Hopes in a Star

"Ughh." I sit up, the walls black and the door showing only a sliver of light. "Stop knocking me out!" I yell to no pony in particular. I lie back on the bed. How did this happen? I went from two years without a single mess up and suddenly, I'm in jail because of Twilight.

"H-hello? J-Jacob?" I sit up, looking around.

"Who's there? How do you know my real name?"

"I can't explain." Sky Falcon comes into the light, shaking. "I don't know, I just know it. I don't know why I'm in here, what I did, I've worked with Ms. Sparkle for so many years. How can she do this to me? To you even?"

"I have a felling that Ms. Sparkle isn't what she makes herself to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if Remmer Stream is the assistant manager, then he works for someone. But Twilight does not act like a boss. She is out in the field, talking to the workers on some sort of normal basis. From my experience, bosses only talk to you if they need to, not if they feel like talking to you. I think the ranks-"

"No, no I couldn't."

"Um, what?"

"But why? What did he do to you? To us?"

"Sky, are you feeling alright?" She begins pacing back and forth, muttering to herself. The sliver of light is blocked.

"Write."

"Hello? Who is this?"

"It's me, Remmer, here." He passes a key through the hole. "I'll see you out here." He walks away. I pick the key up and force my hoof through the hole in the door. I put the key in the lock and opens the door.

"Alright, come on Sky." We go down the hall until we meet up with Remmer.

"You shouldn't have come to Aviation Industries."

"It's not like I had a choice, Twilight wanted me to follow her and you brought me here. Oh, and why exactly did you knock me out?"

"I needed it to be believable. It may have been too believable, but it worked."

"What worked, what are you using me for?"

"Freedom." I stop.

"Freedom? Aren't you free already?"

"Far from it. You see, when Aviation Industries was created, everyone rejoiced. And they had the right to, it was the first of it's kind. Making inventions for society, it was beautiful. The original owner, Star Swirl the Bearded, rarely made visits to his own business. But he treated us right, he knew how deal with other ponies. However, when he became a part of history, a new boss was put into power. This boss never gave out their name, gender, not even what they looked like. They always wore a blood red coat with a dark green mask covering their face. Nobody knows why, but when the boss went missing, Celestia put Ms. Sparkle into power of the entire industry. She, however, treats us with disrespect. The old boss gave us thought, but she..."

"She treats you like prisoners." He nods and continues walking. Sky bumps into me. She looks up, her eyes watered and her legs shaking.

"I, I don't want to. You're too nice Write, I can't kill you." She begins crying.

"Wait, kill me? Sky, what are you hearing?"

"It's, it's her, she is telling me to...but he knows!" She falls onto the floor, sobbing now.

"Remmer, what in Equestria is she talking about?"

"It's starting." He rips off his coat and vest, revealing his cutie mark. It's a pocket knife with blood dripping from it. "Come on, bring her to the operating room." I put her on my back and trot behind Remmer.

Once there, we lock the door. "Ok, now what?"

"Put her on the table." I put her down, soaked from her tears. "Initiate protocol fives and tups." A scalpel rises from a table and Remmer grabs it, walking over to Sky. "You might want to look away. And block your ears, it'll be easier for you that way." I turn and cover my ears, falling to the floor.

After about ten minutes of screaming, I turn due to the quiet. Remmer is covered in blood, but Sky is completely clean, except for her wings. They are slightly crimson red, and the feathers are sticking out more than usual. In his hoof, Remmer is holding some sort of round metal object. "Is it done?"

"It's done. This," he holds up the object, "this is what's in all of the workers in Aviation Industries."

"Wait, how is she?" I trot over to her checking for a pulse. "She doesn't have a heart beat, get me the defibrillators." He begins to laugh. "What? Is this funny? Is it funny to you that somepony is about to die? I'll get them myself."

"Ah ah ah, I don't think you would want to do that."

"And why not?"

"Ughhhh. W-what happened?"

"Sky!" I run up to her hugging her. "I thought you died."

"Nope. She only slipped under consciousness from the pain."

"And why in the name of all that is great did we do this in the first place?" I ask, mad with Remmer.

"See this?" He holds up the metal object again. "This is why. Remember how she wanted to kill you? It's because she was being told to kill you. This is almost like a mind control device. Like something you'd see out of the Avengers."

"Wait, how do you know about-"

"So someone was telling her to kill you, but she knew better to question orders. We aren't dealing with a regular corporation that wants power, this is bigger."

"My, my wings. I can't feel them." Sky says, gently rubbing her feathers back into place.

"It's the shot I gave you once you passed out, I don't want the wound to be infected so I gave you an anti-bacterial shot, but your organs will be fine, it is sterilized in a certain way. Don't worry, after one sleep you'll be fine."

"Ok, as long as I won't pass out again." She says laughing.

I look around, not knowing what to do. "So, now what? We know about the these things in the workers wings, so where do we go from here?"

Remmer looks at me, a serious face on him. "We need to rest. Sky is in no condition to move and you are beginning to loose your mind. We need rest."

"Loose my mind? In what way?"

"Trust me, I've seen too many sane ponies go from genius to psycho. You need rest. We all do. Tomorrow we will get ground side and plan our next move." I nod, and head over to a corner. Remmer turns out the lights, locks the door, and heads to another corner. Sky tries to get down, but can't. I get up and help her down.

"Th-thank you." I carry her to a corner and begin to walk to the opposite corner of her. I hear her shaking, and reluctantly lie next to her, my back against her for her to keep warm. We eventually go to sleep.

I wake up, opening my eyes. I go to get up, but can't. I look at Sky, my hooves hugging her. I can't move, she'd then wake up. I can't stay here, my hooves would go numb and loose circulation. "Heh, never thought I'd see the day that you'd connect to someone like this Jake."

"What? Why, when, how do you know my name?" I whisper.

"You're not the only that had a wish granted backwards." I think about it, only three of my friends have OCs. Jake, Joe, and Mike. Jake deleted his, and Joe doesn't consider his an OC.

"Mike?"

"Mike L., the one and only."

"Really? It's been you this whole time?"

"Yep. Just a lot longer than you, it's been nearly five years." The last time he talked to me was five years ago, but he said he was leaving to the Bahamas. "Sure, I lied to you, but now that we are working against Aviation Inc., might as well tell you. Oh, and also, Sky is-" Sky does a slight yawn, and hugs my hoof. Remmer, or Mike, laughs. "She has a boyfriend ya' know." I Frown, I had a felling she did.

"It's not like it would have worked anyway, a human and a pony."

"Well, that's life. Life is a game that most enjoy, but for people like you, luck just isn't there." I know what he means, my whole life, others that I have strong feelings for outside the family has either not felt the same, or abandoned me. The one time I thought something was going to work out for me, it obviously doesn't. Sky slowly opens her eyes, and I quickly but gently take my hooves off of her. Thankfully she didn't notice.

"Morning guys." My heart sinks.

"Morning." Mike and I say in unison.

"We should get going to the ground. We started a game of chess that could be deadly, we need a new move." Sky and I nod, and we punch through the cloud floor, flying to the ground.