//------------------------------// // Chapter III // Story: New Cloudsdale // by KenSES64 //------------------------------// Chapter III Steam slowly opens his eyes, his vision was foggy and he had a sharp pain in the back of his head. He feels the sense of motion, but when he tries to move, it seemed that something was holding him back him. Upon further inspection it was the most basic of binding materials, rope. “The buck happened?” He mumbled, trying to recall just what happened to get him to this point. “Quiet you!” someone shouted at him. That’s when it clicked, ‘Oh by Celestia. No no no no no no no no no no! This can not be happening! I cannot have been kidnapped by those mobsters!’ He manages to lift his head and sees two beings, a unicorn and what kind of looked like a dragon, but smaller and with hair. ‘Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! No no no no no no no no no no no! It is happening! Wait a second, where in tartarus are they taking me?! Are they going to kill me?!’ Then it hit him even harder, ‘What if they kill me? I... I would never see Clem again. How will she be without me? I mean, there’s no way she’ll be able to pay the rent by herself, she only makes minimum wage.’ Moving his head around again he sees his saddlebags nearby, which still had the ring he bought her, ‘She’s probably worried sick about me right now.’ ______________________________________________________________________________ Back at the house, Clementine was lying down in bed, tightly holding a pillow in her arms, “Steam where the hay are you? You have no idea how worried I am right now.” She dug her claws into the pillow a little bit and said, “If you lied to me, I swear to Celestia that I’m going to kill you.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Steam feels the cart he was in come to a stop. “Okay Rosey, beam us up,” said a voice that Steam was able to recognize as the minotaur from earlier. “Do you want to die or are you just that stupid?” Rosey asked. “You’re calling me stupid? You’re the only one of the three of us that’s actually been arrested.” “Hey that wasn’t my fault! How in tartarus was I supposed to know that prostitute was a cop?!” The minotaur just started cracking up while the gargoyle faceplamed and whispered, “Why do I have to work with you two?” “Oh come now Sparks, we’re not that bad are we?” Brass asked. “Do you really want me to answer that?” “Well buck you too.” Steam wasn’t sure how to feel, but if he felt any definite emotion, it would be embarrassment. ‘Did I really get kidnapped by these three idiots?’ He then saw a flash of light and felt weird for a quick second. “Ugk, I’ll never get used to teleportation,” said Sparks. “Well you could’ve flew up here,” Rosey said bitterly. “Whatever. So are you two going to take this poor bastard to the boss or not?” “Why us?” Brass asked. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’re the two kumquats who took him with us!” There was a silence for a few seconds before Brass spoke again. “Did you just insult us by calling us a kumquats?” “When working with people as brain dead as you two, you tend to run out of insults.” The minotaur ignored this and lifted Steam up with one hand. Steam looked around the area they were in now. It was a small room with metal walls and a window. Looking out said window, he saw the lights of the city, which were several dozens of feet below where ever they were, so there was only one place Steam could think of that they could be. “A-Are we in... a blimp?” He asked. “Did we say you can talk?” the red unicorn hissed. “But to answer your question, yes,” Brass added. “Okay, now go show the boss what you two kumquats did.” The blue gargoyle said, with a lot of emphasis on the word ‘you’. Brass and Rosey both looked at each other and gulped before they made their way through a nearby door. Entering a long dimly lit room, Steam saw three figures behind a desk at the end of the room, but couldn’t really make anything else out. One of the figures turned it’s head towards them, then turned back to the other two figures. “Mind stepping out of a few minutes ladies?” the individual asked in a masculine, yet posh voice. The other two let out feminine giggles and started to walk towards the door. As they got closer, Steam saw that they were two unicorn mares, both with light green coats. Their cutie marks were both of a red ribbon that made the shape of a heart. The only real difference between them was that one of them had a dark, purple mane, while the other’s was orange. As they passed, Rosey’s eyes followed them, admiring their flanks before Brass slapped him in the back of the head with the hand that wasn’t holding Steam. The unicorn glared at him while rubbing the back of his head. “So,” The being behind the desk began, “Why is there a tried up pegasus in you hand Brass Knuckles?” “W-W-Well yo-you s-s-se...” “Spit it out!” their boss demanded, slamming a hoof on the desk. “He saw us trying to get the money that Stormy Skies guy who owed you and, well, you hate witnesses. So Rosey here knocked him out and tried him up.” There was a small silence as the being sitting in the darkness put his hooves together, after a few second he spoke in a emotionless voice. “Untie him and then let me talk to him. Alone.” “But sir...” Rosey began to say. “Do as I say!” They both simultaneously gulped and rushed to get the ropes off of Steam. After he was untied, Brass dropped Steam right onto the floor and the two gangsters rushed out of there like bats out of tartarus, the door slamming behind them. Steam got to his hooves as the crime boss spoke again. “I apologise for my employees. They’re not exactly the brightest bulbs on the Hearths Warming tree. Well, at least those two aren’t. So, you got a name kid?” “S-Steam Valve.” “I’m the one known as Mr. C. May I ask what you were doing at the weather factory?” “I’m an engineer there. I was working late to fix one of the machines and I bumped into that minotaur guy. I swear I didn’t see anything. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So please don’t kill me! I have a girlfriend!” Steam pleaded. Mr. C held up a grey hoof and said, “Relax. Even if you did see something, all that was going on was a simple tax collection per say. It’s not like you saw a hit or anything.” “S-So are you going to let me go?” Steam asked hopefully. “Yes.” Steam’s face lit up with joy. “On two conditions.” Mr. C added. Steam’s joy then dropped. “W-What kind of conditions?” “Well, the first is that you don’t tell any cops or anything the names of my employees or that our base is in this blimp.” “You got it!” Steam agreed, wanting to get out of here and back to Clementine. “And two...” Mr. C pulled something out of the desk and threw it at the young pegasus’ hooves. It was a silver pistol with a wooden handle. “You have to do a job for us.” “W-What?!” Steam exclaimed, “Are you asking me to kill someone for you?!” “No, I’m asking you to give my gun a bubble bath. What do you think?!” “I-I-I couldn’t kill anybody! I don’t even know how I could pull the trigger without fingers or being a unicorn or something.” “The same why I do.” The mob boss said while spreading out a pair of pegasus wings. “You use your wings.” Steam looked down at the gun and asked, “What will you do if I don’t?” Mr. C chuckled to himself, “Well, if you don’t, then I hope you know how to swim while wrapped in chains.” Steams eyes widened, and he started to sweat a bit. “So Mr.Valve,” Mr.C said, “What will it be?” ‘I can’t do this!’ Steam shouted in his head. ‘I can’t take another’s life, but if I don’t they’ll take mine. What to do? Should I just do it, so I can go back to Clem?’ Steam sighed and said, “Fine, I’ll do it if it means you’ll let me go.” Under the darkness Mr. C smiled and said, “Excellent.”