//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Remix // by Ghost Cobbraaa //------------------------------// Time slowed. Chuck's eyes drifted over to Lyra, who was the second to last to leave the door. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he watched the white stallion run out, followed by Shifty. Lyra was to go next. Her hooves lifted off the ground. She was just so ignorant. Wood Chuck had never felt so awful in his life. He couldn't let her die. He just couldn't. The determination in her eyes only made it worse. Seconds dragged into minutes. Every sound seemed louder and every color brighter. Chuck launched himself with his back hooves in the direction of the unicorn mare. He lunged toward her in a leap he didn't know he was capable of. With a shrill shriek shooting from the mare's lips, she hit the ground as the stallion landed directly on top of her. She immediately squirmed and struggled in a frenzy of what could only be fear and confusion. Chuck wouldn't let himself give in to the struggle. He kept her pinned to the pavement. "Wha-What a-" Her high-pitched panic was interrupted by a chain of cracking noises undoubtedly from a sub-machine gun. Within seconds of the gunshots, a sound like a hundred fireworks going off at once rent the air, a 'boom' loud enough to wake a deaf pony from his slumber. Both Wood Chuck and Lyra looked in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, only to see it ablaze. Tongues of flames licked the sky as the wall near the entrance began to crack and give way under the stress of the explosion. Under a sky painted black with smoke, the whole building collapsed like it was nothing more then a house of cards falling in the wind. Chuck had to look away, not only because the bright light of the fire strained his eyes, but because ponies had gone in there, and now there were no signs of life. Chuck couldn't look the pinned unicorn in her eyes. How was she to react, knowing that someone she had trusted just sent others she trusted to their deaths, and spared her life? He pushed himself off of her and walked over to the rifle he had left on the floor. He picked it up and slung it over his back. "I... I'm sorry." He had his back turned toward the pony he had just spared. The sounds of flames rustling around like an extremely loud fireplace filled his ears. It so peaceful, yet the unspoken raked at his heart. "Why?" He turned around to see an indigo unicorn staring at him in utter disbelief. "You wouldn't understand." He closed his eyes and turned his head away. One drop of water swelled up in his eye as he imagined Scootaloo's smiling face. "Pleases. Give me an answer." The voice had no anger or hate in it. To Chuck's surprise, it was soothing, and filled with worry, yet coated in fear. As the words left Lyra's lips, the door on the back of the empty room opened and an orange stallion with a cowboy hat and a holster holding a pistol stepped in. "Howdy, Chuck. Those were some fireworks." His eyes followed curiously to Lyra who was still laying on the ground. "And who's this lady?" "I... She's Lyra." "Didn't have the heart, eh? Don't sweat it. I know the feeling." He gave a smile. Chuck was disgusted at how lightly Braeburn was taking the situation. Still, he would be spending a lot of time with the drug farmer, so he might as well let it slide. "You're Braeburn! The mobster!" Lyra shot an accusing hoof at him with a shout. "That's my name. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but me and Wood Chuck need to run. The cops will be coming soon. Wish we could chat, but I think it's best for all of us." Chuck turned his face to the stallion from Appleloosa. "Bro, did you get the guns?" Chuck watched as his partner's face grew dark and unsure. "Well... no. Somethin' went wrong. Rainbow Dash never came back with 'em." Chuck stared at the stallion in front of him, trying to let the information he was just presented with sink in. With his mouth wide open and widened eyes, he comprehended what that would mean. All of this would be pointless. Those lives were taken in vain. He suddenly couldn't support his own weight, and sat down on the floor. "Fuck..." was the only word he could spit out. "We don't have no time to talk about it! The fuzz is gonna be here. Now you," Braeburn turned his head in the direction of Lyra, who was still in a state of shock. "Either ya come with us, or die where yer standin'." A shiver passed through Chuck's spine. It was obvious; Lyra was a witness and could testify to what she had just seen. There was no way that she could be let free. The stallion just prayed that when Braeburn said "come with us", it meant that she would be a prisoner. It sent a punch to his heart to think that the drug farmer's intention was to find a more convenient place to kill her. ***** "Where are we?" "I dunno." "This ain't Fluttershy's house... Did we sleep walk or somethin'?" "No, dummy. I dunno where we are." "Maybe we are in the castle?” "Nah." The voices of Applebloom and Scootaloo rang out in unison. The three fillies looked at each other in utter confusion. Scootaloo's eyes scanned the area. It was a relatively large room with stone walls and a stone floor that felt uncomfortably cold under her hooves. There was one window, way too high off the ground for even an adult pony to see through or for a filly to fit through, that bathed the empty room with natural light. Scootaloo couldn't help but to think of this place as some kind of dungeon, but she quickly set that thought to the back of her mind. "This sucks!" Applebloom shot her hooves in the air in frustration, "We don' know where we are, how we got here, who or what brought us here, what happened to Fluttershy, and on top of all that, I need to pee really badly! Ugggh!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with a sense of panic and urgency. The two wordlessly rushed to the heavy metal door. Sweetie Belle first tried the door handle and then examined the locking mechanism to try and find a way to possibly pick it with unicorn magic. After a brief ten seconds, Scootaloo pushed her aside and violently began smashing against the door with two hooves. "Heeeelp! Somepony get us out of here!" she shrieked into the door. The prayers of the fillies were answered. Scootaloo stepped back in relief as she heard the sound of keys turning and locks being deactivated from the other side of the door. She let out a deep exhale. The three little ponies sat in a single line as they watched the door slowly creak open. Standing in the doorway was a violet pony, with a mane in two shades of pink and bright green eyes. "Good morning, girls." She spoke with a smile and an almost singing tone. "You three should come with me so that you can meet your new roommates." "Roommates?" "Ms. Cheerilee?" "Is there a bathroom?" ******** Rainbow Dash watched as dark purple glows engulfed stacks of banknotes and moved them from one mammoth pile of money to another. She couldn't possibly estimate the amount of money that was in the two stacks, but her best guess was at a mind boggling one hundred million bits. She couldn't keep her eyes off the cash as it moved around. "So you're Applejack's lover, right?" A very formal and emotionless voice sent the message clear to Rainbow Dash: this was strictly business. "Uhmm, well, yeah." "Do you think you could talk to her?" "About what?" Dash couldn't help but to feel a sense of fear. As if she were prey being hunted. Her eyes couldn't stay focused on the alicorn in front of her. She examined the office very closely. "About the whole business. Ever try to explain things to her from our perspective?" "Yes. And I don't know if she will ever listen! And stop taking the obvious route here. I can't do anything about her. And I won't do anything to her!" She looked deep into dark blue eyes with a defiant look. The alicorn let out a small chuckle. "Hehe.... from what I hear, you have been doing quite a few things to her." Anger welled up in Dash. How dare she? There was no reason to make a comment like that. "Look, all I want is for the killing to stop. Somepony said that you are the pony to go to and so far you've just been waiting my time." "My apologies. And you are right. Pointing out your personal life is very rude of me. However, your personal life and the nature of this talk are very intertwined at this sad moment in time." "So what can I do to help?" Luna raised an eyebrow. "That is simple. And I think that maybe you will be the best pony we have.” **** Vinyl had stayed up until around 2:35 in the morning, remixing Octavia's work with the assistance of the original artist herself. After much laughing, screaming, outrage, hugs, compromise, disagreement, and a final kiss, the two could finally say that they worked together to make it. Octavia clearly didn't care for the club style remix of her music, but they both knew it had to be done. The two had fun doing it. She stared out of the carriage with heavy eyes from the lack of sleep. Something odd caught her eye. It was a building, or what used to be a building, all destroyed and with smoke emanating from the heap of rubble. Here pink eyes widened in horror as she saw limbs and other discarded pony parts being extracted by police, then cast aside into a bin labeled "trash". How many ponies died there? Who died there? Why were the dead not going to get a proper funeral or even be identified? They are just treating the deceased like they were roadkill. Vinyl needed to turn her face away in horror. It just wasn't right. The cab rolled along for a few miles. ….Is that Chuck? Vinyl looked out the window and saw the silver stallion on the side of the rode waving frantically toward the cab. What was he dong out? Oh Celestia, was he in the destroyed building? "Yo, turn right here. This dude's a friend of mine." "Yes sir." the driver responded before turning the cab to where Chuck was standing. Vinyl noticed that he clearly looked dirty and sweaty, as if he had just been in an intense workout. "Ay, wa'chu doin' out here? I need to be in the Granny's office in an hour, and you know how far she is." "Can I get a ride home?" Chuck seemed to ignore the inquiry from Vinyl. She felt a shiver run down her spine. His voice sounded serious and almost zombie-like. "Uhhm, yeah. Sure. Are you feeling okay?" "Yeah, I'm okay, now get this muthafucka rollin'! Now!" Vinyl turned in a panic and saw a long lost friend holding a gun to the cab driver's head. "Braeburn? W-wha's goin' on?" "I'm sorry, but I'll explain on the way there. I'm... really sorry." Chuck looked into Vinyl's eyes with a look of desperation. Braeburn opened the door opposite to Vinyl and and got in. Chuck jumped in next to the white music pony and looked away. A third pony, a lovely-looking mare that Vinyl remembered preforming at the concert last night, got in and huddled next to Chuck. She seemed sad, as if all hope and faith had been drained from her heart. "Now, move! We got to get to Manehatten!" Braeburn shouted with his hoof extended, holding the pistol against the driver.