It Never Ends.” This is also the most words I have ever written in my life, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but you can’t practice without making mistakes.

Otherwise, enjoy as I repeatedly slam my head into my keyboard because I have no idea what I’m doing, but I know I want to do it.

Chapter 1: A Titan of a Job

Twilight paced around the library’s basement for the hundredth time that morning, inspecting every rune, every etch, every single detail to ensure everything was in place while Spike sat to the side; checking off a checklist that was obviously not the first, or even fifth, one he had worked on.

“Twi, we’ve been at this for almost eight hours, and we haven't found any issues during the last 10 inspections.” Spike groaned as he marked off another item on the list. “Can’t we at least eat breakfast before the presentation? I’m hungry.”

“You can eat all you want today after the presentation, I promise. I just want to make sure everything is perfect for this; we are LITERALLY making history here Spike, we can’t afford to mess up right at the finish line!”

Twilight eyed a golden rune on the floor, before comparing it to some notes on a chalkboard nearby.

“If even a single rune is out of place or wrong, it could result in cascading failure, which could result in me missing the terminus by a dozen hoofs and placing me inside a wall. Princess Celestia has been funding this and nothing can be out of place.”

A slightly manic grin adorned Twilight’s face as she went about her explanation to the young drake, but Spike merely eyed her as he sighed dejectedly.

“I know Twilight, but it’s almost time for the presentation itself, and it wouldn’t be good for the mare of the hour to be late now would it?” Spike taunted the focused mare, hoping to get a rise out of her.

Twilight’s ears perked up at the info, causing her to pause her inspection and look at Spike. “Wait, it’s almost… But isn’t it…” Twilight didn’t finish her words as she quickly dug through the cluttered tables with her magic before pulling out a small clock that showed it was getting steadily closer to noon.

“When di- Nevermind, thank you Spike, that’s why you’re my number one assistant.”

Spike’s face soured at the remark before he grumbled under his breath “I’m your only assistant.”

“Now, let’s finish the last checklist Spike.”

**2 Hours Later**

Twilight paced around the library’s basement for the thousandth time that morning, her mane looking a little disheveled as Spike sat idly by on the stairs leading to the main level.

“They should have sent a confirmation by now, something must have gone wrong, something DID go wrong. I knew I should have been there to assist.”

Spike stood up as he looked towards Twilight and an ever growing indent in the floor.

“You should calm down Twilight, they’re probably just triple checking like you usually do, just not as quick. How about I get you a glass of water and a daffodil sandwich to calm your nerves?”

Twilight's head perked up at Spike's words, snapping her out of her spiral of insanity. Taking a second to compose herself and perform a breathing exercise Cadence had taught her, she looked over to Spike with gratitude on her face.

“Thanks Spike, you’re right, I should probably eat something to get my mind off of this. How about you also get yourself something to eat as well? Just no ice cream until evening, alright? You need to eat a proper meal.” A grin broke out on her face as she watched Spike salute her before dashing up the stairs and into the library.

As Twilight turned to take a seat at one of the tables, a sudden belch from upstairs caused her to pause.

Don’t tell me he’s been sneaking in gems while I wasn’t looking, that boy-

Whatever thoughts Twilight had stopped as Spike appeared in the doorway brandishing an open scroll.

“Twilight, it’s Princess Celestia! She says they’re ready for you now!”

Gasping, Twilight immediately went into scholar mode and got to work.

“Spike, get to the switch while I prime the runes.” Twilight lowered her head and started channeling magic from her horn into the golden runes, causing them to light up with the stored magic.

Discarding the letter, Spike ran down the stairs as fast as his legs could take him before dashing to the far side of the room and hopping on a perfectly placed stool that stood next to a piece of machinery with a lever on it. Grabbing the lever with his claw, he gave Twilight a thumbs up with his free claw.

Twilight finished priming the necessary runes before moving to the center of the runic circle. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she looked at Spike with a determined face.

“Alright, we’re all good to go, throw the lever Spike.”

“Here we go!” As Spike switched on the lever, he felt a rumble in his stomach as he started to get bloated, a telltale sign of another scroll inbound. Letting go of the lever, Spike balanced himself on the stool as he belched out another dragon scroll and caught it with one hand while the other deftly opened it. Reading the letter, Spike’s eyes widened at the words written on it, horror etching itself onto his face.

‘There’s a rune that was wrong, please give us a few minutes to fix it.’

When Spike threw the lever, the runes sparked to life as the primed magic flowed throughout the rest of the circle, channeling the ambient magic in the air through the solid gold lines and markings.

“TWILIGHT, STOP!” Spike’s sudden shout startled Twilight as she looked at him, immediately noticing fear and horror on his face as he looked at her.

“THEY AREN’T READY YET!” Spike immediately turned and undid the lever per her instructions on what to do in case of an emergency, but the spell didn’t die as planned. Instead of fizzling out, the spell continued to gain power, more power than what it was originally designed for as the golden runes and marks glowed a bright white. Twilight wasted no time in dashing away from the center before hitting an invisible wall right at the edge of the circle snout first.

“AUGHHHH, THE SAFETY BARRIER!” Twilight yelled in surprise as her nose started to dribble blood from the sudden impact. Shaking her head to steady herself and push past the pain in her snout, Twilight started to form a small teleportation spell in her mind, attempting to draw in the magic that flowed around her in a whirlwind. The only issue was the fact that the circle drew in what power she had stored, and ripped it from her; like a pony in a raging river, her magic was swept up and driven into the spell being cast by the circle.

“Oh sweet Celestia, Spike! I can’t get out! I can’t stop it! Why didn’t I plan an emergency shut off?!?! Why? Why? Why!?” Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground with every ‘why’ as she desperately searched for anything to use to help her escape.

Quickly running through the runes in her head, Twilight dashed to one and started to desperately chip it out of the floor with her bare hooves in an attempt to break the power flow before the spell completed. Spike meanwhile moved closer to her, pounding on the safety barrier that had made it become her prison as he watched her try and stop the runaway spell.

After a few seconds, Twilight had to stop due to the heat wafting off the gold, signaling the spell was reaching critical mass, more than what it was ever intended to channel. Moving on the tips of her hooves to avoid touching the now heated metal melting into the floor, Twilight moved next to Spike on her side of the barrier.

“Spike, listen to me, I’ll be fine, it’ll probably send me to the far side of the planet and I’ll just have to make my way back; a few weeks at most.” Twilight put a hoof on the barrier as she looked Spike in the eyes, tears welling in his eyes as he watched her talk.

“I’ll be fine, just contact Celestia and she’ll speed things up. I’ll be back before yo-”

Whatever Twilight was about to say was cut off as the spell activated; blinding the poor drake momentarily who could only call out and blink away the spots in his vision as he looked at the scorch marks from where the gold had touched the wood.

The whole ordeal had taken less than 30 seconds.

**Sometime Later**

Twilight awoke with a gasp, her head pounding as the lights in the room blinded her while the room itself spun, nearly causing her to vomit her breakfast. Looking around slowly, she was in a stone room, surrounded by strange bipedal creatures in some black with red military garb that loomed over her, encasing her in a ring of fear.

Turning away from the silent wardens, Twilight came face to face with another bipedal creature, this one wearing an obvious higher ranking military uniform of some kind, peering down at her with his sharp green eyes, a glare of dissatisfaction plastered onto his face. A garrison cap like that of the wonderbolts sat upon his head, hiding away his graying hair.

“How do you use the runes zero-one? How do you get to Equestria?”

Twilight screamed as she backpedaled as fast as she could, putting as much distance between her and the creature as possible before falling backwards over an edge. Landing upside down, she could see the half finished runic circle that had brought her here, except this one was made out of stone and steel, crude hammering forging an imperfect replica of her experiment.

Reorienting herself, she moved towards the circle in a mad dash to stop its completion but fell short when the floor gave way below her, dropping her into an endless hallway with metal doors lining the sides as she ran past them. The sounds of multiple footsteps could be heard behind her, chasing her down the hallway for what felt like an eternity until she finally looked behind her and saw nothing chasing, the sounds of footsteps stopping as quickly as they appeared. Pausing her run, Twilight looked back in front of her, startled by a rock wall that now presented itself in place of the hallway as an ominous chuckle drew her attention back behind her once more.

Quickly turning around, she could see the military leader looking down at her with a face of contempt, like she was nothing more than a bug to be stomped on.

“It seems you like it the hard way zero-one. Let’s do it the hard way then.” His green eyes twinkled as he spoke, a cheshire grin spreading across his face as he pulled out a stick that sparked lightning out of the tip, bringing it ever closer to Twilight.

She tried to get away, but the wall behind her pushed her ever closer, fear taking over she tried to run but her hooves were sunk into the ground, trapping her and slowly dragging her towards the electric tip that danced and leapt at her every second. Twilight screamed as the creature thrust it towards her, laughing maniacally at Twilight's fear and pain.

Twilight jolted awake before immediately gasping as her whole body ached and throbbed, any movement felt like needles on her skin and nerves as she tried to catch her breath. Every sharp intake of air was accompanied by a multitude of pain, causing a near infinite cycle as Twilight fought against her own body’s micro-spasms. After some time, much longer than she would have liked, Twilight was able to calm her breathing before taking in where she was, or lack thereof.

Twilight wasn’t a night owl by any means, regardless of what a certain young dragon would claim, but the darkness that surrounded her was that of a total lack of light. Even after keeping her eyes open in an attempt to adjust to the dark, she couldn’t see a single thing in this void of light.

With vision out of the picture, Twilight turned to her other senses, such as sound and smell. She could very clearly smell metals of some kind, with a distinct lack of any smells meant to freshen up an area that one would want to sleep in, reminding her of a trip to the Canterlot trainyard when she was younger. The heavy presence of machines and craftsponies were more of a match than anything else she had experienced.

Beneath her, she could feel metal under her as her prison rocked ever so slightly in a non-existent breeze. Slowly sliding a hoof around, she could feel cold metal that helped alleviate some of the pain, but also let her know that she could spread her hooves apart comfortably.

Her ears could pick up a deep and constant rumbling below her, like that of train tracks on a straightway, but much quieter (even without a sound canceling spell) than any train she had been on. In the distance, she could also hear a low roar that seemed to change shifts every so often at seemingly random intervals.

The smell of metal, lack of light, probably a train engine of some kind? Are they moving me somewhere? How long have I been out? What hap-

Twilight suddenly winced as she remembered her failed escape attempt, and groaned at the pain that accompanied the movement.

Don’t move Twilight, don’t move, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine...

Hearing the rumbling below her slow down and stop, combined with the low roar ceasing to exist, Twilight summarized that they had reached their destination. She could hear voices come from outside, breaking up the intermittent silence that now surrounded her while she waited in the darkness.

Two figures sat in a small two door car across the airport tarmac from the open hangar where a semi-truck had just parked in front of a Titan plane. The driver of the car held a phone up to his ear while the passenger used his phone to investigate the hangar itself and take photos.

“Merryweather has been moving a lot of cargo through LSIA in the past month, and I want to know why. Get in there and steal the shipment Blake, oh, and make sure you deliver it intact this time.”

‘Blake’ in turn flinched at the emphasis on ‘intact,’ remembering the last time they had tried to jack one of Merryweather’s shipments, and how that had ended in flames, literally.

“Don’t worry Lester, James won’t use any explosives this time, I promise.” Blake glared at James while speaking, the latter holding his hands up in surrender at the jabbing before slipping his phone back into his pocket.

“You’d better. Call me when you’re airborne, I’ll have my guys meet you at the rendezvous.” The phone call ended with a click as Lester hung up the call, leaving Blake and James in silence as they watched the hangar.

Blake turned to James with a pointed look, “No grenades today whatsoever, alright?” James returned his look with a glare of his own at the pestering. “Now, how many did you spot over there? I saw about 15, I think?”

James held up one hand and stuck two fingers up before replacing it with five fingers.

“25? Jesus, that's more than their usual group. You think Lester’s right about them being up to something?”

James shrugged his shoulders as he adjusted the assault rifle between his legs, making sure he could easily pull it out once they got closer. Nodding his head towards the hangar was the only signal Blake needed before he started up the car and drove the duo around the runways and alongside the hangar, making sure to avoid being spotted by the guards inside. After parking, they stepped out and readied themselves, James wielding the assault rifle while Blake had pulled a Micro SMG from the console.

Creeping around to the front, James used a parked Merryweather SUV as cover to get a better angle on the guards inside while Blake stuck to the hangar door to get a better shot behind the plane. James grinned as he racked the slide, before looking expectantly towards Blake who cocked his gun while nodding.

James immediately jumped out and started shooting at the unsuspecting guards, nailing two in the head before the rest started diving for cover behind the crates and SUVs that littered the hangar. Shouts of anger and threats of violence were thrown towards the pair before being followed up with a barrage of shots. James got back into cover while Blake popped out, snapping to a mercs head and picking another off before hiding behind the wall again.

James used the distraction to dash towards the semi-truck, using it to cover his flank to the far side of the hangar as he ran around the cab and started picking off enemies, staying out longer than he should have as a few bullets found themselves at home in his plate carrier. Ducking back behind the cab, James waited until he could hear footsteps and blindfired, hearing a shout followed by some groaning.

Blake stepped out and fired off some shots, landing clean, as he quickly moved from the hangar door to the SUV James had hid behind previously. Hearing a bullet whiz past his face from above, Blake crouched down behind the truck and looked up, spotting three guards on the catwalk above him, pinning him down.

“JAMES! ABOVE ME!”

James finished his shots on the guards before moving back towards Blake, spotting the trio above him on the catwalk and some moving in from the rear of the plane. Aiming quickly, he fired up at them, nailing the first one while the other two changed their target to James. Aiming at the second one, James hit center of mass, dropping the guard but not killing him while the other peppered him with bullets; one cracking his armor while the second punched right through his side, leaving a small gash in James’ side.

James pulled back behind cover as he sucked wind to steady his nerves, feeling a trickle of blood seep down his side from his fresh new scar. Blake didn’t waste any time in peeking above the truck, popping another helmet before dumping the rest of his mag into the prone guard left on the catwalk. Reloading quickly, Blake barely spotted a set of boots under the car, ready to come around the corner. Aiming quickly, Blake gifted the mercenary with a trio of bullets, two to the chest and the third directly through his eye as he fell.

Two more guards moved in to flank Blake, but made the foolish mistake of being between the SUV and semitruck, letting James take the perfect shot to drop both of them in one fell swoop. Blake, hearing gunshots fired at him, whipped around and spotted where James was firing at the dead pair, before nodding to James and taking aim at someone moving in to flank James from the cab side. Nailing the guard dead center, the mercenary fell to the ground with 8 shots nestled warmly in his plate carrier as James turned around and placed one clean between the eyes.

Looking back to Blake, both listened for the sound of shouts or footsteps in the absence of gunfire. Hearing nothing for a few seconds, James gestured to Blake with his hand before pointing towards the rear of the plane. Blake nodded at the sign, quickly reloading before moving towards the back, keeping his gun trained for any remaining mercenaries.

James in the meantime moved back around the cab and flanked the plane from the opposite side of the hangar, stepping over the dead body of the mercenary he had blind fired earlier. Both of them were silent except for their breathing, Blake’s calm and collected, suppressing his adrenaline, while James was breathing heavily, the adrenaline in his system along with the now clotting hole in his side keeping him on edge with a grin on his face.

Suddenly popping up, a mercenary hiding at the back of the plane next to a metal crate snapped to Blake, firing a shot into his plate carrier before he was lit up by the duo, over 30 rounds making their new home in his chest and head. A few shots went wide at they trailed the falling corpse, hitting the metal cage and causing a female scream to ring out in fear.

“Hold on, did you hear that?” Blake looked to James who merely shrugged in response. Chalking it up to his rifle being chambered in 7.62 that he couldn’t have heard it while Blake was only using a 9mm.

“Keep an eye out, I wanna check something.”

James nodded at the request, reloading before sweeping the rest of the hangar with his gaze while Blake moved towards the metal container.

“The only metal container here, everything else is wood or polymer…”

Stepping up to it, Blake noticed how it was on a pallet jack, being lined up with the open ramp of the Titan before the firefight broke out. On top there was a padlock, and writing on the side labeling it ‘0-1.’ Tentatively reaching out his hand, Blake knocked on the crate while calling out to it.

“Hello?”

Listening carefully, he could hear what seemed to be a quiet gasp from inside, but otherwise there was no response.

“Hello? Is someone in there? Did Merryweather kidnap you?”

Just as Blake was about to give up and rejoin James, he heard a woman’s whisper come from inside the crate, “Please... please don’t hurt me, I won’t try escaping again.”

His eyes widening, Blake spoke again. “Don’t worry, we’re not with Merryweather, give me a minute and I’ll have you out of there.”

James looked back, raising an eyebrow at the situation while Blake stepped up the pallet, trying to force the padlock off with the butt of his gun before taking a step back after a flurry of attempts. Thinking quickly, Blake had an epiphany and turned to James who had his back to him, watching the entrance.

“James! The C4 from the last job, you still got it?” Nodding his head, Blake continued, “Good, go get it and give it to me.”

James, instead of moving towards their car, instead pulled out a brick of C4 from his hoodie pocket before tossing it to Blake who simply looked at him with a flat look of annoyance. Shrugging his shoulders, James moved back to get in cover behind a wooden crate in case of any debris that went flying in the blast while Blake pulled out a pocket knife and cut off a small piece of the brick. Pulling the fuse out of the main brick, Blake wrapped the small corner piece around the fuse before pressing it into the keyhole and moving away to crouch down next to James.

A small beep was all the warning given before a tiny explosion could be heard along with the sound of metal clanging on concrete flooring. Taking a look, the padlock had disappeared and one side of the crate was open, revealing a smaller crate with metal pull handles inside that rested on rails. Moving back to the crate, Blake called over James.

“Help me pull this out.”

James walked over to Blake as they both grabbed a handle and slowly slid the metal crate out, placing it on the ground next to the pallet jack. Undoing the latches, they let the side of the container drop to the ground in a loud clang, revealing a purple unicorn cowering in the corner of the crate with a hoof over its eyes.

The sudden opening of the crate left her with almost no time to adjust her eyes before Twilight found herself being bathed in a harsh white light from outside. Using her hoof to cover her eyes, she slowly adjusted as two figures slowly came into view.

Two humans stood outside the crate, both of their faces showing a mixture of surprise and confusion at the situation. The closest human had a fair build and was kneeling down, his face in an expression of shock as he stared at her with wide eyes. He had messy brown hair that was starting to grow long, hanging just past his ears in a natural bowl cut, almost hiding his blue eyes; his face was clean shaven besides a few hairs that were growing in to fill out his sideburns. He wore white shoes, blue jeans, a white shirt, and blue hoodie, a small T shaped object in his hand that he slowly placed behind his back into his jeans.

The other human stood a short distance away, ready to defend if they were attacked from the hangar entrance, but was focused entirely on Twilight. His black hair was slicked back in a pseudo mullet, revealing his brown eyes that seemed to glare at her while also staring in confusion. His face had a light stubble, the dark black hair contrasting with his light skin. He wore black shoes, blue jeans, a white shirt with a small trail of blood that dripped down his right side, and a gray hoodie.

The brown haired human was the first to speak, breaking the silence. “Uhhhh–” He shook his head to clear his mind, “--Were you..? What the heck?”

Twilight lowered her hoof more, wincing at the pain that sprung up from her chest where two small burn marks lay, remnants from the eclectic stick.

“Are you two… Are you really not with them?” Twilight asked, worry seeping into her voice as she spoke. A second passed as the two humans processed what she said, the first to react was the black haired human who raised the strange weapon and aimed at her like the soldiers had, while the brown haired human moved just as quick, raising his hand and opening his palm towards the other without so much as a glance in his direction as he slowly knelt down to be at her eye level.

“We’re not, my name is Blake, and this is James.” The brown haired human, Blake apparently, said while gesturing between himself and James. “We’re actually here because we were hired to, liberate, some of the supplies from Merryweathers shipments. Just… What… Who are you?”

Twilight looked between the two; ‘Blake’ had a look of concern like that of an older brother while James seemed entirely indifferent, his weapon was lowered but his eyes glared at her like one would at a pest who ruined their day.

“My n-name is Twilight Sparkle…” Twilight spoke slowly, fear filling her words as she spoke. They could have been lying about being with Merryweather, or maybe they were from a rival group who wanted to kidnap her and continue her research. Could she really trust them?

“Twilight Sparkle. That sounds like a nice name, Twilight. Could you tell me how you ended up here?”

Twilight’s mind flashed back to the last time she heard those words, fear flashing on her face as she relived the last few weeks in her mind. Blake noticed her expression and held his hands up in surrender.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but, do you want to stay here or would you like to come with us?”

Twilight looked hesitantly to Blake, trying to gauge what type of person he was and if she could trust that he wasn’t just another human who wanted to know how to get to Equestria. Opening her mouth to speak, she paused, what if they were worse than Merryweather?

“I- I thin–”

Anything else she was about to say was cut off as the sound of a bullet impact could be heard nearby, impacting on the hangars rear wall. James snapped around, aiming his rifle towards the tarmac where three more SUV’s could be seen rapidly approaching the hangar, mercenaries shooting through the front window or leaning out the side windows to try and hit the amateur thieves.

“Shit, reinforcements, James, push up and keep them busy, I’ll move around and try to flank them. Twilight, stay in cover and don’t get shot, I’m not sure we could get the bullet out.”

Without waiting, both Blake and James moved towards the front of the plane, James taking shots at the front windshield of the first SUV, nailing the driver and shotgun, causing the car to go careening into the cement blockade at the edge of the hangar before flipping on its side. The second and third cars quickly moved to put some cover between them and James, pulling up behind the semi-truck to block any further shots as eight reinforcements stepped out.

Blake made his appearance at the back of the semi, dumping his entire magazine into two of the guards before knocking down a third with the last few shots. James wasted no time in pushing up while reloading and firing from the cab of the semi, dropping another two while the remaining four grouped up between the cars, their plan of getting the cover being turned against them.

James openly pushed out into the open, firing suppressive shots while making his way out onto the tarmac and reloading. Blake on the other hand started to move in towards the group, spotting their feet under the car and taking shots, knocking a few down in the middle of their attempt to regroup. A flurry of shouts, yells, and screams of the dead filled the air as the duo finished off the mercenaries who barely had a chance against them. Looking to Blake, James gestured between him and one of the SUV’s while he hopped into the other, driving it off to the side to clear a path for the plane, the primary objective still on his mind. Blake, silently complying with the request, pulled the SUV around the back of the plane, leaving the semi to James alone as he wanted to check up on Twilight.

What he saw worried him. Twilight had stepped out of the metal cage and was standing just a foot away, staring at the still warm corpse of the guard who had used her cage as cover.

Twilight watched as Blake gave out quick orders to James, before they split up and each went to a different side of the plane. James, on the left, aimed his weapon at the metal carriages before loud cracks rang through the hangar, same as what she had heard before her crate opened, and flashes of fire erupted from the tip of the weapon.

”That weapon, they made those sounds! But I can’t feel any magic or…”

Twilight’s inner musings were cut off as she watched the lead carriage veer off into a concrete barrier and flip on its side, the screech of metal and glass grinding on the ground pulling her attention to what lay before her.

“Did.!? Did he just?!?!”

Twilight shook off her bout of terror, instead forcing herself to try and get away from the whole situation.

“Think Twilight, think! What would Shining do? He’d use his guard training to analyze the situation, figure out potential actions, and make a plan! First, analyze, a fight is happening, you aren’t trained for this, and nothing in your books could prepare you for this. Sounds right, so what’s next? Running away, stayin–”

As Twilight spoke to herself to help calm her nerves, she suddenly started smelling something metallic, like that of copper.

”Strange, it reminds me of when I had a nosebleed as a filly. Why woul–”

Twilight’s eyes widened as a horrible thought ran through her head, connecting dots that she had left unconnected. The loud cracks, screams and shouts, and then Blake and James appeared, along with the carriage crashing.

Twilight looked around, pushing away her tunnel vision that had clouded her mind before, noticing lumps of black, white, and red clothing scattered around the hangar before her eyes settled on one that was particularly close to her cage.

Slowly approaching it, the smell of copper got stronger and stronger, causing Twilight to gag and cough as she put a hoof up to her nose in an attempt to block the smell, as futile as it was, the smell of her unwashed coat was a blessing in disguise compared to what Twilight stared at.

The copper smell was originating from a black and red pile of clothes in front of her, red liquid pooling around it like that of spilled paint.

”No, not paint. Blood… But that means…”

Twilight’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she started to pick out details from the clump- no, human that laid before her. The arms and legs had holes that spilled rivers of blood while the head… Twilight could spot meaty flesh encased inside bone, revealing the inner workings of this human mind.

Twilight backed away, putting some distance between them as her breathing picked up, her sight locked onto the dead body that laid on a pool of blood. Fear gripped her heart, this human was killed in the fighting, and those humans now…

The rapport of cracks sounded like that of rain on the roof, distant and faded as Twilight’s vision darkened, blocking out first the hangar, then the crates, and soon the lights, leaving her with one of the dead humans who had once been her tormentor.

“Sweet Celestia, that’s… They murder one another! How could they do that to one another?!?!”

Twilight knew that death was a part of life, every time Celestia had delved into historical figures over the millennium, she always had a look of sorrow whenever she would talk about somepony she had known personally. But ever since the last war in 82 A.B. (After Banishment) or 82nd year of the Solar Calendar, death from fighting had been nonexistent, the only deaths arising from encounters with hostile wildlife.

Twilight teared up at the thought, the idea of killing another sentient creature was foreign to her as was this world, her breathing had turned into near hyperventilation while staring at the corpse. So lost in thought she was that she never noticed Blake approaching her, nor calling out to her until a hand touched her shoulder.

Shouting as she was snapped out of her trance, Twilight jumped away from the contact and spotted Blake who had flinched back from the harsh reaction, taking a step back and calling out to her once more.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Blake asked quietly, his voice calm and quiet so as to not spook her anymore. His eyes were widened in concern for his 3ft tall acquaintance. He had crouched down to her eye level, hand still reaching out from his attempt to gain her attention.

Twilight stared incredulously at him, noticing how he didn’t even seem fazed or concerned by the fact that there were DOZENS of dead bodies around them.

“Wh- WHa- They- He-” Twilight sucked in a breath to give her some composure, the adrenaline and fear coursing through her derailing her normally logical mind.

“Di- Did you two… Did you…” Twilight’s voice cracked as she spoke, her mind barely comprehending what she was about to say. “kill... everypony…”

Twilight’s voice was barely that above a whisper, as if she spoke any louder the world itself would notice and react. Twilight had to look at the ground as she said that, tears that had been budding now dropping to the concrete below. Twilight, no longer able to hold back the floodgates, started to cry openly as she buried her face into hooves, her mind reeling from everything.

Blake said nothing as Twilight cried, opting instead to let her process her emotions while he thought of a way to help her without lying to her. After a few minutes, Blake noted that James had finished clearing the path and was now closing up the plane, gesturing to Blake to get in with him. Blake instead chose to wave him off, knowing the car was still around the side for him to get away in.

James took one last look between him and Twilight before nodding in begrudging acceptance of Blake’s actions. As James jumped into the plane, Blake knew he had around a minute or two at most before the hangar was filled with the roar of the engines, drowning out any potential conversations.

Looking back to Twilight, he could see she had pulled her hooves away from her face, eyes now red and puffy as she sniffled to keep the snot from running everywhere, although there were a few streaks on her hooves already drying. Blake slowly sighed before speaking.

“Twilight, I’m not going to lie to you. James and I aren’t the, well, best of people. We were hired by someone to, steal this shipment from the shady PMC Merryweather, and they fought to the death over it. I’m not going to say that you have to come with us, or even should come with, but do you have anywhere safe to go? I can tell you aren’t from here, you don’t even look like you’re from this world, but I don’t want to see you hurt or in the hands of Merryweather to let them do God knows what to you.”

Twilight didn’t move besides to sniffle some more or wipe away a straggling tear as Blake spoke, listening to his words while her eyes were glued to the floor.

“Why… Why do you… You…”

Twilight paused her question to breathe, her slow breath shuddering from her nerves twitching sporadically.

“You… Regardless of the reason, that makes you a… a… a murderer!” Twilight rasped out, her breath catching on itself causing her to cough as she looked into Blake’s eyes.

Blake’s face became saddened, knowing that while she was right, she wasn’t from here and didn’t have the experiences he had. Looking into her eyes, he could see disgust, accompanied by fear and horror of what he had done.

“There’s a phrase that I heard long ago,” Twilight looked at him with skepticism as he spoke, “that if you kill a murderer, the amount of murderers stays the same. But, I feel if you keep killing murderers, then the amount of murderers in the world decreases, even just a little bit. You are right though, I am a murderer for killing them, but if I didn’t kill them, then they would have brought this plane and its cargo, which would have included you, to God knows where to do who knows what with it. There are plenty of countries out there that are happy to take their money and look the other way. I can tell that wherever you're from, it's peaceful, and isn’t engulfed in war, espionage, or secret government agencies working against its people.”

Twilight looked away from Blake as he spoke, choosing instead to look at the concrete to her left.

“Let me help you stay alive and free at the very least, but it requires you to trust me just a little bit, okay?”

Blake held out his hand, leaving it in the air as he looked at Twilight. Twilight for her part slowly looked at him, before looking around at the scene in the hangar and sighing. Slowly, and almost painfully, she raised her hoof to shake his hand.

“I’ll trust you, just… No more… This, around me.” Twilight weakly muttered out as she shook his hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you aren’t around anymore gunfights, but in the meantime we should get out of here before the plane ta–” The rest of Blake’s sentence was drowned out in the sudden roar of the four plane engines coming to life. With them being behind the plane itself, the wind buffeted them harshly, nearly sliding Twilight away as she tried to plant her three hooves to steady herself, the last hoof in the hand of Blake as he tugged her to the side of the hangar.

As the unlikely pair moved around the hangar, James started pulling the plane out onto the tarmac, opting to get it onto the larger runway and not risk crashing into one of the many lights or structures that dotted the airport. Swinging around a raised section of ground, James turned the plane to line up the runway slowly, before a shot rang out and brushed against his head. Looking towards the entrance of LSIA, he could see three more SUV’s inbound and filled with angry mercenaries. Frowning as he quickly shifted the plane into position, James set the throttle to max, slowly feeling and entirely hearing the thrust of the propellers pushing the plane forward painfully slowly at first.

Blake and Twilight had made it into the car and stopped to watch the Titan of a plane pick up speed, drawing the attention of Merryweather away from the hangar, and them as well.

“Will he be okay in that thing?” Twilight asked, eyes wide in both fear and curiosity as she watched the plane take off, ignoring the SUV’s that attempted to chase it to the end of the runway as Blake pulled out from between the hangars and over to the exit gate.

“Yea, he’ll be fine, I need to make a call though to let them know it’s on the way. After that we’ll be driving out there to pick him up and bring him home.”

Blake pulled out his phone and sifted through his contacts, reaching Lester’s name and dialing it. Keeping it on speaker so he could focus on driving around the highway by LSIA while letting Twilight hear, the call rang twice before a nasally voice answered it.

“I hope you’re calling with good news.”

“Of course, planes up and on its way, Merryweather had extra security on it and double the usual reinforcements.”

“Hmmm.” The sounds of a keyboard typing away could be heard on the other end of the line. “Seems like they’re really pissed that this shipment got stolen, did you see anything on it that might be the reason?”

Blake looked over to Twilight who was attempting to analyze the device in his hand before noticing that he was looking at her while driving leisurely through the city streets. Tension filled the air as Twilight pressed her lips together and hesitated to speak, choosing to mentally debate with herself instead for a few seconds. Hesitantly, and as quiet as she could, she whispered to Blake.

“If you trust him.”

Blake nodded his head and smiled warmly at her before speaking, “Yea, though that’ll be something I’ll tell you later, but we’ll need to meet in person for it.”

There was a pause as Lester went quiet, the only noise being that of Blake turning the car onto the western highway, or ‘Great Ocean Highway’ as it was officially called. Blake started to open his mouth to speak before suddenly Lester spoke again.

“Hmm, is this ‘something’ dangerous? Something that no government would want you to have?” Lester’s tone was perfectly level in its delivery, yet it was very obvious what he was thinking.

“No no, it’s not dangerous, it’s more like, ehhhh, something that Merryweather wanted to keep close to their chest. I promise it’s not what you’re thinking, hell even I wouldn’t think of this, but you can hold off on the payment until we meet up to discuss it. Scout’s honor, I promise.”

“...Alright, I’ll trust it for now, but if you don’t show up for the meeting…”

“C’mon Lester, I haven’t ever lied to you before, at least give me a chance now, that’s all I’m asking, please?”

“Fine fine, I doubt Merryweather would be stupid enough to ship anything crazy like this anyway. I’ll send you which park we’ll mee–”

“It has to be somewhere discreet, I can’t bring h- show it around in the daylight.”

“...I’ll text you the address, be there in two days after dark, got it?”

“Got it boss, see you then!” Blake cheerfully said, the tension leaving the air as Lester hung up the call and Blake focused on the road, picking up speed to start weaving past cars on the freeway.

Twilight watched Blake put the phone away, before looking at him, her ears low to her head as she thought about what to say. Time passed in silence, the only disturbance being the gentle shift in the car's weight as they took the bends or switched lanes while Twilight grew frustrated with herself.

Twilight took a deep breath before looking back to Blake, narrowing her eyes slightly as she finally built up the courage to speak to him.

“Why are you helping me? What do you gain out of this?”

Blakes eyes widened in surprise at the accusatory nature of the question, looking over at Twilight briefly in confusion before collecting himself to reply.

“Why am I helping you? I guess that’s a fair question, but it’s because it’s what I would want someone to do if I was in your position. I know how bad Merryweather is when out in public, I know it’s only worse when nobody’s looking.”

Blake’s mouth turned into a frown as he spoke the last sentence, his face becoming grim as he thought about the rumors of what went on at the black sites. Twilight, for her part, softened her expression as he spoke to her.

“And for what I gain out of this… Nothing really, a good story to tell years on, and maybe a friend.” Blake’s frown shifted into a gentle smile, ideas and hope for the future popping into his head as he turned onto route 68 just before the highway passed the military base.

Twilight eyed him, trying to gauge him but knew deep down that she lacked the ability to truly do so, else she wouldn’t have been fooled the first time. Ponies were the easiest to read, due to their ears and wide eyes, liars weren’t often, and when one was found, it was rare for them to be proficient enough to slip past the average questionnaire.

Twilight had also seen Minotaurs during her time as Celestia’s student, but due to her being so focused on studying, she hardly paid attention to their mannerisms when they would engage in conversation with Celestia. Human’s were closest to minotaurs in regards to their build, but even then humans barely expressed themselves.

”It’s almost like humans are natural liars, but…”

Twilight looked at the dashboard of the car, not for any particular reason, but because she needed something to steady her gaze on besides Blake, thinking about what he said.

“If you’re willing to go that far,” Twilight turned her gaze back to Blake, “then why do you…”

“Kill?” Blake offered the word in lieu of her saying it.

“Yes! It doesn't make any sense, sure some ponies make mistakes or hurt somepony else, but to do… that! There’s only been a dozen cases in Equestria’s history where somepony… D- Did that more than once! Almost everypony else would break down after doing that!”

Twilight took a breath after her rant, slightly panting as she tried to calm her nerves back down while mentally processing everything so as to not have an aneurysm. Letting the conversation die out, Twilight rested her head on her hoof as she took a look out the passenger window, passing a run down motel on the corner of two roads. Hearing Blake sigh, Twilight turned her ears back towards him.

“Years ago, I watched a movie with James, well, more like I dragged him there so we could hang out and take a break, but anyway. In the movie, one of the characters said a line that resonated with me. ‘Just because you are a bad guy, doesn’t mean you are a bad guy.”

Twilight looked at him out of the corner of her eye, her eyebrow raising as he spoke.

“Just because James and I do bad things, doesn’t mean we can’t control who we do it to. Yea killing is bad, but in San Andreas, everyone is either trying to kill one another, fuck one another, or fuck over one another, pardon my french.”

Blake hurriedly said the last part of the sentence, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment with a slight chuckle.

“But even in this crazy state, there are people here that are good people, who mean well, but sometimes don’t always do well, or can’t do well. Humans are complicated like that, one day you’re fighting one another, the next you’re the best of friends.”

Blake turned left, taking a wide turn around a bar as the Sandy Shores airfield came into view.

“It’s how me and James met anyway, and look at us now, two idiots in Los Santos trying to make a dishonest buck.”

Twilight saw a dilapidated and rusted out hangar come into view, while standing in front of it was James, smoking a cigarette while waiting for them. As the car stopped a few feet away from him, he threw it to the ground and stomped it out as he moved to hop into the bed of the car.

Twilight sat quietly on the passenger seat, normally she would be abound with questions on how this metal carriage worked, what moved it, what powered it, did everypony have one, how hard was it to replicate the design, who designed it, and a dozen other questions, but only one plagued her mind as Blake drove in silence.

”How can you be a murderer, but also not a bad pony?”

Twilight KNEW better than most ponies that you can make a mistake, end up on the wrong path in life, and still end up a good pony, but to k– to do THAT, nopony that would be willing to do that could be redeemable. Even Discord and Nightmare Moon, the two biggest threats to the world, they never actually… They had hurt ponies, yes, Celestia had told her after the Summer Sun Celebration that Celestia needed weeks to recover from their battle a thousand years ago, but the emotional toil it took on her lasted every day until Twilight and her friends stopped Nightmare Moon.

But even after everything they did, they still never went that far. They always knew to wound, to stop, to prank, but to, to… To kill… They knew to never cross that line.

Twilight hardly paid attention to where they were going until she spotted a vineyard that they had passed earlier, except this time Blake turned left and went south. Noticing the desert sand turning into lush green hills and cliff faces, Twilight looked around cautiously, noting that besides a few buildings, she hadn’t even been paying attention while they were moving, too engrossed in the conversation.

Taking the road all the way up into the mountains, they followed a river up the mountain before passing a gas station as they crested over the top; Twilight finally noticing how large the city was as its light encompassed the entire night sky, drowning out the natural starlight with light pollution.

Standing taller than all of Canterlot Castle, taller than the skyscrapers of Manehatten, Twilight watched buildings not only peak over the horizon, but ascend well past it, reaching towards the sky like mountains themselves. Lights could be spotted from within, dotting the buildings sporadically like a foal would decorate a Hearth's Warming tree. Lights could be spotted moving up and down a trio of towers, while Twilight could make out what seemed to be more metal carriages that moved below the towers.

“Never seen a city like this before?”

Twilight snapped out of her daze, realizing her jaw had dropped at some point. Closing her mouth and coughing into her hoof to hide her embarrassment, she looked over to Blake who seemed to be amused by her reaction.

“Well, it is a bit larger than my hometown.”

Not entirely a lie, it was bigger than Canterlot, and infinitely bigger than the small town of Ponyville she now called home, but best to keep that to herself.

“Wait until you see Vice City, or even Liberty City. Vice is pretty big, but I feel Los Santos is bigger, but Liberty? Nothing but skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, makes Los Santos look like a small time town in comparison.”

“I doubt I will ever be able to, or want to, visit those places.” Twilight replied curtly, getting home would take priority over any form of sightseeing.

“You might not be able to visit them yourself, but luckily we have the internet, and that will let you see them. Plus it’s a lot safer than trying to travel across the entire country.” Blake offhandedly replied as they drove into the outskirts of the city, the buildings blocking most of the view of downtown now.

Twilight elected to simply keep silent, the idea of this ‘enter-net’ allowing viewing of other cities yet still easily accessible, intriguing her inner scientist, but the rest of her wanted nothing else to do with this world.

Watching the smaller two to five story buildings pass by, and a strange one with a multitude of colors adorning its face while it appeared to be empty yet filled with similar metal carriages to their own, Twilight scrunched up her face slightly in confusion.

”How could such an advanced civilization still be filled with murderers? If the majority of ponies were busy fighting one another, it would be impossible for the world to survive.”

Twilight was jostled from her thoughts, again, when they pulled up to a small, two story blue building, with a large sign above it. An older woman holding a fan, along with some bracelets and rings next to her were accompanied by the large text saying “SELL GRANDMA’S GOLD!” above it. Twilight felt revolted at the idea of how one could casually think of something so horrendous as selling a family heirloom, even if they were in hard times, heirlooms were one of the last things ponies would sell due to the sentimental value alone.

Blake reached above him and pressed a button, a gray garage door sliding up and away as he pulled into the underground section of the building, backing into a garage that was dimly lit with an overhead lamp above the car and a single bulb light by the door to the stairs. Stepping out the two-door car, he called over to James who had hopped out of the bed.

“James, could you ge-”

Blake’s words died in his mouth as he spotted Twilight through the back window, her horn glowing purple along with the interior handle, as the passenger door opened by itself. James, hearing his name, stopped to look over before his eyes fell on Twilight hopping out the car and closing the door behind her. James’ eyes widened in shock at witnessing Twilight moving the door without actually touching it, while Blake dropped his jaw at the sight.

Twilight looked up at James, noticing his expression and instinctively backed up towards the front of the car, looking down at the ground to avoid his dumbfounded gaze.

“W-What’s wrong?” Twilight managed to say, her composure failing slightly.

Blake was the first to snap back to reality as she spoke, looking at her with wide eyes and barely contained excitement.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?” Blake so much as didn’t shout, but spoke quickly and excitedly.

“The door? Well, I saw you open it from the outside the first time, and then just now I saw you reach for the interior handle. It seemed simple enough so…” Twilight looked between Blake and James, confusion on her face at the question.

“No no! I mean with your horn! How did you move it without touching it!?”

Blake had started to lean over the back of the car to look closer at Twilight, his face smiling like a child who had witnessed their very first magic trick.

Twilight smiled nervously at the question, taking a few seconds to think before she decided to answer.

“Oh, magic? Well, all I have to do is use the ambien–”

Twilight was cut off as Blake literally jumped over the back of the car, although impressive as it was, still falling just short and tripping over the side wall of the bed and shoulder checking the concrete below. Popping up not a second later onto his knees, he starts badgering Twilight with questions, his childlike glee never leaving his face.

“OO OO, MAGIC? Like real, life actual, magic? What else can you do? Can you teleport? Turn invisible? Can you shoot lasers out of your horn? OH wait, what about flight? Can you fly with it? Could you make a shie-”

Blake was cut off as James smacked the back of his head, the slap echoing in the small space as Blake looked stunned for a second before glaring at James.

“Ow, what was that for?”

James simply pointed at Twilight who had moved away from Blake, now much closer to the workbench at the back of the garage that held spare car parts than the passenger door, nearly a three foot difference. Blake’s eyes widened once he realized he was making Twilight upset at the barrage of question,

“Ah, sorry about that Twilight, it’s just, REAL magic is sooo cool. I won’t bug you about everything magic can do if you don’t want to talk about it, how about we head upstairs and get you settled in, I know I’m tired from running around all night.”

Blake looked between Twilight and James, who for his part merely turned away without a word and proceeded through the door on the side of the garage. Blake looked sheepishly at Twilight as the sound of James’ footsteps could be heard climbing the stairs.

“C’mon, how about I show you our apartment, it’s probably better than anything Merryweather had.” Blake said as he used the car to lift himself up, flashing a hearty grin at Twilight before moving to the door James took.

Twilight slowly followed behind him, taking note of where everything was, just in case. Blake stepped through and held the door open for her behind him, which she graciously held in her magic as she passed through. The duo ascended the staircase as it wrapped back around before ending in a hallway that lead to a series of doors with numbers on them.

Twilight was able to recognize an apartment complex, unsurprising since they were in the city where space was limited and the only way to build was up. In the few seconds she looked around, Blake had already made way to the end of the hall, going up to a door and attempting to open it before realizing it was locked. Giving it a quick knock, Blake looked back at Twilight who was swiftly walking towards him to catch up and not be left behind.

As Twilight reached Blake, the apartment door swung open revealing James who simply glanced at Blake before stepping away to allow them unfettered access. Blake pushed the door open to its fullest before gesturing to Twilight to enter the apartment.

Twilight took a peek inside the apartment, seeing what appeared to be a, albeit very run down and poor, living room accompanied by a few couches. Stepping through the entryway revealed the full extent of the apartment, although calling it fit for three would be a stretch due to how little room there was.

The entryway where Twilight stood doubled as the dining area, fitted with a small table and two chairs to sit on, next to the kitchen taking up a small corner all the while dressed in a faded green color. A half wall separated the kitchen/dining area from the rest of the apartment, allowing access to the living room in the far corner where a TV sat in the corner where two couches faced it along with a lounge chair with a bong on the table between it all.

And to her left were two doors, one inset halfway down the wall while the other sat in the corner of the room. Blake stepped in behind her while closing the door, its gentle click alerting Twilight to its movement. Twilight scooted towards the dining table as Blake moved past her towards the fridge, opening it and shifting through its contents.

“James, you good with a beer?”

A simple grunt was the only reply from James as Blake pulled out two beers in one hand.

“What about you Twilight? We have some soda’s in here that probably won’t upset you, and some veggies, although we’ll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow to get a proper supply of food for you. Are you ok with cucumbers for tonight?”

Blake peaked his head over the fridge door, taking a look at Twilight who stood in by the front door still. Spotting Blake staring at her for a few seconds, Twilight jumped slightly as she thought of what he said.

“Uh, yea, cucumbers sound good? What’s soda?”

“Think carbonated water with flavors, it’s good, trust me.” Blake said as he pulled out a Sprunk can and a bag of cucumbers in his other hand. Holding them out for Twilight, she took them in her magic and opened the bag of cucumbers, their fresh scent wafting out as she pulled one out.

Blake, all the while, watched in rapt fascination, eyes wide in childlike glee watching her use magic again. A small cough from Twilight was enough to snap him back to reality as he laughed in embarrassment before moving over to the door in the corner of the room and opening the door, revealing a bathroom.

“This here is the bathroom, we’ll grab you some toiletries in the morning, don’t worry about that tonight.” Blake said as he moved away from the bathroom and to the remaining door halfway down the wall. “And this is the bedroom, feel free to use it, since we’re out so much, or so tired, we usually pass out on the couch and mostly use it for storage under the bed or in the closet. Plus, I’m sure you’d like some privacy as a woman.”

Twilight blushed at the comment, mumbling out a quiet “Thank you.” through her embarrassment.

As she inspected her temporary bedroom, she noticed the record player, along with vinyls and posters on the wall, saying things such as “LOS SANTOS OWNS YOU” and “An American Divorce” with the lead stars name just below it. The bed itself was a simple bed, with sheets and some pillows with a purple cover that was pulled back, only covering 2/3rds of the bed.

On the walls sat small bookshelves, filled with miscellaneous books and speakers, along with a small dresser turned TV stand with movies and magazines below it. A small lamp and alarm clock sat on the nightstand next to the bed. At the opposite end of the room stood a tall wardrobe, the right panel open enough for Twilight to spot some clothes hanging on racks, pants and shoes at the bottom, and a shelf near the top was filled to the brim with ammo boxes and magazines.

“Feel free to sleep for now, me and James usually pass out later since it's only 3AM.

Twilight turned to look back into the living room, spotting Blake handing James a ‘beer’ and taking a seat on the second couch before turning on the TV, Kung-Fu Rainbow Lazer Force splashing onto the screen as the duo watched the show with mild disinterest.

Twilight simply chose to close the bedroom door quietly as they relaxed, sipping on beer and laughing every so often. Taking a seat on the bed and placing the bag and can of Sprunk in front of her while she slowly munched on the cucumbers, she slowly took in her surroundings. The absence of threats, demands, or even harsh lighting that left her restless and without a proper night's rest left her feeling numb to the sensation.

No, not numb. Relaxed. I’m relaxed…

Twilight snorted at the idea, a strained smile gracing her lips for the first time in weeks as she thought of the idea.

I’m relaxed while I’m about to sleep in the same apartment as two murderers… Sweet Celestia, what has my life become?

Twilight moved the remainder of her meal to the TV stand, leaving it for later on when she awoke; choosing instead to slip under the covers, curl up on herself, and sleep properly for the first time since she arrived on Earth.

Chapter 2: Welcome to Los Santos

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: Don’t Come Close

**5 Days Later**

Twilight was laid out on the bed, her bed, and bored out of her mind. After the meeting with Lester earlier in the week, she hadn’t pursued the idea of helping Blake and James with their work since it would mean the possibility of somepony getting hurt during the job. Twilight had pondered the idea of any other ways of helping, but besides learning how to drive properly (she had read about it plenty) there wasn’t much she could do.

With a groan, she slid off the bed, lazily looking around the room for something, anything, else that she hadn’t yet read. All the automotive books, engineering, astronomy, biography, fantasy, and even geology books have been read through already, twice! Without so much as a newspaper to keep her occupied, Twilight reluctantly opened her door to the living room, hearing the TV on as some show about how ‘Moorehead rides again’ was playing. Looking at the couches showed James passed out on his in the corner, a TV remote rising and falling on his chest with his breath.

James had taken the day off after working for a week straight, so Blake was picking up jobs today in order to have enough money to pay for the three of them, of which, Twilight was sure her food costs were the highest, mainly due to the fact that ‘Sprunk’ tasted so good to her. Speaking of which…

Twilight moved over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and ruffling through it, although there wasn’t much to rifle through currently. After Blake and James went grocery shopping the day after her arrival, Twilight had ended up eating most of that supply, leaving her with only some beer, or ‘meat based’ products. While Twilight would normally just give a call to Blake to tell him about it, the issue was he was out of town, up in ‘Blaine County’ and wouldn’t be back until the next day, and unless it was an emergency, or Twilight needed info, Lester wasn’t an option. This situation only left her with two options, starve, or talk to the one po– human that didn’t really like her all that much.

A rumbling stomach told her which choice to pick, even though she really, REALLY, didn’t want to.

Hesitantly approaching the sleeping man, Twilight debated with herself on how to approach such a situation.

Why not just simply ask? ‘Hey James, can you go to the store for me and get some food for me to eat?’ I’m sure that’ll work, it’s not like he hates you, or the fact that you’re just standing here, about to ask him to get you food like he was a servant… Oh Faust, why couldn’t Blake have gotten some food before leaving?

Poking him with a hoof, James simply shifted while letting a snore escape from him as Twilight stood quietly next to him. Reaching out to poke him again, James snorted as he turned his head towards her, an eye flicking open for a fraction of a second before he resumed his sleep.

Twilight gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath before poking James one more time, hard enough that he flinched from the pressure on his rib as he opened his eyes and glared at Twilight, clearly not happy that his sleep was being disturbed by the purple mare.

“I-I know you’d rather not talk to me, b-but, well…”

Twilight looked away from James, avoiding his gaze as she spoke.

“There isn’t any food or drink that I can eat… And I was wondering…”

Twilight shifted nervously on her hooves as she spoke, lowering her head more and more with each passing second.

“If you… If you could get some food for me…”

In a perfect impression of Fluttershy, Twilight finished her request, her eyes screwed shut in fear as she heard James take in a deep breath and sigh.

Nothing happened for nearly a minute afterwards, until eventually the sounds of the TV shut off and the squeaking of the couch’s worn springs could be heard. Cracking open her eyes, James was now sitting up on the couch, a frown matching his mood as he cradled his face. A simple grunt was all he did before standing up and moving over to the door, looking at Twilight expectantly while she stood still by his couch.

An angry grunt and nod of his head towards the door was enough for Twilight to realize he was telling her to follow him, even though he seemed to loathe the fact he had to do foal sitting duty.

“OH, sorry, sorry…” Twilight quietly mumbled out as she quickly rushed over to the door, following him out and down into the garage that sat empty. A quick sneer from James was all Twilight heard before he moved towards the garage door itself, opening it and walking outside, letting Twilight follow slowly into the mid-afternoon sun.

As they stepped outside into the daylight of Los Santos, Twilight looked around in slight wonder at the sights before her. While the city was normally quiet(ish) at night, it was a different story during the day.

The city itself jutted out into the sky still, its dark building in juxtaposition to the bright and sunny day, with light cloud cover hiding the baby blue sky beyond. Cars passed on the main road to the west, dozens of different cars passing by every second in a rush to get to their destination. One pulled off of the main road and started driving towards them, a black four door car with a driver behind the wheel.

James took a single look at him and ran into the road, causing the man to stop, honking his horn until James pulled out a pistol from his hoodie and aimed it at the driver. Nodding his head to the side, the driver quickly got out of the car and ran away, screaming as he did so, letting James walk up to the car and hop in before looking to Twilight who stood aghast at the fact James had just car-jacked another person!

The honking of the horn was enough to snap Twilight out of her mini-freak out, spotting James glaring at her from the driver seat as he pointed at her before pointing to himself. Twilight tensed up as she quickly trotted over to the car, hopping into the passenger seat as James sped off without a care for any rules or regulations. Safety laws be damned!

SWEET CELESTIA WHAT HAVE I DONE!?

**1 Hour Later**

Twilight sat in the passenger seat of the stolen car, quietly eating her salad and attempting to ignore the fact that James had probably violated almost every motorist law in the state, and probably the country, with his reckless driving. They had plowed through red lights, traffic signs, even a pedestrian more than once! All the while James went about it without a care in the world while Twilight screamed every time they hit something (and someone) during their quick trip to the local Burger Shot.

After getting the food, James had to make a quick getaway due to the fact that the police were out in full force searching for them after violating so many laws (and people), sending them across town in a wild car chase and that added even more destruction! James had ended up jumping onto the highway at some point, then veering off towards a large building under construction alongside it. Behind said building was some kind of dirt racetrack, with a small parking lot in the center of which they now sat parked.

I just wanted a meal…

Eating the last of her salad, Twilight turned to look at James who was quietly sitting in the driver seat still, munching on his own meal, some meat burger that left Twilight with a distaste for the smell.

Twilight knew Blake trusted James, but was that just because Blake trusted everypony? Just going to get a meal was a mess that involved the cops, at least a dozen cars, 10 street lights, four stop signs, and six pon– people who had probably DIED!

Twilight coughed into her hoof while looking away from James to break the ice that had settled between them.

“Thanks for getting me some food…”

A dismissive grunt was her only reply as he balled up the wrapper and tossed it out the window, along with the greasy bag it had come in. Twilight narrowed her eyes at the casual littering as he readjusted his seat and went to start the car, a bored look on his face.

“Before we go back…” James didn’t so much as move, but simply paused as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “Just… Why did you threaten that pon– person with a gun? Just to steal their car? A-And then, on the way to the restaurant, you– you– you violated every law in regards to motor vehicles! You even killed those people who were just…! They didn’t even do anything wrong! They were just–”

Twilight was cut off as James growled, a low guttural growl of anger like that from a lion when an upstart challenges its reign. His knuckles turned white from how hard he was grasping the steering wheel while he glared straight ahead at the abandoned stand in front of them. If looks could kill, James would have murdered half the city with the stare he was giving that building. Breathing heavily, it was obvious he was working to keep his anger under control to Twilight, deep, heavy breathes as he closed his eyes and twitched his arms and neck ever so slightly. After a minute of repeating that, James let out one final breath before loosening his grip on the steering wheel and relaxing his shoulders. His anger contained, he turned to Twilight and silently glared at her, all the while Twilight scooted as far from him as she could due to fear.

Satisfied with how Twilight had backed down from her little tirade against him, James looked away from her as he sighed in contempt, pinching the bridge of his nose in silent exasperation. Twilight, shied away from him, knowing that she could potentially make the situation even worse if she spoke, but if she didn’t… When would they be able to talk again? James generally worked jobs most of the week, only taking a day or two off every now and again according to Blake, so it would be some time, but would letting him stew in his anger allow her to, at the very least, avoid a confrontation? Probably not…

I can do this, I’m Princess Celestia’s student, I’m sure I can make one friend? Just have to avoid making him even more angry… How could I do that? Talking to him about what he did just made him mad, so then… Wait… If Blake showed him kindness, and that’s how…

Twilight tentatively reached out a hoof, poking James’ shoulder enough for him to notice, again as he was trying to start the car, causing him to snap his glare at Twilight again who flinched back reflexively before sucking in a breath and start speaking.

“I-I’m sorry, I just… I know you don’t like me, you probably hate me, but you’re Blake’s friend, but when you do things li–”

Twilight was cut off as James clasped his hand around her muzzle, his brows furrowing as a scowl sat on his face. After a few seconds he let her go, still glaring at her.

“Sorry, sorry, I won’t talk about that. I just… You’re Blake’s friend, and he trusts you, and I want to too, but… The… The things you do, like today–” James started reaching towards her muzzle again in anger, “I won’t, I swear, just give me a second please!”

James paused, his hand hovering a few inches away from her mouth, ready to grab her again if need be.

“My friend Applejack always says honesty is the best solution to a problem, usually, so… You scare me… N-Not just because of what you do and how you do it, but because you just… You don’t even seem to care, and I’m scared that the only reason you don’t kill me is just because of Blake…”

James snorted as a sinister grin spread across his face, making Twilight blanch at the potential meaning.

“I… I just want to know, why do you hate me so much? I know I’m making you and Blake run around and get me food and house me, but that doesn’t seem like enough for you to– to– to be so, angry, with me…”

James groaned in anger as he rolled not only his eyes, but his entire head as well, loathing the idea of having to deal with Twilight any longer than he had to.

“I don’t want to start off on the wrong hoof with you, more than we already are, even if we can’t be friends per say, I still want us to be amicable to each other, or, at the very least make it so you aren’t angry with me…”

Twilight steeled her nerves, every part of her pony mind was screaming at the predator that was glaring at her with not hunger in his eyes, but apathy. The fact that he could kill her and not even think twice about it kept Twilight on edge even now.

After a few tense seconds, James lifted up his hand and stuck out a finger before poking Twilight on her chest, not enough that it hurt, but just enough to push her back an inch. Twilight looked at where he had poked her, confusion on her face as she looked back at him.

“Me? Because I’m a pony?”

A dismissive snort was all it took before James pulled out his pistol from his hoodie, aiming at Twilight whose eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she stared down the barrel of the gun.

“S-S-S-So-Sorry, I’ll sto–”

Twilight was cut off as James flipped the gun in his grasp before shoving it into her chest, hard enough that the metal dug into her skin and left an impression on her chest.

“W-WH-WHat?! Why are you giving me your gun? I don’t want one of those near me!”

And that was the moment James grinned, not a sinister grin, nor malevolent, just a grin as one would when they won a game of poker. Letting the gun go to slide down her barrel; he poked Twilights chest again before pointing at the gun and shaking his head, then bringing his hand towards his neck and jutting out his thumb, sliding it along his neck as a sneer flashed across his face.

Twilight looked between him and the gun, confusion on her face as she played catch up. Luckily, Pinkie had insisted they play charades at a slumber party, but all the girls voted to never doing that again since Pinkie always figured it out before anypony had even read their card.

“Me? And the gun? What was that last part? Are you saying that you want to kill me because I don’t want to be near guns?” Twilight looked at James in both worry and confusion, trying to piece together the conversation that she was having to watch.

James pointed to himself before chuckling and shaking his head in denial, but instead gestured to the empty parking lot around them and repeated the motion with his neck.

“Outside the car? Surrounding us? What’s outside of…” then it dawned on Twilight, he wasn’t talking about their surroundings...

“You mean… Everypony else, would kill me?”

Nodding his head, he then pointed to her, then himself, then back to her, the gun, then himself and drew his thumb across his throat.

“So you and me, and I don’t want to be around guns… But then, you die? B-But how does that make sense? But if you die… Why would you die? From someone else, like Merryweather?” Twilight looked quizzically at James.

He nodded his head as he then jabbed his finger into her chest, leaving it there as his nail dug into her fur and skin while he glared at her expectantly.

“Y-You don’t hate me because Blake is letting me stay with you, you hate me because I’m a burden on you and Blake, who’ll end up getting you killed…”

James’ glare softened as he pulled his hand away from her, grabbing his pistol from where it had slid down and came to rest on her legs. Leaning back into his chair, James’ frown didn’t leave his face, but at the very least it wasn–

“I… I know you see me as a burden, b-but I can handle myself!”

And now he was glaring at her again, not entirely filled with hate, but instead looking at her like she had just tried to sell him a pile of turds and call it a miracle. It was a look of someone who knew they were being lied to, and did not want to hear more of it.

“I can use telekinesis now, when they had me underground, it was hard for me to gather enough magical energy to cast the spell due to being exhausted, but as long as they don’t take me by surprise, I’ll be fine, I promise! I won’t get you or Blake killed!”

Twilight smiled nervously, not entirely believing herself at this point, but trying to put on a brave face to James to show she wouldn’t back down in their time of need.

James sighed, before exiting the car and walking behind it while Twilight watched. After he stepped out to the middle of the empty lot he waited for five seconds before grunting angrily and pointing at Twilight. Confused, Twilight hopped out of the car before approaching James with an eyebrow raised.

James pointed to her, and then at a spot on the ground, opposite to him so they’d have 30ft between the two of them in the lot. Hesitantly, Twilight moved to her designated position before turning to look at James who simply stood there holding his gun.

“What are you trying to d–”

Twilight dropped to the ground, her sentence cut short as she screamed in fear from James who had raised his pistol and fired a shot in her direction, the snap of the gunpowder going off was the only warning she had as the high pitched squeal of the bullet breaking the sound barrier passed her nearby. Another shot rang out, another squeal of air splitting even closer this time. Cracking an eye open, she could see James just standing there, aiming the gun lower towards her. A third shot rang out, a flash of fire from the barrel while the bullet came close enough to her head that she could feel the air pressure on the tips of her ears. Moving again, he fired the fourth shot, this one close enough to not only be felt on her fur, but leave a slight ringing noise as it passed her head. Attempting to stand and dash behind the car caused another shot to fly just in front of her, nearly hitting her as the bullet impacted on the concrete to her right, ricocheting off into the distance.

Twilight realized she couldn’t wait to see where the next shots would land, either they’d stay near her, or one might actually hit her! Reaching out with her magic, her horn started to glow as she concentrated on the gun in James’ hand, attempting to dislodge the gun and stop whatever he was doing.

The gun glowed a slight pink field of magic, James looking down in confusion for a split second before Twilight attempted to yank the gun from his hand, causing the gun to jerk upwards as James held firm with his grip. Twilight’s face contorted in concentration, her eyebrows furring as she braced herself to try and get a better hold on the gun.

It shouldn’t be this hard to use telekinesis at this range, it isn’t even an Ursa Minor! Is it because of this world’s magic field being so–

Twilight’s inner dialogue was cut short as James lifted his hand with both of his arms, aiming the gun to the sky and pulling the trigger. Twilight could feel him pull the trigger, she could feel the gun kick back as the bullet was fired from its casing and sped down the length of the barrel. She could feel her magic catch the bullet and stretch without her command, following the bullet as a pink contrail extending out over 20ft into the air before popping like a balloon. Air rushed back into the vacuum created by the magic in the split second it stretched further and longer than it had ever intended to, causing James to stumble back as Twilight let out a shrill scream of pure pain, dropping to the ground in a heap as she clutched her head and horn.

Twilight laid on the ground with her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face as she curled up upon herself reflexively in response to the pain that now plagued her. Twilight knew what magical backlash was, every unicorn would go through one due to a mishap during practice or overuse. But that was just a normal backlash episode, Twilight had felt the power of a Magic Flare, when one's magic goes out of control in an attempt to use it going wrong. Flares themselves were rare, but because they accessed all the magic a unicorn had, along with all the ambient magic to fuel it, the backlash on the pony would be immense, rendering them magic-less for a few days at least, and with a major headache throughout the time afterwards until they recharged their inner reserves.

That was as painful as counting to 100 compared to what she was experiencing now. Her horn felt like it was on fire, the bone itself feeling like it had turn into a hot nail of lead that had been hammered into her forehead, digging straight down to the center of her frontal cortex, and embedding itself in her brain with fiery nails that left her immobile and near mute except for her screams and whimpering.

Twilight lost track of time as she attempted to soothe the hot nail of pain that had become her horn, letting it naturally relieve itself as she laid there, not caring if she looked like a foal who had tripped and hit their horn for the first time, hard. Such a concern was nothing compared to letting nature take its course and slowly cool down her horn.

Eventually, after enough time had passed for the pain to simmer down to just a hot throbbing ache of iron that pulsed with every heartbeat, Twilight could feel a hand petting her, from the back of her head to her back in a soothing manner. Cracking open her eyes revealed it to be James, kneeling down on one knee and looking at her in concern as he continued to pet her, reminding Twilight of how Rarity would pet Opal whenever the cat would allow itself to be petted. It was demeaning in the sense that somepony would normally do that to their pet, but at least he wasn’t looking at her in anger.

At least– Ow. He doesn’t seem t– Ow. To hate me as mu– Ow. Much anymore… Ow…

Twilight closed her eyes and let herself be petted as her horn slowly stopped hurting, focusing instead on the feeling of her breathing and James’ hand until the pain became a dull ache. Opening her eyes again, the mid-afternoon sun had lowered until it was dusk, twilight almost being upon them. Looking back at James, his face had become neutral during the time it took for her horn to become bearable again, looking more bored than anything. Pulling away from the hand and slowly standing up, Twilight turned to him with a depressed look.

“S-Sorry for making you wait and care for me, but I think I know what you were trying to do, or at least see if what I was talking about was true or not. Normally, at that range, I should have been able to grab your gun easily, but I guess magic is that subdued even when actively using it, although the backlash isn’t normally that… severe… Thanks for that, at least I know not to hold a gun like that before it fires.”

Twilight held out a hoof shakily as she looked at James, a small smile creeping on her face even as her horn ached. James gave a slight grin as she ruffled her mane, ignoring her outstretched hoof and stood up himself to stretch his legs and back. Giving a sigh of relief as the cramp in his leg went away, he looked at Twilight before gesturing towards the car.

Twilight nodded her head as she dejectedly lowered her hoof. Twilight started to move towards the passenger door while James moved towards the driver side, until Twilight spoke.

“Umm, could you give me a hoof? I can’t really use my horn right now…”

James simply sighed in annoyance as he looked at her while she gave a sheepish smile.

Author's Note

After a month of no updates, IT’S ALIVE!!!

I want to fully apologize if this chapter isn't that good, I was struggling because I want to flesh out each character and show not just who they are, but their goals, worldview, ethics, etc.

This is my first attempt at that, and I’m probably going to cut back on the action as I can’t really write it well (there was an action scene in this chapter, but I cut it cuz it was very bad, like bad bad)

Also, I have found an artist to draw a cover piece for this as I do plan on putting some more effort into this, so I felt a custom cover was worth it.

Chapter 4: Hot Pursuit

Author's Note

Starting to get into the flow of writing, not very good mind you, but I’m starting to realize that having a 'what is this chapter trying to tell the reader' is better than nothing at all. Otherwise, enjoy!

(Don't forget to point out any mistakes I made, I'm trying to keep it clear of that, but, well, I do write a lot of words and it's hard to catch everything)

Chapter 4: Hot Pursuit

**3 Days Later**

Twilight levitated the towel over to herself, before drying herself off, enjoying the feeling of being perfectly clean again after having to forgo a proper shower since James’ “impromptu learning session” as she was calling it. Twilight grimaced as her magic flickered, very painful memories popping into her head as she remembered the feeling of the bullet pulling her magic before ripping it apart, causing magic backlash worse than even her flare from when she was a filly. Refocusing herself, Twilight continued to dry herself off as she thought back to what she had learned.

So holding the gun itself is a bad idea, but what about the wrist of the person? No, James and Blake are able to rotate their hands relatively freely, even with their wrist constrained… Hmm… Maybe their whole arm? But then I’d be exerting so much magic that I might not be able to move it much, if at all…

Twilight put the towel back on the rack of the small bathroom, and pulled out the brush and hoo– handheld mirror from behind the mirror that Blake had gotten her as part of her toiletries.

Using the handheld mirror to look at her mane and fur, Twilight used the brush to comb her mane and smoothen out her fur, thankful that he had gotten her both of these ahead of time. The mirror due to the height difference still causing Twilight issues with using the standard human height one, and the brush, well, because she very much doubted either one of them would want to share a brush with her as her’s was already accumulating quite a bit of hair follicles in the bristles.

Double checking her mane and coat, Twilight placed the items back where they belonged, and opened the bathroom door, the slightly cooler air washing over her as she trekked out into the living room and spotted Blake placing groceries into the fridge across the room.

“Thanks for getting more food, sorry I didn’t let you know sooner…” Twilight said, embarrassment on her face for the lack of firesight on her part.

Without looking behind him, Blake responded.

“It’s alright, I should’ve realized there wasn’t enough food for you. Were you okay during the last few days? I know James has been getting you some food during that time from BS, but I just wanna double check.”

“Oh yea, it’s been good so far, though making the food myself tastes better for some reason even though I used to have Spike prepare my meals.”

“It’s probably from how cheap fast food is, it’s good every once in a while, but buying the produce yourself is generally better if you have the time to prep and clean up afterwards. Oh, yea, speaking of every once in a while, what’s up with your magic? I noticed how you barely used it yesterday, and not at all since I got back Sunday morning.”

Blake finished putting all the items away, a fully stocked fridge being closed as he turned towards Twilight and looked at her.

“Ah, well, about that… Ummm… I might have… accidentally hurt myself while using magic, and… well, magical backlash will leave you with quite the headache when it happens, and can even knock ponies unconscious or kill them if it’s severe enough. I learned that fast moving objects do not mix well with magic due to the backlash…”

Twilight avoided looking directly at Blake as she summed up her reason, nervously rubbing her front hooves together. Blake simply raised an eyebrow before shrugging, heading over to the couch and sitting down on it.

“Well, as long as you’re alright. James didn’t do anything unwanted towards you, right? I trust him but I know he can be very rough around the edges sometimes… A lot of the time…”

Twilight looked up with concern on her face as she stammered.

“N-No no! He may be a little… Quite strange in how he does things, but, I think I’m starting to understand how, and why, he does things. It was better for me to learn that lesson while with him instead of when I needed it the most.”

Blake nodded his head as he sat down, a thoughtful expression on his face before he quickly dismissed the idea. But as he reached for the remote, Twilight spoke up again.

“I… I know it may be weird since I’m supposed to be hiding from Merryweather, but… I was thinking that I should learn how to take care of myself… Ju-Just like driving a car, I’ve read about it in the engineering manuals you had in the room, but there’s always a difference between reading about something and experiencing it!”

Twilight gave Blake a nervous grin, shifting her eyes from side to side as she couldn’t look him directly in the eyes. Blake, taking a few seconds to let the silence set in before speaking, gave a slight grin to Twilight.

“You’re bored out of your mind aren’t you?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise, her jaw dropping open for a split second before she coughed into her fetlock to cover up her mistake.

“**cough** I-I-I don’t know what you mean, I just thought, that, you know, since I’ll be stuck here for a while, I might as well learn a thing or two while I can…”

Blake leaned over and rested his arms on his knees as he chuckled at Twilight’s attempt to fabricate an excuse, but a smile gracing his face as he did so.

“Alright, sure, I can teach you how, but let's wait until later tonight when less people are out, that way you can practice without worrying about anyone, alright?”

“Sounds good, let me know when you think it’s a good time to go.”

Twilight grinned as she headed back to her room, a little pep in her step at the prospect of learning something new.

Twilight looked around at the empty runway, the same one where Blake and her had picked up James that fateful night less than two weeks ago. Blake had pulled the orange Picador up in front of the dilapidated hangar and parked it so it faced down the runway, an open, empty ‘road’ that was perfect for learning how to get the basics of driving down. Hopping out of the car, Blake started to make his way around the front of it, looking at Twilight expectantly.

“Well, if you wanna learn, this is the perfect place to do so. There’s normally nobody here after dark, and you won’t crash into anyone out here. Hop into the driver seat and I’ll run you through the basics.”

Twilight eyed the empty driver seat before glancing to Blake who stood next to the passenger door, an excited smile on his face as he waited for Twilight to scoot over.

I asked for this, no backing out now Twilight.

Twilight leaned over, placing her forehooves onto the driver seat before pulling the rest of herself over, slowly adjusting herself as she got comfortable with the steering wheel now cutting into her sitting space. Once she was satisfied, she gave a quick nod to Blake who then opened the passenger door and hopped in.

“Alright, so, let’s go over the basics first. What’s the gas pedal, brake pedal, and how do you steer?”

Twilight craned her head around the steering wheel, barely seeing two foot pedals underneath the dashboard on her side, one wide while the other was tall.

“The right-most will always be the gas pedal, that’s the tall one. Pressing that will engage the engine throttle and cause you to move forwards proportional to how much you press it. The left one… Hmm…”

Twilight looked at the gear shift, noticing it was a simple four speed automatic currently sitting in park.

“This is an automatic, so the left pedal is the brake, if it was a manual, there would be a third pedal to the left of that…”

Twilight scrunched her face as she tried to remember every detail about the driving book that had been left in her room; ‘Driving for Dumbasses’ had been both insightful and strange, like it was almost satirical in its presentation. Blake nodded his head as Twilight talked herself through her memory.

“Alright, you have the pedals down which is the biggest part, now let's try having you drive the car. Shift it into gear and let it coast down the runway.”

Twilight nodded her head without looking at Blake, her focus solely on the gear shift and steering wheel. Using her magic to depress the gear lock, Twilight raised an eyebrow as the gear shift refused to budge, Blake chuckling as Twilight glanced over to him questioningly.

“You forgot to step on the brake, safety feature and all that.”

“Oh, whoops…” Twilight lowered her head in embarrassment, a nervous smile on her face as she grabbed the brake pedal in her magic, slowly lowering it to the floor before tugging on the gear shift.

This time, the gear shift moved easily, dropping into drive before Twilight had even realized that she didn’t need to tug on it anymore. Letting go of the brake, Twilight could feel the car move forward by itself, causing her to gasp as she looked out the front windshield, the sand underneath the car slowly being replaced by the concrete that stretched out before them. Eyes wide, she turned to Blake who merely watched her in the passenger seat as she started to freak out.

“OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH, IT’S MOVING!!! What do I do!?!?”

Blake’s grin widened as she kept glancing between him and the runway, panic starting to set in for her.

“Relax Twi, you already know how to stop the car and make it accelerate, all you need now is how to steer. You remember how to do that?”

Twilight froze for a second as the logical part of her mind came to the forefront, taking a quick deep breath, she leafed through the mental book before coming to the correct page.

“Right, steering, turning the wheel left or right will also turn the car as well, to stop, press the brake, to move faster, press the gas. Okay. Okay. Easy…”

Twilight grabbed the steering wheel in her magic, slowly turning it clockwise and seeing the car turn right the more she turned the wheel. Spinning it counterclockwise turned it left, a smile on her face as she started to get the hang of how far you needed to turn it one direction or the other. Turning the car straight ahead, she looked to Blake like a student would a teacher, waiting for an approving compliment.

Blake smiled, but looked at the steering wheel as it slowly drifted clockwise in Twilight’s magic. “Make sure you keep the wheel separate from the direction you look, that’s a really easy way to get into a crash by drifting out of your lane.”

Twilight refocused on the wheel, centering it straight down the runway once more.

“Sorry. Don’t turn the wheel when I turn my head, got it.”

Twilight kept her eyes on the runway as Blake continued with his lesson.

“Now that you have stopping and steering, how about you hit the gas and handle the car at speed? Don’t worry about crashing, we have plenty of space around, and I’m right here to help.”

“Alright…” Twilight took a breath before grabbing the gas pedal with her magic, now holding both pedals and the steering wheel, her face scrunched up in concentration as she multitasked three items with her limited magic.

Pressing the gas accelerated the car, an open face cinder block building passing on the right as they gained speed down the runway, the engine revving higher and higher as Twilight pushed the gas to the floor. Feeling the engine shift into the next gear, Twilight didn’t hesitate to push the pedal further, jumping into third and eventually fourth gear as the end of the runway could be spotted a ways ahead of them. Blake glanced at it before looking back at Twilight, a slight grin now blooming on her face as she maxed out the top speed of the car with a manic look in her eyes.

“Uh, Twi?”

Twilight either didn’t hear him, or ignored him as she pressed her hooves onto the steering wheel, feeling every shift in the tires as she kept the car straight and true.

“Twilight?”

Blake glanced out the windshield again, the end approaching much faster than he’d like without him being behind the wheel. Reaching over, he shook Twilight as he yelled in her ear.

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight snapped out of her adrenaline fueled craze, realizing how close the end of the runway was and let go of the gas, slamming the brake to the floor as the car skidded across the ground and leaving a pair of black trails behind it. In a panic, Twilight turned the wheel hard to the left, sending the car into a drift as it slid into the embankment, kicking up sand as it came to a stop in the sand.

Breathing heavily, Twilight twitched as she slowly took her hooves off of the steering wheel, deathly afraid of the car, and whatever had taken a hold of her as she slowly looked over to Blake. He had raised his right hand and grasped the handle above him, using it to brace himself while his left hand held the dash, a grim expression on his face.

Taking a second to breathe, he sagged into the seat, letting his hands fall into his lap as he laid his head back and relaxed. After a few seconds to compose himself, he turned his head, not bothering to raise it, and looked at Twilight with an unamused look.

“It seems you’ve been taking driving lessons from James, haven’t you?”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the implication, the memory still fresh in her mind how he had violated every single law she could think of off the top of her head. Quickly, and instinctively, raising her hooves defensively, Twilight stammered out an excuse.

“Wh-What?! NO! No no! I swear, no! I just, the feeling of driving, the rush of the car moving at speed only a pegasus could dream of, I just…”

Blake chuckled and held up his hands in surrender, a small grin forming on his face.

“It’s alright, it’s alright, don’t worry too much about it, I just want you to be careful and keep an eye on your surroundings.”

Blake lowered his hands as he leaned forward, sitting upright in the seat as he looked at Twilight with a gentle smile.

“You can drive however you want in Los Santos, as long as you can get away from the cops, that is, but just make sure you don’t end up crashing or getting stuck somewhere.”

Blake’s smile suddenly turned into a sinister grin as he reminisced about something, Twilight raising an eyebrow as he suddenly chuckled before speaking.

“Had to pick up James one time cuz he ended up crashing a stolen car in someone’s pool in the Vinewood Hills, still to this day do not know how the hell he managed that! Found his hiding out by the reservoir up there from the cops, had to grab him and then get back to the apartment without getting spotted!”

Blake laughed, an infectious smile on his face as he hunched over from how hard he was laughing. Twilight giggled slightly at the thought of James of all ponies having to call for help because he crashed his car, although with the way he drove, it wasn’t too far a stretch to see it happening.

“Do you think you’d be able to drive back to the hangar, and resist the need for speed?” Blake grinned at his reference, but unfortunately for him it went right over Twilight’s head.

“Y-Yea, I think so. I know so.” Twilight took a quick breather, pulling her hoof close to her chest before moving it away, before letting off the brake and letting the car shift forward, but not move out of the sand.

Looking at the dashboard, Twilight gently pressed the gas pedal, hearing the engine rev as the car slowly moved forward, hearing the tires spin before escaping the gully that had been dug during the drift. Turning the car to the left, Twilight aimed it back down the runway before letting the car gain speed, the hangar coming into view.

As they passed the binder block building, Twilight let off the gas and swung the car around the front of the hangar, pressing the brake and leaving the front of the car facing the helipad. Blake clapped his hands before he ruffled her mane.

“That’s perfect Twilight! A bit more practice on the open runway and some lessons in proper driving measures, turn signals, stop signs, red lights, and you’ll be 100% certified.”

Twilight clapped her hooves together as she received Blake’s praise, the natural instincts of a student showing through her nervousness. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Twilight turned to look at Blake with expectant eyes.

“Alright, a bit more practice to master the basics and then…” Twilight noticed that Blake wasn’t looking at her as she was talking. In fact, he wasn’t even smiling anymore, his face becoming tense as he looked towards the main road to her left.

Turning her head, Twilight could make out a car that was driving past the airfield, but coming towards them was a convoy of black vans with red rims. Hearing Blake shift in his seat, Twilight turned and saw he was pulling out his micro SMG from his back before checking the magazine and racking the gun.

“You brought that with you?” Twilight asked, surprised he would have it and not even mention it to her.

“Of course, this is Los Santos. You’d be a fool to not carry a gun on you in case of an emergency. And I think this is an emergency…” Blake eyed the cars as they pulled up to the airfield sign, all six of them lining up as if they were waiting for something.

“What should we do? Do you want to switch se–”

“No, stay in the driver seat, we don’t have time for that. If they’re going to do anything, that would be the perfect opportunity to hit us. Turn right onto the runway, and take the dirt path that runs along it, that’ll lead out to the road past the oil fields.”

Twilight nervously glanced between Blake and the vans, panic slowly creeping onto her face as she realized that one wrong move would lead to their potential death. Blake looked to her as she started to hyperventilate, her eyes shrinking to pinpricks as the weight of the situation made itself apparent on her shoulders. Reaching a hand over and placing it firmly on her shoulder, Twilight’s attention snapped to Blake as he calmly looked her in the eyes.

“Twi, listen to me, I need you to drive the car. Just follow my instructions and we’ll be fine, but I need you to help me help you, got it?”

Twilight mutely nodded her head, taking a breath before letting off the brake before pressing the gas, swinging the car back towards the runway and driving down it. As Twilight drove, she heard Blake mutter something to himself as he kept an eye out the back of the car.

“Fucking Lost, what are they doing here…”

Focusing on his instructions, Twilight spotted the cinder block building and what appeared to be a dirt path that ran along the runway. As she turned onto it however, Blake suddenly spoke up, his voice void of any emotion as he barked instructions.

“Twilight, gun it now! You need to move as fast as possible!”

Twilight looked over at him before focusing back on the bumpy road, her voice cracking as she tried to speak.

“Wh-Wha-Why? What’s goin–”

“NOW TWILIGHT, THEY’RE COMING!!!”

The sounds of gunshots could be heard, along with bullets whizzing by the car as the vans approached from behind. Whatever had been stopping them from outright attacking no longer seemed to be in effect as they closed in on their car. Twilight let out a startled ‘eep!’ as she pressed the gas to the floor, causing the engine to roar to life as the car started to race down the dirt road in an impromptu race to salvation.

Twilight heard the sounds of Blake’s SMG firing back at the vans, the shells bouncing off the car floor and clinking around every bump in the road as Twilight struggled to keep the car on the road. Ignoring the noises, she focused on the turn that was ahead as the road turned a sharp right and moved away from the runway. More bullets flew past the car, a few hitting somewhere as Twilight heard a loud ‘ping’ noise with every hit.

“Don’t stop for anything Twi! Maintain your speed through the turn!”

Hearing Blake’s tense but controlled voice helped soothe Twilight's nerves, letting her remember how the car had drifted when she slammed on the brakes and how hard it had been to control. As she approached the turn, Twilight slammed on the brakes before turning the wheel to the right, sending the car into a barely controlled drift as it slid over the compressed sand.

Twilight looked to her right as Blake fired off more shots at the vans, their headlights shining in through the window revealed how close they were closing in on the duo, only a dozen feet between their picador and the lead chase car. Taking her attention back to the road, Twilight gunned the engine as soon as they passed the railing, completing the drift as the road quickly turned left over a small bridge.

Blake fired his SMG once more as Twilight turned left, swinging around the corner and nearly bouncing off the guard rail as she heard a crash of metal on metal behind her. Gunning it over the small bridge, Twilight followed the semi-straight path through the darkened desert only illuminated by the headlights from the car. Shadows danced across the road and shrubs as they flew past them, extending and vanishing within the same second as the five remaining vans chased them down.

Shots rang out across the desert as the passengers from each group fired at one another, missing any critical shots but some still hitting cars and vans nonetheless. Twilight hunched over the wheel, adrenaline pumping through her body as a bullet passed through the rear window and out the front, missing her by less than a foot as Blake fired back, nailing a headlight but not much else.

Up ahead, Twilight could make out a duo of buildings to the right of an intersection with another dirt path. Following the path of least resistance, Twilight spotted what looked to be a paved road coming up.

“Blake, there’s a road ahead! Which wa–”

“Left Twilight! Follow that road until we get into the city!” Blake ordered as he reloaded his gun, muttering under his breath about the limited magazine capacity.

Twilight swung the rear of the car out as she turned left, drifting across the road and into the dirt before managing to overcorrect herself back onto the road. Swerving into traffic, Twilight nearly hit the brakes as she realized a car was coming at her in the oncoming lane with its horn blaring.

Twilight yanked the wheel to the right, managing to narrowly avoid the car and place herself in the right lane, flying through a four way intersection that had a familiar motel on the corner as they passed.

Hearing the blaring of horns, Twilight risked a glance behind them and spotted one of the vans crashing into a car that had driven into the intersection; both cars flipping and rolling as they collided. Twilight pulled her eyes away from the chaos behind them as focused on keeping them on the road, passing other cars and weaving through traffic as the vans closed in on them as they raced down the slowly curving road to the southeast.

Twilight screamed as a van rammed the back of their car, nearly sending them into a spin as she wrestled with the steering wheel to control the car; a van pulling alongside of them before passing and driving in front as Twilight regained control, the back doors of the van getting kicked open as a pair of humans in leather jackets could be seen holding assault rifles aimed at them.

“SHIT, TWI!” Blake yelled as he reached over and yanked the steering wheel to the right, causing them to narrowly miss the hail of bullets that filled the air a second later. The van that had rammed them from behind ended up being the recipient of the bullets, the front grill and tires taking the shots before blowing out. Steam billowed out from the front of the van as they lost control and drove off the road and into an embankment, flipping on its side before coming to a halt down the way. The van that had fired took more pot shots at them as it drove off further down the road.

With Blake holding the wheel to the right, the car swung around a bend that put them on a road that slowly climbed up into the mountains and faced them towards the southwest. Making sure they would at least stay on the road, Blake let go of the wheel before facing behind them and blind firing at the cars that had followed, leaving Twilight at the helm once more.

Even though the slope was a gentle one, the increased resistance only reduced the gap between the two remaining vans and their car. Twilight could see their headlights in the mirrors, nearly blinding her as she could barely make out a pair of cars that blocked the road ahead. Turning to the left, Twilight brought them off the main road and onto a dirt path, following it to the left as the vans followed closely behind them but unable to catch up due to their lack of traction on the dirt path.

Heading east once more, Twilight managed to gain some distance as the vans had to keep correcting themselves, giving Twilight and Blake a well needed breather to regroup.

“Smart idea Twilight,” Blake spoke as he reloaded his gun once more, a frown on his face as he eyed the two remaining magazines. “That’ll give us a little time to escape. Let me call James and tell– Watch out!!! Go right!”

Twilight spotted it as he yelled, the van that had been in front of them reappeared, coming from the left around a lumber warehouse and straight towards them. Twilight turned right, heading straight onto a dark dirt road south and up into the mountains, the steeper slope slowing the car down enough that the three vans were able to keep pace, but still unable to catch up to them.

As they followed the winding trail, Blake noticed how the ground became much steeper the further along the road they climbed, spotting a drop off into the darkness wherever the road faced west. As they looped back to the east again, Blake got ready to put his plan into action as he eyed the vans behind him that struggled with the dirt path.

“Twi, slow down a little once you're just past the curve, I’m gonna try to nail the driver, or one of their tires, and send them off the cliff.”

Twilight glanced at him before focusing on the road once more, clearly incredulous at the instructions.

“Are you sure? Didn’t you sa–”

“Trust me Twi, I’m sure. Just slow down enough for them to be within sight as we round the corner, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Twilight nodded her head and clenched her jaw even though Blake couldn’t see it, his focus solely on the path behind them and the headlights that illuminated it. Seeing the vans finish the turn, they sped up to close the distance as Twilight turned the car around another bend, bringing the car around once more to the west as the vans started their turn of the bend; the lead van taking it slow while the other two caught up to it rapidly.

“Just like that Twi, just a little slower on the next turn and it’ll be perfect…”

Twilight did as he ordered, taking the next turn slowly as the lead van closed in rapidly before braking to take the turn as well, followed by the second and third. Blake grinned as he aimed carefully, firing off his entire magazine into the second van’s driver seat and waited with baited breath to see if his plan worked.

Blake cheered as the second van didn’t slow down in the slightest as it took the turn, instead hitting the rear driver side of the van in front of it, sending both vans off the edge of the cliff into the flickering blackness below. A loud, dual, explosion ripped through the mountain as fire erupted from the bottom of the cliff, signaling that his plan had gone off without a hitch.

“HELL YEAH!!! Only one left now Twi, we got this!” Twilight smiled at his enthusiasm at the situation, but Blake’s face became concerned as he eyed the remaining magazine. “Just one mag left, so we have to make it count. Just keep driving while I call James, he should still be out in town somewhere and can back us up.”

Pulling out his phone, Blake quickly skimmed through his contacts before dialing James and waiting a few seconds while Twilight turned the last turn and onto a concrete road. Taking a left, Twilight pushed the car as fast it would move, spotting the highway in the valley between the two mountains as they rounded the bend and followed the zigzagging road.

“James! The Lost ambushed me and Twi out in Sandy, but we’re almost back in the city! Just gear up and get ready to–”

Blake’s one sided conversation was cut short as a few bullets sailed past, nailing the passenger mirror as they rounded a bend, the Lost van in the rearview.

“SHIT! That was close, Twi, keep it moving! James, meet us over by the Vinewood Hills Reservoir, that’ll be a good enough spot for the ambush. Make sure you’re there!”

An affirmative grunt was his only response before the call ended, Blake keeping an eye behind them and watching as the last van rounded a corner behind them, quickly closing the distance on the straight road.

“Twi, keep following this road, it’ll lead us right to the ambush point!”

Blake eyed the van as pot shots were taken, most hitting the back of the Picador while the rest missed their target entirely, but eventually their luck would run out as a single shot hit the passenger rear tire, a loud pop and hiss was the only warning before Twilight grunted in exertion as she had to fight the car to stay straight.

Passing past an intersection that led towards the highway, Twilight continued with the plan, starting to turn a corner as the rear end drifted out behind them, causing them to take it wide. Suddenly coming around the corner was another car, its headlights flashing as it blared its horn at their car that had drifted into the wrong lane.

Twilight panicked, and turned the wheel to the left to avoid the collision with the innocent car, before trying to swing the car to the right by drifting it with the brake, but the rear tire exploded and caused them to spin out, sliding through the dirt until they hit a the guardrail, a valley in the hill ridge leading to a small service road below that was connected to a few buildings.

Twilight shook her head to clear the dizziness that had taken hold before hitting the gas, attempting to get back on the move before the van rounded the corner, but the popped tire allowed for very little traction on the loose dirt. As they painfully, agonizingly slowly gained speed, it wasn’t enough as the last van rounded the corner, barrelling straight for them with zero intention of stopping.

“SHIT, TWI, BRACE!!!” Blake yelled out as he tried to push himself away from the passenger door as much as he could before the van impacted them, crushing the passenger side of the car before it flipped over the guardrail. The last thing Twilight could see was Blake in the air, the city lights of Los Santos beyond him, and all of it was upside down just before everything went black.

Twilight coughed as she woke up, and immediately regretted being alive. Her head hurt, her neck hurt, her back hurt, even her hooves hurt. She could feel something holding the left side of her face still as she tried to work her jaw, but either her muscles were lethargic, or her face was numb since she couldn’t actually feel what was causing her jaw to have resistance to opening and closing as she gasped for breath.

Blearily cracking open her eyes, Twilight could see twisted metal and cloth tattered around her, resembling what had once been the interior of the Picador. Her head was resting between the driver seat and door, her body splayed out over the center console and passenger seat as she slowly looked up and spotted a few buildings with palm trees looming over her.

No, they’re not looming, but why… What happened…

Twilight gritted her teeth as she moved her body, her bones and muscles screaming in synchronization as they yelled at her for such an action. Testing her horn…

Twilight coughed as she woke up, and immediately regretted being alive. Her head hurt, her neck hurt, her back hurt, even her hooves hurt. Opening her eyes revealed a very familiar sight, twisted metal, tattered cloth, palm trees and gray buildings that sat quietly in the night.

Groaning at the memory of her trying her magic, she instead opted to raise her hoof slowly towards the door latch that sat just a few inches from her face. Sliding her hoof up the door panel, Twilight tried to pull on the latch, but merely gasped from the pain that shot up her leg instead, a silent cry flowing out.

Blinking away the tears that had formed, Twilight gritted her teeth and pulled once more, forcing her body to comply with what she wanted as it screamed in protest, pain flaring across her entire body as the latch slowly moved before a small click was heard.

Unfortunately for Twilight, the door swung open, causing her to lose her grasp as she fell out of the car head first, screaming as the rest of her body followed suit and left her face up, staring blankly into the night sky.

Twilight’s body had become numb from the pain, leaving her with just her mind and breathing as she stared at the unfamiliar constellations that drifted above her before zoning back in closer to herself. Looking at the car, she could see it was sitting at an angle with the passenger side resting on a retaining wall that went the entire length of the road, the mountain looming in the dark above it. The inside of the car was a mess, glass shards and tattered cloth hung from the ceiling and pooled by the driver side door in a river of destruction that glistened in the streetlights. Unfortunately, Twilight realized that was the only major thing in the car, a nagging feeling tingling the back of her pain filled mind, slowly worming its way through her brain.

Why would it be filled? Who was… Blake! Faust, where’s Blake?!?

Twilight tried to speak, calling out for Blake to see if he was somewhere nearby, but instead of speaking she merely croaked out a strangled noise that might have once resembled a whinny being blown through a noise maker. Coughing as a result, Twilight instead turned her head to look around herself as best she could, memories of the chase starting to come back to her.

Need to find Blake, need to get out, need help…

To her left, Twilight could make out an intersection some distance away, the sounds of cars passing could faintly be heard on the wind as she realized that must lead towards the freeway to the east. Turning her head the other direction, Twilight could see the road heading off into the distance to the west, before looping back to her current position.

Probably a parking lot for this place… But…

Panic began to course through Twilight, noticing the distinct lack of anyone around, dead or alive.

Where is he? What happened to Blake? What about James? A phone, I need a phone!

Twilight pushed through the pain that infested every single inch of her, pushing it to the back of her mind as she rolled over, slowly and shakily standing up by using the car door to prop herself up. Looking inside the car, Twilight could see a blood trail that trailed down from the passenger window onto the interior, already starting to dry in the warm fall.

Twilight pushed the voice that whispered to her to the back of her head, focused solely on finding a phone to call for help, looking around the car before spotting a cracked screen buried behind the driver seat. Having to manually engage the seat lever, Twilight gritted her teeth as she activated the level and allowed the seat to drop forward, allowing her easier access to reach behind the obstruction and grab the phone with her hoof, bits and pieces of the cracked screen falling off from the disturbance.

Pressing the power button turned on the phone, but half of the screen was unreadable due to the vertical lines that blocked out the left side of the screen. Luckily, the contacts were still accessible as she pressed it, opening up the directory and scrolling through it, praying she could find James’ name listed, but only one of the contacts was semi-legible, was a contact at the bottom that ended in ‘c.’

Going to the contact above that, she pressed it and hoped for the best, the phone dialing out a few times before the call was answered, a nasally voice speaking as he picked up.

“Hey Blake, what can I do for you today?”

Twilight recognized Lester's voice, smiling as she tried to speak out but instead coughed on her own breath, groaning as she held onto the frame of the car.

“Huh? Who is this?”

“Lester…” she managed to croak out, her voice (just a little) horse as her muscles flared in pain.

“Ambushed… Blake… Missing… James… Vinewood… Need help… Please…”

Twilight stopped talking as she fell into a coughing fit, falling into the back of the driver seat as her muscles fought against her as they seized at every hack and cough. After a bit, Twilight was able to regain control of her body, breathing heavily as she could hear Lester calling out to her from the phone, but another sound soon overtook Lester’s voice.

Twilight could hear the roar of an engine, coming from the direction of the highway as she stepped back from the wrecked car and spotted a black van that steadily came up the road, heading straight for her.

Twilight whinnied as she turned and ran, not caring where she was going, as long as it was away from who or whatever the ‘Lost’ were. Her legs felt like cinder blocks as she stumbled away from the car and followed the sidewalk with the concrete barriers shielding her; moving as fast as she could towards the parking lot, hoping to hide.

Stumbling between hedges, Twilight tried to hide behind one as the van pulled up to where she just was, the engine staying on as it stayed put, voices coming through the car but illegible until they stepped out.

Twilight only made it a few feet before the doors opened on the van, the conversation (if it could be called that) flowing out for Twilight to hear as she pushed herself to move faster.

“–an you should fucking hit them! What if they died? How are we gonna get paid then?” The person in the passenger seat spoke, wearing a sleeveless leather jacket with the logo of an eagle with its wings spread underneath the text “THE LOST.”

Another man appeared from the driver's side, wearing a full jacket instead of a sleeveless with the same markings.

“Who the fuck cares, it and that little shit that’s been fucking with out deals just killed over 20 of our guys in less than 30 minutes, I think that’s reason enough to get a little payback; plus Merryweather won’t care as long as we have proof it’s that crew that hit them.” The driver smacked the rear doors of the van, causing another two humans to jump out with assault rifles.

“Search around for the other fucker, the horse is mine.” The duo nodded at his orders, heading over to the crashed car, a grin on their faces as they searched for Blake.

The driver and passenger regrouped, moving towards Twilight as they continued talking to one another.

“I just wanna make sure we can fuckin’ get paid! Johnny’s been on the ringer lately and everyone else in LS is out to get us, with 50 mill the Lost could be set for life! We could take over the whole state!”

Twilight slowly hobbled her way along the hedge, noticing the building with a rounded top and open side to the west, showing it was an amphitheater of sorts. Trying to make her way away from the distracted duo, Twilight’s plans were cut short as a shot rang out behind her.

Twilight screamed as a bullet ripped through her left rear leg, luckily not hitting any bones, but causing her to seize up and fall over; unable to stop the pain, and blood loss that now afflicted her. Twilight twitched, her body in agony from both the crash, and now the wound as she laid on the ground, her breathing coming in quick gasps.

“Alright, there, ya see? I didn’t kill the damn thing, so shut the fuck up about it ‘fore I put a bullet in your head and keep that 50 mill for myself!”

“Fine, fine. Let’s just grab it and go before anyone else shows up.”

Twilight looked behind her at the two who now stood over her, sadistic grins on their faces as they reached out and grabbed her rear legs, dragging her back towards the waiting van.

Twilight cried out as they forcefully dragged her, the bullet wound flaming up in pain as the muscles stretched and bent.

“P-Please, stop…!”

Twilight begged as tears welled up in her eyes, her skin and hide feeling raw from the friction of her coat on dirt and concrete. The two Lost members paused as they heard her speak, before the passenger spoke up.

“Holy shit, it talks!”

“No wonder they want this crew so bad, you could make a literal fortune with a talking unicorn! Maybe we should ‘negotiate’ a higher price, heh heh heh.” The driver chuckled as he spoke, looking back at Twilight with a gleam in his eyes. “Let’s get this thing back to the clubhouse first, then we’ll think on what to do. JACKSON! ROYCE! WHAT THE FUCKS TAKING SO LONG?”

The driver shouted to the two others who were searching around the car, causing them to look back at him.

“Can’t find shit! ‘S like he disappeared or something!” shouted one of them back to the driver.

“Then let’s go! It’s pay–”

Suddenly a small burst of gunfire rang out from above, nailing one of the goons by the wrecked car, dropping him like a sack of potatoes, the other turning around and firing blindly into the dark mountain above.

“SHIT! HE’S UP THERE SOM–”

Another burst of gunfire dropped the second, causing the driver and passenger to hurriedly drag Twilight onto the road and to the back of the van before grabbing her front hooves and tossing her in like a bag of rice before closing the rear doors.

Twilight cried out as her battered body landed in the van, her body begging for any form of comfort as everything ached, a small puddle of blood pooling under her from the still bleeding wound. Twilight blinked through the pain as she heard footsteps around the van before the driver and passenger side doors opened at the same time, the duo from before hopping in and putting the car into drive.

“FUCK! CALL IN SOME BACKUP, WE CAN’T LOSE THIS!!!” the driver shouted to the passenger as he turned the car around, aiming towards the freeway.

The passenger wasted no time in pulling out his phone, but another burst of bullets interrupted him, sailing across the windshield as the driver swerved to avoid the hail of gunfire. A second later the shooting stopped as they finally drove past, the rest of the van blocking anything else that would come from the mountain, the driver grinning as he drove on.

“HAHA, take that you bitch! Can’t fucking kill the T-Man! LSMC!!! How’s the backup coming?!”

In his cheer, the driver didn’t notice his passenger slumped over, leaning against the door as blood pooled into his lap. Turning to look at him only made him frown as he realized he was the last one left.

“Fuck it, I got the damn horse, I got the van, and I got away! Ain’t nothing gonna sto–”

Looking ahead, the driver spotted a black car, driving full speed at him while firing a pistol, a few bullets missing him but nailing the hood of the van instead. Turning to the right to avoid a direct collision by taking another road, the van wasn’t fast enough to escape being t-boned, the black car nailing the driver side door and pushing the van into the steps leading up to the Vinewood Bowl sign, pinning it to the steps as Twilight cried out in pain.

Twilight slid around the back of the van, the impact jostling her and causing her to hit the back of her head as the van shifted from underneath her; stars exploded into her vision as she heard the sounds of automatic gunfire once more. Then, just as quickly as everything started, everything went quiet for what felt like an eternity before the van doors opened up, a human standing there with an assault rifle aimed directly at her. Twilight pulled her hooves over her head and closed her eyes in an attempt to block the bullets that would come from her, the natural pony instincts outweighing the cold logic of such a vain action, but no bullets came.

The van shifted as the human climbed into the van before gently resting a hand on her head and stroking her mane reassuringly as Twilight quivered in fear from the touch. After a few seconds of continued stroking, Twilight slowly lowered her hooves in the realization that she was still alive. Looking up, she saw James, kneeling over her with a flat look on his face as blood dripped from a small cut on his left eyebrow.

“J-James? Oh thank Faust… Wait, Blake! G-Go help Blake, he’s…”

Twilight coughed as she spoke, before attempting to continue as James put a finger to her lips and silently nodded, stepping out of the van and heading around the corner to the crashed Picador. Twilight relaxed as she laid there, the cool metal beneath her sapping her strength as her body finally could get some semblance of comfort, even if it was only better than the ground. Closing her eyes, Twilight could hear in the distance some shouting, but it sounded years away as she fell asleep.

Twilight groaned, her body feeling sluggish and partially numb, yet painful to move and breathe. Squeezing her eyes to block out the light, Twilight turned her head into the pillow to try and go back to sleep.

Mmmm… This is…

Twilight could feel something was wrong, but in her sleep addled mind, she couldn’t tell what it was.

Why do I have to be hungry… Maybe I should call Blake to get some more food…

Twilight sat there for a few minutes before realizing something.

Blake… What about…

“BLAKE!!!” Twilight shouted as she sat up, terror in her eyes as she remembered the chase, the crash, and The Lost. But before she could do anything else, Twilight cried out in pain as her body seized up and she fell back to the bed, her vision swimming as someone came into the room and held her to the bed. Twilight’s terror doubled as she was held down, causing her to cry out and kick with her back hooves in an attempt to dislodge the person holding her down.

She could hear words coming from him, but she could easily tell it wasn’t James or Blake; his slender frame and buzz cut brown hair were clearly not from either of the two, which meant that he wasn’t someone that she knew and that was enough. Reaching out with her magic, Twilight grabbed the lamp on the bedside table, ignoring the flash of pain and slamming it into the human's head, causing him to recoil from the blow and hold his head, backing away from the mare and towards the door.

Twilight's heart pounded in her ears and a snarl on her face, the idea of being captured again flashing through her head as she got ready to throw the lamp and grabbed another object, an alarm clock, before someone else hobbled into the room on a crutch.

Twilight almost didn’t recognize him at first, his bandages covering most of his chest and part of his face, a cast on his left arm and a splint on his left leg hiding most of his features, but Twilight recognized his hair and eyes; belonging to no one else but Blake. Raising his hands, he slowly and calmly spoke to her while maintaining eye contact.

“Twilight, it’s me, Blake. You’re safe now, you’re back at the apartment.”

“Hurt? She–”

Getting a quick glare, ‘Jonathan’ quickly shut up as he stood to the side and allowed Blake to use his crutch to make his way to her bedside, moving slowly as he made sure Twilight wasn’t freaking out about anything else. After nearly a minute, Blake sat down on her bed and opened his arm while his left arm hung at his side.

“It’s okay Twi, we’re back at the apartment. Jonathan is someone we’ve worked with before we met you. Can you put the lamp and alarm clock down? Please?”

Twilight breathed heavily as she looked at Blake and Jonathan, eyeing the newcomer suspiciously.

“Is he trustworthy?”

“Yep, I trust him to patch me up when we’re out on a job and can’t get to a hospital in time, and I know he won’t tell anyone about you. Right Jon?”

Jonathan’s eyes widened as he realized he hadn’t prepared anything to say, his face flashing with confusion for a split second before he started speaking.

“Uh, yea, I promise not to mention a word about you and your group, and nobody will know I was here. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” Going through somewhat familiar motions to Twilight, although with a macabre twist to them, Twilight relaxed as she placed the dented lamp and alarm clock back on the nightstand, wincing and rubbing her horn as it flared in pain from the use before giving Blake a hug. After some time, Twilight pulled away from the hug before looking towards Jonathan, rubbing her hooves together as she shifted her gaze towards the bed.

“Sorry, I just…”

Jonathan quickly raised his hands in a surrendering motion, speaking quickly as she tried to apologize.

“No no! I’m sorry, Blake mentioned how you two were ambushed and I forgot that you don’t have any experience in this line of work. I should have been more… understanding… of your unique situation.”

Twilight held out a hoof towards Jonathan, nervously eyeing it and him as she spoke.

“Ho– How about we start over? I’m Twilight Sparkle, a trapped unicorn from Equestria…”

Jonathan slowly reached out his hand and shook Twilight’s hoof as he spoke, a small smile coming to his face.

“Hi Twilight, I’m Jonathan, uhh, ex-farmhand and military vet turned crook and impromptu medic. I have a feeling that we’ll be working together a lot more.”

Twilight smiled at the warm reaction, her nervousness dissipating as they spoke.

“I feel like we will, did you patch Blake up as well?” she said while eying the bandaged and casted human who sat quietly on the corner of the bed, watching the two of them become friends.

“No, he apparently got dropped off at a hospital, they don’t ask too many questions as long as you grease a few palms, but if they learned about you, it would definitely cause some noise, and that’s where I come in.”

Pulling back and stiffening his back, Jonathan gave a military salute, reminding Twilight of how her brother used to practice back home.

“97th Airborne division, trained in both combat and field medicine, and certified for basic surgery. Lester called me in when he heard that you had gotten banged up to be your primary doctor.”

Twilight grimaced as she realized the predicament that would put her in, as she already had to worry about the substantial bounty on her head now, assuming what The Lost were talking about was true.

“Yea… Wait… You said Lester called you in to be my doctor. Are you here just for me?”

“Yep! It’s probably because I used to live on a farm back home and we took care of horses, so I have knowledge on how to treat most wounds they could get. Combine that with my medic training, and I know how to keep a secret; I’m probably the best at patching you back up should you get hurt again.”

“Well, thank you, I guess. I do feel quite a bit better than the last time I was awake.”

Jonathan chuckled, causing Twilight to tilt her head in confusion at him before he started to speak.

“That’s probably just because of how many drugs you're on. You were really banged up from the crash, the fact that you were up and running around after that is nothing short of a miracle to be honest. But in regards to your health, I know next to nothing about how your horn works or magic, so we’ll need to go over that to make sure everything is ok. But we can do that tomorrow, the both of you need rest, so we’ll continue this later, alright?”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow while looking between the two patients, who simply looked at one another before Blake held up his right fist towards Twilight, a small grin forming on his face.

Twilight raised her hoof, noticing that while she could easily do so, her hoof felt like it was somewhat moving on its own as she hoof bumped his fist, a smile forming on her face as well.

Blake started to speak as he stood up, a small groan of pain as he shifted his balance to keep the weight off of his leg.

“Then I’ll– ouuu, that hurts… I’ll head on back to sleep, I’ll catch you later Twi, try not to hit Jon again.”

Blake chuckled as he hobbled out of the room past Jonathan, a small blush of embarrassment appearing on her face as she crooned her neck towards the bed.

“I won’t, I promise. Sleep does sound good right about now, my horn still hurts from just using a little magic earlier…”

Jonathan nodded his head as he made his way over to the door, placing his right hand on the knob as he stepped partially out of the room.

“Then I’ll let you get some sleep. If you need anything, feel free to call out since I’ll be here for at least a few days–”

Jonathan was cut off as Blake said something to him, causing him to snap his left fingers in remembrance.

“Ah, right, about James. No need to worry, but he’ll be out working more jobs it seems for now in case you were wondering.”

“Thanks, and thanks for letting me know Jonathan.”

Jonathan smiled as he spoke, a mirthful grin on his face.

“Just call me Jon, and anytime Twi; I see why Blake wants to help you so badly.”

Jonathan closed the door after he finished speaking, leaving Twilight in the semi-lit room from the window as the two humans quietly spoke for a few minutes before silence reigned over the apartment.

Rubbing her horn once more, Twilight couldn’t feel it, but she could feel the pain from it, telling her that magic burnout was probably not the only thing affecting her currently, but sleep was always the best option for issues regarding magic. Laying back down on the bed and getting comfortable, Twilight dozed off contently as she let go of her previous worries, a small smile on her face.

Chapter 5: Criminal Ambitions (Part 1)

**1 Week Later**

“And that looks like the gist of it. Keep noting down anything that might be peculiar or strange about your magic, and we’ll keep an eye on that, but otherwise you should be good for now Twilight.”

Jonathan groaned as he stood up and stretched his back, a popping noise coming from it as he reached towards the ceiling. Twilight sat opposite of him on James’ couch, the owner in question out on another job.

“Thanks for the help Jon.” Twilight said as she hopped off the couch and stretched her legs, feeling her left rear leg instead of the stump of pain that was her leg previously after she had gotten shot. Inspecting her leg, the bullet wound had even healed, only leaving a slight change in color on her skin that was barely noticeable if you weren’t looking for it.

“I hope I never get shot again though and need your help, as much as I enjoy our talks about medicine.”

Jonathan chuckled as he walked over to the apartment door, passing Blake who was resting his head on the dining area table, his left arm now in just a sling while his right leg was still in a brace.

“Don’t worry, I’d rather hang out casually instead of for business anyway. You, on the other hand,” Jonathan said as he poked Blake in his shoulder, “are still not cleared. I don’t want you fucking up your leg even more, causing me to re-set it, again.”

Blake groaned into his arm and table before lifting his head and blinking at the sudden brightness change.

“But that means I’m stuck here for a month! What am I going to do for a whole MONTH? That’s not even including the physical therapy you keep talking about! I just wanna get back out there cuz otherwise it’s just James, and you know how he gets when flying solo too much.”

Blake looked at Jonathan as he was speaking, the taller lankier human simply shrugging his shoulders as he opened the apartment door.

“Sorry, not my problem, much that it is, but unless you wanna double the time, stop fucking up your leg! I don’t even know why you tried going on that job as soon as you got out of the cast, and now look at you!”

Jonathan closed the door 65%, leaving just his head inside the apartment as he looked to Twilight.

“I’m heading out of town, so I’ll catch you later Twilight, just give me a call if you need anything next time I stop by. And for the love of God, make sure Blake doesn’t get any ideas.”

With that, Jonathan finally closed the door and left the duo in silence as Blake dropped his head onto his arms once more, a muffled ‘bang’ ringing out from the force of it. Twilight winced as she watched him, a sad smile adorning her face as she walked over to him.

“Cheer up Blake, it’s only a month, maybe two, at most! There’s plenty of books to read, and TV to watch… and the internet to peruse…” Twilight grimaced as she talked, realizing that only the books were actually academic in any regard. “On second thought, maybe you have a point…”

Blake huffed as he lifted his head to look at Twilight, a flat expression on his face while a ghost of a smile hid in his eyes.

“Thanks Twi, but that’s not what I meant. It’s more for James, he gets… Well, it’s best for everyone when he doesn’t work all the time…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the sentence, wondering just what he meant by it.

“What do you mean by that? Doesn’t he come here and relax every night?”

“While true, that’s not really relaxing. He’s just coming here to sleep, maybe grab some food and ammo, and get back out onto the streets. Normally we could swap off so he could do something besides robbing and stealing, but with me out of commission…” Blake leaned back as he looked towards the ceiling, a small frown forming. “I know he’ll somehow get into trouble, which’ll snowball.”

Twilight cringed at the idea of James getting into even more trouble that he usually would, her ears pulling back as she thought of a potential solution.

“What if… What if you went with him as a driver? Would that work to help keep him out of trouble?” Twilight asked, looking at Blake.

Blake pulled his head up and looked at her with a questioning gaze for a few seconds before speaking.

“Not really. Even if I was just there to drive, if we ran into any issues and had to ditch the car…” Blake gestured to his leg, lifting it up as the brace kept it ramrod straight before setting his foot back on the floor. The implication was more than enough.

Looking at Twilight, Blake waved his hand in dismission.

“It’ll be fine, I’ll just tell him to take some time off; we have enough cash saved up to not worry about any bills while I’m out.”

Twilight lowered her head, her face scrunching up as she analyzed the situation that Blake and James were both in, and herself as well…

With Blake recuperating, that means only James can work and get money, both to pay all their expenses and to help save up for the gold I need… That means progress will be slowed down by at least half, but there's nothing that I can really do… Right?

Twilight turned away and headed to the fridge, grabbing a Sprunk and looking at Blake who had pulled out his new phone and seemed to be reading something.

“Do you want a beer or anything else to drink?” Twilight asked the man, already pulling one partially out of the fridge.

Blake looked up at her in surprise, before grinning as he held out a hand. “Yea, toss me a beer, got nothing better to do today anyway.”

Twilight levitated the beer over to him, letting him grab it and pop the top off himself; using the table's edge while she closed the fridge. Walking back over to Blake, she pulled out the other seat before hopping on it, resting her forehooves on the table while she nursed the can, her face scrunched up as she pondered possible solutions.

There really isn’t anything I can do, I mean… I can’t get any jobs without Merryweather knowing and coming for me… It’s not like–

Twilight twitched her head sideways a degree as she felt a pin of pressure on the right side of her head, the small motion going unnoticed as Blake was occupied with drinking and sending a text. As he finished his message, his face broke out into a grin as he looked at Twilight.

“Good news, Mors is finished with the car, so I’m sending James to go pick it up. At the very least we can now go out and get some food, so we won’t be relying on him all the time now.”

Twilight shook her head to dissipate the pressure that had built up, feeling it flow away as her head cleared and her thoughts became collected before speaking.

“What if I… What if I went on some of the jobs with him? Just to make sure he’s doing alright and everything?” Twilight didn’t cower as she normally would when asking this type of question as she knew what would happen on those types of jobs, and mostly knew what she was getting herself into.

Blake paused mid drink, his eyes widening in a slow, dawning realization of what Twilight had just said as he slowly lowered the beer back to the table, looking at her with a questioning gaze.

“Twi, you know–”

“I know, I just feel like I should help out where I can…”

Blake blinked owlishly as he thought about the offer, looking at Twilight who held firm at his gaze.

“You don’t have to force yourself you know, it’s less than a month and then–”

“It’s not just that, I… You’re not able to work because of me, and–”

Blake cut her off with a wave of his hand, a dismissive snort blowing out his nose before he spoke.

“Twi, I knew what I was getting into when I brought you outside, it’s not your fault.”

Twilight stomped her hoof on the table as she glared at Blake, determination in her eyes.

“It IS my fault, I asked you to teach me to drive, I was the one behind the wheel, I was the reason we ended up crashing, and I was the one who needed rescuing, again.”

Twilight stopped glaring at Blake as she slid out the chair and slowly paced around the kitchen/dining area, her mouth forming into a snarl as she talked.

“All I've done since I got here was get rescued, or needed rescuing. I was Princess Celestia’s student, I helped stop Nightmare Moon, I helped stop Discord, and yet–!!!”

Twilight’s head twitched a degree clockwise along with her eye as she paused mid rant, the sudden change in Twilight not going unnoticed by Blake as he blinked, wondering what just happened. Yet, just as fast as it happened, Twilight heaved a sigh as she resumed her pacing, her mouth relaxing into a frown as she continued to talk.

“I am sick and tired of being helpless without any way to help, without any way to give back to you two… I’m not a foal, I don’t need to be foalsitted 24/7, I just…”

Twilight sat down on the floor, hanging her head low as she closed her eyes and sighed heavily, calming her pounding heart down and lowering her blood pressure that had steadily been rising in time with her headache.

Blake sat quietly on his chair, a worried on his face as he watched her pace before she sat down. Looking away, Blake mulled over his thoughts on Twilight, and how she was handling life in San Andreas, even as little as she had experienced so far. Looking back to Twilight, Blake noticed her frown had disappeared and now she almost looked like she was asleep with how quietly she was just sitting there.

“Twi, I know I said I would help you no matter what, but are you sure you’re alright? You seem… different…”

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, tilting her head over to Blake as she sighed once more before speaking.

“I just… I just hate how there’s nothing I can do except sit here. Back in Equestria, even if I couldn’t do anything, I could read about it or go out and find some help from one of my friends or the Princesses, but here… I just sit, and wait, and get helped, and rescued, and fed, and, and, and–!!! And cause trouble, with either you, or James, or Lester, or even Jonathan!”

Twilight's face became one of sorrow as she looked at Blake, her ears slowly laying back as she continued to speak.

“I’m going to be here for YEARS, at the very least, will everyp– will they be alright with foalsitting me for all that time?”

Blake listened, his focus solely on Twilight as she laid out her fears and worries to him before letting a pregnant pause take the room, giving him a small window to gather his thoughts on what to do next.

Closing his eyes, Blake sighed as he slowly opened his eyes and looked into Twilight’s eyes, the stress of the situation showing easily in those eyes that wore her emotions on her sleeves; if she had any.

“Twilight, I know James and I will. Lester and Jonathan might need a little convincing, but a few jobs for them, or money, will be more than enough.” Twilight opened her mouth to speak up but was stopped as Blake held up a hand to her. “But, I think I understand what you’re looking for, and that’s some control over your life right?”

Twilight averted her eyes, a confused look on her face as she reflected on what Blake had said as he used the opportunity to continue.

“Back in Equestria, you seem to be somewhat in control of your surroundings, assuming beating ‘Nightmare Moon’ and ‘Discord’ is anything to go by, but here on Earth, you can’t even go outside without someone trying to kidnap or kill you. Reminds me of someone else…” Blake muttered the last part under his breath as he looked away, a small frown forming on his face. Twilight was only able to hear it thanks to the fact that she had been paying attention to him, her ears leaning forward as she sat silently.

“I’m no psychiatrist… Or was it a therapist? But, either way, I want to help you, I just want to make sure that you also want it, because life here isn't just sunshine and rainbows.”

Blake sat quietly on the chair, a neutral look on his face as he looked Twilight in her eyes as she looked back; her face and eyes filled with determination as she nodded her head and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Alright, I’ll let you go on some of James' jobs, as a ride along and driver to make sure he’s doing alright, but on one condition.”

Twilight’s determination didn’t falter, but a hint of nervousness creeped into her at Blake’s words.

“You need to learn how to defend yourself. I know I gave you a quick rundown on guns and why to avoid them, but now you need to learn how to use them.”

Twilight scoffed at the notion, lifting a hoof to rebuke him before pausing and shuddering slightly, the memory of her practice with James coming to the forefront of her mind.

I’m getting too hurt lately, aren’t I?

Slowly, Twilight lowered her hoof before nodding her head.

“I’ll learn it, but I don’t have to use it, right?” Twilight asked, fear clearly in her voice at the idea of having to harm another creature.

Blake smiled reassuringly, knowing exactly what Twilight was thinking.

“I won’t force you to shoot anyone, but I still want you to have the knowledge just in case. I… I woke up right as you got shot, after the crash…” Blake hung his head as he thought back to his experience with that night. “I know you wouldn’t have used it against them, but, at the very least you could have had another tool to slow them down at your fingertips… Hooftips? Either way, having more tools is always better than not having enough.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the line of thought, a question forming in her head before pushing it to her mouth.

“How does that work? James and I… Well… I learned very quickly that telekinesis and guns don’t mix very well…”

Blake grinned at her, a knowing twinkle in his eyes as he pointed to his couch by the half-wall.

“On the other side of the couch is my SMG, go grab it for me and I’ll show you, trust me, you’ll realize why.”

Twilight eyed him before huffing, moving around the wall and couch before spotting his SMG on the ground, leaning up against the couch itself. A few spare magazines were laid out on the ground next to it, all of them filled to the brim with bullets. Twilight grabbed the SMG, levitating it over to Blake as he took it from her grasp.

“When you truly learn about something, you know it from both the outside,” Blake spoke as he waved a hand over the SMG, “and the inside as well.”

Blake pressed the magazine release button, letting the mag drop out into his waiting hand below before he placed it on the table.

“A gun without any ammo is just a fancy stick, but you still have to know how to disarm that stick as well.” Blake then racked the slide, the last bullet popping out into the air and catching it. “You said you and James were experimenting with guns, right?”

Twilight silently nodded her head, the gears in her brain starting to turn as Blake led her down a train of thought that she hadn’t had before.

“You also said they don’t mix well, what happened?” Blake placed the SMG on the table, letting Twilight gather her thoughts as she cringed at the incident.

“Well… I don’t know exactly why, but he… Well… Started shooting in my direction while we were out…” Twilight splayed her ears back, embarrassment etching itself all over her body in both her posture and habits as she rubbed her front hooves together.

Blake blinked slowly at the revelation, raising an eyebrow but not glaring or jumping in anger at the idea of James shooting at Twilight.

“Could you elaborate, please?”

Twilight tilted her head as she slowly sifted through her memories from back then.

“Well, we were talking, as well as we could with him being mute, and one thing led to another. From what I can tell, he was teaching me how to be shot at. He started off with a shot into the air, before letting it go lower and lower until I could feel the wind pressure brushing past my fur from each shot. I… I ended up grabbing his gun and hand to try and take it from him, but at that range, which was only maybe… double the length of this room at most… I could barely move his arms, and he still had control over his fingers.”

Twilight instinctively brought a hoof to her horn, rubbing it slightly as the phantom pains faded as she came back to reality, shaking her head as she put her hoof back down.

“When he fired another shot through my magic, there was… a LOT… of feedback… Have you ever… Have you ever pulled a muscle, to the point where you couldn’t use it and had to put ice on it?”

Blake nodded his head, a grim look settling on his face as Twilight continued.

“Well, imagine that except in your brain, except it’s not physical, but mental, spiritual. I know humans don’t have magic, so it’s hard to get an apt comparison, but…”

Blake held up a hand and nodded his head. “I understand Twi, it almost sounds like an aneurysm, or stroke with how bad it is…”

Twilight nodded her head, a shadow falling over her face as she spoke.

“It’s not entirely uncommon for those who have a bad case of magical feedback losing their lives, mostly due to the fact it’s usually in an extreme scenario. Since ‘The Culling of the Everfree’ a few hundred years ago, most incidents usually involve construction accidents and other hazardous work sites. Sometimes, the pony is question is lucky and only suffers from the feedback, which is what happened in my case, but the only way to resolve it is with a ‘magic flushing’ where you cycle out the old magic that compounded with the feedback with new, ambient magic; if you have a reserve crystal on hoof, you can expedite it to only a few minutes worth of pain, otherwise…”

Twilight trailed off as she let Blake figure out the implication on his own, his eyes widening as he pieced it together.

“You have to wait until it cycles naturally…”

Twilight nodded her head, a frown forming.

“With the near lack of a magic field on Earth, it took me hours to recover, had it been anytime that time was of the essence…”

A pregnant pause filled the room as the two shifted uncomfortably at the implications. After nearly a minute, Blake was the first to speak up.

“I understand. I won’t force you to use a gun, but, I would at the very least like you to have the knowledge of it even if you don’t use it; broadening your horizons as it were. Deal?”

Blake held out a hand to Twilight, a gentle smile coming to his face as she eyed it, and him, cautiously.

I owe it to Blake, and James, to help out where I can, and I won’t be like them, I won’t kill anypo- anyone. It’s just a tool and knowledge, and it’s up to me what I do with them. Knowledge can’t hurt you, it can only help you…

Twilight held out her hoof, letting it become clasped by Blake as they shook hands/hooves on the deal; a small smile forming on Twilight’s face, even if it was a hesitant smile at that.

Blake let go of Twilight’s hoof before speaking, “I’ll call James and let him know the plan; there’s a scrapyard down south, over by LSIA, that doesn’t get a lot of traffic, it’ll be fine for you to practice without anyone noticing you.”

Twilight nodded her head at that, a grin forming on her face. “Alright, I’ll make sure to write a perfect report about everything that happened so you can read it as well!”

Blake chuckled as he waved off Twilight, “I don’t need a whole report, just a quick rundown on what happened, and if you’re hurt or not, James included. I’m alright with you going on jobs, but safety is the priority, understand?”

Twilight nodded her head, her body already going through the motions before her mind caught up. “Absolutely! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my ey– OW!”

Twilight gently rubbed her left eye, a small frown on her face as she muttered to herself. “Even after all this time, I still poke my eye…”

Blake’s grin returned with fever as he watched Twilight in amusement.

**A Few Hours Later**

James groaned as he stepped out of the car that was parked facing a concrete barrier in the corner of the empty scrapyard. The afternoon sun was barely peeking into the shaded area, peeking between a recycling plant and the La Puerta Freeway, casting long shadows that danced in the perfect afternoon weather.

Twilight watched James close the driver door behind him as he made his way to the rear of the car, opening the tailgate and grabbing one of the two duffel bags that were placed in the bed. Looking forward, Twilight raised a hoof to her chest while inhaling, before slowly exhaling and pulling her hoof away; going through her breathing exercises Cadance had taught her as she went through the conversation with Blake in her head.

You’re not going to use it to kill Twilight, it’s just to have another tool in your arsenal, another spell in your head, another book in your library, to avoid dying. Blake knows what he’s talking about, and he has shown how far he’s willing to go to help you, so it's time to help him out, even just a little.

Opening her eyes, Twilight exited the passenger side, and made her way to the rear of the car where James was waiting expectantly. One of the duffel bags had been slung over his back, the strap going over his chest, while the other one was resting on the tailgate itself. Twilight raised an eyebrow as they stood there for a second, causing James to roll his eyes in annoyance as he pushed the second bag towards her.

Twilight’s eyes widened in realization, a nervous smile adorning her face as she grasped the bag in her magic before lifting it off of the tailgate and onto her back. Grunting in exertion at the surprising heft of the bag, Twilight let it rest on her haunches while she used her magic to keep it stable, wearing it almost like a saddlebag without the strap.

Doing a quick idle prance, Twilight eyed the bag to make sure it was stable enough to walk with before looking back at James, a childlike grin on her face at the success. James simply snorted in amusement, a small grin hiding on his face in the shadow of the freeway as he closed the tailgate and moved further into the yard, Twilight following closely behind him.

Crossing the yard until they were just under the freeway itself, standing by one of the main support pillars, James slung his bag around and tossed it onto a pile of wooden pallets that were stacked next to a mini-crane meant for grabbing scrap and garbage from a bin just underneath the grabber.

Mimicking James, Twilight levitated her bag onto the pallets as well, letting go of it once she was sure it wouldn’t fall off or roll due to its shifting weight. Looking back to James, she spotted him looking around, and inside, the dumpster that sat underneath the crane grabber. Curious, Twilight approached him and attempted to peek over the edge of the dumpster and see what he was looking for.

“What are you looking for?” Twilight asked, barely able to see over the lip of the dumpster, even while standing on the tips of her hooves, as James looked at her; a puzzled expression on his face. “Do you need any help?”

James paused for a second, staring at her in concentration before his eyes widened in a moment of epiphany, snapping his fingers as well. Scooting over to her, James wasted no time in wrapping his hands around her barrel and lifting her up to clearly see over the edge of the dumpster. Twilight let out a cry as she was lifted up like one would lift a toddler, being held partially in the air by James’ hands alone.

“WHA– WHAT?! HEY?!?!”

Instinctively, Twilight kicked out with her rear legs as she reached out and braced herself on the edge of the dumpster, nearly kicking James in the process as he held her out and away from him. A growl escaped his throat as he squeezed his arms, causing Twilight to squeak in surprise and fear at the change in demeanor. Pulling her ears back, she turned her head to face him and look him in the eyes as she consciously took control of her legs.

“Hey! I don’t want to hear any complaints when you just suddenly grabbed me! At least ask me, or warn me, before you suddenly pick me up!”

James grunted in response, shifting her around so that way he could carry her under his right arm and leaving his left hand free to point to the numerous bottles that filled the bin. Twilight glanced between him and the bottles, a questioning look on her face as she noticed the ludicrous amounts of Pißwasser glass bottles that filled the bin, along with a near matching amount of Sprunk and eCola cans tossed in.

“What? What am I looking for?”

James simply blew air out of his nose as he started to grab bottles and cans, placing them between him and Twilight as he used her as an impromptu vice to hold the items. Looking at the growing collection, Twilight raised an eyebrow and spoke to him as he continued to fill the space between her barrel and his chest.

“You… Want me to pick up the bottles and cans?” Twilight asked, looking at him for confirmation.

Without pausing, James nodded his head and started stuffing one last can into the small pile under his arm, causing some of the lower bottles to start pushing into Twilight’s ribs.

Huffing in annoyance, Twilight lit up her horn and immediately levitated almost 100 of the cans and bottles, straining as she did so, but holding them steady in her magical grasp as she spoke to James.

“Ne–xt time, as–k me first, and I’ll help. Now where are we going because I don’t know how long I can hold all of this… Junk…”

James rolled his eyes as he moved away from the dumpster, heading to the north side where a bus and rolls of rusted pipe laid under the freeway. Twilight huffed as she craned her head behind her, keeping an eye on the floating bottles and cans to avoid dropping anything.

As James reached the rusted pipes, each pipe being 3 ft in diameter with them being stacked two high, he started to place the bottles and cans on top of it, spacing them roughly six inches apart from one another. Giving a quick shake to Twilight, who grumbled in indignation, the floating trash pieces followed suit, layering the pipes and even the bus in bottles and cans. After a few minor adjustments, James nodded and placed Twilight on the ground, setting her down like one would a dog.

As soon as James let go of her, Twilight scooted a few feet away from him and glared, annoyance clearly etched into her face as she scowled.

“Don’t pick me up without warning me, Faust that was…” Twilight shook herself as she brushed her coat, getting rid of any ruffle James had left in her fur.

“At least give me a warning next time…” Twilight gave one last shake before looking at James expectantly, her natural curiosity outweighing her indignation. “So what was all that for? How are all the bottles and cans supposed to help teach me how to use a gun?”

James simply stared at her silently, his face never wavering for a second, before he simply turned back towards the duffel bags, leaving Twilight as her mouth turned into a frown at the strange behavior. Gritting her teeth, Twilight followed him back to the stack of pallets as he rifled through the bags, searching for something.

“I know we aren’t best friends, but I thought that we’d at least be friendly… Well, more friendly than this…” Twilight spoke, a twinge of anger seeping into her voice as she addressed James.

The human merely paused for a second, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow, before diving back into the bag and leaving Twilight to her own devices as he started to pull out items.

The first item that James withdrew was a pistol, along with a dozen magazines to spare, before Blake’s SMG was withdrawn as well, another dozen magazines following that. Laying them on top of the pallets, James organized it so the guns would be next to a stack of their respective ammo, before he dove into the second bag.

Twilight sighed, her annoyance evident at the situation as James was less than helpful, as she started to reminisce about her friends and how they wouldn't see eye to eye on everything. Zoning out, Twilight thought to herself about how James was acting in an attempt to rationalize it.

Easy Twilight, it’s not like you instantly became friends with the rest of the girls in a single night… Okay, maybe I did, but that was because we all stopped Nightmare Moon together… But we still had our differences and issues that weren’t instantly solved… Just one step at a time, one hoof in front of the other until you become a true friend with James…

Twilight zoned back in as James turned around, evidently having emptied the second duffel bag and placing his Assault Rifle on the pallet, along with a new weapon. A long barrel extended out from the receiver, along with a scope attached to it, and a sturdy stock that had a good layer of padding on it.

Twilight eyed the new gun curiously before focusing back on James, who simply looked at her apathetically. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight simply looked back at him in a pseudo-staring contest.

Try as Twilight might, her background as a bookworm had left her lacking in confidence and ability to uphold one’s bravado, to the point that after just 15 seconds Twilight folded back her ears, and eventually looking away at the ground at the one minute mark, causing James to grin smugly before turning back to the small stockpile of weapons.

James brought a hand to his chin, stroking his stubble before picking up his Assault Rifle and loading a magazine into it, cocking the gun, and turning around to face Twilight. Pointing at her, then at the gun, he barely waited for her confused nod before taking aim and firing a shot at the bus and pipes. Twilight jumped slightly at the sudden noise, a single shot accompanied by the sounds of glass shattering and falling onto metal sounding out from her right.

Glancing over, Twilight spotted one of the bottles was now absent, and a bullet hole was suddenly present on the cover behind it. Looking back at James, she noticed how she was already looking at her while holding the rifle steady.

“What? What was that supposed to mean? How am I supposed to learn–”

James simply took his left hand off the handguard and held it up to her, silencing her as he heaved a sigh and rolled his neck. An annoyed look appeared on his face briefly before he suddenly widened his eyes as an idea struck. Moving the gun towards the pallet, James racked the slide multiple times, ejecting nine rounds into one of the open duffel bags before removing the magazine itself and ejecting the last round into the bag.

Placing the gun itself down, James grabbed two of the rounds and magazine, looking to Twilight as he slowly gestured to her, and then the magazine and ammo. Twilight watched as he carefully loaded the two rounds into the magazine, before holding it out to her with a simple grunt.

Twilight glanced between him and the outstretched mag, slowly picking it up in her magic as James then gestured towards the remaining ammunition in the bag. Using her magic, Twilight pulled the duffel bag down to her level before pulling out all eight rounds and placing the bag back on the pallet.

Eyeing the magazine, Twilight slowly brought the bullet to the top of the magazine, loading it in just as James had done before. As she loaded the last of the rounds, James nodded his head in approval before grabbing the gun and holding it out to Twilight, letting her take it in her magic.

Easily remembering how James had loaded it before, Twilight quickly slid the magazine into place before moving her magic to hold onto the handguard and stock, making sure to steer clear of the trigger and muzzle as phantom pains danced through her mind. Looking to James, he quietly eyed the gun as it hung in the air before raising his hand and bringing it close to the rifle. Giving the receiver a quick flick with his finger, the gun shifted in Twilight’s magic before the magazine fell out of the gun, dropping to the ground with a loud ‘ch-thunk’ as it bounced from the impact.

Frowning, James stared at the fallen magazine before looking at Twilight, snorting and shaking his head side to side in disapproval. Twilight folded her ears back and lowered her head in embarrassment, knowing that while James couldn’t speak, it still hurt to have been scolded for what seemed to be a simple task.

“Sorry, I thought it… Could you show me one more time?”

Grabbing the gun out of Twilight’s magic, James pointed to the magazine and then motioned upwards towards him with a ‘come here’ gesture. Twilight quickly levitated the magazine upwards into his waiting hand, letting him take it and slowly show her what to do.

Tapping the magazine while it was upside down, James blew on it before bracing the rifle stock on his waist while holding onto the handguard with his left hand. Slowly, James placed the front of the magazine into the well before sliding the rest into place before he looked at Twilight, making sure she was watching as he then gave the magazine a solid smack on the bottom, resounding in a subtle but distinct ‘click’ as the magazine locked into place.

Grabbing the magazine itself, James gave it a tug as Twilight watched it stay in place, not moving in the slightest. Moving his hand upwards just a bit, he pressed a small paddle at the back of the mag that stuck out from the rest of the frame before pulling on the magazine again, but this time it slid out without any resistance. Holding them out to Twilight, she quickly took them in her magic and started to replicate the demonstration.

Slipping the magazine in, Twilight brought the gun close to her chest while angling it so the magazine was near parallel with the ground. Raising a hoof, she struck the magazine while bracing the rest of the gun with her magic and smiled as they heard the click of it locking into place.

Depressing the paddle behind it allowed her to easily remove the magazine as she then looked towards James. Twilight paused as she noticed his frown, her own smile drooping slightly as James held out his hand towards Twilight and the gun. Silently floating both the gun and mag over, James quickly slid the magazine in, hearing a click without him needing to double tap, and grabbed a spare magazine off of the pallets before slipping it into his belt loop before taking a firing stance while aiming at the bus.

Quickly pulling his hand back, James depressed the lever as he grabbed the magazine and tossed it to the side as he reached down and grabbed the spare mag, quickly slipping it into the gun and racking the slide before resuming his firing stance, the gun muzzle barely moving as James had only rotated the gun to have easier access to the lever and slide. Relaxing, James picked up the mag that had dropped and placed it in his belt loop.

Twilight turned her head as she spoke up, confusion evident in her voice. “That’s the same as what I did, right? But why are you…”

Twilight stopped speaking as James then started to reload, this time pulling out the new magazine, turning the gun like Twilight had, and then double tapping it before resuming his firing stance.

Shaking his head, he relaxed and brought the gun about so it was sideways, just as Twilight had when she reloaded it, before pointing at it and shaking his head in a ‘no’ motion.

“Oh, you want me to be able to reload it like you do, where I don’t waste time with it… But… What’s the point of me learning how to reload faster?” James simply glared at her, causing her to wither under his gaze and avert her eyes.

After a few seconds, James relented but his piercing gaze did not dissipate as he held out the gun and a spare magazine to Twilight, grunting after a few seconds when Twilight didn’t turn her head immediately.

As Twilight turned her head, she looked at the offered items as a small frown formed on her face.

“I… I know you’re training me how to use them properly, but…”

Twilight grimaced, her inner scholar in her already yelling at her.

That’s not how you should study Twilight, you have to know everything about the subject matter, even if it isn’t as relevant currently, it may come up at a later time or be called upon for reference!

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed as she mentally warred with herself, a losing battle as the guilt of causing Blake’s accident decided to weigh upon her mind more than it already was. Opening her eyes again, she looked to James who stood there quietly with an eyebrow raised, his eyes looking softer but no less direct than before.

“Alright, just… Give me some time to get used to all this, using things that could… That can and will kill others… The most deadly thing I ever learned was a stun spell from my brother!” Twilight threw a hoof out as she got lost in her memory, the image of Shining dashing through her head as she spoke.

“Even during the last war in Equestria, weapons or spells this lethal were never made! Or, at the very least, only alicorns would be able to theoretically use them, not just your average pony…”

Twilight heaved a sigh again before shaking her head, clearing the memories that clouded her brain as she looked back towards James who had stood there, listening intently.

“Though you probably don’t care too much about that, fine. Give me the gun, let’s just get this test over with so we can move onto the next subject.”

Twilight grabbed the gun and spare magazine with her magic, bringing the gun eye level with herself and simply holding the spare mag close to her chest. Using her telekinesis, Twilight depressed the level and pulled the magazine out, quickly moving the new one into place before pausing.

Gritting her teeth, Twilight pressed her magic together, pressing down on top of the gun while pressing up from the bottom of the magazine before a distinct ‘click’ sound appeared after a few seconds.

Twilight blinked, letting the magic around the magazine dissipate before she relit the mag and tugged on it, the gun shifting from the sudden pull on it as it then rolled slightly in her magic.

Turning to James, she held out the gun, a nervous look on her face as she watched him take the gun and test it himself, a small nod of satisfaction her answer. Letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, Twilight’s mouth bloomed into a small smile as she watched James.

The man in question took the gun and braced it against himself, racking the slide and ejecting the bullets as he did before until the slide stayed open, leaving behind an empty gun with the bullets back in a duffel bag. Pulling the empty magazine out, James pointed to Twilight, the bullets, the magazine, and then the gun itself.

Tilting her head, Twilight racked her brains as she tried to piece it together. “You want me… Bullets, magazine, gun… OH! You want me to do it all in sequence, right?”

James nodded his head while laying the gun down and grabbing another loaded mag, taking the time to unload the bullets one by one before placing them on top of the pallets. Pointing to Twilight, he then pointed to himself and then the bullets, making sure Twilight was watching.

Nodding her head, Twilight watched as James grabbed the magazine in his left hand and bullets in his right, quickly loading them into the magazine before slamming it into the Assault rifle, racking the slide, and firing at the bus, nailing a few targets as he held down the trigger until a loud ‘click’ sounded out from the gun, the slide left open as the sounds of shells clicking on metal and wood could be heard in the scrapyard.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she watched James, realizing that he was showing her an example of what to do, before her brain processed the fact that he had fired the gun and hit some of the targets.

“Wait, you want me to actually fire the gun as well?!? Why?!” Twilight nearly shouted, her eyes wide and face contorted in shock.

James simply raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, silently looking at her as he held up his hand, stuck up his thumb, and pointed it downward at her, causing her to become confused at the action.

“Is… Is that bad?” Twilight asked, hopeful that she was wrong for once in her life.

James nodded his head up and down, a small frown forming on his face.

Twilight hung her head, groaning as her bad habits kicked in at the idea of failing a test.

“I can’t fail, I’m Princess Celestia’s student! I have to pass any test!” Twilight muttered to herself, “But it’s a weapon, couldn’t I skip past it?”

Twilight looked back at James, a glare seeping into her eyes as she furrowed her brows and spoke.

“Do I have to shoot it? Can I do everything until that point and just not shoot it?”

James shook his head side to side, his frown increasing slightly as he took out the empty magazine and placed the gun on the pallet. Looking at Twilight, he pointed at her, the bullets, the magazine, the gun, and then the target lined bus and pipes. Twilight for her part gritted her teeth as she stomped a hoof, a scowl appearing on her face.

“Faust above, why couldn’t I have just been sent to a universe that was filled with humans who only had friendship problems because one mare went mad with power?” Twilight muttered to herself, raising her head as she sighed and relaxed enough for her scowl to turn into just a frown. “UGH, fine, I’ll do it, it’s not alive, it’s not a pony, it’s not even living, it’s just cans and bottles. It’s just like Shinny’s dummies, except I won’t go that far.”

Looking at the pallet, Twilight grabbed the bullets from inside the duffel bag before loading them into the magazine while picking up the Assault Rifle and aiming it towards the laid out targets, attempting to mimic James and slam the magazine into the gun smoothly, but was instead forced to press them together before hearing the ‘click’ and entering a firing stance.

Eyeing the iron sights, Twilight twitched her ears as she prepared for the noise and slowly pulled the trigger with her magic as she instinctively closed her eyes. The sudden kick in her magic field was felt by Twilight before her brain even registered the noise that accompanied it. The gun shook violently in her grasp, jumping with every shot that rained out from it, followed by a ‘ting ting ting’ noise that quickly changed into ‘thun thun thun’ as bits of concrete soon rained down onto Twilight.

Twilight knew she should open her eyes, she knew she should control the weapon lest it control her, she knew she should be able to handle it, but none of that mattered as she felt the gun get grabbed and yanked out of her magic field, the gun going quiet as her magic dispersed into thin air.

Opening her eyes, Twilight noted that none of the bottles or cans seemed to have been hit, although there was a line of small holes that started at eye level before trailing up… Into the concrete support pillar and the underside of the freeway…

Grimacing at the line of bullets going WAYYY off target, Twilight turned her head towards James who stood next to her with the gun in his hand, a scowl on his face, and his eyebrows furrowed together in anger as he glared at her.

Twilight sheepishly chuckled, an obvious reflex by how forced it was as she looked back at him with her ears splayed, her mouth in a wary smile, and her eyes flickering between him and literally anywhere else.

“Heh, ummm, I didn’t do very well, did I?” Twilight nervously asked, hunching in on herself as she already knew the answer.

James’ only response was to sigh as he reloaded the gun and took a firing stance, a look of resignation on his face.

Twilight held the pistol in her magic, instinctively closing her eyes before forcing them open once more as she looked down the sights of the gun. Aiming at the center of the glass bottle, Twilight pulled the trigger slowly, bracing herself as she felt the gun shift in her magic.

A shot fired out, striking true as the glass bottle exploded into a million pieces while James silently watched from behind her, keeping an eye on her and the gun. Leveling the gun out and re-aligning the sights on another target, a can this time, Twilight squeezed the trigger and hit it dead on, the gun kicking slightly before Twilight leveled it out once more.

Taking aim again, Twilight made sure to follow James’ example on how to shoot; breathing deeply to keep herself calm as she fired off another four rounds, each one hitting a target perfectly before the gun clicked. Giving one final exhale, Twilight relaxed as she placed the pistol back onto the pallet with the other guns, eyeing the Assault Rifle with apprehension.

Looking at James, his face neutral as he looked at her before a small grin slowly formed on his face as he nodded twice. Twilight sighed in relief as she looked towards the late evening sky, spotting stars peeking through the sun's dwindling rays that casted long shadows over the entire scrapyard, blanketing it in darkness that was barely being lit by a few sparse lights scattered haphazardly around the lot.

Looking at the darkened yard, Twilight spoke tiredly as her eyes wandered around. A small lingering feeling had slowly ebbed its way into her stomach, slowly growing during the course of the afternoon.

“Is that enough for today? I… I think I want some food.” Twilight couldn’t quite place the feeling that was settling in her stomach, it obviously wasn’t her being sick or the stomach flu, but… It felt like an uneasy pit had opened up inside her, giving her a slight discomfort that didn’t quite nibble at the back of her mind, but was more just… there…

Looking to James, he simply shrugged his shoulders before moving towards the pallets, tossing the guns back into their respective bags except for the pistol. Instead of putting it back in like Twilight had expected, he pulled his arm back before tossing it to her in an underhand toss, causing her to instinctively catch it in her magic before looking at him in confusion.

James dismissively waived his hand in her direction before placing the last of the remaining ammo into the second bag and zipping them shut.

“Wait, you’re giving me this? I do NOT want this! Training is one thing, keeping an actual–”

Twilight was cut off as James simply pushed his finger onto her nose, causing her to take a step back and give him a moment to sling both duffel bags over his shoulder, letting one rest against his back while the other hung beneath his left arm.

Walking past the flabbergasted Twilight, James headed over to the car as Twilight slowly followed along, her face still that of confusion as James reached the rear of the car and dropped the two bags in, the clinking of metal on metal as the weapons and ammo settled. Looking towards Twilight, James nonchalantly raised an eyebrow as she gaped at him, causing him to whistle a quick note, breaking the spell that had taken over her.

“Wh– Just– Where am I even supposed to keep this? I don’t exactly have pockets or clothes like you humans do.” Twilight huffed annoyedly, holding the gun in her magic still while she glared at James.

James just simply shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the mare's protests as he made his way to the driver door and went to open it before a sudden noise caused him to stop. From his right pocket, both Twilight and James heard the ringtone of his phone going off, causing James to quickly pull it out and answer it on speaker.

“James, I just got word that the Lost are coming to the scrapyard for you right now! Something has them stirred up madder than a hornet’s nest and they have their sights set on you!”

Twilight stepped back, managing to receive physical whiplash from the words alone as she processed the fact that The Lost were about to attack someone that was close to her again. Quickly racing over to James, Twilight spoke up as her brain finally caught up with the situation.

“Lester! The Lost, they’re the same ones that attacked Blake and me last week, right?”

“Twilight? What? Why are you– Gah, nevermind, yes, they are. For some reason, they’re mobilizing every free member in the city to hit you, I’m trying to dig into it but getting you two out of there is the priority!”

Twilight paused, her mind flashing back to when Blake and her ended up crashing, and what The Lost had been talking about before.

“Could… Could it be that they’re searching for me? When they attacked Blake and I, they mentioned something about… 50 million? Some kind of reward?”

Twilight held her breath as she waited for Lesters response.

“Hmm. Not really, the only people who know about you are Blake and James, me, and Merryweather. There shouldn’t be anyone who knows… Wait…”

Twilight could hear Lester quickly typing on the keyboard, but was distracted as James tossed the phone at her, letting her catch it in her magic as he quickly moved back and grabbed the two duffel bags from the trunk once again.

“No, I don’t think they’re there for YOU specifically, Twilight, but I was able to find that Merryweather has been putting out bounties for an orange Picador lately. They aren’t even going through the usual channels, they’re using backdoor and direct calls… I’ll see if I can figure out who’s behind this, but it’ll take some time.”

Grabbing the bags, James grunted at Twilight and nodded his head further into the scrapyard, towards the recycling plant as he started to unload the guns and ammo. Putting Blake’s SMG into the belt loop on his back, James grabbed his Assault Rifle and some grenades from the bag before leaving the sniper rifle in the bed of the truck.

Leaving Twilight behind, James moved away from the rear of the car and took position at the corner of the building, letting the scrap bin and piles of wrecks cover him from the entrance as he double checked his rifle and ammo reserves, an unnerving grin forming on his face as he did so.

“Shit, either way they’re almost on top of you! You’d better prepare for a fight, or to hide Twilight. I’ll need to supply your crew with better comms, but for now just survive!”

Twilight looked in the direction James had nodded, the dirt path leading towards the rear of the recycling plant on the west side of the junkyard, and took off running as the sounds of vehicles could be heard approaching from the front entrance to the east.

James grinned as he heard the cars enter the lot, the noise of the engines getting louder by the second as he grabbed his Assault Rifle and aimed it where the cars would come around the bend; the layout of the scrapyard leading to a perfect choke point. Spotting the front bumper of The Lost’s signature van, James breathed slowly as the driver came into view and he squeezed the trigger.

The first shot barely missed, hitting behind the driver, before the next shot planted itself into the passenger themself instantly killing them. Readjusting his aim while never letting off the trigger, James finally nailed the driver on his fifth shot, causing him to slump over and let the car drive forward into the concrete barriers that surrounded the chop shop building on the south side of the yard.

The van crashed into the barrier, coming to a dead stop as yells from the back of the truck reached James’ ears, causing him to move towards it.

Letting the rear doors swing open, James waited until the two prospects jumped out before kicking the rear door in, causing it to knock one of the prospects to the ground as James lit up the other in a hail of bullets before quickly turning to the downed and stunned man, shooting him point blank in the head.

Quickly reloading, James swung his gun around as another van pulled around the corner, lighting up the front windshield in a hail of bullets as the occupants shot back in a desperate attempt to fend off the attack. Unfortunately, or fortunately, for both sides not a single shot landed on their intended targets, but James had a single advantage over the van, that of sight.

The driver of the van accelerated towards James and the crashed car, causing him to move to the side in an effort to avoid the one ton of fun as it crashed into the back of the first van, pinning both into place. James, not one to ignore a perfect opportunity, took the chance to fire the last of his magazine into the front seat as the two in the back of the van hopped out and aimed at James.

Spotting the prospect out of the corner of his eye, James quickly rolled backwards and avoided the hail of gunfire that passed right where he was, before quickly getting back on his feet and sprinting towards the cover of the scrap bin at the corner of the building as he loaded a fresh mag into his gun.

As the bullets died down and James racked the slide of his gun, he held his gun ready as he waited and listened. After a few tense seconds, his patience was rewarded as the sound of steady footsteps could be heard on the dry dirt. Waiting until the sound was loud enough, James blind fired around the corner, and was rewarded with a cry that was quickly cut off before the sounds of something heavy falling could be heard.

Quickly peeking around the corner, James spotted the prospect’s body crumpled forward, a bullet hole at the back of his head giving all the indication James needed to reload and prepare as a third van could be heard moving in from the entrance. Taking aim once more, James got ready to ambush the third van as he waited patiently until he spotted the bumper of the van. But before he could fire off a shot, James spotted a flash of movement to his side, causing him to turn his head just enough to spot the shape of a Lost member with his gun aimed directly at James’ head.

Rolling backwards once again to avoid the gunfire, James quickly snapped up his gun and fired off a few rounds directly at the prospect’s head, but not a single shot landed as the van barreled past James, nearly ripping the gun from his hands as it blew past with just a few inches to spare at most.

As the van passed James, he chose to ignore it for the moment and look for the prospect who had nearly shot his head off just a second ago. Looking at the wrecked vans, James couldn’t spot him anymore, but a quick glance out the corner of his eye told him that the new van had come to a stop and was quickly unloading its passengers into the open yard.

Thinking quickly, James sprinted towards the concrete barrier the vans had crashed into, vaulting over it and spotting the missing prospect crouched by the second wrecked van, a shocked expression on his face as he looked at James. Quickly drawing their rifles on one another, James was quicker as he fired off four shots into the man, three landing on his waist and chest before the fourth finally hit his head.

Before he could even grin however, James grunted in pain as a bullet found itself lodged in his waist while another dozen quickly followed as the four men unloaded their guns in his direction.

Dashing behind the vans towards the body, James used the wrecks as cover from the hail of gunfire as he quickly sorted through his options as bullets shot out the remaining glass on the cars.

Reloading and checking his reserve magazines, his nice stockpile had quickly become a modest reserve of ammo, fit for a day at the range. The irony wasn’t lost on him as he crouched and peeked inside the van, noting the pistol with a spare mag lying inside. Quickly grabbing it and checking to make sure it was loaded, James loaded it into the front of his pants before waiting.

Not a second later, the hail of gunfire died down to just one gun as the others either stopped, or were forced to stop to reload. Taking the opportunity, James popped around the rear of the van, snapping and shooting one of them before nailing a second, dropping but not killing him as James quickly got behind the van as another wall of bullets impacted against it.

Quickly moving around to the concrete barriers, it was James’ turn to be surprised as a prospect popped up in front of him, gun already aimed in his direction, leaving James with very few options except to roll to the side in a last ditch effort.

Avoiding the initial shots, James snapped his gun to the prospects head and fired as the other man adjusted his aim, trading shots at one another as both sides landed shots on the other. James was fortunate enough to land a shot on the prospects head while receiving only a bullet to the bicep, causing him to flinch his right arm as he swung the gun around and aimed at the two remaining men in the yard.

Firing at the first one his sights settled on, James landed two shots to the chest, before a third landed in the man's head while his buddy fired back at James. Ducking down against the van for a second, James popped back up before firing off a single shot, landing it squarely in the final prospects head, watching as the man dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Slowly steadying his breathing that had picked up during the gunfight, James took a few seconds to survey his surroundings to make sure nobody else was hiding, waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush as before. After nearly 10 uninterrupted seconds, James heaved a sigh as he felt the adrenaline slowly ebb from his system as he slowly walked to the van in the middle of the yard while checking his injuries.

The wound on his arm was bleeding, but slow enough that he wrote it off for now, the pain from using his arm would definitely hurt tomorrow, but the wound on his waist was a slightly bigger concern.

Blood had stained his shirt to the point that it was leaking onto his pants, highlighting a trail of blood down his leg. Quickly pulling up his shirt showed a slow but steady stream of blood pulsing out with every heartbeat, causing him to sneer at the offending wound. Dropping his shirt, James reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of gum before chewing on it, all the while eyeing the van as he reached the driver side door.

Peering in revealed the mess of a front seat, leftover trash from takeout and cigarettes littered the seat and ash tray, causing a slight odor to start building in the enclosed space. Opening the door luckily didn’t blast him with a stronger blast, a quick wave of his hand was enough to let it become tolerable as he glanced around and spotted the keys in the ignition still.

Hopping into the driver seat, James took a quick second to search for anything buried under the garbage, finding only an empty magazine for a pistol and some snacks in a bag. Popping open the glove box gave pause to James as he eyed the grenade stashed inside, the pin and handle still set on the explosive device.

Grinning and grabbing it, James paused as he heard the sound of an engine, racing along the road that ran along the south side of the yard. Moving quickly, James turned on the van before looking behind him and reversing it, crashing into the other two vans while blocking off the entrance.

Stepping out of the van, James slid the grenade into his hoodie pocket before lifting up his shirt again, the trail of blood having opened up further and now slowly leaking blood without pausing. Taking the gum out of his mouth, James stuck it into the wound, giving a slight hiss as he sucked in air from the pain that flared up in his waist.

Hearing the rumble of an engine to his right, James grabbed and raised his Assault rifle once more, aiming through the windows of the van he just stepped out of. Waiting for the golden opportunity once more, James spotted the van flying around the corner, the driver racing forward with casual disregard to their own life.

Firing his gun, James missed the driver but was able to hit the passenger whose gun fell out of their now limp hand. Moving away from the van and towards the Picador, James dumped the rest of his magazine into the fourth van in a vain attempt to eliminate another club member. Unfortunately, not a single shot landed a killing blow and only served to piss off the driver who kept his foot on the pedal, causing them to crash into the van James had just used to block the entrance, causing it to slide on the dirt and let the van start creeping through the ever increasing gap.

Snorting air through his nose, James quickly let go of his gun and grabbed the grenade out of his pocket, spotting the perfect opportunity to use it, as he grabbed the pin in his left finger. Yanking the pin out, James hucked the grenade through the air in an overhand arc, managing to toss it perfectly in front of the still revving van as it nearly had enough space to pass through easily. The driver never even noticed the grenade as it arced through the air due to him ducking under the dash to avoid any gunfire.

After just a few seconds, just as the fourth van was about to push the third out of the way, the grenade blew up, taking with it all four vans in a fiery explosion that could even be heard across town. James only had a split second between the grenade’s explosion and the shockwave that followed, hitting him and sending him flying past the Picador and into the concrete barrier that it was parked in front of.

Chapter 5: Criminal Ambitions (Part 2)

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