Daring was already to the street by the time the thugs had realized just what was going on. She had made sure she got out of there FAST once she was out of sight. Daring looked behind her, and saw a couple of ponies tearing through the park. They were onto her.
Daring wasted no time in slipping into a side alley. Now that she was outside the park and into the dense urban sprawl of downtown Los Pegasus, she might have an easier time of giving them the slip. She weaved in and out of back alleys and side streets, purposely making her path as erratic and unpredictable as possible. She came to a sudden stop, hooves grinding into the grit of the concrete as she saw somethign out of the corner of her eye. Down the alley she was about to go into was a yellow stallion wearing a white hat. He had a gun at the ready, pointed right at her. Daring reared back, as if she was about to turn around. The yellow pony jumped, and pulled his pistol to fire. A loud shot rang out, and the bullet pierced through the metal of a dumpster that had been behind Daring a moment before. Daring had taken to the skies, and was flying at full speed away from the alley above the tops of the low-lying buildings. Several shots rang out, but from this range they were inaccurate and soon Daring was far ahead of the yellow earth pony. She zoomed ahead, figuring that taking to the skies was the best way to get away quickly. Her eyes watered as they were met with the gusts of wind hitting her at this altitude, but she didn't mind. She was putting distance between herself and...
BANG!
The shot meant for her head missed only by a couple of inches, and blew a hole through the fedora she had been wearing. The shredded hat was blown off a moment later, falling down to earth below. Daring looked back. The shot had come from a turquoise pegasus, who was only several yards behind her. Daring gasped as he reloaded the gun, and leveled it to fire. Thinking fast, Daring suddenly stopped flapping her wings. The golden yellow pony took a nose dive, hurtling towards the ground. Behind and above her she could hear a gunshot, and the sound of a bullet whistling through the air, followed by some choice curse words. Ted readjusted, following Daring as she sped towards the ground. He reloaded his gun, taking his attention off the dive-bombing pony he was following for a moment to focus on the pin that he needed to pull back.
When he looked back up (well, down) Daring had moved. She was pointed downwards even steeper, going for a vertical drop. She was applying her wings by this point, putting more distance between herself and the thug pegasus. Ted swore, and zoomed closer. He wasn't going to miss this time, even if the ground was getting far too close. Coming up behind Daring, he pointed the gun towards the back of her head, and pulled on the trigger with his hoof. The gun went off, but Ted would never get the satisfaction of knowing if he had missed or not. The pegasus had crashed into the roof of a department store, and his neck was snapped by the sheer force of the sudden impact against solid cement.
Daring had pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book- the feint. Her pursuer was so intent on being the pony to collect the tablet that he hadn't focused on where she was leading him. Now flying more slowly and closer to the ground, Daring landed gracefully on the sidewalk. She still had her bags with her, and she had been careful not to bump the briefcase containing the tablet. That had to be returned in pristine condition.
Daring was now at a streetcar stop, and she waited to see if one was going to come by. Sure enough, a bright red trolley pulled up several moments later. There were no other passengers standing at the stop, and the street corner seemed deserted other than Daring herself. She shrugged, and boarded the trolley. Moments later, it took off at a leisurely pace down the streets of Los Pegasus.
"How's it going?" asked the operator cheerfully. She had a sky blue hat on, and a tannish-looking coat. She wore a friendly expression on her face, and made conversation with Daring as the trolley zoomed past the shops and stores on the side of the street.
"Alright, you?" replied Daring, not sure what to make up for an excuse of what she was doing, or why she was out of breath. She sat herself on one of the wooden benches, wiping a bead of sweat off from her forehead. She reached up to push the brim of her hat down, but remembered that it had been shot off. Oh well.
"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking," the trolley operator replied, "I figure I'm kinda lucky to have a job, given the whole economic mess. That puts me in a good mood, knowing how lucky I am. What's your name, kid?"
"Daring," Daring answered, gasping. Her heart was beating like a rabbit, and she took deep breaths.
"My name is Daring Do."
"Cool, Nice to meet you Daring," the trolley operator said. The car took a turn onto a different road as it followed the track in the ground that it ran on.
"What's with all the huffin' and puffin'?" asked the mare, looking back at Daring for a moment before turning back to watch the road ahead. Daring laughed nervously, before having the sudden urge to cough.
"Guess I just over-exerted myself for a moment. Not a good idea to go and fly at your top speed when you've just eaten lunch, know what I mean?" Daring said. The other pony shook her head.
"No, I'm a unicorn," she said, lifting up her hat briefly enough to show the whitish blonde mane and the tannish horn before placing the cap back on.
"Ah, then I guess you don't know what it's like to fly too fast. It feels sore, that's all," said Daring. She looked back at the street side slipping away. There were several different stores that she could pick out. There was one place that was selling various records, and it had a player outside of it blaring one of the more popular jazz pieces. Daring winced when she heard the song. It was popular, almost too popular. She had heard the same exact song on the radio at least three times a day for the past week, and she was pretty much sick of it. She had switched her desk radio to a different station, contenting herself to listen to political news and talk about Celestia's plan for dealing with the economic problems. At least that had two dissenting opinions, and was subject to change as the host ponies discussed. Daring squinted as she watched the store fronts slip by. There was a greenish mare running down the sidewalk, almost parallel to the trolley. In fact, she was chasing the trolley!
"Look out, there's somepony about to cause trouble!" Daring yelled to warn the driver. Almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, the greenish mare leaped into the car, planting one of her front hooves squarely into Daring's jaw. Daring reeled back, mouth smarting from the blow. She swung her body forward, tackling the mare, but she was met with a swift kick to the stomach. Daring doubled over, grunting as she writhed on the floor of the trolley. She could hear the trolley operator yelling, and she looked up from the floor to see the green mare taking the briefcase out of her bag. Daring snorted, picking herself up and charging at the mare. The pony was taken by surprise as Daring tackled her down, pinning her to the floor this time and slamming her hoof into her face multiple times. With each successive hit, the pony that Daring had pinned down struggled less and less, until Daring was sure that she was out. Daring stood over the unconscious mare, breathing heavily.
"What in the name of Celestia is going on?!" shouted the trolley operator, glaring at Daring Do. Daring shrugged, and scooped up the briefcase again. She jumped out of the trolley and onto the sidewalk, leaving the green thug lying slumped in one of the wooden seats of the trolley. Daring slipped the briefcase back into her bag, and took off down main street. She knew where she was now, and she didn't think that any of the other mooks would be messing with her. That homburg-wearing stallion said he had three minions, and she had shaken all three of them. She wasn't concerned about the stallion himself, as she would soon be out of town and on the next train back to Canterlot. She just had to get to her hotel room and clean up the cuts and bruises she had suffered, though. At least she had the tablet safe and secure.