//------------------------------// // You Thought I Was Good? // Story: Can't Look Past // by Freed_Writer //------------------------------// Shadow was pissed at me and I began to believe him when he said that I abandoned my son. As we walked past the many oak doors down the blue and purple colored crystalline halls to the front gates he stopped me. “If we find your son you are arresting him. He was your responsibility and you dropped the ball now it’s time to pick it back up.” “I don’t know how to arrest anyone.” “You catch him, you cuff him, and you don’t lose him that’s how!” “I never meant to make you mad, Shadow.” “I’ll be less mad when you fix things with your son.” “Where are you guys headed off to?” A white pony asked. Shadow turned to face them and their happy curious demeanor changed to worried. “We’re going to search the slums for his son. You can come if you’d like.” “Ok give me just a second.” He ran off back down the hall. “Who is he?” I asked. “That’s Shield the son of Shining Armor.” “Wait… he’s royalty?” “Yeah why?” “I didn’t expect royalty to be a guard.” “The hell do you think Shining is then?” “Well… royalty who’s job is to protect and work with the citizens.” “Key word there is protect.” “Well they would have the job of building an army to protect the citizens.”’ “You just have an answer for damn everything don’t you?” “What’s wrong?” Shield asked. “Know it all over here.” Shadow said.  “Just drop it Shadow, let's get a move on.'' We left the castle and took flight north. I began to question Shadows' definition of a slum but not too long after flying did the great big multi-story houses turn to really old sad looking huts who’s roofs were either crudely patched or tarped over. The common color theme was brown and the buildings were so closely stacked together it was a single file walking space. The actual roads weren’t much better, maybe two or three pony’s side by side. They were covered in trash and come to think of it there wasn’t a tree or crystalline item in sight for what must’ve been miles. “These are the slums! It doesn't look like it can get worse than this but it does!” Shadow yelled to me. Even though he was yelling it was hard to hear him. “What are you guys doing about this?” I asked.   “We’ve got a team trying to find the root of the problem while we go and build better living spaces and more job opportunities!” Shield yelled. Shadow started to descend so I followed. When we made it to the ground, I immediately stepped on what I hoped was gum. Those who were around us made room. “Stay behind me and watch your back, sometimes these guys can get rough. The place we're going is where we last got a report of him.” Shadow said. As we walked through the street there were a few who gave us dirty looks but nothing more. It wasn’t until we turned the corner to the housing that two ponies got in our way. “You shouldn’t be here.” The blue one said. “If you keep standing there you won’t be here.” Shadow replied. “Is that a threat?” the blue one asked “No…” he said with a smile crossing his face. “It’s a promise.” “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” The black one said. “I can keep that promise better than you can keep your footing… watch.” Shadow said, sending a pressure blast right to them. The dost dirt and trash swirled around the small crack asphalt road. They lost their footing, falling over. This did not make them happy. “If I were you I'd stay down. I don't really want to make you a wall ornament.” they stayed down and we walked into the housing. “Are you guys alright? I heard the commotion out there.” The mare behind the counter asked. “Yeah we’re fine. Can you tell us where this guy has gone?” Shadow held up the Photo of Iron Wing. The mare reached below the counter and pulled out a set of keys. “Room 12 he just made it in.” “Thank you.” Shadow turned to me and gave me the keys. “This is all you, we'll wait at the next closest door in case something happens.” I walked to the door and knocked on it. No answer so I tried again and again.  “When can I just kick this door in?” I asked Shadow. “I would have started with that.” He replied. I then proceeded to full force buck the wooden door  door in. The sound of the door hitting the maroon and tan duo-tone wall on the other side of the room caused what was very clearly my son to come running out of another room. “Dad?” “Call me whatever you want but you can do it in prison.” he turned around and ran straight for the window jumping through it. “He’s running.” I yelled following him. He was very observant of his surroundings as I tried to hit him with just about anything I could get my magic on: a planter, a garbage can, a sign, even a whole door and nothing hit him. I didn’t stop until I heard a gunshot ring out. I immediately dropped to the floor and looked around. Shadow made the shot. I looked over and my son was on the ground. I immediately got up and ran to him. “What was that for Shadow!” I yelled. “He was getting away from us and nothing you did worked. It's a leg wound and he'll be fine.” “He’s still my son!” “Since when did you care!” “When I found out he was still alive!” “He’s not dead, he's not even dying.” he said as he looked down at my son. “That doesn’t matter!” I pushed him into the wall. “Shooting a pony should always be the last resort! I was keeping up with him just because your slow ass couldn’t doesn’t mean you shoot him! You put me at risk! What would've happened if your shot was off? You could have hit me or a civilian!” “We are trained to shoot while running! I’ve never missed a running shot!” He shoved me back and I almost fell over on my son “What if you killed him?!” I said pulling my gun on him. “Clearly the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” “Hey! Put it down now!” I looked over to Shield who had his gun aimed at me. I hit the deck and shot at Shield hitting him directly in the chest before turning to Shadow and firing at him now with both of them immobile I could get back to what mattered the most. “You cheat, you liar, you're no better than Sombra! We gave you… a new life and you’ve thrown it away! Shield said as he coughed the ground in front of his blood stained muzzle becoming peppered in red, not that it looked out of place. “It was a hoax. Not only did the robbery go as planned but I just got rid of one of the major things slowing my drug trafficking. Now I’m rich and unopposed. Say hello to the rest of the guard for me… well if you get back.” I lifted my son onto my back and walked past Shadow. I couldn't tell where I hit him but I couldn't see how I missed him. As I walked past Shield I did feel a little bad. “You could’ve walked away from this kid.” “I plan to.” “You should stop planning and start doing.” I kicked his 45 away from him. It scraped across the ground with a few sparks. His breathing was raspy it wouldn’t be too long before he either couldn’t breath or he didn’t need to breath. It’s a little sad he was only 19. I was unstoppable now. If I could kill Equestria’s most renowned fighter, I could get away with anything.