Cracks in the Mirror

Chapters

Back on the Job
The Package
Meetings and Greetings
Chase

Back on the Job

Chapter I
Back on the Job

“You reading me, Faith?”

Faith didn’t pause in her running, leaping across two uneven ledges where the concrete of an alleyway loomed many feet below. She rolled to break her fall, before barrelling through an emergency exit on the roof, arriving in the middle of a quiet construction site.

“I hear you Merc. What’s up?” Faith walked over to a window, the evening sun casting long shadows against the orange glow of the sunset. The monolith Shard dominated the skyline, visible from nearly everywhere in the city. She willed her breathing to level out, faintly rubbing as a stitch that had formed on her abdomen.

“It’s gonna sound weird, but we’ve got another package.”

“And explain to me why that’s weird, Merc.” She slowly jogged out of the room, following a labyrinth of corridors, following no distinct route; only trying to find another access to the roof.

“Its addressed to you girl.”

“Wait, what?” She came to a dead stop, as she pressed her hand to the earpiece, thinking she had misheard the voice-in-her-ear. “Me?” She asked in sceptical disbelief. “You checked it for explosives? Don’t want you nearly dying on me again.” It wasn’t the first time a package had been booby-trapped in an attempt to kill any of the runners or their recipients. And she’d almost lost Merc once; she didn’t want to lose him for good this time.

“Yeah, ran it through all the test’s; it’s essentially clean as a whistle. All there seems to be is some paper.” Merc paused, and his voice turned softer, “And don’t worry; it’ll take more than a bullet or a bomb to do me in.”

Faith remained quiet in contemplation, idly rubbing the circuitry tattoo on her forearm; an emblem of her first ever courier run, as she slumped down the wall and sat on the floor. Mercury seemed sure in his opinion that the bag was safe- the recent shipment of equipment he’d picked up off the black market the last few months had made living off the grid safer and easier. Tracking devices, IP scramblers, and more practical items such as solar charge gear and generators had made their way into the gutted AC vent that made her, Merc’s, and Kate’s home.

She chuckled at the thought of her sister. Ever since the event on the Shard six months ago, Kate had to go underground, still wanted in connection for Pope’s murder. At first she was adamant in the idea of going back to the police, but Faith had argued that Jacknife mentioned of others working within the ranks, and would leap at the chance to get to the other runners. The safety of her younger sister won, and Kate finally agreed to leave her old life behind and begin running.

“FAITH!”

Faith shook her head as Mercury’s voice made it through the other side, causing a slight ringing in her ears as the earpiece crackled slightly. She chuckled, remembering that Merc still had a good set of lungs on him, and would always shout down the connection whenever the comms were silent for more than five minutes. A memory of Mercury came to the forefront of Faith’s mind- she’d turned off her earpiece for an hour to sit and relax whilst on patrol, not telling Mercury what she was doing. She’d turned it on to find the comms buzzing, half of the runners sent out to try and find Faiths position- even though she was only a few blocks away. She chuckled again at the thought; she’d always seen Mercury as a father figure ever since she ran out onto the streets, and she thought that sometimes, Merc saw her as a daughter he never had. Someone to teach and educate as a personal student, but to care for and instruct as a close friend, even an adoptive relative.

“Yeah, yeah, Merc. I’m here.” She replied over the comms.

“So what you gonna do about the package?” Merc asked, slightly irritated by Faith zoning out on him. A faint slurp could be heard over the connection, marking the seventh coffee of Merc’s that day.

“Have you tried opening it? Surely you would’ve if you could.” It hadn’t been the first time that Mercury had gone through her possessions, and it had lead to some rather… awkward conversations during meals or silent comms.

But they were bygones. Years later, Mercury never brought it up with ill intentions, and they had developed a bond where they could easily banter about it to one another; although the secretive nature had lead to some rather stiff silences and edgy questions when other runners tapped into Mercury’s signal.

“I tried girl. But the case requires two pairs of hands. Kate will be back from her run soon, if you want her to give me a hand?” he asked, dismissing Faith’s bout of silence with a silent chuckle.

Faith paused for a moment, glancing down each end of the abandoned corridor. Her thoughts strayed to Kate and how she’d been developing over the last few months. She’d taken up running after sitting around doing nothing in Merc’s lair, constantly playing cards for hours on end, until faith returned at night with no news on any possible leads. She had been running for around five months now, and although she wasn’t perfect, and had room to improve, she had become competent in running, training for three months and performing her first job not long after.

Need to get her a tattoo... she thought. Every runner got one when they competed their first job. Faith’s circuitry tattoo proved that. She realised she’d been daydreaming again, and hastily replied to Mercury.

“Its fine, have her wait there, but I’m on my way now.” She stood up, stretching her limbs that had grown stiff whilst she was sitting. She adjusted her attire; a red tank top and white running trousers, so they wouldn’t become an obstruction, before she bounced on her heels and began meandering her way out of the building, and back to her home-away-from-home.

Author's Note

So here's the first Chapter of Cracks in the Mirror. Updating of this story will be haphazard (Juggling 17 exams!), but I can smack out a thousand words or so every other day.

Any improvements/suggestions will be appreciated greatly.

~Gingy

The Package

Faith dropped through the hatch in the ceiling of the AC vent, breathing heavily as she looked around Mercury’s lair. A single room, and no windows, but rather narrow horizontal slits on the walls running all around. A large proportion was taken up by electronic equipment, creating a low-level buzz that melded into the background after a few minutes. Three single beds inhabited another corner; one made, two not, with dirty laundry strewn across the other two. The remainder of the room consisted of white chairs and a sofa, a knee-high coffee table, and a small kitchen. In all honesty, it looked like a single-room apartment, although one design flaw was the lack of a toilet; runners had to use public ones whenever they could, and washing normally consisted of either rain, or a bucket of water.

Mercury was sat by the array of gadgets and desktops, with his back to Faith, occasionally uttering a sentence or two to another runner through his headset that sat on his cropped brown hair. He didn’t turn around when Faith entered, but rather threw a packet of peanuts blindly over his shoulder, which Faith deftly caught, ripping it open with a grin and snacking on the treat.

“Thought you could do with a snack, Faith.” He said, his voice carrying late over Faith’s still-active headset, which she turned off to avoid the nuisance. He finished typing what appeared to be an email, before swivelling on his chair to face Faith.

His features were strong and defined; a heavy jawline and thick brows that dwarfed Faith’s more slender features and eyes. Rolled-up sleeves on his white shirt revealed the ‘track’ tattoo’s on both his muscular arms. Even though he had suffered near-fatal injuries, he had still retained majority of his physical strength and stamina, although it looked like the years were catching up to him, and Faith swore she saw a glint of silver on his scalp last week.

“Hey, Effie.” Faith turned to see Kate stand up from her usual chair to greet her younger sister.

Just like Faith, Kate was of mixed decent, primarily Asian genes. Her facial features were slightly more stoic than Faith’s, although were nearly identical. She was slightly fairer than Faith, and she had her jet-black hair held up in its customary bun, rather than the shoulder-length hair Faith had. Their eyes were what set them apart though; whilst Kate had brilliant green irises, Faith’s darker hazel sometimes appeared dull in comparison.

Runners normally had a ‘look’ to them. Whilst many, including Faith, wore red, white, and black, Kate had had chosen blue. She had decided, ever since she had started running, to wear her issued officer’s uniform, despite not being part of the forces anymore. It was restrictive in her movements to start with, although over time, slight changes were made, such as the sleeves being cut short, and her trousers changed to three-quarter lengths. She had to ditch her boots though; during a training exercise, she had slipped midway in a wallrun, and had nearly broken her ankle due to the heavy footwear. She now wore running shoes identical to Faiths, but pure black. Her badge had changed from metal to fabric, and despite’s Faith’s arguments about remaining passive, Kate had kept her issued pistol strapped to her belt; although thankfully, she had yet to use it.

“Hey, Kate.” Faith greeted in return, hugging her older sister. “Good run?” She asked as she broke the embrace, hazel looking into green.

“It went well enough; had some help from Kreeg though when the wires started buzzing.” She brushed past Faith to pick up a cola, the can hissing as it opened. Kreeg was another runner, and one that Faith and Kate met with on a regular basis. Some could say that they we’re nearly friends; such commodities were scarce on the canopy of the concrete jungle.

“Still couldn’t make that jump on Reynolds Street; had to take the back route around Eden Mall, and nearly got jumped by a Pursuit Cop.” Kate took a sip of her drink, brushing off the event as though it was merely an inconvenience. The creations of Project Icarus, created by Pirandello Kruger, were becoming more and more common within recent months; the death of Jacknife had done little to stop them in their tracks.

Faith blinked, the other tattoo on her eye forming a whole for a moment, as she took in what Kate had said. Since the event on the Shard, and Jacknife’s proclamation, Faith, and other runners, had been trying to track down there ‘bigger fish’, yet they were always drawing up a blank. Leads emptied, contacts sometimes wound up dead, and this mysterious person still eluded them.

“You’ll get there eventually, Kate; it’s not like you’ve been doing this for long.” Faith commented, finishing off her packet of nuts and reaching for a can. Her eyes caught sight of a package left on the table, surrounded by pieces of paper, empty pizza boxes, and a few gizmos that Merc had left lying around.

“Is that the package?” Faith asked Merc, raising an eyebrow. She’d expected it to look unrecognisable, but the bag was nearly identical to what runners commonly used to transport data or laptops from one place to another; although this one was pitch black instead of the customary yellow. And instead of a zip, four sets of buttons ran around it. It certainly looked suspicious, but it wasn’t intimidating.

“Sure is, Faith.” Mercury had risen to his feet whilst she’d been talking to Kate, also looking at the package. Faith took a sideways glance at Mercury; more a sideways and upwards glance, as he stood over six foot tall, compared to Faith’s 5’9’’. He seemed to be both worried about the bag, yet slightly amused, as though this was a practical joke or a private gag that no one else would understand. “Like I said; clean as a whistle, but you see these buttons?” He walked over to the table, inviting Faith to look closer.

A set of buttons were on all four sides of the bag, and were that far apart that it would take a hand per side to open it. Now she knew why Merc said it required two people.

“You haven’t opened it yet, have you Merc?” Faith asked. She’d told him to wait before retuning, and normally he followed many of Faith’s wishes; but Mercury could be impatient at the best of times, and could have demanded Kate to help him open it, just to sneak a peek.

“Ah promise you, girl; it’s been there since I finished testing it, I haven’t opened it.” Mercury sat down by the bag, leaning over to grab a discarded slice of pepperoni pizza, the cheese having solidified after being left overnight. Faith gagged a little as Mercury appeared unfazed by the cold slice, deciding to dive straight into it, devouring it in causal seconds, before grabbing a second.

“You know you disgust me, Merc.” Faith shook her head, chuckling as she caught sight of Kate’s expression, that was mixed between amusement and understanding. Kate noticed her sister was looking at her, and gave her a dead-pan look. “What?” she said, putting her hands on her hips, her right palm on the handle of her gun. “You need to leave it to mature, tastes better the day after.” She saw the mildly disgusted and incredulous expression that Faith wore, and Kate read what she tried to convey. Kate chuckled herself, and leant over to grab herself a slice, earning a reproachful glare from Mercury. “If you must know, I normally lived off this stuff when I had night shifts back in the CPF.” Her speech slightly muffled by the pizza in her mouth. Faith just shook her head with a faint smile, and downed the rest of her drink, throwing the can in an overflowing bin in the corner.

Mercury finished his meal, and addressed the other two. “Okay, girls. Time to find out what’s in this thing.” He beckoned Faith over to the bag, brushing away the debris off food and technology. Kate stood by her sister, watching with anticipation, as equally curious at what was in there.

“I need you to press the buttons on these two sides, whilst I press the other two.” Mercury indicated to where Faith needed to be, and she grabbed the bag on the sides, her thumbs hovering over the buttons. Now she was closer, she could see a small tag on the front, not unlike one would find in a Christmas present.

“To: Faith
Love: D” Faith read aloud. She never heard of this ‘D’, and by the understanding look Mercury was giving her, he didn’t either.

“I did some questioning; no one knows who he, or she, is.” Mercury bent down to the table, mirroring Faith’s pose, but on the other two sides of the case.

“I’ve taken a look at it, and it’s a simple latch system; the whole top should pop off.” He said, pointing to the buttons, then the face-up side of the bag. Faith nodded in understanding, and quickly dried her palms on her waist, her fingers sweating from fear and anticipation.

“Ready?” He asked Faith, looking her in the eye. Faith nodded again, and slowly counted down in barely a whisper.

“Three… two… one…”

Click!

…

“Well that was anti-climactic” Mercury commented dryly, causing the sisters to simultaneously release their breath they didn’t realise they were holding and laugh, the tension ebbing from their body as they looked at the case.

The broad side had popped of, half of it resting loosely on the released latches on the inside. Mercury, still chuckling lightly, reached and removed the lid, revealing the mystery contents.

Mercury had been right; all that was in there was a single slip of paper, with a few lines of writing on it. The scrawl was nearly identical to the tag in the lid; so it was sent by the same person. No evidence of explosives, booby-traps or tracking devices could be seen. Only a patch of white against the black of the bag’s interior.

Faith, Kate, and Mercury all looked at each other with bemused expressions. Wordlessly, Mercury reached in and plucked the sheet of A4 from the bag, and handed it to Faith.

“It’s addressed to you, remember?” He said as Faith took the sheet, and read it out loud.

“Faithy,
If you’re reading this, then the first stage of my plan is in motion.-” Faith paused and looked at the other two with worry, but Kate urged her to continue reading the letter.

“Don’t worry; none of your little runner friends are going to be hurt. I’ve been watching you for a while, Faith. And you’re sister, who I must say is following in your footsteps remarkably.”

Kate felt a small sense of confused pride tinged with paranoia; someone had been watching them, for a while at least. He diverted her attention back to Faith, who had continued reading again.

“I’d assume that all three of you are in your lair, yes? I hope so; I want this vacation to be for all three of you, and you’re going to need everything in there. Wait, what?” Faith questioned aloud, “Vacation? What’s this guy on about?”

“I don’t know, Faith. But keep reading.” Mercury sounded paranoid, but had his gaze set on Faith and the letter. Kate was too, although her hand had subconsciously rested on her holster, her finger hovering over the safety.

None of them noticed that it was getting slowly lighter outside through the slits in the walls, despite it being near evening.

“You can thank me for supplying that equipment to you, Mercury; the gear you had earlier would have been useless for your journey.” Now Faith looked anxious too, pausing in her reading again to look at Mercury. “What exactly did you get off the market?” She asked which surprised Mercury.

“Just some better versions of what we had before.” He paused, and then listed through his expenditure from the last few months. “New headsets and they run on their own signal, generators, solar panels, and some new gadgets.” He looked confused, eyeing the letter with apprehension. “Keep reading.”

Faith nodded, and returned to the slip of paper that was creeping her out more and more by the second.

“I suppose you could count this as a ticket to a permanent holiday; you’ve deserved it at least. And some say that all I do is spread chaos around, but look at me, I’m being nice, yes?” Faith now looked downright disturbed; this person seemed to be mentally insane, and was trying to give these three a holiday! She wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep reading, but something urged her on.

“So here it is; one ticket (1) for Ms Connors, Ms Connors, and Mr. Mercury, who even through countless hours, I cannot find your last name. Everypo Everyone has to have a last name, so why not you? I’m getting side-tracked again. This ticket grants you a one-way journey to; Equestria!” Faith actually laughed out loud; this person was evidently mentally unstable. Faith never heard of such a place, much less been there.

“Don’t bother packing anything, you’ll realise that you’ve don’t that already. Sit back, enjoy the ride, and see you soon!
D.” Faith dropped the letter, laughing as she did so. “OK, which one of you pulled this prank?” She chuckled, tears in her eyes. “Taunting me with unknown answers and promises of holidays.” She turned away from the other two, looking out the slits in the walls, her face falling as she saw what was going on.

“Guys, what’s happening?” She asked. Mercury and Kate looked at each other, then to the light now near blinding through the AC vent’s walls.

“What the-? That can’t be a chopper; I can’t hear any rotor… Am I the only one that can feel shaking?” Mercury’s eyes widened in fear, the thoughts of the letter all gone.

“Is it an earthquake?” Kate asked, grabbing onto the wall; only for her hand to pull away, red and blistered. “Shit! What’s going on, Faith?!”

Faith backed away from the searing wall, the edges visibly reddening as heat radiated from outside, the white light blinding and loose objects falling to the ground from the increasing severe tremors. “I don’t know! I don’t…” her eyes showed the panic she portrayed, from the blinding light, to the seismic activates rocking the AC vent. Along with the rumbling from the vibrations, a high-pitched whine could be heard, growing in volume until it dominated everyone’s hearing.

Time seemed to slow for Faith. She saw the shadow of Mercury raise an arm painfully slowly, pointing towards her, Kate, then to the floor. Kate had already huddled into a ball, hands above her head as everything not tied down flew across the room.

Then her vision went black.

The three humans lay unconscious on the floor of the lair, papers floating to the ground as smoke drifted off the cooling walls. Light came from outside, but natural, tinged yellow and orange from a setting sun. Birds could be heard, along with a faint wind that tussled the singed grass in the field that the AC vent now inhabited.

A single sheet of paper fell behind the sofa, the letter facing down. A small post-script could be seen on the rear, something that would have seemed bizarre, but would have made sense when the trio eventually wake up.

P.S. Did I tell you you’re going to leave Earth entirely, and become the only humans on a planet occupied my magic wielding, flying, multicoloured ponies?

I guess I didn’t.

Meetings and Greetings

Meetings and Greetings

Faith groaned as she slowly came to, soreness ebbing from every limb in her body from leg to head. She lay prone on the ground, her lower body trapped by the overturned coffee table. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision, a headache forming in the back of her skull, and she felt a warm trickle flow from her left temple, matting her fringe. Looking around, she saw paper slowly fall to the ground as small electrical sparks flew from the semi-demolished gadgets and computer screens, before sputtering out and dying, no source of power to fuel them. It looked strangely similar to the night Faith had found Mercury, mortally wounded, although one key factor was the absence of bullet holes. Sunlight streamed through the slits in the walls, illuminating tracks on the floor in an uneven pattern.

A female groan came from behind her. She tried twisting round, but her pinned legs only let her see up to the ceiling, in which she noticed the vent access had popped loose, and was swinging precariously above her on only two hinges.

“Ugh… Faith? Mercury?” The voice belonged to Kate, who had fared better than Faith, sporting only a graze on her elbow, although Faith couldn’t see it. Her hands were still blistered, although the pain was numbed by a flow of adrenaline coursing through her body. Kate looked around; noticing the same damage that Faith saw, then she noticed the swinging hatch, hovering above her pinned sister.

“Faith!” Kate rushed over to Faith, crouching beside her sister who was trying, unsuccessfully, to lift off the table from her legs. A creaking noise could be heard that drew the attention of the sisters. It came from the vent, which creaked again, and the third hinge ripped loose. It now hung by only one groaning hinge, the corner of the hatch pointing precariously over Faith’s abdomen 8ft below.

Kate, noticing with dulled panic that she had barely seconds, gripped the overturned table with both hands, hissing as it made contact with her red palms. From her vantage point, she could fair better than Faith’s attempt, and managed to raise her edge by a few inches, removing the pressure from Faith’s legs. A second, ominous creak sounded from above. She didn’t turn her gaze away, but rather gritted her teeth, and held the table in place.

“Quick, Faith!” Faith didn’t need to be told twice. She tucked in her arms, and rolled out from under the table, Kate shuffling her legs back so Faith could get out fully. As soon as her heel passed the table, Kate dropped the table with a muffled thump, and clutched her throbbing hands to her chest. Barely a second later, a loud crack! resonated through the room, followed by a thud as the hatch came free from its suspension, and landed to where Faith had been mere seconds before. It impaled an inch into the floor with its corner, before falling sideways to lay flat beside the table.

Faith stared at the hole made by the vent with shock. That, she thought, was too close… She sat up, tentatively touching the side of her head. Her hand came away from her hair red, but not soaked so. It was a minor cut, probably caused by her earpiece digging into her as she fell, and would heal quickly. She then noticed that her company was missing a member, and groaned to her feet as Kate dropped onto a still-upright chair, staring at the hatch. Obviously the near-death experience had shook Kate, who’s upturned hands were quivering with a combination of pain and lack of adrenaline.

“Merc?” Faith called out to the room, looking over it for any sign of the runner. Faith blanched as she heard fain snores coming from behind her, from where the beds were. Turning around, she was unsure whether to laugh or hit Mercury.

Mercury lay upon one of the beds, his back to the sisters. He’d obviously landed on there, but was just comically how he had so. His chest rose and fell slowly, which matched the pattern of the snoring that evidently came from the sleeping runner. No signs of injury marked his body, and his ankles were twitching gently as dogs would when they dreamt of running.

Faith chuckled, and walked over to him, sidestepping broken gizmos and spilt coffee. It appeared that only a few electrical pieces were broken; mainly computer screens and a printer. “Hey, sleepy head! Up ya get!” She shook him once and clapped her hands to rouse the dozing Mercury, and finished with a gentle prod to his back with a foot.

“Mmh, wassa gnun?” Mercury mumbled, making no sense to Faith. She glanced back to her sister, who appeared to be recovering from her shock, and was slowly rising to her feet, although her gaze was still upon the table and vent.

“Mercury, get off your sorry piece of ass and move!” Faith leant over, and grinning devilishly, pushed on Mercury, causing him to roll over and off of the bed, landing on the floor two feet below with a thud and a yelp.

“Agh Jesus, Faith; what was that for?” Mercury mumbled behind the bed, before his head popped up comically over the mattress, finally seeing the injured Kate and Faith, and the room that looked like it had been attacked by a small quantity of plastic explosives. Slowly, his memory came back to him, the letter, the light, then the inconvenient loss of consciousness. He put a callused hand to his forehead, groaning as he did so.

“Please tell me all we had was a rather drunk party.” Looking at the deadpan expression of Faith, with her hands on her hips, caused Mercury to chuckle, despite the pain in his head. “Okay then, no joking around.” He rose to his feet, appearing to be faring better than both the sisters, and looked around the room again. Obviously, the power had been lost, but the generators stored in a cubby hole along the wall would at least give them a day of power, should they not be damaged or destroyed.

“We all good?” he asked, and then noticed the semi-shocked expression Kate wore as she walked around the kitchen; the surfaces still bolted down, although coffee painted majority of the fridge. “Jesus, what did I miss?”

“I almost died, Merc.” Faith said, sitting down on the bed. “If it wasn’t for Kate, I’d be injured, or dead.” Mercury’s face fell as he heard what Faith said, choosing to sit beside her and wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders.

“You all right?” he asked, wiping away a trickle of blood from her chin.

“…just about; although Kate seems shaken up a little.” she whispered so Kate wouldn’t overhear her. The sister in mention sat with her arms on the counter of the kitchen, staring at the burnt and blistered palms in front of her.

Mercury sat there in contemplation, before the sounds caught his attention. He signalled for the other two remained quiet with a finger on his lips, before he rose to his feet and peered through the slits.

“What’s going on Merc?” Kate whispered, standing next to Mercury. Voices, female by the sounds of them, carried towards them. Through the slits, Mercury couldn’t make much out, as the sun was directly behind the voices.

“Where do you think it came from?” The voice sounded raspy, but was still feminine. Faith got the image of a rather tomboyish teenager in her head, the voice inhabiting the body she had now conjured.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like this before…” A second voice sounded through. Less confident than the first, but the voice dripped with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.

“Ah don’t know girls, seems awfully creepy.” Uttered a third, with a heavy southern drawl. All three were female, and sounded to be around the age of Faith, if not slightly younger.

“Mercury,” Faith asked, too standing up and trying to make out anything through the slits. “What’s going on?” Mercury seemed argue with himself in his head for a moment, before he about turned and jumped for the open hatch above him.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.”

Rainbow sat with her friends around a picnic, food and drink illuminated by the sun, laughing along with them as Applejack, an orange earth pony with a braid of blonde hair, continued telling her story.

“Then she said, she said, ‘but I want my cutie mark in apples!’” She chortled, using a hoof to pull of her Stetson, wiping away the tears of mirth that had gathered around her eyes. The other two laughed as well at the end of the tale, mimicking her actions, although Rainbow Dash used a cyan wing rather than her hoof.

“As if Applebloom tried to get her cutie mark by eating apples!” Rainbow giggled, taking a drink of her luke-warm cider, the setting sun bathing the tri in a comforting heat.

“Imagine if that was me? Trying to get my cutie mark by eating magic?” Twilight giggled, then fell into a full blown laugh as she imagined the comical sight of her purple filly-self, trying to eat errant bursts of magic from her own horn. The other three followed suit, each imagining the scenario.

“I doubt that’s how Flutters got hers; I mean, butterflies?” Rainbow’s stomach hurt with laughing so much, her raspy laugh becoming infectious with the other two. Her rainbow-maned head fell backwards onto the blanket that the trio sat upon, as she imagined each of her friends trying to eat their special talent. Fluttershy asking a butterfly if she could eat it, timidly hiding behind her bubble-gum mane; Rarity breaking her teeth trying to chow down on some gems; Pinkie Pie… well, pinkie probably has eaten balloons before, might even explain her disregard to physics.

“What about mine though?” Rainbow asked. “What, clouds? Rainbows? Or lightning?” She asked her friends, sitting back up as her laugher died down slightly.

“Ah doubt it be rainbows; too spicy.” Applejack commented dryly, waving a dismissive hoof. “Although it might explain why it always sounds like ya got a sore throat.” She chuckled, and punched Rainbow in the shoulder gently. They normally teased and bantered with each other about pretty much anything.

“I think it be physically impossible to eat lightning.” Twilight commented. “First off, it’s pure energy, and the physical trauma it can-“

“Alright, alright, no need to go into lecture mode.” Applejack stopped the knowledgeable unicorn before she went off on another tangent, then trying to write a letter to the princess on the matter. Applejack chuckled, before turning back to the other two. She chuckled then sighed, before flopping onto the ground with her forelegs tucked in close as she stared at the sky. The other two seemed to think this was a good idea, and immediately followed suit, all three of them sat with their heads in the center and rear legs pointing away.

After a minute or two, Twilight spoke up. “You know, I always enjoy doing this, with all my friends.” She smiled happily at the sky, as the other two did the same, feeling content at a friendship they all shared. Twilight glanced over to Ponyville, the houses sitting picturesque only at the end of the field, to the town she called home. Admittedly, she didn’t own a proper house per se, but she was as part of it as books were to her, so in a way, living in a library constituted a better home than the rest of Ponyville for her. Before moving here over two years ago, she never took a second thought about the possibility of friends, or any of the activities having friends entitled you to- such as this one. Simply relaxing with a few friends and sometimes doing nothing seemed to, in Twilight’s eyes, almost as good as a warm fireplace and an ancient tomb to read.

Even Rainbow had begun to find the value of nothing. Since her accident ages ago, she’d grown more mature, less brash, but was still Rainbow Dash. Her life still revolved around Wonderbolts, flying, and anything else that went on in that thousand-mile-an-hour head, but she’d gained an affinity to the positives of slowing down and seeing things differently.

“S’same the other’s couldn’t join us.” Applejack said with a tinge of sadness, mixed with the smallest feeling of guilt by enjoying this afternoon without some of her friends.

“I know, Applejack.” Twilight said, turning and leaning her head on a hoof to look at the orange mare. “But they were too busy, and we couldn’t help them. Rarity had that huge order coming in from Canterlot, Pinkie was in the middle of planning an anniversary party for Lyra and BonBon, and Fluttershy had a sick bear to deal with.” She paused for a moment. “But we can always invite them next week.”

“Sounds like a plan, Twilight.” Rainbow chuckled, before yawning and stretching out all six limbs, the wing tip catching twilight in the ribs. “Oops, sorry.” She said sheepishly, before rolling over and rising to her hooves.

“Sorry to leave you guys, but I-“ whatever Rainbow had intended to say was lost as a resonating bang filled the air, accompanied by a flash of bright light and a shudder running through the ground. The other two mares, after gaining their sight back from the white light, jumped to their hooves, searching for the source of the disturbance.

It wasn’t that hard to find.

Barely a hundred meters away, parallel with them to Ponyville, stood a weird metallic thing, circular in shape and almost as large as an apartment one would on campus at a University. Grooves ran along the edges, and then curved up at the top. Whatever it was, nopony present had ever seen it before. They stared at in confusion for a while, wondering whether or not to investigate, before they heard a voice, indistinguishable from the distance, shout something, before a second, smaller thud emitted from the building, and silence then reined again.

“Girls, what do you think that is?” Twilight asked, which shocked the other two. They were both expecting the purple unicorn to have an answer ready, but they were all in the dark in this one.

“Ah doubt anypony here knows, Twi.” Applejack looked at the structure with mistrust and unease, as though it might suddenly grow legs and come attack them.

“Well, I say we go check it out!” Rainbow jumped into the air with anticipation, gliding on the spot effortlessly with her wings. Her voice, however, spoke the same uneasiness that AJ harboured; the mock bravado a cover-up. She wouldn’t run away though; she was the living embodiment of the element of Loyalty after all.

“Easy, Rainbow, all I know is that that was transported her via magic, and strong one at that.” Twilight commented, before slowly walking to the building.

“Where do you think it came from?” Rainbow asked, choosing to walk rather than be on her wings; the temptation of careering ahead would be unbearable.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like this before…” Twilight sounded slightly nervous, but curiosity was slowly getting the better of her as the prospect of a new discovery lay just beyond her hooves.

Applejack paused for a moment, before slowly following the other two. “Ah don’t know girls, seems awfully creepy.”

The trio approached the structure, but they were stopped in their tracks by something emerging from the top; something they never expected to see. A bi-pedal figure stood tall above the building, appearing to have key features such as head, arms and the such, but were oddly disproportionate, and seemed to only have a mane and dark peach skin, although majority was hidden by clothes. Ten weird appendages were on the creatures hands, the closest she could resemble was the paws to a dragon. But regardless of its physical features, the only thing they noticed was that it was staring back at them with a small pair of eyes.

Ponies.

Multicoloured Ponies.

Horned, winged, multicoloured ponies.

That’s what Mercury saw, that’s what his brain registered, but what he refused to accept. He rubbed his eyes slightly, hoping with every iota it was a trick of the light.

Three multicoloured ponies stared back at him. Great.

“Urm, Hello?” Twilight asked Mercury, taking the silence it held as a bad sign and trying to make contact. However, only one thing registered with Mercury.

That pony just talked to me. IN ENGLISH. He wasn’t too sure whether to laugh with insanity, or jump back down the hole and hide, thinking he’d finally cracked and these were demons, albeit colourful, and were here to torment him. He turned his body slightly, and without taking his eyes off of the ponies called below, down the AC vent.

“Faith, Kate, you may want to come up here...” The ponies tensed slightly when it talked, and the deepness of its voice suggested it was male, although they had nothing else to back it up on. They waited, in silence, as another two figures made themselves seen. They appeared to be more slender than the first, affirming that the original was male and these two were female. They looked similar facially, possibly indicating they were siblings, and they too only had a mane with no visible fur. One held it’s mane up in a bun, and was dressed in blue, with something strapped to the left side of her chest. The other wore black and white, and all three were staring at the ponies.

“Twi,” Applejack whispered to the unicorn. “What do we do?”

Twilight paused for a moment, lost in thought. “We be diplomatic.” She said, before trotting backwards a bit and indicating the other two to follow suit. She stopped, then raised her voice to half-shout at the creatures that had appeared.

“Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. We wish to only speak with you.” After a thought, she realised that they may not understand their language, a difficult barrier that would be hard to overcome. Beside her, on her left, Rainbow fidgeted with restlessness. However, they seemed, miraculously, to understand her request, as they turned to each other, and after a brief discussion, dropped down to the ground, each moving with surprising grace and agility as the landed one by one, each rolling once before they stood up. Twilight was confused why they did so, until she realised the bony joints that they held, and rolling was probably a way of dissipating energy gained by the fall. She gave a small smile, and appeared to be hardly intimidating, as the three figures approached side by side, still whispering to each other. She was surprised they could walk, never mind with such grace, as they looked extremely top-heavy and were bi-pedal.

“I’m unsure about this, Mercury.” Faith said when they landed, slowly making their way to the figures ahead. “We’ve just arrived here, AC and all, to where the main population seems to be sentient ponies of different races.” She looked around as she talked, noticing the small town that stood to her right, and even then she could see distant figures walking around, with some even flying, all with the basic anatomic shape of those in front of her.

She realised they were quite in the open, and any confrontation, she’d have to high-tail it as quick as she could to the settlement nearby, and hope to lose them, and/or incapacitate them. She’d grown a knack for analysing scenarios as such, but it gave her a modicum of comfort, in a weird and unknown way.

“It’s the best bet we’ve got, Faith.” Mercury responded, walking between the two sisters as they drew ever closer. He looked at Faith on his right, between him and the town, noticing how she had that look when she was thinking things through quickly and methodically. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a field, and I don’t see any skyscrapers.”

Kate just remained silent throughout, her hand slowly resting on the holster she carried, the weapon still thankfully in there after their arrival.

“What do you think they want?” Faith asked as they finally stopped, keeping her voice low should they be overheard by their unusual company. Mercury stood in the center, facing the purple horned one that was looking at them with curiosity, whilst Kate faced the larger orange pony staring at them with confusion and trepidation. Faith was facing the winged one; Pegasus if she could remember, with a rainbow mane and cerulean coat, but her expression was unreadable, merely looking at Faith. Their bodies came up to about hip height, whilst their heads came up level with their chests. It was then the center one, the one that called herself ‘Twilight Sparkle’ spoke up.

“Who are you?” She asked with unrestrained curiosity, looking at the trio with anticipation. They appeared around six foot in height, and had absurdly small heads compared to their bodies. Two, a female and the male, had weird markings on their arms, with the female having one around her eye as well. The third didn’t have any, and had an aura of inexperience compared to the others. To which, however, Twilight didn’t know.

This threw off Faith; she’d expected the first thing they’d ask would be ‘what are you?’ rather than who. She composed herself quickly, and stepped forward. Rainbowdash tensed from the movement, something that wasn’t lost on Faith.

“My name is Faith Connors, this is Mercury, or Merc, and this is my sister, Kate.” She indicated at each in turn, who gave a nod when they were mentioned. She then turned back to the equine trio, and asked them the same. “We know your name, Twilight, but who are the other two, what are you, and how did we get here?” she decided to direct the question at Twilight, who seemed like the most diplomatic of the group. Applejack had visibly relaxed when they proved to be non-hostile, but she still eyed the weapon Kate held, even though she didn’t know it was as such.

“This is Applejack, and Rainbowda-”

“Rainbowdash, The fastest flyer in all of EQUESTRIA!” Rainbow decided to interrupt Twilight at the prospect of showing off in front of these new creatures. Her anxiety disappeared with her renewal of bravado, as she jumped into the air, pulling off a triple corkscrew flip, only six feet in the air. She landed with barely a poof, grinning at the arrivals.

Faith chuckled at the antics of Rainbowdash, smiling despite her worries. She visibly relaxed as she realised there were now only two options; either they were heavily drugged, and may as well enjoy what they’ve got, or this was genuine, but proved to be safe. Well, these three at least.

Sighing, Twilight turned her attention back to the trio, giving Rainbow a scolding glare for being so... Rainbowdash. “Well, you’ve gathered our names, and as for your other questions; we’re ponies, or equines for their scientific name. We’re also split into four sub-species. Earth pony,” -she gestured to Applejack, who nodded with a polite smile- “Pegasus,” Rainbow once again jumped into the air, hovering at eye level with Faith, and giving her a look of amusement, to with which Faith responded in kind.

“Unicorn,” –gesturing to herself- “And alicorn; a combination of all three with both a horn and wings. The only alicorns alive are the princesses, and they’re immortal.” She looked at the trio, and they seemed to have understood it so far, and seemed to be taking the whole teleported-to-new-world thing rather well.

“As for where you are, you’re in Equestria, with us being the dominant species on this planet.”

“What I want to know,” Kate asked, taking a step forward, “Is why you’re speaking English, even though we’re from different planets.” She had a curiosity tone, and her hand had removed from her holster, to hang by her side.

“English? Ah think ya mean equestrian.” Applejack replied, she too taking a step forward.

“Why do you look like shaven monkeys?” Rainbowdash blurted out, directing the question Faith, hovering ever closer to Faith’s face.

Faith chuckled, but gave a challenging glare and a predatory grin back to Rainbow before answering. “We’re actually evolved from apes, although we became bi-pedal and lost our tail.” She about turned for a moment, and showed her back, and the obvious lack of an extra limb.

Twilight was about to scold Rainbow again, but she was cut off by her again. “You look funny; why don’t you fall over all the time?” She poked a hoof into Faith’s chest, half expecting her to topple backwards.

What she didn’t expect was for her to be pinned on the floor within half a second.

As soon as the hoof came into contact with Faith’s chest, her vision tunnelled and became blue, with time appearing to slow down. She could see Rainbow’s wings thumping slowly up and down, the challenger’s spark in her eyes. Her left hand shot out, and closed around the hoof, which surprisingly felt furry, despite the ponies having a plain pastel colour. She bent her legs slightly, and turned around again, bringing the hoof over shoulder. Rainbow was caught off guard, and the momentum carried her over, her wings snapping shut at the prospect of the impact.

Faith wasted no time. She straddled Rainbow’s chest, her knees keeping the wings to her body. One hoof was under her leg, whilst the other, the one she still had hold of, wrapped around the front of her neck, holding her in place. The fear in Rainbow’s eyes was evident, but Faith needed to make an impression.

As soon as Rainbow had made contact with the ground, Twilight’s horn had glowed, and Applejack had tensed, ready to pounce. Kate’s hand had reached for her pistol again, her finger hovering over the safety. Only Mercury remained passive, until he saw the defensive stances of the other two ponies, did her raise an open palm, indicating for them to stop.

Twilight looked quizzically at mercury for a second, until she saw how the other human had Rainbow pinned. Her windpipe was still free, and she wasn’t causing any undue harm. That, combined with the still present challenging grin faith wore spoke volumes. She wasn’t attacking, she was taunting her; playing, for a more foalish term. She relaxed slightly, her glowing horn dying down, and indicated for Applejack to take a back seat.

“Hey, gerrof me!” Rainbow squirmed under the weight of Faith, which wasn’t much considering. She tried opening her wings, but found them pinned.

“You seem like the competitive type; how about we find out which is the better species ? I did kinda take offence when you said I looked funny.” Faith idly twirled a finger in the grass, still keeping hold of the Pegasus.

Rainbow grinned. “Name you’re, and the prize.” She wasn’t one to turn down a challenge, especially against someone who proved to be tough competition.

“Simple; catch me, you win. Lose me, I win.” Unknown to her, Rainbow was laughing mentally. She was the fastest pony in Equestria, and this creature didn’t stand a chance.

“You’re on.” She said with determinism, glancing over to their company, who were watching passively from the sidelines. However, before the words had left her lips, Faith had jumped off of her, and was already sprinting towards the small town of Ponyville. Rainbow leapt into the air, and with a challenging yell, flew towards the dwindling figure.

The chase had begun.

Chase

Chase

Faith was almost to the edge of Ponyville by the time she heard Rainbow. A faint whistling reached her ears as she sprinted, growing higher in pitch and volume by the second. Higher and higher it went, yet she didn’t look back, arms and legs pumping, sending her across the hardened soil.

“Gotcha!” At that moment, Faith ducked, and veered off to the right, pulling a perfect 90 degree turn without losing a single stride. Rainbow, who had foolishly made her presence known by shouting, was left dumb folded as her hooves gripped at nothingness as she flew through the air, certain that Faith was there mere milliseconds before. Damn, she’s fast. Grinning competitively, her wings buzzed and pulled into a tight corkscrew turn, levelling out on her right, and back behind the sprinting figure.

Faith, knowing she couldn’t pull that off again, began weaving left and right, making headway to the settlement. Rainbow tried to follow her, but having a larger wingspan meant that whilst she was faster than all pegasi, she didn’t have as much agility on her wings. This was what Faith was relying on, dodging and fainting movements with as much orientation as the common house fly. A few times Rainbow’s cyan hooves almost closed around either chest or waist, but each time Faith seemed to disappear, and re-appear a few feet away, a mischievous grin on her face.

Suddenly, grass changed to gravel, and buildings started passing by on both sides of her.

She’d reached to edge of Ponyville.

A multitude of ponies surrounded her, every shade and colour imaginable. Many were earth ponies, with a handful of Pegasus’ and even less unicorns, but all of them slowly noticing her presence, and becoming silent in fearful anticipation. Small cottages flanked either side of the path, but with sturdy roofs, and were quite close to each other, but the path was around twenty meters wide, and still quite open. This worked to Faith’s advantage. Rainbow knew she was fast, knew she was agile, but hopefully this would put her off guard.

After taking only two steps and half a second to process this, she veered left again, and ran straight towards the front of a cottage, a small cart filled with stacks of flour bags between her and her destination. Behind her, Rainbow smirked, and swung towards the cottage doors, hoping to intercept her, winning this impromptu contest quickly. She could see faith sprinting towards the cottage over the flour as she planted all four hooves into the ground, still a challenging grin on her face and a glint in her magenta eyes.

What happened next made every pony gasp. Faith didn’t veer around the cart. Nor did she slow down to avoid any collisions with passing ponies or the cart itself. Once again, Faith’s vision tinged blue, and time seemed to slow for her. She could hear, with great clarity, the breathing of every equine around her. She could feel her thunderous heartbeat sending a constant stream on adrenaline and energy to her muscles, keeping them moving, keeping her moving. She could see, just beyond the wooden flour cart, the magenta eyes, framed by the short bangs of red, orange, and yellow hair around a head of cyan fur.

Three ponies blocked her path, frozen solid in fear by the approaching creature. Without missing a beat, Faith drove her feet into the ground, and leapt over a red stallion and green mare, their heads, to Faith, moving slowly as Faith passed by over. The third, a larger blue stallion, suddenly spotted this leaping creature, and broke out of his stupor to begin fleeing off to his side, turning before running.

But he was too slow. Barely a millisecond after landing, Faith pulled her legs from under her, and slid across the gravel, and directly under the stomach of the fleeing stallion, his knees brushing the hair upon her head. And she still wasn’t done. As soon as her body was clear, she sprang back to her feet, and in the few steps between her and the cart, gained enough momentum to leap again. But not over it, like Rainbow had anticipated, but onto it.

Faith leapt of the ground, and her padded foot made contact with the edge of the cart. The other followed, landing upon a raised bag of flour. With them, she pushed off with all her might, thrusting her arms upwards as she dived over the remainder of the path, over a stunned Rainbow, and onto the sloped roof of the cottage.

The entire event, from start to finish, lasted 7.23 seconds. For Faith, it lasted minutes. And for Rainbow, no more than two seconds, and the creature had disappeared.

“What the- Ah buck!” Rainbow finally came to her senses, but not before Faith had scrambled to the top of the roof, and was now leaping across the gaps between the cottages, gaining distance every step. Rainbow leapt off the ground and into the sky, scanning the rooftops for Faith.

But she had disappeared. Frustrated, Rainbow circled the area a few times, glancing in gardens and alleyways, before landing back where she started with an annoyed huff. Then, an idea came to her. She never said anything about getting backup. With a triumphant laugh, she took to the skies once more, searching for a few specific ponies. Of course, this meant that Faith could then hide anywhere within Ponyville, but with a large enough search party, this would be over and done before sundown. But I underestimated her… she’s good.

Faith held her breath as she hid behind a shed in a garden. Twice she saw Rainbowdash pass by overhead, the second time gliding barely ten feet above her. Minutes passed, and with nothing indicating a trap, she slowly eased herself out of the gap between fence and shed, grunting with disgust at the cobwebs and rotting vegetables littered within the small space. Too close… she thought, but grinned to herself. She didn’t know how long this would go on for, but she knew she had the upper hand/hoof over Rainbow, although a nagging feeling in the back of her head told her things were not going to be so easy from here on out. Yes, she had surprised Rainbow by pulling of that relatively simple leap, but she highly doubted that that pony would fall for it a second time. She needed to keep her on her toes, figuratively, and that meant pulling off something new each time. But she only had a limited amount of moves and by passes. Some of which she highly doubted she could pull off in such a rural community.

She crouched in a corner of the garden, careful not to trample the carrots growing in a vegetable patch. Even though she was running like a convicted felon from a pack of wild dogs, she still had courtesy for the other inhabitants here. Idly brushing off the much and grime from her bare arms, and adjusting her thin elbow pads, she slowly sneaked to the edge of the garden, and pulled herself up to peak over the fence, and fully understand her surroundings.

The town did appear rural, although such buildings as a hospital and a large city hall indicated that it was developing either recently, or at a relatively quick rate. What more, she noted with bizarre amusement, that some of the buildings were drastically different from the basic cottages and housed that she was around. From here, she could see the top of a fairly large oak tree with a balcony and a large telescope, and further in the distance, a building that looked to be a massive cupcake. This didn’t throw her off, but actually gave her a sense of comfort. Should she get lost in this new world of theirs, at least she had highly distinguishable landmarks she could work off. The town itself was very flat, another disadvantage when you’ve spent a large proportion of your life above everyone else, the only company being others like you, or the occasional flock of pigeons or news helicopter.

Lastly, and very faintly in the distance, she could see the faded shape of a mountain, and strangely enough, a whole city built on one side of it, faint waterfalls flowing to the ground level. It certainly looked large, and with its unique placement, she hazard a guess at that being the capital city of sorts, if such a thing existed here. It was no issue to her, as it appeared at least a half week journey on foot… er, hoof, although she still didn’t know how technologically advanced these ponies were, even if they did appear to have tacked a whole city on a near vertical mountain face.

She dropped back down from the fence, although the drop itself was only a few inches. With ponies being smaller in height meant that everything here was to be smaller, but only a little. When stood next to her, she guessed that their heads came up to her chest, and their ribs in line with her waist. Around five feet tall, she assumed, and the Pegasus’ appeared to be slightly smaller, and earth ponies that largest; but this was only going by rainbow and her two other friends, Twilight and… Applejohn was it? …Applebob? Apple… Applejack, that was it. Earth ponies were physically strong, so she’d have to avoid any combat with them if the need arose. Pegasus’ had the supreme advantage on flight, so her usual tactic of ‘get higher than them and run’ would be highly ineffective here. And lastly, unicorns, from what she saw, could be highly skilled in magic and physical manipulation. She just hoped that in such a peaceful location, none of them had bothered to learn any form of offensive magic. Thankfully, the main population here appeared to be earth ponies, and Unicorns rare in these parts.

Finally done contemplating about her current situation, she bounced on the balls of her feet a few times, then slowly made her way out of the garden, keeping one eye in front and around, and the other on the sky, looking for any rainbow-maned figures diving for her from a cloud.

“Cloudkicker! Cloudchaser!” Rainbow shouted at two ponies sat lazily on a higher-up cloud over Ponyville. One, a small grey Pegasus with a long, butter-blonde mane, sat snoring gently beside the other, a blue-grey Pegasus with a spiky, ice-blue mane and tail, who was flicking through an out-dated edition of the Wonderbolts magazine. Cloudchaser, the latter of the two, looked up slowly from her reading, seeing Rainbowdash flying towards them with a look on her face; a mixture of both anxiety and cocky challenging, like she had been betted something, and proved to win.

With a sigh, she closed her magazine, and stuffed it in the cloud for later, before leaning over and nudging Cloudkicker awake; giving a rather large snore, and slowly opening her purple eyes. Meanwhile, Rainbow had landed beside the two, still with the eager smile on her face.

“What now, Rainbow? Someone beat your sonic Rainboom?” Chaser asked, whilst Kicker still attempted to rouse herself from her mid-afternoon nap. Rainbow pretended not to hear, but whipped her chromatic mane from her face, and stared at the two with the same impatient look.

“Did you two hear a loud bang earlier?” Rainbow asked the pair, 'Kicker finally rousing herself so much that she could pay attention to the conversation.

“I heard something,” Chaser admitted, looking down at Ponyville below her. “I just thought it was Twilight experimenting with a new spell; remember last month with the growth potion she created?” She didn’t finish her sentence; all three of them knowing full well the extent Twilight’s spells and potions could go wrong.

“Well it wasn’t; something- someone, has come to Ponyville. Three of them.” Rainbow said at the pair. Kicker’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of this, and she suddenly looked down at the town below them, half expecting to see some form of mutant running rampage throughout the town; even though they were so far up, ponies appeared to be tiny blobs of colour.

“Are you sure?” Kicker asked, whilst Chaser got to her hooves, stretching her legs from laying down for so long. She two glanced down, but with less panic, actually scanning the town for something out of the ordinary.

“I’m sure.” Rainbow said, bouncing slowly on the cloud with the others impatience.

“What do they look like? Are they hostile?” Chaser asked. Below were some very vulnerable fillies and colts. Should something with murderous, or even dangerous capabilities run wild within the town, a death toll would be inevitable; something that hadn’t happened in Ponyville for over two hundred years.

“They walk on two hooves, and are practically furless.” Rainbow continued searching the streets from her vantage point, but she knew that Faith had gone into hiding; and with the sun making its constant journey to the horizon, it was slowly becoming harder and more urgent to find her. “Two of them remained by their metal box of sorts,” –she pointed a hoof over to the field, where the AC building could be seen, along with a handful of figures, some taller, and definitely standing on two limbs. “But a third, by the name of Faith, ran straight to Ponyville. I’ve been chasing her, but she’s given me the slip.” She paused at the look of worry on Chaser’s face, then gave a wan smile of reassurance. “Don’t worry; as far as I know, they are not aggressive, and for some reason even speak our language.” This was a surprise to the other two, although Kicker showed it less, still scanning the streets hundreds of feet below.

“The last time I saw her was-”

“There.” Cloudkicker cut her off, pointing a hoof down towards Ponyville. “Running north of Sugercube corner.” Both Rainbowdash and Cloudchaser looked quizzically at Kicker for a moment, and decided she was right, following where her hoof was pointing to below them. Eventually, all three had sight of the bi-pedal, making its way through gardens, occasionally scaring a pony or two who she happened to come across. Even though hedged, fences, ponds and trees blocked her path, she passed by them with expert ease, flowing from one obstacle to the other without breaking her stride.

“How does she move like that?” Chaser asked, awed at the dexterity of the being. “Are they all like that?” She asked Rainbow, who was glaring challenging daggers at the back of Faiths skull.

“Yeah, pretty much. The stallion’s a bit larger, but they all seem to move with so much… grace.” She admitted, before shaking herself and looking at the two Clouds.

“We need to catch her, but not to kill her. She’s fast, agile, but has one major flaw; she’s highly visible. We may have to fight, but if any serious injuries happen apart from being knocked out, then everypony stops. In all honesty, it’s just a massive game of tag.” Rainbow chucked, preparing to dive off of the cloud the others sat upon. Kicker and Chaser paused for only a moment, before imitating their fellow Pegasus’ position. They still had visual on Faith, who had ended up in the open, running full speed across one of the few parks dotted around in Ponyville.

“And what happens if we catch her?” Kicker asked, extending her wings and giving them a few experimental flaps.

Rainbow turned her head to look at Kicker, her magenta eyes looking at the other pony.

“If we catch her.” Rainbow said, before setting her sights on the town below.

“GO!”

Eventually, faith had no choice but to run in the open. The row of houses had ended, and with the streets being to widely spaced out, she had no way to stay of the streets, and thus was why she was now sprinting past a cupcake-looking building, headed towards a more densely built part of the town. Thankfully, the pones she passed were either too confused about her presence to do anything, or she had passed them before they truly realised.

She spied a good point to make a disappearance; a waist-height fence which stood in front of a dense park, the sunlight struggling to stream through the high-packed canopy. She sprinted towards it, arms pumping and her breath coming in controlled gasps. Twenty meters... ten meters.

Wumph! Faith skidded to a halt, eyes wide in shock and amusement. In front of her hovered Rainbow Dash, flapping her wings to keep her head on the same level as Faiths, grinning from ear to ear as she knew Faith couldn't possibly jump over her. Her gaze glanced at Kicker and Chaser, who landed on all fours around Faith, forming a pony triangle with a human in the center. Faith followed her gaze, glancing at first a blue-grey pegasus on her behind left, then at a slightly smaller grey pony with a butter-blonde mane. Both were evidentially female, to which Faith wondered for a moment. Surely there were more males than a small handful? But no matter, she had a problem t deal with.

Turning back to face Rainbow, she gave a small nod of the head. “Nice to see you haven't given up yet, although I find it quite cheap how you've resorted to backup, Dashie.” Faith used what she guessed would be a pet name of hers, trying to aggravate or taunt her so she'd be put off. By now, a good few ponies of all species were gathered round the four, none of them deciding to join in.

Rainbow gave off a snarl at the name. She hated that name. Despised it. She dropped onto all fours, glaring daggers up at the human a few paces away. Then she blinked. She's trying to taunt me. Rainbow grinned slightly as she said to Faith “I'd like you to meet Cloudkicker, and Cloudchaser, and you never said I couldn't. Faithy.” And Rainbow was mightily pleased to see a reaction come from Faith, her maroon eyes squinting to glare daggers at the rainbow maned pony.

Faith felt her blood boil at the mention of the name. Only Jacknife called her that, and she hated Jacknife; after everything he had done. Images blurred past Faith's vision; a dead Pope, An injured Merc, Celeste's betrayal, and a burning helicopter.

Faith shook herself. That was the past, this is the now. And now, she had three ponies to show who was boss. With a confident smirk, she took a step forward, pleased to see all three ponies tense in anticipation to leap, or flee; whichever option seemed more logical.

“You've made a big mistake, Rainbow. And now,” She paused, smiling devilishly, “I'm gonna claim my victory.” The trio had barely any time to react before Faith had flipped sideways, pouncing on an unsuspecting Cloudkicker. She landed heavily on the mares back, both hands around her neck, as she used her momentum to pull 'kicker onto her rear hooves, bring Faith back on to her own, and using 'Kicker as a meat shield. The small crowd of ponies gasped in unison, but none made a move to help, not even to call for guards.

The butter-blonde-maned pegasus' eyes widened in terror, her wings snapping to attention as a natural response, inadvertently giving Faith more body to hide behind. Faith held 'Kicker in a griplock; enough that it would restrain her from moving, but not as to knock her out.

Both 'Chaser and Rainbow stared wide-eyed at Faith, disbelief in their eyes. However, nearly simultaneously, they came to their wits, and Rainbow put herself in front of Faith, whilst Cloudchaser began circling around her.

“You're fast, I'll give you that.” Rainbow muttered, realising the stares of many a pony were fixated upon the four of them. If she lost this little showdown, her ego would be ruined, and her reputation, in shatters.

Her wings snapped to attention, ready to pounce. “But not fast enough.” Faith tried to keep her eye on both ponies, but 'Chaser eventually left her field of vision, and just a sideways glance was all it needed. As soon as Faith moved her head, Rainbow lunged, using all fours to force her mass as fast as possible to the human whilst she was distracted. At the same time, 'Chaser lunged from the rear, aiming low to try to knock Faith's feet from under her, trying to use her bipedal stance to their advantage.

Now! Faith thought. Her head whipped back to Dash, just enough time to work out her rough trajectory; her chest and head. She didn't use the paralysed 'Kicker as a shield, but instead decided to shove the mare right into the oncoming path of Rainbow, hoping to buy a few valuable seconds.

Barely the instant her hands left the warm touch of 'Kicker's fur, Faith jumped, tucking her knees into her chest, as Cloudchaser, realising they'd been had, pulled a very tight upwards turn as she passed Faith, soaring between the human and the entangled pair of ponies with only centimetre to spare on each side.

Thankfully, after a few curses, the other two ponies had untangled themselves from their impromtu collision, and once again faced Faith, who never seemed to drop her smile, as the trio of ponies readied themselves for a second attack. Rainbow was panting, glaring daggers at this irritating creature, whilst 'Kicker and 'Chaser had varying degrees of worry and fear etched into their facial features, but no matter, because In a single moment, without even having to look at one another, the ponies pounced, hooves flying out to make contact with Faith.

For the next few minutes, there was only a flurry of hooves, wings and hands as Faith fought off the ponies. Hit after hit, she blocked and parried, twirling and dancing to a violent song, as the trio became more and more infuriated that they couldn'd simply knock Faith out.

She ducked, weaved, rolled and lunged, all within the confines of the circle created by the increasing number of watchers, all deadly silent in anticipation of the result.

Blue hoof met pink palm, forearms met wings. Their strength was remarkable, and faith had to stop herself from nearly staggering back each time a hit came. Faith started on the defensive, arms poised in a boxers pose, an effortless smug smile on her face as she kept a skilful eye on each moving limb, blocking when possible, and dodging the rest.

Then she went of the offensive. She began not just blocking, but parrying hits that came her way. Using the momentum of Rainbow's hoof to send her over her head as she gripped the limb. Tripping Cloudchaser when she was uncoordinated to leave most of her weight balanced on a single hoof, bringing her crashing to the ground. Even so, she couldn't block them all. For every few hits she delivered, she received one or two in return, bright purple bruises blossoming on her thighs, forearms, and a rather nasty one on her cheek, where Dash had managed half-a-buck amidst the flurry. Her smile slowly fell,, turning into a snarl of concentration, aiming to incapacitate them before they did her.

But she couldn't hold them off forever. Three-on-one isn't the best of odds, although faith had managed worse. But that was against humans, who could be cleanly knocked out with a simple hit to a cluster of nerves. The hit's began building up and up, until she was back onto pure offensive, protecting her chest and face, both beginning to bruise badly, even though no-one- pony or human, made the offer to back down. Flickers of indecision occasionally flashed on Dash's face, but the relentless combat she was engaged in caused her to act now, think later.

Then, Rainbow managed to slip past her defences. Whist Faith was preoccupided blocking a flurry of strikes from Cloudchaser, she leaped around and delivered a sideways kick to the back of Faith's knees.

The effect was instantaneous. With a yelp, Faith tumbled onto her knees as her support fell from below her. Immediately after, 'Chaser, who failed to react in time to Faith falling, accidentally delivered a solid hit to Faith's face, sending the bipedal tipping backwards. The strength in the hit was immense; a sickening crack snapped through the air as the hoof made contact, accompanied by a spray of blood from Faiths nose.

“Oh, Shit!” Rainbow cursed, realising their friendly, if somewhat combative engagement had taken a turn for the worst. None of them had actually intended to cause serious damage to each other, that much was evident as both Rainbow and Faith had lessened the impacts around the face on what would have been possibly lethal hits.

Faiths eyes widened in realisation that this wasn't meant to happen, the back of her head cracking painfully onto the hard-packed ground that made up the street. Her vision blurred, both by the concussion, and the swelling in her left eye that was forcing her eye shut. Coloured shapes swam in her vision; blue and rainbow, grey and gold, electric blue. Murmurs of voices and gentle hooves made themselves known as something tried to rouse her, but to no avail.

“Faith! Get up!” Rainbow said in panic, shaking Faith's shoulder. She had all intentions earlier to knock Faith out, but cleanly, with the only repercussion being a rather mild headache the following morning. Not like this, with her face covered in blood from her broken nose, and a small pool of red substance leaking from the back of her head. The crowd of ponies were silent, unsure what to do.

“Faith, listen! We-we'll get you s-some help.” Rainbow muttered frantically as 'Chaser and 'Kicker stared in shock.

Faith wasn't responding. Her vision flickered, faded, and all sound left her ears as she passed out.