Sun Up
"Whew! You sure do have some speed on those legs of yours." Rainbow landed on a cloud, panting slightly. I was still fresh, although I had only managed to tie her.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash! How's it going?" She identified the speaker and tried to hide her face behind me.
"Great. This might take a while. You go on ahead." Three pegasi stepped forward, all different shades of brown.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash, you thought any more about that date?" The darkest of the group was obviously the spokesman of his little gang. Rainbow laughed aloud.
"Please. I might consider it if you'd pick up the pace a little. Tell you what, I'll go out with you the day your wing power gets above a twenty, how's that?" He snarled, pawing the ground a little. My knees bent instinctively, getting ready for a fight. I tried running through each combat maneuver that would actually work on a body type like this, but there weren't many. Almost none would result in completely superficial injuries, especially since I didn't even know the weak points on these bodies.
"Some standards you've got, going out with Freakshow back there. Why don't you at least stick to your own species?" Rainbow's mane bristled, but I stepped in before she could make a retort.
"Sir, I really don't want to have a disagreement here. Because of that, I'm going to ask you nicely one time to leave us alone. Don't make me ask again." They were silent for a second, probably marveling at my voice like every other pony, then they started right up again.
"Oh, and by the way, whatever happened to that turtle of yours? Lost him again? Some speed demon if you can't even keep track of a little turtle." They laughed and high fived (high hoofed? I don't quite know) amongst themselves. I looked over my shoulder and saw tears gathering in the corners of Rainbow's eyes. I sighed. They weren't going to give me a choice.
"Alright. Remember that I gave you a perfectly fair warning. I'll try to make sure you only miss a few weeks of work." They stopped laughing to stare at me. The darkest one piped up again.
"What, you really wanna do this? Fine. I'll put you out with one buck." I thumped my chest, accepting the challenge. He turned around, lining himself up with me perfectly. I squared my shoulders and brought my feet apart, setting myself as thoroughly into the ground as I could. "You're history." He brought both hind legs up and slammed them into my chest, one to each pec. I felt my sternum pop, and it would probably leave a pretty nasty bruise, but nothing more. The other two backed up, their mouths hanging open ever so slightly.
"What, that's it? Never mind, then. You aren't worth the energy it would take to whip you." I turned, rustling Rainbow's hair. The three goons turned and ran flat out. "Don't mind them. I'll help you find that turtle of yours before I leave." What was I saying? Every part of my mind berated my conscience for making me say that, but I still had to. This was too much like my own past.
"Hey look, it's Walker!" Oh no. Not this again. Sure enough, as if on cue six of them stepped out from nowhere and I was surrounded. The biggest and ugliest of the group spoke, his voice not unlike a basset hound giving commands from a rusty tank. "So, how tough are you today, Walker?" I hated that kid, and even that question. He knew full well that I didn't fight unless I had to, and I knew full well that these kids wouldn't hurt me for just that reason. "Answer me, Walker." He stepped forward and poked me in the chest with two fingers. Bad move. In one motion I brought my left hand up, split his index and middle fingers apart, grabbed his index, and twisted it straight up. He dropped onto his knees with tears in his eyes.
"I don't know, how tough am I?"
I was jerked from my past by Twilight's voice. "Hey, what was all that about?" I turned to see a very purple pony right in my face. "I thought you were trying to keep a low profile?" She was right, of course.
"I am, but... Well, sometimes there has to be somebody there who's willing to keep the fight going when nobody else will. Especially against guys like them." I gestured in the direction the brown ponies had run off in. "Either way, we need to get to that factory." She eyed me for a few more seconds, then finally decided to let it go.
"Alright. Are you coming, Dashie?" Rainbow looked at me, and her eyes dried up and she nodded eagerly. "Great! Let's get moving, then." I caught my breath. For some reason, Twilight didn't seem like someone I'd want angry at me. She wasn't dangerous, but she wasn't safe either. On that happy note, I turned and followed the pastel ponies.
What was I even doing?
