As the race continued, Fluttershy soon realized that the masked guy wouldn’t give up. So instead of trying to overtake him, she followed him closely but kept her distance, checking the GPS on the headunit from time to time so she wouldn’t get lost.
Where are you going? Fluttershy thought, as the BMW driver made a rather violent exit off the highway and headed straight for a backroad near the downtown area of south Los Angeles. As the roads became more isolated and narrow, it soon became clear that this BMW guy had more than spying in mind – he had a hideout somewhere amongst the old dirty buildings.
Finally the black BMW came to a rest at the end of a short alleyway littered with debris, rags, and ripped garbage bags. It stank, the peeling lead paint and rust chips from the old buildings notwithstanding. This was clearly a hideout.
Half-cocking his gun as he stepped out, the masked man in black rapidly glanced from side to side, checking for any signs of movement or sound. Fluttershy carefully eased the Supra into reverse and backed up down the street a little. With noisy footsteps indicating that he was moving and thus reassured by the silence, Fluttershy carefully opened the car door, stepped out, and peeked down the alleyway.
The masked man climbed a rusty iron ladder and squeezed through a hole in the building (which was actually a broken window). Hovering over the ground to avoid making noise from her hooves on the dirty ground, Fluttershy followed, then hid below the windowsill and listened closely. It was fairly windy and there was only whispers, but the sound was close by and thus traveled clearly out the window.
“Where have you been?” one of them demanded. By his loud, deep voice, Fluttershy could tell that he was the boss. “We’ve been rotting away in this godforsaken place for over eight hours!”
“I’m sorry there were delays,” another voice replied sheepishly.
Fluttershy tried not to laugh at the way it was said…so obvious and so blatant. The conversation continued for another ten minutes or so, until some final plans were confirmed by the leader. From the tone and variation of voice levels, she guessed there were at least five members of the gang, including the leader. And they had one goal in mind…to infiltrate D & J industries. Apparently they weren’t happy with the way Justin had set deals and broke ties due to injustice, and they wanted it back. But the most shocking thing of all was that the gang mentioned Jesse – and that he had been brutally beaten up and left to die.
“Jesse?!” Fluttershy gasped, losing her grip and falling down, screaming briefly before grabbing a hold of herself and flapping her wings to stay airborne. Still a little dazed, she tried to snap back to attention of what she’d just heard, but the gang had fallen silent, evidently having heard her. After a while their confidence rose and they continued talking more about Jesse and his circumstances.
It turned out, Jesse had served jail time but had it hard. Many of the other prison inmates had beaten him up, started a riot, and later ended up in a lone cell. Mostly it was because he told them about Fluttershy had stood up to and defeated him. As such, the prison inmates had seen Fluttershy as inferior and mocked Jesse for being a weakling who couldn’t defeat a little pony. The gang mentioned about their new ammunition shipment – Fluttershy winced, recalling how Jesse had shot her wing – and then trailed off about other dealings and contracts, but Fluttershy paid close attention to that section of the discussion.
As the gang’s talk wrapped up, there was only one conclusion: these guys were up to no good – and she and Justin were the main targets.
Having gathered all the information she needed, Fluttershy carefully flew back down to the dirty ground next to the BMW, but bumped a garbage bin lid in the process due to the almost total absence of light. She tried to catch the lid but it hit the ground with a loud clang. Footsteps instantly shattered the silence. Her cover was blown. One of the men came plummeting down from the windowsill above.
Fluttershy ran down the alleyway for her life as the guy pulled out his gun and fired a few shots, before the other gang members jumped out of the window and ran down the alleyway after the yellow pony who’d been spying on them.
Perpendicular to the narrow alleyway was another alleyway, slightly wider. Where had I come from? Fluttershy quickly thought, as the gang closed in on her. Making a quick judgement call she glanced both ways and noticed the main road, dashing left, narrowly missing another bullet.
Jumping over trash cans and piles of broken boxes and crates, tripping twice, Fluttershy came upon the main road…and saw her shiny black Toyota Supra, still waiting beside a shabby townhouse driveway.
“Get her!” another shout came from close behind. The road was long and wide open, with little trees or fences. Now Fluttershy was truly scared – she had no place to hide. Screaming with fright she ran down the cracked sidewalk to her car as fast as she could. She pulled her keys out and unlocked the door, just as the gang approached, their guns cocked and ready to fire.
Jumping in, she shoved the key into the ignition, turned it, threw the car into reverse and slammed the gas, hurling the car backwards down the bumpy road as the gang fired at the Supra’s bumper and hood.
Swerving out into the middle of the road, Fluttershy ripped the e-brake and spun the Supra round, and drove off down the road, heading straight for a hiding spot. Quickly checking her map, she soon found the route back to the highway and went for it as fast as possible before the gang could catch up in time.
Back at the house, Justin and the rest of the ponies were increasingly concerned about Fluttershy’s disappearance. She turned up about an hour later, but the bullet holes in the bumper and the hood were an obvious sign of her ordeal.
Fluttershy simply shut the engine off, put the car into neutral and eased it into the garage, before popping the holey hood and propping it on its kickstand. Then she walked back into the house from the garage door and crept into the living room, where everyone wore anxious and frightened faces.
“You look just as scared as I was,” Fluttershy replied, cracking the silence.
“You’re okay!” Starlight Glimmer exclaimed, running over and squeezing her in a big hug. The others followed suit. Everybody that is, except Justin, who now wore a serious frown.
“What in tarnation were you thinking?!” he demanded, before being met with an equal frown from Twilight, who used her magic to bond his lips together.
“You promise to keep silent?” she snapped. Justin, disabled and hopeless, gulped and nodded. Twilight released her grasp, and sat Fluttershy down on the couch.
“So, what’s the story?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Fluttershy wanted to unravel the whole story, but thought it would be too much for her friends to bear, so she decided to give a summary instead.
“While you all were having fun, I noticed a man – muscular, wearing all black and covered face – hiding in the bushes at the bottom of the backyard. I rushed at him, but he noticed me and ran. I heard an engine, so I hopped into my Supra and gave chase. He refused to pull over, so I followed him to a small two-storey building in the run-down area of southern Los Angeles. There, I picked up some disturbing news. Now I know it could well be lies, but I’m holding the talk that I heard true and authentic until proven otherwise. Thing is, I’ve been hiding a few things from you, Justin. Listen to me.”
Justin nodded with a serious face.
“Justin, I was caught speeding, and my license now has two points. Thankfully the car hasn’t been impounded, but I’ve racked up four tickets – three of them on my journey from New Mexico, and one here when I was drifting to demonstrate it to my friends.”
“And Twilight made her crash. That rear bumper now has a big dent in it,” Spike blurted out.
Fluttershy continued. “Since I am not a citizen with a job the burden is on you. In addition, I was caught in the act by the gang, but managed to get away unharmed. But the car’s hood and front bumper are full of holes.”
“So they shot at you,” Justin replied, his face full of displeasure.
“Yes, they did,” Fluttershy replied. “While driving the car from New Mexico to here, I encountered Jesse and his bikers. They mentioned about your relationship with them and how they deemed it to be unfair. I raced them, then brake-checked them to get them off my tail. But later they caught up to me, so I blew up their bikes, alerting police, who arrested them. In prison Jesse was beaten up badly and left for dead. Long story short, the gang I spied on now blames me for Jesse’s death and claims that you, Justin, are a fraud and have cheated on them through that contract.”
“That’s ridiculuous!” Rarity spat out in disgust.
“Those guys are gonna give it all they got to rip your head off, Fluttershy,” Starlight Glimmer announced. “We gotta get out of here.”
“Wait,” Justin said in a big voice, but his eyes were a little watery. “I’m partially to blame for all of this. I didn’t tell you all my backstory. Ten years ago I used to be part of that gang. We stole electronic equipment and tried to make them cooler and fancier, then sell them, along with drugs, for some quick cash. I was the most innovative and tech-savvy of all of them. One masterpiece I made had the ability to form holes through space and time, as well as direct energy through a circular shape. It was so amazing I didn’t want to sell it. The boss of the gang and I got into a fight. Jesse was my best friend, and together we escaped one night. Since he had a way with the law, we exposed the gang, and I redeemed myself. With a new life and help from Jesse, I attended college and began a project with the contraption, and got some funding, which I then used a portion of to legally purchase the same electronic equipment that I had used to make that contraption of mine. With help from Jesse, we tracked down the people we had stolen the equipment from and ‘returned’ the stolen goods.”
“Of course we both felt happy. With my project approved, I also studied business and became quite successful in it. I graduated and started up D & J industries. Jesse went about his own way and got into aftermarket parts for performance cars. It so happened that I was halfway through building that Supra when I needed a few parts – and he was the only one whom I could obtain them from. At the time, Jesse was going through hard times, and had to take out a loan. Now, I am religious and do not believe in interest. So, when I found out later that Justin had taken out a loan I knew that the money I spent on those auto parts was going towards paying back his loan. I returned the parts and managed to import identical ones from overseas. Unfortunately the two sets of parts looked exactly the same, and Justin used this to his advantage and lied to his accountants, the bank, and the government. I cut off my business ties with him, and we never talked again. However, it looks like he has returned to a life of crime, and so ended up the way he did. Meanwhile, I finally felt free and happy once again. I finished building the Supra and upgraded the ‘electronic contraption’. With the college project gone well with other ventures and concepts, they had no need for it. So I took it home and started making the portal off of it. However, it soon grew so big that I had to hide it away in the basement. Now, it looks like my past has come to haunt me. First things first, though. I need to get you clean, Fluttershy. Then I’ll made sure my crime record is clear and my portal is not using any remnants of that little piece I made in my thug life. Then we’ll deal with the gang. It’s not easy, though, as they’re larger than you think.”
“But what about the portal?” Applejack asked.
“That must remain top-secret. A few elements of it have been approved by the law, but not necessarily as a complete project as it is now.”
“So whaddya sayin’?” Applejack continued. “That that mega contraption of yours in the top-secret basement is against the law?”
Justin blushed. “Not necessarily. But it could be, since I built it over many years. I cannot recall exactly if I used parts from that illegal component I first made when I was part of the gang.”
“Did you have anything that could prove the existence of certain parts of the portal?” Rarity asked with tender, eager eyes.
“Um…yes! Of course! A log. In fact, several binders. I kept a few of them in my safe somewhere in a secret floor panel in my room, but I can’t recall exactly – last time I went in there was before a bad accident around a few months before I met Fluttershy. Can you help me look?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Rarity said eagerly. “I have a unique talent for finding gems!”
Justin’s mouth formed a little O of surprise. “Good. I may have left some jewelry in there a long way back…”
“Let’s find ourselves some documents!” Pinkie Pie announced, darting into the bedroom and shoving the door open.
“Hold it!” Applejack snarled, gripping the pink pony’s tail in her teeth. “No pony enters one’s bedroom without valid permission.”
Justin smiled. “It’s okay. Let her go, so long as she doesn’t take or touch or break anything.”
Free from AJ’s grasp, Pinkie then began looking through every drawer, cupboard, and shelf, desperately trying to find a secret compartment or a small panel that would hide a lever or button. Starlight Glimmer used her advanced magic to see through the drywall on one side, while Twilight Sparkle and Rarity scanned the floor.
“Got it!” Rarity exclaimed, pointing to a barely visible thin black square on the floor behind an ottoman – a clear indication of a secret hinged panel within the floor.