The Secrets of Caduceus

After experiencing the potential torture of another pony, I awkwardly walking behind Misaki; making sure not to anger her by stepping on the backs of her hooves. The streets of Caduceus are eerily quiet and empty as we walk on the cement sidewalk. The moon is raised high in the sky, which helps us in case the authorities decide to chase after us again. The street lamps light our pathway, as we aimlessly wander around the city.

"So… About back there…" I start to ask.

"Hey, do you think less of me now?" She replies with another question.

I pause, still walking, and think about it for a while before responding.

"Not really, I guess."

She turns her head around, while still walking forward, "Really? But…" She looks away, "You don't even think a little less of me?"

"Not really. You were mad, and I would have done the same… Probably."

She scoffs, "You could have done without the 'probably', yeah?"

"What's with the weird dialect? Did you pick that up around here?" I chuckle.

"Sh-Shut up! I've always had this. I just never talked to you enough I guess…" The mare snaps back, her cheeks blushing red.

I chuckle again, and follow the filly through the city. After a few more minutes of walking, she finally stops at a manhole in the street.

"This is where you got knocked out. Can you… Get back to your camp?" She asks, pulling the iron manhole cover back.

"You're not coming with me?" I ask.

"Well… I'm from Caduceus… Would they really accept me so easily?"

"It'll be hard... And you did damage some of their property with… Shrubbery."

An awkward silence fills the air, and we both look down in disappointment.

"I miss him too." Speaking up, she sits down on the edge of the manhole, dangling her back hooves inside.

"We can't spend the rest of the night crying over this. Come on." I being to climb down into the manhole.

She sighs, and then follows me, making sure to cover up the manhole behind her.

The stench of the sewer hits us with a foul smelling odour, nearly making both of us gag.

"Ugh… This is horrible. And on top of that, it's pitch black down here." I complain.

"I have a lighter, let me just find it…" She responds.

I stand still, hoping not to fall into the sewage system again. After a few seconds of searching, I finally hear the sound of a lighter being opened. After a few clicks of the igniter, a dim flame appears in front of me.

"Shall we?" She asks, as she turns around with the lighter in her mouth.

I follow her down into the sewer walkway, as we continue down to where the laser train is parked.

"Are you sure it's down this way?" I ask.

She spits the lighter out onto her fore hoof so she can speak while still speaking, "This is where you were drowning, and it's also where I found you. If we keep going this way, I'm sure we'll find where you originally fell in."

With that conclusion, I would go down this way too. After walking down the tunnel for a few more minutes, we finally come to subsection of the sewage system where a ray of moonlight is shining down from above the streets.

"Is this the place?" She asks.

After pondering it for a moment, I reply, "Yeah. I think I remember falling from up there and into the sewage."

"Sounds gross. Well, lead the way!" She says, gesturing for me to go first.

I trot past her, and then finally remember, "Hey. Come to think of it…"

"What's up?"

"Nothing, it's just… I had a weird dream after I fell into the sewer stream."

Her ears perk up, as she speaks with a sense of urgency, "D-Dream?!"

I look around for the secret passageway that Strings had opened when we first entered Caduceus via the Laser Train, "Yeah. But I guess it's not surprising, seeing as I was hit on the head with a manhole cover."

"C-Could you, go into detail?" She asks, stuttering.

"Um, it hit my head and then I--"

"No!" She blurts out an exclamation, "Idiot, I meant the dream!"

Turning around to face her, I ask, "What's up with you? You're acting really aggressive for no reason."

"I… Well, I had a weird dream a while ago too…" She says, piping down the volume on her voice.

I guess I could recollect what happened in the dream, "Well… There was a swimming pool. And it was crowded too. It was really sunny, and I was with--"

"Three other ponies?!" She blurts out again.

"Yeah… How did you know?" I suspiciously ask.

She pauses, and then looks back at me, "We had the exact same dream. And the three ponies, they called me… Shizuka."

"I had them call me by a name I wasn't used to either, except I had received it before the dream occurred."

"You have a name now?" She asks.

"Apollo. Apollo Coronis." I say, as I turn around towards the wall to look for the secret passage.

After a few more moments of searching I finally come across a strange extension coming from the metal sewer walls. Pushing the extended piece of metal in, I hear a click.

I turn to see that a wall has moved out of the way to reveal a passage!

I turn to inform Misaki-- Or Shizuka-- Or whatever, "Hey, I found--" But I as I turned around, I could only see something I wish I hadn't.

*CLANG*

A revolver was dropped, and had fallen to the floor. It's the Viper, my revolver. The filly holding it stands in front of me in tears.

"W-What--"

"They… They…" She begins to sniffle after every other word, "They told me… They told me a story. They told me about a pony who would join Asclepius, and bring Caduceus to its knees. They said that if that were to happen, nopony would be spared… Not even the children."

I stand in front of a filly who left me for dead, with a revolver sitting in the three feet between us.

"The Harbinger of Suffering, that's what they called it."

It.

"They said that… Apollo Coronis, the Harbinger of Suffering would bring this world to an end…" She continues to sniff and cry, "I've seen these ponies, and they're not as bad as you think! Of course there are bad ponies in that city, but there are just as many innocent ones!"

I chuckle, "It's funny. The exact same thing is happening in Asclepius, minus the whole 'Harbinger of Suffering' thing."

She chuckles back, still weeping and sniffling, "Heh… I guess that's true…"

I ask her directly, "So why didn't you do it? Why didn't you kill me? You could have potentially saved thousands of lives."

Still sniffling, she replies, "Because I had a dream after the one at the pool… In the dream, I saw… Us. We were under an umbrella at a beach, and there were… There were kids, two of them, playing in the water in front of us."

My breath hastens, as I listen to her description of a beautiful family life.

"I thought that was beautiful. I wanted that kind of life, instead of the one we have now; no memory, no family, no friends."

I pick up the revolver and toss it onto my back, "Tch, idiot."

She looks up at me with tear-filled eyes, "Wha--"

"We both have families, we have to. Otherwise we wouldn't be here! We have friends, but you just haven't met them yet. And as for memories, we've have some pretty extreme ones already haven't we?" My attempt at comforting the filly could have done without the insult, but I believe it reached her all the same.

She sniffs, chuckles, and then proceeds to plant a kiss on my nose.

"Thanks." She says, before trotting down the recently revealed corridor.

I think about dream she had, and the way she described it.

"A family…?"

I turn around to face the corridor, but then turn my head to face the open manhole leading into the streets of Caduceus.

"I'll find you dad."