"Maybe they won't come for me?"
I nervously prattled about the alley, Zola standing by the two unconscious ponies who I had carelessly tossed into a pile onto one another, her glossy and bored eyes only following me pacing back and forth. Whenever one of them would groan back into semi-consciousness, she would stomp on them deftly, sending the poor bloke quickly back to dreamland. Whenever she did it, a spry smile shot across her face. She enjoyed getting them back for the times they had ridiculed her before.
"Oh, they will."She took off her headpiece, flipping some of her dreads over her face."And they will beat you until you are still."
"Not very helpful, are you?!"I exclaimed, to which she only shrugged in reply. Okay, okay. I had to stay calm and simply work things through in a logical, simplistic manner. I just beat two of Los Pegasus's underground leader's top men into steady unconsciousness. From every crime movie I've ever seen, that'll usually get you on the bad side of the boss. I was pretty capable of defending myself, but I didn't know what these guys were packing. What if they had unicorns with AK-47s? Shit, they could have much worse than that, magic existed in this world.
"You are not the only one in trouble,"Zola interrupted my thoughts."Surely for myself, my torture will be double."
"...And why's that?"
"I allowed it to happen, but honestly, both of them needed a good fist tappin'."She chuckled almost darkly at the end of her sentence.
"So, this...King, is going to come after you too?"
"Most likely so. I won't live, though."She seemed so calm when she said it, despite the menacing intent of her words.
Just great, I endangered not only my own life, but hers as well. Really on top of things today.
I sighed before rubbing my temples."Okay...maybe...we can get out of here before he finds out. A buddy of mine did a while ago."
"A friend of yours escaped The King? I've never heard of such a thing."
"Yeah, but he got pretty beat up while doing it. But before that, he's here again in Los Pegasus, and I need to find him."
"I do not know if he is brave or stupid for coming back,"She paused for a moment before looking at me again."Did your friend arrive with a rather large sack?"
I resisted laughing at the subtle sex joke, but nodded."Yeah, he did!"I eagerly nodded.
"An auburn unicorn, wide-brimmed hat, colorful poncho, and a demeanor most unhappy?"
"Yes, yes!"I cheered, walking up to her."Did you see him? Where?!"
She began trotting down the alley, placing her headpiece back on and adjusting her dress, motioning for me to follow her."Come, follow me before our battered friends wake up from their...nappy."
I had to giggle a little. Did zebras choose to rhyme when they spoke, or are they naturally forced to? I had to trick her to say 'orange' or 'silver' at the end of one of her sentences sometime. It'd be pretty interesting to see. I followed behind her back into the neon-bathed streets of Los Pegasus, passing by a few casinos before stopping at one of the largest ones dead center in the city. I looked up, the building of cloud easily dwarfing any nearby competition. Emblazoned across the entrance in big bold letters, The King's Throne greeted us, the letters sitting upon a regal throne of neon.
"...Your boss isn't very subtle, is he?"I questioned as the two of us entered.
"He knows he is untouchable, and flaunts his power,"The zebra replied as we stepped into the main lobby. The clouds on the inside had been sculpted to make the entire casino appear as a royal castle. Pillars along the side of every large room supported the main walls, and chandeliers hung from nearly every corner. Elegant? I wouldn't say that. Incredibly tacky, to be honest.
"But hopefully soon will come his final hour."She finished as she took me past the slot machines, the occasional shout of "MOTHERBUCKER!" filling the air from a pony losing all of their winnings to the machine.
"They're rigged to steal when the chance of winning is real."Zola whispered to me.
We went by several tables holding various games of chance, only for us to stop in front of a large crowd of whistling ponies. I looked over them to see Alamo sitting dead center of the crowd, magically hovering a hand of cards in front of him and stacks upon stacks of poker chips around him. Looks like somepony put the stolen bits to good use.
"He's all yours,"Zola motioned, and I even didn't even hear the end of her rhyming sentence as I shoved my way through the crowd."Alamo!"I called out. Even with my new duds on, it'd be hard not to recognize me. He looked up, his good eye wide and shocked. Before I even reached him, he got up from his seat and dashed away, leaving the ponies around him that had cheered on his winning streak in muttering confusion.
"Get back here!!"I shouted as I got up on the table, leaping around on the other tables around me to get to him."Sorry, pardon me, trying to catch a friend, it looked like you weren't winning anyway,"I stumbled across various games, cutting them short as I came closer and closer to Alamo. I jumped off a game of Craps and landed right behind him, reaching out to grab him, only to grasp thin air. Man, he could haul tail if he wanted to. I took off in pursuit, the two of us cutting a swathe down a hallway, Alamo ramming ponies aside who got in his his way, and me shouting "Excuse us!"To everyone he pushed away.
Eventually our chase came out of a back exit of the casino, the two of us stumbling after and away from each other in an alleyway. I snatched up a trash can and aimed it at him, throwing it not too hard, hopefully, and catching him in the back, the can making a metallic clang as it nailed him, causing the cowpony to stumble. I rushed up and grabbed him by the mane, holding him high in the air so I could look into his eyes.
"What. The. Fuck. Man."
"Evenin', Oddjob."He replied calmly.