"Besides," said Rainbow Dash, "If that town you moved here from is as big of a hell hole as you say it is, then surely your mom's dealt with worse." "Good point," said Circuit. "Hey Crim, how were you guys able to move here anyway?" Crimson sighed. "Well... Mum wanted to get away from that place, so she requested a transfer to a city somewhere in the States. And, well, here we are."
"So she managed to secure a transfer to another country, hell, halfway across the world. I'm going to take it that she must be very good at her job, right" Circuit added. "She managed to get express promoted to Chief almost immediately upon me and her arriving her. She said that the Canterlot department wasn't very skilled." Crim added. "Great!" Rainbow smiled. "You've got your mom who can kick a ton of butt! And then Crim, who can also kick a ton of butt! That's like, double the asskicking!" Crimson sighed. "Guys, is it okay if we don't talk about this for a little bit? If they can try and track me down, it'd likely be possible for them to spy on mum. It's making me kinda nervous about her own safety" Rainbow sheepishly scratched her head. "Oh, sorry...."
"Come on ya'll! Let's take our minds off it for a while, it'd be mighty silly of these guys to attack during the daylight." Applejack nodded. "Besides, Crimson happens to have all of us. We're always gonna be watching over ya, aren't we buddy?" "I....guess" Crimson meekly smiled. ------------------ Undisclosed Location: Canterlot USA The boss sat in his chair as a small outdated television set was playing the local news, all with a early 1990's sepia tone to it. Next to him was another boy, easily mistakable for an older man if his real age wasn't younger. The sound of a train went by in the distance, and the leader of the Pink Cloud sighed with content. "Do you want to know why I'm doing this?" The leader asked. The other man shrugged. "Personal gain?" The leader chuckled and held his head. "My older cousin created the Pink Cloud. His first years were marked by his mother's neglect, as she left her home often and didn't want her son to keep her from having a good life . His new stepfather would often beat him when she wasn't around. He had a physically abusive father, and an emotionally abusive mother. These two don't mix....and I know he had very low self-esteem." The other man was listening patiently. "One day, he helped someone who most people wouldn't help....someone formerly in the Colorado underworld" The boss started off. "This man would never forget what my cousin did for him, and would almost serve as a father figure to him. For my cousin, this was the first time someone else had treated him like a human being and showed him respect. Trust was instead taught to him by others rather then his parents. He abandoned whatever goals he had, and went underground, founding the Pink Cloud right her in Canterlot." "Sir..." The other man said. "He sounded like a great guy." "He was my friend...and not a day goes by since his funeral." The boss said in a somber tone. "He placed his trust in me to lead the Pink Cloud. This entire organization, everything he's ever built, was all because of trust. Sure, it's not much, nearly all of us grew up in the same rough conditions he did, but me and him believe we can make our lives better. And it well...because Canterlot is the perfect place for our expansion." "What do you mean, sir?" The other man said. The boss stood up from his chair and went to a poster of a huge map of the entire city. "Canterlot, Colorado is possibly one of the safest places in America in terms of crime-rate, in comparison to places like Detrot. But...like real-estate, it's all about location. Because Canterlot sits in the epicenter of the American underground highway. Everything heading West to California, South towards Mexico, and East into the East Coast all ends up heading along one of the major 'highways' here for some reason. If the Pink Cloud manages to secure it and permanently secure our main back, then things wouldn't be for nothing....and our lives might finally approve." The man stood silent while his boss turned to face him. "Don't forget....those pigs that killed my cousin will burn in time, and finding that kid's mother happens to be a police officer would make the revenge for hurting my people all the more sweeter. Continue to study this kid....there is something about him that I happen to like.
"It's his mom's tits, isn't it?" said the other man, chuckling slightly. "No!" shouted the first man indignantly. "Well, yes, I... look, not gonna lie, the kid has a good-looking mother, but that wasn't what I..." He sighed before saying in exasperation, "Just keep an eye on the damn kid."
The first man grumbled. "Speaking of....I want to make sure that his friends are out of the picture. I believe we've found his social network profile, and judging by the amount of posts left on the page from other people, his friend's locations." The other man nodded. "So....remove his friends?" "Do whatever you can, I don't care how it's performed honestly." The boss sighed. "Do me a favour and say the names of these friends of his." "Let me see...." The second man said, pulling up a phone. "Couple posts on his wall about some Pinkamena Diane Pie, who we believe is his girlfriend." He said before listing off names. "Also some posts from Circut Breaker, Rainbow Dash and some other girls. Some men confirmed their friendship group." The boss went back to sit down. "Good....Pay some of them a visit, would you?
---- As Circuit Breaker drove to Crimson's house, he was nervous about what had been happening recently. All this gang business was something that he just wasn't prepared for. Though he reassured himself that Crimson was merely doing the right thing, and that he would have done the same in that situation, his brain was quick to remind him that, realistically, both Circuit and the girl would have been dead. Circuit ignored this on the principle of the sentiment being what mattered, not the actual results of the encounter. While he was having this internal debate, he noticed that he was being followed by some suspicious-looking vehicles; though they seemed to be following at a distance, as if they were waiting for the perfect moment to strike. However, Circuit soon had another problem: his car's engine had overheated, causing the vehicle to stall to a halt in the middle of a residential road. He noticed the vehicles approaching rapidly, and their positions indicated that they planned to deliberately rear-end his vehicle. Circuit tried desperately to restart the car, but it just wouldn't work. Typical, thought Circuit, just when you need the damn thing to work... Suddenly, there was a screeching of tires to his left. Circuit looked around and saw a very familiar yellow muscle car... "CIRCUIT!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she lowered the driver's-side window, "GET IN!!"
Circuit rushed to unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door as quick as he could, as several cars came to rush faster and faster. Now seeing the yellow car that came to assist him, the mysterious vehicles floored it. He rushed out of his car and barely had enough time to cover the distance, barely avoiding what would have easily been a fatal crash as a heavy vechicle slammed into the rear-end of Circuit's car at breakneck speed, sending the now twisted wreck of metal flying into the intersection. Circuit hopped in as Rainbow suddenly floored it, as other cars were now speeding behind Rainbow. "What's going on!?" He asked. "M-my car!" "Those Pink Cloud guys are trying to take us out the picture all because we are friends with Crim." Rainbow told him. "They've....already tried to take Pinkie...." "Oh my god....." Circuit could only mutter.
"Don't worry," replied Rainbow Dash, "she's fine. Apparently Maud beat the snot out of these yahoos, Fist of the North Star-style, and her Dad pulled out the shotgun. Once they saw that gun, they booked it with their tails tucked between their legs." Circuit turned around. "Dash, they're still following us!" "No problem, I'll lose 'em!" Dash floored the accelerator, causing the car to jet forward at top speed. Dash whooped in delight as Circuit held onto his seat for dear life.
While Circuit held onto the seat, he was still managing to think how he got into this mess. Had Crim never arrived, the Pink Cloud would have done their same old visioned, robbing poor people in the less fortunate parts of town and making the lives of those terrible. But Crimson had kicked the hornets nest, even if he had good intentions in doing so, and saved a life because of it. Meanwhile, Dash's phone was going crazy as it sat in her cup holder. Chat was taking place frantically between the girls, all the while Crimson wasn't aware. If....he was around at all still. "Rainbow!" Circuit said as his attention was focused onto the speeding car he was held hostage in, scared out of his wits. "Where are we going!?"
"Somewhere where they can't hurt us!!" she replied, "Crim's mom's police station!" Circuit turned around. "They're gaining on us!" "Not for long. This puppy's got a few tricks up her sleeve!" Dash reached under the steering wheel, pulling a hidden switch. Suddenly, the car lurched forward at an even faster speed. "What the--was that nitro?!" asked Circuit incredulously. "Yep." "Is that even legal?!" As the car approached the freeway, they noticed an approaching semi-truck. Circuit became scared. "Dash, there's not enough time to get out of the way!" "I know! DUCK!!" The two ducked under the dashboard just in time, as the top of the car was torn away by the trailer. Rainbow Dash briefly turned around, noticing the Pink Cloud cars getting caught in a multi-car pileup. "Well, this isn't how I imagined I'd get my first convertible," quipped Dash nonchalantly as the nitro wore off.
"Holy Crap! Rainbow, you saved my life" Circuit said in shock, feeling the car start to slow down. His heart was racing after experiencing a huge surge of adrenaline following the chop-top of Rainbow's prized car. "No problem, sport" Rainbow giggled before sighing. "Dads gonna kill me because of this...." "Wait?" Circuit asked. "Did he bu-" Soon, the two of them were side-fracked as they arrived at the Canterlot police station. The car managed to causally pull to a stop despite its ruined appearance. As the two raced inside, they found the entire Pie family, and an emotionally distraught Pinkie Pie. Pinkie's father, Igneous Rock, was screaming at the top of his lungs in anger at an attractive woman in full uniform, screaming obscenities. Limestone noticed the two and shook her head. "Bad time.....father just found out who she is. He's been ranting like this for about ten minutes."
"...sir, you are making it difficult for others to do their jobs with all this bloody shouting business-" "THEN WHEREFORE, PRAY TELL, WHERE THEY NOWHERE TO BE FOUND WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DO THEIR DUTIES IN THE FIRST DAMN PLACE?!" "Look, sir, I understand that you feel upset, but you have to realize that the police can't be there to help instantly. Sometimes you'll have to defend yourself--" "This is all that damn kid's fault..." Circuit sighed as he noticed Rarity and Applejack also inside, attempting to comfort Pinkie. "You too, huh?" said Circuit. "Yeah," replied Applejack. "Even though Big Mac warded off them hooligans with a single look, ah knew they might come back." Circuit knew immediately why they fled. Applejack's older brother was normally quite amicable and friendly, if somewhat quiet, but he could also be quite intimidating when need be. "Well, normally, I don't like to get my hands dirty, but these ruffians gave me no choice," said Rarity. "They even threatened my little sister, Sweetie Belle. Poor girl's going to have nightmares for weeks..."
Fluttershy was in the corner, bawling her eyes out while her family was nearby her trying to calm her down. Normally, her family was known to be very conservative and relaxed, but the sudden attack against them had all made them into shock. Her mother and father was busy rubbing her back, quietly telling her that everything will be alright. Sunset Shimmer sat in the corner, a large harmful bruse on her cheek and some sore marks. She looked grumpy. It seemed that she must have put up a fight against these thugs, but eventually had to turn tail and run due to their overwhelming numbers. "Geez, what happened to you?" Rainbow asked her. "Long story..." Sunset flatly said. "I wouldn't know what to call what happened to me and the Dazzlings, but we fought for our lives..." Meanwhile, a very calm Winter was trying to defuse Igneous to almost no quarrel. She was being extremely professional at her job, not snapping back or even taking notice when Igneous kept talking about her son as if he was some kind of demon.... But Circut was able to see that behind those eyes, Winter was hurt..... Rainbow was watching her and Pinkie's father argue. "I can't even imagine what she's been though. She must have done this all before....but she's honestly one of the bravest people I know"
At that moment, a TV that was airing in the back of the room suddenly changed footage, as if the broadcast had been hijacked, which it had been. The footage was now what appeared to be grainy iPhone footage of a man, tied to a chair and with a flour sack over his head. He seemed to make muffled, terrified noises. But there was no mistaking his Hawaiian shirt. "Oh no..." said Circuit in terror. "DAD!!!" Someone in the background began to cackle. "Calm down, guy. We're not going to hurt you," they said in a voice that suggested that they were, indeed, going to hurt him. It also seemed to be abnormally low-pitched, as if edited by audio software to hide the actual voice. "After all," the voice continued, "you'd be no good to us dead, now, would you?" Rugburn simply sat there. "WOULD YOU?!?" shouted the voice suddenly, prompting Rugburn to shake his head in fear. "Alright, good, see, he understands." The camera panned left jerkily and quickly, as if being operated by someone who had never held a camera before. As it panned left, it revealed a man wearing a gas mask, presumably to conceal his identity. "As you can probably see, Mr. Circuit Breaker," said the man, "The man who raised you is currently our... esteemed guest, so to speak. At the moment, he is completely unharmed. "But that is not why I am here today. By now, I'm sure you're aware of a certain Crimson Lionheart's activities, and what he did to us. So I present to you a choice. If you surrender your friend over to us, we will return your father to you unscathed, and there will be no further bad blood between us. "But if you refuse... well..." He pulled out a pocketknife and what looked like a little girl's doll in the shape of a man in surfer clothing. The man peeled off the head of the doll using the knife, slowly and steadily, just to make sure that Circuit got the idea. "...see this doll? That's your father if you let us down, kiddo." Circuit's heart began to race from pure, unadulterated horror. "But I am an honest man, and I don't want to kill unnecessarily," the man continued. "So please, Mr. Breaker... I implore you... make the right decision. You have 24 hours." After the man began to cackle once again, the signal cut out, and the original broadcast resumed.
The faces of everybody in the room was one of pure disbelief, horror and outright fear. The Pink Cloud held Rugburn hostage in an attempt to bring Crimson out into the open. Pinkie Pie knew that deep down, should Crimson do the right thing, he was going to die. And for her, that was something she couldn't live with. Winter looked behind as two officers entered the room to report what had happened, escalating the issue to a critical hostage situation. Meanwhile, at the same time, the chilling news report managed to shut Igneous up completely. He was instantly regretted what he said about her daughter's boyfriend... The others couldn't believe what was happening, but Circuit was understandably terrified of what was happening. While the others were frantically talking about the sudden threat and consequences of it, Crimson's mother looked incredibly heartbroken before walking out of the room and walking outside onto the concrete steps. Nobody noticed her leaving but Rainbow Dash...who's curiosity led her to follow.
After letting all of her worries get to her head, she started to finally break down as she sat on those concrete steps and sobbed. After an extremely stressful time by worrying about Crimson, she was beyond afraid that she was going to lose him. "I'm going to lose my only child....." Winter said flatly. "The one which I've raised and spent my life with, like he's my own, is going to die..." Rainbow put a hand on her back. "I'm sorry..." Winter looked at Rainbow with a bittersweet smile. "I've never been happier knowing that he happens to have friends like you....and now I can kinda see why." Rainbow tried to cheer her up with a smile. "It's alright, ma'am" Winter began to cry again. "I can't lose him....not again"
"You won't," said Rainbow Dash, "Not if my friends and I can help it. And you're definitely not going to just let him die, right?"
Winter shook her head. "I won't. And knowing him, he wouldn't either..." Winter sighed tearfully. "If I can't pinpoint a location on the Pink Cloud before midnight tonight, I'm gonna be forced to do something incredibly unorthodox. Whatever you do, try and stay safe. I'm very sure Crimson's at home, but he's likely gonna be scared out of hits wits right now...
