//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Escape to the Park // Story: Ponies Meet New York // by Caddy Finz //------------------------------// "At first, I was just pissed about him knocking me out..." Vincent began as he unwrapped the duct tape from me and the chair I sat in. "...but after seeing what he's done to you, I'm about to commit my first murder." After I was freed from the binds of tape, Vincent then proceeded to cut the locks on the cages the girls were in with a bolt cutter he'd brought with him. If I was ever proud before, seeing my boy infiltrating a guarded warehouse while in disguise to rescue the girls and I topped anything I've ever seen. Within less than a minute, my friends were out of their cages and Vincent gently lifted me off the chair and carried me out of the room towards one of the vans. He carefully set me down on the floor where Pinkie and Rainbow Dash held me up on my hooves and opened the back door on the box truck. "Okay, everypony get in." Vincent said. "Oh my gosh, Vincent you're a lifesaver!" Twilight exclaimed. "Our hero!" Fluttershy squealed. "Uhh, Doc Fegelein?" A voice behind Vincent said. "What, um...why are you taking the ponies without giving me my money?" He came back a bit earlier than expected. The man who tortured me and completely destroyed my body and probably my mind too was standing behind Vincent as he gently placed me in the back of the van. The only thing I could do was lift my head up just enough to see what was going on and by the looks of it, Vincent seemed like he was about to carry out what he said he would do just a few minutes ago. "I thought I said I wanted that case of cash." The Dark Star continued. "Where is it?...and why the fuck are you a foot taller?" "The only salad you're getting is a lead one!" Vincent replied as he turned around and yanked the toupe off his head. "You dropped something before you left the other night! Here!" When we're angry, we all tend to say things we don't really mean. After we calm down, we start thinking more rationally and realize that what we said we wanted to do would have been a dumb idea. When Vincent mentioned something about committing his first murder, I thought it was just that. That was until I saw him standing with his back turned to me and his arm extended out with a standard state police issued forty caliber glock pistol in his hand pointed right at the Dark Star's face. "Heheheh, okay look, man I get it." The Dark Star said as he took a few steps back with his hands slightly raised. "I'll admit, the flashlight upside your face was a bit extreme bu-" "You think I give a fuck about that!?" Vincent interrupted. "You know what? I'm not even gonna waste a bullet on you...I'm gonna make you suffer." There was about to be a fight to end all fights between Vincent and the Dark Star. Vincent placed the gun in the back of the truck and stepped forward. He then took off the stolen glasses and lab coat proceeded to roll up his sleeves. The enemy took the hint and he removed his utility belt and tossed it on the other side of the room. At least he has some honor. "Hold onto this gun, you guys." Vincent said as he slowly walked towards the foe. "I'll take care of this prick." "Shoulda just shot me when you had the chance." The Dark Star said as he put up his fists. "Big mistake." As much as I'd like to be optimistic, the odds were certainly not in Vincent's favor. Hell, even I had no chance to beat him when we duked it out the other night. I couldn't even land one strike. From recent experience, I can honestly say that Vincent can hit hard but seeing how much more experienced the Dark Star is, I'd say it's not looking good. Still though, I'm incredibly proud of my boy for wanting to use bare fists instead of taking the easy way. What a brave kid. Okay so standing on one side is Vincent at six foot three and probably no more than one hundred and eighty pounds at twenty three years old. Standing on the other side was the lunatic at I'd say about an even six feet tall, at least weighing two-fifty and about thirty something. Late thirties, I think. As the two slowly walked circles around each other and stared each other down, the tension in the air was as unbearable as my wounds. The girls and I just wanted to see the end of this whole ordeal. It was on. Vincent made the first move by charging in like he was about to go for a low kick but then faking it and going for the enemy's jaw...and it was a disaster. A smart move on Vincent's part but as the Dark Star proved in my own fight against him, he seems to see it coming every time. The first swing resulted in a miss and the second one was blocked. Vincent's foe responded by sweeping his foot across the floor knocking him off his feet once they came in contact. "Need a hand?" The Dark Star asked as he smugly offered to help Vincent off the floor. I could see that this one was a trap from a mile away but unfortunately Vincent grabbed his hand and got pulled up and was met with a firm headbutt right to his face. Vincent's not dumb by any means, it had to have been more or less of a reflex. In any event, my son's reflexes were about to be slapped right out of him if he couldn't change the tide of the fight soon. If I wasn't so badly injured, surely we could take this guy down two to one. The girls could help the odds but they were too weak from the lack of sleep and some of them suffered blows of their own. For several more minutes the fight raged on and Vincent was losing badly. Getting tortured and shipped off to Celestia knows where was one thing but watching my son get the shit kicked out of him to save me was sickening to watch. Everything he tried, Vincent couldn't get a single strike to land and every time he tried, he got himself pummeled. At this point, I didn't even care if Vincent could beat this guy, I just wanted him to stop taking a beating of his own. Still, Vincent kept on fighting and showed just what a truly brave and tough young man his mother brought him up to be. None of us could believe what we were seeing. As badly as he was getting pounded, Vincent would just get right back up and keep trying. Even the Dark Star himself was starting to sweat profusely as he began to show obvious signs of fatigue. After a another few swings and kicks, the foe's breath even started to pick up the pace until one last blow left our savior crashing down onto the concrete floor. "You thinking...about giving up yet?" The Dark Star panted as he tried to catch his breath. "Hahahahahahahah..." Vincent laughed as he wiped blood from his lip. "Gahahahahahahahahahaha!" "What, did I break you or are you just that fucking crazy?" "Ha! My nerves have been dulled by years of drinking! Either that or you just fight like a little bitch!" As the Dark Star gave Vincent a look that only somebody who was legitimately freaked out would give, the latter pulled a flask out of his pocket and downed the contents. After the flask was empty, Vincent tossed it behind him and signaled to the enemy to come back over and continue the fight. Once again, The Dark Star was the first to land a strike but it would soon turn out that there was hope after all. "What are you trying to do, tickle me?" Vincent taunted as he was punched in the gut. Another blow to the face. "Looks like we have an invasion of invisible butterflies!" A kick to the side. "Hey, if I wanted your grandma to work me over, I would have called her! My turn!" Without any warning, Vincent charged in and thrust his fist into the Dark Star's face, knocking him right to the floor. As soon as he stumbled back to his feet, he was presented with another one with yet another already in the works. This was finally becoming a two way fight with our hero making an amazing comeback. After several more punches to the face and kicks to the gut combined with tiring himself out, at long last, the fight was over with my son Vincent Sachentov as the victor. "This one's for knocking me out last night!" Vincent shouted as he punched The Dark Star in the face, rendering him unconscious. "This one is for busting into my place!" Thwack! "These six are for my friends!" "Vincent, I think he's out." Twilight said while Vincent continued to cave the Dark Star's face in. "And these ten are for what you did to Vinnie!" "Fer cryin' out loud, hun, he's probably dead by now!" Applejack said. "And here's another twenty for having the balls to leave a floater in my toilet!" "Vincent!" The girls hollered in unison. "Oh...right. We should probably get going now huh?" Finally, we could all leave this horrible place and get me some medical attention. After the girls were all settled in at the back of the van, Vincent closed it's overhead door and carried me to its cab. He then very gently sat me down in the passenger seat and fastened the seat belt around me. With the door on my side now shut, Vincent then walked to the driver's side, opened the door and proceeded to firmly tug at a bundle of wire under the steering column. After ripping some of them apart, he then began touching the bare metal together. "What the-? Where'd you learn to do that!?" I asked as Vincent started the truck by hot wiring it. "Vinnie, there are a few things about me I haven't mentioned." Vincent replied. "Mom did everything she could for me but growing up was still tough. I ran with some guys on the South side of Syracuse and learned a lot of crazy shit from them. Man, we gotta get to know each other better." "We'll have plenty of time to do that, buddy. Let's go get the girls to that portal but I've decided that I'm staying here in New York." "Oh yeah?" "Of course! Vincent you need he-" "Oh, hold that thought." After strapping himself to the driver's seat, Vincent pressed the clutch and shifted the lever into reverse. He backed the truck up about twenty feet, slammed it into third gear, and let it rip. The rear dual wheels screeched for several seconds, filling the warehouse with smoke before the truck careened forward and smashed through the large overhead door. "Okay, where were we?" Vincent asked as our getaway truck barreled down the street. "I've just gotta know..." I began. "How did you know where they took us?" "One of my neighbors noticed them busting my door down. He got the plate number off the van they were driving and I got the DMV to trace the fleet address." "My god, you're incredible! I never would have guessed that you knew how to do all that stuff." "There's still a lot you don't know about me but one thing I'll tell you now is that I don't let a favor go without paying back somehow." "What do you mean?" "The super of the building told me that somebody paid off my back rent that I owed. That was you, wasn't it?" "Well, yeah...yeah it was." "I may be a drunken loser but when somebody helps me, I make up for it one way or another." "You're not a loser! Don't talk about yourself that way! But wait, what did you do with that scientist?" "I followed him when he left the warehouse. I hid in an alley and mugged him for his lab coat, glasses and toupe when he walked by. I knew he'd rat on me so I stuffed him into a garbage can so he couldn't go anywhere. There were a few guards around the warehouse so I needed the disguise." "Oh man, that sounds like something I would have done." As we went further down the street, I noticed that we were on heading West on East Bay Avenue. Once Vincent got to the end of that, he drifted and made a hard right on Tifffany Street. With this type of driving, we would have normally had attracted the attention of the police department but for some reason, there wasn't any of New York's finest anywhere in sight. Weird, there's usually a cop on every street corner. Don't get me wrong, it's great that we don't have anyone getting in our way but it's just unusual. We got to the end of Tiffany Street, merged onto Highway Two Seventy-eight and after passing through the North side of Brooklyn, we made our way back over to Manhattan. Things were getting pretty weird though. None of the officers at the toll booths we passed through asked why Vincent was driving a box truck with a mangled green pony in the passenger seat and seemed to be more occupied by their radios. At this point, we were heading North to Central Park where I would say my goodbyes to six of my best friends and send them back home. My decision was etched in stone. I met the son I never knew I had and now I'm going to do my duty as a father to make up for lost time and help him quit drinking before it kills him. As much as we'll miss each other, I'm sure the girls and everyone back in Ponyville will understand. Who knows? Now that I know this portal can be activated more than once, maybe we can find a safer way to trigger it on command. That will have to wait until another time though. I have my son's life to save. "Hey, you girls wanna see Times Square?" Vincent asked as he opened a small window between the van's cab and cargo box. "Oh my, it's so beautiful!" Rarity beamed. "Awesome!" Rainbow Dash said. "Wow, these bright lights actually don't scare me!" Fluttershy said. "These make Manehattan's lights look like a tea li-" "What...the...FUCK!" Vincent shouted as he slammed on the brakes. "Who the hell is that!?" With the truck now stalled and sitting motionless, Vincent pointed up to several buildings at what must have caught his attention. Times Square has several large tv screens that show advertisements, live news coverage and the like. Normally, whatever was on the screens wouldn't be very important in a situation like this but in this case, it certainly was. The live footage looked like it was being taken in Central Park and after double taking, the girls and I took a good look at it and simply could not believe our eyes. "People of New York!" Princess Luna said to a large crowd of camera wielding citizens. Princess Celestia, Cadence and a few guards were with her too. "We come in peace! We merely wish to find our lost subjects!"