Silver had no intention to die that day.
Time slowed down for Silver as she fell towards the pavement. She blinked, watching the glass fly around her like tiny twinkling shooting stars. Maybe its okay to die, she thought. I led a pretty good life, and I went out with a bang... or a splat, she thought bitterly.
Still, she compelled herself to twist her body as soon as her hooves left the window sill. Silver twisted until her feet were facing the pavement, and Silver bent her knees as she hit the cloth overhang at the bottom. Sliding down and up the curve of it, she jumped off quickly as she slid to the edge of the overhang. Ponies on the street who had watched her fall, cried out and gasped as she landed roughly on four hooves, glancing up at the broken window. She let out a hiss as her hooves sharply connected with the pavement. The Feds were leaning out the window and glancing around for her.
The ponies moved out of her way as she took a step forward, disgust scrawled on their faces. Despite their obvious distaste for her fleeing of the Feds, they moved out of her way quietly as she sprinted down the street, her muffler flying behind her like a separate tail. One of the Feds barked something at the other, and they disappeared from the broken window as they ran back down the stairs to the apartment complexes entrance.
Silver galloped through the pouring rain, dodging and jumping over and around ponies' head. Some yelled at her and snarled as she bumped or jostled past them. Silver was in a comfortable stride, and her hoof beats were steady and repetitive.
Puffs of smoke trailed out from behind Silver's scarf as she panted, her muscles beginning to become sore. Silver didn't bother to glance behind her; she knew that she had a good distance away from the the Feds.
In her haze of confidence, her scarf had become loose and snaked its way under her hooves, catching the bottom of her hooves and throwing her stride off. Her hoof slipped and threw her forward, her muzzle smacking against the pavement. Silver attempted to stand, but a passing pony stepped on the scarf, choking her and forcing her to put her head back on the pavement. Nopony paid any attention to the strange, crying pony on the pavement; they just kept pondering on with themselves.
Silver jumped up before anypony else could step on her, and Silver struggled to get into her stride again. She had lost precious ground from her fall; Silver could see the Feds pushing the crowd aside. She stumbled off the side of the sidewalk, sprinting across the walk way. Cars honked and ponies shouted slurs of cruel words at her as she jumped over the cars and around them. She didn't have time to wait for the green light to beckon her across.
The Feds (ever the law keepers) waited till the red light switched to green, giving Silver a good distance away from them. She turned the corner, tripping and slipping in her hysteria. Silver jumped into the nearest alleyway and behind the nearest dumpster. Silver gasped and collapsed into a ball of sobbing, crying misery.
The Feds were after her. The Feds were after her. Silver pressed her back against the wall and took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling with every ragged breath. Silver was thankful that the buildings she was wedged in between had ledges that shielded Silver from the rain, and she unwrapped her scarf and took a deep breath. Despite the hoof marks and stains on it now, Silver folded it and slipped it in her saddlebag. She tenderly touched the burn on her ear and the new bruise on her muzzle.
"Ah," she hissed as she pulled her hoof away from her nose. There was blood splattered on the tip of her hoof, and Silver licked her teeth. She tasted blood, and she assumed that she bumped her tooth or bit her tongue. She spit to the side and leaned her head on the brick wall. Her tail hung limply to the side and sat in a puddle, and Silver (despite her hate for muck and dirt) left it there.
She saw no stars. The sky was dark and cold and uninviting. Silver's ears twitched as a drop of rain fell between her eyes. She shifted so as to pull the saddle bag off her waist and sat it on her lap. Opening it with a soft click, she slipped her hoof inside and pulled out the memory bank of her com. The memory bank was the only thing that couldn't be tracked, of which Silver was grateful for.
The cold, hard memory bank sat lifeless in her hooves. The history of her searches and scans would show up there, including the manuscript scan. Silver was glad she had scanned it before, what with her ripping of the State's seal that was traceable. With that, she took hold of the manuscript.
It didn't look like much; to anypony else it would have looked like an old paper magazine at first glance. It was about ten sheets of paper in a moldy leather binding that had the disturbing painting on it and a missing corner.
Silver eyes it closely. What was on this manuscript? Was the information she obtained from it on the others in the library? She growled and shook it upside down, as if expecting the answer to fall form the pages. Mostly, books had all of their information stored digitally on a seal on the corner, so when it was scanned the information could be read easier.
She flipped through the pages. The same, almost insane scrawlings on the pages about death and destruction covered them. Nothing out of the usual, nothing too special. She sighed and hung her head. She slipped the manuscript back in her saddle bag and rolled over, trying not to make too much noise.
Fortunately, alleyways and backyards weren't watched, but Silver didn't want attention attracted to it. She was tired to the marrow of her bones and tried to shut her eyes.
But she was less successful than she had expected. The colored warning on her com screen was seared into her mind and latched itself onto her eyes. She couldn't sleep, and the reality of the situation scratched at her conscious.
The Feds were after her.
The Feds were after her.
