Daringmom Part 4

>After seeing that griffon get eaten, flying in this city felt like a death sentence.

>It didn't help that Mom told you to fly as low to the buildings as possible,

>She said you might get shot at if you go much higher,

>Whatever that means.

>The moon is still relatively low in the sky, and her silhouette is easy to follow.

>You have a feeling sir Leo whatever the heck isn't gonna be happy you ditched him,

>Whatever, you'll never see him again anyways.

>Mom's looking around as she flies, like she's looking for someone.

>Business rivals, huh?

>This is one tough business.

>You find yourself lost in thought, but it doesn't last long.

>Something grabs your leg and drags you down

>Oh god it's all over!

>You tumble to a low, flat roof and roll along it's surface a few feet.

>It's covered in gravel and you're scraped all over,

>You look back, and mom's staring back at you with angry eyes.

>''Are you paying attention? When I stop, you do too!''

>You must've zoned out and missed her...

Sorry mom. Why'd we stop?

>''Word got out faster than I thought, they're looking for us now.''

>Honestly?

>Okay.

Alright, so...?

>She's taking a moment to rip up some papers she had in her pocket.

>''We get to the balloon dock through the streets, and then we get out of here like the fiery cock of hades is headed for our ass.''

>''Don't stop or get stopped by anything, remember,''

Everyone is against us. Right.

>Glorious.

>She approaches the edge of the building and drops into the alley, you follow.

>She looks around the corner, the streets are brightly lit and still surging with people.

>Cautiously, you make your way into the crowd.

>At this pace, it'll take forever to get to the ship,

>But the alternative was probably worse.

>The city was so vibrant at night,

>Inhabitants selling colourful carpets,

>Ponies peddling equestrian jewels,

>Almost made you forget a psycotic ex-unicorn was hunting you for unknown reasons.

>On the way down here, Mom told you about this scientifically proven principle,

>She called it 'Murphy's Law'

>You didn't believe it at first, but it proved it's existence right here and now.

>Someone shouts something in the sea of bodies, you're not sure what.

>But by the look on mom's face, it was bad news for you.

>before you knew it, her wings burst open and she was off the ground,

>You were about to follow suit, but something has grabbed her leg with magic

>She was fluttering in place like  trapped fly, and the crowd had turned into a maelstrom of flesh.

>You look around frantically, they haven't seemed to have spotted you yet.

>Scanning the crowd, you see a calm spot.

>You make your way towards it, pushing against the various wierd bodies,

>Through gaps in the crowd, you see a lone unicorn,

>His horn is glowing, and he's struggling a bit to keep up the spell.

>This is it, all or nothing!

>You start slowly, but it develops into a gallop before long.

>You charge straight for him, breaking through the crowd line,

>He doesn't notice you before it's too late,

>You rear up beside him and buck him straight in the face,

>You'd never hit something so hard in your short life, it felt great.

>That unicorn dropped like a sack of apples, no way he was coming back from a blow like that tonight.

Lead on!

>You're not sure if she heard you, but she nodded her thanks.

>As soon as you were airborne, she lead the way again.

>Subtlety was scratched off the list, time for a quick getaway.

>The two of you sped down the streets above the crowd,

>Gotta watch out for anything scaly and green.

>Neither of you were particularly fast fliers,

>Nonetheless, it felt like you were going much faster than you were.

>you had to dodge overhanging balconies and pegasi flocking out of your way,

>the chaos made for great cover though.

>You're pretty sure you accidentally flipped over a stand or two,

>You're pretty sure Mom's doing it on purpose.

>Right, chaos is your friend when your making a getaway.

>It's all a blur anyways.

>You almost missed mom gesture to the left, and she lands in front of a gated hallway.

>You land hastily, roll a bit, but catch yourself and keep on running.

>yeah, that was smooth.

>The gate was open, and you both charged down a long a corridor.

>Two stallions came down from the other end to intercept you,

>You began to slow down, but mom just kept on going.

>What the heck's she doing? We can't take on those two bruisers!

>Nothing to do but follow your all-knowing mother into the gauntlet.

>You see her head bob, and she's grabbed something from her pocket.

>As she closes in on the stallions, she lets out an explosion of shredded paper

>She steps back from the cloud and leaps on to one of their unsuspecting backs, getting him in some kind of hold,

>The other one would have helped, but you lock heads with him a second later.

>He's much stronger than you, and has you pinned up against a wall in a few seconds,

>Both your hooves are wrestling for dominance, and you're quickly loosing.

>Only one thing comes to mind,

>Digging deep in your throat, you hack up a huge glob of phlegm into his eyes,

>You don't have much space behind you, but you bring your head back and smash his nose with your forehead.

>You're left just as dazed as him, and blood spurts out of and on to his face,

>One of his hooves reaches back to grab his mutilated nose, and that's all the opportunity you need.

>You bring your free hoof up, and it connects with his elbow(?) with more force than you thought you had in you,

>It snaps in a way it doesn't look like it should, releasing you as he drops to the ground with a grunt.

>Before you have time to think about anything else, you buck him in the head and he's out like a light.

>Mom's just releasing the other comatose stallion from the headlock,

>''Nice job, rookie!'' Was all she had time to say before you resumed running down the hall.

>More pursuers had appeared from the door you came in by, and were hot on you tail.

>The hall led right to the dock where your ship was, but Mom didn't go straight for it.

>''Get to the ship, I need to do something first!''

>You're hesitant, but she's already gone.

>You fly on deck, release the ballasts, and fire up the mechanism.

>Hot air was pouring into the balloon agonizingly slow,

>You lean over the border, looking desperately for mom,

>She comes out of a doorway, as two stallions and a unicorn appear out of another one,

>You shout to her, but the ship was on full blast and drowned out everything as it slowly rose off the ground.

>You couldn't help but watch as she was grabbed by magic halfway between them and the ship,

>Leaning over the edge, you shout her name, but the ship was a white noise that blocked out everything.

>Everything, you thought, but an exploding building.

>It made you flinch and blinded you for a second,

>The explosion engulfed the building mom just came out of, sending bricks and shards of stone everywhere, and the ship was knocked back several meters,

>It blew your pursuers into Luna's realm, that's for sure.

>Your heart sank in your chest at the thought,

MOM!

>You shouted after your vision cleared, just in time to catch a pair of magenta eyes flying towards you.

>In the spur of the moment, you throw your arms up to catch her, but she hit you like a comet hits a small planet.

>You both go flying across the deck and thud into the starboard border.

>as you regain your senses, you see she's on fire.

>Better fix that,

>You frantically pat it out,

>She coughs and groans,

>''Hey hey, watch the plumage...''

>She forces a weak grin and gets to the helm,

>You're well above the city now, and she engages the forward thrust.

>The propeller on the back coughs to life as you lurch forward.

>You hear a whizzing, and something twangs against the hull,

What was that?

>''They're shooting at us, get down, by the way.''

>You crouch as low as possible, but you're shaking now.

>''Don't worry, I blew up their weapons cache. We can't out-gun them, so we might as well de-gun them.''

>A few more shots whiz by, but none of them hit you.

>About 5 minutes later, you're leaving the sparkling city behind you.

>As soon as mom sighs and leaves the helm, you ambush her with a hug.

>Dusty tears are welling up in your eyes, but you suppress them,

Warn me when you're gonna pull shit like that, mom.

>''Sorry, sweetie, old habits don't die.''

The saying doesn't go like that.

>you stifle a sniff,

>''Hey, whoa, now's not a time to be sad!''

>she pulls out of the hug and brandishes the letter,

>''Thanks to this little discovery, the trail's hot again!''

Explain, mom,

>''This isn't normal paper, it's the bark of a tree native to one known place in hundreds of miles.''

>''It's resistant to water, and fire-proof,''

>She gestures to her singed pocket,

>''theres a peninsula far to the south-west of here that spends half the year submerged, and there's a volcano situated on the tip.''

>''The trees there have built a resistance to the two, thus,''

>Triumphantly, she lifts the letter high, and she's beaming.

>''Waterproof and heat retardant paper!''

Volcano?

>''Volcano. Gods, I love volcanoes.''

>Your mom was nuts.

>But you love her for it,

So, the trail's hot again?

>''Hotter than my ass!''

>She winked at you and giggled like a schoolfilly,

>All the blood rushed to your ears,

>She's never gonna let you live that down.