//------------------------------// // the Chase // Story: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Pone // by the Horse Writer //------------------------------// My heart was pounding hard like it never had before. A wardrum in my ears drowned out the world, allowing me to focus on my task. The whip of the wind was a surprisingly pleasant feeling, and frankly, I could even find myself enjoying the run. Were it not for the wretched creature I was chasing. The surprisingly fast alligator had no brakes. I barely managed to keep up with its speeding form, much less close the distance. Of course, the occasional obstacle did not help. “Gummy! Stop running and come back here!” I called. As expected, he showed no sign of listening. I was still unsure whether he was running away from me, or maybe chasing another group of ponies. I suppose it didn’t matter, though; running is running is running. I was currently chasing on a curved road, slightly turning left at every step. I had begun to lose hope of ever catching up, when Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed to me. Look! There's a shortcut up ahead! I took notice of said shortcut. A small alley to my left, offshooting from the main road. Alright! I responded. My right hooves hit the dirt as I killed my forward momentum, my wings opening on instinct. With no time to waste, I quickly sped into the alleyway. Um, she began, If I remember correctly, the street should connect back to the road soon. I grinned, unable to hide the daredevil deep within me. Great, this just might be the fore we need! I jumped over an annoyingly placed garbage bag. Really, the bin is right there! Not a moment later, sunlight began infiltrating from up ahead, signifying the alley’s end. I quickly sped up my already sore legs, intent on catching that reptile before it passed me again. As I got close, I could hear shouting slowly rise from the road, coming closer and closer to the alley’s exit. Suddenly, for but a shard of a moment, the exit was obscured by the form of a cart with two fillies dangling by, barely holding on, screaming like all hell. And then they were gone, receding up the road. Wait, if they're here, then that means… By that point, I had reached the main road, braking with my hooves and wings again. To confirm my suspicion, I looked right, and sure enough, another small figure was speeding toward me. “Alright, moment of truth…” I mumbled as I lowered my body, reading my muscles for a leap. Now I just had to wait for the right moment… The alligator inched closer, second by second. The cloud of dust remained, growing larger with every step it took. And… Now! Leaping into the air, I snapped a look to my right. The creature was still somewhat far off, but I hoped my aim was true. Time crawled to a standstill as I watched it run. Then, realization hit. I was going to miss it. It seems I have overestimated my new jumping distance, as it looked like I was going to fall a few ways off before it got there. Use your wings! I wasted no thought space on responding. In a fraction of a second, I willed my still inexperienced wings to open, shooting them out as fast as I dared. By the time they extended, I was past my apoapsis, quickly descending back to the ground. I flapped them. hard. The result was probably expected, but I had not anticipated the sheer boost it gave me. Sure enough, my descent was halted, and I could see the reptile approach my new landing site. Hell yeah! I couldn’t help but cheer in joy. And another fraction of a second later, I hit the ground, an animal below me. I quickly wrapped my arms around it, making sure to not give it any means of escape. “Ha! Gotcha now!” I boasted as I snuck a peak at the figure trapped in the bear-hug. It simply blinked in response, seeming unfazed by being trapped. Now that I finally met Gummy, I could put an image to his name. A (what I assume) baby alligator, tiny by comparison to an adult counterpart. His nearly-unblinking eyes stared right into my soul. Weirder, though, was that I felt something… else, in them. I didn’t have much time to contemplate, though, as suddenly, a bright flash blinded me. “Argh!” I couldn’t help but call out. Blinking my eyes open, I attempted to see the world. And what I saw was… well, nothing. Literally. That reptile was just gone. “Oh come on! That's just unfair!” *** “So what you’re telling me,” Pinkie looked as shocked as someone like her could look, “that my Gummy,” she inhaled, “can TELEPORT?!” “Yeah! He just disappeared!” I exclaimed, still in emotional turmoil about what happened just now. Pinkie held her hooves together close to her heart. “Oh I’m so proud of him…” “What?” “What?” she returned, showing an innocent smile. I stared at her, then shook my head. It’s best not to question her, my headmate said. I looked around at our surroundings. The sun kissed the horizon on her way out, painting the streets of Ponyville with a dim red hue. There weren’t many ponies around now, most having gotten back to their homes or already went to their nightly pastime. Suddenly, a question occurred to me. “Are you sure Twilight would be free right now?” Pinkie had promised so earlier, though how she knew it, I didn’t know. “Sure she is!” she exclaimed, “With how I know Twilight and her schedules, she probably just started making dinner!” I decided not to question just why she knew Twilight’s schedule; by heart, no less. Instead, I simply nodded. Oh, Twilight… I love her and all of her quirks, but… she stammered, Sometimes she can let them, a little bit, um, control her… “Nah, I’m sure Twilight can care for herself just fine!” Pinkie said. I stared at her again. She just shrugged and twisted her head sideways, smirking. “Talking ‘bout Twilight…” she nodded her head forwards, refocusing my attention on where my legs were taking me. Just ahead, our destination revealed itself, just a few steps away: The library. Wasting no time, we quickly went to the front door. This time, I found myself knocking. Knock knock knock. A moment later, the door opened, revealing Twilight, holding the handle in her magical grip. “Oh, hi girls!” she greeted. Then, looking sheepish, added, “And David.” “Heya Twilight!” Um, hello. “Hi.” I deadpanned. She looked back, inside the library. Turning back to us, she nodded her head. “Well, come on in.” I went through the door, Pinkie bouncing right after me. After we passed, Twilight closed the door with her magic. Turning to us, she grew an apologetic expression. “Sorry I may seem a little distracted,” she began, “I was kind of in the middle of making dinner with Spike, but I’m sure he can take care of it himself.” Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Called it!” she whisper-shouted at me. I just smirked and shook my head in response. Twilight grew confused, then, deciding not to question it, shook it off. “Anyways, how is the search going?” Pinkie grew sheepish, rubbing a hoof behind her neck. “Welllll… I think we’ve got a teensy little problem.” I playfully rolled my eyes. “That’s putting it mildly. Apparently, that accursed alligator-” “-hey!-” “-has magic of some kind.” I drilled my glare at the grumping baker, then continued. “I mean, he teleported, and, when I think about it, ran really fast.” Twilight raised her brow. “Huh. Tell me everything.” *** “Well, that was productive.” I muttered as we went out the door. It was barely half an hour later, though the sun had already got down and darkness was creeping closer with every second. “Ya’ expected something else from Twilight?” Pinkie cheerfully replied, holding the two contraptions we got from said unicorn. Two identical belts, one for each member of our party. Each belt had a small rectangle jutting out of it, a crystal visible on its surface. Twilight had called them ‘Magic Nullification Devices’. I believe you can deduce what their function is. I’m still not comfortable forcing Gummy to wear one of these… My friend sounded worried. Don’t worry. It’s for his own good, I assured her. Then, sharply turned my head to the bouncing monstrosity beside me. “Give me one of those, will you?” She didn’t answer verbally, instead opting to simply throw one of the devices at me. Holding up a hoof, I catched it, and fastened it to one of my front legs. Luckily, its mechanism could only be activated after hitting a certain button on its side, so I did not get to feel its effect. I was feeling confident for round two. With those new gadgets, I simply couldn’t wait to show that alligator whose boss. Fluttershy, though, didn’t share my enthusiasm. Um, are you sure we should do this right now? she warily questioned, I mean, I think it would be a little hard to search in the dark, and, well, I can feel our hooves too… She was right in that regard. My hooves were already sore and tired, and I was not so sure I could do another chase like the last one. I’m not sure… I could feel my spirit start to question itself. Lemme ask Pinkie. I quickly relayed Fluttershy's doubts to said pony; She simply scoffed in response. “Wha- no, we, um…” she trailed off, “Well, maybe there is something in what Flutters’ said…” “So what? We call this off? continue tomorrow?” “Hmm…” Pinkie comically placed a hoof on her chin, stroking it like she had a beard. “Maybe we ca-” She wasn’t interrupted by an outside force. Instead, quite the odd thing had happened. Her tail shook, ears moving around like a cat, eyes opening and closing at random. I halted all action, worriedly staring at the odd pony. Is she… having an aneurysm? I think it’s her Pinkie sense, Fluttershy replied. At my visible confusion, she continued. It’s, um, some sort of supernatural sixth sense she has. I’m not really sure about the specifics of it, though… So this isn’t a medical emergency, then. No, I don’t think so. Just then, Pinkie’s vibrations stopped, and she sat down, panting from exertion. “Phew-wee, that was a doozie!” she exclaimed, mock-rubbing nonexistent sweat from her forehead. Although I had already somewhat understood what just happened, I wanted to hear it from the source. “What was that?!” I blurted out. “My Pinkie sense!” she returned to her cheerfulness already. Then, she noticed my troubled expression. “Don’t worry about it, it happens all the time!” “Well, as long as you’re sure…” “Now shush, I need to decipher what it meant…” she began to move her limbs, ears, eyes and such in an erratic fashion, mumbling all the while, retracing, I assume, her earlier movements. Really, her memory was quite impressive. “Left ear up, tail shake, blink…” Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open, and she gasped loudly. “I’ve GOT IT!” Sharply, she jumped towards me, holding me in her hooves. “I know where Gummy is!” Too close to comfort… I shied away from the sudden contact, taking my head back and away from the too-close set of blue eyes peering into me. In an attempt to stay conversational, I asked, “What? Where?” “Well, y’see, I got the sense for when Gummy’s hungry,” she said, “and there is only one place he goes to eat!” I raised an eyebrow. “And that is…?” *** “Mrs. Cake! I’m back!” Pinkie proclaimed as we entered the bakery for the second time that day. A pudgy, cerulean mare peeked her head from the kitchen. “Ah, Pinkie!” she greeted, “How has the search gone?” “It went fine.” Pinkie, oddly enough, seemed somewhat impatient at the prospect of conversation. “Look, I’d love to chit-chat, but Da-” she snak a glance at me, “Um, Flutters and I need to do something really important right now.” Mrs. Cake nodded her head. “You do you, dear,” she went back to the kitchen, “I’ll be with my cupcakes…” she muttered. “Thanksseeyoulater!” Pinkie essentially grabbed me, carrying me as she rushed to the stairs, where I retained my freedom of movement. I rapidly shook my head, trying to regain my sense of balance. When it came back, I stepped up the stairs, following Pinkie, who had already begun, impatiently waiting for me. Who… was that? I asked my head-mate. Urm, that was Mrs. Cake. She and her husband are Pinkie’s employers, and own Sugarcube Corner. Oh. I reached the top of the stairs, Pinkie already waiting next to a similarly pink-colored door. “Gummy should be behind this door.” she spoke seriously as she reached for the handle. “You ready?” “Wait a minute,” I stopped her, “We need a plan of attack.” Pinkie hmmed, then shrugged her shoulders. “What there is to plan? We go there, tackle him, stick one of those-” she gestured to the device currently resting on her back, “-and we're good to go!” “I’m not sure it’ll work,” I said, “I mean, he can still teleport, right? So we can’t chance alerting him.” I thought for a moment, “Maybe sneaking up to him would be better…” Maybe we should… do this peacefully? Fluttershy stammered, Gummy trusts Pinkie the best, so maybe she can, um, just try to talk to him? Oh, that’s neat! Or maybe I can, what with your special talent and all… Pinkie seemed to like Fluttershy’s plan when I relayed it to her. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” she then added, “But if he tries to run, we tackle him!” she enthusiastically gestured with her hooves, clutching some unseen foe. “That’s assuming he’s still there…” I couldn’t help but be pessimistic. “I’m sure he’s there…” Pinkie waved her hoof. “Now enough dilly-dallying!” She promptly opened the door and went inside. Impatient much? I snarked and went to the door. Peeking through it, I took witness of what I assumed to be Pinkie’s room. The first thing that came to my attention was pink. Overly pink. Pink bed sheets, pink furniture, even a pink windowsill for goodness sake! The second thing that came to mind was, as evident, much more important; two figures, one approaching another; one of a pony, and one, well… “Gummy, you big goof…” Pinkie softly called out to it, slowly approaching. For his part, Gummy simply stayed unmoving, though for some reason, I could sense he was happy to see his owner. Why is he just… standing there? Fluttershy warily asked. Well, let’s find out, I grinned, intent on making my way inside. However, the moment I stepped foot inside, the alligator’s head snapped to attention, eyes piercing straight at me. I suppose Pinkie knew what was coming next, as she hastily dashed towards him, calling; “No, Gummy! Bad!” But alas, her cries did not help, as with a flash, the alligator disappeared. “Ah, hell…” I muttered, eyes wide as I rushed to where he had been just a moment ago, Pinkie looking around for the vain hope he hadn’t gotten far. “Now just where could he have gone…” look! The window! Fluttershy called, loud in quite the uncharacteristic fashion of her.  Standing in my peripheral vision, was the object of interest. Sharply turning my head to the window, I stood witness to what could have been a most wonderess sight, were it not signaling the demise of our efforts. The wretched creature stood by the window, resting on the roof. Most curiously, however, was the set of two glowing, ethereal nubs growing by his sides. Quickly enough, the nubs grew into fully fledged wings, akin to those of a butterfly. My eyes had reached their maximum widening capacity by this point. I could easily connect the dots- Wings, roof, there is only one thing Gummy could do now. Thinking quickly, I turned to Pinkie. “Can you open the window?” I hastily asked. “Aye aye captain!” she gave me a salute and rushed over to the window, undoing its lock. I had a semi-feasible idea in mind; the only question was if I could do it. Unfortunately for us, Gummy didn’t seem to like this new development. He tentatively flapped his new wings, once, twice, then promptly jumped off. “Ta-da!” Pinkie proclaimed, showing off her masterful work on the window. Then, when she took witness of what had just happened, she yelped, rushing out of the window and onto the roof. “Gummy, no!” she called in absolute anguish. Then let out a large breath at the sight of the alligator rising up, small wings buzzing. “Shit!” I called as I hastily followed Pinkie out to the roof. I had expected it, but, well, I hadn't expected it. Wait, you’re… are you thinking what I think you’re thinking? Stepping onto the roof, I quickly found purchase in the ground, lowering my torso for extra stability. If you’re thinking about this- I snapped my wings open, -then yes. My, I thought you said you’ve never done it before… I began flapping my wings, slowly at first, speeding up at every flap. Pinkie took notice of my action, straining her eyes away from the spectacle that was the slowly distancing alligator. Yeah, but I’ve got a friend by my side now. And with that, I took off. No offense, Rainbow. “Yeah! You go, davie!” Pinkie cheered, and even though I could not see her from this position, I could easily guess she was hopping around. I attempted to move forwards, tilting my body forwards. I was not so successful, though, as it resulted in my direction of movement to lower itself, causing me to slowly lose height. The moment I noticed this, frightfully looking at the gradually approaching ground below, I began flapping my wings harder, faster, in a vain hope. I, I think you should flap less and, uh, glide more, Fluttershy suggested, Then point yourself a teensy-bit upwards… I quickly did as I was told, reducing the amount of flaps to a minimum. Leveling my body with the too-close-to-comfort ground, I noted her advice was indeed working, my path of movement now completely horizontal. My, I’m sorry if this was bad advice… I’m not the best flier around… “Are you kidding me?” I nearly shouted, now raising my height bit-by-bit. “This was the best advice I received in a long time!” …Thank you. I shook my head at the pegasus’s insecurities, smiling all the while. This entire situation was too absurd for me. Here I was, comforting a pegasus, while occupying her body. For goodness sake, I was flying and chasing a god damned flying alligator. Oh wait, I was supposed to be in the middle of a chase. Oops. Raising my sight, I spotted my target. He had managed to get quite far during my moment of near crash, and showed no signs of stopping soon. This was going to be fun. Newfound understanding of flight at my side, I adjusted my path, aiming towards the offending creature. I was still too close to the ground and buildings to go any faster than I currently was; with my absolute concentration on the task in front, I turned at a small angle upwards, hastily raising myself up and up. try to, um, give… stronger flaps? I nodded. Quality over quantity, I see. I reached a height which felt comfortable, giving me the space I needed, and turned my sight back to the horizon, to the bird-pretender. I grinned, eyes narrowing as I laid my focus at the alligator. I gave my wings a sudden, strong flap, giving me a sharp boost towards my target; Then, another, and another, until I had reached a speed unheard of without any vehicle. I sneaked a glance downwards, at the buildings, ponies and what not whizzing by, and instantly broke into a manic smile. “Woo-Hoo!” I shouted to the heavens. Setting my sight again on where I was headed, I noticed I was getting close. It seems Gummy wasn’t the fastest flier around. Me too, most definitely, but… well, you get what I’m saying. Either way, I was approaching, and approaching fast. I quickly checked my arm again, where I placed the nullification device. It was still attached, thank god, even after all the wind seeking to take it away. I quickly untied it, holding it in my snout. Hey, I was acclimating to this! Gummy was just a few buildings away now, still oblivious to my approach. I began counting to myself, getting ready. rendezvous in 3… I narrowed my eyes, taking a deep breath through my nostrils. 2… I fastened my grip on the device, still biting on it. 1… I tackled the alligator midair, holding him close to me with my front arms. Quickly, I attached the device to him, tying it around his torso, and pressed the large button by its side, disabling the alligator’s means of escape. I held my breath for a brief moment, eyes closed, wings flapping automatically, leaving me unmoving in the air. Opening my eyes, I looked at the alligator who annoyed me for the last day, held up at eye level by my hooves, staring at me innocently. “Gotcha now, ya’ asshole.” I looked to the side for a moment, then added, “For real this time.”