//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: The Blessing and the Curse // by Equestria Buck Yeah //------------------------------// The sighting seemed to be just a bit off on the shotgun Matt held firm in his grip. He knew how to correct it, but he didn't have the tools nor the time really. He wished they had some handguns, but according to what Jerry told him, all they're allowed to carry rifles and shotguns. Didn't make any sense to either of them, but hey, as long as Matt was able to keep himself and the girls safe...he hoped. There were only a few choices left on the wall as the rest had been pilfered and were sitting outside with the rest of the employees. A sleek black one in particular caught Matt's eye and he hoisted it off its rack. Sights seemed okay, was of average weight, twelve gauge. The pump-action made him feel like an action movie star. The name Remington on the side told him it was most likely quality too. He turned his attention to his four-legged friends, leaning the gun on his shoulder. With a smirk, he asked, "What do you think?" They simply stared blankly at him. A few shrugged. "Uhh...it looks, err...nice?" Twilight answered for everypony. The young man nodded at Jerry, who was standing beside him. "Guess this one'll do. Probably take a few extra rounds too." "Sounds good. How many more do you want?" "What does this thing hold? About five or six?" Matt pondered. "Something like that, yeah. You know how to handle it, kid?" "Yeah, I've fired these things before." He shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Been a hell of a long time, but I'll be fine." With a nod, Jerry opened the drawer behind the counter and scrounged around for a moment before finding the correct box. "And here we go. Take what you need. Hopefully it'll be none, but where you're going? I can see things getting a little hectic." "To say the least," Matt added nervously. As he finished loading his new toy, he glanced at the bookworm. "Hey, Twi, you think you could carry some slugs in your saddlebag? You'd probably be able to fish them out faster than I could out of my backpack if things got hairy." "Ewww! Why would I want to put slugs in my bag?!" "No, no, it's just a name for these." He tossed her a round that she caught with her magic. "Oh! Uh, sure. How many?" "'Bout a dozen or so." The bullets hovered their way over to float beside their friend and eventually find their new home out in the car where her bag was, making Jerry blink and shake his head again. The sparkling purple light just weirded him out to no end. "Guess you're all set then," Jerry confirmed. "Looks like it." "Alright, I'll walk you out." ----- The two humans shared some small talk as the group headed to the front of the store, most of it retreading old ground. Matt talked a bit more about what happened in the shopping mall the previous day. Jerry revealed that their store was located in northern Virginia before the event. They shared a quiet laugh when the older man said that, once they got home, he wouldn't care what the higher ups would think about them using store supplies to survive an unusual situation and that he'd find another job if they got on his case about it. It wouldn't have been the first horror story he'd heard about the regional managers and their buddies being pricks for no good reason. As they passed the check-out counters, Matt reached into one of the warm coolers and pulled out a bottle of Coke. "Hope it's okay if I use this for target practice outside." "Psh, go ahead. Those things are disgusting warm." "Heh, yeah. Hopefully it'll only take one shot. I was always pretty good with these things." "And I'll tell my people what was going on, if they happen to hear you," Jerry said. The large white SUV greeted them from the other side of the door. "That yours?" Matt innocently swung his head at the question. "Sort of. We had to...kind of...borrow it." The old man curled his lips. "Gotta do what you gotta do, I guess." "Yep." The youth offered an appreciative hand. "Thanks for everything here, man. Was really cool, what you guys did for us." Jerry shook on it, nodding firmly. "Hey, if you guys can get us home, it's all worth it. Good luck out there, son." "I have a feeling we're going to need it," Matt replied. "Take care, girls. It was nice meeting you." The mares said their goodbyes as Jerry let them out and locked the door behind them. They smiled contently while he walked back into the heart of the store, pleased that their first face-to-face encounter with any new arrivals had gone so well. It gave them confidence enough to believe that their time in the Big Apple would go just as swimmingly, but other ideas passed through Matt's mind as he looked to the north. Putting the worries aside for now, he opened the tailgate for Rarity to rest the bag of groceries next to his backpack. In the meantime, Twilight opened the passenger side back door and placed the bullets in her saddlebag as requested. "So that thing is a weapon, huh?" Rainbow said, flying up to the Remington and poking at it. "Yep!" She raised an eyebrow, looking over it dubiously. "Doesn't look all that impressive to me. I mean, it doesn't have a pointy end and I can't imagine it can do what we've seen Twilight do, like, against that army of changelings for instance. She was all like 'pew pew pew!' and they were falling over left and right! It was awesome!" "Yeah, I remember you told me about that, but I know I told you about a few of these a long time ago. Some of our army's attack vehicles have one of these things that can fire several thousand rounds a minute, and I'm not kidding," Matt countered. "Come on, that just sounds ridiculous," the pegasus fired back, receiving a stern glare from her bipedal friend. After a moment, she backed down from the staring contest. "Eh, whatever. Didn't you say you wanted to test your aim on that bottle?" As Rainbow asked, the others gathered around to see the upcoming spectacle. Should prove interesting, they imagined. "I did. Rares, catch," he said, tossing the Coke bottle into the air. Before it could hit the ground, a soft blue magic grabbed it, turning it upright. "Alright, go ahead and move it back about twenty, thirty feet." The target floated away until Matt gave it the 'okay'. He checked the safety and pushed the tiny button, hopefully unlocking it. Would only make sense that it was on while it sat on display in a store. He smirked confidently at the six by his side. "You may want to stand back a bit." Matt took on a strong stance and rested the butt of the gun firmly into his shoulder. Was already starting to feel like riding a bike. He carefully peered down the sights and steadied his hand. When he was ready, he held in a breath and fired off a round that struck the Coke with precision that blew the plastic bottle to pieces. The kickback was brutal but Matt held his ground admirably despite not having fired a gun in a couple years. The loud blast made everypony jump out of their skin, and Rainbow stiffened up so hard, she collapsed to the pavement below. They cowered in horror of the powerful firearm, balled up on the ground with their hearts collectively trying to smash out of their chests. "Good gods, Matt!" Twilight shrieked, shaking like a leaf. "I-I-I t-take it back!" Rainbow Dash stammered. They weren't the only ones adversely affected by the metal monster. Matt paused and stretched open his mouth, trying to pop his ears. When that didn't work too well, he dug a finger in. "Christ, I forgot how loud these things could be," he muttered. "Still got it though!" When his ears were as good as they were going to be for the time being, he cocked the gun proudly and ejected the empty case onto the sidewalk. The girls leapt out of its way as it bounced, terrified that it might somehow blow up again. The shooter eyed the barrel up and down with a smile, paying no mind just yet as to how his small friends were doing. "Last time I used one of these things was...back on Rachel's uncle's ranch, I think. Every so often we'd go visit them, and while Rachel and her aunt were inside doing...I don't know, girl stuff, I guess...me and her uncle would chill on the porch, maybe smoke a little weed, sit around bullshitting. But usually, we'd end up shooting some beer bottles and shit off the fence posts at some point. Good times." "S-s-sounds...f-fun," Pinkie Pie fearfully whispered. Matt flicked the safety back on and finally noticed the girls shivering. He suddenly felt rather embarrassed. It probably would have been best to warn them before shooting, but he wasn't exactly thinking clearly when he was admiring his new toy. He was a fan of guns, despite never owning one himself, and wanted to test his mettle. "Err, you guys go ahead and take a minute before we get going again. I'm going to put this away," he said, setting the weapon on the floor in the middle of the Hummer. It was an arduous task convincing Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity to return to their seats once everypony was ready. ----- After only a little over an hour passed before the passengers' jaws collectively dropped. Finally, after what felt like forever, the city of Manhattan had become visible in the distance. Out in the water, it almost appeared to go on forever, and it looked as if the buildings were trying to touch the sky. Before long, they happened upon the two beached bridges Dark Horse said he saw from the train. The tracks couldn't have been too far away from their current location, but they couldn't see them from the car. Several things they did see, though, were the numerous pulverized cars the mayor said he also saw from his ride, piled on the ground in two crumpled, broken heaps a relatively short distance apart. Matt didn't say anything as they crawled past the wreckage. Neither did the girls, but they still mourned for the dead in their thoughts. Was a terrible way to go, no matter how one looked at it. He headed toward the city just past the second bridge. He wasn't sure if it was the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington Bridge, the...Whatever Bridge – Matt had never been to New York before. Either way, it felt strange driving under a bridge that would normally be above the water. Halfway to what appeared to be a small dock of some sort not far from the bridge, Matt came to a stop and cautiously looked over the buildings and streets ahead of them as best he could. The worst that he feared was upon them. Fortunately, for the moment, things looked alright. However, from a distance, most things looked alright; one couldn't see the chaos in front of them until it was too late. Matt killed the engine and got out of the car. Still checking over their surroundings, he opened Fluttershy's door and silently waved them outside. "A.J. hop out this way for me," he asked. Despite being a tad confused, she climbed past the armrest and honored his request. Once the middle seat was cleared out, Matt pulled the gun out and leaned it against the side of the car with most eyes watching it anxiously as if it was going to attack them on its own. Next, he reached in and grabbed the saddlebags of the misplaced mares, including climbing back in the driver's seat to get Applejack's from her side, and tossed them all in the back beside Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. His task was almost finished, but two important parts still remained. One section at a time, he lowered the middle seats. He wasn't going to take a nap, was he? The thought passed through a few of their heads when he pulled out the sheet and stretched it overtop the two hyper mares, hiding them underneath it. Finally, he slid the shotgun beneath the sheet as well, flicked the safety off and set it right up against the underside of the midsection. Pinkie and Rainbow weren't terribly keen on its resting place. "What are you doing?" Twilight asked. "Hiding you," Matt replied, lifting up the linen and motioning them inside. "We've told you before we can handle ourselves, shug." "I know you have, but I'm not taking any chances in there with you. I don't know if they've already seen some of your friends across the bay or whatever, but I really don't want to give anyone a reason to go nuts on us face to face." A peeved look was shared among the group save for Fluttershy. He did have a point, but it's not like they were children. With irritated grunts and disgusted sighs, they crawled in one at a time. Before Twilight stepped inside, she asked, "So, how long should it take before we get to that hotel you mentioned?" His gaze shifted away as he smirked in annoyance. "I don't know." The bookworm raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?" "I've never been here before!" "We could be running around for hours and never find this place then!" "Oh, come on, there's a few million people crammed into this place! If we find anyone who's not a cop, I'll ask them for directions, maybe give them a couple cans of food for their trouble or something," Matt suggested. "What does being a cop have to do with anything?" Twilight wondered. "Look, this place is probably under martial law or something right now. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they want the streets cleared out to avoid the city blowing itself up or whatever. Think about it! They're in some place they're not supposed to be, probably haven't been able to reach anyone outside the city they know and are probably on the verge of starving. I can tell you right now this place doesn't have enough food to feed a few million people for a solid week. Right now, that bag of groceries is worth more than all the money in the world to them and if we actually find the hotel, I'm going to use it to buy us a room for the night," the young man ranted. "And what about us? We only have a few snacks." "Then grab a couple cans for ourselves. I know we're okay on drinks. Once we do what we came here to do, we'll just make our way to Manehattan and head home from there. I'm sure you can do something like, write Celestia a letter and ask her to vouch for you so that we don't have to pay for a meal or two." Twilight scowled fiercely. She loathed the idea of mooching off anypony and Matt suggesting to use her connection to the Princess so blatantly left a foul taste in her mouth. Hopefully they wouldn't get that desperate. "Let's just go," she muttered. "One last thing, Twi," Matt said, stopping her before she got back in the car. "If we do get into any trouble...well, you think you could do what you did to those security guards yesterday?" "What, you mean send them away?" "Yeah." "I...suppose. Is there some signal I should look for?" "Snap of the fingers like before." "Okay. Where would you want them sent?" "How about by that first big wreck way back there?" he proposed, nodding his head in its direction. "Uh, yeah, alright." "Cool. Oh! Can you make a piece of paper too, to write directions on? Rachel's not going to know how to get here either." With a thought and a flash of magic, his request appeared in front of her. "Nice. I know I saw a pen up front, I'll get it for you." He looked around one last time. Seemed as clear as it was going to be. "'Kay, we should be ready to go." Taking a quick cursory glance herself, Twilight joined her friends, huddled out of sight. Her door was closed and Matt took his own seat. There was some clacking noises coming from up front, most likely Matt digging through a small mess, followed shortly by a pen being handed to them. "Alright, take down what I tell you," he said as he started up the car and threw it into 'Drive'. "We're on the left side of the left bridge, like right next to it." A white wooden fence quickly approached them and they came to a stop about ten yards in front of a section without any benches, trash cans or other obstacles to worry about. Its concrete foundation was only a few inches off the ground – nothing the Hummer couldn't get over. Even so, Matt preferred not to damage the SUV much if he could help it. "Actually, Rares, can you take down the directions?" "Sure, why?" she replied, taking the pen away from her friend. "Twilight? Those bubble barrier things you can make... How durable are they?" "Err, just depends on how hard I concentrate really," the mare answered. She peeked out from under the sheet with an eyebrow raised. "Why?" He narrowed his eyes at the barricade. "Put one over us. About a foot or two bigger than the car all around." "I think I know what you're up to," she said, focusing her energies. A purple barrier suddenly popped around the vehicle, shimmering over once. Matt stretched his fingers out and gripped the wheel tightly. Taking a deep breath, he accelerated fast, panicking the mares who dared to sneak a look from under their cover. The fence broke hard against the magical hamster ball though the car still jolted as it crunched over the short layer of cement. "Oh, this is gonna be fun!" Matt growled despite his enthusiastic grin. "Matt, darling, I just want you to know that I think you're insane." "Love you too!" ----- While he didn't know exactly how to get to their ultimate goal, Matt suspected it was closer to the center of the city. Perhaps he saw it online or in a movie before and didn't remember the exact source, but a hunch told him to head inward. He dictated what was a short drive that involved carving out a destructive path with flung garbage cans and a couple dented traffic light poles. The sidewalk was thankfully clear compared to the pile-ups that littered the roads, but the relief didn't last long once he made a right at the first major intersection he came across. They had just went past the bridge's on-ramps when Matt spotted several boys in blue with guns drawn coming their way. Joy. Maybe he could simply talk to them and he'd get a free pass. As long as they didn't see the strange purple light surrounding the car, no hard questions would hopefully be asked. "Ah shit. Twilight, drop the barrier, quick." "What's going–?" "Just do it! Everyone shut up and stay down." The last of Twilight's shield went away just as the first, stocky officer got up to the door. It almost looked like the guy could be a fullback during his off-days. Matt put the car in 'Park' and rolled down his window, ready with a script in mind. Now, as long as they were reasonable– "Sir, you need to return to your home right now or we'll be forced to take you in. You know the city's under lockdown." ...So much for that. "Sorry, man, I'm not from around here. I'm–" "Then you need to go back to wherever you came from. Until we figure out what's going on, no one's allowed in or out, mayor's orders." "Look, me and my friends can help! We know what's going on and we think we know how to send this place back! I just need–" Matt growled before being cut off again. "Sure, pal. You and everyone else. Now, turn around and go home, or we can make a nice cell your home if you want," the cop shot back. "Did you not hear–" "Sir, turn around and go home." Sneering by now, Matt berated the officer as passive-aggressively as possible, shaking his head and babbling to himself. "Un-fucking-believable. Someone tells you they can help you get home, but nope! You'd rather stay and be stupid about it. That's great. That's just fucking great." Six guns were trained on him, the cops ready to do what they felt was necessary. "Alright, step out of the car. Step out!" Beneath their sheet, the Elements were sharing worried looks and shaking in fear of the unknown just a few feet away. None of the officers seemed to noticed the strangely-shaped lumps in the back seat, but that could change in a second. "Mmm, no, I-I don't think I will," Matt countered, lifting his hand and swiveling it around in a mocking manner. "You see this? Huh?" "Get out now!" With a smirk, he snapped his fingers and waited patiently. He knew a pair of purple eyes would be stealthily checking out her targets and it was only a matter of time. "Last chance before we drag you out of there!" "Three, two..." The policemen suddenly glowed lavender, making the arrogant young man smile. "One." And like that, the threat was gone. "You're a saint, Twilight." As he rolled the window back up, Matt took a quick look around, both to check for more trouble and gather bearings he never really had in the first place. After a moment of just sitting there, Fluttershy spoke up from her hiding place. "Um, Matt? How come we're not moving? It's clear, isn't it?" "I, uh...still don't really know where I am." He sighed heavily and slouched over, mumbling to himself. "I know I'm going to regret this. Twilight, do you think you could maybe bring that one guy back?" "What? Why?" He spun around and eyed the two unicorns. "So when you guys get his guns away from him, maybe I can talk him into giving me directions to the hotel. I hope. I'm sure you can figure out what his weapons look like, yeah?" "Like..." Rarity nodded at their own weapon for clarification. "Mhm. Just be ready. On you, Twi." Against her better judgment, she focused on the large cop that had just been badgering them – his face, hair color, body shape. Once she was ready, it was a simple task to bring the man back to them. The window came right back down and Matt's heart nearly dropped as well when he quickly realized what was coming out of the officer's mouth. "–body read me, over?! We...we just..." The large white vehicle took a second to register to the cop. Once it did, he swung the shotgun up in a hurry and pointed it right at Matt. "The hell did you do?!" "I didn't do anything! You ready to talk to me like a human being yet?" he snapped, raising his hands up for good measure. Fortunately, Rarity was quick at disarming the panicking official and he watched dumbfounded as the firearm began to sparkle with a light blue hue and float into the sky and out of his reach. Unfortunately, he clumsily grabbed his sidearm out of its holster in a heartbeat and they were back to square one. But, he didn't get much of a chance to scream at Matt until his handgun was flying away from him too. Baffled and quickly becoming incensed at the turn of events, the burly cop reached again for the radio hooked to his shoulder. "Officer needs assistance at Pearl and Wagner Senior! Pearl and–!" Before the cry for help was even done, Matt's fight or flight response had kicked in. Like usual, he stupidly chose 'fight'. As fast as he could, he undid his seat belt and bounded out of the car, attacking the mounted device with everything he had. It wasn't hard for the flatfoot to swing his opponent around like a rag doll, however. He had a good fifty pounds on Matt, and the damage had already been done anyway. Cutting the cop off would just get reinforcements there that much quicker, and Matt wasn't holding his own as well as he'd hoped. They grabbed at each other's shirts, pulling and tearing in a struggle for dominance. The two combatants danced with the officer winning most of the battle, despite the both of them smashing violently against the Hummer. As he further gained the upper hand, the cop slid Matt down the side of the vehicle and slammed his shoulder onto the ground. "He needs help!" Rainbow hissed from under cover. "But he told us–!" "Look, you can sit here and do nothing if you want! I'm going!" With that, she leapt across to the front seat, dove out the window and took off without being noticed. "I'm going too!" Applejack said. She quickly peered out the window to see the cop successfully having pinned Matt down despite what little fight he could muster at this point. A blue blur collided with the back of the lawman's head, sending him and his hat reeling. As he looked around for this second attacker, the farmer grabbed the handle without the usual struggle and threw the door open as hard as she could, knocking the big man to the ground and off of her friend. Matt stumbled to his feet, annoyed with the scrape on one of his hands, as the cowgirl hopped out and made her presence known, growling like a rabid beast. Her enemy finally saw her, and looked more curious than anything else. He must have seen her kind somewhere since he arrived, and considering Manehattan was just across the water, it was a real possibility. As he got up to go after her, a streak of prismatic colors dive-bombed him again, latching onto his face and pounding at his head. The policeman managed to peel Rainbow Dash off and tossed her aside only to receive a vicious headbutt in the stomach. He lost balance but caught himself on the hood of the car. Feeling something tugging at something on his belt made him lash out again. Matt had shuffled up and had been reaching for his cuffs, but he just missed snatching them up. Instead, he was the one snatched in a fast headlock. If not for Pinkie suddenly popping out of the back of the cop's shirt and bopping him repeatedly on the skull, Matt might have found himself tackled again. "Stop being a meanie pants!" The distraction was enough and the handcuffs were his. Despite her ducking and dodging, the officer grabbed Pinkie and launched her off his back. For his efforts, a hard left connected with the side of his face, bring him down to a knee. "Enough is enough!" Rarity said as the fight went on outside. Turning on her magic, she yanked the furious cop to the pavement, keeping him frozen in place. Matt dug a knee into his enemy's back and forced his wrists together, clicking the handcuffs shut around them. The irony was lost on him in the heat of the moment. With his heart racing and nearly out of breath, the raging victor screamed, "I should fucking kill you! All we wanted was some goddamn directions, you stupid bastard!" While recovering, he glanced off to the left and saw an ominous blackness floating in the distance, far above the city. He knew immediately what he was looking at. Strangely, it almost felt as if it was watching him. "I know you know what that is!" Matt continued, pointing at their ultimate goal. "We can fix it! I told you this! Do you not want to go home?! The fuck is wrong with you?!" "Sugarcube, calm down! It's over!" "And I still don't know where we are!" he hollered, his frustration getting the better of him. Even though he wasn't snapping at Applejack and the others, they backed off a step. They knew what his temper could be like despite not having seen it in all its fury in a long while. "Come on, get back in the car. If someone shows up and takes a shot at you..." "Dude, we'll be fine!" Rainbow growled. "Hey, you six are the Elements! You think you could use them if something happened to one of you? Get in the car!" Matt demanded. Applejack wanted to bite his head off. Now he was yelling at them. But he had a point. Frowning, she let Pinkie go ahead of her while Rainbow flapped her way in through the window. Closing the door behind her, she asked, "You still gonna use him for directions?" The last of his energy returned and he nodded in response. Sneering, he grabbed at the subdued officer's collar. "Come on, get up!" Not wanting to instigate the strange creatures that bounded out of the vehicle while unable to defend himself, the cop acquiesced and let himself be shoved to the tailgate. Matt popped open the back hatch and the policeman got the idea. He glared hard at the six tiny horses looking him over as they parted in the center. Once inside, he sat up and gradually spun around until he faced forward. A foot in front of him, laying on the carpet, he noticed the shotgun and curled his lips, almost as if he was expecting it. "I-I'm so sorry about all this," Fluttershy said. "Fuck you." The poor mare's eyes started to water, forcing her closest friend to get nose to nose with the sore loser. "You talk to her like that again and I'll buck your teeth out." "Rainbow, let's not start again, okay?" Twilight groaned, pulling her away with a hoof on her shoulder. Meanwhile, Matt got back in the driver's seat and rolled up the window for hopefully the final time. Still scowling, he threw an arm over the seat and turned around. "I'm going to make this real simple. We're tired and we're dirty. We need someplace to stay so we can rest up and be ready to send people like you back. You're going to give us directions to the Waldorf Astoria, and if you lie to us, I'll blow your fucking balls off." "Eat shit, asshole." Baring his teeth, Matt snatched up his weapon and drove his point home, making the cop scrunch his legs together. He wasn't about to inform him that the safety was still on though. "Go ahead and push me!" "Please just do what he says. Nothing's going to happen to you if we work together, okay?" Twilight pleaded. "Alright, alright, fine! Just stop pointing that thing at my dick!" the officer snarled. Glaring suspiciously, Matt retracted the Remington and rested it up against the passenger's seat. "Rarity, you got the pen ready?" "Mhm." "Twilight, the bubble thing, please?" The magic purple ball returned. The cop blinked and studied the small space surrounding the Hummer. "Now, which way?" Matt asked, facing forward again. His brow furrowing, the lawman replied, "Straight ahead. It's on Park Avenue, but you'll never get there. Everything's gridlocked." "We'll see about that." As they pushed forward again, one obstruction after another were shattered and tossed aside by the so-far impenetrable barrier. The violent collisions made the passengers jolt in fear, including the seemingly unshakeable policeman. Any cars that had been left sitting up on the sidewalk at all were left crunched, dented, and sometimes simply flicked aside in the Hummer's protected wake. Shards of glass from the windows of cars and buildings alike littered the pavement. Matt smirked as they went, feeling like he was in his own personal pinball machine. He just hoped that Twilight would be able to maintain the shield. Otherwise, this was going to be a real short drive.