A Washed Up Reporter's Chance At Redemption

My face laid flat on the floor, my eyes blinking as I woke from my late night drunken slumber. It felt like it was a drum beating inside my head. Damn this headache. Rising up from the dirty rug I slept on, I turned around and saw it was sunny outside.

I trotted towards my desk. It was filled with newspapers dated from years ago,  reminding me of the life I used to have and never will have again. All the newspapers read: Printer quits after heand his partner reveal a shocking clue that ruins the life of the Manhattan arson suspect. I sighed, and grabbed the bottle of jack from inside the desk.

Holding the bottle in the air, I smiled. “Bottles up.” I brought the bottle close to my lips until a knock at the door made me place it back inside the drawer. I trotted towards the door and opened it. “What do you want, Featherweight?” I asked, pinching my nose.

“What? I can’t come and see a friend in a beautiful sunny day?”Cold Feather asked, smirking at me.

“It’s seven AM,” I yawned. “Go back home to your family,” I said, closing the door. A  hoof stopped me from closing it all the way, however.  “Kid, please go home.”

“Come on!” He whined. “You and my father were good friends, working together.Y’all used to—”

“You’re right. Weused to,” I interrupted him. I bent down to his level, staring into the colt’s eyes. I saw his father’s determination in him. I placed a hoof on his shoulder and sighed. “Listen kid, me and your father were partners…we weren’t friends.”

“Oh.” Cold Feather’s smile disappeared. “He always said to me you was close. I guess I was wrong.” He turned back. “I’ll see you tomorrow I guess.” He began to trot away.

I clenched the door as I watched him. I gritted my teeth, knowing in my heart I couldn’t let this happen. “Hey, kid!” I called out to him. He turned around and looked at me. “Come in and let’s eat.”

He smiled and ran past me. Wow, that colt was fast! I turned around to see him reading the newspaper laid out on my desk. “Kid, don’t touch that!”

Cold Feather looked up to me, putting down the newspaper he read. “Printer. I-I didn’t know. I’m sor—” He stopped dead in his tracks as he heard something rolling around in my drawer. Slowly opening it, he found my bottle half-empty.

I stared at him for a while, the ticking of the clock brought me discormt. Finally I opened my mouth.“Featherweight, I—”

“This is how you spend your day!” He shouted. “By drinking something bad for your health and not giving a crap about what it does to the ponies you love!”

“What am I suppose to do?” I shouted back, my voice shaking. “I can’t take it! Everything reminding me of what I failed to do!”

“You don’t have to do this anymore.” He reached into the brown bag he carried with him, and took out a piece of paper. “Read that page and you’ll see what you can do.”

“Feather, I’m not going to—”

“Read it!”

I hesitated for a while as I stared down at the piece of paper laying on the floor. I reached down to the rug to pick it up. My hoof shaking as I got closer, and I finally I picked it up. I unfurled it,and began reading.

Is  Celestia hiding a secret from Ponyville? Locals reported a bunch of royal guards running inside the hospital and carrying something with them. Reporters tried to get in and see what’s in there, but failed to do so. Captain Stars announced the hospital to be a restricted area, so nopony get in or out.

“You can get in that place. I know you can! You just gotta believe in yourself.” He trotted to me, and what he did next surprised me. He hugged me. “You’re like a uncle to me, and I won’t let you fall down like this.”

I didn’t know what to do next, so I just stood there looking dumb. I reached a hoof around, and patted his back. “Uh, there there.”

“What?” He looked at me confused. “Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

 “Why were you patting me on the back saying “there, there”?”

I shrugged.“I don’t know how to comfort a child.”

He laughed, shaking his head.”Anyway, you in on the story old timer or are you going to stay in this dump you call home?”

I shrugged my shoulders, and laughed.“It’s got me through for the few years, so it’s fine.”

He stomped a hoof on the ground.“No it isn’t! I can tell you  miss the glory and fame. It’s all over your face!” he shouted, and jabbed a hoof on my chest. “You need this.”

“No, I don’t. It made me ruin ponies lives’ just for fame. I exposed their private life just for money,” I said, frowning. “I’m not doing that anymore kid... and that’s final!”

“Please? Just one this last time, and you can go back into retirement.” He sighed. “I know you’re not proud of what you done, but that’s all in the past! Wake up and take this chance or somepony else will take it!”

I sighed, giving in into the kid’s plead. “Alright kid, I’m in.” He immediately began bouncing  up and down with a big grin on his face. Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but smile. I kinda felt alive near this kid. “You got any plans on how I get in?”

He stopped bouncing to look at  me. “Wait a minute. Plans? I need plans?”

“Kid, in this line of business you always need a plan.” I chuckled, remembering the first time I went on the job without having a plan, which ended badly. “You can’t just go somewhere and expect them to hand over the story to you.”

He trotted to my bed and sat down on it. He rubbed his chin while humming as he tried to think of a plan for me to get in the hospital. Once in a while a smile would appear on his face, opening his mouth to speak, but always end with shaking his head at the plan he thought and go back thinking of another one. “I got it!” He shouted, waking me up from my nap. “I got a good plan for you to get in.”

“What is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. “It had better be a good one too.”

“Don’t worry old timer.” He said, smirking. “This plan is well thought out.” Celestia, I hate it when he calls me that.

I sat down on my chair, leaning back into it. I waved a hoof,  motioning for him to continue.“So...let me hear it, mister hotshot.”

He laughed nervously, sweating like a pig as I waited to hear his ‘well thought out plan’. “Well...speak up boy! I don’t have time here.”

“Alright old timer! I don’t see you having a plan!” He cleared his thought and picked up the newspaper. “They said it was a restricted area and by the looks in this picture only guards roam this area.”

I shrugged my shoulders, not having the slightest clue at what he was getting. “So.” I simply said.

“So. My brother used to be in the royal guard. He still keeps his armor in the closet at home, it’ll probably make a perfect fit for you!” He exclaimed, tapping a particular spot on the paper. “Those idiots would think you’re one of them!”

That made me sat up straight off my chair.  I stared at the kid sitting in front me shocked. “That’s actually a good plan if we executed right. Huh….good thinking kid.”

The colt smirked, rubbing his shoulder with a hoof. “Well my father was your partner. I bet he was the brains of the operation.”

Now that made me laugh even harder than before. I fakely wiped a tear away. “You’re funny, but no. We both aren't the brain of the operation.” I grabbed the bottle from where the kid left in at. “To a good plan!” I shouted, raising up the bottle before downing the whole thing.

“Hey, you said you wouldn’t drink anymore!”

“I never said I’d stop drinking.” I chuckled.“Alright listen kid, meet me tomorrow near the hospital with armor, and don’t let anypony see you! Don’t want anypony ruining our plan before it even happens.”

“Aye aye captain!” He saluted me, and went to the door. He opened it and stepped outside, trotting away from my apartment. When he was a couple feet away from the apartment, he turned around to get one last look at me before he left. “Hey, printer!”

I sighed.“What is it kid?”

He smiled. “It’s good to have you back.”

I watched as the three or more guards patrolled around the hospital, the unicorns using a carriage to fly around. Why have unicorns unless there’s more to it? I reached to ground, and picked up a small pebble. I threw it at a window, trying to see if it would smash into it. But the pebble bounced off thin air, revealing a purple force shield for a couple seconds.

It’s harder than I thought.  I picked the binoculars back up, and continued stalking them. That is, until something heavy dropped in front of me, making me look up . I frowned.”You’re late.”

“Well how about you try to convince your mom you’re going somewhere with a black bag. The sound of clanging armor every step you take!

“Alright smart-mouth.” I got up from the ground, and trotted near the bag. Unzipping it, I saw the yellow painted armor along with a helmet with a blue feather on top. “Stay here and keep quiet.”

“Wait...I wanna come with you!”

“No, it’s not risky to take you along. I won’t forgive myself if anything happened to you.” I said, putting the armor and helmet on. “You brought the mirror and your mom’s makeup?”

He nodded, and reached into the bag. Taking out a small round mirror,  red lipstick, and black eyeliner. “What you need this for?” He asked, handing it over to me. “You going out on a date?” He snickered at his own joke.

I smeared the black eyeliner around my left eye, making it  look like I’d been attacked from somepony. I took the red lipstick, and placed a little dip on my lips, so it could look like the attacker beaten me up good. “How do I look?”

He examined me my face, and armor. “Like a beaten up guard. Why you making yourself look like that?”

“You let me worry about that.” I hid the bag under the bushes, and began trotting towards the front entrance. Once I had gotten closer, I saw two guards standing by the door. I couldn’t go any further because of the shield blocking me out. “Hey, turn off the shield for a couple seconds and let me in!”

“State your name and station?” One of the guards asked me.

“I don’t remember. As you can see I gotten beat up pretty badly.” I said, rotating a hoof around my face to show what I was talking about. “I need get cleaned up, so let me in the hospital.”

“I am sorry, but even we can’t go in. Go back to your—”

“Let him in. He just wants to wash his face, no need to be hostile.” A stallion with black armor and a white mane said, trotting to the guards. He turned to me, examining  my black eye. “You need to get better at fighting soldier or you’re not fit to be a guard.”

“I will, sir.”  The purple aura around the place vanished , allowing me to get into the front doors. I trotted past the guards and stopped near the stallion. “Can I ask you a question sir?”

“Yes you may.”

“If I were to roam around the hospital not knowing where the bathroom is, which room is the secret held in so I won’t mistakenly go in there.” I smiled. “Don’t wanna come out and spill the beans!”

“Two eleven is the door’s number, it’s a brown door. You can tell when you pass by it.” He stepped closer to me, eyeing me which made me sweat beneath the makeup. “Don’t take too long or else I'ma drag you out here and you’ll gain  another black eye when I done beating you to a bloody pulp. You understand?”

I gulped, and nodded stupidly. “I won’t sir.”