Privileged

The streets of Canterlot. Normally filled with unicorns and pegasi, were emptying quickly as curfew approached. The steep angle of the sun, the tall buildings, and the narrow streets of Canterlot all combined blanket the city in shadow. Here and there small beams of sunlight snuck through and illuminated the dirt-covered streets, casting reflective spots on the road whenever they met a shop window.

It was a sad sight to see the bustling city streets reduced to an empty vessel, although not an entirely unattractive vision. Shopkeepers rolled down aluminum shutters to protect their shops for the night. City bums curled up under archways with sleeping bags or sought out local homeless shelters.

Not everypony was packing up, though. Two ponies, one adult earth pony and a unicorn foal, hurried along the streets. They took care to walk at hurried pace, as if they had somewhere to be, while making sure not to look like they were running from anything. May Lily looked up at her father and spoke, tripping a little as she worked to keep up with his longer strides.

“You told me never to go out after the sun goes down, right? So why are we going now?” She waited a few seconds, giving a frustrated huff when no immediate answer came from the older stallion. “Aren’t the guards going to notice us?”

Cold Hoof frowned, his eyes darkening a notch, but he kept on trotting all the same. He didn’t dare take his attention off of the streets and skies long enough to come up with an answer. Tough is the stallion that can resist a seven-year-old’s questions on her birthday, though. Certainly tougher than Cold Hoof, so after a little while he managed to take his eyes from the path ahead long enough to give an answer:

“They might, but only if we aren’t careful.” He resumed his trotting for a while before speaking again. “Do you remember what I taught you?”

“About the guards?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t speak unless spoken to, act like normal, especially if they are paying attention to me, and never look them in the eyes.” She listed the rules without hesitating, as if they had been rehearsed. Which, in fact, they had.

Cold Hoof smiled at her. “Good girl. We’ll be there soon.”

With that, the pair kept on walking in silence. They stuck to the sides of the buildings and walked through alleys when possible. If one were to look from the air, you would notice, that the pair were almost impossible to see from the sky.

As they traversed one of the darker alleys behind a bar, Cold Hoof noticed the many ponies forced to sleep out on the streets. They had undoubtedly been refused entry to the homeless shelters because of lack of space, or for lack of a horn or a pair of wings. A few of the ponies were pegasi and unicorns, but the vast majority were earth ponies. Their eyes spoke of anger and contempt as the pair passed them by.

To them, the pair looked like a pegasus wearing a wool vest with his unicorn daughter trailing behind. Luckily, May Lily didn’t notice the angry glares sent their way. Cold Hoof didn’t want to have to explain to her why total strangers hated her.

Cold Hoof was struck by how bad of an idea what he was doing actually was.Taking May Lily through all of this, just for a birthday present. Was the risk really worth it? The real question, he thought, is whether or not I can live with myself ifI don’t give her this opportunity. Cold Hoof took the time to properly study her.

She wasn’t very large for a filly her age. She had a light pink coat, amber eyes, and a yellow, pink, and orange mane and tail. She had always reminded him of the colors of a sunset. This, he rationalized, was one of the reasons that he needed to show her this.If only to show her the beauty that always inspires me. The beauty that only she and the horizon possess.

Cold Hoof smiled, inwardly praying to no one in particular, that no one would notice them tonight.

The pair arrived at an open area at the edge of the city. The ground was tiled with white marble that shone even in the faint evening light. A large peacekeeper symbol, an alicorn with its wings spread wide and rays of magic radiating from its horn, was painted upon the space.

A low, crenelated wall enclosed the tiled clearing in a half circle, leaving the view of Equestria open for anypony who might want to view it. Cold Hoof had come here often to think, but he had never been around to see the sunset for fear of being caught out after curfew. In Canterlot, nopony was allowed outside after sunset except for the royal guards and the Peacekeepers. This is it, I will have to make this quick, so that both me and May Lily can get home safe. The moment they stepped out into the clearing they would be visible to pegasus guard patrols.

“Ooh! Ooh! I’ve heard of this place!” May Lily took an excited, bouncing step onto the viewing platform. “Olive Branch told me that there is a wall around Canterlot that keeps all the bad ponies out. This is it, right?”

Cold Hoof ushered her along towards the edge of the wall while frowning slightly. “Olive told you that?” He asked.

Olive Branch was one of the main reasons that the peacekeepers hadn’t suspected Cold Hoof of raising a privileged foal without permission. Whenever Cold Hoof had to go to work, or when the peacekeepers decided to inspect his home, he could count on Olive to hide May Lily in her house for a while and take care of her. The elderly mare, one of the few earth ponies in Cold Hoof’s vicinity that actually owned a house, had even taken it upon herself to school May Lily.

Though he was eternally grateful for her hospitality and discretion, Cold Hoof wasn’t entirely sure how happy he was that Olive Branch had taught his daughter about the wall that kept all of the earth ponies in Canterlot under lock. He reasoned, however, that she would have found out sooner or later anyway. It is probably better that she think of it as a safety precaution, as opposed to a prison.

“Yeah, is that bad?” She asked, as her face took on a worried expression, her ears drooping a little.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Coldhoof answered as looked out over the wall. “It just surprised me a little, is all.” He smiled as he saw that the sun hadn’t set entirely yet. “Here, get on my back, I want to show you something.”

He knelt down, so that the knees of his front legs touched the ground, allowing May Lily to clamber up on his back. As soon as she had settled herself he stood up, allowing her a full view of what lay behind the wall.

“Whoa!” Cold Hoof felt her hooves dig into his back and scalp as she pulled herself onto her hind legs, using his mane and head for support. “It’s so… colorful!”

Beyond the wall stretched the Equestrian landscape. Fields of green grass and woods could be

seen off in the distance, with the sun barely peeking out behind a tall mountain at the edge of Canterlot Valley.

Cold Hoof had to admit, It was quite the sight. He knew that this was May Lily’s first time seeing a sunset, but he hadn’t actually seen a whole lot of them himself either. I almost forgot how it looks. He took a deep breath, held it for a second, and then exhaled with the words: “You should make sure to memorize all of this Lil’, we won’t be seeing another one of these for quite a while.” He knew he would remember it, the sight was glorious. The descending sun cast deep red light on the trees and low hanging clouds, leaving the entire horizon an image of pure yellow and red, with a little bit of blue sky and white cloud mixed in.

“It’s amazing.” Cold Hoof said, when he didn’t get any response. He nudged May Lily a little with his head. “Are you seeing this, Lil’?” Again, no immediate response came. Looking up at her, Cold Hoof was able to trace her vision straight down to the base of Mt. Canterlot.

“What’s that down there, dad?”

“Looks like a large dumping ground.” Cold Hoof frowned a little. “I didn’t even know that we had that much trash lying down there, I guess every city has its problems, huh?” The words had barely left his mouth before Cold Hoof realised that Canterlot had far worse problems than the heaps of trash at the bottom of the mountain. Racism and martial law, to name two.

May Lily turned her gaze upwards again. “You’re right, dad.” Her face gained a wistful expression, and her tone shifted a little, she sounded a little older all of the sudden. “It really is amazing.”

“Happy birthday sweetheart, enjoy it while it lasts.”

By the time the sun had set behind the mountain, Cold Hoof knew that they should be leaving but he couldn’t make himself move. The moment was just too perfect! May Lily had begun to drift off to sleep on his back, the toll of a long day finally setting in. Cold Hoof was fairly certain that she wasn’t asleep yet, but she would be soon if he didn’t do something.

He sighed, shifting a little, moving his back in a feeble attempt to rustle her. “Come on Lily, we need to get home before the guards see us.”

“I’m too tired to walk, can’t you carry me home?” May Lily mumbled, her words slurred by a rather impressive yawn.

It had been a problem lately with May Lily; she would try to get Cold Hoof to do her chores or carry her around by acting like she was tired. This time, though, he didn’t mind that much. “Sure thing Lil’, try not to slip off, okay?”

He turned away from the wall, trotting towards the alley that they came from. That wasn’t all that bad, he thought to himself, we didn’t even see a single guard.

Barely had he thought the words before a trio of dark, winged shadows passed across the marble straight below his feet. Cold Hoof froze in place, acutely aware of how obvious their presence was. May Lily hadn’t noticed anything, but he could feel his legs trembling a little bit as he contemplated bolting for the alley.

No! That would be stupid. They’ll notice me for sure! I’ll just wait here until they to pass.Daring to look up, Cold Hoof scanned the sky for the pegasus guards, after a few seconds of looking Cold Hoof assumed that they must have already passed. That was way too close, they could have easily noticed me, he thought to himself as he hurried across the last part of the platform, not daring to look back even once.

“See, I told you I saw something! You! Over there! Stop for a second!”

Cold Hoof felt his heart sink, as he turned to see two pegasus guards. They must have broken off from the other one. The pegasus that had spoken was light maroon and wore a brown, lightly armored vest meant for flying. He had a menacing smirk spread across his face, and eyes that shone with malice. Cold Hoof knew the facial expression very well. It was the look that always preceded punishment.

“So,” he said, floating closer to Cold Hoof. “What petty excuse do you have for staying out after curfew, hmm? Go ahead, take as long as you want to think, I’ve heard every single one of them anyway.”

His smirk broadened as he took in Cold Hoof’s shocked expression. Cold Hoof quickly drove his eyes to the ground, afraid of meeting the pegasus’ stare. He was worried that May Lily would be scared, but she seemed to have really fallen asleep this time.

This is it, it’s over! I’ll go to jail for sure!

“For goodness’ sake Scarlet, can’t you see he isn’t a criminal?” the other pegasus guard said as he pushed the menacing guard aside. Cold Hoof managed to sneak a glance. This one was a powder blue with slightly more ornate armor. Likelysuperior in rank, Cold Hoof thought to himself, already liking this one a lot more.

“You weren’t consorting against High Overseer Ruby Shard’s government out here, were you, civilian? That filly on your back there, that wouldn’t happen to be an accomplice?” He paused for a second, punching Cold Hoof lightly on the shoulder when no answer came. “I’m kidding, buddy.” Cold Hoof raised his eyes and to his surprise looked straight into a powder blue, smiling pegasus face. He seemed slightly nervous about his own joke, almost as if he was afraid that he had offended Cold Hoof.

They think that I am a pegasus, Cold Hoof thought, more grateful now, than ever, that he had bought the jacket in a popular clothes store for pegasi. If I am going to get out of this one I better come up with a pretty good lie, he thought to himself. Quickly a plan formed in his mind, a rather devious one, actually. He would have smiled at his own ingenuity if the situation hadn’t been so dire.

“I am so sorry officer, it’s just that—” He took a deep breath as if the next part pained him to say: “Well… my daughter, she ran away from home and I have been out here looking for her all night. I knew that curfew was approaching but I just couldn’t—”

The officer looked thoroughly convinced, so Cold Hoof stopped speaking and just looked at him with what he hoped was a regretful expression.

At this point Scarlet spoke up. “I can tell that you are already falling for this schlob’s story, Skyguard, but I’m telling you, I don’t trust this guy one bit. If you ask me, he is one hundred percent guilty!” Scarlet paused for a second, looking Cold Hoof over. Cold Hoof took great care to look anywhere but his face. Scarlet snorted before continuing: “At least ask him to show us his papers so we can take note of the incident in the watchbook.”

At this point, Cold Hoof was practically bathing in his own sweat. He did in fact have his papers, but it wouldn’t be the best idea to present them. There is no way they will let me go once they find out that I’m an earth pony. I already told them that she’s my daughter.

“Uhh, you see—” he fumbled, trying to think up an excuse for why he couldn’t display his ID. “I left my house in a hurry, I must have left my papers behind.”

At this, Skyguard frowned a little while Scarlet’s face showed an ecstasy that Cold Hoof hadn’t been aware could be obtained from watching another pony’s misery.

“I’m afraid you will have to come with us to the castle. We can’t revoke a request for identification once it has been made. I hope this won’t be too much trouble, Mr…?”

“Cold Hoof, and it should be fine,” Cold Hoof said, in a voice that sounded far more secure than he felt.

“Well that’s great, we’ll have this cleared up in no time,” Skyguard said, smiling. “Don’t worry about this one, Scarlet, I can take care of him, and his little lady, from here.” Skyguard winked at Cold Hoof with the last statement.

The maroon pegasus grumbled a little before taking off, but otherwise didn’t say a word. Skyguard and Cold Hoof, with Lily on his back, set off towards the center of the city, with Cold Hoof uncomfortably aware of the lack of wings under his jacket.