Big Mike’s POV
Ponyville Streets
…
After we got back down the hill without crashing, we were running as fast as the rickshaw would let us go. Eventually, I fell back and started pushing the rickshaw from behind just so we could run faster.
Along the way, Big Mac would be shouting directions he was going. He knew the best route to keep running and the only time we ever slowed down was when we had sharper turns or wide alleys to fit through.
The entire way, Bell and Green Light were screaming and holding on to whatever was inside the rickshaw to hold on to.
With how much this rickshaw keeps getting thrown everywhere you’d think people would give it handles or some kind of seatbelt.
Oh. Not people. Ponies...Do ponies know what seatbelts are?...Why did ponies build a rickshaw?
Big Mac shouted ‘right’ and the two of us worked together to turn the rickshaw without it tipping over. Meanwhile, I could feel the girls sliding against one of the walls as we went.
“You girls good?!” I shouted at the rickshaw’s back window.
“Fine!” Bell screamed but it was pretty shaky behind how loud she was.
“Are we close yet?!” The other lady pleaded.
“Eeyup!” Mac shouted. “Last turn,” he warned me.
I pressed my arms up against the rickshaw, biting through the sharp pain carving down my arms. That and the heavy breathing played in rhythm, begging for us to stop.
“Left!”
I braced myself and pushed as Big Mac guided us again. This time it was a wider turn so it wasn’t as bad for the girls as when we were barreling through the neighborhoods or wide alleys.
Then the girls started screaming, forcing Big Mac to yell louder..
“BRAKE!”
I moved my arms to grab whatever edge I could find and started pulling. I tightened my fingers around whatever edge I could find and began pulling.
At this point, Big Mac and I were still running at pace since we knew better than to just dig our feet into the ground and get run over.
Before I could realize what was going on, I heard wood snap and break before pieces of tables and chairs ricocheted off of the taxi.
The girls kept screaming, which meant they were fine, and I was busy trying not to trip over pieces of debris.
This went on for another ten or so seconds without any more commands from Big Mac. He didn’t appear beneath the taxi though so I had to guess he was powering through everything.
“Wall! WALL!”
“BRACE!”
I didn’t care who talked anymore. Without thinking, I grabbed the side of the rickshaw and the bumper and heaved, letting my shoes drag into the dirt road.
And it worked.
For a second, I didn’t feel the road beneath me. I had my eyes closed and head turned so I didn’t see what happened next. But I felt everything slow down for a second before it just stopped completely.
I felt everything settle into the ground and realized that I wasn’t being dragged anymore. And when I opened my eyes we were standing in place and everything looked blurry.
I rubbed my eyes with my forearm, not realizing the pain from the scratches thanks to the adrenaline, before looking up again. Whatever pain or exhaustion I had, it was making me see things.
The girls slammed into the back of the seat with tired sighs. They stopped screaming and were taking a breath.
In fact, all of us did. Even as I walked around the taxi to get a look at everyone else. The two girls sat limply and Big Mac was trying his best to stay standing.
Awkwardly, I reached out and offered him a hand. “Uh...Good work?” I told him.
He took a second before looking up at me with a tired expression. “...Eenope.” He shook his head and took my hand to stand.
“Wait. Nope?” I watched him for a moment. “But...I didn’t do that.” I was confused, but that didn’t really matter right now. So instead I faced the girls. “You two can stay here right now if you want. Okay?”
“Uh-huh.” “Yep.” They didn’t complain.
Big Mac and I slowly trudged across the plaza, our energy now entirely gone. Around us were a handful of tables and chairs that weren’t smashed by us. Meanwhile, all the nearby buildings were businesses of all kinds.
The plaza looked like it would be a nice place for people, or, I guess ponies, to hang around. The only problem was that much of the area looked broken down.
Two or three buildings had all their windows busted, lamp posts were bent and twisted like they were cardboard and among the rooftops there were several that looked like something heavy crashed through them.
Aside from the path of destruction from our runaway rickshaw, there were small craters scattered about. Whatever smashed into the roofs probably smashed the dirt too.
Finally, we reached the tall tower building I saw from the cliff. It didn’t look like anything else had broken off but now I had a full view of the pile of wood and rubble that crumbled off the side. We were also standing beside that chunk of roof I saw fall earlier.
“Are you up there?” I shouted breathlessly, cupping my hands around my mouth. “We saw the roof fall down. Are you okay?”
There was silence for a few seconds as Big Mac and I waited. And, while staring at the roof, the first thing that broke the silence was a snap.
A woman’s voice shrieked as, tumbling down, we saw a small piece of railing flying straight for us. Well, kind of.
Big Mac, in his delirium, thought it was going to hit him and tried to duck right only to fail. Instead, what happened was I grabbed him out of instinct and threw him to my left.
As he fell on his back, we both watched the debris strike the dirt so hard it stuck out like a knife, pinning the same spot Big Mac was about to duck towards.
I hugged my arms around myself, now feeling all the claw marks start to catch up with me.
“Thanks.” Big Mac took a breath and started to pick himself up while I kept still.
How’d that happen? I frowned.
I saw the wood coming down and I just...knew. Part of me wanted to catch it, like a football, but before I did I thought pulling Mac was better. All before the wood could hit the ground.
Actually, even before that. I already reached for Big Mac when—
“Hello?” An older voice called from above. “Who’s down there?”
Not from the rooftop but from the lower balcony, we saw a face peeking out over the low railing while on their hands and knees. They were shaking.
I took a second to take in a breath, ignoring my arms. “I’m Big Mike. This is Big Mac. We came to see if you needed some help.”
“Big Mac?” She blinked. “Big McIntosh? Is that you?”
Big Mac took a second to stare at the woman before squinting his eyes. “Mayor?”
“Yes. Yes, it’s me!” She took a second to relax. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m. I-I’m the same thing you are!”
“Oh, Big Mike knows this one,” I cheered, raising my hand before trying to pretend that didn’t hurt. “You’re called a human!”
“A HUMAN?!” Another voice screamed from the top of the building. “Oh, you have gotta be kidding me!”
I looked back to the woman. “Who was that?”
“That’s Bon Bon. She’s trapped on the town hall’s watchtower.” The mayor took a second to look at the roof. “I don’t know how she had gotten up there but the building’s been falling apart. I tried getting closer but the entrance to the balcony collapsed behind me.”
Big Mac took that as his queue and started towards the main door while I stayed back.
“Where’s the door to get to that roof part?” I asked.
“There isn’t one.” The Mayor shook her head. “The platform up there was built for Pegasi. There’s a trapdoor but no way to get there without flying up.”
Big Mac started driving his shoulder into the door a few times until finally trying to kick it open. Rather than the doors flying open, Big Mac’s foot broke through and made a small hole that his leg got stuck in.
Right away I saw him hopping on one foot to hold his balance but it didn’t last and he fell with a bam.
I flinched. “Don’t worry Ms. Mayor! We’ll be right back.” I gave her a nod before running to the entrance.
“Here.” I took a second to pull Big Mac up. “Need help breaking it?”
“Nope,” Big Mac shook his head. “Blocked. Won’t budge.”
“No front door then?”
“Eenope.”
I looked around the porch we were standing on. On either side of the main door were two large pink windows and the floorboards were either falling apart or cracked.
“There’s a back door,” Mac went on, not noticing as I pulled out a loose floorboard. “Locked prob’ly.”
“Nah. Big Mike has a better idea.”
Big Mac turned to look at me. “Eeyu—What’re—?!”
He watched as I swung the board like a bat, shattering the window and knocking out most of the tiny crossbar things that these fancier windows had.
“Uh…’Kay.”
He watched on as I used the board to clear whatever glass bits were left along the edge before tossing the wood through our new door.
Next, I carefully fit my way through the window before helping Big Mac through. I didn’t want him to fall on top of all the glass on the floor.
After getting through, Big Mac took the lead and we went towards one of the archways that led to a set of stairs. When we reached the floor the mayor was on, I got a good feel for how the building was set up.
Inside, there were three floors. The main floor we broke into, a second floor that had balconies all around the inside, and a third floor with one big balcony and probably some small rooms.
The second floor had two doors that led to the outside balcony. The first one Big Mac brought us to was destroyed, as was the balcony beyond it. This was the part of the building that was now a pile of rubble outside.
The second one Big Mac led us to was the only one leading outside. The doorframe had cracked and parts of the ceiling had broken down, blocking the door from opening.
“Is that you?” From the other side of the rubble I heard the mayor’s voice. The door had a window so we could see her.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac gave her a nod. Then looked at me.
“Already on it,” I told him, setting up on one side of the ceiling piece as Big Mac took the other. We did a quick count before working together to pull the bigger piece of ceiling away from the door.
Once that was done, I stood up to shake off the sting of my arms while Big Mac started clearing the rest of the rubble.
“Y’alright?” He asked before opening the door.
I hummed in approval and watched as the mayor barreled through the doorway, tripping into Big Mac as she did.
“Thank you,” she said, trying to find some sort of balance on two legs. She only tried staying on two legs when she saw that that’s how we were standing.
“I saw the other two...ponies,” she said awkwardly. “Downstairs. Are either of them Pegasi?”
Big Mac shook his head.
“I was afraid of that.” She bit into her knuckle. “I don’t know how long that roof will hold. We need to get Bon Bon down soon.”
I scratched my head for a second. “Well you said there was a trapdoor, right? Where is it?”
“In the center of the ceiling,” she said.
“Well, what if we catch her?”
The mayor took a second to stare at Big Mac, who settled with giving her a shrug and a guilty look.
“That might be a good plan B,” she started with this gentle tone as she turned to me. “But I was hoping for something...safer?”
“Oh. Like a tiny trampoline thingy?”
“...” The mayor gave me a hard look before turning fully to Big Mac. “Have you seen anypony else on the way here?”
“It’s not that bad of a plan,” I argued with a pout.
The mayor took a moment to let out a small breath before staring me down. “Big Mike was it? I appreciate that you’re willing to help us but I won’t risk letting somepony get hurt if there’s a better way. And I don’t want to scare Bon Bon more than she already is with dropping her.”
I rubbed my arms and stood down from the gaze. She wasn’t mean but I knew that she was the smarter person here. It was probably better to leave the idea part to her.
“Wait.”
The mayor and I turned to Big Mac. “What?”
“Ah think Big Mike’s onto somethin’,” he told us. “Is the only way ta get ta Bon Bon the hatch on the roof?”
“Erm, yes?” The mayor squinted her eyes behind her glasses.
“No,” I countered. “There’s always climbing.”
Big Mac thought it over for a moment as the mayor looked back to me. “Climb?” The mayor asked. “You can climb up there?”
“Well, doesn’t look too hard.” I shrugged. “There’s another balcony upstairs, right?”
They both nodded. “But the roof is too steep to walk up.”
“But not climb,” I told her. “Big Mike’s climbed onto his roof before. This roof looks even easier than that.”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac smiled and turned to the mayor. “We find a rope, Big Mike can climb up an’ lower Bon Bon down the hatch.”
“Is that the best way?” The mayor bit her knuckle again. “Wouldn’t it be better to have Bon Bon climb down with Big Mike?”
“Bad idea.” It was my turn to shoot her down. “Big Mike knows climbing. Which means Big Mike knows falling too. If she falls from outside we might not catch her.”
The mayor flinched. “W-Well, what if you carry her down?”
“Eenope,” Big Mac went next. “Roof’s crumblin’. Might break under the weight.”
“Hey,” I protested but a look from Big Mac made me be quiet. Yeah, guess he’s right.
The mayor took some time thinking over our options. But as her eyes darted in every direction behind her thin glasses, her shoulders sagged. “That really does sound like the only option, doesn’t it?”
“Eeyup.” “Uh-huh.”
She nodded to herself before looking to both of us. “Alright then. In that case, go ahead and search the nearby buildings for anything that can help. I’m going to go to the third story balcony and try to explain the plan to Bon Bon.”
Big Mac gave a firm nod and turned to me. “Mike, let the girls know. Ah’ll start searchin’.”
“Got’cha! Don’t worry Ms. Mayor Lady, we’ll be back soon.”
“Thank you. I’m counting on both of you.”
After giving us a thankful smile she started to walk off with the dignity of a mayor.
And when that didn’t work, she fell onto her hands and knees and crawled off with the dignity of a mayor.
When she made it out of earshot, I bent down and picked up whatever piece of broken wood had the least amount of splinters.
“Should Big Mike help her walk first,” I whispered.
Big Mac gave me a final nod and made for the stairs that led down while I chased after the crawling mayor.