//------------------------------//
// II - Resisting Arrest 
// Story: Half-Hoof: a Resonant Hope 
// by Alfoals Trottenbauer 
//------------------------------//

A team of three lookalikes galloped after Ace, trampling their unconscious comrade. Ace dashed for an open gate, citizens watched the chase go down. Ace galloped through a cafeteria. A citizen calmly trotted to a table and was knocked over by the black and red-maned stallion fleeing from the police. Once Ace was outside, more officers had accumulated behind him. They were all wielding electric batons except a few with pistols. Bullets cracked through his mane and tail. Ace climbed a fence, which was enough stagnation for an officer to aim and shoot his horn. 

A bullet wedged itself into the horn brace. The damage caused it to spark and break, though not before sending fifteen jolts of electricity into Ace's body. Ace was at the top of the shrub-covered fence by the time the electricity surged through him. He lost control of his limbs and fell face-flat on the other side of the fence, face in the concrete. He lost consciousness, out of sight of the police.

After minutes that seemed like seconds, Ace awoke on a couch in a small living room. A mare with a baby blue and purple mane sitting in a chair glanced at a small, budget television. The television was another lecture from Doctor Bray. She then looked over Ace, ending at his eyes. 

"Good, you're awake. I saw you fall unconscious, so I took you in to recover." She clarified.

"Thanks, but who might you be? You seem familiar..." Ace asked.

"My name is Flurry Heart." She answered briefly.

Ace could still not move his legs. An hour passed.

"Are you part of the royal family?" Ace asked after a very long pause.

"Yes. I was intended to be the next princess, but the Combine took the throne away from us, along with everything that we stood for. To end the royal family, my death as a small child was plotted, but a blue mare with a rainbow mane sacrificed herself to save me." She explained.

A loud knock at the door shook the furniture, followed by what sounded like bucking.

"Go, quick." Flurry instructed calmly, I'll try to hold them off for now.

Ace had gained control of his limbs again. He shakily stood up and trotted over in a corner out of sight. The door finally gave way to at least twenty Combine officers, all wielding batons and pistols. They all cantered in.

"We know you're hiding a suspect." A cop said unnaturally.

Flurry motioned Ace toward the door. Ace trotted silently out the door, then cantered faster along the corridor.

A gunshot echoed from the room. Ace jumped and shuddered from the noise. He galloped up a flight of stairs. Hoofsteps followed behind him.

"Dispatch, we need Airwatch, subject is 505." A cop rushed.

Ace was on the rooftop by then. He galloped to he edge of the building. A helicopter landed behind him, more police jumped out of the vehicle, all holding submachine guns.

"Freeze! Stay where you are!" An officer shouted.

Ace looked around him. There was only a small space between the building and one adjacent to it. Ace jumped with all his might across the gap. The police followed close behind, some firing their guns. Bullets flew past Ace's head. Ace was cornered, a small alley stood between the next building. A doorway stood next to Ace, a lead pipe ran along the wall. Ace tore a segment of pipe off the wall. Three cops galloped towards him with batons. Ace swung the pipe, hitting an officer in the snout. The hit combined with the cop's movement caused him to spin one hundred eighty degrees while losing grip of his baton. Ace let go of  the pipe and picked up the officer's baton. He swung the baton into another officer, then the other.

The other officers stood at the edge of the first building, firing their guns. A helicopter hovered low in front of Ace. The intense downdraft made Ace's mane and tail flutter, a loud whirring of rotor blades drowned out the officer's shooting. A low-pitched hum rose above the rotors. The humming stopped. A storm of bullets assaulted Ace's direction. A fire escape hung off the edge of the building next to the one he was on. Ace galloped toward the end of the roof, leaping off the building, clinging onto the handrails of the staircase. He hoisted himself up, galloping down the stairs. Bullets hit the supports of the structure. Metal screeched as the stairs started to fall. Ace was on the second to last flight. Feeling the stairs' motion, he jumped off, landing on his hooves. Despite probably having severely damaged his legs, he continued galloping. Adrenaline numbed the pain.