Chapter 71

About two hours had passed since we picked up Fluttershy and headed for home. Santa Fe was a little over an hour away still, and the atmosphere in the old car was quite upbeat.

“So Sunny,” I was saying, “If you had to pick the best thing about living in this world, what would it be?”

Sunset was sitting in the middle of the back seat, leaned forward with her forearms on the backrest of the front seat. “Hmm,” she thought, chewing her lip as she considered her options. Finally, she came to a decision and shook her head. “I gotta go with brown sugar bacon,” she said, slapping the seat with her hand.

“Ooh, yeah that’s a good one,” I nodded.

“People say my hair looks like bacon,” Sunset blurted.

I looked at her in the rear view mirror, meeting her big turquoise eyes in the reflection as she smiled playfully at me. “Yeah, I could see that,” I replied with a nod.

“I never used to eat meat when I first came here. Remember that, Flutters?” she said, turning to Fluttershy and giving her a light tap on the shoulder with the back of her hand.

Fluttershy was sitting in the passenger front seat, watching the desert slide by through the open window. She turned her head to face Sunset with somewhat of a blank look, then gave a small smile and a nod in response. “Oh, um…yeah. I remember,” she replied quietly as a lock of matted, pink hair blew across her face in the wind.

I glanced at my girlfriend, noticing her distant response. She had become much quieter since we started our trip home, which was starting to make me wonder if something was bothering her. It wouldn't have been surprising, considering what she'd just been through. “Probably just processing everything,” I figured.

Sunset continued jawing on in a euphoric trance, clearly excited about the fact that we were finally going home. “The girls used to bug me like crazy to try it, like chicken and steak ‘n stuff, and I refused for the loooongest time," she said, with her eyes rolled back in the sockets. "Finally, they talked me into trying some buffalo chicken, and ho-lee shit! It was sooo good! I fucking love it now.”

I nodded as I listened to her child-like rambling, smiling at how elated she was to be on our way back to Canterlot. “Crazy,” I replied. “OK, so what is the worst thing about this world? The thing you hate the most?”

The red-head stared blankly through the windshield for a moment, then turned to me with her answer. “People who say: ‘Hit the ground running.’”

I scrunched my nose up. “Ugh! Yeah, I hate that.”

“I know, right?” she shouted, holding her hands up in front of her. “Like, it makes NO sense whatsoever.”

I smirked a bit as I glanced over at the shy girl, who was still looking out her window. It hit me right then that Sunset and I probably shouldn’t have been talking about first-world problems, given the horrible nightmare she’d just been through.

Sunset noticed my smile fading, then also looked at the shy girl, quickly realising the same thing as me. She put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder to give it a gentle rub. “Sorry Flutters, we’re being a bit insensitive, aren’t we? Talking about things people say as if they’re the worst thing ever, when you’ve just been through a terrible ordeal.”

The shy girl turned her head to look at Sunset. “Hm? Oh, that’s OK,” she said softly, looking back out the side window. “I don’t like it when people say that either.”

Sunset and I briefly looked at each other in the rear view mirror. Both of us were noticing how stoic the shy girl had become, especially compared to her abnormally outgoing self when we first met her in the desert. She must have been on the tail-end of an adrenaline rush when she got out of the helicopter, which was perfectly understandable for me, given that it was something I’ve had personal experience with many times in the past. Going to war is something that riles up the blood, no matter who you are.

The red-head brought her enthusiasm down a notch in light of my girlfriend’s mood. “So Golds,” she said, turning back to me, ”How long ‘til we get home? Like two or three days?”

I shook my head, then took a moment to glance in the side mirror. “No. We’ll be closer to a week, actually.”

Both girls glared at me with surprise.

“What?” Sunset asked. “What’s going on now?”

I glanced over at Fluttershy. “I don’t suppose Cody let you go into the house to get your passport when he was capturing you, did he?”

The shy girl shook her head, prompting Sunset to slam her forehead down on the back of the seat.

“Shit!” the red-head cursed. “I didn’t even think about that. So we can’t go back across the border the way we came then?”

I shook my head.

“Hm,” Sunset mumbled as she scratched her ear. “I was wondering if we were gonna have that same guy again…you know, the one who thought we were fighting?”

“Probably not,” I replied, “but we don’t wanna see him anyway. I can’t remember how long we said we were gonna be in the country, but I’m pretty sure we went way over. Plus, you’re hair isn’t brunette anymore, although I guess that doesn’t really matter.”

Fluttershy turned her head to look at Sunset again, now realising why the lower layers of her fiery hair had that darker tone. She didn’t seem interested to ask about it though; instead, she turned away from us to look out the window again.

“OK so, what’s the plan then, boss?” Sunset asked. “Where are we going that’s gonna take so much longer?”

I inhaled deeply, glancing in the mirror at her. “There’s a place I know where Flutters and I can cross without her passport pretty easily, relatively speaking. It’s pretty far out of the way though, which is why it’ll take so much longer. I’m sure there are more convenient spots that we can get across, but this place also happens to be kind of a resort type of thing, and I thought I’d treat you ladies to a bit of fun on the way home…unless you just wanna get home asap?”

Sunset and Fluttershy glanced at each other for a moment.

“OK. Sure,” Sunset replied, resting her cheek on her forearm.

I looked at Fluttershy to hear her answer. She simply nodded and looked out the window again.

“After we cross the border, we’ll get a hotel for a night and unwind before we make the final stretch home,” I said. “Unless you wanna stop somewhere sooner to clean up, Flutters?”

She shook her head.

Sunset, who’s head was still resting on her arm, had her eyes on the shy girl for a few seconds before shifting her sights back onto me.

“So what’s the plan to get across the border?” the red-head asked, lifting her head again.

“You’ll take the car across with your passport, Sunny,” I explained, glancing in the side mirror again. “And they’re probably gonna ask about the car, since the plates are still registered to the old man. Uh...just tell them you borrowed it or something; I don't know, we’ll figure that part out later. Flutters and I will sneak across with the cash and all the other weird stuff in case they search the car.”

Sunset looked down at the floor. “What about all these cats?”

“You’ll have to keep them in here cuz they won't like they way Flutters and I are gonna be going. They might ask about them at the border, though. Just tell them you’re a young adult, you’re single, and thing’s aren’t really workin out.”

“Fuck that!” she scowled, to which I laughed.

“No seriously though, the cats shouldn’t be a big deal," I continued. "To tell you the truth, I think they’ll ask more questions about the car not being yours.”

“So where are we going anyway?”

I smiled. “Don’t worry. You’ll like it.”

Sunset clicked her teeth. “Sounds like a plan,” she said, sitting back in the seat.

We drove in silence for a few minutes, listening to the wind blowing through the car with all the windows down, accented by the rumble of the big V-8 under the hood.

After a few minutes alone with my thoughts, I heard Sunset’s voice from the back seat.

“Uh, guys…I think we have company.”

I looked in the rear view mirror and saw her turned around, facing out the back window.

“I know,” I replied, turning my head to look in the side mirror again. “They’ve been following us for a while.”

Fluttershy had turned around by then to look as well.

A few hundred yards behind us was a large, silver SUV with several men in black uniforms on Japanese sport bikes, riding in a loose formation around the truck.

“What do they want? A-are they trying to take me back?” Fluttershy asked with a worried tone.

I looked over to her and reached my hand out to take hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I don’t think so. If you destroyed their base, there’s nowhere to take you to anyway.” I paused to look in the mirror again. “After what you did today, the remnants of the organisation are probably in panic mode and are running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

Fluttershy scowled, looking me dead in they eyes.

I cringed, realising my faux-pas. "Sorry about that, it was just a figure if speech."

Her expression softened, to my relief, and she began gently stroking the back of my hand with her thumb as I continued.

"Anyway, this attack here is probably a last act of desperation on their part.”

Sunset sat forward in the seat again to face Fluttershy. “Don’t worry, Flutters. We’ve got your back. If they think they’re gonna go up against three of us, then they’ve got a fucking death wish.”

“I hope they do attack us,” I said, smirking at them.

Both of them stared blankly at me in response.

”What?” I shrugged. “This’ll be the first time this whole trip they’ve come directly after me, and I've got a hankering for some head busting." I glanced at Fluttershy first, then at Sunset. "Why should you ladies get to have all the fun?”

Sunset shook her head slowly at first, but I could see a smile forming on her face as she stared through the windshield. “Let’s do this, buddy,” she said, slapping me on the shoulder.

I released the accelerator pedal slightly, letting the car slow down so the attacking caravan would catch up. “I’ll bet they followed the chopper’s signal to the meeting place, then when they found it destroyed, they probably tracked us here,” I surmised as I reached up to open the sunroof. I looked at my girlfriend next. “Flutters, take the wheel.”

Her eyebrows went up in surprise. “Me? Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna take out that truck. You and Sunny look after those bikes. Can you handle that?”

A sweet smile appeared on her face out of nowhere. “Mm-hm,” she replied as she slid over to take the wheel while I got up and stood on the seat with my head sticking out of the sunroof.

The wind hit my face hard, roaring in my ears as my head and shoulders emerged above the car. We were still travelling about seventy miles per hour, even after slowing the car down at bit. I pulled myself up on to the roof, then shouted down through the sunroof once more.

“Keep it steady, Flutters. And don’t destroy this car, it’s our ticket home. Now, let that truck get close, K?”

I felt the car decelerate more, and looked back to watch the silver SUV approach us. After sliding down the rear window, I was sitting on the trunk of the Diplomat, waiting to make my move as the truck edged closer. “I should probably aim for the rear in case that dickhead hits the brakes. I’ll look like an idiot if I end up on the pavement…”

When the SUV was within twenty feet of our car, the front passenger side window rolled down and a machine gun emerged from the opening. Deciding it was time to make my move, I stood up suddenly and leapt across the road towards the rear of the truck, holding my hands out to grab on once I landed. Sure enough, the driver hit the brakes, prompting the vehicle to retreat suddenly. He was too slow however, and I landed across the hood on my stomach with a tight grip on the cowl. I looked through the windshield at the driver, who was staring back at me with a shocked expression on his face.

After giving him a sly smirk, I quickly crawled up the windshield to the roof and drove my fist through the sunroof glass, then dropped into the truck, head first. There were several men inside, all of whom started shouting frantically with the exception of the agent beside me in the second row seat, who quickly pulled his handgun out as I turned myself upright after landing inside the truck.

I slapped the gun downwards just as he fired, then laughed at him when the round went through his own thigh. As he cried out in pain, I reached forward to grab his head and drive it through the bulletproof door glass, shattering it into small pebbles as his skull collapsed under the force of my thrust. It clearly wasn’t his head that broke the window; rather it was my hand after it pushed its way through his fragile head.

I glanced into the back seats, where the rest of the men were frozen in place, petrified by my presence in the vehicle. Instead of attacking them head-on, I turned my attention to the driver, knowing a more efficient way to extinguish their lives. As I stepped up beside the driver's seat, I quickly broke his shoulder by dropping my fist onto it, then reached for the steering wheel and cranked it all the way to the right.

The truck turned suddenly, entering into skid for a few seconds before rolling onto its side and violently flipping over and over again. The men in the rear seats bounced around and frantically cried out in pain as I grabbed the front seatbacks to hold myself steady, casually whistling ‘Soldiers of the Wasteland’ by Dragonforce while I waited for the out-of-control vehicle to come to rest.

In the Diplomat, Sunset was watching out the back window as the big SUV rolled end-over-end down the road behind them, flinging pieces of trim, glass and twisted metal every which way.

She snickered as she turned back to face Fluttershy, who was now driving the old car. “Well, it didn’t take long for him to look after those guys.”

“Mm-hm,” the shy girl answered as she drove with her hands on the steering wheel at ten and two, just like she learned in driver training back when she was a teenager, which was still the way she drove right up to the present day…like an old lady.

“We’ll have to go back and pick Golds up after we take out the bikers,” Sunset continued as one of the motorcyclists rode up alongside the driver’s door of the Diplomat. Two more bikes lead the way about ten feet in front of the car in the oncoming lane, and two more rode behind the car, also in the oncoming lane, straight back from the leaders. Three more bikes were trailing another fifty feet behind the car, waiting to spring into action if necessary.

The road we were driving on cut through the middle of the desert and was quite desolate. Not a single vehicle, other than the current invaders had been seen since we began our journey home. This was a good thing however, since it gave us a clear playing field without attracting too much attention.

Sunset gave Fluttershy a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “It’s OK, Flutters. We’ll figure this out, it’s gonna be fine.”

The shy girl glanced at Sunset in the rear-view mirror with an eyebrow raised. “Of course, Sunset,” she said, barely loud enough for the red-head to hear. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you. You just make sure the kitties are OK.”

“Huh?” Sunset asked, cocking her head at the unexpected response.

Fluttershy glanced over towards the biker, who was riding several feet from the driver’s window. He reached down with his right hand to pull a pistol from the holster that was mounted on the side of the bike, then he held his arm out, pointing the gun at Fluttershy’s temple.

Without warning, the shy girl cranked the steering wheel to the left, swerving the car towards the biker. The motorcycle banged against the car door as his outstretched arm came in through the open window in front of Fluttershy, allowing her to firmly grab his wrist with her right hand and twist it around, preventing his finger from reaching the trigger. She then swerved the car to the right, yanking him off of the bike, which tipped over and skidded off the far side of the road.

The biker clung to the window sill of the Diplomat, his boots dragging on the road as Fluttershy pried the gun from his fingers, then pressed the barrel against the front of his helmet. She fired a round through the visor, causing his lifeless body to fall from the car, violently rolling along the pavement behind them before coming to rest in a bloody, broken heap.

Fluttershy switched the gun to her left hand and held it out the window while steering with her right. She fired at the bikers who were riding ahead of them, catching one of them in the back, causing him to tense up and eventually tip over, crashing off of the far shoulder and plowing up a large cloud of dust in his wake. She then shot the other lead rider in the back of the neck, just under his helmet. He responded by falling off the bike immediately and then flipped along the rough pavement as his bike tipped over and kidded on its side to a stop.

The shy girl looked in the rear view mirror next; noticing one of the trailing bikers was now directly behind them. She slammed her foot on the brake pedal suddenly, throwing Sunset into the front seat as the biker collided with the rear bumper with such momentum that he flew off the bike and landed on the roof of the car.

Fluttershy tossed the pistol from her left hand to her right, then pointed it up, aiming towards the helmet of the agent who was now peering into the car from above as he hung onto the sunroof opening for dear life. She fired a single round through his visor and into his brain, then swerved sharply to the left, forcing his body to shed itself from the passenger side of the vehicle. The dispatched biker landed on the gravel shoulder, kicking up another cloud of dust as he collided with the gravel at seventy miles per hour.

Hitting the brakes had allowed the other tailing biker to come up beside the car, placing him right beside the shy girl’s window. He was leaned forward on the handlebars in such a way that exposed his vital areas to her, and she wasted no time in aiming the gun across the front of herself with her right hand, firing a round out of the driver’s window into the side of his ribs, just below his arm. He quickly curled up and fell off, rolling head over feet alongside the bike, which was also flipping end-over-end, sending broken pieces of plastic and metal every which way.

Sunset was now lying face-up on the floor ahead of the front seat on the passenger side, staring in awe of the Fluttershy’s ruthless, yet graceful methods of dispatching their opponents. “Holy shit, Flutters! That was fuckin amazing!”

Fluttershy’s response was to toss the pistol on Sunset’s stomach. “There’s three more of them behind us,” she ordered softly. “I um, need you to stick your head out of the sunroof and take them out.”

Sunset picked the weapon up and studied it for a moment before looking up at to the pink-haired girl with her eyes wide. “But Flutters, I’m not really good with these. Why don’t you let me drive?”

Fluttershy scowled at Sunset. “I’ll slow down and let them get closer, then you take them out, OK?”

Sunset huffed as she picked herself up off the floor and sat on the front seat. “Magic I can do…” she thought to herself as she stared down at the gun in her hand. “But this…this is not magic.”

The shy girl glanced over, then brought her attention back to the road. “You can do it, Sunset.” She reached out and gave the red-head a reassuring nudge on the arm. “If I can do it, then I know you can do it too. You’re amazing, Sunset.”

Sunset felt her face heat up, her cheeks flushing after hearing the compliment. “Thanks, Flutters. You’re right, I can do this,” she said as she kneeled upon the seat and peeked out of the sunroof. The wind immediately blew her hair around her face as she scanned the road behind the car for the three cyclists.

They were about thirty feet back, and were still gaining ground on the two girls.

Sunset glanced down into the car again. “OK, I see them. I’m going to let them get a bit closer.”

“OK,” Fluttershy replied. “Don’t let them get too close though, and um, make sure you take them out quickly before they shoot the tires out.”

“Got it,” Sunset nodded. She was about to stand up through the sunroof, but stopped once more to look at her friend. “Hey,” she said.

Fluttershy turned to give Sunset an inquisitive look.

“We’re fuckin going home!” the red-head grinned.

The shy girl smiled back, letting out a giggle as she returned her attention to the road, making Sunset giggle along with her as she stood up through the sunroof.

With her head above the car, Sunset held the pistol with both hands and aimed toward the closest biker. The car was bouncing a bit, making it difficult to keep the sights lined up steadily with the bike rider’s chest. Remembering Fluttershy’s advice to take them out quickly, she hastily squeezed the trigger and fired a round, but missed.

After being fired at, the three bikers began to weave back and forth and sped up their pursuit to engage the car, hoping to bring it to a stop sooner.

“Shit,” Sunset cursed as she tried aiming again. The car was still swaying too much however, so she looked downward into the sunroof again. “Hold it steady, Flutters!”

“I’m sorry,” the shy girl replied. “This road is really rough; this is the best I can do!”

Sunset brought her eyes back up to the bikers as they came within a dozen feet of the old Diplomat. “Fuck,” she swore under her breath, then aimed the gun again and fired at the nearest rider.

She missed again, prompting the rider to veer to the far side of the road. She tried to follow him with her sights as she fired again, but failed to hit her target yet again. The slide locked back on the pistol, signalling that the weapon was out of bullets.

“Flutters, I’m out!” she shouted, dropping the spent pistol into the car.

“Oh!” the shy girl replied from the driver’s seat. “How many are left?”

Sunset bit her lip while tapping the roof of the car with her fingertips, reluctant to answer the question. “Uh…all of them,” she finally said after leaning her head down to speak into the car.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy replied.

“Sorry, Flutters!” Sunset pleaded, “I told you I’m not good at-“

She stopped suddenly when she saw the nearest biker had pulled his gun out and was aiming down low at the side of the car.

“Shit,” Sunset cursed again, “He’s gonna shoot the tires!”

The red-head’s instincts took over, prompting her to clamber out of the sunroof opening then stand up on the top of the car. Without hesitation, Sunset ran down the rear window onto the trunk lid and dove off the rear of the car, soaring through the air with her arms outstretched...but her heroism was in vain.

As she flew through the air towards the biker, he fired a round into the driver’s side rear tire, blowing it to pieces, resulting in the loud, violent flapping of shredded rubber against the road as it whipped around in the wheel well.

Fluttershy gritted her teeth, gripping the steering wheel firmly as she tried to keep the car from losing control. She was left no choice but to hit the brakes and slowly bring the car to a stop on the side of the road.

Sunset, meanwhile, collided with the biker after diving off the car, knocking him off the bike and onto the road, where they both rolled and flipped along the rough asphalt.

“YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” the red-head yelled as she stood up immediately after coming to a stop. She walked directly towards the downed biker, who was on his back, writhing in the middle of the road after having multiple bones broken during the fall.

Sunset approached him, bent down to yank his helmet off then placed her bare hand on his cheek for a moment, after which she gave a sly smirk and stood back up again. She then raised the helmet above her head and swung it down like a club, slamming it into his temple and knocking him out cold. She looked ahead towards the old car, which was now stopped on the side of the road with the two remaining bikes slowing to a stop beside it.

“Shit! Flutters!” Sunset whispered as she ran over to the downed bike to pick it up. She kept her eyes on the car while starting engine up again, then gave it a rev as she kicked it into gear and took off to help her friend.

By that time, she could see that Fluttershy had opened the door and stepped out of the car. Sunset watched in disbelief as the shy girl approached the first biker and swung her arm up towards his throat, after which he promptly fell off the bike and came to rest on the pavement. She then grabbed the gun from the bike’s holster and quickly raised it to aim at the other biker, who had his gun raised by then as well.

They fired simultaneously, but naturally, the biker fell backwards off his bike while Fluttershy remained standing. After a quick moment, the shy girl turned around and got back into the car.

“Well, I guess she’s fine…” Sunset shook her head as she slowed the bike down, eventually coming to a stop next to the Diplomat. “You OK?” she asked the shy girl through the window.

Fluttershy glanced up, looking at her friend through a curtain of scraggly pink hair. “Mm-hm,” she nodded.

The red-head looked at what was left of the rear tire. It was shredded to pieces, and was quite obviously not going to allow them to proceed until it was replaced. She let out a sigh as she turned back to Fluttershy. “That tire’s fucked.”

The shy girl nodded.

“Sorry I wasn’t quick enough,” Sunset said, humbly scuffing the ground with her foot.

Fluttershy looked at her friend, her dark eyes squinting in the hot desert sun. “It’s OK Sunset. I should have let you do it your way from the start.”

Sunset shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Flutters. I think there’s a spare in the trunk anyway.”

Fluttershy looked down into her lap again.

The red-head watched her for a moment, then shut the bike off. “Are the kittens OK?”

The shy girl nodded.

“Um…those were some nice moves back there,” Sunset complimented.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy replied quietly.

Sunset frowned, wondering why her friend was so distant, and she tried to think of something to say to break the awkward silence. “So, how did you drop that first guy so fast?”

“I stabbed him in the throat,” the pink-haired girl replied without looking up from her lap.

The red-head cocked an eyebrow. “With what?”

“This.” Fluttershy held up a blood-covered splinter, about four inches long.

Sunset squinted at the object. “What is that?”

“It’s a piece of one of Mr. Cody’s bones. I don’t know which one,” she replied, rolling the splinter back and forth between her fingertips as she stared at it thoughtfully.

The red-head cringed. “Ew...uh, why are you carrying that around with you?”

“It’s a reminder,” Fluttershy replied, shifting her eyes up to meet Sunset’s, “that, um...even though I can’t be hurt, bad things can still happen.”

Sunset sighed as she looked around the desert with a pang of sympathy ringing in her chest over the shy girl’s recent plight. No one deserves to have something like that happen to them, but no one deserved it less than Fluttershy.

“It should also be a reminder of your victory, Flutters,” she said, turning back to her soft-spoken friend.

Fluttershy sighed. “It was because I had someone who helped me,” she replied quietly as moisture began to build up in her eyes. “And I left him behind to die.”

Sunset chewed her bottom lip as she looked at the ground. “Listen, sometimes things work out a certain way, and there’s just nothing we can do about it.”

“But it might have been my fault,” the shy girl said, turning to look at her friend as a tear streamed down her cheek. “I wasn’t thinking, and I might have trapped him in there because of what I did.”

Sunset rubbed the back of her neck, unsure of what to say. “Look…” she paused. “I know you wouldn’t have done it on purpose, and you can’t go back and change it, so you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it so much.”

Fluttershy shook her head, then wiped her cheek with her hand, looking back down into her lap.

Sunset swallowed, then let a long exhale from her nostrils. “I’m sorry about what happened, Flutters,” she said, leaning on the roof of the car with her hand. “But I’ll bet he gave his life to save you because he knows how special you are. He knew the risks of betraying the organisation and he took them anyway because he obviously felt it was worth it. It’s not your fault he’s gone, and I’m sure he didn’t make that sacrifice just so you could spend the rest of your days sad and forlorn about losing him.”

Fluttershy didn’t move.

After a long moment, Sunset sighed. “OK look, you can keep that gross bone if you want, but if you’re gonna keep that, then we’re gonna keep this old car too; as a reminder to you that there are lots of people who care about you, and will do anything to keep you safe.”

The shy girl slowly turned to look at her friend.

Sunset affectionately patted the roof of the car and smiled at the dirty, yellow-skinned girl, who finally cracked a smile for a brief moment.

“Thanks, Sunset,” she said, after which the smile quickly faded again.

“Is there something else bothering you?” Sunset asked. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Fluttershy drew in a breath. “I…I’m not-“

She stopped when the sound of distant gunfire rang out down the road behind them. Both girls looked back into the distance, unable to see more than a mile due to the heat waves obscuring their vision.

Sunset sighed and gave Fluttershy a little smirk. “Sounds like Golds is finally having some fun.”

The shy girl returned her eyes to her lap, responding with little more than a small nod.

“Will you be OK here by yourself for a bit?” Sunset asked as she started the bike up again.

Fluttershy lifted her head and stared at her friend with a confused look. “W-where are you going?”

“I’m gonna go help Golds,” the red-head replied. “Not that he needs it, but there’s something else I have to do.”

Fluttershy blinked silently a few times, then nodded. “OK. I’ll stay here with the kitties.”

Sunset nodded, then turned the bike around to head towards the distant noise.

The crashed SUV was about a mile and a half back from where the Diplomat was parked. Sunset slowed the bike down to come to a stop about a hundred yards away, putting her feet down on the road and stood still as she watched the scene unfold.

The SUV that had rolled was sitting on its wheels again, but was completely mangled from the crash. There were a couple bikers stopped on the side of the road with machine guns, plus a second SUV that had shown up and parked cross-ways on the road. The side doors were opening with four men getting out with weapons in hand.

I was in the middle of the road, getting pelted by bullets from the two bikers as I calmly walked towards the smashed truck. I reached down and grabbed the passenger end of the rear bumper, then drove my foot into the side of the truck, tearing the bumper off in my hand while the truck slid off the shoulder from the impact of my foot, where it rolled over off the sandy down-slope beside the road.

With bumper in hand, I marched across the road towards the bikers as they continued unloading their weapons on me. When I got in range of the first guy, I swung the bumper up like a golf club, catching him square on the chin with it.

From a distance, Sunset could hear the heavy metallic BONG sound of the impact, and then she craned her neck up slightly as she watched him come off the bike and soar upwards about forty feet into the air. She chuckled quietly, and then shook her head. “Well, he’s dead,” she quipped.

I turned my attention to the other biker, who had stopped firing and was putting his gun away so he could put the bike in gear to make his retreat. He was too slow however, and I was upon him in a half second, swinging the bumper like a baseball bat. He was knocked off the bike and sent skipping along the side of the road into the distance like a stone skipping across a pond.

I then turned my attention to two of the men from the second SUV, who were reluctantly approaching side-by-side with their own automatic weapons ready. I tossed the bumper at them with one hand, where it collided with both of their heads, knocking them off their feet and sending them through the air about ten feet. They eventually ended up motionless on their backs; their faces smashed in, the bumper landing next to them on the pavement with a loud clang.

“Shit,” Sunset mumbled as she put the bike in gear. “I’d better get over there while there are still some alive…plus, why should Golds get to have all the fun?”

She revved the bike up and dumped the clutch, spinning the rear wheel in a cloud of tire smoke as she took off towards the last two men. One of them was standing next to the SUV ahead of me on the right, and the other was behind the truck slightly to my left.

I was quickly approaching them when I heard the high-revving engine of one of the motorcycles coming up fast from behind, and I turned around just in time to see an unmanned bike zip past my left side at top speed before hitting the man behind the SUV. His limbs wrapped around the motorcycle when it struck him like a missile, sending both him and the bike tumbling down the road with metal pieces and limbs flying this way and that.

At the same time, Sunset, who had evidently dove off the bike, flew past me on my right side with her arms outstretched like Superman, tackling the other guy head-on with her body. She smashed into him like a battering ram, shoving him into the side of the truck, collapsing the side doors inwards and causing the vehicle to skid sideways about two feet.

I started laughing as she stood up and shook her head. “What the fuck, Sunny?”

She turned towards me with her turquoise eyes open wide. “Holy shit, what a rush!”

“What are you doing here? Where’s Flutters?”

“She’s fine,” Sunset replied absentmindedly as she reached down towards the man who was mashed into the side of the truck. She placed her hand on his temple for a second, then shook her head, straightening up again. “Shit. I didn’t think he’d die that fast.”

I shrugged at her. “Well what the fuck do you expect when you tackle someone at a hundred mile-an-hour?”

Sunset was scratching her forehead as she looked around at the carnage. “Is there anyone else in this truck?” she asked, looking through the dark-tinted windows.

“There’s a driver in there,” I replied. “I think he’s the only one left.”

The red-head peered through the passenger front window, her eyes suddenly widening when she saw the driver fidgeting with the ignition key. “Shit! He’s trying to get away!”

She sprinted around to the driver’s side as I followed casually. “He’s not going anywhere, Sunny. This truck is a hybrid. You probably triggered the crash sensors when you smashed into the passenger side, which means the high-voltage system will be offline.”

“How do you know that?” she asked, pulling the driver’s door handle repeatedly, only to find it locked.

“Just relax, Sunny,” I replied. “The high-voltage system shuts down after a collision in case a dented body panel cuts into one of the big power lines and shorts out. That way, anyone on the scene of the accident won’t get zapped if they walk up and lean on the vehicle with their hands.”

“OK fine,” she said, clearing a lock of hair from her face. “Just get him out of there, please.”

I politely bowed my head to her. “As you wish, my lady.” Then I drove my fist through the driver's window, spraying him with tempered pebbles of glass, prompting him to raise his arms to cover his face. I reached in and snapped the seatbelt with my hands, then grabbed his tie, pulled him out through the window and threw him on the pavement.

“Hold him down,” Sunset ordered.

I put my hands on his shoulders to keep him place while the red-head placed her hand on his brow. I watched her face as she absorbed the secrets of his mind with a smirk steadily growing on her lips, and finally she took her hand away. “Oh yeah,” she cheered smugly. “Bingo!”

Sunset started rooting through his pockets until she produced a cell phone. “Private network,” she explained, holding the phone up to me. “We can talk to the fat-cats on this thing.”

“You mean the owners of ‘Us’?” I asked in surprise.

“That’s right,” she replied, turning the phone on, then navigating through the menus.

I looked back down at the driver, who was panting nervously as he looked back and forth between me and the red-head. “Are we done with this guy?” I asked as she stood up and walked away, studying the contents of the phone.

“Yeah, I’m done with him,” she replied.

“OK,” I said, grabbing the driver by the throat and slamming him into the side of the truck. I stood up to join Sunset, leaving the driver with his head collapsed in, lying dead beside the vehicle.

Sunset stopped and scowled as she looked at the body, and then at me. “Was that really necessary?” she shrugged.

I nodded. “No one lives. The last time I let someone go, they turned around and fucked me over.”

She brought her eyes back to the phone. “Well, I don’t think you need to worry about Cody anymore.”

“Oh?” I replied, looking up just in time to see a huge brute of a man suddenly emerge from behind the SUV.

He appeared from nowhere, wearing black cargo pants, boots and a dark green T-shirt that hugged tightly to his muscle bound frame. He must have been close to 6’ 10” in height and had blonde, spiked hair, along with a large scar on his left temple, and was snarling like a wolf as he lunged forward to grab Sunset by the hair.

He picked her up from the ground with one of his hulking arms, which was shaking slightly as Sunset kicked her feet back and forth while reaching up to pry his fingers open, trying in vain to get free of his grip. It happened so fast, I barely had time to see the large combat knife in his other hand, which he promptly drove into Sunset’s stomach with such force that she was launched several feet away, landing on her shoulders on the dusty gravel beside the road.

This pissed me off.

“Sunny!” I shouted to her, despite the fact that she was obviously fine. She was up on her hands and knees immediately, scrambling around in the dirt, searching for the phone that she’d dropped during her fall.

I shifted my sights onto the big soldier as he simultaneously locked eyes with me.

“Just what in the hell do you think you’re doing, you fuckin walking cliché?” I shouted as I quickly stepped towards him. “GIMME THAT!” I grabbed the knife by the blade and yanked it from his grip, causing him to stagger forward, prompting me to put my free hand on his chest and shove him back a few steps.

He paused, looking surprised that someone so much smaller than he was could overpower him with so little effort.

I held the knife up. “You could hurt yourself with this!”

He grunted and swung a big right hook at me, which I responded to with a quick jab. My knuckles collided with his fist, causing it to collapse into itself, popping his radius and ulna out the back of his elbow.

His face contorted with pain as he cried out and gripped his smashed arm, while I quickly stepped forward and drove my heel into his knee, snapping the joint backwards, after which he collapsed onto his other knee, bringing his head down below my level.

Next, I tossed the knife into the air and caught it by the handle, then quickly and effortlessly buried it up to the handle in the top of his skull, after which his body locked up and his eyes popped open in blank shock.

I backed up a few steps as he knelt in the middle of the road, twitching occasionally as his body rapidly began shutting down. Before he had a chance to leave this world, however, I ran forward suddenly and drove my foot into his chest like I was kicking a field goal in an NFL game, sending his massive frame into the air, flying out into the desert where he landed in the distance, kicking up a cloud of dust upon impact.

I grinned and turned to face Sunset with my hands in the air like a referee. “It’s good!”

She scowled and shook her head, standing up to brush herself off.

I let my arms fall back to my sides. "You watch football, Sunny?"

"No," she replied. "But I knew what you were doing."

"But you didn't laugh," I complained.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "It was funny, Golds. It's just..." she stopped for a moment, gripping the bottom of her shirt to stretch it out so she could appraise the large slice in the front, left by the big man’s knife. “That dickhead put a hole in my shirt!” she cursed.

“We'll get you another one. Are you OK?” I asked, dusting my hands off.

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I am.”

I put my hands up and shrugged at her response. “OK OK, just checking. Force of habit.”

Sunset smirked. “It’s fine," she replied. Her eyebrows then went up as she shook her head. "Jeez, that guy was strong.”

I stepped closer to the red-head. “Yeah, I guess. So what were we talking about before we were so rudely interrupted?”

She had turned the phone on again, but paused to bite the inside of her cheek as she tried to remember our previous conversation. “Oh!” she said, raising her eyebrows. “I was talking about not having to worry about Cody anymore.”

“Oh right,” I said as I stood beside her with my hands on my hips to watch what she was doing on the phone. “Why do you say that?”

“Uh, because Flutters has a piece of one of his bones with her,” Sunset explained, raising an eyebrow at me. “Kinda fucked up.”

“Good for her,” I chuckled. “How did you guys handle those bikers?”

“PFFFTT!” she replied, shaking her head. “I only got one of them. Flutters did the rest.”

My eyebrows went up in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah,” the red-head replied, glancing up from the phone for a second. “She was doing like, some crazy Jason Bourne shit. It was pretty fucking awesome, actually.”

“Hm,” I mumbled as I rubbed my chin. “So what is it that you’re-“

Sunset cut me off by raising her index finger as she put the phone to her ear. “Hang on, I gotta be on my game for this.” She slowly began to pace around the road while listening for an answer.

As she had turned back to pace towards me, her toned belly showing through the large gash in her T-shirt, she stopped suddenly to listen when someone answered her call. They must have said something that didn’t impress her, because her brows furrowed suddenly, followed by her finger coming up again.

“Uh…no, bitch. They did not successfully capture us!” she said in a very aggressive tone. “Seriously, are you retarded? There’s THREE of us here!”

I was shocked by her demeanor. Back when Sunset was a bully, she must have been a damn good one. It was no wonder Fluttershy was so scared of her back then.

“Who is this??” she continued, pacing back and forth with the phone to her ear. “It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is what I’m about to say, so you’d better clean your ears out and listen good, bitch; cuz I’m only gonna say this once.

“Stay the fuck out of Canterlot. Stop trying to get us to work for you. We don’t want to do it, and you can’t make us. You should have learned your lesson ten years ago with Golden Arrow, but you didn’t, and now you’ve REALLY stirred up a hornet’s nest.”

She paused for a moment to listen, after which, her face turned bright red and she started pointing her finger at the ground. “No. NO! YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

I recoiled in surprise at Sunset’s reaction to whatever was said over the phone. “Whoa Sunny…”

“What are we going to do? Really? You’re gonna ask me that after it only took one of us to destroy your underwater base? I’m sure you already know about that, AND we’ve fucking massacred every person you’ve sent after us. You have practically nothing left. Your organisation is defunct, and fucking obsolete!

“The only thing left of it is you and your partners. And I know EXACTLY where to find you. I know all about you, every last one of you.”

Sunset paused briefly. “That’s right, Madam Chrysalis: founder and lifetime treasurer of The Horseshoe Global Banking Corporation. I know you co-own ‘Us’; a former terror organisation, now just a massive turd floating in the Pacific toilet after my friend fucking DECIMATED your base.

“Or how about Mr. Sombra, President and CEO of The Globetrotter Oil Company? Shall I continue? Make no mistake, I know who all of you fuckers are. And I’m telling you right now, if I see ONE mother-fucking ‘Us’ agent in MY town again, I will personally come for you. So unless you want me to feed your heart to my friend’s cat, I would seriously stay the fuck out. Do you understand me, bitch?”

Sunset listened for a few seconds before shaking her head and putting her finger up again. “No. No, it’s not going to end -- SHUT UP! -- it’s not going to end there. Killing you won’t be all I do. Don’t forget, I’ll still be walking this Earth five-hundred years from now, and I promise you, I will take pleasure in tormenting your descendants, generation after generation, century after century. I will make their lives a living hell! Is that what you want for your great-grandchildren? And their great-grandchildren?? Because that’s how it’s gonna go down; that is, until your family lineage disappears from the human race when they finally realise the only escape from me is suicide!”

A satisfied, evil grin crept across Sunset’s face after pausing to listen for a moment. She closed her eyes and nodded, then turned around to pace the other way again. “OH! Oh that’s brilliant! How did you come up with that, huh?” she taunted, with a shake of her head. “It’s crazy enough, it just might work; we leave you alone, you leave us alone, and I don’t have to come find you and cut your fucking heart out. Sounds like a plan.”

She turned to me suddenly and gave a sly wink. “Fine,” she continued. “But there are more of us than you realise, and we are getting stronger every fucking day. And if you people ever fuck with us again, I promise you, we will hunt you down and wipe every last one of you from the face of the planet! GOT IT??”

Without even ending the call, Sunset wound her arm up and hurled the phone to the pavement, smashing it to pieces.

She tipped her head back and howled into the sky, triumphantly holding her fists up in the air in celebration. “WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” She brought her head forward suddenly, then ran her fingers through her hair to clear it from her face. “Oh MAN, that felt good!”

I was speechless.

Sunset turned to me with a bright smile on her face, her green eyes sparkling with pride.

When I was finally able to collect my thoughts enough to speak, all I could say was: “Wow…I, uh…”

As she walked towards me, I could see the glint of arousal in her eyes when she got close, and her arms were suddenly wrapped around me in a tight hug, catching me off guard and snapping me back to reality.

I hugged her back tightly, feeling her body trembling against mine as the adrenaline surged through her.

We released each other after a moment. “Holy shit, Sunny,” I nodded, placing my hands on her shoulders. “That is why I brought you along on this mission.”

She let out an excited laugh and then bit her lip, staring into my eyes.

“You went like, full-on bitch mode there. That was awesome,” I chuckled.

“Well, I’m a fucking professional. You never lose a skill like that,” she bragged.

“You don’t think they’ll actually leave us alone, do you?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied, followed by a long exhale. “But, they’d have to be extremely stupid to try anything again. That underwater base was their hub; everything they did was tracked and coordinated through there, and with it gone, they’re no further ahead than you, me and Flutters in that old piece-of-shit car.”

I rubbed my chin. "Yeah, but as long as the founders are alive, there's always a chance that they'll rebuild. They need to be taken out."

Sunset shook her head. "That's a job for another day, Golds. They're of no concern to us right now. They ain't got shit! This here:" she held her hands out, gesturing to the wreckage around us. "This was all they had left. It's over, at least for now."

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah..."

"And I'm not going after them right now," she continued. "I'm going the fuck home, and so is Flutters, and so are you."

A smile of pride spread across my face as I looked into Sunset's eyes. "OK Sunny," I said, taking my hands off her shoulders. “I guess we should head back to the car and get moving.”

Sunset suddenly cringed a little. “Uh, actually, there’s a slight problem with the car.”

I stopped and let my shoulders drop while letting out a sigh. “What happened?” I asked, turning back to her.

“They…kind of shot out the back tire.”

I shrugged. “Is that all?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, pretty much,” she replied, appearing relieved by my reaction. “Well, there’s a couple dings in the front door, but it’s fine for the most part.”

“No broken windows or bullet holes in the body?” I asked as we headed towards the bikes that I had knocked the riders off of with the truck bumper.

“No, it looks fine,” she replied as I picked the bike up for her.

“Good,” I replied as she swung her leg over the motorcycle and sat down on it. “You don’t wanna be crossing the border in something that looks like it went through a war.”

She smiled at me as I picked up the other bike and mounted it. “OK then,” I continued as I started the engine. “Let’s get the spare tire on that thing and get our asses to the border.”

Sunset started her bike. “You never told me where we’re going, by the way.”

I revved my motorcycle a couple times. “I’ll give you a hint. There’s a big horseshoe, and a LOT of water.”

And with that, Sunset and I took off on the bikes, riding side-by-side back to the car where Fluttershy was waiting for us.

Author's Notes:

The lyrics in this song reminded me of this chapter, and the mission in general, really; which is why I decided to have Golds whistling it while the truck was flipping over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg8VFMZ6_g8