-Equus, Ponyville, Carousel Boutique, Rarity-
“Oh my, that is troubling.” The news I just received about what information Captain Celaeno brought to us was quite dreadful to say the least.
“Yeah, you needed to know this as do the others.” This was troubling news Rainbow, but I would do my best to help. I would need to contact Sassy and have her get in touch with several stallions for me. “Twilight is making an announcement involving the lost and the plans to set up the Sieve Precarious exactly one year after they got lost to pull them into Tambelon, so a better solution needs to be found before that or we’re going to have to fight Grogar. I’m willing to fight him, but after seeing what his bell can do… yeah, even I don’t have nearly that much bravado in our chances even with Fizzle and a team of really strong volunteers.”
“Well at least the changelings are learning how to be a little more cultured.” I said before taking a sip of tea.
“That’s the one thing that’s not going wrong, but they are still refusing lambkin relations… they are far more polite about it now.” Muttered Rainbow as she flew for the nearest window. “Oh and one more thing, if Cadence comes by, do something to make her relax.”
“Honestly, can’t Rainbow ever use the door like a civilized pony?” I don’t have too many serious issues with it, but it was the principle of the matter.
Wait… how do pegasi prevent pegasi thieves from just flying into their homes? Their homes are made of cloud. I mean this thought just crossed my mind and I’ve never bothered to ask a single one how they feel as if they have any sense of security in their own homes, sure they could get safes up there, but they themselves wouldn’t be able to escape a flying aggressor.
At least Fluttershy has solid walls on the ground and numerous animals to protect her.
This was going to bother me for the rest of the day…
-Earth, Wakanda, Zootopia, Shere Kahn-
“Sir we lost sight of her.” One of my men stated with a salute.
“Good, then she’s heeding my warning, we shall continue doing business as if nothing is wrong.” I so do hope that Ms. Lambchop survives the ordeal I’m putting her through.
Oh Sabu Taj would have had the right plane alright, but I had a decidedly remarkable bit of inspiration to be on a completely and utterly different one from the known assassin.
It is still a great concern of mine to figure out who hired her. I suspected the Thembrians, but those warthogs were too loud to be this subtle. It is quite sad to hear that one of my aids took a bullet to the spine, I’m am funding her full recovery in the Camden Town ward. Had she been in first class, she would have been a regrettable loss.
Thankfully nothing of importance to me was lost, those in first class on that flight were likely only there to curry favors of me.
I will always do right by mine and I always repaid my debts, regardless of whether those debts come about as a result of my own actions. I do hope the PET aids Leap Lamb greatly in the days to come.
Reality is, regrettably, grim at times.
-Earth, Rainforest District, Gazelle’s Tree Home, Evening, Pom-
“So we need to leave early the next morning, I don’t want to put you in any danger.” More to the point, I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger. If whoever was coming after me targeted people to get me to come to them, then that would be bad. I also think I had a good reason to not speak normally in Dormarch’s presence, Lambkin paranoia was powerful stuff. “I thank you for housing us Gazelle, but we’re going to leave in the middle of the night.”
“It was no problem Pom and you’re quite welcome, I’m sorry that you can’t enjoy the city more.” I told her everything and asked how possible it was to legally get a plane ticket. Zootopia didn’t ‘technically’ have passport laws, but other countries certainly did.
“So you’re not going to freak out or call the police on us…” She calmly place a gently hooved fingers on my back.
“It’s okay, you’ve been a lovely guest and extenuating circumstances don’t change the person I met.” She got a smile from me. “I’m sure you’ll find your way home eventually Pom, now what are you making for dinner? It’s you’re last night here and I want to share it over some good food and just relaxing.”
“I guess you liked the oatmeal then, while I personally enjoyed your selection grits.” At least she understood the reason I couldn’t stay, I didn’t want Gazelle to get hurt and she was being very nice about it all.
-The next day, morning, 1 AM, in a tree in the Rainforest District-
“Okay Dolly, do you think you can you carry my satchel?” I was holding Dormarch and ready to go, I was also speaking only in dog. I stuck the device to the wool at my stomach, along with some emergency money.
“Houba… why…” Mars appeared suddenly from above on his tail.
“In animal please.” I quickly barked out.
“Houba, why are you up this late at night? Having a late night part, doing some carousing?” I could ask the same thing Mars, his speaking in animal sounded like a cross between a dog, a monkey and the word ‘houba’ being used more.
It was hard to understand and a bit garbled, but I got it.
“No Mars, we got trouble and I need you to do a favor for me.” The shift wasn’t subtle, Mars stood up straighter and his lengthy tail became agitated as it twisted and shaped itself. “Can you make sure Dolly safely gets to the airport in the Canal district with our stuff?”
“Sure thing!” He gave me a look and rubbed a finger across his chin. “What are you going to be doing though?”
“My best... wait with Dolly for as long as you feel comfortable with.” I started making my way along the tree branch. “She’s going to stay put there for five hours or until I show up. At six, she’s to get into contact with any nearby dog that will help, if she loses her connection to me… well I’ll be dead so she’ll have to work out things from there.”
“Please show up Pom.” Dolly’s voice cracked.
“Dolly, go with Mars, I’ll be fine. You can feel our bond right?” She nodded, but she didn’t look happy with this and I wasn’t happy about it either. “You’ll be able to feel if I’m okay or not, but don’t come to help me.”
Clearing my throat, I tapped on Dormarch’s screen and it lit up.
“Huh, what, wow… it’s really early Ms. Lambchop!” Dormarch stated with curiosity. “Are we doing some exploring? What do you need of me, I’m helpful… well I haven’t helped you much yet… but I can do things!”
“Yes Dormarch, we’re heading to the Sahara Square district.” I stated normally as I moved away from Mars and Dolly. Looking over my shoulder at them, I mouthed the word ‘go’. “So can you give me directions from here?”
“Sure thing Ms. Lambchop!” Dormarch said with a pleasant tone, he had a perky attitude. I’m sorry he was in the middle of all this.
I was going to keep comparing him to Nicole Beta at this rate, because he basically was like her. No body, but a living mind all the same.
“Please, call me Pom. Now can you direct me around Little Rodentia, through Downtown, to Sahara Square while avoiding Savanna Central?” A map came up on the screen showing Zootopia and my current position on it, confirming a suspicion. “Say Dormarch, I’m not very technologically savvy… but would you tell me if someone was spying on me?”
-Twenty minutes later, outside Sahara Square-
“Pom… are we in a bad situation because of me?” Dormarch seemed to cower on the screen and his fish tails were underneath his body.
“Don’t worry about it.” I said calmly as my eyes slowly glanced around the rooftops. “Location?”
“West of Dry River Road, current facing southeast.” The map was brought up again and I looked over my shoulder and was inhaling already. With a slight change in air pressure, I followed my instincts and quickly dove off the roof and clung to the wall of the alleyway below as something moving impossible fast struck the brick railing behind me and sent a few bricks falling past me. “Why would someone be firing a sniper rifle at you Pom? It’s me isn’t it? Why are they after me? I didn’t do anything to anyone… well aside from myself. I am really, really, bad at minesweeper. I was only just born yesterday with all this knowledge prepackaged into my systems!”
“Like I said, don’t worry about it Dor.” He may have had a lot of basic knowledge of this world, but he was still a baby and I was trying to stay calm for him.
“But you just dodged a sniper rifle round though, that’s… actually pretty incredible! That round should have impacted with the back of your skull, that bullet in particular was moving approximately two thousand seven hundred and fifty three feet per second. So the shooter would be approximately somewhere in Hill Street to the west.” Dor then gained a horrified look. “You just jumped off the building! Are you going to be alright?! Are you still falling… wait… why aren’t we falling? Altimeter readings show static movement and lack of gravitational downward movement.”
I sighed. This was going to be a constant thing with him, I can already tell.
“Can you memorize a route and turn off this map thing you’re doing entirely?” I asked as I trotted down the side of the building towards the streets below with a pink strip of cloth tied to my head.
“Yes.” I poked the screen and Dor giggled, fell onto his back and flailed his legs and three tails.
“Follow my hoof carefully and remember this, but don’t say anything about this verbally.” I drew a route through Sahara Square, up into Tundra Town and back in the direction of the Canal district and I poked where the airport was supposed to be. “Got it?”
“Image saved, yes Pom.” The Dalmatian on the screen smiled and his three fish tails were wagging at me, then his excitement dimmed. “Please be safe, you’re dog Dolly is relying on you for her continued survival and… I might be as well.”
She didn’t need me to survive before Dormarch and she wasn’t my dog, not unless she kept this unnatural bond going between us up, but she was at least my friend.
I made it to the street and carefully poked my head out of the alleyway looking to the west and then looked to the desert biome in the distance in the east, Sahara Square district had more desert dwelling animalistic that liked the heat.
All I needed to do was get over a hill and out of sight. I leapt up onto an awning, bounced of it and shot over the crowd and landed against the side of a building. I leapt forward and to a building on the opposite side of the road over a crossing below me, a few nocturnal animalistic people looked up and saw me leaping my way towards Sahara Square through the dim lighting.
If had to guess… well I better keep moving quickly and not stay still. Hm… maybe I should stop to get something to drink?
-Thirty minutes later-
“How have we lost track of the target?” The feminine voice sounded close and a number of boots trekked into the cold dessert as the sun had yet to rise over the horizon.
“Did you see her dodge that shot? How did she do that?!” Another voice stated in a slightly panicked tone. “Nobody should have been able to react to something like that, especially not at night and not an average everyday sheep!”
“That’s no ordinary sheep, Kahn directly put the device into Leap Lamb’s hooves. She has incredible capabilities, well beyond what is normal.” A male voice said with wariness. “There are a lot of spooks in various nations questioning which secret program she could have possibly come from or if she’s simply an escaped lab experiment. She was said to be from Scotland or Britain, but neither region shows as having anything that can explain her abilities and she’s like a ghost. I don’t like the idea of being near a supernatural freak of nature that could snap my neck in an instant.”
“Lab experiment is likely, she looked paranoid.” There were at least eleven guys, three females judging by the weight of their steps on the sand. “She already knew she was being hunted long before we fired that shot, either Kahn tipped her off or she was already aware of what the situation involving the device was and accepted it knowing we’d come after her.”
“I don’t think she’s special ops, to unusual. Animalistic don’t get into special ops unless they are large and muscular. She’s scrawny as all get out.” To whoever that woman was, I definitely resembled that remark.
“Scrawny doesn’t mean weak, she took on numerous robots and survived several tons of crushing force… thing is, she did that and is completely biological.” Several voices scoffed. “She’s definitely not augmented, the spotter would have picked up a higher than normal heat signature. She’s warm blooded, no cybernetic enhancements whatsoever and yet she can dodge a sniper bullet with a vaguest hint it was coming at her. In all respects, she looks like a normal animalistic quadrupedal sheep… yet there is something decidedly ‘not sheep’ about her.”
“What, do you think she’s an alien?” One of the other men joked. “Well she’s no Moonlander, I can tell you that much!”
“We all know very well that looks can be deceiving, spread out and keep your eyes open for any signs of movement no matter how small!” I heard a heard a sound of crackling. “The men we have at the oasis of Sahara Square haven’t reported any sightings of her yet. Spread out and cover each other’s backs.”
-Ten minutes later, approximately five hundred feet to the north-
My hoof bursts from the sand and pulled myself out of the dune while looking around with a sand colored straw clenched between my teeth.
I would now make a run for Tundra Town district!
Freeing my rear legs from the ground, the sand filled in the hole behind me as I took off at a gallop. Dolly’s brother Diesel gave me that idea. Sand isn’t easy to dig through, I’m glad I stopped to buy that drink with a novelty sand colored Sahara Square straw at that all-night place.
“We’re now directly east of Dry River Road and are heading towards Sahara Square’s wall, the thing that separates the this district and Tundra Town.” Dormarch stated from my stomach. “We’re specifically close to Sandy Gate at the moment… also do you hear that? I think they have helicopters. Do you think you can out run them?”
“As long as they don’t spot me, that won’t be an issue.” I stopped and listened for a moment and looked to the sky, I saw a spotlight combing the desert as several helicopters flew overhead. “Do you have an idea as to who these guys are?”
“I got nothing.” Dor stated solemnly. “Maybe you should…”
“Nope, not hoofing you over to them.” I stated vehemently as I continued towards the wall, but now I was leaping from point to point. I didn’t want them to finding anymore tracks in the sand and tracing them to my location.
“Shouldn’t you be angling towards the gateway?” He asked as I continued moving straight at the wall into Tundra Town.
“I don’t need to go through the gate to get over the wall.” I kept my breathing even and time was ticking down, it’s already been about an hour and a half since I left Dolly behind. She had the kibble bag and water wasn’t hard to get from tap at the airport. Dolly sent me feelings of worry and I reassured her to the best of my ability. “Also these people obviously don’t know what I’m capable of if they think I need to go through the gate.”
I glanced to my right and threw myself to the ground and a sweeping light passed across the dune to my right.
I held my breathe and waited until it passed.
slowly peering around the dune, I inhaled and then exhaled to burst forward in another leap to kick off the top of a dune sending sand scattering everywhere. I spread my front legs out and started gliding over the dunes barely ten feet above them as I swooped forward.
“Are you a super hero?” Dor asked as I glided over the dune and eventually landed and looked at the nearby gate. I lifted an ear and closed my eyes to listen in.
I honestly didn’t want to answer Dor’s question.
“They’ve found some tracks going north, the target is heading this way. She can’t be allowed to get through the gate!” Opening my eyes, I spotted several guys in the shadows of the gate. They weren’t visibly in the lights of the gate between the desert and snow districts. “Tell the guys on the wall to be alert.”
Yeah, I wasn’t going that way anyway. I looked about in the waning moonlight and then leapt to another dune, another leap and I was close enough to jump onto the wall itself.
Inhaling, I gauged the distance between me and the wall and exhaled.
I slammed into the wall with all four hooves and was immediately running up it, I suddenly swung myself to the left at the feeling of a twitch in the air and look at the large hole that just formed in the wall as several chunks of it rained down.
My pupils probably shrunk at the sight and I immediately sped up the wall even faster as several of the people below started firing in my direction.
Their shots weren’t anywhere close to hitting me as I was already close to the top of the wall and thrusting my right hoof upwards as a guy in black armored gear poked his head over the side to aim his weapon down at me. My hoof smashed his helmet’s visor and the guy was on his back screaming and clutching at his head.
I rolled onto the walkway from the ledge as the other one fired at me, he couldn’t adjust his aim as I leapt at him with and overhead left hoof to the top of his helmet. His helmet split in two revealing his face as he staggered, the panicked and dazed guy looked like a jackal.
I spun around and bucked high into his chin launching him upwards and he fell on his back clutching at his likely broken chin.
Leaping off the wall, I dove towards Tundra Town below avoiding several projectiles that whizzed by me as the spotlight of a helicopter suddenly focused on the top of the wall behind me.
I carefully inflated my wool and hit a large slope and started to slide down it, it was fairly steep.
“She’s heading for Flurry Street, do not lose her!” I heard shouting from the helicopters speakers and the helicopter swept over the wall and turned to see me sliding down the slope on my rear hooves. A series of flashes came from it and I looked behind myself to see holes opening up in the snow at my heels. “All operatives, into Tundra Town district!”
“I would seriously rather be anywhere else right now…” I muttered quietly, as I planted my front two hooves to gain control of my sliding in what was a quickly forming avalanche of snow and ice heading towards the edge of the buildings in the frozen cities edge ahead of me.
I veered left and right trying to avoid the rapid fire whizzing projectiles trying to make minced meat out of me.
As I was getting close to the bottom of the slope, a thought came up…
I intentionally tripped and tumbled, making my wool cling to every bit of snow and ice around me as I could. I formed a large protective shell of it.
My world was spinning and darkness as the snow packed around me tightly, I slowly and carefully scrunched my body up inside the snowball and then I kicked out of it to the left. The snowball continued rolling forward and the helicopter was staying on it as I went skidding for the ice of the nearby frozen lake, I leapt up and brought my front hooves above my head and took a deep breathe as I slammed down on the ice.
Biting cold waters surrounded me.
Okay, keep calm, let out as little air as possible. Now to quickly move under the ice and find a good place to emerge while I still have oxygen in my lungs.
I could barely see anything down here, but I could make out the shadows of wood and light from the nearby city in the distance. I hurriedly kicked my legs and swam for any docks where ice fishing would probably take place.
I heard an explosion, but I didn’t have time to think about that.
I reached the shadow of two pillars of wood and moved under the docks. My lungs were straining now and I struck my left hoof upwards, the ice cracked slightly.
No…. no please, don’t tell me it was too thick!
I clamped onto the ice and pulled back my right hoof to swing it forward.
The ice buckled, but it didn’t break.
Panic was setting in and my body was getting colder. One more time Pom, just used your head to find out where to…!
I tightened my cold wet wool around my forehead and pulled back my head I slammed it upwards through the ice.
Breaking through, I took a gasp of air and quickly thrust my left hoof up onto the nearby pillar of wood. I pulled myself up onto it to started climbing until I could cling to the underside of the dock.
“Pom are you okay? Biological readings are at the onset of hypothermia… possible frostbite imminent.” I didn’t answer Dor for several seconds as I gasped and rested upside down under the frozen lakes docks. “Also I think they used a rocket on the snowball you created. It would have made a really 'cool' snow bunny too, these guys aren’t very 'hot' at all!”
“Hold… that thought...” I gasped out and flexed my wool. The water sloughed off of me and back into the lake, I tightened my wool around my entire body and the bone chilling cold slowly started to ease off.
“With what? Digital paws cannot hold anything abstract like thought. Also your body temperature is warming to safer parameters… relatively.” Nice to know Dor. “You will need both shelter and warmth soon Pom!”
“I'm... already on it... Dor.” My tired voice responded, I quickly poked my head out from under the dock as several helicopters circled a large smoking hole.
Quickly pulling myself onto the dock, I went right into the frozen streets nearby and ducked into the first apartment complex I spotted.
I sat down in a heated hallway, idly noting the helicopters were now out scouring southern Tundra Town for me outside the nearby window.