//------------------------------// // Las Pegasus - III // Story: Strider // by Olakaan Peliik //------------------------------// I woke up feeling like I had been used as a crash test dummy. It hurt to move; even breathing was painful. I looked around to find Snow was nowhere to be found. Vanity was sitting next to the couch, reading a magazine of some kind. At least, I thought it was Vanity; my vision was a little blurry. “Well, look who’s awake,” she smiled at me. “What day is it?” I asked, slowly sitting up. I found an I.V. stuck in my leg. “It's Monday, about noon,” Vanity said before crunching down on a potato chip. I looked at the IV bag. It was filled with a light pink liquid. “What’s this stuff?” “I forget exactly what Snow said, but basically it's a combination of Zebra medicine and modern healing methods. She said it would heal you faster but you'd be groggy for a good while.” ‘Groggy’ was right; trying to think clearly was a struggle. I was hungry too. “Is there any food?” I asked, my stomach gurgling loudly at the question. “There is a whole pizza in the refrigerator. Snow said it was your favorite, and that you'd need food when you woke up,” Vanity said, pointing. “She was right, as usual.” I stood up, wobbled over to the fridge, and opened it up to find a large pizza with everything on it. Right again, Snow. I carried it back over to the couch and started wolfing it down. “Check this out,” Vanity said, holding up what looked like a set of glasses with thick rosy-pink lenses. “Disguise?” I asked. Vanity shook her head and grinned. “Nassor stopped by and gave me this magic camera to use while you fight to take pictures of everyone I can at the fight. It takes pictures of whatever I see. RBI agents get all the coolest toys.” “Neat,” I nodded. I had to admit, that was pretty cool. Vanity watched me eat for a few minutes, then put the special camera down. “Hey, can I ask you something?” “Shoot,” I replied, licking my lips. “I've noticed a lot, and I mean a LOT, of tension between you and Snow,” Vanity started. “I’m surprised you two haven’t locked the bedroom door and—” “I’m gonna stop you right there,” I interrupted, glaring. She sniggered. “In all seriousness, though,” she added. “You still care about her, don’t you?” “Ha…” I muttered, chewing another slice. “‘Care’ is too weak a word for how I feel for her. I'd even go so far as to say that ‘love’ is too weak a word.” “But she left you. Aren't you angry with her?” Vanity asked. “I was in the beginning. Now that I've gotten the help I needed, I see that she wasn't wrong to leave me. Now I just wish she hadn't left my daughter wondering where she went,” I said. “We...both made mistakes. Mostly me.” “Interesting,” Vanity mused. “I don't know why I'm telling you this,” I muttered. I didn’t even like her, why was I talking about my love life to her? “Perhaps it just easier to talk to someone who is willing to listen?” she shrugged. “Perhaps,” I nodded, finishing off the last slice. I yawned and turned over. “I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up when Snow gets back, please.” “Will do.” “Strider?” I heard Snow say and felt her nudge me. Instinct wanted me to greet her with a kiss as I woke up. But I knew better, so I didn't move. “Yes?” “I need you to take this, it will help finish healing you.” I rolled over and sat up. She held in her magic a red liquid in a bottle. “What is it?” “A typical broad spectrum healing potion,” she said allowing me to take the potion in my hooves. I sniffed at the potion. It smelled like cough syrup. “Blech.” “Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Snow rolled her eyes. I plugged my nose and drank it quickly to avoid as much of the taste as I could. I shuddered once it was down. “Never liked that taste.” Snow rolled her eyes again. “It's not that bad.” “You’re one to talk. You broke a lamp because you wouldn't take cough syrup back in Baltimare.” “If you hadn't been chasing me, I wouldn’t have knocked that over,” Snow countered. “You had a sore throat and a cough. I was trying to help,” I answered. We stared at each other both remembering that day. I felt a smile spread across my face, and after a moment, Snow smiled as well. “Jett was so mad we woke her up,” she chuckled quietly, her grumpy demeanor evaporating. I nodded. “She looked so adorable angry. I wish I had a camera.” Snow’s smile vanished and she turned her head away, but not fast enough that I didn’t see her hurt expression. “I miss her,” she stated. “She misses you,” I told her. She didn’t look at me for a few seconds of silence, then turned back, her low-boiling anger returning. “You should be well enough to fight tomorrow. You best do your stretches to loosen up your muscles.” She stood and went over to her space of the motel room, set to work sorting medical supplies. I heeded her advice and got up to do some stretches and light exercise. I think I was starting to get through to her. At least I hoped I was because the alternative was that the painful memories were making this worse. Tuesday, twenty-thirty on the clock, 899657 Goon Street. Nothing more than a vacant warehouse up for rent, away from heavy hoof-traffic and private. If I was arranging private underground fights, I’d pick a place like this too. We approached the rear entrance to find a pair of earth pony thugs guarding the door. “What’s your business?” one of them boomed. Vanity—sorry, Glossy Finish—spoke first, “Grey Iron, he’s here to fight,” she spoke, stroking my foreleg. “Grey Iron?” I whispered in her ear as the guards looked away. “Passphrase,” she answered quickly. They stepped aside and opened the door. “He is to go to the last door on the right,” the thug told us. “You, missy, can join the crowd; first door on the right.” We stepped inside and they closed the door behind us. At the end of the hallway I spotted Weave by the door I was supposed to go into. He was watching us. Vanity and I stopped at the door to the crowd. “Splitting up wasn’t the plan,” she whispered, wrapping her forelegs around my neck and nuzzling my cheek. “We have to play the part,” I whispered, hugging her. “While you are in the stands, use that hidden camera Nassor gave you to take pictures of everyone you can.” “I will. Now kiss me so we don’t look suspicious.” She puckered her lips. I wanted to reel back, but I couldn’t show hesitation. I kissed her, reluctantly. But convincing enough to pass for real. Once we parted, she turned and entered the door to where the crowd would be sitting. I turned and headed to where Weave was standing. “You got that mare tied around your hoof like a puppet,” he commented. “She serves her purpose,” I said coldly. “I’ll bet,” he smirked and opened the door. “Step inside, and I’ll explain what kind of fight tonight is.” “Very well,” I followed his instructions and stepped into the room. There were almost two dozen other ponies and griffons sitting on benches. They looked to watch me enter the room, then quickly lost interest and faced the front. Bob and Weave took place up in front of the group. “There will be four different competitions tonight. The first a magic duel, then pegasi kickboxing, then we move to the earth heavyweights, and lastly the griffon brawl.” Bob started. “Whoever is the last standing in each category will have moved to the next round. Each category will be a survival match. You stay in the ring contender after contender until you drop. When there are no more contenders to fight, you win.” Weave explained. Sounded simple enough. “What is the point of this?” a unicorn up front asked. “Think of these fights as a job interview,” Weave said. “If you fail, you can keep fighting until you make it. Tonight is for all you fresh fighters.” There were murmurs of doubt amount the crowd. Time to earn my paycheck for my acting skills. “Are we gonna fight or are you just gonna stand there and make promises?” I grunted. There were cheers from the griffons, which incited the others to join in. Over the next ten minutes Bob and Weave organized us in the order in which we would be fighting, unicorns first, pegasi, earth ponies, and the griffons. There were a total of eight pegasi here, and I was third to last. We were to be kept in this room until it was our turn. The first two unicorns headed out to the ring. Moments later a number of explosions and sounds of energy beams came from the ring, mixing with the cheers and boos of the crowd. After three minutes, the sounds of the battle died out, giving way to cheers: someone had just lost. I caught a glimpse of him through the door. He was being carted out on an old stretcher, burns over the majority of his body; it didn’t look like he was breathing. I gulped. It was gonna be a long and bloody night. Three possible deaths so far tonight. Two in the magic duel, and one in the first fight to the pegasus kickboxing match. I was up next. I could hear the crowd calling for blood over this match. Neither pegasus wanted to back down. Not good for whoever wins because I was next, fresh and ready for the fight. I also had to win, I needed to make it to the next event or else this operation will go on longer than we wanted. And that meant Jett would fear for me. Oh, yeah. I also had to not die. I heard the crowd roar and start counting. Their cheers upon reaching ten were thunderous. I watched the thugs cart away the loser; looked as though he fell through a building. “Astral Strike! Get out there!” Bob ordered. I stood and followed him out to the ring, focusing on keeping my bladder under control. As soon as we entered the stadium, the entire crowd roared, some cheering, some booing and jeering me. Looking around, I saw that the ring was a cage to prevent us flyers from getting too far. The crowd of dozens was all on their hooves, stomping and yelling so hard that the entire building was shaking. I turned my attention to my first opponent, who was waiting in the corner. He was bloodied and dazed. Only a few more well-placed hits and he’d be out for the count. Good. I entered the cage, Bob locking the door behind me and went to my corner to get ready. Breathe, Strider, breathe. You can take this guy. The referee stepped into the ring to remind us of the rules. “Fight until the ten-count. No hitting your opponent while they’re down..” He held a hoof up, “Fighters ready?” He looked over to my opponent who nodded, then at me as I got into my fighting stance. “Fight!” he shouted and jumped out of our way as a bell rang. My opponent surged toward me with more speed than I expected. He must have still been running off of what adrenaline he had during the last fight. He threw out kicks and punches faster than I could count so I went on the defensive, blocking hits as they came and waiting for an opening. He was focused on my face leaving his legs exposed. I slipped back and swung my leg around to knock him on the ground, he rolled and got to his feet but it was my turn to be on the offensive. He put his hooves up to protect his face, so I threw my first blows to his lower torso. When he went to block those lower hits, I made a set of left and right hooks to his head to disorient him further. He tried to grapple my right hoof to keep it pinned, but I began pummeling his chest and jaw with my left. He released my hoof and stumbled backward, I flapped my wings to give myself some air and delivered a roundhouse kick to his jaw, knocking him out of the fight, but not hard enough to kill him...I hoped. As the referee started the count I took this time to breathe, and calm down. Keeping my head on straight during these fights was key. I had to keep the adrenaline under control, as best I could anyway. When the count was over another pair of ponies took the contender away. Not long after another fighter came out of the back. He was a big heavy-set and very angry-looking pegasus; he didn’t look very fast, but he likely was stronger than me. Play it, smart Strider, don’t take him head-on. I thought to myself. As he got to his corner and the referee got in place I took a deep breath. I can do this. I was in my last fight, I felt like I was going well so far but my current opponent was not making this easy. He easily saw how I was studying my opponents and countered accordingly, changing his strategy on the fly; when I tried to grapple, he backed off and went for strikes, and when I did the same, he closed in. He was formidable, to say the least. We were trading blows hit for hit. It had gotten intense enough that we both took to the air and were using a combination of aerial hoof-to-hoof combat with ground-based attacks to try and get a leg up on one another. Despite him being fresh to the fight, I had him worn down almost to my level of exhaustion. As we landed on the ground again I misjudged the distance of my opponent and he landed a blow to my jaw. Pain exploded across my head and I fell to the ground, spots dancing before my eyes. I could hear the crowd cheering and the count started. I was struggling to get my hooves under me. “Three...four...five...six…” I contemplated giving up. Just staying down and letting him win. I was tired, I just wanted to go home. Then I thought how Jett would feel if I took longer to get home than I promised. Failing to keep a promise is just what Snow was mad at me for; I didn’t want Jett, my daughter, mad at me too. As the referee reached the count of nine, I got to my hooves, with a second wind in my lungs surging through my muscles and driving me forward. My opponent had grown cocky that he downed me, and seeing me get up definitely shocked him. He went for my face, I dodged and blocked allowing him to tire himself out. When I saw him slow down, albeit slightly, I made my move, throwing an uppercut. His head snapped backward, and I saw blood and teeth fly out of his mouth. I moved on him and landed blow after blow to his midsection taking the breath out of him. A final kick to his chest sent him down against the wall of the cage. He got back up, unsteadily, but I landed a right hook to his head knocking him unconscious. The count started and I moved to my corner. I searched the crowd for ‘Glossy Finish.’ Bob, Weave, and a third pony I didn’t recognize had pulled her out of the crowd and were talking to her. As I was announced the winner, they gave her yet another scrap of paper and walked off. Vanity turned to me and gave a nod of success. I nodded back and grinned as Bob unlocked the cage and let me out. “Good job, both of you,” Nassor nodded. He stood in our motel room in his fake janitor uniform, going over the pictures Vanity caught with the special glasses she had. “‘Good job,’ he says. You get nearly beaten to death and he says ‘good job,’” Snow muttered angrily as she tended to my injuries. “So you do care,” I smiled weakly. Even that hurt. She huffed a bit, but I did catch a small smile. “At least you have a whole week for to get you healed this time.” “Thank Celestia for that,” I agreed. Snow actually did manage a true smile this time. “So Nassor, anypony in those pictures that we need worry about?” I asked. Nassor hesitated. “Most these ponies I recognize. Not surprised to see them here in the slightest. Even recognize a few from the previous investigation.” “I’m sensing a ‘but,’” Snow whispered to me. “But this pony,” Nassor mentioned, prompting Snow and me to laugh to ourselves. “I don’t know him.” Nassor came over to show me the picture. At first, it was hard to make out the shape because my vision was blurry due to swelling around my eyes. After sitting up a bit and squinting slightly I could make out the likeness of the pony; it was the third pony that Vanity had spoken to. My eyes slowly widened and I felt my heart speed up. Unicorn, bronze-colored hair, a cutie mark of crossing halberds. The tattoo on his right foreleg of an anvil and a hammer was new. But it was him, it had to be. “You know who it is,” Snow observed. “Someone needs to go to Earthcracker prison and check on prisoner 9987. His name is Halberd, or at least that is what we think his name is,” I informed Nassor. “I’ll send someone to check. If this is him?” Nassor asked. “Then we have bigger problems than underground fights.” Nassor had confirmed it. Halberd had escaped; he had another escapee use a glamor charm to take his place. Nassor had the now-Captain Aurora in Tall Tale send over everything she had on Halberd. I had a feeling it didn’t take a whole lot of convincing now that the all the City Guards in Equestria had been put on alert to find him. “We need to make it seem as if we found out by checking his prison cell. We need Captain Aurora to make it seem as if she is scouring Tall Tale for him. Make it public enough to make the news. That way he doesn’t know we’re onto him,” I told Nassor. Snow and Vanity were both out getting supplies and dinner while Nassor and I went over our new plan. Nassor had all but stopped giving orders in this operation, and was listening to what I said for the most part. I respected him for that. Giving up control of an operation or investigation isn’t easy, especially to someone younger than you. “While that makes a sort of sense, what about Halberd himself?” he asked. “We can put an alert out to the public saying to inform the guard if they see anything, wanted posters, radio alerts, his picture in the newspapers. Anything else you can think of, heck put bounty hunters on his tail. If we make it nationwide, he might not suspect anything.” “Put pressure on him to make him more paranoid, and overly careful.” Nassor nodded, agreeing to the plan. “You think we can move on the fights yet?” “Not just yet,” I frowned. “I think this next fight will earn us an audience with him. I can see why he is running these fights, and then we can hit the next fight he’s in.” “Sounds like a plan. You know I have to say, you sure know how to run your operations,” Nassor complimented. “Thanks and I realize I did kinda take command of this operation from you. Thanks for not getting mad about that,” I apologized. “Hey, I know a better plan when I see one. You’ve been a guard, and an investigator longer than I was. We could use a pony like you in the RBI,” Nassor commented. “Really?” I asked. “I was actually contemplating having our recruiter approach you once we finished this op,” he admitted. “You guys have your own training course for newcomers, and I’d have to move to Canterlot, right?” I asked. “Indeed, but I think you’d be able to handle it. Even with you being a recovering gambler it won’t be an issue.” “I’ll think about it,” I told him. In truth, I was already one thinking about it. Moving to Canterlot and getting a great job in high profile investigations, cool toys included? A dream come true for Jett and me. If only I could get Snow back into the picture.