There’s one good thing about a raging hoard of mutant street thugs. It clears the city of patrols.

I feel a little sorry for Blackwatch. A lot of ponies, including myself, are running away from the scene, and we keep passing Blackwatch goons who are running to their dooms. Most I assume are heading that way to deal with the street gang mass. None of them bother looking at the griffon with the larger griffon on her back.

Speaking of which, Tanya stirs sometime after we cross into the Yellow Zone. “Lighting… lot’s of lightning,” she mutters. I feel her wiggle on my back, and then she lifts her head to look around. “Where am I?”

“In the Yellow Zone,” I say. “I know a place where we can lay low for a while.”

“Gilda…” she mutters. “Why are you carrying me?”

I turn to look behind me, meeting her eyes. “Did you want to stay and play with the giant gang monster?”

“What gang…”

“That’s why I’m carrying you," I cut her off. "The Manehattan residents are evil. Hey, now that you’ve returned to reality, you can carry yourself.” I lean to the side until Tanya starts slipping. She lets out a quick, birdy bawk when falls off. Sounds just like a chicken. Adorable. Her butt hits the pavement with a dull thud.

The owl-lion shoots a glare at me. “Was that necessary?”

I grin. "I need a bit of stress relief." I flick my tail at her beak as I keep walking. “At least you haven’t been shot, stabbed, bitten, shot, punched, shot, exploded, kicked, or shot today.”

“You said shot four times.”

I shrug. “I’ve been shot a lot today.” And I was shot a lot yesterday. Lots of shooting. "How are you feeling?"

Tanya lifts her wings, flexes her arms, and cracks her neck before she stands up. “My head’s throbbing, but I think I got out of that without a scratch.”

“You’re welcome,” I say with a smile.

“No thanks to you, featherbrain.”

“Hey, Blackwatch would’ve turned you into mince meat if I don’t show up. I saved your ass.”

She skips for a moment to catch up with me. “And the only reason Blackwatch was after me was because they thought I was you. If you weren’t dicking around with the authorities, I would be fine.”

Why you ungrateful little… “So you would rather be eaten alive instead of rescued?”

“You call that a rescue? Fuck, if you didn’t show up, Blackwatch wouldn’t have brought the cavalry, and I would be walking home a rich griffon right now.”

“You… you… I risked my life to get Blackwatch off your ass! You’d be a puddle on the street if I didn’t”- My eyebrow goes up. Rich griffon? “Wait, did you figure out a get rich quick scheme?”

“Maybe. It doesn’t matter to you. Where’s my suitcase?”

I glance at her back, which her blue suitcase is still attached to. Through all that commotion, she kept it with her, even when it was slowing her down. And now she’s glancing all around us, expecting it to be laying on the ground somewhere. Hmm, if she’s going to be ungrateful for my help… “The monster ate it.”

Tanya’s eyes go wide. “What!?”

“The monster ate it,” I say, making it sound casual. “It was chasing us, it got you by the suitcase, so I had to cut it off to save us both.”

“You mother”- she covers her mouth with a claw and screams into it. Dramatic. “Do you have any idea what you threw away?!”

“Well, I do remember you saying something about documents for the scone shop, but being the good little accountant you are, I’m sure you have copies of that lying around.”

“I was lying, dumbass! That suitcase was my paycheck out of here!”

I eye her suitcase still on her back. Maybe she took some brain damage in that fight. I would’ve noticed a big, clunky thing strapped on to my back by now. “I thought I was paying you a fair price for your accounting services.”

“The dead don’t write out paychecks! Not like you wrote any to begin with. You blew all the shop money on booze and drugs, you fucking idiot!”

Well now, I didn’t expect any name calling from the damsel I just saved. Screw this, if Tanya’s going to be all bitchy about this, then I’m out. I turn around, stick my beak up in the air, and walk away from the problem.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Tanya yells.

“To take a nap,” I say, not bothering to look back. “Hero work just saps the energy out of me, you know.”

“Oh no you don’t!” She flaps her wings and lands right in front of me. She’s a big griffon, bigger than me, so it doesn’t take her much to block my path. “You’re going to get that suitcase back, or I’m going to pummel you to the ground.”

I give her a lazy look, and then extend a giant monster claw and push her out of the way.

She looks dumbfounded. How could I, tiny little Gilda, push her away so easily. Or maybe she’s freaked out over the monster claw. Either or, I’ll take it.

“Don’t you walk away!”

“I’m walking.”

“We’re not done!”

“I think we’re done.”

“I control your life, don’t you remember? I did all the paperwork to give you your little scone shop. My name is all over those documents. I can break your dreams.”

“Funny, I can break you too.” I flash the monster talons in the air, giving them a little wave. “When everything blows over, why don’t we get together for a business lunch? We can use that paperwork of yours to get the shop up and running again.”

“You don’t have the money to do jack shit! That suitcase is worth more than whatever your store was worth. Get it back, or you’ll never sell another scone in this city.”

I grin, and turn around. “I want half cut.”

Tanya snorts. “Bullshit, I’m not giving you any of my cash.”

I shrug. “Oh well. I guess whatever is in that suitcase, I can go back later and get it myself. No need to share with you.”

“No wait!" She runs up and grabs my shoulder. “I’ll give you a fifth.”

I shake my head. “Half.”

“A forth.”

“Half.”

“Thirty five percent.”

I tilt my head, tapping my chin. “Fifty five percent.”

“Don’t you dare raise your price!”

“We can make it a full hundred if you want.”

At this point, her face is completely red. Seriously, her feathers are burning hot. If she could, I bet she’d rip my throat out. Something tells me she knows how to hide my body. “Forty five percent. Final deal!”

Eh, she’s about to blow a fuse. She’s probably lying anyways. “Deal. I’ll get your suitcase back for you.”

“Good,” she huffs. “And make it snappy.”

No grace in defeat, apparently. “Oh, I’ll make it snappy. Guess how snappy I’ll make it.”

“I don’t care, just go get it now.”

This is glorious. I smile, and point to her back.

“What? What are you pointing at?”

I say nothing. My grin grows bigger, and I keep pointing.

“This isn’t funny, whatever you’re”- she turns her head, and immediately shuts up once she sees the blue suitcase. “You mother”-

“Forty five percent please,” I say in a singsong voice. “I’ll take it in cash.”

“No, you’re not getting anything!”

Her face softens when I flash out the monster claws again. Negotiation tactics. “Oh, you do know I can find people with my mind? I can find you again if you decide to bail on me.”

Her eye is twitching, but before she says anything, we hear someone yell at us. “Hey, you two, stay where you are and don’t move a muscle!”

We both look to see a small squad of Blackwatch goons coming after us. Funny, I thought they were all heading to the downtown rodeo. There must be a few leftover patrols in the Yellow Zone.

Tanya groans. “Not these guys again.”

“I know a place where we can hide,” I say. “They’ll never find us there."

He owl-lion grunts. “Fine.”

And so we run, we run far away. Or at least far enough to shake them off our tail. They don’t have any pegasi with them, so they don’t have anyone to chase after us. I’m sure they’re giving Cole Slaw a call to let him know where we are.

Let them call. They’ll never find us in the Daycare.