//------------------------------// // Escape // Story: Resurrection // by Silverstreak //------------------------------// Scootaloo watched as her SG followed her gaze as Silverstreak had her do basic movements. The SG moved flawlessly, even though they took it from a pony who was crushed under some rubble. Scootaloo still didn't like that fact about her SG, but Silverstreak had made very good arguments against her feelings, such as the fact that he was injured, and shooting from a SG he had since this whole city went to Tartures. After a few more movements, Silverstreak seemed to be pleased enough. "Alright, now just don't shoot me and we should do fine." "Yeah, like one shot from this thing would take down a bunny." Scootaloo rolled her shoulder back, making the SG collapse into a ball. "Have you ever been shot by the magical electrical crystal shard fired from these things?" Scootaloo shook her head, "Then trust me when I say it sucks." Silverstreak began to limp his way straight through the T-intersection, moving parallel with the wall that separated them from the city center. Scootaloo had already ask about the wall, and why they didn't go through one of the five doors they've pasted, Silverstreak's answer made Scootaloo unease. "The walls are another defensive feature. They divide the city into five different areas, each with different sections. We're in area one with sections 1-15. Then there's area's 2,3,4, and the city center area 5. Each wall has access doors that require different levels of access codes that I don't have. Some are for maintenance, others security, and then some." Scootaloo found the cities defenses all too weird, and when she explained her feelings on them Silverstreak confirmed her feelings. "It's not our design, it was a human design that we took after the two week period Princess Luna set in place when we found some human artifacts." Silversteak paused for a moment, "We didn't get much info about the whole purpose for this type of defense, but the way it's set up seems to much like animal cages." An itch creped up on Scootaloo as she thought about the walls as a cage, and how the entire system ran off the city center. She was at the back of the crowd as they slammed against the wall, the damn wall. People were screaming at the top of their lungs pleading for the safety on the other side. She began running ideas through her head, what to do, where to go, what to take...a group off to her left made a small circle around a man who had his head blown off. Scootaloo felt pieces of his brain smack against her leg. A figure moved in the corner of her right eye. He was wearing the same clothes as the man who..."FUCK!" They were here. The police on the wall started shooting at the thing, thier care for the innocent lost in this war, no genocide that's what this was the genocide of the human race. More of them appeared from with in the crowd, people stared running away from the wall, with Scootaloo in the front. "Hey!" Silverstreak had his head turned towards Scootaloo as she came back to reality. Scootaloo found herself breathing hard and starting to sweat. "You ok?" "Yeah...fine." Silverstreak lifted an eyebrow as they continued forward. Scootaloo knew he knew she wasn't fine, but how could she describe what she just watched?...experienced?...lived? Oh she didn't even know. Silverstreak lifted his head back as his stomach arched towards the road as he attempted to hold back a painful moan as his right hoof made contact with a wagon wheel, and Scootaloo could've sworn she heard a cracking sound in there. Scootaloo took a step forward. "You ok?" "Yeah..fine." Scootaloo giggled a little bit at the turn of events, but quickly lost it when she thought back to her, vision? That seemed like a good word for it. Glass shattered to their left. Scootaloo backed away a little bit while Silverstreak already had his SG fully extended and looking for the threat. Before Scootaloo could extend her SG, Silverstreak was collapsing his. "Look up." Scootaloo looked to the sky to see a few streaks of light leave the building into the clouding sky. Scootaloo looked towards Silverstreak hoping he'd have an answer. "Some group of ponies, probably fighting over what little is left in the city." Scootaloo felt a ping of sympathy. "Isn't anypony going to help?" Silverstreak continued to move along the street. "By now the Lunar forces have already made plans to send assistances to us, but..." Scootaloo didn't like the hesitation in his voice. "But, what?" Silverstreak looked towards the ground. "...but it would have been sent months ago, back when the city first fell into de...." Scootaloo followed Silverstreak's eyes as she made it around the corner. The plaza they came to was covered in the remains of a battle, which was nothing new, except for the changlings that had ambushed them. Two landed behind Scootaloo as she looked around for a way to escape. A round buried itself into the ground between Scootaloo and Silverstreak as the 'phew' of the changlings SG died out. "Don't even think about it, foals." "It's her alright, the orange one that the Imperial's want 100,000,000 bits for." The mouths of the changlings grew into wicked smiles. One of them walked up and put a hoof to Silverstreak's chin. "What about this one? Not much love from him." "Doesn't matter their princess can't know that we were here, or our Queen will make a example out of us." The changlings all muttered in agreement. "Then lets use him as a host..." The changling closest to Silverstreak collapsed as he brought his back hoof into it's neck. "Fly, Scootaloo!" Scootaloo complied, lifting herself several feet off the ground as Silverstreak moved like flowing water. The changlings had all grouped around as they talked, allowing Silverstreak to make his move, and thanks due to surprise on his side the changlings didn't have time to react before he either knocked them out himself or shot them down. Silverstreak landed on his injured hoof as he finished his assault. Scootaloo landed and helped him keep his balance. "Let's..not do..that again." Silverstreak took short, sharp breathes as he spoke. "How did you do that?" Silverstreak looked at Scootaloo with a wide smile. "What? You think these," Silverstreak rolled his shoulder back, "are all we're trained to fight in. The humans had a multitude of close quarter combat techniques that they used. We took a page, or two from their books." Silverstreak moved off of Scootaloo and began moving through the plaza. Scootaloo followed hoping there wasn't another ambush waiting for them. Silverstreak froze once again when he turned another corner, Scootaloo was getting ready for another ambush when Silverstreak ran as fast as he could around the corner. Scootaloo turned the corner to find four bodies laying in their own pools of blood, followed by the stench of death, Scootaloo nearly gagged. Silverstreak seemed to pay no mind to the awful stench as he looked over the bodies. "No...no...Lilly...Thunderwave...Rosebud...Blue Moon...what happened?" Scootaloo remembered their conversation after she had calmed down after that thing attacked them. They were both breathing heavily, Scootaloo from her brash beating of the poor stallion who still was laying on his back. "How..do I..know who you are?" "Because...if I was..that thing would you have...battered me like this?" Scootaloo felt her eye twitch from the memory of that. After a few moments she felt he was right. "So why was it calling itself, Blue Moon, when your name is, Silverstreak?" He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before answering. "Blue Moon is an old friend of mine, who was out with his team investigating the city center. I lost contact with them shortly before you arrived. I was calling his name when it attacked." Silverstreak was moving a pack on the back of a body. Scootaloo didn't know which one was who, but with their skin bloodied like it is, she was pretty sure Silverstreak would have trouble naming them too. "...beginning inves...tact with Silverstreak." Scootaloo came alongside Silverstreak. "I'm going through the comm recordings, trying to find out what happened." Silverstreak had a sense of dred in his voice as he answered Scootaloo's unasked question. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What did you find Rosebud?" "Changlings!" "What!" They dropped to a whisper. "Changlings! They have the city center under a tight defense, but I found away in." "We can't! It's to dangerous. We all know that the changlings have more power in their weapons. We'll be torn to shreds if they find us!" "Blue Moon?" "We have to." "What! Are you crazy!" "And what do you propose, Thunderwave? Retreating with out at least knowing a little bit about what they have?" "Blue Moon's right, Thunderwave. We need to get at least a little intel on them. What do you say Lilly?" "I don't like it, but we need something." "Damn it. Fine lets just make it quick." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "...on't need to tell you that Luna can't be made aware of our hooves all over Las Pegasus. Our treaty is already fragile as it is." "Of course my queen. We will take the utmost precautions to prevent our presence from being known." "Good. Report back when you have what I want, and if you find that little orange brat, take her alive. Blueblood put a big price on her head on the black market, and I'm curious as to what she may know." "Of course my queen." In a strained whisper. "Lets get out of here." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What in tartures..." "Just keep moving. We need to..." The phew of a shot. "Fuck!" "Get down!" phew "Shit!" "What's happening!" "They got their hooves on..." Several shots could be heard, before silence ruled the recording. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It had taken several minutes to get Silverstreak away from his friends, and it really only happened because of the changlings that had come to investigate what happened to their comrades. Now Scootaloo was hiding behind cover trying to remember the way back to her ship as Silverstreak furiously yelled as he shot back at the changlings. Silverstreak brought himself back behind the cover as several shots flew just past his face. "Left, it's the fastest way to your fighter!" Scootaloo looked left only to see buildings in the way with no visible road. "How? The intersections further back!" More shots whizzed by. "Trust me! I know this city like the back of my hoof!" Silverstreak popped around the cover to fire back. When he returned he grabbed Scootaloo and led her to a building, opened the door, and then sealed it shut behind them. "That aught a delay them a little while." Silverstreak began moving through the building. "Only a little while?" Scootaloo was close behind. "They can fly, and have greater numbers. It won't be long before they fly over here," A door in the back of the building opened as they approached. "But they won't start moving for a little bit, so we have time." The moved as quickly as the could through the open yard surrounded by buildings, moving through another building and several others. Untill finally the approached upon the police building where the Orange Lighting sat waiting for them to reach the top. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ugh. I'm never taking stairs ever again." Scootaloo's hooves were killing her, each one wanting to just fall off her body and lay on the floor, never to move again. Silverstreak had smacked his injured hoof a few times, but had stayed ahead of Scootaloo on the way up the thirty-two floors. The doors were already opened as they made their way to the Orange Lighting. Silverstreak paused just before the fighter. "Well I guess this is..." Changlings appeared in the terminal firing their SG's at the two. Silverstreak immediately started firing back as Scootaloo lowered the cockpit. A few rounds whizzed by her head as she turned around, and grabbed Silverstreak around his waist. "What..." Silverstreak sucked in a large breathe as Scootaloo forcefully put him as far back in the cockpit as he would go. Scootaloo took her seat, more cramped then usual, the cockpit still close even with it's two passengers. Scootaloo starting taking off, trying her best to ignore the cramped, and uncomfortable movements of Silverstreak. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The changling commander approached his demolition team. "Why wasn't that fighter destroyed already!" "The timer ha..." The commander grabbed the changling who was trying to answer by his throat. "Timer. Timer! Why in Tarturas' darkest pits would you use a fucking timer!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scootaloo stared breathing a little easier the further they flew away. BOOM! Silverstreak shot forward knocking Scootaloo's face into the controls, and the fighters warning alarms as an explosion rocked the fighter. The cockpit turned and twisted as Scootaloo fought to gain control of the situation. A ball of fire flew behind her as the heat scorched the back of her neck. Silverstreak was holding back his urge to vomit as Scootaloo threw her weight into keeping control of the fighter. The ground was fast upon her, a hand touched her shoulder. No...not like this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scootaloo felt dead. Her whole body felt heavy and disobeyed every order to move. Move. Move. That's all the voice in her head would say. Move. Why didn't it understand how dead she felt, hey barrels, Scootaloo felt deader then dead. Zombie dead? Ow it even hurt to think to much. Move. She opened her eyes, even as they screamed to remain shut. Her breathe was shallow and jagged, and her arms stung with pain as she lifted them to her face. Even through the blur of her vision, Scootaloo could see that her arms were bare of skin, nothing but a bloody mess was left. Move. She could barely lift herself off the ground, oh how the ground felt so nice when she was still, almost like a... "No!" Oh by Luna's undersides it hurt to speak. The air required was to much for Scootaloo. Her hooves were bloodied, but she was up despite the pain. The pain, the pain was becoming a dull thing in the back of Scootaloo's mind as her brain brought itself up to speed. "Silver...." Oh it hurt. By Tartures darkest pits it hurt. She limped her way though the wreckage of the crash trying to find any other sign of life. Scootaloo laid against the remains of her fighter, feeling to exhausted to...she heard a faint cough in the distance. Hope filled her enough to keep moving. A fire burned behind him as he laid on the ground. Something poked up from behind...no from...no. Her hands flopped to the ground as she screamed. Scootaloo blinked her eyes trying to remove the images from her head. Now was not the time for these things to happen. Silverstreak was still alive, the shrapnel not being to deep thanks to his armor. He coughed up a little blood. Scootaloo needed to get him out of there, before the changlings came, or something else.