//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 - Two Background Ponies Run for Their Lives 
// Story: Two Background Ponies Go On An Adventure 
// by Piccolo Sky 
//------------------------------//

What small amount of light was at the end of the tunnel had gone out even faster than it had become visible. Now, Sam and Carl were back into darkness and despair. After the disastrous meeting, they walked the two blocks back to where Twilight was waiting. Unfortunately, it took longer than they wanted. Both a police wagon and a Canterlot chariot had rolled by, looking for them. Apparently, there were enough of them in town now where they were able to begin extensive sweeps of every lane in the metropolis. However, they finally returned to the princess. There, they gave her the news.
At that point, of course, she was so shocked that she demanded that they tell the police where to find her, but that was a futile gesture. After all, if she could just change into a different form, how would they peg her? Aside from that was the fact that there was little chance she’d still be there when they got back. Sam and Carl alike had the suspicion that she had just used that place as a “stopover”, and, in spite of the ghastly sight, had probably moved on. Besides, there was no way they could tell the police without tipping themselves off…and they needed to stay on the move to avoid the ponyhunter.
Twilight finally sighed and relented, although reluctantly. “…I guess you’re right. Besides, I think we’ll be better off against Chrysalis if we have Celestia with us.”
At that point, Sam and Carl looked to each other blankly a moment, before both rolled their eyes and looked back.
“Besides…there’s no telling what’s happened to Celestia since then…although I think it’s a safe bet to assume nopony let her out yet… Meaning we got to find her fast. This isn’t just about you two anymore. This is about all of Equestria, potentially.”
Of course, moving about and searching was more useless than ever. Both Sam and Carl were mostly sleep-deprived as well as starving at this point, and they could barely walk, let alone run or move fast, after everything that had happened. Their wits had almost left them, and between their barely-functional brains and the fact that the cops were stepping up their game, it took them hours just to finally get on foot to the same part of town.
After that, however, things went even worse. They wandered up one street and down the other, until it turned dark and they grew more tired, hungry, and weary than ever. Yet never did anything show up. As the night wore on, midnight came…reducing the time they had left to 12 hours…only 11 hours to meet the deadline Chrysalis set. At that, they all sat down for a breather. However, Sam and Carl were both looking hollow, fearful, and hopeless…although for different reasons. Twilight herself was rather tired and hungry by now and looked to them.
“Can you two think of anything…anything at all…from your trip to the bakery?”
Sam grimaced and shook his head. “No…nothing. Nothing that I can remember. Hell, we only went there by mistake to begin with.” He began to breathe hard. “It’s hopeless… Dawn’s dead…and I can’t even try to save her with my own dying breath… We’ve got no money, no leads…”
“Come on…don’t give into despair yet. We still have 12 hours. And I wouldn’t be such a good student if I didn’t know how to get through an all-nighter.” She looked up. “Carl…your talent is finding inconsistencies in things. Come on…we really need it right now. Sam needs it.”
Carl only gave a wince and a headshake. “It’s no use…I can’t do it. All I can think about right now is those Marble Creamery shakes…even knowing that I was being drugged the whole time! It’s getting worse! I feel cold and dizzy all over…like there’s something missing from my brain…”
Twilight sighed on hearing this. She looked to Sam afterward. “He’s going through withdrawals. He’s not going to be ‘himself’ for several days…maybe weeks.”
“We don’t have that time!” Sam responded. “Isn’t there, like, a spell or something that can instantly eliminate his addiction?”
The purple alicorn frowned. “…You know, magic isn’t really a ‘panacea’ for all things. You shouldn’t learn to grow reliant on it for every single time something goes wrong. There are times where solutions don’t have a ‘quick fix’ and you need to have the strength and talent that comes from your own character to get through them.”
Carl looked to her with a frown.
“Lady…unless you know any addresses where I can find a ‘1-Hour 12-Step-Program’, cut the After-School-Special bullsh’t and think up a spell that gets me clean.”
Twilight frowned back at him for a moment, but then finally rolled her eyes and sighed. “…Just find some place to sit.”
Luckily, they only had to walk a bit further before they came to a stop at a bench on the sidewalk. Carl moved to it and sat down, and Sam went to one side while Twilight went in front of him. She inhaled and exhaled a few times.
Sam watched her as she did this. “So…what’s the cure?”
“There’s no spell that can directly cure addiction.” Twilight explained. “So what I’m going to do is hit Carl with a ‘Psyche Scrambler’ spell. It’s somewhat analogous to setting a different baud rate on a transmitter than the receiver is reading at.”
Both Sam and Carl stared blankly.
Twilight sighed. “…Your brain is going to go on ‘static’.” She told Carl, before looking back to Sam. “After that, I hit him with a ‘Psyche Renabler’ spell, which resets him back to the ‘proper frequency’, you might say. Only in between, the addiction gets ‘phased out’. Now…here’s the problem. I don’t have any experience with this spell, which means that when I hit him with the ‘Psyche Renabler’, he might have an altered perception of reality. If that happens, the only thing to do is to scramble him again and then renable him again until we get it right.”
The blue stallion thought about this for a moment, but then finally sighed and shrugged. “Ok, fine, whatever… Whatever gets him ‘working’ again.”
Twilight looked to Carl next. “You ready?”
Carl’s look was dark as he stared back. “Ok, I hope when you ask me that, it’s because you really want to know and you’re not going to go ahead. Because the thought of you repeatedly scrambling my brain is something I’m definitely n-ZOOOOOOINT…”
The green stallion was cut off to the tune of a distorted voice as Twilight’s horn lit up and let a bolt of electricity snake out and strike him in the head, causing him to go rigid for a moment before he slumped down again, his mane losing all volume and his pupils forming different sizes before beginning to drift in random directions away from each other.
Sam winced a bit. “Er…did that hurt?”
“Probably.” Twilight answered as she concentrated for the next spell. “Alright, here we go…”
She blasted Carl with another bolt of electricity, causing him to spasm before his mane resumed and his eyes righted themselves. Now alert, he stared blankly forward as he sat on the bench. Both Twilight and Sam gave him a curious look.
“…Carl? You alright?”
Carl blinked a few times.
“…Sam?”
“…Yes, Carl?”
“I have a few concerns…”
Carl looked to Twilight, and then back to him. “…Um…yes, Carl?”
“Do we technically exist in the same world as Megan and her family? Or is she just imagining us? Is she the only one who can hear us speak or something? Why are all of our children just baby versions of one parent? And where the f**k did that goat/centaur/archdemon thing come from when most of the time we’re worried about sunshine and rainbows?! Is he in the right universe?!”
The blue stallion looked to Twilight. “Uh…what’s he talking about?”
“He must be perceiving a different reality…” Twilight answered.
“Huh?” Carl said as he turned to Twilight. He stared at her a moment. He leaned in close afterward, and was silent for a bit longer.
“…Moondancer? Why is your coat purple?”
Twilight’s horn glowed again and zapped him once more, once more turning him “off-line”.
Sam winced a bit on seeing that. “Er…the second time doesn’t hurt as much, right?”
“Unlikely.” Twilight answered as she zapped him again, making him return to the previous state of being spaced out and hunched over.
Sam swallowed, then leaned in. “Er…Carl?”
Immediately, he snapped to him. “Sam! Brain tumor!”
The blue stallion looked puzzled. “Huh?”
“It’s got to be a brain tumor, Sam! Or brain damage, at least… I mean, you can’t just get hit in the head and start talking to animals one day! Maybe that big-eyed kid isn’t talking to animals… Maybe she’s just psychotically imagining the whole thing as a result of that head trauma…”
Twilight cut Carl off by zapping him again. Sam once again winced at that.
“Er, wrong reality again.”
“…Is doing that multiple times in a row healthy?”
“I don’t think so. Let’s try again…”
Another zap, and Carl snapped back and leaned on the bench, shaking his head.
“Sam…the soldiers in the unit are armed to the teeth…and we know Cobra is armed to the teeth…and we shoot at each other several times a day on a daily basis…yet no one ever hits anyone! Don’t you find that amazing that no one’s dead yet? And why do we always do those after-school-special things?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Hey Sam…how does Megatron turning into a gun work? Does the gun weigh as much as he does as a full robot? Will he only lay on the ground unable to do anything unless another robot picks him up and pulls his trigger? Can’t one of us trick him into transforming and then just roll over him or stomp on him?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Sam, Rocko knew Filburt ever since they were kids, right? But Rocko didn’t come over to the USA until he was a young adult… Did Filburt live in Australia or something?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Does Acme Labs not have security footage or anything? You never see those two mice actually turning off any security systems when they escape out of their cage on their latest plan for world domination…”
Zap. Second zap.
“Would the inspector not have a success record at all if it wasn’t for Penny? And are her parents cool with just letting her go with him on secret agent missions? Did she lift that computer book from the agency or are her parents just superrich to give her one?”
Zap. Second zap.
“If monsters need human garbage both to produce fumes for them to breathe as well as a food source, how did they live before humans were around? Heck, before humans had trash piles?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Who gave birth to Princess Peach? Is there a Queen somewhere? Did she inherit the position? She ain’t no mushroom…”
Zap. Second zap.
“Why is one of Biff Tannon’s relatives in every time and place in history?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Shouldn’t anything technically kill Captain Planet?”
Zap. Second zap.
“If no one sees where Dr. Wily builds his endless supply of castles, how does Mega Man find them?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Was Obi-Wan being a wimp or an asshole by not finishing Vader off instead of leaving him to burn?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Did the Shinra Corporation just ‘quit and go home’ after they killed Zack rather than look to see if Cloud was in the area?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Why would Scott Pilgrim want to date a non-nerd girl obviously attracted to supervillains?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Couldn’t the Straw Hats have just sailed in the opposite direction to get to the end of the Grand Line?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Didn’t Belle technically live with the Beast for only, like, two days?”
Zap. Second zap.
“Why didn’t they just wish for Shenlong to destroy the life support systems in the Saiyan-Jin’s spaceships?”
Zap. Second zap.
“What the f*** happened in ‘End of Evangelion’?”
Zap. Second zap…and Twilight collapsed after she was done. Her horn was smoldering, as was Carl’s head. By now, everyone was looking rather overwhelmed from the whole chain of what had just happened. Sam stared blankly, Twilight was panting, and Carl looked like permanent damage may have been done. This time, he didn’t even say anything. He rolled his head around for a moment…before he fully collapsed out of the bench and fell to the ground. A moment later, Twilight moaned and passed out as well.
Sam, however, didn’t notice Twilight so much as what happened to Carl. After all, Twilight was just tired, but after hitting Carl with that spell so many times… He soon bent down to his side and put his hooves on him.
“Carl? You alright?”
No response. Carl’s look remained blank.
Sam began to wince. “Carl! Talk to me!”
Still no answer. It seemed like a fuse had blown.
Sam began to look anxious. He held a moment, but then finally groaned. “Carl…dude, I’m sorry about getting on your case about those stupid shakes! I didn’t know they were actually loaded with drugs! I just thought…I just thought…I thought it was just you being you! And I’m sorry! If I had actually done what my own talent was telling me, which is listening to people who have problems instead of thinking they’re just rambling about crap that’s not important, this wouldn’t have happened to you! And…” He groaned. “I didn’t mean that stuff I said earlier! You’re annoying and obsessive and you curse too much in public, but…you’re still my friend! And I can’t think of any other pony I’d like to be stuck with in this current situation besides you!”
Carl was unresponsive. Sam began to look more uncomfortable. His face began to quiver, beginning to wonder if this was more serious…if he would never wake up. But just as he was about to freak, Carl’s eyes slowly opened and stared at the night sky.
“Jockey.” Was the only word he said, very quiet and yet firm.
At first, the blue stallion was hopeful. But when he heard what Carl said, he began to grow uncomfortable, and then turned to Twilight, who was only now coming around herself. “I think we hit him too many times…”
Carl’s hoof suddenly shot out and seized Sam, causing him to snap around. At that, Carl looked up and stared straight into his eyes fiercely.
“Jockey, Sam.” He stated more straightforward. “While we were looking for the exit the other day off of the highway, there was an A and a B exit. As we passed by the A exit, I noticed it exited on ‘Jockey’, and I said: ‘Isn’t a jockey that demented, sick, twisted practice they have where one pony shoves a bit into another pony’s mouth and then gets on their back and rides them around?’”
“Hey!” Twilight suddenly interjected. “I let Spike do that to me once!”
Sam and Carl both looked to her. Their faces were twisted in puzzlement.
“That’s…not something I would normally confess to other ponies…”
“Seriously.”
Twilight blinked, and then blushed and hid her face. As for Sam and Carl, they looked to each other again. 
“Anyway…we exited on B after that. Sam…that’s the exit we took from the highway! That was the first turn on the path!”
Sam began to light up at that. “Yeah? Well…can you find out the rest of the directions?”
“Yeah, I think so! I can remember all my complaints I had the other day!”
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
Immediately, the two ponies began to get up and to their feet. Twilight, ignoring her embarrassment, soon began to do the same. Once all were up, they began to move down the street, looking for the nearest highway exit. Yet as they did, Sam looked to Carl one more time.
“Alright…so you’re finally over those milkshakes?”
Carl’s face turned to confusion, and he blinked.
“…What the hell is a ‘milkshake’?”
Sam looked blankly at that, then turned to Twilight. She gave a shrug.
“You can reintroduce them to him later.”





It took almost two hours to finally get back to the exit, considering how far they had gone and roamed, as well as the fact that they had to avoid police. Even if they weren’t fugitives, there were both roadblocks as well as the fact that one couldn’t get on the highway unless you were pulling a wagon normally. By that time, there were only ten hours until deadline. They were racing the clock now, and all of them felt their hearts racing as well. However, there was hope now…provided they could go fast enough.
On taking the exit, Sam looked around a bit, and lit up more. “You know…some of this place does look familiar!”
Twilight was focusing on Carl. “Alright, where do we go now?”
Carl continued to run down the street for a few minutes, then made a turn. “Right here.”
“You sure, Carl?” Sam asked.
“Positive.” The green stallion responded. “Look at the store on the corner.”
Both Sam and Twilight looked for a moment. Although it was dark and closed, they could see through the window as they came.
“It’s a glove store.” Twilight remarked.
“Exactly!” Carl responded. “We’re ponies! We only have four hooves! We’d need a shoe or boot store, not a glove store! I remember seeing that when we turned! Come on!”
The two tore down another street. They spent a couple minutes going down a few blocks, before Carl called out again.
“Another turn left here!”
“What is it this time?”
“I remember there was that advertisement there selling weather insurance!”
“So?”
“Dude, we know when all disasters are going to happen because of pegasi! It’s a scam because they’ll always claim the pony knew it was coming!”
The three made another turn and kept running down the new street. They had to run for several minutes more before Twilight, huffing and puffing, looked up to them.
“You two really had to go this long looking for the place to deliver too?”
“Well, it’s faster when you’re pulling a wagon.” Sam answered with a shrug.
“Sam, don’t distract me with new inconsistencies!” Carl retorted to that. “Right turn here! I’d know it anywhere! An ad selling a fine jeweled necklace for 2,000 bits!”
“…So?”
“So?! Sam, jewels are more plentiful in Equestria than iron ore! If you dig in the ground outside of town you’ll come home with at least a bucket full of raw diamonds! That thing should be worth 50 nibbles at the most! This way!”





Carl’s method was effective. Gradually, they made their way through the streets back to the location. However, time continued to work against them. The clock kept ticking, and Carl couldn’t get them there directly. He had to take them through all of the “side routes”, all of the wrong turns and weaves they had made on their initial trip. Hours continued to go by, one after another, especially as, not long after this point, the three had to worry about moving more carefully. Even in this part of town, there were still police officers, after all, along with Canterlot Royal Guards. This close to their destination, they couldn’t afford to be spotted.
As time went on, however, and the sky went from black to blue to lighter than that, Sam looked at a passing clock as they ran along. Grimacing, he looked back to the green stallion.
“Carl…it’s 6 AM. Come on, buddy…”
The pony soon slowed to a halt. He looked around for a moment. He gazed up one building, down the one nearby, and the street ahead. Sam and Twilight looked around as well, soon seeing that the building on the right looked rather familiar…and that there was a Speedy’s not far from where they were. Finally, Carl turned around and looked back to them. He paused a moment, and then nodded.
“Alright…I’m completely sure this is the warehouse where those foo dogs who switched our package were waiting.”
“How do you know?”
“…They’re standing right behind you two.”
Sam and Twilight both only had a moment to react before paws were slapped down on them from behind, and they were spun around to face a group of no less than eight rough-looking and irritable foo dogs. All of them gave them a glare, but in particular Sam. The blue stallion immediately noticed that most of them had rather bad pie burns on them. In particular, the one in the lead was the same one who had to “shuffle” to walk earlier.
“Well, if it ain’t the dead pony who pasted me in the rear end with a molten pie…” The foo dog snorted. “Where’s the money?”
Sam swallowed in response. He looked to Twilight, but she wasn’t risking a move right now. He looked behind him, but Carl was petrified. He wasn’t sure what to do himself. After a moment, he looked back to the foo dog. “Look…dude…I was only defending myself back there…”
“I said, ‘Where’s the money’?” The foo dog snapped. “Think before you answer, because if you aren’t going to pay up my boss, I’ve got no reason not to break every bone in your body.”
“We’ve got the money! We’ve got the money!” Sam immediately shot back, putting his hooves up defensively.
“Where?!”
“Well…” Sam swallowed. “Not on us…”
The shi began to tense up.
“Come on, man! You don’t think we’d be running around this part of town with 100,000 bits in our pockets, do you?” The blue stallion immediately insisted. “That’s crazy! Besides, you think I’m going to tell you where the money is if you’ll just kill us as soon as we tell you?”
“If you don’t tell me where the money is, I’m going to kill you.”
“Well I still want my girlfriend!” Sam shot back, again showing surprising volume and force uncharacteristic of him. It was enough to make the foo dog pause. “If you get my girlfriend from Nek Tuu Long and tell me where we can make the trade, the 100,000 bits are all yours! Then you can say you killed me and my girlfriend and keep the money for yourselves, all for not even having to worry about disposing of the bodies!”
One of the foo dogs shrugged here. “The price of lime is going up…”
The lead one gave him a look, making him whimper and cower, and then he looked back to Sam. He paused a moment, then looked to Twilight, and then back to Sam. He motioned to her. “Is that really Princess Twilight Sparkle?” He asked, casually enough.
Sam blinked a few times, and Twilight looked stunned. “…Of course. Can’t you tell?”
“All you Equestrians look alike to me.” The foo dog snorted. “You’re damn lucky, nag. You know you have a 250,000 reward on your head alone? 500 grand along with your ADD friend over there?”
“That’s obsessive-compulsive!” Carl shot back indignantly.
“And I can’t collect one nibble of that because I’m wanted too. So I’ll have to settle for the 100 grand. There’s a Rising Sun Food Services processing plant on 102nd and Main. Neighborhood is mob controlled. No cops there unless someone in the next block overhears someone dying and calls the police. You be there at the deadline…noon. We’ll have your girlfriend.”
“Alright. We’ll be there with some of the others from the delivery company.” Sam answered.
The foo dog looked puzzled. “The delivery company?”
“Yeah. That’s who we have holding onto the stuff for us…some of our co-workers from Solar Cycle. They hung onto the bits for us until we thought they’d be safe to move or spend.”
The thug looked upset at that, but Sam quickly interjected. “Hey…I thought it was bad business myself. And, frankly, they screwed us on this deal. They tried to keep it all for themselves. So…I really wouldn’t have a problem with you giving them a bloody nose to get it out of them.”
“We’ll give them and you worse than that if you try and cheat us.” The foo dog stated before nearly throwing Sam to the ground as he released him. “Don’t bother trying to cut town. Even if we weren’t watching all the ins and outs, the police are. So you better not try anything stupid…or get yourselves caught. Your filly’s dead if you do. Now get your ass out of here.”
Sam didn’t need any further prompting. After Twilight was likewise roughly released, and gave them a frown, Sam quickly turned her away and began to move back. They soon rejoined Carl, turned away, and all began to move. They continued to do so until they were both a good distance and the foo dogs turned and began to disperse.
At this, Carl looked to Sam. “What was that all about?”
“I’m forming a plan…” Sam answered. “Hopefully not one that falls through like all the other ones have until now. Just get us to the crate…”





Three more hours ticked by. It was getting harder. They were moving back to the “better” parts of town, where there were more police. They had to soon move to alleys or down side streets, which only “messed” Carl up even more. However, he continued to track the clues and went on farther and farther. The last few turns were made. Finally, after hours of moving, panting, running, and with the sun now in the air and the time going past 9 AM, Carl ground to a halt in the middle of the road.
“…What’s wrong?” Sam asked as he came in behind him.
“…I can’t find it.”
Both Sam and Twilight went wide-eyed. “Huh?”
“Dude…after we got to this point, I was so obsessed with just getting rid of the crate and hungry for shakes that I couldn’t think any more about inconsistencies!”
Sam began to let out a whine. “Carl…come on… Think of something…think of anything!”
He shook his head. “I can only think of one thing… ‘Somepony died on that last year’.”
Both Sam and Twilight looked at him in confusion. “…What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked.
“I have no idea!” Carl said with a helpless shrug. “All I can remember is ‘somepony died on that last year’, and I don’t know what it means! While I was going down this street, something made me think that…but I don’t know what!”
Sam rolled his eyes and groaned. Twilight exhaled. “We’ll just have to keep at it! We have to be close! Just look for a bakery!”
The blue stallion looked down, but gave a nod after a moment reluctantly. Carl, still trying to think, turned away and began to move again. Sam and Twilight started to follow…before a shaking, buzzing sound was heard. Instantly, they all froze and looked to Sam. They knew what that was…the conch. The blue stallion himself paused a moment, but then looked to his saddlebags. Before going for it, however, he looked to the sky. He seemed to think of something. Due to the delay, Twilight nearly asked what he was doing, but before she could say it, he went for the conch, tapped it, and held it to his head.
“We’re here.”
“For your sake, I hope you have the crate.” The voice came though on the other end, once again the male voice of Package Deal as opposed to Chrysalis’ “insectoid” tone.
Sam moistened his lips.
“…Sort of.”
A pause resulted. “What do you mean ‘sort of’?”
“The Vices managed to get ahold of it, and they’re not happy about you taking their drugs.”
Another pause, followed by an angry tone. “If you foals know what is good for you, you better not have told them about me…”
“We didn’t!” Sam immediately stated. “That doesn’t change the fact they want either the drugs or their money! And they said they won’t give up the crate to us unless they get it! And since you have our money, we can’t very well get the crate without it!”
An angry sneer on the other end of the line. “Insipid fools… Can’t rely on anyone, can we? We have to do every little thing ourselves… Very well. It’s not like anyone will miss them if we eat them. Where will they be?”
“The Rising Sun Food Services processing plant on 102nd and Main, at noon sharp.”
“My minions and I will be there, but we won’t take a step in that building until we see you enter first. And If I so much as smell a Canterlot Royal Guard, I’ll make sure you both suffer dearly for it.”
“There won’t be…just the guys who have the crate.”
The conch shell clicked. Both Twilight and Carl looked to Sam as he ran along and shoved it in his saddlebags. Twilight, in particular, turned her head a bit.
“I think I’m starting to get your plan in mind…”
“Hopefully they make enough noise to get the police to come running, especially now.” Sam answered. “But none of this will work unless we get that crate. On that note, everypony keep looking…”





Unfortunately, after another hour ticked by…the three still had found nothing. They ventured forward down the road but, on seeing nothing after a while, they turned and headed back. Seeing nothing that way either, they went down the road again. Still seeing nothing, they came back. By now, another hour had passed. The sun was fairly high and 10 AM came by. Only two hours were left, and still they couldn’t find it. They began to get rather nervous, especially when they looked at the clock as it chimed.
Twilight swallowed. “Only two hours left… Assuming we go straight through all the roadblocks, onto the highway, and then straight…we’ll still be cutting it close even if we leave right now.”
“Still no sign of anything, either…” Sam stated nervously. “Carl…there had to be something else.”
“There wasn’t, dude.” Carl responded. “Just what I told you…”
Sam groaned. This was taking too long. They had to find this place soon before it was too late. But where? They had been up and down this road four times now, but it still didn’t show itself. He thought they’d be a sign somewhere, but it was likely the last turn they made was when the sign was lit up and at a distance. Right now, there was no way to get it. All they had were painted signs saying…
Suddenly, he spotted something. He actually slowed in his step. After a moment, Carl and Twilight both noticed him, and stopped as well to look at him.
“…What is it?”
“Look!” Sam stated as he pointed to a turn of a corner. 
The two other ponies looked, and saw there was a large painted sign with an arrow gesturing one way. It was marked: “Mont Blanc”.
“…So?”
“That’s it!” Sam exclaimed. Immediately, he took off for that turn. Carl and Twilight were both puzzled, but soon ran after him.
“What’s it?” Carl called.
“Mont Blanc! Remember last winter when we were having hot chocolate and you looked at the paper and you said: ‘Why would those two ponies who died on Mont Blanc be dumb enough to climb it during the winter?’ Plus, a ‘Mont Blanc’ is a chestnut dessert! You must have thought that when you saw the name of the bakery! All the bakeries in this town look like they’re named after food!”
Carl paused, but then lit up. “…You’re right! Wait…Sam…that means you do listen to me when I ramble about crap!”
“Of course I do, dude!” Sam answered as he turned the corner. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“…I…kind of thought you always just wished I’d shut up and eat the cookies or whatever.”
Sam sighed. “Carl…I’ve told you before. Just because you annoy me to death sometimes doesn’t mean I never listen to you! If I didn’t listen to you, how could I even get annoyed?”
Carl didn’t answer that, although he thought about it for a moment, and seemed to see the logic in it. Yet before he could think to hard, he looked up and forward. Sam soon did the same, as did Twilight. Sure enough, as they went closer and rounded another building, they saw a sight they recalled…the lot of a bakery. On a large, yet not illuminated, sign, it read simply: “Mont Blanc Bakery: 24/7”.
“We found it!” Sam cried.
“Ha-ha!” Carl shouted in glee.
“Let’s get that crate open and head back immediately!” Twilight shouted. “Hopefully Celestia can fly us or teleport us or something…”
The two immediately rushed straight for the main entrance. They threw all other caution aside, including if anyone was nearby, watching, how many wagons were in the lot, or even the inside of the place. Like most businesses similar to this, it had large glass doors and pane windows so one could easily look inside, but the three instead went to the front. Once there, Twilight’s horn lit up and grabbed the handle, giving it a pull.
A loud click rang out, and nothing else.
Twilight blinked. “Huh?”
The three ponies stopped. Twilight tried to pull the handle again…but nothing. She yanked on it a few times, but still nothing.
Carl frowned. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s locked.” Twilight answered. 
“Locked? It’s a 24 hour bakery!” The green stallion retorted.
“Look!” Sam announced, pointing above the door. The other two looked as well, and soon saw a piece of paper taped to it. Twilight leaned in and read it aloud.
“’Store Closed Until Wednesday – Replacing Mixers’.”
“Ugh!” Sam groaned, rolling his eyes. “We don’t have time for that! Can’t you use some sort of unlocking spell?”
Twilight frowned. “If unicorns could just unlock ‘whatever’, there’d be no point to locking things in the first place. This is an iron lock. It negates magic.”
Carl frowned and began to look around, soon running off to one side. Again, Sam and Twilight failed to notice as they looked to one another. “Well…don’t you know any lockpicking techniques? I mean, you read a lot, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah! But usually I know if something is going to arise before I start researching!”
“Doesn’t this come up a lot? I mean, you go on lots of adventures, right?”
“…You know, Sam, I’m getting a bit tired of you constantly looking to me for solutions. Just this once, can’t you try and solve your own problem?”
“There’s nothing I can do and I don’t have time! I mean, listening to the lock isn’t really going to get it open!”
“Well, why don’t you…WHOA!”
Twilight suddenly recoiled. Sam looked to the source, and soon gasped and recoiled as well…watching Carl as he ran up to the window, holding a rather heavy trash can over his head and grunting as he ran up to it. He was moments from flinging it when Sam quickly interjected.
“Carl, what the hell are you doing?!”
“No time to argue, Sam!” The green stallion replied. “Besides, a bit of petty vandalism is worth it if it saves our asses and Dawn’s, right?”
“Carl-”
“Dude, relax! This is just breaking glass! It’s something a foal would do playing ball! Besides, we’re saving somepony! It was for a good cause!”
“Carl!”
Without waiting any longer, however, Carl tossed the heavy garbage can and, just as intended, it shattered the largest pane in the front window, landing inside the bakery to the tune of dozens of shards of broken glass. And the second it did so…a very loud magic alarm immediately began to blare with the sound of a fire siren. Twilight, Sam, and Carl all looked wide-eyed for a moment, frozen in position, before Sam began to turn purple again as he looked to Carl, who moistened his lips.
“…Didn’t really plan on there being an alarm, though.”
“Just move fast before every cop in the city gets here!” Sam shouted.
“Alright…everypony, knock some of the broken glass out of the frame before you run in!” Twilight called. “Otherwise you may end up cutting yourself really…”
Before she could finish, she trailed off…watching Sam and Carl simply jump through the window. She frowned and rolled her own eyes before flapping her wings to get her in through the open window, far from the glass.
The three wasted little time once inside. Immediately, they charged past the tables and chairs, knocking over most of them in the process, leapt over the counter, and burst into the baking area in the back. As soon as the three went in, they froze and noticed it was large…quite a bit bigger than Sugarcube Corner. However, they immediately broke in three separate directions and began to go through everything, looking for the crate. At first the large storage areas were checked, but there was nothing there. They looked in corners or pallets off the floor, but found nothing. Eventually, they looked in smaller cabinets and cupboards, but still nothing. Getting desperate, they began to look everywhere by default, including drawers, mixing bowls, and cookie jars. All the while, the siren continued to blare.
Finally, after having torn up the kitchen utterly, the three ran to the center and met with each other again.
“She’s not here!” Sam exclaimed.
“That’s impossible!” Carl retorted. “They can’t just ‘shove away’ a box that big!”
“But we’ve looked everywhere!” Twilight insisted. “Are you sure this is the right bakery?”
“Sure, I’m sure! It looks familiar and everything!” Carl answered.
Sam paused a moment…before his face fell slightly. Slowly, he looked to Carl with yet another glare.
“Carl…do you remember when the crate had a break in it, you posted a sticker over it that said: ‘Freeze on arrival’?”
Carl turned to him and began to nod. “Yeah, I d…”
The green stallion trailed off as his face turned to horror. Twilight looked twice as horrified, and Sam himself began to look even more nervous. Immediately, the three took off like a crack of a whip for the door to the freezer. They nearly fought over who got to open it first, but finally they managed to rip it open, nearly tearing it off in the process, and then burst inside.
A few seconds later, and a fridge-sized crate marked with tape that read “Freeze on Arrival” and “Industrial Crate – Sprinkles” underneath was quickly pushed out and into the open. Once there, the three immediately ripped away the tape as fast as they could, tore away the latches, and then ripped it so violently from all sides that the wooden sides of it fell down. They soon gaped in more anguish and shock than ever.
In a box-mold, perfectly shaped, was a solid prism of ice…with Princess Celestia suspended inside of it like a bizarre sculpture. She seemed to have curled up as best as she could and froze once in that position.
Sam and Carl practically began to sound like spastic squirrels as they stammered and glared at it. 
“P-P-P-P-P…”
“Ohsh’tohsh’tohsh’tohsh’t…”
“F-F-F-F-F…”
“We’ref**kedwe’ref**kedwe’ref**kedwe’ref**ked…”
“…She’s a block of ice!!”
“I can see that, Carl!!”
“We’re infinitely dead, man! Which level of Hell do you get thrown into for killing a goddess?!”
“Guys…”
“Hey, you’re the one who did this, Carl!”
“Guys!”
“Oh, so now it’s my fault? You backstabbing piece of-”
“Guys!”
Both Sam and Carl snapped to Twilight, who was holding her hooves up in a stopping gesture.
“Don’t freak out! Ponies can survive being completely frozen for up to three weeks! She’s alive!”
The two ponies hesitated for a moment, and then both looked confused. “Uh…we can?”
“How else do you think those three rulers survived the first Hearth’s Warming Eve long enough to thaw out?”
Carl blinked for a moment, and then snapped his hooves and looked to Sam. “I knew something never felt right about that story. One less inconsistency on my mind…”
“Alright then…let’s get her out of this!” Sam immediately responded. “Don’t you know an instant-thawing spell?”
Twilight frowned. “I do…but that doesn’t matter! I can’t use any more magic for a while!”
Both Sam and Carl looked to her in surprise at this. “What?!”
“Come again?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “…I don’t suppose you two are familiar with the concept of ‘magic points’, are you?”
Both earth ponies stared back silently.
“…Magic points? MP? Things that let you cast spells?”
“…Not really.” Sam finally said.
“Well I’m out!” Twilight answered. “Casting that spell on Carl over and over again drained me! I won’t start recovering for another hour!”
Both of them froze again. They looked to Celestia, then back to her.
“Well…what do we do, then?”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do…” Carl retorted. “But those sirens are still going off, so we better do it somewhere else!”
“How?!” Sam retorted.
The three ponies stared at each other blankly for a moment.





About three minutes later, as the sirens continued to blare from the bakery and, far in the distance, the sounds of more sirens began to come in, a block of ice containing an alicorn goddess was slowly pushed out of the door, which had been unlocked from the inside. On the other side, Sam, Carl, and Twilight pushed it for all they were worth, to the tune of loud dragging. Finally, they managed to push her fully out onto the sidewalk. Immediately, Sam and Twilight slumped. Carl fell on top of Celestia’s ice block, lay there a second, and then leapt off again.
“Ow! That thing will give you frostbite! Sheesh, I can only imagine how agonizing and painful it was for Princess Celestia…”
Both Sam and Twilight looked up to glare daggers at him. Realizing what he had said, Carl swallowed. “Er…sorry.”
Sam grunted and began to rise. As he did, he turned his head to the sky, hearing the second set of sirens coming fast. He began to sweat. “That’s the cops coming…we’re dead.”
“Just show them the princess!” Twilight insisted as she began to rise as well. “That will clear you!”
“Like hell it will!” Carl responded. “They’ll accuse us of trying to leave her ‘sleeping with the fishes’ or ‘hung out to dry’ or ‘frozen with the ice cream’…or something.”
“Not to mention Dawn is still dead unless we get to that meeting!” Sam responded.
“Well even if there weren’t police coming, we can’t push Celestia all the way back to 102nd and Main!” Twilight retorted. “What can we do?”
Before anyone could say anything or think of anything, a loud squeal suddenly tore out. The three immediately turned to the source, and were just in time to see a wagon tear around a corner nearby. Soon after doing so, it shot around in a snap and rocketed straight for the group, before yanking to a halt right next to them. The three were stunned, but looked over it for a moment before their brains clicked. 
“My wagon!” Carl exclaimed. He actually ran up to it and began to pet the side of it. “Oh man…I’ve never been so happy to see my Heavy piece of crap before!”
Sam looked around a bit. “But…how did it…?” He began to say, before looking to the front of the vehicle.
He was just in time to see the gremlin disconnecting himself from the harness, his hands formerly grasping the slats like they were a rickshaw. After doing so, he hopped out and moved in front of the group. Sam and Carl both gaped in astonishment on seeing him, however.
“…You?” Carl exclaimed.
“And it was no picnic, either.” The gremlin grumbled. “You know how hard it was to sneak this loud hunk of junk out of the impound lot? I had to chew through the boot they put on it!”
“But…how did you find us?” Sam asked.
The gremlin snorted. “Hello? ‘Gremlin Navigational System’, remember?”
Sam and Carl stared for a moment, before Sam frowned and looked to Carl again. “…You never once thought to check the navigational system of where you had been?”
Carl frowned at him. “You didn’t either, smartass.” He looked back to the gremlin and let out an exhale. His face brightened a bit. “Well…dude…what can I say? You just saved our butts big time.”
“Spare me, you jackass.” He snorted.
“Hey!” A donkey’s voice said from a window on the second floor of a building nearby.
“IT’S AN EXPRESSION!” Sam, Carl, Twilight, and the gremlin all yelled at once back to it, before they looked to each other.
“I didn’t do it to save you two.” The gremlin went on, before he smiled pleasantly and turned to look to Twilight. “I did it for our fair princess here.”
Twilight smiled back just pleasantly, as the gremlin came forward and took her hoof and kissed it. “That time you spent trapped in my room in the trunk was the most enlightening few hours of my life. Thanks to you, I feel so much more alive and purpose-driven. And as a result, I am giving up my life as a navigational system and pursuing a career in pathology.” 
Twilight smiled a bit more, before the gremlin broke off and began to run down the street. Yet as he did, he turned, blew Twilight a kiss, and waved. “I’ll never forget you, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
Soon, the gremlin turned and ran off into the distance…leaving the two staring blankly after him. After a moment, they turned back to Twilight. She smiled a moment, then gave a shrug.
“He had some older brother issues.” Pause. “…What, did you think all I did for four hours was wait for you to open the trunk? Now let’s get Celestia in the wagon!”
“Alright…” Sam answered as he looked to Carl, snapping out of it. “Then both of us hitch up to the wagon and run faster and harder than we ever had in our lives!”
Carl grimaced at that. “…Sam, I don’t know how to tell you this, but part of the reason I wasn’t going full speed is my package has taken so many hits today that I’m not sure ‘full-speed running’ is an option…”
Sam frowned. “Come on man, this is our last run! And we’ve got to go as fast as possible! We’ll probably have to outrun the cops, plus we have an hour and forty-five minutes to be there!”
The green stallion hesitated a moment, but then shrugged. “…Aren’t alicorns supposed to be pretty fast?”
Sam blinked on hearing that. Slowly, both he and Carl turned and looked to twilight. The purple alicorn grimaced slightly and began to recoil…





“…You know, guys…between you kidnapping me, freezing Celestia, and now making me pull your wagon…our relationship is beginning to be a bit ‘strained’.” Twilight said grumpily as she stood next to Sam in the slats at the front of Carl’s wagon, hitched up and ready to move.
It had taken less than a minute to put Celestia into the back of the wagon, although they had to throw out a lot of junk and she herself was rather heavy to lift. But with the sirens growing more distinctive all the time, panic helped them to tough through grabbing the cold surfaces and putting her in. Once on board, Carl hopped in the back to steady her. Sam and Twilight lashed themselves to the front.
However, no sooner had they gotten done, and Twilight made her statement, when Carl looked up and behind them. He was just in time to see not one but two different policewagons rounding corners and beginning to shoot straight for them.
“Just get this thing in gear!” He cried in response. “We’ve got company!”
“Alright! Full speed!” Sam yelled, rearing up on his own hooves. Twilight groaned and did once herself, before landing her hooves along with Sam and taking off as fast as they could. In moments, the wagon was off like a shot, rocketing down the street. Seconds later, the policewagons rolled up to where they had been. Not stopping for a moment, they immediately took off after the wagon. Not only that, but two more pulled out of the alleys behind and went after them as well.
As Sam and Twilight picked up speed, they suddenly saw two more police wagons rip out of either side of the street ahead of them, quickly closing in to try and cut them off. Apparently, the Manehattan Police Department had put two and two together, and hadn’t taken this break-in lightly. The entire force looked like it had been called down on that area. However, they were just a second too slow. Sam and Twilight, to a snap and a jerk that threw Carl around a bit, managed to “shoot the gap” and keep going…leaving a roadblock that stopped the rest of the policewagons behind them. A moment later, they shot through another gap as two more policewagons came out and tried to stop them, but still managed to get clear with one of the policeponies just scraping the side of their vehicle. After that, the two roadblocks stalled the police, who had to disentangle themselves before they could keep going.
“Alright! We made it!” Sam exclaimed.
“Head left!” Twilight stated. “We’re going to the highway!”
Sam’s joy ebbed. “What? That thing will have more roadblocks than here!”
“We don’t have a choice!” The princess responded. “We’ll never make it to the other side of town if we don’t!”
Sam groaned, but then looked behind him. “Carl? Any chance on getting Celestia out of there anytime soon?”
He soon reacted in puzzlement. Carl was “working on it”…sort of. At the moment, he was breathing as hard as he could on the ice block and rubbing it with his hoofs, melting about two drops at a time.
“…I think my hoof will go numb long before that, Sam. Or I’ll hypoventilate…”
Sam would have facehooved if he could. “Carl, think of something better!”
The green stallion paused a moment, but then looked down in his wagon. After throwing a few things around, he came out with a hammer and a screwdriver. Putting the screwdriver on the block, he got ready to hit it.
Luckily, Twilight spotted this before he could, and gasped. “You can’t do that! You might shatter the princess if you don’t let her thaw first!”
Carl frowned and threw the hammer and screwdriver down. “Not leaving me with a whole lot of options, you two. Let me see if I can find that magic heated ice scraper I got last Hearth’s Warming Eve…”
As he went toward the back of the wagon, however, a sound of roaring wheels suddenly peeled in behind them. Carl looked up at that, and saw that, in addition to the police wagons that had ordered themselves and were now charging after them en masse…and had other police wagons soon beginning to join them…another wagon had “joined the running”, whipping out from an alley and charging straight for them.
A classic red Charger…being pulled by a solid piece of muscle in pony form, glaring at their wagon with those soulless reflective sunglasses.
Carl began to quiver all over. “Uh…Sam? Princess? We’ve got an old friend behind us.”
Both Sam and Twilight looked to their rear view mirrors just as they reached the exit and began to ascend it. On seeing who was there, both of them went white.
“Oh boy…” Twilight muttered.
“Don’t stop now! Run harder!” Sam shouted.
The two tore up the ramp as fast as they possibly could. At the top of it…a group of police ponies were already erecting a barricade, but luckily it was made of wooden rails rather than wagons. However, it did have numerous police ponies readying magic gauntlets and ducking behind it, aiming for the wagon. If that wasn’t enough, as Sam looked up, he saw a familiar pony with a megaphone posted in front of it, glaring at them darkly as he spoke into it.
“It’s all over, Sistency and Listens-to-Carl’s Problems!” Lt. Gum Shoe blared. “Stop the vehicle and put your hooves up or we’ll open fire!”
Twilight looked considerably anxious. “There’s too many! We have to do what they say!”
“No way!” Sam snapped back, only putting on more speed. “I’m not getting eaten by a cannibalistic pony this close to the end of all of this mess!”
With the wagon picking up speed, Twilight grimaced but had no choice to run hard as well. As they did so, Carl looked forward himself, and saw the blockade. Gum Shoe stared a moment, but then sneered and quickly pulled the megaphone away and moved to one side, while the other officers armed with magic gauntlets took aim and readied to fire.
As Carl saw this, he panicked a moment, before quickly looking through the things in the wagon. A moment later, he saw something. In a flash, he snapped down, and came back up with the bottle of baby oil and the jar of peanut butter he found earlier. Quickly, he scooped out some of the peanut butter, unscrewed the baby oil, dropped it inside, shook it up hard, and then snapped around and squirted the bottle, soon sending out a powerful stream that splashed across both Twilight and Sam. At first, they were both shocked and disgusted…but when the magic blasts began to fire…they simply bounced off of the two as a result of the magic-repelling mixture. Seeing that their weapons were doing nothing, the police ponies gaped in shock before jumping to one side…just in time to have Sam and Twilight bust through the barricade and tear onto the highway. Narrowly missing a few other fast moving wagons, they broke onto it and quickly merged, soon tearing down the road.
“Whoo-hoo!” Sam yelled in triumph. “Carl, you did something smart for once!”
“…What do you mean ‘for once’?!”
“Dude, forget it…you just saved us!”
“Good! You get the next one!” Carl shouted back. “Because 'Widow-Maker' is closing in fast!”
Sam’s smile faded, and he looked to the rearview mirror again. Sure enough, Atlas and his Charger were still hot on their heels and had even closed the distance. And farther behind him, the stream of policewagons were ripping past the remains of the barricade and staying tight behind them. They were far from in the clear.
“We’ve got to go faster, princess!”
“Ugh…you’re asking the wrong pony!” Twilight retorted. “It’s my friends who are the fast ones! This is my limit!” She groaned. “I knew I should have read that one book on fleeing the entire police force and special troops in times of crisis…”
Ignoring her, Sam called back. “Carl, you’ve got to stop him!”
“With what?!”
“Anything! Any piece of junk you can find to throw at him!”
Carl grimaced, and then began to look around behind him. After a moment, he yanked out a disposable cup he had long since emptied and threw it out at Atlas. He followed up with some old, fossilized cookies, and then a few wrappers.  Naturally, assuming any of these things came anywhere near Atlas, he moved right by them without changing, or ripped through them.
“Any luck?” Sam called after a moment.
“…Other than adding littering to our list of charges? Not really…” Carl muttered back. “Come on…there’s got to be something in here I can use…”
Atlas and his wagon were getting close now, enough to where Carl could hear him snorting. Finally, Carl yanked out the hammer from before. Giving a shrug, he turned to Atlas and flung the hammer straight at his head. He didn’t even flinch as it came, even though the hit was good and the solid iron part struck him right in between the eyes. The blow didn’t do anything to him personally…but it did fracture the sunglasses. As a result, he winced as the shards broke off into his eyes. Seeing his brief advantage, mostly out of panic, Carl quickly flung the screwdriver as well. However, it was way off this time, especially since the temporarily blinded Atlas went to one side. Instead, the tool shot like a dart straight into the wagon wheel of his Charger and sank in through the point, leaving the handle protruding. As it rolled forward more, the “stuck out” portion struck the ground…and immediately made the entire vehicle surge and rock violently, moving to flip. 	Carl, blinking in astonishment, watched as he saw the whole wagon go to the side and into a violent tumble, yanking Atlas along with it. It immediately lost speed even as it rolled forward, and soon after it rolled back into the police wagons behind it, colliding with them and smashing them and the drivers up, creating a “domino effect” that soon smashed up even more as they rolled back. Although it caused a lot of destruction, which both Sam and Twilight were privy to thanks to the rear view mirrors, Carl pumped his hoof in victory.
“Yes! I nailed him!”
Twilight, however, winced. “You also took down at least twenty police officers! You know…I’ve got to try and get you out of this at some point! I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t too many law ponies in the hospital!”
Sam, meanwhile, looked forward as they ran along. As he went by one exit, he grimaced on seeing that a group of police had already set up another barricade there. He swallowed before looking to Twilight. “We’re going to have to run this fast all the way… I’m not even sure they won’t already have our way blocked by the time we get there!”
The princess grimaced at him. “Worse than that…we’re going to have more and more police following us the longer we stay out here! Look!”
She gestured with her horn to the sky. Sam looked up, and soon grimaced as he saw flying Canterlot Chariots pulled by Royal Guard Pegasi beginning to come down and over overhead, keeping an eye on their car as they went on down the highway.
Sam groaned. “We got to find a way to lose these guys!” He shouted back to Twilight over the sound of the wagons and wings. He looked behind him again. “Carl! What else do we have left back there?”
Carl was about to respond, when his mouth shut again. He spotted something from the rows of police wagons behind them. As their own wagon pulled past a large “semi-tractor-wagon” being pulled by a team of eight large ponies, he thought he saw an object go into the air and then sink again in the crowd of police vehicles. He blinked for a moment, thinking he saw an optical illusion. Yet as he looked again…he saw the object leap out and land again…this time revealing itself to be a coal black pony before vanishing into the crowd.
The green stallion began to gape. “No way…”
A moment later, and the hulking form of Atlas shot out from the police wagons, arched through the air, and landed on one of the police wagons. In spite of the fact that his sheer impact smashed it flat and sent the police ponies crying out and spiraling out of control, he launched himself up and overhead in a physics-defying arc before smashing down on top of the semi-tractor-wagon. Carl looked up to him in horror.
As he did so, he saw Atlas, nothing more than dirt on him, rising up to full height on the wagon and glaring down at him. The wind whipped around him, but he was oblivious and unmoving to it.
The green stallion gulped, before he looked around a bit. After a moment, however, his eyes lit up on a bunch of luggage “bungees” nearby. Quickly, he scooped up a few of them, linked them together, and then fashioned them into a crude grappling hook before swing it over his head and looked to Atlas as the semi picked up speed, bringing him closer.
“Heh-heh…time for a case of roadrash, asshole!”
He snapped his crude grapple out for the coal black monstrosity, meaning to hook into him and give a snap to yank him into the highway.
Without shifting anything else, the Augean pony’s hoof shot out, snatched the hooked end, and gave a quick snap to yank Carl with a jerk off of the wagon and up onto the semi…right in front of him. He even landed on his feet. The green stallion’s cockiness evaporated as he stared blankly at the ponyhunter looking over him.
The most frightening thing was that, in true “hellish pony” fashion, his eyes were red and yellow with serpentine irises seeming to stare into his soul. 
Swallowing, he dropped his end of the bungee, and gave a shrug.
“…Sorry.”
He gagged a moment later as Atlas snapped out a hoof that not only knocked him to the ground, but also began to press against his windpipe in a throttling move. From nearby, Sam and Twilight both looked to this and gaped, but could do little.
“Carl!”
As for the green stallion, he gagged and struggled, for all the good it did. Atlas himself only continued to push down more and more upon him, looking like he would pop his head off long before he choked him. For a moment, he was panicked and in pain, unable to move or react…when his eyes spotted something…one of the chariots shooting by overhead…
Immediately, his hoof felt out around him for a moment. It fumbled for a second or two, all the while the pressure, pain, and oxygen deprivation increasing, before he finally managed to seize the end of his “grappling hook”. With all the strength he could muster, he yanked it back, swung it around a bit, and then flung it up into the air. By a miracle, it caught the axle of one of the chariots as they went by and hooked. Quickly, Carl brought his hoof to his mouth and chomped down on the cord, holding tight as the chariot went by…ripping him out from beneath Atlas and bearing him off into the air.
Carl instantly clutched the cord for dear life as he saw the road and Manehatten itself shoot by below, releasing his teeth and clutching it with all four hooves. Sam and Twilight looked up in response, seeing him being borne away, while Atlas immediately shot to his own hooves and glared coldly at him. A moment later, his head twitched to one side, spotting another chariot flying low. Immediately, he squatted and leapt into the air…leaving an indentation in the semi before he sailed up and landed right in the chariot. The Canterlot Guard driving it snapped to him in alarm and shock, only to have him glare back, before speaking coldly.
“…Get out.”
Immediately, the guard grinned nervously, nodded, and then jumped out of the side…before extending wings and flying to safety. As for Atlas, he took the reins and snapped them, immediately spurring the pegasi on and making them shoot after Carl’s chariot.
The green stallion let out a curse. Luckily for him, the driver for his own chariot, while looking around to try and see why they were losing altitude, turned and looked behind him…and let out a cry as he saw a very large and intimidating pony flying right after him. Soon, he snapped his own reins, and Carl’s own chariot took off like a shot. Unfortunately, as they were going along, the wind whipped him around on the bungee rather hard and fast, causing him to cry out as he spun this way and that, shooting into the streets of Manehattan, going around buildings and over them, before snapping out and going back to the highway, only to do more of the same.
Sam and Twilight were helpless to do anything. Twilight’s magic hadn’t regenerated, and the police were not only still on their heels, but more came every second. They couldn’t do much more than shout out moral support, and even that was slipping considering the fact that they were running out of breath from all the running. Carl felt like an already-dead fish on his own line, not to mention would have puked long ago if his belly wasn’t empty, but through it all he managed to catch the fact that his pursuer was closing the distance.
Swallowing, Carl began to look around a bit, but he had nothing. Some of the bungee had gotten entangled around him, but other than that he had no weapons or objects of any kind that he could use to defend himself with, or offer any resistance. Looking overhead again, he saw that Atlas was angling his chariot toward the one he was attached to, clearly meaning to jump on. And when that happened, he’d be reeled in within a snap…
Finally, however, he saw a slight ray of hope. They were headed back to the highway again, moving to intersect the path of Sam and Twilight with their own cart. Not only that, but they were nearing a sign stretched over the road that indicated exits…a chance…
As he spotted this, he saw Atlas leap again, his force so strong it knocked his own chariot out of the sky, and the pegasus drivers yelled in fright before colliding with a building side. He, however, sailed through the air and landed on the chariot, immediately crowding out that driver as well, a unicorn this time, who barely managed to balance himself with his horn before going splat. The chariot went over the highway, and reached the sign. As Atlas looked over the edge to try and grab the bungee, Carl made his move…quickly yanking out with the other hooked end and lashing it around the passing sign crossbeam, before leaping off and for the wagon.
Atlas seized the bungee and gave a yank…only to find his quarry gone. As for Carl, he landed in the wagon, right on top of the stiff and still-frozen Celestia for a rather jarring impact, yet still in the right spot. As for Atlas, he looked in confusion for only a moment, before he quickly saw the line run out and snap taut. He had just a moment to show genuine surprise before the force yanked the chariot, immediately ripping it out of the sky at an angle, causing it to swing in an arc before the force ripped out the base of the chariot all together and sent it flying.
Atlas, the two drivers, and the chariot tumbled through the air for a few moments in free fall. The two pegasi, somehow, in their panic, managed to undo their lashings, and then quickly flew for it. But Atlas, still earth-bound, was only able to spill around for a few moments before he evened out, grasping the chariot cab as best he could, before showing more surprise. He was headed right for the window at the side of a tall factory, and soon went right through and shot inside.
A tremendous commotion and series of destructive noises were audible even from the highway, as Carl looked up and over to the building Atlas had smashed into. As he continued to hear more chaos from the impact, he looked over to the side of it to see its sign.
Cliff Hanger’s Rat Traps, Saw Blades, Power Drills, Jagged Glass Pieces, Highly Concentrated Acid Vials, and Napalm Emporium.
As he finished reading, a small eruption went off before a flaming cloud of smoke arose from the broken window. Carl swallowed a bit, but then exhaled and cracked his neck before giving a small salute.
“And an era in Equestria comes to an end…”
After that, he began to crawl toward the front of the wagon. Both Sam and Twilight, panting, sweaty, and out of breath, looked back to him.
“Carl? Are you alright?”
“You didn’t break the princess when you landed, did you?”
The green stallion paused a moment, then pointed a hoof at Sam. “Yes, aside from being shaken up. Thank you.” He then pointed a hoof at Twilight. “Screw you.” After that, he looked behind him. “…Wow. I didn’t know there were that many policeponies in this city…not to mention that many Canterlot Royal Guards… On that note, you two…they’re getting closer.”
“Not much we can do about that, Carl…” Sam said in between slight pants. “We’re already running as fast as we can! And we’re getting tired out!”
“Besides, even if we stay away from them, if we don’t find a way to lose them, we’ll lure them right to where we’re meeting the Vices and Chrysalis!” Twilight maintained. “Then the whole plan will fall through!”
“What have we got left, Carl?” The blue stallion shouted.
Carl quickly looked through his wagon, and soon grimaced.
“Well…that ice scraper…my flashlight…some face-wiping fluid…a spare wagon wheel…a small bungee…and some ugly orange plate that got broken last New Year’s…”
Twilight snapped her own head around and looked to Carl at that. He gave a shrug as he held up the parts to her. She stared a moment, and then wheeled forward.
“Alright! Listen to me and do exactly as I say!” She immediately spoke in a firm command.
Both Sam and Carl looked to her in puzzlement at that, for her face suddenly turned rather fierce and focused, not to mention concentrating, like she was trying to remember something. However, Carl grimaced before getting the things.
“Crack open the lens of the flashlight and wedge one of the pieces of plate inside it! Make sure its one of the heavily orange pieces!”
Carl didn’t know what that meant, but gave a shrug and did as he was told. After some work, he managed to make one.
“Now take the fluid and fill the interior with it until the piece is submerged inside the flashlight head! Make sure not to spill any!”
The green stallion uncapped the fluid and began to do so. The police continued to close in on them. They had cleared the last barricaded exit, but by now they had almost everyone in pursuit from both Canterlot and Manehattan, and they were closing.
“Alright, I got it!”
“Tie that end to one of the spokes of the wagon wheel with the broken end facing the interior! Make sure the fluid doesn’t spill!”
Carl took up the bungee and proceeded to tie it to it as Twilight specified. Sam was looking behind him a bit curiously at this point…but was also growing nervous as the policeponies got closer and closer.
“Done!”
“Alright…now…when I say go…Carl, you turn on the flashlight and roll the wheel out as fast as you can off of the wagon and toward the police wagons! And Sam…you and me shoot for the first exit we come to as quickly as ponily possible! You got it?”
Both Sam and Carl were still confused, and growing more nervous all the time, but both nodded.
“Ok… Ready…”
The hooves of the officers grew louder yet. Sam and Carl both began to sweat.
“Set…”
Some of the chariot-mounted officers and guards were readying their magic gauntlets again. Carl swallowed and grasped the wheel hard.
“Go!”
Immediately, Sam and Twilight snapped to one side to shoot for the exit, as Carl flung the wheel out as hard as he could after hitting the switch. It was pretty good, spinning in a sharp enough blur to keep the fluid inside the flashlight chamber. Soon the wheel was rocketing for their pursuers as the group shot down the ramp.
“Get down, Carl!” Twilight shouted as they did so.
He flattened himself, but also looked up to Twilight. “What was that, anyway?”
“A hastily-made, miniaturized nuclear bomb!”
Carl blinked. “What in Equestria is a nucle-”
BOOM.
Carl was nearly flung out of the wagon along with Celestia, while the cart was nearly thrown forward into the stunned Sam and the running Twilight. As for behind them, the nearest police ponies were flung into the air and cried out in alarm as they were scattered to the wind, while the pegasi in the air were blasted in all directions due to the turbulence of the wind from the powerful blast. As Carl and Sam snapped around, they gaped to see a huge cloud of black smoke take the form of a mushroom cloud, and all of the police ponies who hadn’t been knocked away by the shockwave were rapidly grinding to a halt before they collided with their brethren, soon creating a massive logjam that blocked up the entire highway, had wagons running on top of each other, smashed other wagons to bits, and made a tremendous, catastrophic pile up of gargantuan and every-growing proportions. The suspended highway itself was broken…smashed by the blast into bits and leaving a gaping, impenetrable gap between Sam, Carl, and Twilight and their pursuers. And soon, they vanished from view as they left the ramp and slipped back into the city.
The panicked ponies soon looked up, to each other, and then to Twilight.
“Celestia and Luna…”
“What the hell was that?”
“I told you…it was a nuclear bomb!” Twilight responded. “That orange paint on that plate contained a substance called uranium that I was able to turn into a supercritical mass using the magic properties in the fluid and lighting magic and catalyzed it using the wagon as a crude centrifuge!”
“But…but…”
“That big…?”
“They’re illegal and forbidden…but I figured so long as we’re already breaking so many laws already…one more wouldn’t hurt.”
“Do they…have any…you know, side effects?”
“Well, they spew radioactive particles into the air that used to be harmful to all life, but ponies are immune to them. In fact, that’s part of where mana comes from. Lots of radioactive particles floating in the air leftover from the last dominant life form on this planet that destroyed itself by blowing each other up with too many of them. That’s why we don’t make them anymore.”
“You mean…something ruled Equestria before ponies?”
“…Like what?”
“Naked apes that had ears that looked like your Cutie Mark…but that’s not important right now! We need to get to the factory! We’ve lost the police but there’s no way we’re getting the rest of the way on the highway, so we’re going to have to take the backroads!”
Sam snorted and looked forward. “Alright…Carl, get ready to switch out with me!”
“…You know, I’m not really built for running, being originally a unicorn-”
“Sure thing, Sam!” Carl stated, ignoring Twilight.
“I’ll take over with Princess Celestia and see if I can’t shave some of that ice off of her…” Sam stated as, in mid-run, he began to undo himself. “Just get to that factory!”


To be continued...