City Scape

by TigerSwirl448

Chapter 1: Just Another Day

Chapter 1
Just Another Day

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"Today marks the twelfth anniversary of the terrorist attack in Cloudsdale Plaza today." The DJ on the radio said with sadness. "Friends, at ten on the clock, in two hours, please join me and everyone else in the nation for a moment of silence for those that were lost to the attack that day. All day today I'll be playing my best mixes, and no they're not the jumpy kind. Not until tonight that is. So if you had a friend or a family member that have died in that tragic day twelve years ago, visit the memorial or visit the graves and tell them that you still remember."

"And that's the top of the hour, homies. Here is a precious song from the beautiful Queen of Pop herself, Sapphire Shores."

The radio began to play a soft sad tune. The young woman sitting on the ledge with IPod buds in her ears. The woman closed her eyes, feeling the breeze blowing through her short rainbow colored hair. The young woman sighed deeply feeling tears in her eyes and looking down at the fog clouds covering her view of the streets far below her.

She couldn’t believe that it has been twelve years since she was down on Street Level, twelve years since she was going to school, going to work with her father on Wednesdays. Everything that was once her life was once down in Street Level and now she is twenty to fifty stories above Street Level in the highest skyline in Equestria. So much had changed and it was still surreal how she survived to the age of eighteen living the life she now has.

"Hey, Rainbow," The woman blinked hearing the sizzle in her ear bud. She sighed turning off her radio and used her modified IPod to listen to the speaker contacting her.

"What did I say on not bothering me this morning, Thunderlane?" Rainbow Dash snarled.

"Sorry." Thunderlane said with worry. "I know what you said but Flitter needs your help. She has a code yellow parcel and Cloud Chaser is unable to make the drop."

Rainbow Dash stood up on the ledge placing her IPod into the sleeve that was wrapped around her arm. "What happened to Chaser?" She asked interested.

"It seems that our clients didn't mention that they had some Griffs watching them."

Rainbow snarled. "Shit!" Forgetting her sad moment, Rainbow ran to one of the top buildings on the roof and looked around seeing the fog and the visible rooftops. "Where's Chaser?" Rainbow asked as she knelt down on one knee to look around the giant Cloudsdale city scape around her. Buildings and apartments littered this portion of the city of lower Cloudsdale.

"I already sent the Squirt to get to her."

Rainbow gasped, “Squirt” was the couriers’ nickname for the young thirteen year old girl named Scootaloo who followed the couriers up to the roof tops. Since then the girl always escaped the orphanage to learn how to parkour like the other couriers. But Rainbow didn’t want Scootaloo to risk her life on the rooftops while she had a roof over her head and a place to get an actual education. What was better? Living on the edge everyday with no means of getting a job on street level, or to live on street level with an education and a full life ahead of you?

"Alone? Scootaloo is still a beginner ... And wait, what is she doing back at HQ?" Rainbow asked.

"She just popped up with Pinks." Thunderlane answered.

Rainbow groaned applying hand to face. "Scootaloo is supposed to be at the orphanage and staying in there to go to school."

"Tell that to my face why don't ya?" A young voice interrupted. Rainbow groaned recognizing the voice of said kid.

"Squirt! I thought I told you to stay at the orphanage and go to school!" Rainbow turned to see a place to jump off from, a piece of plywood set up conveniently in place on the ledge. Rainbow's eyes trailed the jump she would take to another building five stories below the jumping point and her landing spot was a stack of cargo crates with a large plastic lining draped to protect the cargo crates from rain and sunlight.

"Aw come on, Dash. I got bored!" Scootaloo argued.

"What did we talk about?" Rainbow scolded as she leaped off the short building then to the roof. She stood up looking over the edge to see the place she would be jumping to, making sure nothing will ruin the landing. As she took position she heard Scootaloo sigh.

"We talked about how a solid education is important." Scootaloo said with a bored tone. Rainbow smirked as she prepared herself for the daring jump.

"Right, and what did I tell you about most of us couriers?" Rainbow asked with her hands on her hips looking around in the sky watching a flock of black birds fly by her chirping.

"That you never had a stable education and you can't get jobs because of it." Scootaloo answered.

"That's right. Now I know you want to follow in our example, but right now Squirt you have to stay out of trouble and keep your head out of the clouds."

"Like you?" Scootaloo remarked causing several voices listening to the conversation to laugh.

"No," Rainbow grouched. "I want you to be better than me, Squirt. Now I'll allow you to help Chaser but after that ... Thunderlane!" Rainbow shouted loudly.

"Yeeeouch!" Thunderlane cried out through the microphone. "What?" He whined.

"Find CK, she has no duties at the moment."

"You called, boss?" The voice of Cloud Kicker spoke up. Rainbow smirked hearing her second in command speaking.

"Yeah, get off your lazy ass and make sure that the Squirt gets back to the orphanage in time for her morning classes." Rainbow ordered.

"Sure, boss, I'll get it done. You can count of me."

Rainbow smirked shaking her head. "As my new second in command, I sure hope so. Thunderlane."

"Yeah?"

"Make sure everyone else get their jobs done on time. No more distractions unless there is something going on that I must know about, capiche?" Rainbow asked.

"Roger!" Thunderlane said. "Radio silence now."

Rainbow smirked as she fixed her old, well used, blue jacket making sure the red zipper was zipped all the way up to her neck and making sure there was no lose clothing that would get hanged on things. Just to be extra sure she tucked her black tank top into her pants and tightened her seatbelt fashioned belt. After she was done with her mental check list she prepared herself for the jump. Rainbow spat into her palms and rubbed her spit onto the bottoms of her thin sole sneakers for better grip on the smooth walls. She then reached into her jacket pocket again to pull out a pair of fingerless black workout gloves and pulled them on her hands. She pressed her back against the wall then took in a deep breath as she reached up to her head where she can feel a pair of old scratched up goggles and placed them over her eyes.

"Ready to go." Rainbow pressed the center button of her modified IPod. "Flitter, do you copy?" Rainbow waited for a few second then heard the static.

"Dash!" It was Flitter and she was speaking in a harsh whisper. “Where are you?!"

"I'm coming, no worries." Rainbow said quickly knowing Flitter was freaking out.

"Worry my ass!" Flitter whispered harshly. “They have guns Dash! I don't do runs with guns!"

"Alright, alright, calm down. I'm coming, where are you?" Dash waited for a moment taking steps back to the wall behind her seeing the plywood slab on the ledge that will act as her ramp and extra runway for the long jump.

"I'm at the new skyscraper at Wonderbolt Boulevard."

Rainbow blinked at the name of the location and looked to her left towards the north. Rainbow let out a surprised whistle. Flitter wasn't usually the traveling type and didn't go to places she wasn't familiar with. It was surprising that Flitter would run that far from her usual routes. Something must have really chased her for her to go to a place she wasn't familiar with.

"Call me impressed." Rainbow said chuckling.

"Very funny!" Flitter deadpanned. "Can you hurry it up?! I can't stay here forever!"

Rainbow nodded. "Alright, radio silence for now. I'm coming."

"Alright, radio silence now." Flitter whispered before Rainbow heard the static from Flitter turning off her communication connection.

Rainbow sighed and smirked as she pushed off the wall then began a fast sprint to the ramp. She grinned as her left foot stomped on the ramp then lifted off into the air in a jump with her arms out to the sides like wings. She let out a whoop of joy before making a front flip in midair during her descent. Just as she straightened herself out she landed in a controlled squat on top of her landing spot on top of the crates without breaking any bones.

Rainbow stood back up and leaped off the crates and started running in a sprint toward the north. Rainbow looked around her to see walls, metal tubes, AC units, and even the occasional security building. She would wall run one side then leap off the wall of one small buildings and land on an opposite building as she grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up to her feet to continue running.

Rainbow blinked feeling memories of the past flooding back as she went on autopilot as she free ran through the rooftops and scaffolding of buildings and signs littering the Cloudsdale sky line. This was Rainbow’s sky, her home, her rooftops and it's all she had grown up to know.

Rainbow made a daring leap off a building towards a shorter roof top. She landed on the roof in a roll then back up to her feet standing up panting lightly as she stood before the ledge. Rainbow knelt down on her point and looked around. She looked down by chance to see nothing but the morning fog clouds still blocking her view of the streets so far below. She smirked then looked back up at the clear bright blue sky. Rainbow blinked hearing something strange and pulled out her ear buds to actually hear the air around her. She looked around hearing the wind blowing, she could hear the echoing calls of birds, and the echoing sounds from Street Level below her. But this sound was strange.

"What the-" She whispered standing up at her full height looking around. When she can't find the source of the sound she turned in time to see black suited swat men on a roof top to her right bursting through a door. Seeing the color black like that made Rainbow nervous, they could either be the terrorists she saw as a six year old or they were the top security group in Cloudsdale, the Griffins, or Griffs as many called them.

The Griffins are a huge new security detail and they are by far the most intolerable, dangerous, and not to mention freaking scary group of highly trained police force in Equestria. Their number one order is to shoot to kill or shoot first and ask questions later. The Griffs were made by the council of Cloudsdale by a man by the name of Vergil Griffin, some huge politician in the Cloudsdale Council. After the terrorist attack it seemed that the city was more focused on control and safety but to Rainbow it's more like forcing people to do what the mayor and community leaders want. And one of those things they despise are people like Rainbow that live by delivering objects and messages to the scum of the city, which were the good guys! Or they just hate people like Dash and her couriers because they don't follow the rules. Rainbow never liked the Griffs, especially now that they've been very trigger happy since the last Council elections two months prior. No doubt these guys were possibly the ones that hurt Cloud Chaser in her run to pick up the parcel.

Rainbow immediately pressed the button on her IPod connecting to the communication network to her Courier HQ. "Thunderlane!" Rainbow said looking around her for any helicopters or more Griffs.

"Yeah, Dash?” Thunderlane answered.

"Anything on the feed?" Rainbow asked quickly. "Anything about the Griffs?"

"Griffs?" Thunderlane exclaimed shocked. "Um, let me check." Rainbow could hear the sound of quick tapping on a keyboard through her ear bud. "Actually no, the feed is super quiet. No sign of the Cops or Griffs. They must be on a low profile mission?"

Rainbow suddenly saw a bright blue dot running away from some Griffs who were shooting at her, it was Flitter! Rainbow gasped seeing the source of the strange sound she was hearing. It was a helicopter, but there were two of them!

"I count two birds on Flitter now!" Rainbow said with fear.

"Two?!" Thunderlane exclaimed.

"One of them is the Cloudsdale news station." Rainbow exclaimed.

"Shit!" Thunderlane cursed as he continued typing. "Um, I'm patching through to the communication towers, let's see if we can find some chatter. Connecting to you now, boss." Thunderlane said. Just as he said it Rainbow could hear the chatter on the Helicopters feed through her ear bud.

"We found her, Delta, we found one of the blue runners." The pilot spoke up.

"Good, shoot her down and get that bag. That parcel cannot be taken to their point of drop off." A woman commander said back. A new voice to Rainbow, over the years she had heard different commanders and all of them were male but this one is female. Rainbow wondered what had changed.

"Roger, Delta." The pilot said.

"Not on my watch pal." Rainbow whispered as she started running. She leaped off a building and rolled back onto her feet and continue sprinting on the ledge. As she got closer to Flitter she watched her carefully. Flitter was panicking as she sprinted to the edge. She jumped off the ledge, not jumping far enough to catch the rail but instead she grabbed onto a large pipe that was attached to the side of the building and began climbing up to the ledge, pulling herself up, then started running again.

"Flitter!" Rainbow called out patching through to the communication line with her. Flitter jumped hearing Rainbow's voice in her ear.

"Dash? They're right behind me and I can't shake them!" She cried panting hard. Rainbow could tell Flitter was losing it and she was losing speed.

"Just a bit farther!" Rainbow called out. Flitter turned to see Rainbow across the large gap next to her running with her. "Keep going Flit!" Rainbow called out as she watched the choppers follow them.

"Delta, Delta we have a second runner! Blue jacket and rainbow hair." The pilot said through the feed.

"That's the leader! Ignore the parcel, kill her!” The woman commander ordered. Rainbow turned behind her to see the black chopper behind them with the news helicopter behind the Griff chopper.

"But Delta, the parcel!"

"Kill the leader. That's an order!"

Rainbow smirked seeing the gunner in the chopper that was pointed at Flitter now turned towards her.

"Keep going to the drop off, Flitter. I'll distract them. Pinkie will be there to take the bag." Rainbow ordered.

"But Dash!" Flitter screamed out starting to get exhausted.

"Trust me on this one. Thunderlane, send Pinkie to get the pickup!" Rainbow ordered.

"Huh?" Thunderlane gasped.

"Just do it dammit!" Rainbow made a slide under an AC machine then made a swift turn to the right. The chopper turned following Rainbow but the news helicopter kept on following Flitter away from Rainbow. "Fitter, lose the news bird!" Rainbow ordered.

"I'll do that, be careful!"

Rainbow smirked as she was running towards a ledge. She sprinted faster then made the daring leap without even looking over first. Just as she remembered there was a building below her. She made a roll into her landing then back up on her feet.

"Griff Foots inbound!" Thunderlane warned. "They're trying to trap you, Dash!"

Rainbow smirked. "Good, I could use a fight." Rainbow stopped panting seeing black Griffin soldiers waiting for her pointing their rifles at her. Rainbow turned behind her to see the black chopper stop and float up above her spreading the downdraft of the air over her to keep her pinned. Rainbow smirked seeing the six Griff soldiers slowly approach her.

"Hands up in the air, Courier!" The Griff Captain called out.

"And no funny tricks!" Another Griff called out.

Rainbow smirked as she slowly raised her hands in the air then behind her head. She watched as one of them lowered his firearm and walked over pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

"Turn around." The Griff snarled. Rainbow shrugged as she turned around feeling the man's black glove grab her left wrist and pull her arm down to place the first cuff on her wrist.

"This is surprisingly easy." One of the Griffs said.

"Oh, how wrong you are." Rainbow said smirking.

"What?" The man behind her said. Rainbow didn't give him another second to think. Rainbow pulled her left wrist back causing the man to move forward with her. Rainbow pulled back again with a spin. She grabbed the man's head and slammed his face into her knee knocking him away.

"Get her!" A woman screamed out as Rainbow made a dash to her next target. The man yelped and shot wildly, hitting the helicopter as Rainbow slammed her shoulder into the man, pushing him into the wall and knocking the air out of him. Rainbow turned grabbing the third Griff’s pistol and fired at him then shot at a fourth killing him. She dropped the gun when she spent the last of the bullets and started running.

"Shoot her!" The captain screamed out. He and his last partner began firing their weapons as Rainbow made the run to the ledge in front of the chopper then made a giant leap aiming to the door grabbing the top bar. The gunner screamed out as Rainbow kicked him hard in the chest knocking the gunner out of the helicopter. The pilot yelped out with shock watching Rainbow who was now in the cab behind him one second then after a blink she was gone. He turned and gasped watching the rainbow haired girl falling.

"Is she insane?!" The pilot screamed out in shock.

The captain and his last standing Griff watched stunned seeing the rainbow girl fall through the fog cloud into oblivion.

"Where did she go?" The younger ranking Griff asked with shock. "Is she dead?" He asked turning to the captain.

"I don't know." The Captain said shaking his head. "Delta, that Courier leader ... she just jumped through the fog cloud to Street Level."

"Good ... is she dead?" The commander on the other line asked. The two Griffs looked at one another confused.

"She was smiling, ma'am." The captain said with worry.

"She was smiling?" The commander asked.

"Yes, ma'am." He answered turning to see his partner looking worried.

"Did you acquire the parcel?" The commander asked.

"No ... ma'am." The captain said biting his lip. For a few seconds there was silence until suddenly the two Griffs yelped out hearing their commander screaming at them through their ear buds for being stupid idiots though it was her that ordered the change of targets.

Later the chopper picked up the two Griffs and the wounded and flew away. Beneath the fog cloud the drop continued on for ten stories until the street. Hanging on a ledge two stories under the fog cloud was Rainbow Dash. She waited until the sounds of the chopper was blocked by the traffic below her. Rainbow let out a huge sigh of relief as she pulled herself up onto the skinny ledge and pressed her back against the glass wall looking down to see the people of the city moving about in the streets and sidewalks below her.

Rainbow sighed smelling the harsh smells of gasoline, garbage, and sewage steam from underground from her position. Another reason why she liked the skyline better that Street Level. Rainbow pressed the button on her IPod waiting.

"Anything?" Rainbow asked leaning against the windows.

"The feed went quiet. Great job, boss." Thunderlane said smiling.

Rainbow smirked at that. "How's Flitter?" She asked.

"Hey, Dash. I made it." Flitter's voice piped up on the feed.

"Got the money?" Rainbow asked as she shimmied to the left on the ledge.

“Yeppers!" A high cheery voice said as Rainbow shook her head. "They even gave me extra after I told them the trouble Cloud Chaser and Flitter went through." Rainbow chuckled.

“Great work, Pinkie. Thunderlane, cut the extra money for the twins. Flitter go buy something for you and Chaser. You guys deserve the extra." Rainbow said as she stopped her shimmying to look down to see another roof top in front of her. She leaped off the ledge to the building across the gap and landed in a hard squat.

"Really?" Flitter asked surprised.

"I mean it." Rainbow said happily. "Thunderlane, let the others know I’ll be back Top Side later."

"Why? Are you still at Street Level?" Thunderlane asked shocked.

"I am. I figured I should visit some old friends and check on them." Rainbow said as she walked to the ledge to look down to see the cars drive by on the busy street and seeing the black dots of people walking on the sidewalks. Rainbow turned to notice a large pipe that was connected to the building. She smirked and reached over to grab the pipe.

"I'll be back Top Side in a couple of hours. Oh and make sure Scootaloo gets back home." Rainbow said seriously.

"Already covered that. CK took her back Street Level fifteen minutes ago." Thunderlane said smiling. "I'll remain radio silent until something pops up." Rainbow nodded with a smirk.

"Good, radio silence now." Rainbow said pressing the button on her IPod and slid down the pipe until she reached the end. She turned to see another pipe and leaped for it. As she slid down to the end she grabbed a ledge to a scaffolding and started sliding and leaping down until she reached solid ground. Rainbow sighed as she stood back up from her squat and dusted herself off. She pulled off the goggles off her head and stuffed them into her jacket pocket. She unzipped her jacket to reveal her black tank with a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt on the front. Rainbow loosened her belt and making sure her pants weren't too dirty. And finally she ruffled her hair to make it messy looking as her style. Once she was comfortable with her appearance she began walking out of the alley way then out into the city.

After leaving the safety of the alley, Rainbow stood out into the bright sunlight. She looked up to see parts of the fog cloud was lifting to reveal the clear blue sky. Rainbow turned to the left and right and could see the changes around her. Several people and teens were looking at her strangely, all of them dressed in black, white, gray, browns all the boring colors to avoid creativity and suspicion. Rainbow didn’t pay them any mind but she knew the reason for the staring. Thanks to the Council and the Griffs, the people of Cloudsdale were afraid to wear anything bright and colorful anymore in fear of being called out as a gangster or a street punk or a supporter of chaos in the city. Anyone who is found dressed in bright colors is immediately arrested and questioned.

Rainbow sighed looking around seeing that she was being looked at by too many people. “Time to move out.” Rainbow whispered. She skipped and started jogging across the street to see the train bridge above her. She leaped over the fence surprising several people. She ran to one of the supports and began climbing up until she reached the bridge and pulled herself up.

“Time to catch the morning train.” She smirked as she ran up a beam and grabbed the top bar waiting. She felt the bar under her hands vibrate as the upcoming train approached her. Rainbow began swinging her body back and forth as the vibrating started to increase. She smirked seeing the train approach. She watched the first few cars speed past her. Rainbow then leaped off the ledge and landed on top of the silver train and held on. She looked down and sure enough she saw a police car where she was before. She smirked.

“Suckers.” She whispered. She leaned back against her hands as the train continued its fast track. Rainbow turned watching the buildings fly past her waiting. “Hmm, I’m close to Vinyl’s place.” She said smiling. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see her first. Besides, her morning show is about over.”

Author's Note:

September 5th, 2014: Chapter 1 was re-edited. Big thanks to Xhoral1865 for the editing job.
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And here is chapter 1.

Chapter 2 is in the process of being written. If you enjoy the story please like or fave and don't forget to leave comments.

Like I said in the prologue (if you haven't read it) this story is inspired by the video game Mirror's Edge. If you have no idea what the game is then look it up on YouTube, it is wicked awesome! And the play through videos are about thirty minutes long depending on how seasoned the player is. It's a short game though.

Anyway if you see any mistakes I missed, however little they may be, please let me know in the comments and I'll fix them as soon as I get to a computer. I'll get Chapter 2 out soon.

Comments

[Sea_Swirl]

Is this an Appledash story?

[Sr Face Tear]

4928896 It was added to a Twidash folder and a rarijack folder.

[Sea_Swirl]

4928912 Oh ok

[Mariacheat-Brony]

Just read the first two chapters... and it's looking very good so far makes me regret not playing the game :p

[TigerSwirl448]

4928897 ah alright, I was told on another story that I had to do more names and such in paragraphs, I'll go less on names in future chapters then.

4928896 no sorry. its mainly a TwiDash story with RariJack and OctaScratch on the side. Hope you like the story regardless. (I like AppleDash too. )

4928982 I'm happy you like it so far. I haven't played the game either but it sure looks awesome. Chapter 2 will be out in the next couple of days.

[Incredible Blunderbolt]

You know, this seems like an interesting premise—and I adore TwiDash—but there are so many tense and syntactical errors that I just couldn't get passed the 1/4 mark of this chapter. Frankly, I'm surprised I made it through the prologue.

There are several editing groups on the site that are more than willing to help with problems like this if you ask—just go to the Groups section and you'll find at least five on the front page.

[TigerSwirl448]

4934239 Ah, well drat I thought I was doing better. Oh well I guess I'll look that up.

4935583 That sounded better in my head than on paper it seems. I'll get all that fixed.

[DanvilleBengal]

No Spike, meaning that Rarity rejected him, and to squeeze the and turn the knife further, Rarity's a lesbian with Applejack. Ultimately it's just a minor thing though, seems that there is a hell of a lot more to this than just the Rarijack (and for the record, I at least respect it, there have been plenty of them that are well done.) Not to mention that it's not a major thing, more like the cherry on the cake..

Granted, I'm only started on reading this, so I'm literally going blind on this, and so far it's pretty awesome. I definitely have to take a look at Mirror's Edge at some point so that I can understand the references that other commentors stated.

I am looking for more.