Philidelphia

by Short Stories

1) Delay

Feet slammed against the stiff hotel carpet, echoing throughout the corridor. Only the pale moon gave him enough light to see where he was going, yet that hardly seemed like enough. He had no idea why he decided to stay in his hotel room...why didn't he go down to the port, like the note told him to. He just ignored it and instead stayed in the nice, comfy bed with his lovely wife and two beautiful daughters. Now, they were probably all confused at what had happened, and scared to death for him. Tears of fear and sadness ran down his cheeks, blurring his vision, though he kept his pace. I need to get back to them... he thought with heavy gasps, I just need to see them again and make sure they're okay.

A bullet skimmed past him, barely touching his ear. He cupped it, out of reflex, and turned his head to see how far away he was from the chaser. Three feet. Two feet. One foot. He looked ahead again and picked up speed, only to find he had ran into a dead end, with only an emergency exit and a ladder to help him out.

"Time's up." He whirled around and came nose to cannon with the loaded rifle. "You had your chance, sir." The owner of the weapon continued, "but you didn't come clean. And now that you know who's behind everything, I can't let you get away alive."

"Please," He huffed leaning against the door, "please just let me go. I need to see if my family's okay."

A sinister chuckle echoed throughout the halls as a cloud cast over the moon. "Too late for that, ol' Hourglass." the mastermind pulled the lever, sending a bullet his way. He somehow dodged it just in time and it went through the glass instead.

Before the crook could fire another, Hourglass pushed the door open, setting off the fire alarm. He looked the former friend dead in the eyes, trying not to show his fear. "You killed them, didn't you?" He asked angrily. Only a laugh in response. "Didn't you?!"

He couldn't quite see her face, but he could sense her rolling her eyes at how slow he was. "Nice work, Sherlock." She said sarcastically. "Now, let's see if you can tell what will happen next..."

"Cut!" Bright lights flashed throughout the movie scene, the two actors bracing themselves against the sudden change in lighting. "That's a wrap!" Florie Cut called out, setting aside her megaphone. She motioned to the camera crew and mic people to start cleaning up, then got out of her chair and approached the two actors. "Bubblenut, you need to work on your lines more. It's supposed to be 'You must be dying to know what will happen next, not-- not...whatever you said...." Bubblenut bowed her head respectively and mumbled and mumbled an apology the director didn't hear. "And Hubble," she continued, "act more believable."

"What are you talking about? That was the best I could do!"

"Find something better." Florie sighed, running her fingers through her purple and orange striped hair. "I need a coffee or... a ten hour energy or... something..." She grabbed her stuff and headed out the door, facing the two before she left. "But, other than that, you two did great today. Have a good night, okay?" he closed the door soon after, leaving them and the staff alone, thought the staff wasn't really paying attention to them, and all other actors had already left.

Hubble approached the girl, who was clutching her script like her life depended on it, clawing at her wildly curly hair with the other. "Good job today, Bubblenut. You were really believable. Better than me, apparently."

"No no no," she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else, "a true villain doesn't mess up on their lines..." as if realizing what she had said, she straightened up, whirled around to face man with a sheepish look on her face. "I mean, thanks, bye!" He watched her zoom out of the studio, thinking her behavior was mighty odd...even for her.

---

"I'm afraid it's much too late already, Sweetie." Rarity sighed, trying to pull the remote out of the little girls hands. "If we wait until yet another commercial, we'll miss the airplane."

Sweetie looked at her sister with slight irritation as Timable played just behind the seventeen year old girl. "So?" She asked, "we'll just get on the next one. I haven't seen this episode before! Tim and Yvonne are trying to stop Doct--"

"Oh, I don't care who's trying to stop who with what!" Rarity huffed, finally winning the battle. She turned the TV off and placed a hand on her hip. "You can just watch it on your phone or when we get home. I swear, I never should have let Pinkie introduce you to that show in the first place."

Sweetie stood up and looked up at her, arms crossed, now sulking. Rarity furrowed her brow and brought Sweetie up herself. "Need I remind you yet again this is very important to me?"

She hunched over, looked at the floor, arms still crossed. "No...

Rarity pulled out a drawer of the short dresser the TV stood on. "Your friends are coming along as well, are they not?"

"Yeah..." She uncrossed her arms and hung them like limp noodles.

She placed the remote in and shut it with her hip." "Would it be fair to them to suddenly say the trip has be cancelled?"

Sweetie straightened herself but kept her head low. "I guess not..."

"I suppose that's settled th--Oh! Oh, my!" Rarity exclaimed mid sentence; she had caught a look at the wall clock and saw it was thirty minutes till the plane took off. "Sweetie, grab the bags and help me load them into the car! We only have thirty minutes left before the plane and y chances of getting a shop in Philadelphia take off!" She took two small bags off a neatly stacked pile of five and headed out towards the dark purple Mercedes. Sweetie looked at the other five, which were all big, yet fashionable carry-ons, figured Rarity wasn't going to help her with those, and sighed, then went to carry them out to the car as well.

Once outside, she spotted Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looking at Rarity, who was frantically trying to find her keys. Rarity paused, then sighed. "I must have left them on the island...."

Sweetie waved to her friends as she pulled the first carryon up to Rarity's side. "Hey, Rarity?" She asked, "san Apple Bloom and Scootaloo help with the rest of the bags?"

Rarity looked at her, confused, then turned and saw the two girls standing on the sidewalk. "Oh," she said, as if she hadn't noticed they were there; she faced her sister again and smiled. "Of course they can. But please do hurry; I fear we might miss the flight as it is..." She trailed off and rushed inside to fetch the car keys, the trio trailing after her.

"I thought you'd be ready by now." Scootaloo said, "what, with Rarity being 'timely' and all....."

"Yeah; I.... kinda held her back....." Sweetie mentioned shyly.

"Were ya watchin' that Timeable show again?" Apple Bloom asked with a smirk.

"It's Timable", Sweetie said, grabbing one of the carryons, "and yes I was." She handed it to Apple Bloom and the other to Scootaloo. "We should probably get these in the car before Rarity has an aneurysm." They headed out towards the car, where Rarity was waiting; they figured she ran back when they weren't paying attention, and the second they were buckled up, they were out of the driveway and heading towards the airport.

Comments

[Paradise Oasis]

Ohh, a trip to fillydelphia! Neat! I wonder how the timetable show will fit in...