//------------------------------// // Prologue: This Just In... // Story: An Eque$trian Payday // by The card holder //------------------------------// "We interrupt this program to bring you this breaking news: Just under twenty minutes ago, shots were fired at a local apartment building. Police quickly arrived on the scene, where they were met with opposition from four masked and heavily armed assailants. While the police hasn't issued any official statements yet, it is possible that the armed criminals are the same ones who had been behind several robberies throughout the nation in the past year. We'll have more on this story as it develops..." "Fuck, how many cops are there?" "Just keep it together, Wolfie. Bain should be here soon!" The masked figures were locked in a shootout with the police. They had bags full of cash next to them, but they currently had no way out, leaving them with only the option to hold off the cops until their ride got there. "I hope you're still holding out," a voice said into their earpieces. "I'm gonna be there in a few moments! Hope you're on the ground floor!" One of the robbers, wearing a clown mask painted with the American flag, stuck his head out of cover for a second, only to pull it back as a bullet whizzed by. "Shit, snipers! Stay away from the windows!" Another one of them, this one wearing a clown mask with lines through the eyes, quickly ran across the room. "I got it, Dallas!" He ran over to a wall next to a shattered window, out of the line of fire. He cocked his rifle before peeking out the window and firing off a series of shots at a nearby window. When he saw a helmet fly into the air, he smiled behind his mask. "Hoorah, motherfucker." At that moment, a truck engine could be heard over the gunshots. Out of nowhere, an armored truck raced onto the street before stopping, pulling into reverse, and backing straight into the entrance of the building, running over a number of SWATs in the process. The back doors swung open. "Alright, guys, get in!" The four of them wasted no time in throwing the bags of money into the truck, followed by themselves. Once all four of them were inside, and the doors were shut, the driver took off the way he came, dodging parked SWAT vans and police cars. The crew in the back shared cheers of success and high fives. "That's another million in the bank!" one of them shouted in a Swedish accent. "Nice job, everyone," a British voice said next. "Especially you, Bain. That was some nice driving!" "Whatever it takes to get my guys out of there," the driver replied. The crew in the back had started taking off their masks, but the British one, Hoxton, spotted something behind them. "We're not out of the woods yet, mates. We still got cops on our tail." The black one, Chains, chuckled while reloading his rifle. "Ain't gonna do 'em much good. We're home free at this point!" He cracked open the back door and took a few pot shots at the pursuing police cars, which succeeded at shattering their windshields, causing them to swerve either off the road or into other police cars. Up front, Bain spotted some trouble. "Hang on, guys. We got a police roadblock up ahead, I'm gonna ram it." He gunned the engine, but a group of SWAT vans pulled up behind the parked police cars. Bain's eyes went wide. "Shit!" He jerked the wheel to the side, trying to turn around, but he was going too fast. He ended up driving onto an on-ramp to the highway, but was too slow in turning and broke through the barrier, which was placed right above a river with a considerable height. As the truck fell, all five occupants yelled. But before they expected to hit the water, there was a bright flash of light, and a general feeling of nausea separate from the experience of falling at least two stories. When the light cleared, they weren't falling into a river, but a dirt road. The impact shook all of them to the floor, and Bain lost control of the truck. It fishtailed all over the road, before he overcompensated and turned too sharply, making the truck start rolling down the road. Eventually, it stopped as it hit something solid. For a few seconds, the five of them simply lay there, trying to deal with the pain of being thrown around like that. When they got up, they didn't waste a moment. They grabbed the money bags and worked on opening the smashed, upside-down door. They got it open about the same time Bain slipped out of the driver's seat and got on his feet. They had crashed into a tree, which was the beginning of a fairly thick forest. They all saw the escape opportunity. "Into the forest, go, go!" Bain instructed. The crew all ran in, each one holding a money bag, but before Bain went with them, he looked back. They had apparently drove through some kind of small town. Near where they had landed was a large glowing... thing, which had several horses gathered aro- Bain did a double take. Sure enough, they were horses, and they were all multicolored. A few of them looked over in his direction, which spurred him on to join his crew in the forest. He had to be seeing things... Maybe the wreck had given him a slight concussion. At least he didn't see any cops. "Breaking news! As you've no doubt seen, several... 'portals' have opened up across the world, including one here in our city. Not too long after appearing, several 'ponies' came out of the portals. Amazingly, they spoke English, and diplomatic relations are already being discussed, though things look good, so far. This may mark the beginning of a whole new era... one where humans are alone no longer in the world. We will just have to wait and see how this develops. In other news, there still has not been any sign of the four robbers who were attempting to escape police earlier today, but the search has been postponed for now..."