The Game

The Game: Chapter 1 - Dawn Everfree

November 13, 11:30 A.M. Manehatten commons

Destiny.

What a fickle idea. The mindset that one was meant to do something. They HAD to do it, otherwise it was against the will of a higher power. Not that it mattered. Destiny could not be avoided. Yet, the very thing that all ponies have is exactly a symbol of destiny. Their cutie mark.

I was lumped in there. My name is Dawn Everfree. I sit here now as I think about my life and reflect on it. My cutie mark is a coal. I was meant to work in the factory for all eternity. I live in the city of Manehatten, working for Mining Industrial. They had the monopoly on the one thing that keeps me warm.

I sighed. What was the point of a break if you kept thinking?

As I finished my lunch (for I would not eat again until breakfast), I saw a shadow move in the distance. I paid it no mind. Why should I? I was a strong mare. I could handle myself. And I always kept in practice with my magical abilities. I would be fine enough.

I threw away the junk. Not a scrap left. My 10 minutes was up.

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November 13, 11:40 A.M. Manehatten Mining Center

Mining coal. Easy enough. Anyone could do it.

As I used my magic to levitate the coal out of the mines, I heard a piercing yell. I turned around to see the tunnel collapsing. The miners ran towards me.

"Everfree! Outta that freakin' way!" The leader yelled. I scrambled away as they came up and the tunnel collapsed.

"What the hell happened?!" I yelled. The leader, one name Clouds, a Pegasus, panted and explained.

"A diamond dog den. We told him to leave, but he would rather see his home crumble before we mined it." He continued to cough, no doubt trying to think about what to tell the manager. He wasn't particularly fond of...anyone.

I winced. I had noticed only 15 miners came out. 22 go in everyday. Where were they?

"They got caught up." He said, reading my mind. "One was the first to get hit by a falling rock and the other miners just weren't fast enough."

I sighed. These were common anyway. The diamond dogs valued property over their homes. And to steal from them meant death.

Just another day.

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Back at my little apartment. I fell down, tired from work. The dim light in the room was rather comforting. A little light in my dark life. I looked around my small abode. The walls needed painting, the table was missing a leg, and I was pretty sure the mouse trap caught another little critter. On most occasions, it was not a mouse, but rather some other creature hoping for a slice of my hard-earned cheese.

As I scraped myself off the floor (which was carpeted; it costs more than you think) and went to my little bedroom. It really was more like a little place of rest. A paradise in my little home. It cost me a few good bits to make my bed. It was sturdy, had a strong musk smell, and a mattress with a hole.

Nothing like home.

I decided to turn on my radio. It always had a way of calming me down. Again, another luxury from working extra time at the mining center.

*ZZZZT! Well hello everyone! Vinyl Scratch here on the air. Today, we've got some awesome beats for the public, but before we begin, I must give these words someone gave me while sticking a knife to my face! So whoever wanted this on the air, here ya go!*

I barely paid it any attention. Someone almost mugged someone? In these times? It was about as common as the deaths in the mines. Nothing new.

*Hello, citizens of Manehatten. You may not know me, but I know you all very well, in a metaphorical sense. But no matter. I have come to deliver a message. This one is a message of death. "Pay attention, you heads of evil. Your injustice to the common people will not go unpunished. A time is coming when you will sit at the top of your factories and you will finally realize the monster you have created." That is all for now. SOMEONE have mercy on your souls, for I surely do not wish it for you.*

I continued to try and turn on my stove. It took a few tries, but the radio helped to calm my nerves. I, again, barely heard what was said. It sounded more like a poem than any threat. Again, I paid it no mind.

I chopped up some potatoes and carrots. My knife was dull as usual and I have no means to sharpen it. So, needless to say, using magic to cut with a dull knife was not going to work. I had to do it manually.

I stepped away for a few minutes to go to the bathroom, when I noticed a letter had been slipped under the door. It was strange. No one got mail like that, unless you were a Deader. They were the only ones who needed to have absolute privacy in their work. I don't think everyone needs to know the work of an assassin. But, more on them some other time.

I levitated the letter to see who it was from. I didn't know exactly why someone would go through the trouble for little ol' me. Nonetheless, I opened it.

"To whom this may concern:
I Hope I find you in a decent mood. Not that it matters. You may have just heard word Of an explosion at your work place-"

What? There was an explosion at the Manehatten Mining Center?

"-and now you will soon be questioned. All police Forces have been deployed to find out the criminal."

Oh shit! Wait. Why am I scared? I wasn't even there!

"By now, you may be in a little fear. The police will catch on and question you at length. The only difference between these police and the regular police, is that these officers have been sent by your corporation. They will hunt you down even if you know nothing."

Oh shit! Again!

"This letter will be evidence against you. But do not worry, you are not alone. Others have been suspected and they will also be questioned, hunted, and inevitably, killed."

Oh Celestia.

"You stand at a crossroad. You can ignore this, and you will wait, and you will die. Your second option is to escape. You must follow the path I have set for you-"

I searched the envelope. Nothing. No map, no directions. I turned the letter over. No map either. I began to panic. I decided it was best to continue for any instructions.

"No doubt you have attempted to look for a "map". Allow me to tell you right now, no such thing exists. After all, what is a game of cat and mouse without a little risk eh? But I will leave you this hint: "The place of tall towers, second only to Manehatten. Just as those towers stand, in the wrong place, so does it reflect in this letter."

"Best of luck. Let SOMEONE have mercy on your soul."

I put down the letter. I was simply too shocked to think straight. An explosion, the police, death or escape, no directions, nowhere to go, I don’t-

The stove made a piping sound, indicating that the pot was now hot and the soup was ready. It brought be back to my senses. I calmed myself. I re-read the note, not sure of what exactly I was supposed to do. Perhaps it was an elaborate joke. Or fate playing a joke on my mind. What was I to-

KNOCK KNOCK. "DAWN EVERFREE. THIS IS THE POLICE. PLEASE MAKE THIS EASY AND COME OUT."

My heart skipped a beat. They were here. I had to find some way to get out. Anything!

"YOU HAVE 20 SECONDS TO OPEN THE DOOR OR WE WILL FORCE OURSELVES IN."

The window. There was a way out. I formulated my plan. I ran to the stove, turned up the heat all the way. I grabbed the letter and a pen. And then I opened the window...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WE ARE COMING IN!" The officer yelled. With a flare of magic, his horn blasted away the door. The other police rushed in with batons and magic restraints. They quickly flooded every room to secure the location. No one would be safe from the search.

As they searched the room, they found no sign of the mare in the search warrant. A unicorn with dark hair and sky blue eyes. Worked at the Manehatten Mining Center.

"Attention!" A zebra officer yelled. "Captain entering!"

The other officers saluted to the captain, who in term returned the salute and waved them to continue their work.

"Hello Captain Saber Eye. How is the investigation?" The zebra officer asked. The griffin Captain in turn waved for a pony to bring him a warrant.

"We are looking for a Dawn Everfree. 22 years old. Dark brown hair and blue eyes. Just my type." He said the last part under his breath.

Captain Saber Eye was the head of the 25th division of the police force in Manehatten. It was a rather rag tag team of 20 ponies, zebras, and griffins. But to be honest, it was mostly ponies. His advisor, Lecros Vintard, was the only other species along with the captain, being a zebra, who was not a pony.

"Captain Saber." A pony ran to the griffin. "We have found no pony. It seems she had gone out the window-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! An alarm rang out. The officers ran to the noise, a pot over a stove as the stove read in red letters "POSSIBLE EXPLOSION IMMINENT!" The officers quickly moved into position. Hours of preparation in bomb disposal had prepared the officers well. They surrounded the pot and put a protective shield.

An officer brought a monitor with a location of a bomb disposal site. It would help to focus the bomb disposal officer's magic to teleport the "pot bomb" to a safe location where it could explode. The officer focused his magic, levitating the pot and finally making it disappear. Said pot appeared at the bomb site...and did not explode.

Relieved, the officers resumed their search. Captain Saber nodded approval. "You have taught them well, Lieutenant Vintard. They act correctly in-" he noticed some officers go through the closet of the wanted mare, smiling as they saw a thong. "-most cases." Vintard turned in the direction the captain was speaking. "Officer Snips and Snails! What are you..." His voice faded as he strode over to the delinquents. But at the same time, Saber Eye used his talent.

He scanned the room. All his senses sharpened, weeding out information. He deduced from the pile of dirty clothes on the floor, she had worked every day since Tuesday, today being Thursday, and the water came on Fridays. The carpet had a strange symbol on it. It was the outline of a mare with coal. He surmised that she had fallen in exhaustion. He then moved to look at the kitchen.

He noticed several items. The dull knife, the carrot and potato peels. Clearly she had been making dinner or preparing. The stove was hot as the heat radiated off it. He decided she had just recently fled, perhaps within the time frame of the 20 seconds they had allowed her to open the door.

Yet what he had noticed about the stove was the fact that drops had fallen out of where the pot would be if it was boiling. The amount of water around it signified that the heat had reached a temperature it was not supposed to reach. A temperature were it could explode if it got too hot.

He began to piece together the scene. Coming home late, the mare in question was tired and fell to the floor. She then changed into some warm clothes and began preparation for the meal. Then she left the room for some reason. His logic fell short. Why would she leave so suddenly? It was just the police; a summons from them was not irregular in this district. So why the sudden leave?

He looked closer. He found her escape route: the window. As he looked out, he saw a few hoof prints in the dirt. He would come back to that later. But now, he needed a motive. He turned around and looked at her personals. A picture of her and a stallion was on the wall. Saber took it down and checked if there was a safe of sorts. None was found. He gingerly returned the frame and straightened it. If she had a lover, she was certainly lucky, and it felt wrong to desecrate such a moment of happiness in anyone's life, past or present.

Saber eye twitched. He had been in his mode too long. He could go blind if he did not return to normal vision. That was when he caught it. He strolled over an envelope on the floor. Calling over another officer, the Captain compared the type of envelope. It was rough and had a faded color of gray. But that was not the most damning piece of evidence.

A symbol, one of a chess piece with wings, was on both letters as a seal. The Captain was shocked, but not surprised. According to other squads, this seal was on each envelope given to everyone who had mysteriously disappeared. The only shock the Captain felt was that this was all orchestrated so perfectly. The explosion (minutes ago), the escapees, and the clues left behind. All as if part of...

"Sir," Lieutenant Vintard nudged, taking the Captain by surprise, "We see no sign of the mare," No duh, the Captain thought, "and we have nothing to go on. What do we do now?"

The Captain sighed. "Call the other squads together. We will return to the precinct and continue our investigation there."

The zebra nodded. "Officers! Bout face! We are leaving." The trained officers put down all manners of items from the evidence to ladies items. As they marched out, the Captain took one more look at the room. He wasn't sure of all the connections yet, but there was certainly something wrong with all of this. From Lecros' deployment here to the sudden messages and bombings.

He would never realize it before it was too late.

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I leapt from my window. The fall didn't hurt so much. A sprained hoof was really all the damage I took, except for a little pride. I heard the officers break my door in.

All I had now was the clothes on my back and that letter. With a slow realization, I discovered that I was now a fugitive. I had run from the law. I CREATED A BOMB. It was an attack on the police themselves. Perhaps I shouldn't have been too fast to run.

I stared at my new possession. The letter was a little wet, but still legible. I read it over and over. I never asked for this. Yet, here I was, running for my life. Well, not running, but certainly worse than what I was doing before. I read the last line again. A clue, supposedly.

"The place of tall towers, second only to Manehatten. Just as those towers stand, in the wrong place, so does it reflect in this letter."

...I was so dead.

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Dawn Everfree's goal: CLEAR HER NAME and DISCOVER WHO DID THE BOMBING