My Kind of Town

It had only been about a week after the Nightmare incident and Blackout had befriended the Elements of Harmony. He had a new home on the outskirts of town and was doing well to blend in with the crowd. He had just finished repairing the holes in his jacket when he heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door he ended up gazing into a pair of golden eyes, sort of. Niether of them seemed to be looking strait at him.

"Hi."

"Your that new pony Blackout right?" the wall eyed pegasis asked him. He just nodded. "I've got something for you." she rummaged through her saddle bag to find the letter with his name on it. "Just give me a second." she pleaded as she removed her bags and looked deeper into the messy collection of envelopes. The envelopes started falling out of the bag and a particularly fancy looking one slipped out just as the wind kicked up, bringing the note with it. "Oh no! That one was really important." She watched hopelessly as the letter flew away.

"I could get it back for you." Blackout insisted.

"Could you please, I'll just leave your note inside." Blackout began to persue the fleeing letter as the blond pegasis returned to her mail route. The flying paper was chased to the Everfree Forest, loosing Blackout in the trees. He needed help, but who would be wandering the Everfree Forest at any time of the day? Reaching for his radio, Blackout called the only pony that would bother listening to the radio 24/7.

"Hey Gear, you there?"

"Is there anytime that I'm not? What can I do for ya?"

"I need you to track a note, it flew into the Everfree Forest."

"No can do, I can see you but a piece of paper? That's just not going to happen, sorry." The answer left the pegasis dejected, "But, I can tell you the general direction that it may be in."

"Please." there was silence as Gear Head worked to calculate the possible positions.

"O.k., look around, do you see any really tall trees?"

"Yeah, one."

"Great, the note may be in the tree."

"Thanks Gear."

"What would you do without me?"

Blackout flew to the tree and spotted the letter caught in the branches. He reached for it but just about every living thing in the tree scattered when rustled the branches. The nuts on the leaves broke off and birds flew in all directions. The mayhem caused Blackout to loose balance and fall to the forest floor. He laid there for awhile before the sound of low growling made him snap to his feet. A manticore had been hunting in the area and had stopped to make Blackout his meal.

Right on cue.

The predator circled him, licking his lips at the thought of a nice lean meal. He lunged, pinning the pony to the ground, his jaws opening to bite his prey's neck. Blackout leaned his head back, exposing his neck more, and when the manticore lashed out to bite it, he shot his head forward, headbutting the attacker. His helmet connected with the bridge of the manticore's nose, breaking it. The manticore roared in pain and released Blackout to tend to his nose. Blackout reached for his gun but the creature had already recovered and swiped it out of his hooves. The manticore pounced again and raised its tail. It stabbed at Blackout furiously, each impact lifting dirt. Blackout rolled and dodged clumsily as he tried to regain his footing. Pulling himself to his feet, Blackout took flight, leaving the grounded hunter to find another meal. He had looked back at the tree with the note in it only to watch as the letter was picked up by the wind again and swept away.

Why can't it ever be easy?

He persued the air mail to Cloudsdale where it was lost in the vast array of pegasi and floating buildings. He couldn't find it, and the locals hadn't been much help either. He would have to search the entire city, and that could take hours.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't help you." an orange pegasis said.

"No it's o.k., I didn't have plans for the day anyway." he lied. Except for important research, stopping criminals, hunting terrorists.

"Maybe you should look in the weather factory, stuff is always being blown in and out of there." Blackout took her advice and headed to the weather factory. He searched the cloud development wing first, then the snowflake building workshop, he even searched the lightning research labs. All hope seemed lost but when he asked a nearby pegasis, he pointed to the chamber where they brew rainbows. Blackout opened the door to see the paper floating in the air, right under a pot that was about to pour liquid rainbow extract all over the delicate paper. Blackout dashed forward and nudged the letter out of the way, leaving him to be covered in multi-colored liquids.

"Opps, sorry." the worker who poured the mixture said, "I wasn't paying attention. Here let me help you." The worker brought Blackout to the cloud room and made a fresh rain cloud to clean off the full spectrum mess. Blackout set the letter on a desk and stood under the cloud while the worker bounced on top of it, washing away the rainbow extract.

"Thanks." Blackout shook himself dry and looked back at the desk, it was empty. "Where's the letter?" he asked nervously. He looked around, it wasn't in the air, but when he looked below the desk, he saw the letter sinking into the floor. He dove at it but it had already met the outside wind and took off. Blackout dug through the floor of the factory and when he managed to pop his head out of the bottom, he saw the letter flying away from the city. He squirmed his way through the cloud and once again, chased the fleeing letter.

The sun was already setting when the letter led Blackout to a mountain range surrounded by thick pine forests. Blackout was led below the tree line and witnessed as the letter entered a particularly large and menacing cave. He followed it through the caverns, using a small penlight for visibility. The letter at last came to rest in a large chamber.

"Finally!" Blackout shouted in triumph. His voice echoed through the cave, and a low rumble could be heard. Directing his light toward the sound, Blackout ended up gazing at the biggest, ugliest bear he had ever seen. It had a purple hue to it and stars dotted its body.

Great. Two enormous claws smashed on oposite sides of Blackout, it was definitely mad. Blackout spread his wings and bolted for the exit, his penlight held in his teeth. He shot out of the cave mouth which was soon demolished along with the entire side of the mountain when the Ursa emerged. The giant bear chased him through the forest, flattening trees along the way. Blackout turned to confront the massive beast. He flew to the top of its head, dodging the swipes the Ursa made to swat him down. When he reached its head, Blackout slid down its back and pulled out his knife to make a cut down its spine. When he tried to stab it though, it only made a scratch, literaly. It looked like a scratch on glass, it even clinked when the blade hit. As he slowly slid down the Ursa's back, the knife sounding like fingernails on chalkboard, the Ursa stood and proceeded to fall backwards. Blackout was left in a body shaped crater but he wasn't beaten yet. Bursting from the earth, Blackout drew his gun and fired. When the bullets impacted, small powdery glass shards were ejected, like bullet proof glass.

There was nothing left to do. The creature was unstopable. The only smart thing to do would be running. Armed with years of highly developed common sense, Blackout charged the monster. The Ursa simply swatted him into a tree, bending it. The tree launched him like a catapult, strait into another tree. From above it would look like a pinball game. Whether he hit a branch just right or it simply being a moment of inspiration, Blackout formed an idea. He used the trees to gain speed, catapulting from one tree to another. He finally hit a noticeably taller tree, bending it down to the forest floor. He could feel the energy stored in the trunk. It practicly shook with anticipation. The bark was starting to snap and then, as if it were a rubber band, snapped back into position. Blackout was shot forward, there was a bright flash and he could hear a boom behind him. He was heading towards the Ursa at incredible speeds and before he knew it, he had smashed into the giant. His helmet was like a bullet, smashing through the glass like skin of the beast. He flew strait through the Ursa, killing it. A purple mist exited its body through the openings in its body, leaving a hollow and dark shell behind.

Blackout shot away from the flattend forest at break-neck speeds. He couldn't believe it, he finally performed a rainboom. A bright, vibrant, multi-color trailed behind him as he rocketed across the night sky. The wind was deafening and his sight was impared slightly by the wind and the thin rainbow aurora forming a halo in his sight.

But, how do I stop? He thought. He didn't know how, the only pony he knew who could pull this off was on the other side of Equestria. After putting extensive thought into it, Blackout angled his wings up as if he was slowing down normaly. He could feel a flash of air hit his feathers as he snapped into a nose dive heading to the trees bellow. He rolled and dodged through the forest, somehow gaining an amazing boost of agility and reaction. From above it looked like an extremely jagged bolt of lightning shooting through the forest. Blackout burst from the canopy after finding a small opening in the branches. There were leaves rustling from the brim of his helmet, blocking his view and cousing him to fly strait into a cliff. Dust and dirt covered the scene as chunks of rock exploded from the mountain side. Blackout was left imbedded in the rock.

Well, I stopped. He shuffled his way out of the crater and flapped his wings, causing a spark of pain to shoot through his entire back. He fell to the forest floor with a thump. He's walking home tonight.

As he entered the outskirts of Ponyville, beaten and dejected, he looked at the houses dotting the landscape. They were filled with ponies who were happy, laughing, and protected by a warm home.

"Wait, that's my home!" there were ponies in his home, and worse they were partying. Blackout sprinted to the door, threw it open, and jumped through the threshold. "Party's over jackass!" the room was filled with six shocked mares and a now sad looking mule.

"Wow, way to be harsh." Rainbow Dash said as the mule left the house, "Where were you anyway?"

"I was chasing this." Blackout said, pulling out the note. "Huh, its to me." he opened it and read.

Dear Blackout,

I have sent this note to mark the importance of the mail run for today, please be sure to read the other one I've sent you.

Your friend,

Princess Celestia

"You o.k.?" Applejack asked. Blackout had a blank stare on his face.

"Excuse me for a second." He said before stepping down stairs. The six mares look at each other as the room is filled with an awkward silence. They all jumped as the sound of explosions and cursing boomed from downstairs. Blackout emerged with bits of singed paper on his shoulder.

"Sorry about that, now what are you guys doing here?" Blackout asked.

"Well, we just got tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala and I had the idea of celebrating it here, you know since you sealed off the doors the last time we tried to throw a party here." Rainbow said. "So, you in?" she asked before realizing that the six of them were outside, door shut and lights off.

"Goodnight." they could hear from inside. Blackout blew out a candle, only for his breath to catch the note from this morning and send out a window.