> Sins of a Shadow
>  by SilverFlare11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1-Canterlot Chase
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sirens rang out across the city of Canterlot. It wasn’t uncommon to hear sirens in Canterlot; however, hearing multiple sirens all at once all heading to the same place, was very uncommon.
Especially when a vast majority of those sirens belonged to police cars that were specific to federal police Nissan GT-R R35’s and Royal Guard interceptor vehicles, which depending on the preference of the pony driving them, varied.
Ponies on the streets scattered as SUV vehicles shut off many streets and back alleys, blocking them and the police ponies inside stepping out. The GT-R’s and the interceptors closed in on their central location; a small warehouse in the industrial section of Canterlot. The large door on the front of the building was made of corrugated metal with a silver finish, and the rest of the warehouse was made of bricks. All of the vehicles stopped outside of the warehouse, and the feds stepped out of their vehicles to discuss their course of action.
It was then that a McLaren P1 interceptor vehicle, complete with a Royal Guard interceptor livery, pulled up to the scene. The other policeponies looked to it as the engine revved slightly before it went silent and the door opened up.
As soon as the driver stepped out, all of the other policeponies saluted and stood at attention; it was Captain Shining Armor of the royal guard. He saluted the other ponies and then let them at ease.
“This the place?” Armor asked a nearby Sergeant.
“Yes, Captain,” the Sergeant replied. “We’ve checked the security system and video surveillance across the city. His car was last seen heading into this area and was seen leaving it several times as well. We checked all of the other warehouses and all of them were empty. This is the last one.” Shining nodded.
“Good work,” Armor said. “What’s the car he’s got again?”
“1997 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R, but it’s been tuned by an aftermarket company called Nismo,” the Sergeant answered. “Specifically, it’s called a Nismo 400R. Carries an RB-X GT2 motor which carries around 450 horsepower bone stock, but since this guy is a street racer, he’s definitely going to have modified it for more horsepower.”
“The P1 will be able to catch him if the rest of you can’t,” Armor boasted confidently. “Now c’mon, let’s get the door open and get him. He’s cornered.”
“Yes, sir!” the Sergeant said, saluting once more. Shining returned the salute before the two put their hooves back down and walked to the garage door, surveying it for a moment.
“For somepony who’s evaded the police in three cities for three years, he sure isn’t tight on his security,” Armor commented as he grabbed the handle at the bottom of the door and slid the door up a bit. There was no lock attached at all, which Armor found slightly curious. Regardless, he slid the door all the way up, revealing the interior of the warehouse. There were several workbenches, most with car parts and tools scattered across them. One of them was covered in empty energy drink and soda cans, and another had a dismantled turbocharger on it with a small can that held the ball bearings which it used. Armor then looked to the center of the garage, where the suspect’s car sat.
Like the Sergeant had said earlier, the car was a 1997 Nismo 400R, the Nismo tuned version of the Nissan Skyline R33 GTR. Only forty-four of the cars were ever made, and one of those forty-four beautiful vehicles was sitting in this garage. It was a metallic silver color with white five spoke rims, and the Nismo brand body kit and hood that had been made specifically for the 400R. The 400R stripe vinyl was also on the car, and Armor had to admit that it was a very beautiful vehicle.
“Where is he?” the Sergeant asked as they looked around, seeing no sign of their suspect anywhere.
“He might’ve bailed earlier in the day,” Armor said. “He’s crafty. He’s kept you guys at bay for three years now. I’m surprised that you didn’t ask for the Guard’s help sooner.”
“We didn’t need your help until recently,” the Sergeant said. “He wasn’t in Canterlot; he was nearly everywhere else east of here. Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Baltimare… he was in all of those, racing with different cars every time. It took us a year to find him in Fillydelphia and another to find him in Baltimare. Now it’s taken another year in Canterlot, even with the Guard’s help.”
“Alright, I get it, he’s elusive,” Armor said, rolling his eyes. “Let’s just bust this guy and get outta here so that you can start the paperwork.”
“Yes, sir,” the Sergeant replied. He then motioned to his fellow police members to head into the warehouse as he and Shining entered and began investigating, trying to find any evidence that their suspect may have still been there. Shining was looking at the turbocharger on the workbench, and he noticed that next to it were the keys to the 400R, completely untouched; presumably, the suspect had gotten away on hoof far before anypony had been at the warehouse. He placed the keys to his McLaren right beside the 400R’s and compared them for a moment.
“We can’t find any trace of him, Captain Armor,” an officer said. “He must’ve slipped away before we got here.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Armor replied. “C’mon, let’s pack it up. We’ll fan out and search the city; he couldn’t have gotten far.” The officer nodded and walked out of the garage, and the Sergeant then directed all of his fellow policeponies out of the building before Armor himself walked out and closed the large door behind him, not realizing he had left something behind.
As soon as the door had been shut, a ventilation shaft several feet above the floor of the warehouse had the vent knocked from it, causing it to fall onto the ground with a clank. Soon after, a pony stuck his head out. His silver muzzle and horn stuck out from the opening of the hood on his black hoodie, and the golden bangs of his mane did the same. His muzzle opened as he breathed a deep sigh of relief.
	It’s been like this ever since three years ago. Running from them, hiding from them. I feel like a rat; I’m always scurrying around to get away from these bastards. But no matter where I end up, I can’t hide forever.
It’s only a matter of time until they finally catch me and arrest me for something I never even committed.
The unicorn then managed to get himself out of the ventilation unit and drop to the floor, feeling slight pain sting his legs from the landing. He stood up tall, looking around for a moment before rushing to the workbench that the dismantled turbocharger sat on; he knew he’d never finish the job for the street racer who had given it to him. He grabbed the keys to his 400R off of the workbench and darted to the right door of his car, getting in and putting the key into the ignition.
It was right then that on the outside of the warehouse that Captain Armor realized he’d forgotten the keys to his McLaren inside the warehouse. He walked back to the door and opened it up, and as soon as the suspect saw the door opening he ducked down below his dashboard, keeping his hoof on the keys in case he needed to start the car in a hurry.
Armor casually walked back to the workbench with the turbocharger on it and picked the keys to his car up, and he turned to head out when he did a double take. He turned back around and looked at the workbench again, unaware that the very pony that he was looking for was watching his every move.
The keys to the 400R were gone.
“What the hell…?” Armor whispered to himself, looking at the spot where the keys had been. He looked onto the ground for a moment, thinking that he may have knocked the keys onto the floor, but when he did, he noticed that a ventilation shaft vent was on the ground nearby. He walked to it and smirked as he then looked to the car. “Sneaky little bastard, aren’t you?” He took one step towards the vehicle before he heard it start up with a roar and the gearbox clanked. He dove towards the car and managed to grab the spoiler with his left hoof as it peeled out, leaving burnt rubber on the concrete floor as it shot out of the warehouse and onto the street. Armor was barely hanging onto the spoiler of the car, but as the 400R tore into a drift he lost his grip from the centripetal force of the turn and flew off of the car, landing roughly next to one of the GT-R federal police vehicles. 
“HE’S IN THE CAR!!! GET HIM!!!” Armor yelled to the other police officers, and they all dashed for their vehicles, getting into them and speeding off after the Nismo tuned R33. Armor stood and ran to his P1 and got in, grabbing the radio. “This is Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard!” he said into the microphone as he started the car and sped off in the same direction of the other police cars. “We have found the suspect and he is running! Vehicle is a silver Nismo 400R! Make sure the city is shut down; we don’t want to lose this guy!”
“Copy that, Captain,” a dispatcher said. “All routes in and out of the city have been shut down. The suspect has no way out.”
“Good to know,” Armor said. “Over and out.” He put the microphone back on its small holder next to the radio and slammed his hoof down on the accelerator of his McLaren, making the engine roar louder as he chased down the suspect along with the other cops.
The driver of the 400R dropped the car into fourth gear and ripped the E-brake, drifting around a corner that led to an alleyway. The police followed, though some of them couldn’t make it into the alleyway and crashed instead, blocking off the alley and forcing the rest of the police to take a regular route through the streets. The driver then sped back onto the regular streets, heading for the only place he thought he might be able to escape them.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just stop all this running and tell them the whole story of what happened that night.
The 400R kept speeding down the streets, avoiding rolling roadblocks, spike strips and regular roadblocks left and right as he drifted around each and every corner, attempting to get to the area of which he thought he might slip the cuffs yet again.
However, he didn’t realize that Captain Armor, armed with his McLaren, was coming up on him from the various other side streets of the city after having strayed from the other police forces. Since Armor was once part of the guard stationed in Canterlot, he knew the streets like the back of his hoof. He knew where all of the areas leading out of town were and he knew that most of them were shut down, if not all of them.
The fugitive was surprised when Armor’s P1 careened out of a side street, narrowly missing the 400R’s rear bumper as the silver beauty sped away, and Armor ripped his steering wheel to the left, drifting the car rather crudely and speeding after the suspect, catching up to him quickly. Armor glanced at the driver of the 400R; though the hood of the jacket the suspect was wearing blocked a clear view of his face, Armor could see that the suspect’s teeth were gritted in determination, his right hoof on the steering wheel and his left on the gearshift. He smirked and slammed his P1 into the side of the 400R, causing the young unicorn driving the other vehicle to jerk his steering wheel for a moment, regaining control of the car almost instantly.
But I know they won’t listen. Every time my car gets slammed, shunted, or sideswiped… every time I get shot at and beaten up…
It just reminds me more and more of why I keep running every day of my life.
The driver of the 400R then pushed a button on his steering wheel, causing his nitrous oxide systems to trigger. One of the three twenty pound bottles of NOS brand nitrous spewed half of its contents into the exhaust pipe, and the chemicals immediately burst into flames, giving the vehicle a boost in acceleration and allowing him to pull away from Armor a bit. Armor saw this and switched his vehicle from the automatic shifting to manual, downshifting once to get more acceleration out of his car and catching up to the fugitive. He shunted the other car, swapping paint from his front bumper to the other car’s rear bumper and vice versa. The 400R swerved slightly before brake checking Armor, and Armor didn’t see it coming, smashing right into the rear bumper of the 400R. The impact jolted Armor in his seat and crumpled the front end of the P1 a bit, and the 400R’s exhaust tip fell off as well, clattering against the front of the other car until it bounced up and over the roof of the McLaren.
“Smashing up my car?” Armor remarked, staring at the 400R angrily. “Bad idea, buddy.” Once again, Armor downshifted and slammed his car into the suspect’s, damaging them more and throwing the 400R into a small slide, which the suspect recovered from almost instantly again. He then pulled up on the silver vehicle’s right and slammed into the quarter panel, spinning the car out entirely. The driver of the 400R slammed on his clutch and brakes, attempting to bring his car to a stop, to which he succeeded. He then threw the car back in first gear and revved the engine before tearing back down a side street. Armor turned his vehicle around and chased after the suspect once more, attempting to catch up.
The suspect had already taken several turns in an attempt to shake Armor from his tail, seemingly have managed to do it successfully. He turned another corner but slammed on the brakes and clutch again; there had been a roadblock in his way. One of the policeponies who stood guard at the site pulled out a pistol, firing off two rounds quickly at the silver R33. The first bullet struck the left headlight, shattering it, and the second bullet broke through the windshield. The suspect ducked down as the bullet embedded itself just above his nitrous bottles, and he threw the car in reverse, accelerating backwards away from the police officer. The officer fired his weapon once more as the driver of the 400R ripped the E-brake and spun the steering wheel of his car, doing a complete 180. The bullet struck his car in the middle of his turn, putting a hole in the door of the car before it turned completely around and roared away down the street.
“Suspect is heading down Celestial Avenue!” the cop yelled into his radio as he ran back to his car. “I’m gonna need backup down here, ASAP!”
“Thanks for that info, officer,” Armor said into his radio as he spun his car onto a nearby side street, speeding towards Celestial Avenue to continue his pursuit of the suspect. “Shining Armor out; on my way there now.” He put the radio back and drifted out onto the main streets again, taking many different turns to find Celestial, which he did; once again, he turned onto it just as the silver Nismo tuned R33 sped past, and he flew after it, chasing the suspect down to the best of his ability. The suspect saw the McLaren in his rearview mirror and shifted into sixth gear, accelerating away from the McLaren, but not for long; Armor dropped the car into a lower gear and slammed on the accelerator, catching up to the silver car instantly.
Within just a few moments, Armor had caught up to the suspect, and the two were now in a constant road rage like battle, slamming their cars into one another relentlessly as they raced through the urban streets, causing innocent bystanders to jump out of the way of the two vehicles several times. The street necked down to a one lane street, but that didn’t stop the two vehicles; they constantly traded paint and bashed in one another’s fenders and quarter panels even as they were halfway on the sidewalks. At this point, both cars were damaged to the point where it was practically beyond repair. Armor dropped back slightly and slammed the other car’s quarter panel, attempting to spin out his adversary, but the other car persevered, not spinning out at all and simply trading paint with Armor’s McLaren. He then watched as the 400R braked, smoke coming from the tires before the silver car dropped back and then slammed into Armor’s quarter panel hard enough to spin out the McLaren.
However, as Armor’s car began to spin, the front bumper of the body kit on the car caught the 400R’s tire, and the sharp edge of the bumper blew out the tire of the 400R. At the speeds of which the cars were travelling this was a horrible thing to happen. The tire shredded to nothing in mere seconds, the rubber flying in bits through the streets before the rim hit the ground, sparking and causing a horrible loud scraping noise to be heard. Both cars still flew down the street, the P1 still spinning wildly and the 400R throwing up sparks as the rim bounced and sparked off of the cobblestone street. Armor managed to regain control of his P1, but at the moment he did, the 400R slammed into him and he collided with a streetlight. It didn’t hold up well against the speeding police interceptor vehicle, but it held up well enough to make the car’s entire front end crumple into an unrecognizable mess and instantly slow the car from a speed of over two hundred miles per hour to only fifty, throwing Armor forward in his seat violently. Luckily for Armor, the airbag had triggered properly and caught his head, though it was still quite painful. The car then slid to a stop, the front axle completely broken and the wheels wobbling wildly, skewed at awkward angles.
However, when the 400R had slammed into the P1, the driver had oversteered, as he had been slightly ahead of the other car. The suspect’s car spun and slammed into the curb before flipping onto its side and then onto the roof, scraping along the ground and doing a one- eighty before slamming into a building at the end of the street, stopping it completely with the left side against the brick wall. Armor opened the door of his P1 and stumbled out, shaking his head as he leaned against a wall while he regained his balance and his double vision slowly went back to normal. After a crash like that, he was lucky to be alive; however, he was not uninjured. He did have several cuts from broken glass and a concussion from the impact of the airbag to his head. He looked down the street to the totaled Nismo tuned vehicle and smirked.
“Got you now…,” Armor muttered evilly, beginning to walk towards the once beautiful silver vehicle. He thought that the suspect could’ve been heavily disoriented or possibly even unconscious, which would make finishing this assignment easier.
What he didn’t expect was for the suspect to simply open the door of the upside down vehicle, unbuckle his seatbelt and fall onto the roof, scrambling out of the car and running into a nearby alley without so much as a tiny stumble. Armor broke into a gallop, running down to the end of the street. He turned the corner and ran into the alleyway after his suspect, following a thin trail of blood that the other pony was leaving.
I was used to car wrecks at this point. They weren’t foreign to me at all; I’d been in one both times I’d run from the cops in my flees from Baltimare and Fillydelphia. Completely totaled a ’93 Integra GSR and a ’91 MR-2.
I’d been sad about the GSR, kind of mellow about the MR-2, but now that the 400R was wrecked… I was pissed. There were only forty-four of those cars in the world, and now one of them was nothing more than a destroyed pile of scrap metal and glass because of the cops yet again.
But all that aside, I was accustomed to car wrecks.
On hoof chases, however… Those were a different story. But hey, I’d been a runner before I dropped out of school. I knew I could run pretty fast.
The chase continued through the back alleys on hoof, Armor wondering just how some random delinquent pony had learned all of these tricks and could handle this so well; Armor himself was beginning to feel winded and yet his suspect was still running like he had just started. The suspect turned a corner, and Armor followed shortly after, seeing that at the end of this alleyway there was a fence.
The hurdles, though… that hadn’t been my strong suit back in school.
Armor watched as the pony ran to the fence and jumped, and though it was a fence that would normally have been very easy to jump over, the suspect couldn’t jump very high. He saw the suspect’s back left hoof catch the top bar of the fence and cause him to lose balance when he hit the ground, which ultimately made him fall over.
Armor saw this as his chance to get the suspect as he jumped the fence with no issue, watching his suspect scrambling to get up.
“You’re under arr-“ Armor began, but was silenced when a hoof slammed into the side of his muzzle, knocking him away and shutting him up. He hit the ground hard, spitting out a small bit of blood as he scrambled up and chased after the suspect once more, seeing only the bright gold color of the suspect’s tail and the red of the blood falling onto the ground.
I was never going to let any cop, whether it was a local cop, federal cop, or even one of the Royal Guard, catch me. And the reason why?
The suspect turned a corner and saw police cars near his exit point; the local train station just before him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get in through the front. He looked to the building right next to him, which was directly across the street from where he needed to go. He looked behind him towards Armor and then back to the cop cars, where the police officers had taken notice of him and were rapidly running towards him, yelling to stay where he was.
“Gotta give ‘em credit,” the young unicorn remarked, “they’ve got no quit in them.” He then darted into the building beside him, which was a four story apartment building.
I was going to do whatever it took to make sure that they didn’t.
	Armor smashed through the doors and into the building where the suspect had gone and saw the door to the stairwell slowly closing, and he narrowed his eyes as his chest heaved uncontrollably from sprinting for so long.
“You’re not getting away,” Armor snarled as he raced into the stairwell and began making his way up the stairs, seeing his suspect just above him by barely half a flight of stairs. He saw the hoodie and even smelled the strong scent of motor oil coming off of his suspect. However, as he got to the top of the flight leading to the second floor, he tripped, falling into the wall. He scrambled back up, but the suspect was already out of eyeshot. He ran up the remaining flights of stairs to the door leading to the roof. He immediately slammed through it.
There was nopony on the other side. Armor looked about, heavily confused as to where the suspect would have gone; unless he was to have jumped off of the roof, which would have meant certain death, there was nowhere he could have gone to escape.
What Armor didn’t expect was to get knocked down and his head slammed into the concrete of the roof. He cried out in pain, but his senses were still alert enough to smell the familiar odor of engine oil. He knew immediately who it was.
“You thought you could get me?” he heard the suspect say.
“I KNEW I could get you,” Armor snarled back. “I SWORE I could get you.”
“Well, you couldn’t,” the suspect said. “And there’s a reason why.”
“Then why?” Armor growled. He then felt an electric pulse go through his body, and he screamed, writhing on the ground in pain as he felt the weight of the suspect leave him.
I walked towards the edge of the roof, looking to the train station on the other side of the street. It was a long shot, but I knew I could make it.
I looked back at the Royal Guard.
“Because I’m Silver Flare,” I stated to him. “And nopony will ever catch me.”
Silver then ran to the edge of the roof and jumped off of it, sailing all the way from the roof of the apartment building to the train station. However, his landing was not what he’d been expecting; he landed on his hooves, but the roof beneath him gave way the second he hit it, causing him to fall into the station. Several ponies screamed and dove out of the way of the falling unicorn, and he smashed into a luggage cart, caving the bottom in. He bounced off of the cart and hit the floor hard, sliding and rolling across it until he came to a stop before the ticket booth. He felt a fiery, searing pain in his right hind leg, and he gritted his teeth, groaning in pain as he stood.
“I need one ticket to get the hell out of here,” Silver said to the attendant. The attendant, wide eyed and speechless, didn’t respond. “Never mind.” He then limped quickly away, heading for the boarding platform.
Armor slowly stood, grimacing in pain as the injuries of the car crash began to affect him, his adrenaline rush having worn off. Two other police officers ran onto the roof and rushed to Armor.
“Are you okay, sir?” one of them asked.
“Don’t worry about me, Private, just get the suspect!” Armor yelled. “He jumped into the train station!”
“Yes sir!” the privates both shouted, saluting before running to the edge of the building, but as soon as they saw the drop and the large hole in the roof, they decided it was best to go back down through the inside of the building. They ran past Armor again, and Armor followed shortly after, limping down the stairs slowly as the pain began to take over his body.
Silver had already made it to the boarding platform, and just about to leave was a small train with only five cars, two of them being passenger cars and the other three being boxcars. Silver saw nopony watching him, and he quickly ducked into one of the boxcars, slamming the large door shut behind him once again. He then slumped down against one of the crates in the car, clenching his teeth and shutting his eyes tightly as the pain began to register. The train then blew its final whistle and slowly began to make its way out of the station, unaware of its unscheduled passenger.
Now you’re all probably wondering; what did I do to have the entire Equestria Federal Police Department and now the Equestrian Royal Guard after me? Well, that I can’t tell you. What I can tell you is that it happened a long time ago, and that it technically isn’t even something they should be chasing me for.
Yes, I’m a street racer. Yes, I’m a criminal; I’ve boosted cars, illegally imported parts and cars into Equestria and then sold them to others, I’ve been a wheelpony, I’ve evaded police countless times, fought them… The list goes on and on. But let me tell you this.
I don’t want to have to do this. But it’s the only way I can do anything anymore.
If I even TRIED to go straight and get into a legal organization or even just get a job somewhere as an expert mechanic, then I’d get arrested before I even had a chance do anything at the new place. I’m far too wanted to do anything.
If only the sins of Manehattan hadn’t followed me this far…
The two police officers charged into the train station, running straight for the ticket booth. They saw blood on the ground near it and knew that it had to have been their suspect’s.
“Did a silver unicorn just come through here?!” one of the officers asked the attendant frantically.
“Y-yes,” the attendant said, still rather stunned. “He got on the last train out of Canterlot… and it just left.”
“Damn!” the policepony cursed. “Where’s that train headed?”
“It’s making two stops,” the attendant replied. “One in Ponyville and the other in Los Pegasus.”
“Thank you,” the officer said. “C’mon!” He grabbed his partner and they ran back outside of the station, running to Armor, who was leaning against one of the police SUV’s. “He got away, but we know where he’s headed.”
“Where?” Armor asked, his voice full of pain.
“Ponyville, then Los Pegasus,” the officer answered. “One of those two places. We need to alert the local PD of both of those places right now.”
“Well, first you need to get me to a hospital…,” Armor groaned.
“On it,” the officer said. “Vest, you get on your radio and tell the others what happened. I’ll get Captain Armor to medical aid.”
“Right,” the other officer said, grabbing the radio on his uniform with his magic. “This is Officer Vest reporting. Suspect has evaded custody. Repeat, suspect has gotten away; he jumped a train headed out of the city. Alert the Ponyville and Los Pegasus police departments so they can shut this guy down when they find him.” The remaining officer helped Armor to his hooves and into the police SUV he had been leaning against before getting in himself, roaring off towards a hospital.
“Copy that, officer,” the dispatch came in through Vest’s radio. “Police in the areas of Silver Flare’s destination of travel will be notified A.S.A.P. This case is still in federal hooves and those of the Royal Guard.”
“Alright,” Vest said into the radio. “Alert all local officers that the suspect has escaped and that we can no longer help.”
“Already taken care of, officer,” the dispatcher replied.
“Always one step ahead of me…,” Vest muttered, putting his radio back onto his uniform and walking to his nearby police cruiser, driving off back into the city.

> Chapter 2-One Way Ticket
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Silver sat in the boxcar of the train, grimacing at the pain shooting through his body. With every bump of the rails a new wave of agony shot through him. He looked down at his right rear leg, which was splayed out before him; it was bent at a horrible angle and he knew immediately that it was badly broken. He quickly took measures to try and fix it temporarily until he found proper medical aid; he smashed a wooden crate beside him, taking two timbers of nearly equal size from it. He then took off his hoodie and tore the sleeves off of it with his teeth.
I mean, yeah, I’ve broken bones before. But it wasn’t EVER a leg. Usually it was just a rib or my nose, but this was new to me. I’d seen it before though, and I knew how to splint a busted leg.
There was just one part I always dreaded doing every time I’d done it before; bending it back into the right place.
	Silver took his two front hooves and grabbed his broken leg with them, inhaling sharply at the pain that shot through it from the contact. He then quickly jerked his hooves, crying out in agony as the leg cracked and bent back into place. He twisted it a bit, making sure it was in the proper position, but this also caused him great discomfort. Finally, he splinted the leg; he placed the two timbers right up against his leg, holding them there with his magical grip while he tied the sleeves of the hoodie around both the timbers and his leg using his magic, stabilizing it the best he could.
“F-Fuck that hurt…,” Silver whimpered.
Yeah. You heard it right. That was painful. I may be a pretty hardcore guy, what with all the stunts I pulled to get out of Canterlot; the road battle, the chase, punching a Royal Guard right in the muzzle and then jumping two stories just to have a roof break and cause me to fall the other two stories…
But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel pain. I mean, for Celestia’s sake, nopony is immune to pain, whether it’s emotional or physical. I feel both, every single day, emotional a lot more so because of the guilt I have… But I’ll save that explanation for another time.
	Silver finally leaned back against the crate he was sitting against once more, feeling less pain but enough to still be very prominent. He grimaced and slowly shifted, tearing what was left of his hoodie into several smaller pieces in case he needed to tie off the splint a few more times. He then closed his eyes and tried to relax; after all, he had escaped the police once more. He had absolutely nothing to worry about now except for a new car when he reached wherever the train was going. From there, he’d do what he did best; he’d improvise.
My only thoughts at the moment were jumbled, fuzzy messes. The pain I was feeling was completely screwing with my head and I couldn’t think straight. The only thought that I could fully muster was that I had gotten away.
That and the thought that I REALLY needed a new car soon, since the 400R was sitting upside down in the middle of Canterlot.
	Suddenly, the train slowed rapidly, throwing Silver forward. He landed on the floor roughly, sending a shockwave of pain through his body once more. He then felt the train jolt to a stop.
“F-Fucking Celestia…,” Silver moaned out in agony, lying on the floor of the boxcar in a crumpled mess. He heard hoofsteps outside the car, and he opened his eyes slightly only to shut them almost all the way once more as the door of the boxcar opened and bright light streamed in from outside.
“Alright, you get out of there!” he heard a voice yell. He only groaned in pain and frustration; he’d been seen by somepony as he’d jumped onto the train. “Get up, ya little shit!!!”
“Ugh… I can’t, genius…,” Silver groaned, picking his head up. “My leg’s busted…”
“I don’t care ‘bout your leg,” the pony said. Silver finally got a good look at who the pony was; he was a simple earth pony stallion, slightly smaller than Silver himself but much more muscular. While Silver did have muscle tone, he had very little actual bulk.
“Well, if ya want me out of the boxcar, come help me up at least, you stupid fuck,” Silver retorted. “Can’t walk right and I’m in a hell of a lot of pain, thank you very much.” The pony snorted.
“Not gonna help you up,” the pony snapped.
“Then what are you gonna do to get me out of here?” Silver replied. “Huh?” The pony angrily sighed.
“Alright, alright, I’ll help you up,” the pony spat, climbing into the boxcar and getting down beside Silver. Silver reached a hoof up, and the other pony grabbed it, helping Silver to his hooves with a grunt. Silver grimaced at the pain he felt as he stood up, and he took all the weight off of his rear leg, and he limped forward awkwardly until he stepped out of the train car, practically falling onto the ground before catching himself as the other pony also exited the boxcar.
“Little help walking, too?” Silver asked the pony. The pony sighed and allowed Silver to hold onto him as they made their way to the front of the train, reaching the engine. Silver looked up at the engineer, and immediately he became uneasy.
The pony he was looking at was easily much larger than him, both in size and muscle bulk. He was a deep blue earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail, around 20 years of age and he adorned a western style fedora. He looked down at Silver and the pony who was assisting him in walking, and Silver could also see that the engineer was wearing glasses.
“Where’d ya find him?” the engineer asked the other pony; Silver immediately picked up on a heavy country accent.
“He was hiding in one of the boxcars,” the other pony replied. “What should I do with him?” The engineer looked at Silver and noticed his beaten and bloody state.
“What in the hay did ya do to yurself thar, pardner?” the engineer asked Silver. Silver remained silent. “Ya don’t talk much, do ya?” Silver shook his head.
“I talk just fine,” Silver spoke. “I’m just in a lot of pain right now, and the last thing I want is for you guys to leave me out here… in my condition, I wouldn’t even live to see tomorrow.” The engineer looked at Silver with slight concern in his eyes before looking back to the other pony.
“Take him to the sleeper car,” the engineer said. “Give him the last bed on the left, bottom bunk. I’ll talk to him there and then decide what to do.”
“But-“ the other pony started, but the engineer cut him off.
“No buts,” the engineer said. “Ya do as I say or yu’re fired.” The other pony groaned. “And don’t complain no more, either. ‘Less ya wanna shovel more coal.”
“Thank you…,” Silver said to the engineer, relieved.
“Oh, ya shouldn’t thank me yet,” the engineer replied. “I can throw ya off this train whenever I feel like it.” Silver gulped, and the other pony, who Silver now knew as the coal pony, grinned evilly.
“Alright, c’mon,” the coal pony said to Silver as he assisted him in walking to the passenger car. Some ponies were now looking out the windows, poking their heads out to see what was holding up their trip. As soon as they saw Silver, some of them cringed at his injured state and pulled their heads back into the car, while others gawked at him in awe, wondering what had happened to him. The coal pony aided Silver as they entered the first passenger car, and they walked through the car slowly, ponies moving out of their way they best they could. “We’ve got an injured pony here, everypony,” the coal pony said. “C’mon, make some room, let us get past…” They eventually made their way through the first car and into the second one, and finally left the second one and entered the sleeping car. Silver looked at the sleeping compartments; there were four in the middle that were actual rooms, and the rest were just bunk beds with drapes that could be drawn so nopony could see inside.
“He said last bunk on the left, right?” Silver asked to confirm.
“Yeah, he did,” the coal pony replied. “Now get your plot over there.” Silver started limping towards the bed on his own, but the coal pony stopped him. “Wait.” He looked down at the carpeting of the car, and Silver did the same, noticing that it was becoming stained red with something that was still dripping onto it.
That’s when Silver realized that it was his own blood. He looked to his left side where the carpet was mostly stained and saw a large gash in his torso that was seeping the crimson fluid. He immediately felt weaker when he saw it, and he nearly fell over, the coal pony being the only thing that stopped him.
“S-Shit…,” Silver whimpered, feeling incredibly woozy.
“Can’t stand the sight of blood?” the coal pony asked, snickering.
“I’m f-fine with it…,” Silver replied weakly, slowly making his way towards the bunk. “I just c-can’t believe I’m bleeding t-that badly…”
“I’ll get Swift to bring some bandages when he comes to talk to you,” the coal pony said. “You may have been a stowaway and you might be sassy and annoying as hell, but nopony deserves to have that kind of a slice in their flesh getting infected or bleeding to death.” Silver reached the bed and lay himself down on it, lying on his right side so as to keep the blood on the sheets to a minimum.
“Who’s Swift?” Silver asked the coal pony as he began to leave the sleeper car.
“He’s the engineer that you talked to,” the coal pony replied. He then walked out of the car, leaving Silver on his own.
Really, the sight of blood doesn’t make me weak. It was the gash that really threw me. It just made me realize how injured I really was; I was losing blood like crazy, and it was fairly obvious that if I didn’t get treatment soon that I’d bleed out, and the idea of dying after living through three disastrous car wrecks, being shot at, street fights, a jump off a roof only to crash through another roof, being hit by cars and so many other things, was NOT an idea that I liked at all. But honestly, I don’t think anypony ever wants to die by ANY means…
I digress. Honestly, for once in my long, hard life… I felt fear. Very strong fear. I had never felt fear like this in my entire life; not even back on the streets of Manehattan… on the night that the… “incident” took place…
I felt the train jerk as it started moving again, jolting me a tiny bit in my bed. The jolt racked my body with pain, and I groaned as the train settled into motion, slowly chugging away back on its course. I heard the door to the sleeper car open and shut quietly at the other end of the car, and I knew somepony had entered; I awaited them to speak to find out who it was.
	“So,” the pony who had entered said; Silver could immediately tell by the heavy country drawl behind the word that it was Swift, the engineer. “Coal tells me ya busted yurself up purty bad. From what I saw up at the engine, ya are, but he said yu’re even worse than either of us realized.” Silver heard Swift’s hooves softly clatter against the carpeted floor as the blue stallion walked to the bunk where Silver lay, sitting down beside the bunk and looking at the silver unicorn before him, his eyes focusing mainly on the large, red gash in Silver’s side. “What’d ya even do to yurself, pardner?”
“Nothing,” Silver replied.
“Not buyin’ that,” Swift said, taking a cloth from the first aid kit he’d brought with him and soaking it with disinfectant. “Somethin’ or someone did this to ya.”
“The only way I can put it is I was running from a bunch of ponies...,” Silver answered. He then recoiled and yelped in pain as Swift began rubbing the cloth against the wound in his side. “OW!!! Dammit, that burns like hell…”
“’Course it does,” Swift said. “Now who all were ya runnin’ from? Must’ve been somepony bad if they did this to ya…”
“I can’t tell you who I was running from…,” Silver replied, gritting his teeth at the pain burning in his side. “If I do, you’ll throw me off this train for sure…”
“Just tell me,” Swift said, putting the now bloodstained cloth aside and picking up a roll of bandages in the kit. “Can’t be much worse than anythin’ else I’ve heard from other railroad ponies.”
“Wanna bet on that?” Silver replied, chuckling softly, though there was pain behind it. “You haven’t met me yet.”
“Just tell me, city slicker,” Swift said, beginning to apply the bandages.
“I was running from the Canterlot police and the Guard,” Silver answered quickly. Swift stopped everything he was doing and stared at Silver.
“Ya mean to tell me that ya outran the entire Royal Guard and the Canterlot Police?” Swift asked.
“Don’t forget the Equestrian Federal Police Department,” Silver added. “They’ve been chasing me longer than the guard and the Canterlot cops.” He chuckled slightly. “And longer than the Manehattan cops, Baltimare cops, and Fillydelphia cops… Lost them all a long time ago. Been running for a long time.”
Swift could barely believe his ears. This pony couldn’t have been much more than 17 years old. And yet he’d been able to outrun the police forces of Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Canterlot, the entirety of the Equestrian Federal Police, AND the Equestrian Royal Guard? He had to have been on the run for something horrible, or else he was running for no good reason, or he was lying.
“Wha…,” Swift started, but Silver cut him off, moving his right hoof in a dismissive manner.
“I’m assuming you want to know why I’m running, and why I’ve been on the run for the better part of three years,” Silver said, taking the words right from Swift’s mouth. “Well, let me start listing things that I’ve done that would be good reasons. I’m a street racer, I illegally import cars and car parts, I’ve boosted cars, been a wheelpony for several jobs that other ponies I know have needed a driver to pull off, I’m affiliated with the black market in Canterlot and Fillydelphia… Need I say more?”
Needless to say, Swift’s jaw was practically on the floor. So many thoughts were flying through his mind, the most of which being a lot of disbelief and astonishment.
“But… but why were ya doin’ those thangs?” Swift asked as he slowly resumed putting the bandages on Silver. “I wouldn’t guess yu’re much more than ‘bout seventeen, maybe eighteen years old…”
“That main reason of why I did those things, I can’t tell you…,” Silver replied, sighing. “If I did, you’d throw me off of this train in a second, or call the cops and have them come and pick me up when you get to wherever it is this train is going. Yeah, no dice. I’ve lived through too much shit, run away from too many cops and wrecked too many cars to just lay down the fight.”
“Whaddya mean, the main reason?” Swift asked, finishing applying the first layer of bandages and starting to apply the second layer as a support.
“Can’t tell you,” Silver replied. “I already said that. But I can tell you this much; I don’t wanna do what I have to do in order to survive. But going straight and getting into anything legal would get me arrested in less than five minutes. So I’ve gotta stay on the other side of the law.”
“Well, with what yu’ve told me yu’ve done, I’d say yu’re facin’ at least thirty to life behind bars if ya get caught,” Swift said, applying the final bandages and placing the rest of them to the side. “Now lemme see yur leg.” Silver slowly turned himself over, grimacing as he did so until he was lying on his back. Swift stood and looked over Silver’s leg carefully. “Well, looks like ya did all ya could with that… how bad do ya think ya broke it?”
“At least in three places…,” Silver replied. “It was at some angles it shouldn’t have been when I hopped on this train and I bent it all back into place…” Swift winced at the thought.
“Just thinkin’ ‘bout that makes my leg hurt,” Swift commented. Silver chuckled softly.
“I’ll bet,” Silver said. He then looked up at Swift. “So what’re you gonna do with me? Throw me off the train, call the cops and have me arrested, or let me go?”
“Well… I really don’t know,” Swift replied. “Ya don’t seem like a bad pony. ‘Sides, yu’re way too young to be on yur own like ya are.”
“I’ve managed since I was fifteen,” Silver shot back. “I might look too young on the outside, but I’ve seen things and done things that nopony should ever have to experience.”
“I can imagine,” Swift said. “Thar’s just one thang I don’t understand. Where’s yur family?”
The mention of the word “family” made Silver’s eyes instantly tear up with sadness. Swift saw this and immediately knew he’d touched upon a sensitive topic.
“My family… I don’t even know if they’re alive…,” Silver said. “Last I saw of them was that night three years ago, right before I went out to get some money for us… They were finally starting to be happy again. And then I disappeared… they didn’t hear from me for months before I got up the guts to call them, tell them I was okay.”
“Dang… I’m sorry, pardner…,” Swift said, feeling sympathetic for Silver.
“’S alright… I just miss ‘em, y’know?” Silver said. “Especially Blizzard… But anyway, after that call… that was the last time I talked to them, because that was the first time the cops caught up with me because they’d monitored the call, and that was in Fillydelphia. They got an ID positive for the voice, ID’d my car and plates, found out where I was hiding and then closed in… but they didn’t get me. They got the car, but not me. Because nopony will ever be able to catch Silver Xenon Flare. I’m too damn tricky. I’m too good of a driver and tuner. I know every city I’ve ever been in like the back of my hoof; I know spots where they’ll never find me.” He looked Swift directly in the eyes, tears of anger and sadness filling them. “And you’re not gonna just hoof me over to the ponies I’ve been running from for three years because of something that I didn’t even do.”
“What’re ya even talkin’ ‘bout?” Swift asked. “What is this that yu’re talkin’ ‘bout, somethin’ ya didn’t do?”
“Like I said earlier, I can’t tell you. All that I can tell you is that if you looked through old newspapers and whatnot to find any trace of my name, you’d know in a matter of minutes. But you do that and find out, and you’ll never see me again because I’ll be gone. Hell, after this train stops, I’m gone. A shadow. You’ll never see me again.”
“Not true. And that’s ‘cause yu’re comin’ with me. Stayin’ at my place.” Silver looked at Swift strangely.
“You can’t be serious, right?”
“Dead serious, pardner. I ain’t lettin’ nopony get ya ‘til I know ya for myself.” Swift smirked. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. The name’s Gearheart. Swift Gearheart.” He stuck out his hoof. Silver looked at it for a moment before looking at Swift and smirking.
“Silver Flare. Don’t forget it; you’re gonna want to remember me if you ever meet me on the streets.”
His silver hoof then knocked against Swift’s own blue hoof.

> Chapter 3-New Place, Same Problems
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“So how’d ya get all busted up like that, Silver?” Swift asked as the train continued to barrel towards Ponyville; they would be there in just a matter of minutes.
“Well, like I told you,” Silver started, “I was runnin’ from the cops in Canterlot. They had an interceptor from the Guard, driving a McLaren P1… that thing was fast, let me tell ya, but the guy driving it had no idea what he was doing. Drifting was sloppy, didn’t know how to pull off a proper PIT maneuver… he’s lucky that his car was the only thing that got wrecked when we crashed.”
“Wait, ya crashed?” Swift said. “How?”
“He was trying to spin me out and I had a blown tire, thanks to the stupid body kit he had on his car,” Silver replied. “Sharp edge on the front bumper blew it out and we were going, like, two hundred plus. He failed to spin me out and I slammed his car into a light post, but I oversteered because of the blown tire and popped my car up over the curb and flipped it. His car’s front axle was completely busted in half, judging by the way the wheels were skewed, and the car was pretty much unrecognizable. Same with mine, except it had a bullet hole in the door and it wasn’t banged up as bad but it was on its roof.”
“What kind of car did ya have?” Swift asked.
“A 1997 Nismo 400R,” Silver answered. “AWD with an RB-X GT2 that had my own mods on it. Twin turbo, racing intake, racing brakes and tires, racing exhaust manifold and output, stage three racing clutch, short throw shifter, NOS systems, the works. All installed by me, built from ground up. Best damn racing machine that Canterlot has and probably ever will see.” Swift chuckled.
“All of what ya just said went flyin’ past me, pardner,” Swift replied. “I don’t know the first thang ‘bout them imports o’ yurs. All I know is trains and classic muscle cars.”
“Heh, well, lemme tell ya; whatever you threw at that 400R, there was no hope for whoever was driving it. When my 400R was out racing, anyone else there was battling it out for second place. Same with when I had my old GSR and MR-2. Nopony could beat those either.” Swift looked up.
“So in total, yu’ve had three cars,” Swift said, confirming what he was hearing. “And all of ‘em have been wrecked?”
“Four, actually,” Silver replied, smirking as he thought of his original car; the very first car he’d had on the streets of Manehattan. “And the fourth one is still around. Sitting in an underground parking garage under lock and key, but still around.”
“And what’s that one?”
“Old S13 Nissan 240SX liftback. That thing… whoo, nopony ever saw what was coming when that was lining up against them. They had NO clue what I had under the hood of that little beast.”
“What’d ya do with it?”
“Well, it started out just as my daily driver to go out and do things for my family. Then I started racing, and as I started getting more and more money I realized that I was gonna need to start modding it. So that’s what I did. I took out the stock motor and dropped a JDM spec RB26DETT from an R34 Nissan Skyline GTR V-Spec in it, with the GTR’s transmission. Then I swapped out the stock turbos for two HKS ball bearing ones and put in a racing intercooler, and the same short shifter and stage three clutch combo. Threw in a cold air intake and straight piped the exhaust and threw an Injen muffler on there just to keep it looking like it could pass emissions, because that thing definitely didn’t pass them; it had no resonator and no catalytic converter, but man, that thing sounded so mean without all of that on there. I tuned the hell out of that little car… drifted it all over the place, raced it anywhere I could, just so I could get the money to keep modding it. Kept throwing all my money into that car, putting anything I had left on races I was in. Fuck, I bet the car’s pink slip a few times ‘cause I had no money, and let me tell ya, when I did that, ponies went WILD. They ALL wanted that car. None of ‘em ever got it, but I did get some of their rides.” Swift laughed.
“Sounds like yu’re quite the racer, city slicker,” Swift said. “Any real big wins I should know ‘bout?”
“Oh, there’s plenty, believe me,” Silver said. “First one I should mention is that with that 240SX I SPANKED a Bugatti Veyron.” Swift nearly choked on his own saliva in astonishment at this.
“Ya WHAT?!”
“You heard me.” Silver grinned like a cat, and Swift just shook his head, barely containing his laughter.
“Yu’re even crazier than I thought. Racin’ Celestia-dang supercars with a little four banger of a motor…”
“Correction. The RB26 is a straight sixer. And that thing was mean as fuck, trust me. Looked mean, sounded mean, raced mean…”
“Right, right. Sorry, don’t know these thangs like ya do.”
“As I noticed.” Silver chuckled. “You wouldn’t have lasted a second up in Baltimare. Everypony I raced there only drove tuners, and if you didn’t know anything about them, they shunned the hell out of you.”
“What’d ya race with back when you were thar?”
“That GSR. 1993 Acura Integra GSR. Swapped a Nissan SR20DET motor into that one, converted it to rear wheel drive and tuned the hell out of it. Nopony saw that comin’; little rear wheel drive Integra tearing up the competition.”
“Y’know, yu’re makin’ it sound like yu’re perfect mechanic material.”
“Heh, that’s not all I can do. I mean, yeah, when it comes to mechanics, cars are all I know, but I’m an oddball character. I can fit in pretty much wherever you throw me and you give me a job and I’ll do it to the best of my abilities.” The train jolted slightly, and the whistle sounded, letting everypony aboard know that their journey was nearly over. Silver groaned in pain at the jolt.
“Ya okay?” Swift asked.
“Y’know, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say no,” Silver said, chuckling slightly. “I mean, I’ve got a busted leg and a gash in my side that’s probably gonna need a lot of stitches.”
“Yu’re probably right on that one, pardner,” Swift said. “But if yu’re as infamous as ya say ya are, then goin’ to a hospital ain’t an option… S’pose I might be able to get Nurse Redheart down to my place. Gonna be a long shot though.”
“Trust me; you tell a nurse or doctor how hurt a pony is, they’ll come running to help,” Silver replied.
“I’ll take yur word for it,” Swift said. “Yu’ve probably had more experience with this sort of thang than me.”
“Oh, trust me, I have,” Silver said, feeling the train slowing drastically; it was nearly at the station. “Hell, I could probably be a doctor myself at this point. I’ve seen so many different injuries… broken bones, gashes, burns, concussions, literally just about everything you can imagine. And I’ve helped treat it all.” The train then jolted slightly as it came to a stop, and Silver gritted his teeth through the pain this time. Swift looked out the nearby window and saw that the platform of Ponyville Station was right outside, and he smirked.
“Well, this is where we get off,” Swift said. “I ain’t runnin’ this train the rest of the day, and anypony tries to get me, I ain’t comin’.” Silver chuckled softly and rose slowly off of the bed, Swift assisting him as he stood.
“Alright, let’s get off this giant metal piece of shit,” Silver remarked as the two began to walk down the aisle of the train car and to the open door where they could get off.
“Don’t say that ‘bout my trains, pardner,” Swift replied.
“I’m just saying it because the first time I was on a train, it caused me horrible pain,” Silver responded. “And this was my first train ride.”
“Sorry it couldn’t have been more pleasant, pardner,” Swift said. The two exited the train car and immediately everypony on the platform backed away as they saw Swift nearly carrying Silver, whose fur was no longer silver but rather a creamy white from blood loss. Silver looked around at the ponies at the platform; many of them were staring straight at him, and he just sighed slightly.
“Swift!” somepony shouted; the voice was that of a mare with the same country drawl as Swift had. Silver looked in the direction of the voice as a young, orange cream colored mare with freckles in a triangular pattern and a blond mane and tail, the former of which was covered slightly by a Stetson hat nearly identical to Swift’s own, ran to the blue stallion, coming to a stop as soon as she saw Silver. “What the hay? What’s happenin’ ‘ere, Swift?”
“Ah, this city slicker got all busted up runnin’ from some bad ponies,” Swift said. “I’m takin’ him back to my place. Could ya do me a favor, AJ?”
“Sure thang, Swift,” the mare replied. “What is it?”
“Can ya run and grab Nurse Redheart or one of the doctors from the hospital and bring ‘em to my place?” Swift asked her. “This guy ‘ere don’t want to go to any hospital, and he ain’t budgin’ on that.”
“Gotcha,” the mare replied, giving Silver an odd look.
“Thank ya, Applejack,” Swift said, quickly kissing the mare on the lips. She returned the kiss and blushed slightly before running off again. The two stallions made their way off of the platform and through the station out to the main part of Ponyville, where two cars and a taxi sat; the taxi was being pulled by a local pony. Silver looked at the two cars; one of them was a red 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R SpecV, which Silver ogled at for a few moments with a look of pleasure on his face.
“That your ride?” Silver asked Swift, pointing to the Sentra. Swift looked at it and snorted.
“Nah, that little riceburner ain’t mine,” Swift responded, hurting Silver’s pride a tiny bit. “That big red beauty over thar is mine.” Swift swung his head in the direction of the other car, and Silver looked at it. The car was a mint condition 1966 Ford Mustang GT coupe, and though Silver wasn’t too big on muscle cars himself, he did have to admit that this one looked very good.
“Not bad,” Silver remarked as he and Swift walked towards it, Swift nearly carrying him at this point as Silver had lost most of his energy. “Not bad at all.” Swift looked over at Silver, a concerned look in his eyes.
“Ya really do need help, pardner…,” Swift said.
“I know…,” Silver replied. “I don’t even know how much longer I’m gonna be able to keep myself conscious… I’m slipping now as it is…”
The two were nearly to the car as Silver said this, and within barely a second of getting the words out, Silver lost consciousness, slumping against the door of Swift’s car. Swift immediately began to panic, but he took a deep breath to calm himself and opened the door of his car, placing Silver into the passenger seat and buckling him in.
“Hang in thar, pardner… just hang in thar…,” Swift said as he ran to the driver’s side, jumped in and immediately started up the muscle car. He threw it into gear and roared away from the station, kicking up a cloud of dust larger than the train station itself.
-
Pain. Darkness. Feeling like general hell. Yeah, I remember this. It’s all old to me at this point…
The only thing that was new to me was a small throbbing pain in my left foreleg, as though a needle or something sharp was embedded in my skin. And a female voice.
“…extreme blood loss,” the voice was saying; my ears twitched involuntarily at the noise. “Not only that, but that leg of his may never fully heal properly without surgical procedures; he broke it in four places, which is nearly enough to declare it shattered. Ninety-five percent of ponies who have that sort of a break need at least a metal plate and several screws in their leg to keep the bone in place to heal properly, and that’s at the very minimum.”
“Well, I don’t know this pony all that well,” I heard a male voice say; there was no doubt it was Swift’s. “But I do know one thang; he’s stronger than anypony I’ve ever known. I know he don’t need no metal plate or screws in his leg, and he definitely ain’t goin’ in for surgery. He ain’t even goin’ to the hospital. You give me the thangs I need, I’ll take care of him and ya can come down and check on him every couple days or so. Ya can bring a doctor with ya, if ya want.” I heard the female sigh.
“Alright,” she said. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Mr. Gearheart.”
“Please, ya can call me Swift,” Swift said.
“Of course. Would you mind if I stayed here until he wakes up?”
“Nah, ya can stay ‘ere. Sorry ‘bout the clutter though; bein’ a mechanic makes a lot of it.” I heard two sets of hooves walk out of the room, and I finally opened my eyes and took in my surroundings.
I was in a tiny room, lying on my back on a bed. The lights were on, though they were dimmed greatly so as to provide little light so that I wouldn’t have been woken up, I assumed. My leg was properly casted now and elevated above me, and the pain was much less intense than it had been before, though I could feel the familiar sting of having stitches in my side where the gash was. My assumption was that I had passed out, and while I was out Swift had taken me back to his house and gotten proper medical aid. I then heard hooves coming up a set of stairs and then down the hallway towards the room I was in.
	“Ya awake, Silv?” Swift said as he stuck his head into the room.
“Yeah…,” Silver replied, his voice tired and strained. “What the hell happened?”
“Ya passed out,” Swift said. “I brought ya back ‘ere as fast as my car could go and AJ got a doctor and Nurse Redheart over ‘ere to help ya out. They got all them fancy thangs hooked up to ya…” Silver looked to his right and saw a few bags filled with liquid, one of them being blood and another IV fluid, attached to a metal pole. Several small tubes went into a few needles that were in Silver’s right foreleg, essentially feeding the fluids and such into his body through a vein.
“Should’ve known,” Silver groaned. “So they didn’t identify me, right? Y’know, as a criminal or anything?”
“Nah, they didn’t,” Swift replied. “’Round ‘ere, we don’t get hardly any news ‘bout the big cities and whatnot. I think the only real place we get any news ‘bout is Canterlot, and thar’s no way anypony’s heard about what happened there with ya yet, considerin’ it only happened today…”
“Good,” Silver replied, closing his eyes again and sighing softly. “So what’s the damage report on me?”
“Well, that gash has forty-three stitches in it,” Swift started. “Ya lost a lot of blood because of it and ya were pretty close to bleedin’ out. Then that leg o’ yurs was busted in four places; they keep sayin’ they need ya to go in for surgery to put the bone back in place correctly…”
“Aw, hell,” Silver groaned. “I hate surgery…”
“Ya mean ya had it before?” Swift asked.
“Just once…,” Silver replied. “It was a long time ago… Just thinking about it still makes me shiver.”
“What’d ya go in for?” Swift inquired.
“Well, when I was little, I wrecked on my skateboard when I was out skating with some of my friends,” Silver replied. “I absolutely screwed up my shoulder; basically dislocated it. We tried to pop it back into place, but we couldn’t do it, so they went in there and threw it back in place during surgery. Recovery sucked, by the way…”
“I can imagine,” Swift replied.
“Anyway… if they say I need surgery, I hate the idea, but I’ll do it…,” Silver replied. “What’d they say would happen if I don’t have any?”
“Might never be able to walk again…,” Swift answered. “They kept sayin’ that some crazy high percent of ponies don’t walk again from that kind of injury without havin’ some ridiculous thangs put in thar to hold the bone in place as it heals, and sometimes even after it’s healed…” Silver sighed in exasperation and threw his head back into the pillow.
“Well, shit,” Silver remarked. “Let’s just get going and get it over with…”
“Alright,” Swift said. “I’ll go tell Nurse Redheart that yu’re awake.” Silver nodded as Swift walked out of the room.
Surprised that I used to skate? Well, you shouldn’t be. It was one of the best things that I used to do before cars really came into my life. I mean, yeah, when my dad used to have his little Honda Del Sol I worked on that thing all the time with him. And he was always telling me that he should have just let me work on it by myself for a few days and see what I could’ve done with it in that span of time.
But of course, as with everything else in Manehattan, that was ruined. The only things left in Manehattan that haven’t been ruined are my 240SX and my old skateboard, and that’s literally it. I haven’t spoken with my family in over two years and the ponies that really started this whole gigantic shitty mess that I call my life have probably forgotten that my family and I even exist.
	“Good to see that you pulled through,” a female voice said. Silver looked towards the door where it had come from, and he saw Swift standing in hallway just outside the door with a white mare with a pink mane and tail who adorned a small visor-like cap with a red cross on it. She stepped into the room, walking to Silver’s bedside. “I was never able to get your name. Mainly because I forgot to ask Swift for it.” Silver managed a weak chuckle.
“Silver Flare,” Silver told her. She turned to the bedside table and scribbled it down on a piece of paper.
“I’m Nurse Redheart,” the nurse replied. “Age and date of birth?”
“December 22,” Silver answered. “Eighteen years old.” Once again, Nurse Redheart wrote down the information.
“Do you live on your own?” Nurse Redheart asked him.
“Yeah,” Silver said. “Been moving around a lot though…”
“Do you have any family nearby whom I can notify of your condition or that you would like me to?” Silver shook his head. “Parents?”
“Can I ask you a question?” Silver asked in response. “Why are you asking me all of this?”
“It’s for medical record purposes only,” Nurse Redheart answered. “It won’t be released to anyone except hospital staff unless absolutely necessary.”
“Alright,” Silver said. “My parents are Bright Flash and Sunbeam Radiance.” She nodded and wrote that down on the paper as well.
“And I’m going to guess that you don’t want me to notify them?” she asked.
“No,” Silver replied.
“May I ask why?” Silver looked at the mare with a look on his face that said “Do I have to tell you?” She looked right back with an expression that read “Yes.” Silver sighed.
“I haven’t talked with them in a long time,” Silver replied. “Things went sour a long time ago and the last I talked to them was two years ago…” Nurse Redheart’s eyes widened but she didn’t question further.
“And how did you sustain these injuries?” she asked.
“Car accident,” Silver replied. “Big rollover…”
“Well that explains the laceration that you had…,” she said. “But it’s very uncommon to see a leg broken that badly from a car accident, especially around here.”
“The leg was because I was running from some bad ponies and I had to jump roof to roof to get away,” Silver informed her. “And the second roof didn’t hold up too well.” She nodded and scribbled that down on her information sheet as well.
“Where and when did this accident take place?” Nurse Redheart asked.
“That’s confidential,” Silver replied. She looked at him, and he stared right back.
“Alright,” she said. “Now you are aware that your leg is most likely going to require surgery to make sure it properly heals?”
“Yeah,” Silver said. “If it does, whatever… do what you have to. I’m not losing that leg.”
“You won’t lose it if we don’t do surgery, but there will be pain for the rest of your life, as well as the possibility that it may not heal fully and you might not have full use of it…”
“Spare me the fine print and just put me out, take me to the hospital and get it over with,” Silver said. He then realized that what he’d said had been rather rude. “Sorry. Just please do what you have to.” The nurse nodded.
“I’ll call an ambulance right away.” She walked back out of the room and down the hallway, leaving Swift and Silver alone.
“Ya lied,” Swift said bluntly.
“Kinda had to,” Silver replied. “If I hadn’t, she would’ve known what really happened and I would already be getting shipped off to jail. No thanks.”
“Guess thar’s nothin’ I can do ‘bout yur lyin’, then,” Swift said, sighing.
“Listen,” Silver replied, causing Swift to look his way. “Either the day I get caught or the day I know I’m safe, I’ll tell you exactly why I’ve been running. Preferably the second one.”
“Why can’t ya just tell me right now?” Swift asked. “Yu’re safe ‘ere, Ponyville ain’t a place where ponies blab about everythin’… scratch that, Rarity does from time ta time.”
“Who’s Rarity?” Silver asked in response. Swift chuckled slightly.
“Ya really ain’t from ‘round ‘ere if ya don’t know that,” Swift said. “She’s the local diva, basically. The mare that showed up at the train station with the ponytail and beautiful body was her friend Applejack.”
“Oh, so you and this Applejack chick have a thing, huh?” Silver asked, smirking. “Heh, must be pretty good.”
“Oh, it’s perfect,” Swift said. They both looked to the door as hoofsteps neared it, and Nurse Redheart stuck her head in the doorway for a moment.
“The ambulance is on its way,” she informed them. “It’ll be here in about five minutes or so.” The two nodded and thanked her for telling them, and she walked back down the hallway, leaving them alone again.
“Well, if it’s perfect, have ya gotten a little… well, y’know,” Silver said, smirking. Swift raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t follow ya,” Swift replied. Silver sighed, smacking his hoof against his face.
“Have you two done it yet?” Silver asked bluntly. “Y’know, made love? Had sex? Done the deed? Hopped on the good hoof and done the bad thing?” Swift blushed a deep hue of purple after hearing Silver use all of these terms, holding back awkward chuckles as he responded.
“Uh, no, not yet,” Swift said. “I just don’t wanna do anythin’ she don’t wanna do.” Silver nodded.
“Seems like a good approach, actually,” Silver said. “Nothing to be ashamed of, either; I’m a pretty crazy guy who’s seen and done a lot of stupid shit, but I’m still a virgin too.” Swift’s blush deepened, and he looked at Silver with a small, amused smirk on his face.
“Yu’re really blunt, ain’t ya?” Swift said, chuckling slightly as he felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment. Silver just smirked in response.
“What can I say?” Silver asked in response. “Being born in a city, raised there for fifteen years and then running for three more in three other cities and living with street racers made me a perv. Plus, I dated a mare for a bit that was a perv…”
“Oh really?” Swift asked. “What was her name?” Silver was about to speak, but Nurse Redheart then walked in with two other ponies, both adorning hospital-type clothing.
“Here he is, doctor,” Nurse Redheart said to one of the ponies. “I have all of his information written down for you.” She hoofed the paper she had been writing down all of Silver’s info on to the doctor, and he looked it over for a moment before nodding and giving it back to Nurse Redheart.
“Give him a sedative,” the doctor said. “Put him out long enough to where he won’t remember a thing and we can get the surgery done as quickly as possible; I can tell just by looking at him that he’ll be eager to get out of the hospital after the surgery.” Silver smirked.
“You got that right,” he remarked, and the doctor chuckled.
“Figured as much,” the doctor replied. “I’m Dr. Knit. We’re going to put you to sleep now, but by the time you wake up, that leg will be ready to start healing up properly and you won’t remember a thing about the surgery. Okay?” Silver nodded. “Miss Redheart, please give him his sedative now.” Nurse Redheart nodded and walked to Silver’s bedside, pulling a small pill out of a pouch on her saddlebag and giving it to Silver. Silver placed the pill in his mouth and quickly swallowed, and almost as soon as he had taken it he began to feel drowsy and lethargic. As he began to close his heavy eyelids, he looked over at Swift.
“Hey, Swift?” Silver asked drowsily as he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.
“Yeah?” Swift asked in response, looking at Silver.
“…Thanks,” Silver managed, and he then closed his eyes, slipping into unconsciousness. Swift chuckled softly.
“Yu’re welcome, Silv,” he responded quietly. “Yu’re welcome.” He then assisted the doctor and the nurses in lifting Silver from the bed and placing him on a stretcher before walking out with them to the ambulance and placing Silver inside. “Good luck, pardner.” He shut one door, and the EMT with the doctor climbed in and shut the other as the siren of the ambulance sounded and it tore away from Swift’s home, speeding towards the hospital.

> Chapter 4-Cash in Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It’s been a couple of days since the surgery; three or four, I don’t really remember. Keeping track of the days is hard since I’m in a room without a window and I can’t really tell when it’s day or night; I just sleep the days away since I can’t really move all that much.
At least my leg is feeling better. I mean, yeah, I can tell there’s a difference, like when it gets cold in the room I can feel the metal plate get really cold as well and that’s super uncomfortable, but for the most part everything is cool. At least the doctors said I could walk and drive normally once it healed up and they said that if things went well they’d be able to take that plate and stuff out at some point. I honestly don’t care what happens with all of that; just as long as I can keep racing, drifting, driving and walking, I’m good with just about anything.
There was only one problem here, and said problem was that I had no set of wheels. And I also had no money to buy one because all of my cash was still up in the warehouse in Canterlot. If I was LUCKY, it’d still be there, marked as evidence or something. I’d be surprised if it was even there anymore with as long as it’s been since the escape.
All I knew was that I needed my money, and I needed it fast if I was going to be able to buy a car soon. And chances were that without a set of wheels, I wasn’t going to earn money to tune those wheels, especially if my cash back in Canterlot was taken by the cops.
Only problem there was that I couldn’t go anywhere with my leg the way it was. It really sucked, but I knew I was gonna be stuck in bed for the next few days, which meant that I was going to have to send somepony else to get it.
And of course, there was only one other pony in the house who could do it.
Silver looked up as Swift entered the small room, carrying a small glass of water and some pills, presumably painkillers. He smirked as he saw the blue stallion walking in.
And lucky for me he’d walk in right then.
“How ya feelin’ thar, pardner?” Swift asked as he set down the glass and pills on the bedside table for a moment, taking a seat beside the bed. “In any pain?”
“Nah,” Silver replied as he picked up the glass of water with his magic. “Thanks for the water though.” He brought the glass to his lips and slowly sipped the cool beverage, thankful for something to quench his thirst.
“Not a problem,” Swift replied. He looked Silver up and down for a moment; as he did, he began noticing signs of other injuries of sorts, some looking as though they hadn’t been caused by accidents of any sort. “How many times have ya been busted up like this?”
“Like this, none,” Silver said in between sips of water. “Overall just busted up, more times than I care to talk about.”
“Is that how ya got that scar?” Swift inquired, pointing to a scar on Silver’s right foreleg. Silver looked at it briefly before he shook his head, smirking a little bit.
“Nah, that was back in Baltimare,” Silver answered. “I was welding some new pipe onto my Integra to fix an exhaust leak, and I turned away for a second to grab my drink and then I heard sizzling. I looked back at my foreleg and noticed that I was burning the hell out of it and pulled it away, but not before I cooked it medium-rare right where that scar is.” Swift chuckled.
“I know that feelin’,” Swift said. “Not a lotta ponies ‘round ‘ere own cars, but when somepony comes in lookin’ for a quick fix or somethin’, sometimes I do that exact same thang.” Both young stallions shared a small laugh before Silver looked over at Swift.
“Y’know, I have a favor to ask of you,” Silver started, “but it involves going out of town to Canterlot. You down?” Swift raised an eyebrow.
“Is thar anythin’ in it for me?” Swift asked in response.
“Well, if you head up there and get what I tell you to get, you can have some of the loot,” Silver replied. Swift thought for a few moments, taking into consideration that he barely knew Silver while making his decision.
“…Alright, I’ll bite,” Swift said after a couple of minutes thinking. “Whatcha got?”
“Okay,” Silver began, “back in Canterlot, there’s a whole area in the industrial part of town that’s full of old, unused warehouses. One of those was my safe house when I was there, and I kept everything there. Car parts, money, everything. I need you to go there and grab everything you can find in the little cubicle part in there.” Swift nodded.
“I’ll head up thar,” Swift said, standing up.
“Wait,” Silver said. “That’s not all you need to know.” Swift sat back down, motioning for the younger stallion to continue. “It’s almost a guarantee that the cops have probably cordoned off that entire section of town pending an investigation, but there’s a pony who can sneak you in and out without being seen. His name is Shade Sneak; you’ll have to go to the black market to get to him. Go to one of the sellers who should be selling import taillights and ask for a set of 1998 Honda Civic HEADLIGHTS; they’ll know I sent you. Once Shade gets you in, you’re on your own. There’s a safe in the cubicle; the combination for the lock is twenty-four, zero, thirteen. Take everything out of there, and when I say everything, I mean everything, even if you don’t know what it is. Take anything out on the desk, too. Go out the way you went in and Shade will get you away without anypony even knowing you were there.” Swift looked at Silver quizzically.
“And how exactly do ya know this is gonna work?” Swift asked. “Have ya done this ‘fore?”
“Actually, no, but it’s gonna work, trust me,” Silver answered. “I’ve known Shade for a while now and there’s not a place that can keep him out or in; he’s busted into banks, warehouses, cop stations, and a bunch of other places without even being seen. He’s also escaped prison seven times, and three of those times were from the highest security prison in all of Equestria. Trust me; if there’s anypony that can get you in and out without being seen, it’s him.”
“Why not just get him to do it?” Swift inquired.
“For one thing, he’s not a good getaway driver in case things get bad,” Silver said. “Second reason; he’s not a good driver in general. And third, his car is what we in the tuner world refer to as a ‘drift taxi’.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means his car is a huge-ass four door full size sedan that’s rear wheel drive and you can drift it and do burnouts anywhere you go if you weld the diff or throw on a limited slip. And he drives it BADLY. Same with his previous cars.”
“…Ah.” Swift just looked at Silver. “Give it to me in Equestrian, Silv. What’s he done that don’t make him right fer the job?” Silver sighed.
“He’s gone through a Lexus LS400, a GS300 and an E34 BMW,” Silver said. “His newest victim of the automobiles out there is apparently another Lexus, but it’s a GS400. Same body as the 300 but a V8 instead of a 2J. And I heard that he almost crashed it three times already.” Swift immediately understood; if this pony Shade went and did this himself, he’d probably crash his car and get caught, or worse.
“Right,” Swift said. “I’ll head on up thar and call AJ to have her come and take care of ya while I’m gone. Where’s that black market again?”
-
“Maybe this was a bad idea…,” Swift quietly remarked to himself as he carefully turned into a back alley in Canterlot. The alley was wide enough for cars to get through without disrupting any other flow of movement, and Swift looked at all of the other ponies in the alley through his rolled up windows; many of them looked incredibly shady, some of them smoking cigarettes. One even had a knife strapped on his left foreleg, blatantly showing in the daylight. Swift simply kept slowly cruising through the alleyway, eventually coming to a small opening that had a pathway leading underground. Quizzical, Swift sped up slightly, but slowed to a stop as three ponies came and blocked the pathway before him. One of them walked to the window of his car and lightly tapped on it. Swift, reluctant, rolled it down.
“Newcomer, huh?” the pony said. “What brings ya to town?”
“Pickin’ up some thangs for a friend,” Swift replied.
“You aren’t from around here, are you?” the pony asked. “I mean, judging by that accent, I’d say you’re from Ponyville or somewhere around there…”
“Yeah,” Swift answered.
“So who’s this ‘friend’ that you’re picking things up for?” the pony asked. “Some ponies who say that are coming in for a guy that we don’t like very much…”
“His name’s Silver Flare.” The pony’s eyes went wide, and he nodded quickly.
“Alright, you’re good, bro,” the pony quickly said. “You can get in there and grab whatever it is that you need, talk to anypony you need to.”
“Well, where’s the stand sellin’ import taillights?”
“If you go in, it’ll be the fourth seller on your left.”
“Thank ya much.” Swift then drove forward, leaving the pony still wide-eyed at the opening of the market.
Swift immediately knew why the market was underground; if it wasn’t, then the cops would have cracked down on it immediately. It was a huge expanse of shops and ponies of all different races, shopping for all sorts of different items. Swift spotted a seller with various types of hats, another with car mufflers, and one even selling what appeared to be full engines. He looked about for a brief moment and spotted the taillight seller, and he pulled up right next to it, rolling down his other window. The salespony looked at Swift for a moment.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Swift said. “My friend sent me. I’m lookin’ for a pair of 1998 Honda Civic headlights.” The pony nodded.
“Turn off your car and come with me,” the salespony said. Swift did as he was told, shutting off his car and stepping out of it. The salespony simply nodded to him and walked behind the curtain of her stand, putting up a sign that read “Busy; be back in a few minutes”. Swift followed her as she had told him too, walking into a storeroom of sorts behind the stand. The two walked quietly through the room until they came to the very end of it, where a single light shone dimly on a pony’s face, so dim that Swift couldn’t even properly tell the color of the pony’s fur. The pony looked up.
“I thought I told you not to disturb me,” the pony said. His voice was deep and gruff with a heavy Australian accent, and as he lit a match Swift could see that the pony had an utterly jet black mane that hung down into his right eye and a slate gray face that Swift assumed was also the rest of his body color.
“I’m sorry, Shade,” the salespony said. “But this pony here used the code words.” She gestured to Swift, and Shade looked at the blue stallion, smirking as he brought the match he had lit to a cigarette held between his lips. The flame licked the tip of the cigarette before it fully engulfed it for a brief moment, lighting the tobacco inside. He shook the match a few times to put it out as he took a long puff on his cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the side of his mouth.
“Well then,” Shade started, “leave this pony and I to discuss… business terms.” The salespony nodded and walked out, leaving Swift by himself with Shade. “So… Silver sent you. I’m assuming he had to skip town?”
“Eeyup,” Swift said. “He’s sittin’ at my place right now, busted leg ‘n’ all.”
“Figured that’s what all the sirens around here were for,” Shade remarked, chuckling as he took a long drag on his cigarette, blowing the smoke out slowly through his nostrils. “So he wants me to get his stuff for him, huh? Cute. Seems just like back in Fillydelphia when he had to have me do the same thing…”
“So this ain’t the first time this has happened,” Swift said to confirm. Shade nodded silently, taking another drag on his cigarette. “How many times has he had ya do this?”
“This would be the second time,” Shade replied. “It’s not often Silv has trouble with the cops, considering how long he’s been running from them, but when they find him and crack down, they don’t fuck around. They send everypony they’ve got after him, but Silv’s a slippery little bastard.” Shade chuckled slightly as he brought his cigarette to his lips again. “I’ve seen that colt get away from cops more times than I’ve gotten away from angry hookers.” Swift raised an eyebrow at this statement but didn’t say anything as Shade’s cigarette glowed brighter as he inhaled, sucking in the smoke before the glow died down and Shade blew the smoke out of his nostrils once more. “So, usually Silver and I have a deal of sorts… I get him his stuff, and he does something for me. Since he ain’t here right now ‘cause you said he’s fucked up pretty bad… I’ll make a deal with you.” He took another puff on his cigarette, dabbing it and dropping ashes to the concrete floor before he continued. “We can head out right now to get the stuff, since I know where Silver’s warehouse is.”
“Well, Silv just told me to come up ‘ere and meet up with ya,” Swift said. “He said he wanted me to grab all his stuff and get it all back to him.” Shade nodded in understanding.
“Alright then,” Shade said. “As long as you drive, you don’t have to do anything else. Got it?” Swift nodded. “You got a car?”
“Eeyup, but I don’t think it’ll be big ‘nough to hold all that stuff, includin’ us,” Swift said. “Silv said you had a car… a drift taxi or somethin’ like that.”
“Ah,” Shade chortled, “still talking shit about my car, I see. Well, it might be a big ass sedan, but it just means I can haul more hot mares around than he can.” Shade then dropped his cigarette to the floor and crushed it underneath his left rear hoof as he stood. “Let’s go.” Swift nodded and silently followed Shade to the back of the room, where Shade lifted a curtain and revealed a small opening between two of the vendors. In the center of it was Shade’s car, a beautiful silver 1999 Lexus GS400. Swift eyed the car, noting that it was at stock height but had swapped rims, most likely 18 inches, and the car looked almost as though it was lifted because of the size of the tires. He nearly laughed at this, but managed to contain himself. “Keys are in the driver’s seat. Get in, country colt.” Swift nodded and opened the door of the car, seeing the key on the seat. He picked it up as he eased himself into the leather seat, placing the key in the ignition and turning it.
The motor roared to life, and Swift immediately smirked; he could tell just by the soft rumble on the idle that the car was most definitely a V8. He looked down at the gearbox and put the car in drive, pushing on the gas shortly after. The car lurched forward, and Swift pulled out into the main drive of the market once more, heading out and onto the streets of Canterlot, following Shade’s directions to the warehouses.
-
“Are ya sure ya can get me in ‘n’ out ‘fore anypony sees me?” Swift asked as he and Shade hid behind a woodpile near the warehouses. The two peeked out from behind the pile again; there was crime scene tape everywhere cordoning off the entire area around Silver’s old warehouse, and at least a twenty foot radius around that as well. There was also a cop on duty watching the place, making sure that no one got anywhere near the scene.
“Of course I can get you in,” Shade responded. “I didn’t escape prison seven times for nothing. I know ways to get in and out of literally anywhere without being seen. Hell, you could lock me in a bank safe with the highest security systems and I’d still be out within ten minutes. There’s not a place in this world that can hold me!” He grabbed a few chunks of wood and started stacking them up.
“What’re ya doin’?” Swift asked, confused.
“Trying to see if I can do this the easy way,” Shade replied. “Seeing if I can make a set of stairs of sorts so we can go across the tops of the roofs. These warehouses all have ventilation shafts that you can crawl through to get inside; knowing Silver, when the cops came to find him, he hid inside one of those ventilation shafts so the cops wouldn’t find him and then he started up that 400R and raised all sorts of hell.” He continued stacking until he had constructed a decent size step up of sorts. “Alright, now you hop on up there and get to work. You can jump, can’t ya?”
“Yeah, I jump jus’ fine ‘n’ dandy,” Swift replied, hopping up onto the surprisingly stable structure. He then hopped his absolute hardest and grabbed onto the edge of the roof, scrambling as he pulled himself onto it.
“Good!” Shade said from down below. “Now just run across and hop the two roofs; not that hard, they’re only about a foot apart each. Just don’t miss the jump; you don’t want to fall and get caught. And take this!” Swift looked back over the edge of the warehouse roof as Shade tossed him something, which he caught and looked at; it was a small walkie-talkie of sorts. “If you need to talk to me, just press the little button on the side and talk, then let go again as soon as you’re done talking. Now go!” Swift didn’t need to be told twice; he quickly ran and jumped from one rooftop to the next, then ran and jumped across the second one to the roof of Silver’s old one. He saw the ventilation unit opening and climbed up onto it, kicking in the grate and dropping inside the ventilation shaft.
It was obvious to Swift within seconds that Silver had kept good raps on his ventilation; the shaft was immaculate, almost to the point where Swift could see his reflection in the metallic walls. He crawled through it carefully to the very end of it, seeing that the vent that normally covered the opening was already missing. He crawled out and dropped down into the warehouse, the sound of his hooves hitting the concrete floor echoing off of the walls. He took a moment to look about and take in what had once been Silver’s hideout. He saw countless tools and various car parts; turbochargers, intercoolers, air intakes, throttle bodies, and much more were strewn about the garage area, and in the center of the garage in front of the door was a single set of tire tracks. Swift presumed they were made by Silver’s car in his haste to get away. He then saw the small cubicle area that Silver had told him about and he walked to it, opening the door and walking inside. He saw a single chain dangling from a light bulb and pulled it, turning on not just the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling but three others mounted on the walls. He took a moment to look about in there as well.
It was a simple room, comprised of a desk with a few drawers, a rolling chair, a miniature refrigerator and the large safe that Swift assumed was the same safe Silver had told him about. He looked on the desk and saw two wrenches, a pencil, and, slightly more interesting, a notebook.
“Swift,” a crackly voice came over the walkie-talkie; it was Shade. “Can you hear me?” Swift grabbed his walkie and pushed the button down on the side.
“Yeah, I hear ya,” Swift replied.
“Good,” Shade said. “I know you’re in; how much do you think we’re gonna have to get out of there?”
“Dunno yet,” Swift said. “I haven’t cracked open his safe yet, but I got the combination.”
“Open it then!” Shade replied.
“Hold on,” Swift told him. “Thar’s a notebook on his desk in ‘ere.” He walked to the desk and sat down in the chair, reading the front cover’s writing. “’My Daily Journal’. Hm.”
“What?” Shade said, puzzled. “I didn’t know Silv kept a journal. What’s written in it?” Swift flipped open the notebook and scanned through the pages until he found an interesting entry.
“’Ere,” Swift said into the walkie, “this one’s dated just a few weeks ago.” He began to read the entry aloud.
“It’s late, probably around 2 AM or something like that. But I can’t sleep worth a damn right now; got too much stuff on my mind. That huge black market car shipment just came in and I’m glad that went over alright, but I think it may have raised a few red flags. The cops were everywhere. I’m just glad that driving and tuning happened to be my special talent; the car I took got stripped, a quick basic tune (y’know, oil change, spark plugs, that stuff) and put back together in two days so that I could get it off my hooves. All I know is the cops are out looking for that car, I swear, and I’m just glad I don’t have it on me anymore. If I did, I’d be done for in a second.
“Honestly though, I think I’m already fucked as it is. The cops seem way more on edge lately; more prone to jump at anything that doesn’t seem right. I’m running scared again; not the first time at all. I’ve been running for three years, and I’m not about to get caught. I can only hope somepony doesn’t drop a hint as to where I am…”
“…Wow,” Shade’s voice said. “I knew about the shipment and the cop chase that went down, but how Silver got that car out in two days is amazing. And just how he knew something was up… that colt’s real perceptive.”
“Seems like it,” Swift said as he flipped through the notebook, seeing page after endless page of Silver’s scrawl. “What kinda car did he take though?”
“I think he grabbed a ’98 EK Civic Type R,” Shade replied. “Illegal in mainland Equestria, but fast as shit if you tune it right. He was always partial to Honda, that colt… He’d grab a Honda from any of the heists if there weren’t any Nissans or Mitsubishis in the shipment.”
“Hold on, ‘ere’s another entry,” Swift said as he stopped on another interesting page. Once again, he began to read it out loud.
“Life sucks ass at the moment. The 400R has a fuel injector leak and a blown turbo, I’m up to my eyeballs in ponies who need their cars fixed, I got into five fights this week and I miss my family more than anything. I’ve honestly even forgotten why the hell I keep running all the time. No cop ever listens to my reasoning, but what difference would that make? They always try to either arrest me or kill me; seems to me if I killed myself right now I’d be doing the world a favor.”
“What the fuck?” Shade said, interrupting Swift. “I didn’t know Silv was struggling with suicidal thoughts.”
“Shut yer cake hole, thar’s more,” Swift said. He continued reading.
“I mean, for fuck’s sake, what do I even matter in the big scheme of things? I’m an eighteen year old excuse of a unicorn who’s been running from the cops since I was fifteen for something I shouldn’t even be being blamed for. I had no choice in the matter. Ugh… well, I guess killing myself wouldn’t really matter either… guess I just gotta keep on living. But until I figure out why I’m gonna be depressed and shit for a while.”
Swift then looked down at the bottom of the page, where there appeared to be a very deep crimson color crusted onto the bottom of the paper.
“…What the hell?” Shade’s hushed voice came over the walkie. “I mean… I knew Silv had problems, but… to that extent?”
“Thar’s dried blood on the page, too…,” Swift added, touching the bottom of the page where Silver’s dried blood was.
“Damn…,” Shade said. “…Hey… let’s forget about that journal for now. Open up the safe, see what’s in there and if I need to distract the cop out front or not.”
“Right,” Swift said, looking to the monstrous safe. “Now let’s see ‘ere…” He walked to it and began turning the large dial to the correct numbers that Silver had told him. He could hear the tumblers clicking as he entered the combination. “Twenty-four… zero… thirteen.” He heard a loud clang and he turned the wheel on the side, hearing another lock turn as he pulled on the handles and opened the safe.
Almost immediately he was greeted by three falling burlap sacks, which he dodged easily by simply backing up. He picked up on the sound of metallic objects shifting as the bags hit the ground, noting that there was probably a large amount of Bits within each. He looked inside the safe and saw at least ten more of the same type of bags, presumably filled with money as well. He also saw a single photo frame, which he slowly reached out and picked up carefully, examining the photo within.
There was no doubt that Silver was one of the ponies in the photo; the golden mane, silver body and amber eyes gave that away, but he was several years younger; somewhere around eleven years old. But Swift couldn’t figure out who the others in the photo were; there was one mare, somewhere presumably around thirty-five years old, a stallion around the same age as the mare and then a colt a few years younger than Silver. The photo had been taken at a hill of some sort, with a solitary tree overlooking a vast field of grass. Silver had the younger colt in one hoof, giving him noogies with the other while they both seemed to be laughing. The mare and the stallion in the background were smiling at the two colts, the mare having a glow of pride in her eyes as she looked upon the two. Swift just continued to stare at the picture, confused. What kind of importance did this photo hold to Silver? Was it really so important that he kept it locked up in a safe?
That’s when he noticed that all of the ponies in the photo looked incredibly alike, and they all shared quite a few similarities. The older stallion in the background had the same color eyes as Silver, as well as a shared body color. The mare’s mane color was the same as Silver’s as well. And the colt that Silver was giving noogies had the same mane color as Silver’s body. They also were all unicorns except for the stallion in the back, who was an earth pony.
It was then that Swift realized just what he was looking at; he was looking at a picture of Silver’s family several years before he’d met him. The stallion was most likely Silver’s father, the mare his mother, and the younger colt most likely a sibling of Silver’s. They all looked so happy in the photo; they were all smiling and laughing while they had no care in the world what was going on around them.
“Swift?” Shade’s voice rang in. “Talk to me. You need a distraction or can you get all that stuff out through the roof?” Swift looked at all of the bags and items inside of the safe and immediately judged that he needed a distraction.
“Ya need to get rid of that cop outside,” Swift said. “Got at least twelve sacks of cash in ‘ere, plus some things I don’t know what they are.”
“Alright, one distraction coming up,” Shade replied. Barely ten seconds later, Swift heard the Australian accent outside the warehouse door saying something unintelligible, and he then heard a loud bang, like something-or rather somePONY- had been slammed against a metal surface. The large door then rolled up, allowing Shade to enter; the cop who had been out front was out cold on the ground.
“What’d ya even do?” Swift asked as Shade entered the cubicle.
“Ah, told the dumb bastard that someone nearby needed help right away,” Shade replied. “Stupid prick fell for it right away and I grabbed him and slammed his head into the door. Nothin’ special.” Swift just shook his head.
“Violent, but effective, I s’pose…,” Swift remarked. “Now c’mon, let’s load up these bags and hightail it outta ‘ere. Cops oughta be stormin’ this place when that pony outside comes to.”
“Right,” Shade replied. “Lemme get the Lexus over here. You stay put.” Swift nodded as Shade quickly ran out of the warehouse, leaving Swift by himself. Swift simply pondered what Silver’s life had been like and what had caused him to run away and then end up in Ponyville three years after he started running from the police.
Of course, inevitably his thoughts were interrupted as he heard the GS400 pull up outside, and he aided Shade in backing the car into the warehouse by signaling to him whether to turn more one way or another, or to stop and go. Finally, the car was fully inside, and the two began loading the sacks of money into the trunk, one by one. Swift’s assumption of at least twelve sacks of Bits was heavily wrong; there were many, MANY more than that. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… the amount went up and up until they had loaded twenty-four bags into the car.
“Whoo, glad that’s over,” Swift said, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. “Hope I can get all this in my car to get it back to Silv.”
“Hold on, there’s more stuff we’ve gotta grab,” Shade said, going back into the cubicle. Swift raised his eyebrow but followed, seeing Shade grabbing the notebook from the desk and putting it in a satchel he had with him now, as well as the wrenches and pencil. He then opened the drawers and pulled out a few more pencils, a knife, and a few boxy items that Swift couldn’t identify. He also watched as the Australian pony grabbed about ten bottles filled with some sort of a liquid, each one of them having a cap with a dripper on it, and then several batteries and two or three chargers for the batteries.
“Hold up,” Swift said, causing Shade to stop and look at him. “What’s all that stuff you just packed in that satchel thar?”
“I’m pretty sure that was Silver’s vapes and vape juices and other stuff for them,” Shade replied simply. Swift raised an eyebrow, and Shade looked back to see the expression on Swift’s face before shaking his head. “It’s like cigarettes, but it’s just water vapor instead of actual smoke.” Swift nodded in slight understanding.
“Now c’mon, let’s get outta ‘ere, ‘fore the cops come,” Swift said, going to the driver’s side of the GS400. Shade nodded in agreement as he walked to the passenger door and got in himself, and Swift put the car back in gear, driving back out onto the open city streets without leaving so much as a trace behind.
-
“Well, that went off without a hitch,” Shade said as they were transferring the haul from Silver’s warehouse into Swift’s Mustang from the GS400. “I’m actually glad Silv sent you; didn’t have to do all the Celestia-damn work by myself for a change.” Swift chuckled.
“I’ve just gotta ask you somethin’ real quick,” Swift said as he tossed the last bag of money into his trunk, just barely managing to shut the trunk lid. “You’ve known Silv a long while now, seems like. Is he… well, trustworthy?” Shade smirked.
“You just met the colt, didn’t ya?” Shade replied. “Silv’s the most trustworthy pony I know. He’s always kept his word to myself and everypony else that he knows. He’s an honest guy; that’s why when he was sitting at a stand in the market here ponies would flock to him to buy his merchandise because they knew that they could trust him not to sell them a bad part, and if he did that they’d get their money back with no extra hassle. He’ll protect his friends and his allies like they’re his own family, and anypony who fucks with him or anyone close to him is like asking for a one way ticket to the emergency room.” Shade looked up at Swift. “The way I see it, you’re off to a roaring start on being on that fiery colt’s good side. Stay there and he’ll fuck up anypony who fucks with you. Get on his bad side though… it won’t be pretty.” Shade took the satchel that he had on off and hoofed it to Swift, and Swift put it on, hearing the items inside clank against each other at the shift. “Good luck, mate. Hope to see you around again; and take this as well.” He placed something in Swift’s hoof, covering it up with his own as he spoke one last time. “Anytime, anyplace; use that and I’ll come to help you out.” He then walked back into the shop, leaving Swift in silence. He looked at what Shade had placed in his hoof, and he smirked.
The item was nothing more than a business card of sorts; it had a phone number written down on it, and a note below saying “No, I’m not gay; don’t call me for sex.” Swift chuckled at this as he got into his Mustang and started it up, driving back around to the entrance of the black market and out into the alley and finally back onto the streets, heading for Ponyville to make the delivery.

> Chapter 5-The First Steps in Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nearly four weeks had passed since Swift had gotten all of Silver’s things back. Swift wasn’t surprised when Silver had told him that the amount of money that he’d brought back was somewhere very, VERY close to around 700,000 Bits, give or take 20,000. In addition, he’d given Silver his “vaping” items, which Silver seemed very happy to be getting back. He’d also been incredibly happy to see that the picture of his family and his personal journal had not been destroyed and were now back in his hooves.
It was rather early that morning when Swift awoke. He blinked a few times before he rose from his bed, grabbing his glasses and placing them in front of his eyes. He heard some movement downstairs, and he turned as he heard the strange clatter coming from the kitchen. He carefully exited his room and walked down the stairs, slowly heading towards the kitchen. He turned the corner and saw… Silver?
“Silv?” Swift asked to confirm. Silver turned around, a bit surprised.
“Swift?” Silver asked. “I didn’t expect you to be up this early…”
“What’re ya doin’ outta bed, ya crazy little colt?” Swift asked. “Ya shouldn’t be walkin’ on that leg of yurs…” He looked at Silver’s leg, which was still casted, but it did now have a small support placed on either side of it, as well as a large brace.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like getting up and around every once in a while is gonna kill me,” Silver replied, picking up the glass that he had put on the counter and filling it with water. “Honestly, I’ve been cooped up for five weeks now. I think it’s time I actually get out on the town and see what there is to see here in Ponyville. I mean, this is the first place I’ve lived that isn’t really a city…”
“Well… ya do have a point thar…,” Swift commented as Silver took a drink of his water. “It is ‘bout time I introduce ya to the folks ‘round ‘ere…”
“Ya think?” Silver replied, chuckling slightly. “Sweet Celestia, I haven’t done shit for like two months. I feel like I’ve been lazy as fuck!” Swift cringed a tiny bit at Silver’s vulgar language but didn’t comment on it.
“Well, ya finish up yur water thar and we’ll get a move on,” Swift said. “Unless ya want some breakfast first as well.”
“Meh, not really that hungry,” Silver replied, downing the rest of his water and placing the glass beside the sink to use it later as a thought entered his mind. “Is it too early to get out on the town or what?”
“Well…,” Swift started, taking a moment to think. “I think maybe just a couple o’ places might be open, so it might be best jus’ to wait for a tiny bit.” Silver nodded.
“So whatcha got to do around here?” Silver asked. “I saw the barn outside; you store your car in there or do you use it for other stuff?”
“A bit of both, really,” Swift said. “C’mon, if ya think yu’re up to it I’ll show ya. Plus, since ya know so much ‘bout them li’l riceburners and tuners, ya might be able to help me out with this car somepony brought in a few days ago…” Silver smirked.
“Ya don’t know much about the kind of cars I’ve built, huh?” Silver asked. Swift shook his head. “Lead the way then.” Swift began to lead the way but saw Silver limping heavily as he walked, even with the extra support.
“Ya sure yu’re good to be walkin’ ‘round?” Swift asked, looking at Silver’s leg.
“Hey, I’ve been in three car wrecks, been shot at, been in hoof fights, jumped off roofs and worked on cars with dangerous equipment all my life and I’m still alive,” Silver boasted, chuckling. “A little broken leg ain’t gonna stop me from doing anything.” He continued walking in the same gimping manner, and Swift sighed.
“If ya say so, ya hardheaded city colt,” Swift said, muttering the last bit under his breath. He then walked outside and into the fresh air of the morning, and he inhaled deeply before exhaling in contentment, walking towards the barn with Silver hot on his tail. The blue stallion went to the large doors and unlocked them, swinging them open and revealing what was inside to Silver.
Swift’s Mustang was the first thing he saw; it was impossible to miss, as it was sitting right in the middle of the entire structure. Several other stalls were present within, two of them having older muscle cars in them and one having what Silver almost immediately identified as an early 1990’s Honda Civic hatchback of the EF generation. Workbenches with assorted tools and boxes labeled with different words were organized in an orderly fashion, but not super orderly; just orderly enough to be able to know exactly where to find everything easily. Stairs in the back led to an evident loft section of the barn, and Silver wondered just where those steps led to before his thoughts were interrupted by Swift speaking to him once more.
“What?” Silver asked. “Sorry, kinda zoned out for a sec.”
“I said the car I needed help with is that little Honda over thar,” Swift said, pointing to the Civic. Silver smirked.
“So what do ya think is wrong with it?” he asked his new friend as they walked to the car.
“Well, the owner said that this thang called ‘VTEC’ wasn’t engaging or somethin’,” Swift said. “I don’t know much ‘bout this VTEC thang or these kind o’ cars at all, so can ya take a look at it real quick and see whatcha think is wrong?”
“Yeah, I gotcha,” Silver said, going to the driver’s side door and opening it, looking at the interior. Everything there looked to be in order; stock gauges, stock shifter, stock seats, everything was still original. But Silver knew that if the car had the VTEC system, the motor wasn’t stock. Many, if not all, Civics of this generation had non-VTEC motors due to the system being VERY new at the time of the car’s development; however, some DID have VTEC systems, but it was uncommon for them to have it. He popped open the hood and walked back to the hood, undoing the latch and opening up the hood. He propped it open as he looked at the motor inside, knowing his suspicions were right.
“Whatcha lookin’ at the motor for?” Swift asked.
“VTEC wasn’t really a thing in this generation of Honda Civics,” Silver replied. “Some had it, but most didn’t. The thing is though that tuners liked this generation of Civics a lot more than others because they were so lightweight and their suspensions were incredibly well put together, so ponies often put other motors into these cars instead of keeping the stock motor. In fact, almost all Honda or Acura tuners do that.”
“Well, what’s the big deal ‘bout that?” Swift inquired.
“VTEC is a part of an electrical system attached with the ECU and speed sensors and shit,” Silver answered. “It’s a variable valve system, designed to get the most power possible out of a small displacement motor.” He looked back at Swift.
“Meanin’…?” Swift said, gesturing with his hoof for Silver to fill in the blanks.
“Meaning that if wiring is done improperly, a speed sensor isn’t working, or the ECU isn’t correctly mapped that VTEC won’t engage,” Silver responded, looking back at the motor. “Ah, good ol’ B series.” He looked at the engine code, seeing that it was a B18C1 motor. “B18C, huh? GSR motor in one of these puppies would do some damage…” He looked to where the VTEC solenoid was and checked it. “Looks like all the wires here are in order…” He looked at the other components of the solenoid and system, seeing that the gasket was good and everything looked alright. “Well, shit… Solenoid looks good, gasket and wiring look good… here, let me check wiring to the interior. Got a screwdriver and some shit for me?” Swift nodded and tossed him a few tools, and Silver immediately set about removing the instrument cluster and checking the wiring there.
“Hey, Silv?” Swift asked as Silver worked.
“Yeah?” Silver responded as he held the cluster in his hoof, inspecting the wiring closely for any signs of fraying or shorts in the wires.
“I’ve been meanin’ to ask ya this…,” Swift started, “but that picture that I brought ya back… I know that’s yur family. Why is it so important?” Silver, seeing no signs of frayed wires heading to the interior or cluster, began to put the instrument cluster back into place.
“Well, that’s the only picture I have of them,” Silver explained simply, placing the cluster and beginning to piece it all back into place. “That was the last time we took a family photo together, and I was about… eh, twelve. Blizzard, the colt I was giving noogies in that photo, is my little brother, and he was about nine at the time. He’s probably fourteen or fifteen now…” Silver finished placing the cluster and began to head to the car’s ECU mapping, checking that. “The other two ponies are my mom and my dad. Great ponies. Still love them to pieces. Just wish that I could be with them more oft-THERE’S YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM.” Swift busted out laughing as Silver fished out pieces of a part that was unidentifiable to Swift. “Fucking thing is fucking SMASHED! Good Celestia, what the hell happened to this ECU?!” Silver started fishing out more broken bits of parts, and eventually he heaved a heavy sigh. “If he wants VTEC to engage and actually have a lot of other shit working properly, he needs a completely new ECU. This one is completely fucking shot.”
“Well, I’ll call him back and tell him that,” Swift said. “Thanks fer doin’ that.”
“No problem,” Silver replied. “But anyway, like I was saying, I just wish I could be with my parents more often. And by more often, I mean more often than maybe… never.”
“Ya mean ya haven’t spent time with yur parents in a long time?” Swift asked.
“You were there when Redheart asked me all those questions, right?” Silver asked in response, turning to face Swift. Swift nodded. “Yeah. Haven’t seen them in three years.”
“But ya said to her that the last time ya talked to ‘em was two years ago…”
“That’s because I called them on the phone. And that phone call cost me my residence in Fillydelphia and my GSR. I haven’t physically seen my parents in three years.” Swift nodded in understanding as he felt a bit of sympathy for Silver, whose ears were now drooping.
“I’m sorry, pardner…,” Swift said.
“It’s alright,” Silver replied, heaving a long sigh. “It’s just a sore subject for me…”
“I understand that,” Swift said. “I ain’t had much time with either o’ my parents lately, and Applejack don’t even know her parents. She was raised by her Granny Smith and her big brother Big Mac. I ain’t seen my dad for a long time, and my mom don’t have a lot of time to see me, and me her.”
“See though… at least you guys have it a little bit easier in my eyes,” Silver replied. “I mean… Applejack never knew her parents, so she didn’t have to deal with the pain of losing them, but I know it hurts her to know that she never knew them. And I know it hurts for you not to have time with either of your parents very often… are they divorced?” Swift nodded. “Kinda figured, from what you said… But neither of you had to deal with having to leave your entire family behind due to something that you shouldn’t have ever had to do, nor did you technically do. I lost my brother, my mother, my father, my friends, and my old life that night. All at once, within the blink of an eye…” Silver smacked his hooves together in emphasis. “Gone. Just like that. It’s all a bunch of bullshit, Swift… If you would’ve been there, you would’ve helped me, just like all the street racers did that night… Nitro… Sherwood... Moon… and Rotor…”
“Who?” Swift asked, a bit confused.
“They were some of my friends back when I raced in Manehattan,” Silver answered. “Sherwood and Rotor were a couple of friends of mine before I even started racing. We lived on the same street for years until they moved. They introduced me to the racing scene in Manehattan when I got my 240SX, and I fell in love immediately. Not only did it help me make money for myself and my family, but all of the ponies there appreciated a good car and respected a good driver, and my car and I fit that bill perfectly. Moon I met through that racing scene, same with Nitro… Nitro had been emancipated from his family when he was fourteen, and Moon was an ex-cop gone rogue with two foals and a wife. All four of them were the greatest friends I ever had… And they helped me get away that night. Moon hid me, Nitro distracted the cops, and Sherwood and Rotor covered for me and found me that GSR…”
“Seems ya had quite the helpful group thar...,” Swift commented, looking thoughtful. “Sounds like the group ‘round ‘ere…”
“What group?” Silver asked.
“Well, thar’s this group ‘round ‘ere that kinda represent the Elements of Harmony,” Swift replied. “AJ’s one of ‘em, representin’ the element of honesty.”
“Oh, it’s them,” Silver said, nodding. “I get it now.”
“Wait, how do ya know ‘bout them?” Swift asked. Silver rolled his eyes.
“You left me with Applejack that day you went to go get all my shit out of the warehouse, remember?” Silver said. “I got bored as hell so I talked with her and she told me about these other five ponies… You mentioned one of ‘em once, Rarity I think. She told me about the others…”
“Well, I’ll make sure ya meet ‘em today for sure,” Swift said, smirking. “Everypony around ‘ere knows ‘em, and I think ya should know ‘em too. Always a good way to start off ‘ere in Ponyville; meet the Elements.” Silver nodded.
“How long’s it been since we came out here?” Silver asked. Swift looked at a nearby clock for a brief moment.
“Ten minutes,” he replied as he looked back over.
“This is gonna be a long morning…,” Silver muttered, sighing heavily. Swift just chuckled.
“That’s whatcha get for wakin’ up early.”
-
After about three hours of waiting, talking, and doing other assorted things around the homestead, the two stallions finally figured that it was a good time to head out. Swift packed a small satchel with some Bits in it, as well as a small bottle of painkillers for Silver in case he needed them, though Silver had taken a couple of them before he’d put them in the satchel. Walking was a bit easier now for Silver, as his pain had slowly gone away as the days had gone by while his leg was healing, and the added painkiller helped with what remained of the pain. His leg was still stiff, however, and he used it as little as possible as the two walked towards Ponyville. Swift’s home was slightly outside of the main town, but it wasn’t a far walk.
“So where are we going first?” Silver asked, still limping a bit as the two walked.
“Well, thar’s a lotta places we can go,” Swift replied. “Honestly, ya look very ominous without yur hoodie on, with yur scars and that tattoo…” Silver looked at Swift.
“How did you know I wore a hoodie?” he inquired.
“I saw the torn up bits of it ya had tyin’ that makeshift splint together,” the blue stallion answered. “Ya need a new one? Rarity, that seamstress, she might be the one to go to first. She’d prob’ly have ya a new hoodie in five seconds.”
“Well, I guess that’d be a good place to start,” Silver said. “Can’t really do much about the scar on my muzzle though… eh, whatever. Lead the way.” Swift nodded and turned right onto a smaller road heading towards a different part of town, and as they walked Swift decided to ask another question.
“Y’know, I gotta ask,” Swift started, “but what’s that tattoo on your foreleg even mean? I seen it a couple times and I don’t understand it.” Silver looked at his own foreleg for a moment, seeing the familiar “GC” tattoo.
“This is the logo of my favorite band,” Silver explained. “Good Charlotte. Their music’s helped me through a lot of bad shit and has always brought me back up when I’m down, especially their album ‘The Young and The Hopeless’. Their music has practically saved my life, and I actually managed to get to a concert where they were playing; I met the twins who created the band and I talked with them, threw back a couple of beers, vaped and just had a good time.”
“Wait, yu’re 18 and you drank with those guys?” Swift asked, a little taken back by this comment.
“Ah hell, dude, it’s a rock concert,” Silver asked. “Besides, it’s not like I was gonna go anywhere that night. I slept in my car in the parking lot with the keys of the car on the floor.”
“Eh… still,” Swift replied. “Ah. ‘Ere we are.” The two stallions came upon a large, carousel-esque building, and Silver looked at it for a brief moment before looking back at Swift, his eyebrow raised.
“This is the place?” Silver asked. Swift simply nodded as he walked forward and knocked on the door, and Silver just stood behind him. A moment later, a brilliantly white coated unicorn with a fancily styled mane answered the door.
“Ah! What a pleasure to see you again, Swift,” the unicorn said. “What brings you here today, darling? Perhaps another dress for your dearest Applejack?” Swift just chuckled.
“Naw, that ain’t it, Miss Rarity,” Swift said. “Do ya mind if my friend and I come in? He has somethin’ he’d like to ask of you, if it’s not too much.”
“Oh, not at all! Please come in,” the mare replied, opening the door all the way and moving out of the way to allow the two stallions inside. “So who is your new friend, dear?”
“I’m Silver,” Silver introduced himself, nodding to the unicorn before him in a gentlecolt like gesture.
“I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” she replied, smiling. “I am Rarity. Now, what can I do for you today, Silver?”
“I’m just looking to see if you have or can make something for me,” Silver responded. “Just a generic black hooded sweatshirt, no zipper, just a slip on.”
“Oh, but that’s so simple, darling!” Rarity said, looking at Silver and taking a walk around of him. “I’d say another color would fit you better… maybe a nice shade of maroon, or possibly graphite or something of the sort. And not just a plain sweatshirt either, it would have to have some sort of design on it. Something to fit your character, if you will.” Silver looked over at Swift, and Swift just shrugged, smirking slightly.
“Heh, well… I appreciate the thought you’re putting into this, Miss Rarity,” Silver said, “but I’d prefer something simple. Personally, I prefer comfort to style.”
“Oh,” Rarity said, a bit disheartened. “Well, I suppose I can find what you’re looking for, Silver. Give me just a moment.” Rarity then left the main area and disappeared behind a curtain. Silver looked over at Swift again, and both of them chuckled quietly.
“I told ya she was a diva,” Swift told him.
“Well, when you said that, I wasn’t quite expecting that,” Silver responded, smirking a little. “I mean, I really do appreciate the thought she was putting into that. I guess if I ever need a tux or something a little fancier that this is the place to come.”
“I have it!” both stallions heard from the backroom. Both of them looked to the curtains as Rarity came out from the room with a black hoodie in her magical grip. “Why don’t you try it on, darling? I may need to make a few adjustments on it but I think I’ve done a perfect job on fitment.” Silver smiled as he took the hoodie and slipped it on over his head, finding that it did indeed fit perfectly. It was extremely comfortable, much more comfortable than his previous one which had been starting to wear out.
“It’s perfect,” Silver said, looking at himself in a nearby mirror; he looked like his old self again, minus the walking cast.
“Oh, wonderful!” Rarity remarked, smiling. “You look dashing in that, Silver. If I would’ve known you’d look so extraordinary in something so simple, I might not have recommended the other designs.” Silver just smirked and laughed a bit.
“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the thought you put into it,” Silver replied. “I definitely know where to come now if I need more outfits.”
“Oh, but of course, darling!” Rarity said with a beaming smile. “Of course, there is a small matter of payment…”
“Heh, I knew that was about to come around,” Silver said. He motioned to Swift, and Swift took off his hat and hoofed Silver a small pouch of Bits. Silver opened the pouch and peered inside for a moment to see how many were inside before he closed it up again and offered it to Rarity. “There’s about 150 Bits in here; I feel that should be just about right for a jacket of this quality. Thank you, Miss Rarity.” She beamed.
“You’re quite welcome,” Rarity said. Silver and Swift then exited the boutique. “Come back anytime, you two!” Rarity called after them.
“We will, thank you!” Silver yelled in reply. The pair of stallions then walked away and towards the center of town. “She’s nice. And she makes one hell of a comfortable jacket.” Swift chuckled.
“Yeah, she’s great at all that stuff,” Swift said. “Thar’s four others of those six that you haven’t met yet though.”
“WHOA!!! HEADS UUUUUUPPPPPPPP!!!” a female voice screamed from behind Silver and Swift. Silver looked back for just a moment before he immediately dove to the side to avoid the light blue pegasus turned missile crashed down into the ground, nearly hitting Swift, who hadn’t moved to the side nor gone to the ground. A large cloud of dust erupted and left a trail down the road, and Silver jumped up, half-running and half-limping to where the dust had begun to settle with Swift right behind.
“Hey, you alright?!” Silver asked frantically as he helped the mare up.
“Jeez, yeah, I’m fine!” the mare said; she had a fully rainbow colored mane and tail that went along with her sky blue body. “Takes WAY more than that to knock Rainbow Dash down a few pegs!” She then took a good look at Silver. “Hey, haven’t seen you around here before! You new around here?”
“Yeah,” Silver replied, chuckling at the mare’s cocky attitude and manner of speaking. “I’m staying with Swift.”
“Oh!” Dash said as she looked at Swift. “I didn’t even see you there! How’re you doin’, Blue? Been winnin’ lately?” Swift smirked.
“Yeah,” Swift said. “Been winnin’ lots.”
“Still not as much as me though!” Rainbow said, laughing. “Hey, who’s your friend?”
“I’m Silver,” Silver introduced himself, sticking out his hoof.
“Good to meet ya,” Rainbow said, knocking her hoof against Silver’s with a smirk. “The name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus in all of Equestria!” Silver just smirked.
“I’ll bet,” Silver said. “You were crashing down pretty quick right there.”
“Ah, that wasn’t nothin’!” proclaimed Dash, looking down at herself. “Not a scratch on me anyway. Just gotta get that last part of the routine worked out and I’ll be all ready!”
“Got another show soon, Dash?” Swift asked the pegasus. She looked at him and smirked.
“Oh, you bet your life on it!” Dash confirmed. “And I’m gonna dominate that competition!” Silver smirked as he heard Dash’s cocky confidence.
“I’ll bet you if you would’ve raced me back in the day, you would’ve lost,” Silver boasted, smirking as Dash looked at him for a moment. Dash tried to stifle her laughter but failed, bursting out into a fit of laughter as she nearly keeled over from it.
“Y-You think you could b-beat me?” Dash asked. “In a race? HA! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day!”
“Well, you haven’t seen any of my cars,” Silver said, smirking.
“Oh! You race cars like Big Blue here!” Dash said. “So how’s that been working out for you? Been winning a lot?”
“I’ve won more races in more cities than I can even count,” Silver replied, his smirk growing wider. “Had four cars, all of ‘em pushing at least, emphasis on at LEAST, eight or nine hundred horsepower and all of them were impossible to beat on the streets.”
“You even STREET RACED!” Dash exclaimed, becoming ecstatic. “Wow, the thrill of that must be amazing! How’d it feel, living life on the edge, doing crazy stunts and stuff out on the streets where anypony could see you? Was it AWESOME?!”
“Dash, calm down,” Swift said, his voice slightly distorted by laughter. “It’s not all that exciting from what I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, but you stay within the laws and you’ve never actually done it,” Dash pointed out. “Silver here’s the one who’s lived on that side of the street, if you know what I mean.” She turned back to Silver, a large smirk on her face.
“It was pretty cool,” Silver started, “but there’s a lot more risks with racing out on the streets than in an organization or something of the like. I mean, all of the cars there are tuned however they were tuned and there are absolutely no regulations. Plus, there’s no emergency services around to help if somepony gets hurt because it’s illegal to begin with and we don’t want anyone to find out that we’re there doing it.”
“Makes sense,” Dash said. “Well, I gotta get back to practicing this routine. Catch you two later!” She then took a moment to whisper in Silver’s direction so that only he could hear it; “Look me up later, cutie.” She then winked and blasted off, leaving nothing but a rainbow trail and a cloud of dust behind. Silver looked over at Swift, and Swift just shrugged.
“She’s like that,” Swift replied. “Ever since I met her she’s always been crazy and fast paced.”
“I can tell,” Silver replied, though that wasn’t what he was really thinking about; he was thinking mainly about what Dash had said to him right before she’d taken off. “I think she was hitting on me, man.”
“Dash? Hittin’ on ya?” Swift asked, chuckling. “She hits on me for sure, but her hittin’ on you sounds kinda odd. I mean, that crazy gal just met ya and she’s hittin’ on ya?”
“Hey, she’s an adrenaline junkie, and so am I,” Silver replied. “Junkies for anything just kinda meet and click, trust me. I’ve seen it happen plenty of times.” His stomach then growled audibly, and the two stallions looked at one another before Swift started laughing.
“Need a little somethin’ to eat thar?” Swift asked.
“Yeah,” Silver replied, his face warming up with embarrassment. “Honestly, I know we had breakfast, but I mean… I’m kinda in the mood for something sweet.”
“I know just the place then,” Swift replied, smirking. “C’mon, I’ll take ya thar. It ain’t too far.” The two friends then started walking again, Silver dusting himself off before following his friend.
“So what exactly do you do for a living?” Silver asked Swift. “Besides racing and fixing cars, I mean; pretty obvious you do that already, what with what Dash said and the way your car is tuned up and the big ass garage of a barn that you have.”
“I work the rails,” Swift replied. “Trains have always been a big thang in my life, ‘fore I even got my cutie mark. Always liked ‘em since I was a li’l colt. So much power and such a good way to get ‘round all of Equestria for the ponies that ne’er learned how to drive and aren’t pegasi. Obviously somepony like yurself don’t need it, but it sure is useful.”
“Well, that’s cool and all, but don’t you get homesick if you’re gone for long periods of time?” Silver asked. “I mean, I know the train goes all over Equestria and runs at night as well, but at some point your shift has to be over, and wherever you are you probably get off and just take the night to rest.”
“I’ve done that before, yeah,” Swift said. “But yu’re wrong when ya think I just hop off and get homesick. Sure, I miss it ‘ere when I’m away, and I ‘specially miss AJ, but I just get up the next mornin’ and hop on the first train back.”
“…So is that a yes or a no?” Silver asked, having been completely thrown for a loop by Swift’s answer. Swift chuckled.
“I’ll explain it to ya later, pardner,” Swift said as they walked towards a building that literally looked like a gingerbread house to Silver. “’Ere we are. Best place to get anythin’ sweet ya get a hankerin’ for around Ponyville; Sugarcube Corner.” The two walked up to the door and opened it, a small bell ringing at the top to let the owners know that somepony had entered. A light blue mare with a swirly pink mane peeked out from the kitchen behind the front counter.
“Oh! Hello, Swift!” the mare greeted him. “Give me just a moment and I’ll have somepony to help you and your friend.” She went back into the kitchen, and Swift’s eyebrow rose a bit.
“I just hope that she doesn’t send out-“ Swift was interrupted as a blur of pink rushed to the front counter and stopped, a huge smile plastered across the mare’s muzzle. Her mane was frizzled in all directions, but it was obvious that it was supposed to be like that.
“Hi Swift!” the mare said, her voice high and shrill. “How are you today? Did you need something? What did you come down for? Something to grab for Applejack?” Swift waved his hooves in a “slow down” gesture.
“That’s too many questions, Pinkie Pie,” Swift replied, laughing lightly. “I’m just ‘ere with a friend o’ mine who’s new to town.”
“New to town?!” the mare repeated Swift, looking at Silver, whom she had apparently missed. “And I didn’t hear?! WHAAAAAATTT?!?!” The shrillness of the mare’s voice caused Silver to flatten his ears slightly. “But I don’t have any time to plan for a party! Why didn’t you tell me earlier, Swift?! This is so exciting! I’ve gotta get started on making everything for this party now!!!” She was about to dash to the kitchen again when Swift cleared his throat, causing the mare to calm down momentarily. “Oh! Sorry, I got REAAALLLY excited! What’ll you two have?”
“If ya got any apple pie, I’ll take a small piece of that,” Swift said. “Nothin’ special done to it either, Pinkie; remember what happened last time.”
“Okie dokie!” the mare replied as she looked at Silver. “And how about you, Swift’s friend that I don’t know the name of but I’m gonna throw a party for anyway because you’re new to town and it’s SO EXCITING!!!” Silver nearly burst out laughing at the run-on sentence.
“Well, first off, my name’s Silver Flare,” Silver introduced himself, “and secondly, if you could grab me whatever you’ve got that just came out of the oven that’d be great.”
“Ooookaaaaaaaaay!” the mare said, her voice becoming singsong-like. “By the way, did I forget to introduce myself? Of course I did! I’m Pinkie Pie! Be right back!” She zipped into the kitchen, and Silver immediately started laughing.
“She’s a little hyper, isn’t she?” Silver asked, still laughing.
“Yeah…,” Swift replied, watching the kitchen and not laughing one bit. “I’ll tell ya, that sugared-up filly gets on my last nerve sometimes…”
“I can tell,” Silver said, smirking. “So let’s see here… I’ve met the country mare, the confectionary-sugar addicted one, the adrenaline-junkie pegasus, and the fashion oriented pony… Any others I should know about?”
“Well, thar’s two more, but I think I’ll let ya meet ‘em fer yurself,” Swift answered. Pinkie rushed back into the main area in a blur of pink, having Swift’s piece of pie on one plate and a few freshly baked muffins on another, both of them perfectly balanced with one on her nose and the other on the very top of her head, which had matted her mane down.
“Heeeeeeeeeere you go!” Pinkie said in her high, shrill voice. Silver chuckled and used his magic to take the plates from her, her mane springing back up as soon as the plate had been moved.
“Thanks,” Silver said, leaving a few Bits on the counter. “I hope that’s enough.” Pinkie took the Bits and dropped them into a nearby register, smiling widely the whole time.
“It was just the right amount, don’t worry!” Pinkie called to them as they sat down at a table near the window. “Now I’ve just gotta find out what’s the right amount of decorations for your ‘new pony in town’ party!” She inhaled loudly. “TO THE PARTY PLANNING!!!” She dashed off into the back again, and Silver just laughed again as he picked up one of the muffins on his plate and bit into it, and immediately his eyes widened with a look of delight as the flavor flooded his taste buds; the muffin was by far the best one he’d ever had, and the fact that it was fresh out of the oven only added to its goodness. He smirked as he savored the bite, but after he swallowed he immediately attacked the muffin mercilessly, causing it to disappear in a matter of moments. Swift had barely even taken his first bite of his pie by the time that Silver had eaten two of the four muffins on his plate, and he was starting in on his third when Swift started laughing, causing Silver to look over at him.
“What?” Silver asked as brought the third muffin to his mouth. Swift just shook his head, still laughing.
“Ya eat any quicker, I’m gonna mark ya down as a vacuum cleaner and not a unicorn,” Swift answered, taking another bite of his pie.
“Hey, they’re good,” Silver stated, smirking. “Sue me.” He bit into the third one, almost eating the whole thing in one bite.
“Just remember to chew,” Swift joked. “Don’t wanna hafta deal with ya chokin’.”
“Whatever, man,” Silver replied, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth. “Doesn’t matter, I’m not gonna choke. Besides, I’ve survived WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY worse.” He swallowed and then swung his bad leg slightly in emphasis.
“What all have ya survived, anyway?” Swift asked him after he took another bite of his pie.
“Three car wrecks that should’ve been fatal, gunshot wounds, stabbing attempts, and so much more that I can’t even begin to remember nor do I want to remember it,” Silver responded as he finished the third muffin, looking at the fourth for a moment before that, too, disappeared within the blink of an eye. Swift’s pie was only halfway gone, and Silver sat back, a content smile across his muzzle. “Man, those were delicious.”
“I can tell ya thought that,” Swift said as he continued to eat his own treat slowly. “Yu’re like a dang blackhole, buddy.”
“I get that a lot, honestly,” Silver responded, chuckling a bit. “But I’m 18, so naturally I’m gonna eat everything in sight while I still can, y’know? It just makes sense to take advantage of the metabolism while I’ve got it.”
“Well, I can’t deny ya that,” Swift replied, smirking. “Now let me finish this up and we’ll decide what else to do from ‘ere.” Silver nodded, and within a few minutes the two were headed for the door when Pinkie suddenly rocketed out of the back of the store again, zipping in front of the pair.
“Wait wait wait!!!” the pink mare shrieked. “Silver, you like surprises right? How about this being a SURPRISE party?!” She smiled widely, and Silver laughed.
“How’s it gonna be a surprise when I already know that you’re planning it?” Silver asked her.
“Oh, but that’s the surprise of it!” Pinkie replied, bounding around him. “It’s a SURPRISE surprise party! That’s what’s gonna be so fun! Hehehe!!!” She then bounced her way into the back of the shop, giggling the whole way, and Silver nearly collapsed from laughter over the sugared-up filly.
“Jeez, get her some friggin’ chill pills or somethin’,” Silver managed between his laughs. Swift just smirked as the two exited the bakery and walked down the main street in Ponyville. “She’s got a point though; if it really is a surprise, she’d better get me when I’m least expecting it; that’s a reaction you won’t ever forget and you’ll probably rub in my face every day for the rest of my life if you see it.” Swift grinned slyly.
“Well then, we’ll just see ‘bout that,” Swift said, playfully bumping his friend softly. Silver just smirked and bumped Swift in return. “Hey, come to think of it, I kinda need to get another car sometime. There any car auctions that go on around this area?”
“Nah, not really ‘round Ponyville,” Swift responded as the two came to the town square, which was bustling with activity; at least, for a small town it was. “Nearest places to go for that kind o’ thang would be Canterlot, which ya probably don’t wanna go back to anytime soon, and maybe Los Pegasus. Just ask ‘round to see when the next one is, somepony oughta tell ya.”
“Right, gotcha,” Silver replied.
“Actually, there’s a mare who might be able to help you out with finding out a little quicker than most,” Swift said, becoming thoughtful. “Let’s head over to the Golden Oak Library; she might know what’s going on.”
“Wait, who?” Silver asked, having lost what Swift was talking about.
“Ah, don’t worry ‘bout it right now,” Swift said as the two began walking again. “I’ve actually gotta run somewhere real quick; yu’re welcome to come along if ya want.”
“Well, that depends on where you’re going,” Silver replied, following alongside the larger stallion.
“I’m goin’ to talk with somepony about possibly getting a pet,” Swift said. “She’s the best one I know to talk to about it.” Silver nodded.
“What kind of a pet?” Silver asked him.
“Hopefully a li’l dog or somethin’,” Swift answered as the two walked to the outskirts of town. “I’ve been thinkin’ about maybe getting’ one so that I’d have someone around to keep me company, and so that I’d have one so that it could play with AJ’s dog Winona.”
“Ah, yeah, that makes sense,” Silver said as the two kept walking. As he looked, he could see a small cottage in the distance, sitting on a quaint, quiet hill beside a creek. There were plenty of animals that he could see that were outside, as well as a yellow mare with a long, flowing pink mane and tail. He couldn’t make her out clearly from here who the mare was, but he knew that it had to be the friend that Swift had been talking about. The two walked across the bridge over the creek and towards the cottage, and as they got closer and closer Silver could make out the forms of dogs, squirrels, bunnies and even a bear. He could faintly hear the mare talking; her voice was very quiet and easy on the ears, a complete switch from what he’d dealt with earlier from Pinkie.
“Fluttershy?” Swift called out to the mare, and she made a small “eep” sound as she turned, hovering off the ground slightly with her wings flapping.
“O-Oh! Hello, Swift,” she said, her voice still quiet. “It’s good to see you.”
“Good to see you too,” Swift said, smiling. “I just came by to talk about maybe getting that pet I’d mentioned.”
“Oh, of course,” she whispered, smiling at him. However, as soon as she saw Silver, she cowered behind her mane a little bit. “O-Oh, um… I-I didn’t know you had company…”
“It’s okay, Fluttershy, this is a friend of mine from out of town,” Swift explained. “This is Silver Flare. Silver, this is Fluttershy.”
“Hi,” Silver said, making his voice soft so as not to possibly frighten the skittish mare.
“U-Um… hi…,” Fluttershy whispered in response.
“It’s okay,” Silver said. “I might look kinda rough, but I assure you, I’m a gentle soul, haha. Seems you’re one too, Miss Fluttershy.” Fluttershy’s ears perked a little bit, and a tiny smile crossed her muzzle.
“O-Oh… thank you,” she said, her voice a tiny bit louder. “I-I’m sorry… um… Swift, could you come inside while we talk? I-If it’s not too much trouble.”
“It’s not a problem,” Swift replied, smiling. “Would you mind if Silver came in as well?”
“O-Oh, no, I don’t mind,” she responded.
“No, it’s cool,” Silver commented. “I can stay out here.”
“Naw, Silv, c’mon,” Swift said as he and Fluttershy began to walk towards the door of the cottage.
“It’s okay, really it is,” Silver replied. “Besides, it probably won’t take that long, am I right?” Swift chuckled.
“True ‘nough,” he responded. “Alright, but yu’re welcome to come inside if ya feel like it. Right, Fluttershy?”
“Y-Yes, of course,” the mare said, giving Silver a small, nervous smile. “Any friend of Swift’s is welcome.” Silver chuckled.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “Thanks. I’ll be out here.” Swift nodded as Fluttershy and he walked into the cottage, shutting the door behind himself. Silver then sat down underneath a nearby tree near the cottage, closing his eyes and relaxing a bit as he contemplated his new situation.
My first impression of Ponyville? Quiet, quaint, slower paced and simple. And that wasn’t a bad thing at all. If I were to be perfectly honest, I liked it here. It was a big change from the city and it was going to take some getting used to, but I liked it a lot already. Everyone was friendly, and everything here seemed so much better than back in the city.
Another thing that I’d noticed was that since I’d dropped into Swift’s life was that my stress had been relieved a bit. I could still feel it, like I always could, but at least it was a lot less noticeable than usual. Part of that I owe to him for helping to make my life a little easier, part of it I owe to not having the cops after me at this point since I was off the grid, and part of it I owe to the straight up tranquility of the area. It was so calming, easy on the heart, mind and soul. Things here may have been slower, but at least they were simpler, and that’s what I cared about.
The thought that I needed a car crossed my mind again, and I began thinking about what I might be able to get. Around here, there weren’t any car auctions from what Swift had said. All I knew was that when I got the chance to hit one that I was gonna go for something different from what I’d had in the past. Maybe something with a V6, maybe even a BMW or something of the like. I’d always had an admiration for any foreign cars, though Japanese cars were my specialty and I knew them inside and out no matter what make or model. Whatever I was going to end up getting, I knew I at least had a good place to store it and work on it, as well as the money to fix it when I blew it up.
Oh, how I wish my family could’ve been out here with me right now. We could all leave the stress behind; we could all be together again, just like old times. I felt a small tear trickle down my face and I wiped it away, sighing a little bit. I knew that it would never happen… I could dream all I wanted, but it would never happen for real. That’s what really sucked about my situation. As much as I wanted to go back and see my family, call them on the phone and talk to them, ANYTHING just to have some solace and be able to have communication with them in some form, I couldn’t unless I wanted to risk everything.
Then again… sometimes risking everything was necessary. Maybe that’s why I called them back in Fillydelphia, because it was necessary. I mean, they had no idea if I was dead or alive, they just knew that I’d had to skip town. Maybe risking everything out here at some point was going to be worth it; after all, cops hadn’t found me yet and I’d been here two months. I hadn’t even seen a single law officer of any kind near Swift’s house or around the town, or rather, what I’d seen of it so far.
	Silver’s train of thought was interrupted as he heard the door to the cottage open up again, and he heard Swift say something to Fluttershy before bidding her farewell; he hadn’t been paying attention so he wasn’t sure what Swift had said to the shy mare. The blue stallion walked to Silver, and Silver stood back up, grunting a bit from his bad leg giving him a bit of a hard time with standing once more.
“Ya looked like ya were thinkin’ ‘bout somethin’,” Swift said as the two began to walk away from the quiet home.
“Eh, just kinda thinking about the area,” Silver replied. “I’ve never been out in the country like this, honestly; lived in cities all my life. It’s a nice change, y’know.” Swift chuckled a bit.
“Yeah, I’ll bet it is,” Swift said to him, looking on as the two walked back towards town. “But ya looked like ya had somethin’ else on yur mind. Mind sharin’?”
“I was honestly just kinda wishing that my family could come out here,” Silver said. “Like I’ve said quite a few times now, I miss them a lot and I haven’t seen them in a long time either. It’s just quiet out here, and there’s not very much law enforcement to absolutely fuck me over from what I’ve seen.”
“That’s ‘cause there ain’t a lot o’ crime ‘round ‘ere,” Swift told him. “I think the last real criminal thang that happened ‘ere was when somepony tried to steal one of the cars I was workin’ on. He don’t remember what he was even tryin’ to do in the first place anymore.” Swift chuckled again. “Wrenches work for more than just turnin’ bolts, mind ya.”
“Oh, don’t I know that one…,” Silver replied, smirking a little. “I could tell you some good stories about that kind of thing… meh, another time.” The two came upon the town square again, which surprised Silver; he didn’t think they’d already walked that far away from Fluttershy’s cottage. “So where was the place you said might have some info on car auctions and stuff?”
“Oh, that’s the Golden Oak Library,” Swift responded. “C’mon, follow me.” He turned down the path that headed north, and Silver followed him eagerly. “It’s just right up ahead ‘ere.” The two continued walking for barely a minute before they came upon a large tree, but this one had obviously been turned into a living space; there was a door cut into front of it and windows fit elsewhere on the trunk, and a balcony built about halfway up the tree. There was an emblem of some sort on the door, which Silver identified as a candlestick as they got closer to the door. “I dunno what Twi might be doin’, could be some science or somethin’, so let me knock and you come in after, ‘right?”
“Wait, what?” Silver asked. Swift sighed a bit.
“Just let me knock and make sure she’s not ‘bout to blow the leaves off this place,” he responded. Silver nodded as the two came up to the door of the library, and Swift raised his hoof and knocked on the door. Almost immediately the door swung open, revealing a young purple unicorn mare.
“Oh hi, Swift!” she said brightly with a smile on her face. “Come in!” She moved out of the entryway, allowing Swift to come inside, and she looked at Silver with that same smile on her face.
My legs felt like they were glued to the ground. My mouth was dry, like I’d taken a piece of cotton and stuffed it in there. I don’t know why I was feeling this way, but it had happened the second I’d seen this mare. I thought it was stupid; I hadn’t even talked to her and I was already crushing on her.
	“You can come in as well,” the mare said to Silver, still smiling.
“O-Oh, uh, right,” Silver stammered, and he immediately mentally slapped himself. “Thank you.” He stepped inside the library, looking about for a moment; it was your basic library really, with lots of shelves of countless books, all very well organized. Swift eyed Silver a bit strangely but passed it off as the mare closed the door and turned to them.
“So what did you need today, Swift?” she asked the blue stallion. “Another good read? I’ve always got plenty of those to recommend!”
“Nah, not today, Twilight,” Swift responded. “This is a new friend of mine; he’s new to town and I’m showin’ him about.”
“Oh! Well then, allow me to introduce myself,” she said, turning to Silver. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” Silver stood silent for a few moments.
“Um… I-It’s Silver,” Silver told her. “Silver Flare.” She smiled and giggled a bit.
“Nice to meet you,” she said to him. She then turned to Swift again, and Silver tuned out as he looked the mare over.
Let me just clarify first off that I wasn’t being a pervert; she was just… really cute. Super attractive to me. Her mane was styled in a simple, straight down way, and her bangs stopped just barely below the tops of her eyes. And her eyes… man, probably the most beautiful shade of lavender I’d ever seen.
	“Silv?” Swift said, snapping Silver out of his trance to look over at his friend. “Explain what we’re doin’ ‘ere, please?”
“Oh! Right,” Silver said, turning back to Twilight, who’d also turned to him. “Swift said this might be a good place to find out where there might be car auctions or things of the like going on. Do you happen to know of any?”
“Of course!” Twilight responded, smiling. “I’m always up to date on what is happening around Equestria; I pride myself on knowing, especially since sometimes racers and such come through here looking for the same thing as you.” She walked away and picked up a nearby journal of some sort with her magic and flipped it open, flipping the pages a few times before smiling widely. “Aha! Here we are! There’s a car auction that’s going on in Los Pegasus in three days.” She snapped the book shut again, turning around and walking back over to the two stallions. “Did you need anything else?”
“Um… not that I can think of at the moment,” Silver said.
“Alright,” Twilight said, still smiling. “If there’s anything you need-a bit of information, a good read, something science related, or even just someone to talk with-I’m always around, so you can call on me anytime.”
“I’ll remember that,” Silver said, smiling. “Thank you.”
“You’re quite welcome,” Twilight responded. “Is there anything you needed, Swift?” She turned to the blue stallion, and he shook his head.
“Thank ya for yur time, Twilight,” Swift said to the purple mare. “I might be back later to ask ‘bout those ‘good reads’ ya had in mind.” Twilight beamed.
“Of course!” she said to the two stallions as they walked towards the door. “Bye! See you later, you two!”
“Bye!” both stallions called out as they walked outside, and Silver shut the door behind them before letting out a sigh, and Swift burst out laughing.
“What?” Silver asked, slightly annoyed.
“Y-Y-Ya were c-crushin’ on Twilight s-s-s-so bad!!!” Swift said, falling onto the ground and rolling about laughing, causing a few ponies who were walking past to stop and watch the blue stallion roll in a fit of outright shrieking guffaws, giggling a bit themselves before walking off. “Yu’re eyes w-w-were t-the best part of i-it all! HAHAHA!!! T-T-They were all b-big and googly!!!”
“Shut the fuck up,” Silver said, rolling his eyes as he chuckled. “Sure, I liked how she looked, and her personality is great, and her voice is amazing, but that doesn’t mean I was crushing on her.” Swift slowly came to a rest, tears in his eyes from laughing so hard, and he was still laughing as he stood back up.
“W-Well, you sure can c-count on one thang,” Swift started, “and t-that’s ya f-fallin’ in love with somepony ya b-barely even know…”
“Oh, gimme a break, man,” Silver said, shaking his head with a smirk on his face. “It’s not like I haven’t heard the stories about you and Applejack.” Swift shot Silver a look.
“How’d ya hear ‘bout them stories?” Swift asked. Silver just smirked.
“That’s for me to know and you to figure out, my friend,” Silver simply stated, walking away towards the town square again. “Here’s a hint; somepony who’s come to the house quite often.” As he walked off, whistling nonchalantly, his friend developed a thoughtful look on his face before he chased after Silver.
“You tell me how ya got her to tell them stories, Silv!” Swift yelled, running towards Silver.
“Element of Honesty in her, remember?” Silver responded, still just walking as Swift caught up to him. The two then walked all the way back to the house, and everything was just as it had been left. Silver walked to the front door and opened it up to immediately get blasted in the face by confetti and streamers, and loud music began playing as countless ponies inside shouted all in unison:
“SURPRISE!!!” Silver was knocked backwards and caught by Swift, and both stallions immediately started laughing as they walked into the house, Pinkie Pie bounding up to them immediately.
“See? SEE? I TOLD you that it was a surprise surprise party!” Pinkie told Silver.
“Haha, yeah, you did,” Silver said, “and you got me good. How’d you get everyone here without us noticing though?”
“Oh, that was easy!” Pinkie said, waving her hoof in a dismissing manner. “But it’s a secret! I won’t tell you! Nope nope noooope!” She faked zipping her mouth closed and bounded off somewhere else, and Silver just laughed as he joined the rest of the ponies in the party, smirking and thinking to himself that this was a great place to be.