Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

While it required some careful manoeuvring from Rini, and plenty of communication with Riley as her eyes, they did eventually clear the town. The controls turned out to be surprisingly simple and once she’d got the hang of it, Rini was practically flying around on the swivel chair.

All of this despite never having driven anything prior.

Now they were out in open Frostland and yet the military still chased after them.

“They just don’t give up!” Exclaimed Riley. She moved to the far right side of the bridge and looked into a giant viewing mirror.

A few more trucks and buggies were trailing behind them, but by and large that was it. Most had either lost heart, gotten lost or had fallen victim to Rini’s adjustments.

Or at least that was the belief…

Because Rini’s work hadn’t ended.

Riley watched as even more vehicles, mostly buggies, began to veer off for reasons unseen or unheard.

“I may have…”creatively reorganised” the wiring on some of their radios. Can’t drive when a high frequency is splitting ya ears, can ya?”

Her mother glanced at her, then back to the mirror just in time to see the wheels on a truck literally pop off all at once.

“Rini, dear? You know I love you with all my heart, but by Eudora’s crown you can be scary.” Rini’s only reply was to madly grin at her. The same kind of gremlin-like smile that promised the destruction of Equestria through sunshine and rainbows.

“That! That specific kind of scary.” She added.

Rini didn’t need to voice her pleasure at her mother’s reactions, it was plain as day on her face.

The few vehicles that were left only consisted of a trio of trucks. All transporting troops eager for some revenge. They moved around to sandwich them, with one truck to the flanks and one in front of the landship. “Rini dear, we might be in trouble.”

As Riley stated that, she ducked just in time to avoid a storm of glass as bullets pelted the bridge. Were it not for the bulky panels and control consoles in front of her, Rini would’ve been wracked by glass shards.

Snow and wind rushed inside and Rini drew her goggles down. The older Diamidian mirroring her actions.

“Welp, they fired first!” She twisted the steering wheel and the whole world shifted. Thousands of tons of metal and mass suddenly leaned to the left, and Rini hoped to ram one of the trucks.

Once more she was shown the weaknesses of the Rustbucket, as the transport truck hit the breaks. It moved behind before the colossal shadow could crush it, and Rini cursed under breath as she looked at the mirrors mounted to her far sides.

“Mom, I think you might be right!”

“Greaaaat! Just wonderful!” Riley withdrew the rifle and shotgun as wind rushed inside. She set the double barrel down and checked the chamber. “Got any more ideas?”

Rini looked down and checked the different panels. The Rustbucket was intended to have been protected by a fleet of vehicles, but it had to have something, right? A foghorn, or a gun turret somehwere? Or perhaps a-

“The crane’s in use?” She stared at the green light indicating so, and turned to an intercom with a few nobs. She twisted the nob and set it to talk to the crane and spoke into the wire mesh.

“Hey! It’s Rini, a-at the bridge! Who’s on the crane right now?”

A harsh, static ridden rendition of a gruff voice sputtered through. “Alpine! Cole’s a lil’ busy but he gave me the basics. View’s great from up here by the way!”

“Right! Um, can you try smashing the trucks from up there?”

“Crane’s got nothing attached at the moment. Cole’s got a big thick block of engines all chained together, but I need you to open the roof’s cargo doors, can you do that?”

Several loud cracks preceded a flurry of dents and bangs on the back wall of the bridge. The thick metal covers held however, and Rini pulled on a cable to turn on an overhead light. She quickly scanned the panels and soon found the correct button.

A soft beep serving as a prelude tosome distant alarm and the rumble of several unseen mechanisms. She could only wait as the crane’s hook descended down into the now open compartment.

Cole looked up with a smile as he climbed atop the makeshift wrecking ball, quick to attach and secure it. With a wave of a flashlight Alpine raised it as Cole jumped off.

“Okay, we’re in business.” Spoke Alpine.

A crack met Rini’s ears and she turned to see Riley, perched upon the broken windows firing her rifle. In return, she ducked down as another torrent of auto-gun fire peppered her hiding spot, a stray bullet managed to catch and tear at her arm which prompted a pained bark.

Riley clutched the wound and turned to her. “Honey, please hurry! They’ll get an angle on us sometime soon!”

“Get em Aply!” Rini cried into the intercom.

“Call me that again and I’ll execute your goldfish!” Rini snickered and covered her mouth with a paw.

Outside, the crane spun around with the literal engine block swaying in the wind like a giant flail. Alpine was no crane operator but he was working through it. That lever to drop and pull, this button for lights, and the joystick to turn the crane. It was so simple a farmdog could probably work it out.

With a mighty pull the improvised wrecking ball swung around the vehicle bay. Too fast for the driver of the right side truck to react. One moment he was driving through a black void of snow, the next a giant cube of tangled up steel and steam pipes crashed through his windshield.

The whole truck flipped and crashed after that, with Alpine wrangling the joystick to turn the crane around.

However, his act had been witnessed in its entirety by the truck trailing behind the Rustbucket, and the driver moved to his broadside.

Moments later Rini’s speaker lit up as Alpine yelled through in panic. “Taking fire! Can ya throw em off?”

“I donno, can you spare my goldfish?” Rini teased.

“Shut up!”

Rini rolled her eyes and threw the wheel the other way, with the landship turning accordingly. Riley had to grab something to avoid being thrown by the sudden shift in force.

As expected, the truck swerved away to avoid being crushed, but it gave Alpine enough time to readjust and turn the crane. The wrecking ball (block?) smashed into the side of the truck as it moved back towards Rusty’s rear and spun out of control, rolling onto and skidding on its side.

“I got em Rini!” Cried Alpine, his voice hagged. “Gotta go though, I’m hit. It’s not bad but I’m leakin’ here!”

“Get out of there Alpine, you’ve done what you can.” Rini then turned away and toward Riley. “Alpine’s hit, It’s up to us now! Only have one more truck to deal with.”

She nodded and let the rifle slide down, a fresh bandage now wrapped around her bloodied arm. Riley then picked up the shotgun and went to the otherside of the bridge. Ready to play a deadly game of whack-a-mole.

With a deep breath she popped up and quickly fired both barrels at the distant truck. Muffled cries of pain signalled the success of her assault and she dived before gunfire could rip her to ribbons.

After that the shooting intensified, and even Rini found herself ducking as bullets battered the bridge.

Riley waited it out as she reloaded, then moved to another spot. “Think you’ll get 'em at this rate?”

“If I’m lucky, this isn’t like shooting birds!”

She stood up again and repeated her prior action, all the way to the dive down below. “Think they’ll get the message?” She jested.

Rini waited for a pause in gunfire before speaking again. “Dunno, they’ve been stubborn this far.”

Riley stole a peek as she reloaded, and saw the truck begin to change position again. They adjusted their strategy and moved to the right, aligned with the starboard tread.

“What are they?” Riley quietly asked as they steadied. A few soldiers then climbed from the back panel and started throwing things at the vehicle bay. Moments later a series of loud booms rang out and Riley put two and two together. “Rini! The treads! Move away!”

“On it!” She turned the wheel and the truck adjusted, momentarily thrown off Riley swapped out the shotgun for the rifle.

She had one shot, one chance to aim without fear of reprisal as they wildly swerved.

The window sill as her shooting platform. Her heartbeat now in focus, and her breathing laid still.

“Don’t focus on following, wait for them to enter the irons.”

It went from side to side, the canvas and carriage blowing in the wind.

“Come on…”

The side door window had been replaced with slitted sheet metal, to shoot the driver was impossible.

“Come on!...”

Then the wheel came into view.

CRACK!

A bang akin to the popping of a giant balloon followed and the driver struggled to control the sudden shift in force.
The transport truck tipped forward slightly and slid to the left. Before Riley knew it, flashes of light rang out from the rear. Everything occurred within mere seconds after the shot.

Rini could only watch as another, final torrent tore at the bridge and sent Riley tumbling back. Thin wisps of red flew towards her and in that moment, red was all she saw.

“MOM!” She grabbed the throttle handle and nearly tore it from its panel.

A horrid, hungry roar echoed from the Rustbucket’s engines as it charged forward towards the truck. Without all of its wheels it couldn’t outpace the gargantuan behemoth and could only hope to veer off.

Rini however wouldn’t allow that.

Just as it neared the treads and hope of escape dangled in front of it. She twisted the wheel and both the truck and its occupants became to the Rustbucket what a mound in the road was to a regular autobody.

There was no scream, no explosion or shrill metal crunch.

Just a bump in the road as it passed underneath.

With no other reason to stay Rini jumped from her seat and rushed to Riley’s aid. She’d managed to prop herself up against the wall and Rini knelt down. Her anger quickly dissolving into anguish as tears welled behind her goggles.

“Mom! Mom no! No no no no!” She held her mother still and applied pressure, but there were so many holes, too much blood, and nocreature to help. It was all happening so fast.

Funny, she’d thought she’d long been desensitised to such a sight.

Riley cranked her head up to look at her and with great will, forced a smile. “Hush, hush now. It’ll be fine, y-you're safe now.”

“No, no! You saved me, now let me save you!” She turned to open her coat and rifle through her pockets. “C’mon where’s that potion!”

“Rini, please.” She laid a paw on her shoulder and held firmly. “You won’t get a second chance to say goodbye.”

Rini froze and slowly looked up at her. Riley shakingly raised a paw and took off her goggles, her face turning a deathly white yet smiling all the same. “N-No, no p-please don’t go mom! I-I’m not ready yet!”

She softly giggled as Rini lifted her own goggles. “L-Look around you d-dear, of course you are. What k-kind of mother w-would I be if I couldn’t prepare you?”

Tears streaked down Rini’s face and whines emerged from her throat, her lip trembling like no other. With every breath the strength to draw the next increased, to the point Riley’s lungs sounded more like crumpled paper.

“Rini, dear…promise me something?”

“A-Anything mom.” Her voice cracked.

“Tell Rover…I forgive him.”

“Oh…mom.” Rini leaned in and hugged her. Riley reached around and held her just as, if not more tightly. With each passing moment however, Rini could feel her mother’s grip slipping. Second by second, it got weaker.

“I love you…”

“You to, dear…both of you…my…little…pups…”

Rini let loose a muffled howl and buried herself into Riley’s shoulder. The echoes of her cries halfway drowned out by the bellowing winds, and the rumbling machinery.