Hooves Edge

by 1joemini

Rude Awakening, Saving Pipsqueak, and Hot soup.

Chapter 3… The call, Aiding Aaron

“YURI! WAKE UP! I NEED YOU!”

It was Anderson’s voice which jerked me from my sleep. My knee was still healing from my incident with Tori. I felt so stiff. “Anderson, what could it be, that’s so darn important…” I began to say.

“Aarons trapped.” He said sternly never taking his eyes from the computer monitor, clopping (Stop it you perverts) away on the keyboard ripping information from databases and collecting as much as he could.

“He’s trapped?” I wasn’t quiet awake yet.

“I made this Echo with the message, Get ready to get dashing.” Anderson flung an Echo recorder my way [Echo recorder: A small device used to record someone’s voice. Practically indestructible and very light weight, they are great for delivering messages and recording messages to be delivered in secret] I pushed play on the Echo.

-Static…- “As I said, I made my way to the vent but the guards had found my rope. I had no choice! –Pause- Well I going to take the stairs but I panic –pause- well too late now! I’m still in the elevator shaft on the northeast side of the building” –Static… Click!-

The message ended. I had gotten limbered up and was almost ready to go by the time the message was over. I clipped my Contrabag on and grabbed some toast that Anderson had prepared for me.

“I’ll feed you info and data as it comes. Head towards the financial district for now.” Anderson told me.
With that, I was off.

I reached the edge of the financial district. The morning dew made the buildings sparkle with light created by the street lights. The financial district was comprised of law offices, accounting firms, and banks. Most of these buildings had skyways built for easy travel between buildings. Most of the lights on the buildings were off since it wasn’t quiet opening time yet.

“Yuri, I see you’ve made it,” chimed Anderson, “I’ve uploaded Aaron’s location and the buildings blue prints to you. Building security is active and searching for him.”

“Got’cha.” I said reading the info on my goggles. They worked much like computer monitors, allowing information about my environment to interact with its user. Like now, the goggles displayed a beacon with marked Aaron’s location. It’s like a way point in one of ButtonMash’s video games! That’s an easy way to put it!

I made my way towards Aarons beacon, reading the buildings blue prints as I went. I didn’t want to turn on the goggles while I was sneaking around see as they emanate a faint, yet visible, blue light. I soon saw the building Aaron was trapped within. It was a towering building, like all the rest, filled to the brim with paper and Cubicles. I could see flashlights bobbing around the buildings various floors, they were frantic. Aaron, he owed me for this.

I reached a neighboring Skyscraper and mapped out a route. I was on the roof while Aaron seemed to be on the 18th floor of this building. I would have to descend about 12 floors before making it to his. I weighted my options. Shimmy my way down a pipe, go in through a vent and sneak to him, then make my way out the same way I came. Good plan, but I recalled what I had heard on the Eco. Aaron had left his rope behind for his escape but security had found it. It didn’t appear that they knew where he was but it was only a matter of time before they found him. If worse comes, we can always take turns climb up my rope.

I clipped in and made my way down the pipe. The early morning was a blessing, the sun had yet to peak the horizon and the world was still wrapped in shadow. I reached the vents and silently made my way in. I was in. The real tricky stuff began now.
The building was silent. I could make out the sounds of security personnel scanning the buildings floors. My area seemed to be clear. I moved softly through a series of cubicles before making my way down a marble floored hallway. Still no signs of any guards. I found a utility closet and went in it to consult my goggles for Intel.

I powered them on. The goggles set the beacon on Aaron’s location. Trouble, he no longer was on the 18th floor he had moved up to the 21st floor. Of course nothing can be easy! I looked over the blue prints finding the best travel route up. Air ducts fed to all the levels, the elevator shaft, and some stair wells. Elevator was a big no! Aaron was seeing why we don’t take them now. He was smart and probably climbed through the ceiling and was now patiently waiting for me on the elevators
Roof, like a good boy.

I figured I could call the elevator to my floor by pushing the button on my floor, then going one floor up and getting to Aaron that way. Okay, Go team Me! I removed the goggles.

A beam of light shown through the crack below the door. Someone was coming. I was stuck in this utility closet, hoping they didn’t look here. The light played around some more. I began to hear their hooves clicking down the marble hall, their volume getting higher and higher. I held my breath hoping they’d just pass on by.

Soon, their shadow emerged by the doorway. I froze, every part of me was put on pause, and it felt like even my heart stopped. The shadow moved on. I breathed again. But still held myself soundly. The clicking faded and I slowly opened the utility door. Clearest coast Ide ever seen! I made my way toward the elevator doors on my floor.

I could see them; I could also see two guards near it. Well, they can’t be there now can they? I reached in my bag and pulled out some bandages and a match. I hid behind one of the potted plant decorations that lined the hall. I lit the bandage and used it to light the plant on fire. I was already making my way around when I saw the smoke flowing up and into the smoke detectors. The sprayers kicked in attempting to put out the flames. They did. They also sent the guards into a panic. All the guards started making calls trying to find the flames. The guards that hindered my path ran towards the melted plant. I used this moment to slip by and call the elevator. I moved on after doing so.

With the fire alarms and sprays running, I didn’t have to worry much about being stealthy. I swiftly climbed the vent and made it to level 19. It was beginning to flood. I approached the unguarded level 19 elevator doors. A small vent leading to the elevator shaft. I kicked it in and peaked my head through. Sure enough, there was Aaron, covering his ears from all the alarms echoing up and down the elevator shaft.

He grinned, “It’s not every day you get to save your knight in shining armor.” He smart mouthed to me.

“You wish this was every day,” I said referring to the fact that we were together, “to bad it’s got to be quick! Now let’s go!”

He climbed though the vent and we made our way down the marble corridor. I could feel my knee beginning to ache. But we were almost clear so I didn’t stop. I headed towards another room of cubicles. I through on my goggles using them to cross reference an escape. I located a fire escape on the side of the building. We reached a window I paused to open it, but Aaron kicked it open. He wanted out of there. We climbed onto the escape and made out way up to the rooftop.

The sun was just beginning to tease the horizon and blinded our eyes when we reached the buildings top.

“Hey guys, I moved to relay tower Frankie-doodle-dandy.” Relayed Anderson.

“Aaron, are you gunna be okay?” I asked because he looked worn out.

“I’ll rest once we reach Anderson.” Aaron replied with a nod. We began our trip across the city scape.

I grinned; he did always have great will power! One reason I always appreciated his friendship. He was a smaller pony. Cute brown eyes and brown hair. His body was white but he had a brown patch on his left eye. It was a birth mark but it was a part of who he was.

“Hey Pipsqueak, how did you even get stuck in the first place?” I asked jumping across a gap between buildings.

“They found my escape rope and were put on high alert,” he explained, “I know you guys used to call me pipsqueak back in the day, but you can call me Pip if you’d like, Scoot.”

“Can I call you Squeak?” I teased.

“Can I call you Loo-Loo?” He said.

“Pip it is!” I said in agreement.

We continued our run to the relay station and made it there just as the sun began drying the world of its dew and mist. The humming of life began to increase as ponies woke up and got ready for work. I felt bad for making the fire system kick in. All those computer, all that paper work, Soaked.

“Hey Pip, what building was that you were infiltrating?” I asked.

“Silver Spoon Law Firm,” He said smirking, “Guess who the CEO is?”

“Our wonderful and ever popular…” I began but Pipsqueak cut me off.

“Yeah, I was ripping some data on their financial transactions.”

“Oh… Anything good?”

“Ey, very good loot!”

I grinned; he always put me in a good mood. I almost forgot the dull pain my knee felt, almost.
By now I could see the tower and it wasn’t long before we reached it. Anderson was inside waiting for us.

“Welcome home kids.” He said grinning while he enjoyed a flower pedal soup. There was enough for all of us. He had four bowls ready. He must be expecting someone else to join us three.

“Hers the ECO with all the info recorded on it.” Pip said putting the device on Anderson’s desk.

“Good work, both of you…. You’re wet.” Anderson said with a snicker. I grabbed a blanket to use as a towel.

We sat, rested, and enjoyed our hot meal in silence.

Author's Note:

So! Aaron is Pipsqueek. Silverspoon is referenced! I hope to bring her in. Comments are read and I always account for them! :D thanks guys!

Comments

[1joemini]

3198617 Ah! Well thanks for the feed back reguardless!

[Helloman892]

3214236
Ah, now this I was not aware of. I have not played Mirror's Edge in the last few months. I'm assuming that that introduction is either on the blurb of the game, or on the website?

I do hope to see what else you can come up with, and if you could, just maybe, edit your previous chapters? I haven't had the time to read chapter 3 in detail, but from what I can see there are a few spelling/punctuation/grammar errors.

In answer to you previous comment, you would be correct in assuming I am well-versed in English literature. When my buddy YukiSN FINALLY gets around to updating his story Strained and Flexed Bridges, the general populace will be able to see how thorough I am in my edits (at least in the earlier chapters; like you, it seems, the later ones have a higher standard of writing contained within).

But I'm going off topic. Good luck in your endeavors, good sir.

[1joemini]

3217404 Hey, I appreciate your help, you've been great! If you ever want to swing by the story and help out again I would welcome it!