>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.