Highway South and the Dark Industry

by Highway South

Chapter 6: The Highway South

Chapter 6: The Highway South (finale part 2)

As the sirens roared over the city, it was clear that no one would get any sleep that night. Now the whole city was up and running with searchlights. The skies were a dangerous place to be.

About ten minutes later, Highway arrived at the entrance. When he landed, he immediately looked right and left for Commune. Strangely, he was nowhere to be seen. He yelled in as quiet a way as possible, as to not alert the guards to his presence. “Heeeey! Commune! Are you around here? Its me, Highway!”

Out from behind a dumpster staggered the exhausted unicorn. “Ssshhh! What the hay man? Keep it down!”

“Sorry…”

They both walked over to the dirty side of an apartment building. The smell was only tolerable because of them being too exhausted to care. “So, what’s the game plan?” asked Commune.

“Well, considering our options,” he paused.

“Yeah?”

“I think we’re gonna have to use the long range teleportation device.”

“Oh hay no! Didn’t the princess say that its only been tested once with a live pony?”

“Yeah but, do we have any other options?”

Commune pondered the thought of trying to escape the city by means of simply going for it. Every scenario he put through his mind didn’t end too well. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that there were some snipers on the towers surrounding the city. “I guess we don’t have any other options,” he admitted sadly.

“Great, but I still have to figure out how it works.”

“You don’t know how it works!?”

“No, but I think I can figure it out.” Highway happily looked upon the device as he grabbed it out of his bag. Putting it on the ground, he laid it so the part that was supposed to attach to his head was facing up. “It can’t be that hard to use right?” He focused on the thought of not getting it to work right out of fear, ‘what if it’s not that simple?’ No, he had no time for worried thoughts. ‘This was the time to not be second-guessing your decisions,’ he told himself sternly. He lowered his head onto the device, the three power chords on each side brushed up against his forehead and tickling him a little. The tingling sensation in his head reached an all time high. The cushioned piece of golden metal touched his forehead, right where a unicorn’s horn would be. Instantly he felt it stick to his head, and it wasn’t coming off anytime soon. The sensation quickly dissipated as soon as the device was attached. He raised his head back up to see Commune looking at him in awe. “What? Does it look good?”

His jaw was dropped, “You look better than an Alicorn,” he said quietly. “The artificial horn does so much to your looks! The way the gold shines through at the base is impressive enough, but on top of that the gold itself is engraved with its own unique pattern. THAT IS SO AWESOME!”

“Umm, thanks?”

“DUDE! Does it have like, a high-tech heads up display?” he said perhaps a little over excitedly.

“No, no it doesn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

He tilted his head left and right in an attempt to trigger something, meanwhile Commune just stared bright eyed at the glorious contraption. “I’m absolutely sure that it doesn’t have anything like that.”

“Ok, if you say so…but is there anything at all”-

“I’m pretty sure all it does is teleport.” Not knowing the true extent of the device’s power, he stopped to correct himself while moving his eyes up to look at it. “Pretty sure.”

Just as he thought about it, a voice spoke to him inside his head. “Hello new user, would you like to teleport to a destination?” The voice was of a slightly computerized mare.

The shock of hearing this clear voice inside his head made him jump. “What the!? Who are you?” he said flustered.

The voice repeated the last part of the sentence. “Would you like to teleport to a destination?”

After giving it a moment, he believed he’d figured out how it worked. “Yes, could you take me to the city just south of Dimsville?”

“Scanning, one moment please.” An electric humming noise was ringing in his head.

“Hey Highway, are you feeling alright?” Commune interjected worriedly.

“No I’m fine rea”-
The voice played over his own as he tried to finish. “Subject Dimsville does not exist in any known record, please choose another destination.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t exist? Of course it does!” He spoke in a mocking tone, “I’m standing right in the middle of it. Do you under-stand?”
“Dimsville does not exist, please select another destination.”
At this repeated message, Highway facehoofed. Shortly after the pain sat in from his own stupidity of hitting himself in the face with his hoof, he remembered that no one on the outside of the city even knows what had happened. With this realization, he knew what to say for his new destination. “Teleport to the city directly south of New Harmony.”
“Calculating coordinates please wait.” The electrical sound began again.
“Highway, is that machine talking to you?” asked Commune nervously.

“Actually, it is if you can believe it.”

“Oh I believe it! I can use magic, remember?”

“I see you’re point…”

“Destination selected, please begin rapid acceleration.” The device finished calculating…whatever it was that it was calculating, and now appeared fully operational.

“Rapid acceleration?” Highway asked, “Doesn’t that mean I need to start flying again?”

“Whatever you must do to achieve recommended speeds,” the device responded.

Commune jumped in again, “Wait, we have to fly? Doesn’t that mean…”

Highway turned to look at his friend in an amused manner; he knew that Commune was going to have to sit on his back again while airborne. “Oh yes…”

“Oh no…”

A minute later, and his pal was panicking on his back, trying desperately not to scream. The only noise was of his mumbling.

“Seriously? We could be spotted and shot down at any moment, and you’re more afraid of the heights?”

“Mmm hmm!”

Highway sighed, then continued to fly in the direction of the city’s edge. ‘So,’ he thought to the machine, ‘how fast do I need to be going?’

“You need to be going at least mach one for the gates to be deployed, then maintain that speed upon impact.”

He nearly dropped the flailing unicorn as he realized how fast it was; the speed of sound. How was he going to accomplish that with this guy on his back?

The device continued to give out instructions. “Another note, you must fly horizontally into the gates. Entering vertically will result in disintegration in collision with the unforgiving ground. Please remember.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” he screamed without thinking.

“Do what?” Commune asked.

At the end of Highway’s sentence, a searchlight loomed dangerously close to them as they flew by. “Phew, that was just a little too”-

Another searchlight’s beam swung through the air, landing square on them; and there was no escape. They both lost their breath and stared off blankly into the sky, what were they to do now? A bell went off at the searchlight that had spotted them. Quickly, other searchlights flew in their direction; all of them landed directly on their target. The light nearly blinded them if they looked down, so they had no choice but to look upward. Things were unraveling faster than either of them had anticipated, what else could go wrong right?

Out of the corners of their eyes they saw an orange and blue light speeding at them, one on the right and one on the left. ‘That’s right!’ Highway suddenly remembered, ‘the two Neon Bolts that tried to track them down still hadn’t come back from their search. How could I’ve forgotten?’ they looked like shining stars, slowly getting brighter and brighter. They would have to get away before they collided with the Bolts, and that wasn’t much time to work with.

Ponies in the streets awoken from the sirens looked to the sky to see what was taking place. They watched in awe, as none of them could fathom what was taking place. More and more scrambled to get a better view of the event.

As the frigid air rushed past Highway, it was clear that he was nowhere near mach one. Was there any real chance to escape? “come on-come on-come on Highway! Move faster! I can tell that you’re not flying fast enough to do whatever it is this machine wants!”

“SHUT UP I KNOW! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GO ANY FASTER?’

Due to the searchlights giving away their position, the Bolts continued to adjust their trajectory in order to arrive at their targets sooner. If only they could destroy them.

“Highway, I’ve got an idea.”

“WHAT?”

“I’m going to try and take out the lights ok?”

“DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!”

Commune turned around on his back so that he was facing the opposite direction. He directed his gaze into the light of a searchlight. It temporarily blinded him as he shut his shut his eyes in pain. Trying desperately to recover, he became extremely enraged. He growled and began firing off large bursts of flame. They were random to say the least, but in the process he did manage to destroy a few of the lights. Every shot he fired lurched Highway in the opposite direction; speeding him up, but causing him to fly in anything but a straight line.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Highway screamed.

“I do-ho-on’t know!” he sobbed

The newfound thrust caught Highway by extreme surprise, and he nearly crashed into a building as a result. “Holy hay!” he shouted as he pulled away from the building at the last moment.

The crazed pegasus roared through the streets; anyone on the ground or in the buildings nearby was massively startled by the sudden fly-by. The citizens in the windows of the buildings were paralyzed with fear, but impressed by his expertly executed pull out of his falling spin.

“Sorry, I won’t do that again!” Commune tried to apologize.

“No, its fine,” he said calmly.

“Uhh, what?”

“Keep doing that!”

“Wha-why?”

The device was reading out his speed as he flew, to assist him in reaching the proper velocity. For once, that wasn’t a bad idea. “Your current speed is mach zero point five and decreasing,” the device said to him.

“It’s fine! Just fire your spell directly behind me alright?”
Commune figured where he was going with this, and agreed that it just might work. “Yes sir!”
A machine gun’s worth of bursting flame lit up the sky, showering a large portion of the city in a red and flashing glow. As he speculated, they were gaining speed.

“You current speed is mach zero point seven,” the computer told him as he concentrated on flying in straight line.

“Keep going!” Highway shouted. It was clear to him that all this using of magic was putting quite the strain on his friend’s mind. He was sweating, and his flames became shorter and less frequent.

“Your current speed is mach zero point eight.”

“Not good enough!” Highway shouted in disgust.

“Your current speed is still mach zero point eight and decreasing,” the computer said in order to correct itself.

“DID YOU SAY AND DECREAS”- he didn’t even have the breath to complain about the speed change. ‘What the hay are we gonna do?’ The chill in the air was getting to him; patches of his fur coat had icicles forming on them. He was fighting off the urge to shiver and get warm again. He couldn’t keep this up much longer.

The once star-like lights of the Neon Bolts glow had grown into something like a mini sun. Time was about to run out, he tried not to admit the truth to himself. Looking to both of the Neon Bolts, he could tell that they were less than a minute from reaching him. He looked back to his friend trying desperately to continue firing his shots off, but to no avail.

“Your current speed is mach zero point five,” the machine said peacefully to him.

Commune exhaustedly fired off the last of his shots. “I-BOOM, will not-BOOM, give up-BOOM, that easily!” He angled his head for one final shot, and then let out the biggest flame yet; it covered over sixty houses in its length alone. After that he just breathed heavily, unable to use another spell. It took a moment for him to admit defeat, but he did. “Buddy, I was glad,” he breathed heavier, “to have at least helped you change your mind about the world. It really is a tragedy that these people will never know anything but this horrible city.” He went silent for a time too uncomfortable to bear.

“Commune? Commune y-you awake?” There was no response, and he could feel him fall onto his head in need of rest. He could still feel the unicorn breathing, but he was unconscious for now.

The Neon Bolts were about ten seconds away from impact. His terrible life was flashing before his eyes; from the memory of the paper labeled “The Highway South,” up to his job at the factory. Then, it was as if his memory changed. It was suddenly filled with thoughts of Celestia and the dream he had the night after meeting Commune. It was a much happier memory, and the sight of his new friend smiling filled his mind for a moment. Something was different, as the ice-cold air rushed past him as he flew; he suddenly began to feel very warm. Walking into his mental image was his mother, and Commune seemed like he was conscious in the memory. Then a thought hit him, this was no memory; it was a psychic transmission.

Commune moved out of the way to let his mother through, and while doing so gave a slight bow. The Alicorn began to speak to Highway, and the vision was becoming too real. He suddenly took in a breath of air, and to his surprise it was warm. He looked down to his feet to see and feel himself standing on the ground. He moved his feet up and down to double check, as this was an entirely new type of experience. His mother began to speak in her angelic voice, as her silver hair blew in the wind. “My son, I have a message for you.” As she spoke the entire city changed before his eyes. The sun was quickly rising and falling in the background, but her glow gave the area they were standing around a constant light source. The buildings were slowly becoming newer looking, pieces of rubble were flying from the ground to the missing pieces of the apartments. The factory was directly behind him, but he didn’t look at it. “I have been betrayed by the creature known as Off Track, as you must already know. I had to wait for the perfect time to let you know, as even with my abilities I am limited in communication with you. Your life is not over it is only just beginning. You’re time before now was never supposed to happen, and I am sorry for that. How I wish I had raised you myself, but my own ignorance was my downfall; I will make sure you do not make the same mistake.” She motioned to Commune, who was standing over to the side. “Show him inside please.”

He kneeled before her in a very polite manner, “Of course Princess.” He then trotted over to him, and motioned him to follow. They turned around to view the factory, but there was no factory to be seen. In its place stood the most beautiful palace he’d ever seen; for a moment there, he thought he was going to pony heaven. Commune saw the look on his face and tried quickly to explain. “No, it’s not what you think. You’re not dead, and neither am I. Your mom is just an incredible Alicorn. She’s created a whole dimension just to show you something; you should be overjoyed!”

“I-I-I just don’t know what’s gong on.” Highway said confused. “We were just about to be obliterated before you showed up!”

“Yeah, but let’s try not to think about that ok?”

He sighed, “fine…”

The palace was so huge that it stretched into the clouds. There was a magnificent purple and gold sunset off to the right of the palace, and a cloud seemed to be wrapping its way around the top of the building. It was tall and regal looking, with golden caps on the castle-like points. It was thick in width, with only one tall tower branching out from the right side. Most of it was a pearl textured stone, skillfully crafted in humongous shapes. Even though it was thick in diameter, it curved in on itself; so that a pegasus could slide down its side and leap off the end. The slopes were in reverse near the tops of the castle. Huge semi-rectangular holes were cut into the castle itself; they were easily over a hundred stories high. Inside the building, at the base of where the holes were cut, was a very large platform that circled the entire upper floor. A hole in the circular floor was even more massive than the holes that were on the outside walls of the building. On the ground floor was the throne that Off Track had replaced. It was ornate beyond belief; with a crimson red seat, and gold engraved detail upon it, it was definitely the most detailed small object in the castle. The palace appeared to be a pegasus paradise!

“You see that my son, that’s where you lived when you were an infant.” His mother almost scared him, as he was admiring the magnificence of the castle. “Did you know that this city used to only contain pegasus ponies? I suspect that many of the citizens nowadays have forgotten all about that. It’s a real shame too.”

The world shifted for a moment, the ground shook and the buildings spilled into each other. In another moment it was over, and they were all standing inside the palace. In the center of the room was a large colored plan for a bridge uniting two cities together. “You see my son, that paper you saw all those years ago, was this.”

Highway’s heart was filled with butterflies, he got a brief case of the chills, and then sadness filled the remainder of what anypony was allowed to feel at once. The paper lying there on the ground made more sense to him than anything before. He fell down to the ground, landing slowly on his knees.

“Back then, our city was long divided from the rest of Equestria. Only the greatest fliers in the world lived here, for they were the only ones who could make the trip across the desert and survive. Since pegasi have the power to control the weather, we made it rain in the desert, and created a habitable area to thrive in. We were among the few kingdoms that could not only control the weather, but skilled with agriculture too. It was peaceful here, don’t let the words of that liar Impound fool you. His new master had manipulated him; let me tell you the truth. He was among the three unicorns in the city, and like he said, I put him in charge of the jail. He has a kind heart, its just that its been twisted. The sight of anyone going to jail hurt him on an emotional level, to the point where he asked to quit several times. With the manipulation taking control, he began to detest freedom, until it grew into pure hatred. I represented the skies, and the skies to me represent freedom itself. Yet, even in my last moments, Impound couldn’t finish me off. His kind spirit fought ferociously against the monster’s influence, and he would’ve walked away if not for intervention. Off Track showed himself to Impound for the first time, as he dealt the final blow.”

“This…this…” Highway had no words to describe how he felt, only tears. On the paper below him sat the design of the bridge, and at the top it read, “The Highway South.”

“You are now the messenger of freedom, take flight in the open skies, and chart a path for others to follow. I’m afraid my time with you is up.”

“No, not yet! I still have some questions! What about the Neon Bolts?”

“They were the greatest fliers in the sky, but what really made them different was their ability to use magic. Not much magic, but enough to do some amazing things. It breaks my heart that they had to be the ones to kill the original bearers of the elements.”

The world began to fall apart piece by piece, “Don’t leave, no!”

“I have no choice, any more time spent here, and you won’t have enough time to evade the Neon Bolts charge.”

“It doesn’t matter! I’m not going to survive that anyway!”

“Yes you will, I’ve passed on some of my flight magic to you. All you need is the will to fly higher.”

“BUT”- and then it was over. By the time he’d spoken, there was nothing but darkness around him.

Instant shock hit him; he was suddenly freezing to death and back in the horrid environment he started in. He gazed into the darkness out in front of him, and imagined the sky he’d just seen in his vision. Within an instant, his wings were filled with the strength of twenty pegasi. The sky felt small, and all his troubles as nothing. He let his desire to fly higher set in and relax him; now nothing could stand in his way. His mother was right, he did have a power given to him, and he was going to use it.
His wings lit up in a white glow, and then his whole body. In one flap, the buildings disappeared in a blur. He thought he heard the sound of two unidentified flying ponies crash behind him, but paid no attention.
“Y-you’re c-current s-speed is m-mach t-twenty, c-cleared f-for g-gate o-opening.” The computer tried to continue functioning at this speed, but was seriously struggling. The only thing keeping any of them in one piece was a crude magic shield that apparently came with Highway’s new ability. Inside the shield, the effect of higher speeds was reduced to almost nothing.
The artificial horn finally lit up with a high-pitched sound, and fired off three white rings of slightly decreasing size. As they spun in circles, a white light appeared in the center. A moment later, the light became incredibly bright, and Highway could see different colors of the rainbow peeking through the sheet of white.
“Destination confirmed, prepare for trans”- before the machine could even finish its thought, they flew into the gateway and became enveloped in its nothingness.