Adrenaline

by I-couldnt-think-of-anything-clever

Trouble in Paradie

Authors note:
Well its been a bit of time, but I was busy walking my grandma....... damnit I don't have an excuse, but I hope the length and progress in this chapter will make up for it, let me know if it does. Also gimme a thumbs up if I deserve it, as well as a thumbs down if you think so, just let me know why. Enjoy
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The day started just like the last one did, Waking up early in the morning, getting washed and dressed, helping ‘Shy out with breakfast and the critters, and lastly heading out. Except this time I had a definite destination, I headed down to my job. I decided to take a calm jog just to make sure everything was alright with my leg, which it was, and I was thankful for that. I turned a couple of corners and I was at the building that I was in yesterday. To my surprise, they weren’t open yet, but the shock subsided as I checked to time. 8:30, and the sign says they don’t open until 9:00. Damnit, I should have checked that out when I left yesterday. I sat at the entrance listening to music to pass the ½ hour I had until the workday started. The time went by quickly, because I closed my eyes, and when they were opened, my two (What I guessed to be) bosses were giving me a weird look with their heads slightly cocked to the side, as if they were mirroring each other. I pulled out my headphones and started the conversation.

“What? Did I do something wrong?”

“We just didn’t expect you to be here so early” Octavia answered.

“Yea, well you guys did say morning, and I wasn’t sure when you opened, so I woke up early just to make sure I wasn’t late in any way” I pulled myself up as I explained and stood by them as the front door was unlocked.

“Ok then, good job. One question, do you really think you need a run down on how to work at a music store?”

“Probably not, I’d imagine its quite simple”

“And you’re correct, so we can skip the whole tutorial part”

“Sweet, I just need to ask one question”

“What is it?”

“Can I listen to a summary of music from this place, I’m familiar with genres and whatnot, but can I just get to know some of it more specifically?”

“Uhh, sure, good idea, hey Vinyl”

“Yea?” Vinyl was setting up some display C.D.s as me and Octavia were talking by the register.

“Take him to the back room and set him up with some music to listen to”

“On it”

She walked past us but not before grabbing me by the arm and dragging me to the back room.

“Ow, take it easy, this is my bad arm”

“Oops, sorry about that, I can be a bit absent minded”

“Its alright, but you know you could have just asked me to follow you, right?”

“Huh, I guess I could have done that, I’ll remember that, until then, we have all the music you need back here, its organized by genre and you can pick out the artists by yourself, but I have some recommended ones on the table also, we’ll let you know if you’re needed in the front”

“Sounds good, thanks”

“No problem. And a piece of advice, stay on Octi’s good side, I’m more laid back, but she can get stingy if caught in the wrong mood”

“Alright, thanks for the heads up”

“I told you not to call me that” we head her shout from the front room.

“See? She hasn’t had her coffee yet, so she is a bit grumpy, I better get her some, see ya”

“Good luck, haha”

She ran out the room and I could hear them talking in the front, but I decided to ignore it and get to listening. The back room was pretty nice of a place, a table with a few chairs in the middle, surrounded by stacks of boxes and shelves of C.D.’s, records, and merch. I sat down at the table, took a comfortable position, put a C.D. into the player, and hit play. I was greeted with the sound of classical music, no doubt recommended by Octavia. I then spent the rest of the morning, switching from C.D. to C.D., trying to cover every genre I could find, taking mental notes on artists that I should listen to more of. I hadn’t realized how quickly time had passed, before I knew it, Octavia poked her head in and had a surprised look on. I looked around to see why she was looking at me strangely and I realized why. I was surrounded by stacks of opened C.D.s and pieces of paper about the room. Once again I pulled off the headphones and began to speak.

“Wow, I must have gotten carried away, I’m sorry, Ill clean it up, promise.”

“Well you can do that after your lunch break”

“WHAT?? Its lunch time already?”

“Yep, oh and someone is here for you”

“Huh?”

I got up and walked into the main room to see Dash looking at a shelf of music. She turned and walked up to me.

“Hey, what were you doing in the back room? I thought you would be out in front.”

“Me too, but then I realized I didn’t know much about the music here, so I’m taking the day to get more acquainted to the music”

“That makes sense, wanna grab some food?”

“Well it is my lunch break, sure”

“Alright, come on, I know a great place to eat”

We headed out of the store and started walking. We were talking more about our mutual like for adrenaline rushes and exchanged a few stories before we made it to our destination. We sat at a table and ordered our food. Our conversation continued.

“You saved her life?!”

Dash leaned back and shrugged “Yea, both Rarity and the Wonderbolts”

“And… They still haven’t let you in?”

“Yea, I’m mad about that too, but you gotta realize that there is a whole process to getting in, which includes auditions”

“Well if you ask me, you passed the audition part”

“Thanks, I can’t wait to try out next time they go around for new recruits. They don’t do it very often, only when one of them is retiring”

“Well I guess the only thing you can do until that day is practice”

“Yea, pretty much…wait, is that Pinke?”

I looked over my shoulder and, sure enough, there was the supercharged party girl skipping down the road. I looked back to Dash just as she asked me another question.

“Hey, mind if she joins?”

“Sure, the more the merrier”

Just as I finished my statement, she got up and ran over to her good friend. They exchanged a few words and were back at the table. I greeted her as she sat down.

“Hey Pinkie”

“Hiya Allen, how have you been?”

“Pretty good, I got a job, and I finally recovered from your party”

“Hm, that’s surprisingly quick for someone’s first time at my parties, Ill have to make up for it next time”

I got a bit nervous from that.

“OH NO, you don’t have to, that was the best party I’ve ever been to, there is no need to”

“Why thank you, but if one party isn’t better than the one that’s before it, what’s the point of going?”

I paused a moment to understand her logic, which actually was quite well thought out for someone of her…. personality.

“I guess you’re right, but lets give it a bit more time, haha”

“Okie dokie loki”

Our food was brought to the table and we began to eat, but it was short lived. I got up to go to the bathroom, but while I was inside, I heard a scream. It was filled with tones of fear and shock. I rushed out and only caught a glimpse of a figure running down the street with everyone in a panic, I noticed R.D. getting up to pursue the culprit. I realized the direction they were going was towards the path that lead to the forest. I started taking a shortcut that I had found in attempts to intercept them and figure out what was going on. By the time we were all out of the town limits, the forest was covering the horizon and I was slowly losing them. How could that guy run so damn fast, fast enough to not be caught by Dash? I looked behind me and noticed Pinkie trailing me. But I decided to look forward and concentrate on the chase. Before I knew it, the person had gotten into the forest and Dash was panting outside at its border. I kept running and grabbed my knife which was settled on a stump by Fluttershy’s house. I kept running and entered the forest while yelling out to Dash.

“Hey, come on, we gotta catch this guy”

“Right”

She got back up and was following me now. I could barely see the outline of the person we were chasing, and I wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening now. If this guy got the whole town to panic, he must’ve done something pretty bad. I grinned when I noticed him slowing down. I pressed harder into the forest as quickly as it would let me. I lost sight of Dash and Pinkie behind me but continued onwards. I finally caught up to the figure and tackled him. When I flipped him over I was in shock. It had leathery black skin, holes in its arms and legs, fangs, wings that looked like a cicada’s, and a jagged horn. I fell back in shock. What is this thing? It got up, looked and spoke to me.

“Who are you? We have no knowledge of who you are?”

“What’s it to ya? What the hell did you do back there?”

“I was… feeding, but I made a much greater discovery now”

“What?”

“You”

I got up and took a defensive stance. It smirked.

“You can’t beat me, don’t bother trying”

To hell with this. I lunged with my fist leading my body towards it; my knife was in a reverse holding position in my following hand, ready to slash with if the opportunity arrived. It was surprised by my lunge, which gave my first attack then chance to make contact. It did, my fist made contact with its jaw, making it to stagger backwards. But the thing took a short to recover and was ready for my next move. I went in for a kick but it was blocked. It firmly grasped my leg and twisted it, sending me into a spiral landing on the ground, on my back. It then proceeded to drop and elbow towards me, but I rolled out of the way. This thing is serious, its not gonna back down. I went for a stab with my knife, but it was caught in one if its armholes. Damn this dude is freaky. It swung its arm, which caused me to lose grip on the weapon, sending it flying, only to stick into a nearby tree. I was distracted when watching the knife, giving the creature the opening it desired to drive a knee into my gut, sending me staggering back in pain, I leaned against a tree for support. I looked up to see it rush at me again this time driving at me with a fist. Out of sheer instincts I ducked down, to look up and see its fist drive into the tree. I extended my legs, driving my body into a headbutt landing on its lower jaw, knocking it back.

“What the hell are you?” I asked, still grasping my stomach as I saw it wipe some green blood substance off the corner of its mouth.

“That is non of your concern, just stay out of my way”

It ran at me with intense speed, too fast for me to dodge, but instead of going for a body shot, it took a shot at my wounded arm, pain seared through my body like a wave. I fell back on my butt and looked up to see it walking away. I shouted.

“Get back here punk, what do you think you’re doing leaving in the middle of a fight?”

“As much as I would like to beat you to a pulp, I must go, but I’ll leave you with some advice, next time you see me, stay out of my way”

With that it disappeared into the trees and shrubbery. I staggered up and pulled my knife out of the tree. It had some green liquid on it. Heh, I managed to cut it a bit. I slumped back down in pain, only to hear a group of footsteps heading towards me. I didn’t bother to get up, but I was lucky. Aj, Dash, and Pinkie emerged and looked at me in shock. Aj spoke up.

“What in tar nation happened here?”

“Uh, I got into a bit of a fight”

“It looks like a bit more than that”

“I guess, can we get out of here?, I think my lunch break is over” I laughed to myself at my lame joke as they hoisted me up. We were out of the forest soon enough and I was sitting by the fence that separated ‘Shy’s land from the entrance of the forest.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Dash asked.

“Yea, I’ve taken worse, the bastard took a cheap shot at my bad arm though”

“C’mon lets get you fixed up, and wipe off your mouth, its making it look worse than it really is”

I wiped my forearm across my jaw to see some blood. So they don’t exaggerate it when you get hit in the gut in all of those shows. I smirked at my thoughts that caused everyone to gvie a questioning glance at each other.

“Well, I’m gonna take the rest of the day to cool off, shall we sort this out tonight”

“Sounds fair enough, lets meet up at the library”

“Ill see ya guys there”

I walked back into town and went back to work, which really wasn’t work, but hey, I had to learn. I couldn’t fully concentrate on the music, my thoughts were swarmed with what happened in the Everfree Forest. Before I knew it, I was out of work, and heading over to Twi’s place. I hope we can make sense of all this. I thought as I neared my destination.