>''Who the hell would be way out here? Adam was definitely here when he sent that letter.''
>The two of you were silently making your way back to the wreckage, Mom was silently thinking aloud.
>She did that alot, it seemed.
>''They're definitely not with him, that's not his style. I was expecting him to have already been dug in here...''
>Your eyes were gradually adjusting to the blackness under the tree cover, but you still feel lost.
>''Who else would have caught wind of this?''
>Before long, a light was visible in the distance.
>Right where you think the wreckage was.
>Mom cringes a bit as the two of you creep up to the bushes around the site,
>A unicorn and a griffon were rummaging through the remains, their shadows flittering along the bits of wood jutting from the ground.
>Mom backs up from the bush and gestures to something,
>A pair of saddlebags lying on the far side of the wreckage, then she makes a dashing gesture.
>Ok, grab it and run. Simple enough.
>The two of you sneak around to the other side of the wreckage, the light from their lanterns barely reach this far.
>Luckily they're pretty loud.
>They're out of your sight now, but you can still hear one of them humming something to himself.
>The bags are right in front of mom, and she reaches out to grab one with her mouth,
>As her teeth grab it, she swings it up onto her back and turns towards the woods,
>You're about to grab yours and mimic her actions,
>''Hey!''
>Your head snaps upwards to the source of the voice, but the griffon's already jumped off the wreckage right into mom's path,
>''Who the hell're-''
>The griffon gets cut off as mom tackles her, and they both fall to the ground in a frenzy of wings, hooves and claws.
>Her claws and beak are tipped with vicious metal blades, and you rush off to help mom.
>You start to run, but one of your hind legs was cemented in place, and you faceplant.
>''What do you think you're doing, punk?''
>The unicorn is now at full attention, and has started pulling you towards him.
>Your hooves are frantically looking around the ground for something, anything,
>But not for something to hold on to.
>Still being dragged through the dust, the unicorn is less than two feet away,
>He's levitating a knife above his head, he was obviously pulling you closer to make a finishing blow.
>Big mistake.
>In one fluid movement, you flip over onto your back while swinging a piece of wood at the unicorn's face,
>It connects with a vicious snapping noise as it splinters into countless pieces,
>The unicorn fell backwards landing on his lantern, which shattered into a burst of flame fueled by his jacket and body.
>And you were freed from his magical grip, just in time to hear mom grunt in pain.
>Rushing over to their scramble, you grab the griffon under her arms, pulling her off mom,
>She gets up off the ground and uppercuts the griffon in her sensitive beak,
>The griffon drops down unconscious, but you hear the unicorn shouting something,
>You look, and he's holding a radio up to his singed face.
>''Sector 46, 20, need backup, two targets!''
>You look back at mom, who's righting her bags again,
What do we do?
>''Book it!''
>In an instant, the two of you plunge into the bush.
>You're eyes have de-adjusted by now, and you find yourself blind again.
>At least mom seems to know where she's going,
>Hopefully.
>You hear a bang off in the distance, and some projectiles fly past your location,
>Mom's also lost her hat in the scuffle.
>She stops for a second, and you almost run past her,
>She bursts into flight as she changes direction and flies through the thick brush.
>More projectiles whiz by in your vicinity, and mom decides to ground herself again, you follow.
>Eventually the two of you stumble through some bushes into a wide clearing,
>a branch had whipped you in the face, and you instinctively close your eyes,
>''Shit, move it, Anon!''
>You open your eyes just in time to be blinded by a massive pair of lights shining in your face,
>Spreading your wings, you try to fly diagonally into the tree line,
>But something hits you hard,
>Some kind of massive metal vehicle,
>You were clipped by the top of the grill, rolling over the hood to slam into the windshield.
>The vehicle grinds to a halt, and you roll off the hood into the dust.
>You're doused in the white light now, as voices start crowding your senses.
>Still dazed and in pain, you try to lift yourself up, but someone pins you to the ground.
>Struggling, you look around at the faces, none of them are mom.
>It looks like this clearing was actually a narrow road.
>''Stop resisting, or I'll paint the ground with your face!''
Suck my dick!
>You spit on the speaker's hoof,
>May as well go out with pride.
>He growls and swings something at your head,
>Then everything goes black.
>Pride fucking hurts.
 
------------------------------------------
 
>As the world swims back to meet you, you can hear voices nearby.
>Your vision slowly clears, and you can see it's ligh outside.
>There's a bump on your head, and you feel a dry-heave coming up,
>Instintively, you try to get up and out of the dirt, but your legs are all bound.
>Summoning up your inner strength, you hold your gut in place.
>You're tied up on the ground, but you get a decent look around,
>You're inside some kind of hastily set up metal building, and your jacket's hanging on the wall in the distance.
At least I'm alive...
>You find yourself muttering under your breath,
>You're becoming more like mom with every minute.
>Shuffling around a bit, you find you can barely move, let alone get to your jacket.
>It's not like you have anything useful in there anyways.
>Hope mom's alright, she seemed to have gotten away.
>Shit, what's gonna happen to you now?
>May as well listen in on the voices, maybe if you get out you can shed some light on the situation.
>The voices are coming through a window half way across the room, but you can hear them fairly easy.
>''...the one? I thought it was a mare.''
>''There were two, apparently. Don't know who this one is.''
>''We weren't prepared for this, we should have been informed.''
>''You make it sound as if they're a threat! Just add one more to the patrols, we can't buck up this close to breaking through.''
>''Right. Should we dispose of this guy then?''
>Oh heck no.
>''Not yet.''
>Thank Celestia.
>''Wait and see what the commissioner says. If he was with her, he might want him too.''
>''Understood, we'll be on high alert for the final stages of the excavation.''
>Excavation?
>Your train of thought is derailed by a booming crash,
>It was just like when that building blew up, but a hundred miles away and a hundred-thousand times louder.
>''And at the first sign of lava, we high-tail it. We didn't sign up to get toasted by this spicy rock.''
>We must be near the volcano.
>For the next couple hours, all you know is that they were operating some heavy machines out there.
>You tried to cut your bonds a few times, but nothing worked.
>It seemed like they were expecting company, more precisely, they were expecting mom.
>But why her?
>The sun was setting in the distance, and the volcano boomed pretty much every hour on the hour.
>Damn volcano.
>Mom loved volcanoes.
...Mom...
>At least she got away.
>You couldn't help but wonder whether or not she would continue without you.
This sucks...
>''Don't worry, it only gets better from here!''
>Was that?
>You look around frantically for the ource of that voice,
>''Up here!''
>You look up, and spot a pair of magenta eyes peeking at you through a window,
It IS you!
>''The one and only.''
>She silently yanks the grill off the frame and clambers inside.
How the heck did you get here?
>She withdrew a piece of glass, and used it to slice the ropes off your limbs,
>''Shh, keep it down, my distraction hasn't been set off yet.''
>''When they got you, they pretty much led me right back here. I've spent the last few hours scouting the site for you.''
Sorry about my getting caught, and stuff...
>She hugs you as soon as you're standing,
>''Think of it as a blessing in disguise; if we'd gotten away, we'd still be in the bush while they got the hole open.''
What?
>''They uncovered some kind of ancient catacomb in the base of the volcano, to my understanding it was sabotaged shortly after it was opened. They're about to finsh clearing the aftermath.''
Now it makes sense, I overheard some ponies talking about that,
They were also looking for you, Mom.
>She doesn't look surprised.
>''I've had run-ins with these guys before, they call themselves The Red Coast. Muscle for the highest buyer, but I haven't figured out who it is this time.''
Whoever he is, he seemed to want you alive. And he was expecting you.
>''Well, that could be ANYONE.''
>You find yourself chuckling a bit as mom releases you from he hug,
>'' We've gotta move, this has to be timed right.''
>she flies up to the window and squeezes out, you follow.
>Now that you're outside, you can hear a commotion off in the distance...
>You can only make out one word, 'fire'.
>As you follow mom through tight formations of buildings, she looks back and smiles at you,
>''Having a base at the foot of a volcano, you'd think they'd make it more fire-proof.''
>You were about to say something, but you hear an explosion nearby,
>It didn't sound like the volcano.
>''That's that distraction I mentioned, let's hurry!''
>The two of you reached an opening in the buildings, and you stop as a group hustles past, ignoring you.
>As you sneak along the edge of the buildings, you can see a massive blaze behind you,
>Eventually you reach one of those vehicles,
>The same kind that hit you last night.
>It sends shivers down your spine, but mom climbs inside and starts fiddling with the controls,
>As much as you want to protest, you climb in behind her and peer out the window.
>It's dark now,
>The blaze behind you is huge, but the whole camp is more-or-less on fire now.
>In a few seconds, the metal beast roars to life,
>As it rolls away, you cringe a bit.
Where'd you learn to use one of these things?
>''What do you mean?''
>Mom. Right.
Nevermind...
>The truck eventually pulls out onto a main road, and now you're starting to garner attention.
>''Shit!''
>You can see the main gate of the camp,
>It's closed.
>Mom yanks something, looking backwards out the window,
>The truck lurches forward, elicting a curse from her.
>She yanks something else and repeats, this time the truck went backwards.
>You see the gate getting smaller and smaller,
>Now the mercenaries are rallying against you,
Aren't we supposed to be headed towards the gate?
>Mom grunts a bit as the truck almot swerves out,
>''We need more speed to break through, cover us!''
>With a free hoof, she hands you a foreign device,
>It's a long, thin tube, and it has what looks like a handle at the back, and one halfway down the barrel.
>''Just point and shoot,''
>You awkwardly grip it, and it goes off in your hands with a bang, tearing a hole in the roof.
>''Ra's balls, careful with that thing! Pump the middle handle to reload!''
>The window behind you shatters, and a griffon has latched himself to the side of the cabin, a weapon not unlike yours in his claws.
>But you've already got yours trained on him, and you awkwardly press the butt against your shoulder and yank on the trigger.
>A spray of shrapnel erupts from the barrel into his chest, sending his messy body away with a scream.
>the recoil knocked you to the other end of the cabin and off your feet.
>You didn't need air in your lungs anyways.
>As soon as you get back up, the truck screeches to a halt, sending you over the hard seat.
>Before you have time to recover, the truck lurches forwards again.
>As you pick up speed down the road, ponies and griffons scatter from your path, bullets flying at you from almost all directions.
>You brace yourself as the truck approaches the gate, but it simply plows right through it.
>Mom curses as you're suddenly met with an extremely uneven road, and the entire truck feels like it's going to flip over at any moment,
>Next thing you know, the road hits a hard right and downhill.
>It doesn't take a genius to know that's bad,
>''Hold on to something, now!''
>She spins the wheel, and the truck tips so far you swear it was on two wheels,
>And then it was on two wheels, and you grip the seat behind you for dear life.
>She was still spinning the wheel to the right.
What the heck are you-
>You're cut off as the truck takes out an unsuspecting group, and flips over onto its side.
>It skids for about 60 feet before rolling over once, hitting something, then coming to a stop.
>By the time your eyes are open, mom's gone.
Where are you?
>Coughing, you let go of the seat and clamber out of the crumpled frame,
>Mom's on top of the flipped vehicle, pouring a stinking fluid on it from a bright red canister.
>The truck is situated inside of an indent in the far side of what looks like a dig site, and heavy machinery is littered everywhere.
>She empties the can and chucks it to one side, then withdraws a matchbook,
>''You might want to get the hell out of here right about now.''
>She gingerly lights a match with her wing as you leap off what's left of the truck,
>You both hear a bang in the distance, and a bullet whizzes by, hitting the match instead of mom.
>She dives off the truck as another flies by, bouncing off the frame,
>The sparks light the fluid she just poured on fire, and her eyes go wide.
>''Hit the dirt!''
>You both charge away from the wreck as it goes up in flames.
>A few more bullets fly by, and you can see the source is a single white stallion.
>As he unloads the contents of his weapon in your direction, you try to make the most distance between yourselves and the truck.
>It's almost not enough,
>When the truck exploded, the shock wave sent you and mom tumbling forwards.
>Another bullet flies by, and another strikes the ground at your feet, showering you with dirt.
>''You always were a terrible shot, Vissar!''
>Mom's taunting elicts a barbaric battle cry from the stallion, who chucks his empty weapon away and charges at you both,
>The two of you strafe in opposite directions, naturally he goes for mom.
>She goes to fly away, but he jumps and catches her legs, dragging her to the ground.
>''Nice job opening that roadblock, Daring,''
>You weren't about to wait for him to finish talking, and you make to close the gap between him and you.
>''...it's too bad you won't live to see what's inside!''
>Right before you reach him, his words make you notice the gap the explosion created.
>The entire cavern is shaking, and it looks like it's going to collapse any minute.
>Mom notices it too,
>You approach the stallion and leap on his back, attempting to copy something you saw mom do.
>Only managing to stay on for a few seconds, he simply shakes you off and tosses you to the side,
>As you recover, he charges straight for you,
>You don't have enough time to fly, so you leap over him at the last moment,
>He clips your legs as he passes under, and you flip over his body.
>Next thing you know, he's bucked you so hard you're sent flying.
>You only just noticed the spiked horseshoes on his hind-hooves, which had just torn open the flesh on your flank as you plummet into the dust.
>Through your hazy vision, you notice the blaze start spreading all the way over here,
>Off in the distance, more of Vissar's mercenaries are incoming.
>Dragging yourself to your hooves, you see the stallion walking towards you, a wild grin on his face.
>AS he approaches you, you stand your ground, but there isn't much you can do at this point.
>''And who the hell're you?'' His voice sounds like smoke, if smoke could talk.
>He takes a swing at you, which you successfully dodge, only to have him bring his forehead down on your face, then follow up with a swift kick in the chest.
>The pain makes you drop to your knees, you just want this to be over.
>''Another one of Daring's colt-friends, just asking to get killed?''
>Mom... why's it always about her?
>...Where was she anyways?
>''Anon, get down!''
>The voice was mom's, but you don't know where it came from.
>All that mattered was doing as she said.
>As you hit the ground, the massive hydraulic arm of a digging machine swings just overhead, hitting the stallion like a train.
>You want to be relieved, but you're not out of the woods yet.
>You're trying to pull yourself upright, but it's hard after such a beating.
>Before you know it, mom's next to you, helping you up.
>''C'mon, anon! Into the cave!''
>Using the last of your strength, you heave your body up and make a dash for the crumbling entrance, mom's hot on your tail.
>You can see pieces of the cavern coming down over you as you run deeper into the blackness, eventually you realize mom's not with you anymore.
>Turning around, you see she's staring back through the falling rubble,
>That stallion, Vissar, is standing on the outside of the collapsing entrance, shouting something.
>But all you hear is falling rock, and mom shouting something in his direction,
>''Maybe you'll kill me next time, Viss!''
>Laughing as she turns back towards you, mom signals to keep running into the cavern.
>Eventually you're away from all the collapsing stone, and mom flicks on a lantern,
>As soon as you can be sure you're not laying on a trap, you collapse in a corner.
Ouch.
>''Stallion packs a mean punch, doesn't he?''
Yeah...
>''Are you gonna be alright?''
Yeah yeah, I just need a few minutes' rest.
The stone in here may be cold and unforgiving, but at least it's not trying to kill us.