Darke Life

Amber fired the grenade launcher twice. Twin bombs, aimed at me. I quickly barrel rolled to the side, as did Crash. They hit the wall, and Crash spat on the floor.

“Damned mare can’t calm down! FOR ONE BUCKING MOMENT, CAN YOU DESIST FROM BLOWING A HOLE IN MY WALL?!”

Amber chuckled sheepishly and dropped the launcher, her cheeks turning bright red. “Ooooooopsies…”

Crash stood up and flared his wings out, stomping toward Amber. I watched his eyes glow a strange green, and with his wings out he looked even larger in size. I took a moment to prop myself up on my good wrist, then raise myself up. No use; the blast from the grenades had pushed me down with too much force. I couldn’t get up. Fear struck me as I thought of being paralyzed.

Suddenly Crash started yelling in Russian. “Kogda-nibud' ya ub'yu vashi zhalkiye zadnitsy!” I guessed that Amber understood, because she fell backwards and yelled back.

“Crash, I know you’re angry, but please calm down! It scares me when you say things like that!” He narrowed his eyes at Amber, then withdrew his wings and trotted away. He then grabbed a small electronic and a small screwdriver, proceeding to take it apart. I finally managed to get up and ran to Amber.

“Glupyye zhalkiye kobyly.” Crash muttered.

Amber shook, slowly getting onto her hooves.

“Are you alright?” I helped her up, and she shook her head. I gave out a little gasp as she started tearing up.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine…” She wiped her eyes with one hoof, then stood up, shaking as she trotted to the hole she’d blasted in the wall.

I glared at Crash, who didn’t seem to notice, then followed after Amber. She reached into the wall and pulled out a large bag of gold coins, which as I saw, was one amongst many.

“Why are there…?” Crash interrupted me.

“Paranoid mare. She was taught to mistrust banks, so she keeps her bits in the wall. WHICH SHE KEEPS BLASTING OPEN!” He turned to snarl at Amber, and she whimpered before handing me the bag of what I understood was filled with “bits.”

“Here. We’ll go get you some clothes. I think I know just the right place as well.” She quickly patched up a few stray bricks that had flown out when the wall exploded, stacking them in quick secession. Next thing I knew, the whole wall had been fixed.

Amber smiled and took the bag of coins from my hand, bouncing excitedly up the stairs. I turned to Crash and stepped to his side, towering over him by at least two and a half feet.

“I don’t know what your problem is, or why you mistreat Amber, but quit it.” I glared a moment, and he glared back.

“Just get out of my laboratory, human.”

I turned abruptly and stomped up the stairs.

If I had a tail, he would’ve just been pimpslapped with it.

~

I came up beside Amber as we made our way closer to the edge of the Everfree. There was a wooden shack underneath a tree. Amber seemed to recognize it, as her trotting increased in speed. She practically SLAMMED herself through the open window, but landed inaudibly on the inner floor. She turned to me and smiled.

“Five minutes. If I don’t come out then, come on in.”

“Is this your house?”

“No. But it’s not like Shadow Coat will care. He’s probably still tinkering on his portals.” She rolled her eyes and sighed, blowing her mane out of her face.

~

More than an hour passed by, and Amber hadn’t come out. I sat back against the wall and sighed. “I’m coming in!” I yelled, then opened the door.

There was a lot of yelling coming from the basement. I could make out three voices; Amber’s and two others. There were also a lot of beeps and explosions.

“Awww! Come on Shadow Coat!” Amber yelled out, laughing.

An unrecognizable voice, probably “Shadow Coat,” started screaming. “Amber, why the buck did you shoot me?!”

A male voice called out. “Hey guys, I think I heard something upstairs. Don’t play without me!”

Amber sighed. “Fine.”

Shadow Coat agreed. “Hurry up, I was almost about to get your merits!”

The other colt laughed. “Like hell!” He started coming up the stairs, and I just sat there. He was a buff blue Pegasus, with a red mane and green eyes. He stared back at me, obviously freaked out. He had the Xbox symbol on his flank, in the same place that Amber’s fire tattoo had been. I nearly jumped up with excitement.

“Xbox?! Awesome!” The colt jumped with a loud “Waugh!”

“Amber! I think he’s here for you!” He said after staring at me a little longer.

“Is it one of Celestia’s guards again, coming to imprison me? Again?”

“No!” Then she started jumping up the stairs. She smiled when she saw me, laughing.

“Oh. That’s Trevor, my human friend. You know how Shadow Coat’s been tampering with portals?” The Pegasus nodded. “Well I took one of his prototypes and I sent it to Crash. He managed to send it out and get Trevor.”

“Oh.” The colt stepped back to the landing, yelling down to the basement. “Hey Shadow Coat! There’s a human here! And also Amber took one of your portal prototypes!”

Another pony stepped up the stairs. A unicorn. He had black skin and a navy blue mane. His eyes were also green. I assumed this was “Shadow Coat.”

"Amber, I knew my invention went missing! When did you..." He marveled at me. "You got a live subject?"

Amber beamed with happiness. "Yep! He's awesome. He's got fingers." She raced to my side and grabbed my hand, extending each of my fingers and staring intently at them. The blue Pegasus snickered and covered his face.

Shadow Coat glared at Amber. "You still don't have to take my stuff."

"Then don't have such interesting stuff!"

The blue Pegasus raised his hoof. "Uhm..."

I interrupted. "Sorry about coming in during your little... 'fun', but I've been waiting outside forever."

Amber laughed. "Oh yeah. Sorry, I was beating some flank. Especially Crimson Mane's." She whispered the last bit and pointed to the Pegasus.

Crimson Mane shook his head and laughed again. "Nuh-uh! I got more merits than either of you got from me!"

Amber's eyes slowly narrowed, and she tapped her hoof lightly. I suppose Crimson Mane got the message, because he backed up and his eyes widened.

Suddenly Amber smiled and trotted past him, slightly jerking her hips to swat him in the face with her tail.

"I was kidding. I don't wanna be brought back to Celestia's damned dungeon for killing somepony. Again.."