Hard Truths

  The sound of thumping could be heard above the little ten year old's bedroom, as well as pleasured moans. It would have made many others blush, but to Nightmare, this was just another night. Her parents often did strange things, both during the hours of sunlight, as well as when the moon shone above. She would try asking them questions about it, but they would only tell her she'd know when she was older.

  Sighing and rolling over in her bed, Nightmare continued to listen to the odd sounds above her. They eventually faded away, and the mare prepared to close her eyes and sleep, but then the sound of hooves caught her attention. She frowned. Her parents were usually asleep after it all stopped.

Maybe one of them had to go to the bathroom.

  That thought was quickly dashed as hooves pattered down the stairs and stopped just outside her bedroom door. Both afraid and curious now, Nightmare waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Knock

  Ear twitching, Nightmare sat up and stared at the door some more, waiting for something to happen. It came in the form of another knock, this one much more loud and forceful.

  "Uh, come in?"

  The door creaked open, and Peacock Stalker walked in, closing the rotten wood door behind her. Raising an eyebrow at her daughter, Peacock trotted over to her bed. "Well, I guess I owe you father five bits."

  Confused at her words, Nightmare tilted her head, asking, "What's that supposed to mean?"

  Chuckling, Peacock sat down next to her daughter's bed, shaking her head. "You see, Nightmare, when two ponies place a bet, they both have differing ideas about things, and money is placed. Whoever was right gets that money. Understand?"

  Nodding, Nightmare threw the covers off and got up, stretching, before joining her mother in sitting. "Yeah, I see that all the time. I remember Liquor and Frothing doing that over who would get to pop Jay-Jay's 'cherry', whatever that is."

  Peacock raised an eyebrow at her daughter again. "Huh. Neither of them won that one. As for what they meant, well, I think you're about the age I was when my mother told me. Ten, right? Or eleven? There's honestly so much going on right now I lost track."

  A little hurt that her mom forgot her age, Nightmare half mumbled, "Ten." Blinking and looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully, Peacock stood like that for a few seconds before turning back to Nightmare. "Eh, what's a year? 'Sides, you hear your father and me every night, so what the hell."

  Nightmare listened in rapture as her mother began to describe what really happened to make babies, from the moment of two ponies falling in love, most of the time, and then the kissing that starts out, and what happened once they reached the bedroom. She also told her about how some simply do it for pleasure, like what she and daddy did all the time.

  By the time her mom was finished, Nightmare wore a very disgusted, yet curious, look on her face. The two sat there in awkward silence as Nightmare's little mind slowly processed everything she'd just heard. Then the ten year old said the first thing that came to her mind.

  "I always knew the other kids' stories about storks was bullshit."

  Peacock burst out into a laughing fit, her sounds of mirth echoing through the house. "Wow, you're a sharp one," she just managed to get out, having trouble breathing for a sec.

  When her laughter finally subsided, Peacock ruffled her daughter's head. "Oh, ya kill me kid," she said with another chuckle. Nightmare smiled at her mom and nuzzled her under the chin. "I love you mommy."

  Caught off guard, Peacock felt her heart swelling at her daughter's adorable act. A smile edged its way onto her face as well, and she kissed the top of Nightmare's head. "I love you too, my little Moony," she replied, using a nickname she had come up with when the foal was just a toddler.

  Sighing contentedly, Nightmare pulled back and curled up on her bed, her silver with a dark blue streak tail wrapping over her hooves. Smile still plastered on her face, Peacock took the blanket at the end of Nightmare's bed and laid it over her daughter. Kissing her on the head one last time, Peacock backed away and headed for the door. "Sleep well, my little Nightmare."

  As the ten year old slowly fell into slumber, Peacock made her way back upstairs. The creaking of the bed made Brute wearily lift his head. "Where have you been?" he questioned.

  Instead of answering directly, Peacock chuckled and told him, "We have the funniest foal I've ever met." Then she promptly covered up and followed her husband to dream land.

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  "Ugh...."

  Lifting her head groggily, Nightmare glanced around, smacking dry lips. Blinking to clear her blurry vision, she got to her hooves and stretched. Hopping from her bed, Nightmare stumbled for a second, then slowly made her way to the door.

  The moment she opened it, she promptly closed it again. Walking over to her closet, she opened a secret compartment, closing it again just in time for the door to open.

  The thing about living in the hidden underbelly of Canterlot was all the things you have to live through. Drunken ponies, foalknappers, rapists, con ponies, and the guards. Especially the guards. Unlike at the palace, these were not civilized, mannered ponies. There was no room for such a thing as kindness in this darker part of Equestria. Which is why the guards did a regular home invasion thing, hoping to catch criminals in the act. It was supposedly unpredictable, but everypony knew the guards had a schedule to keep track of whose house to hit.

  Looks like Nightmare's was on the list today.

  "Huh. Coulda swore I saw something."

  Here's another thing about this place: foals are illegal. Yeah, you heard right. Whenever a foal is born here, it is supposed to be given up for adoption on the safer side of town. They were trying to stop this place from giving them another generation of sluts and drunken idiots to deal with, and hoping to have them all be the almost fucking brainwashed  ponies who blindly lived under Celesta's rule. Of course, the parents usually didn't go for that, and made ways for their foals to hide in case.

  The sound of crashing objects dragged Nightmare from her thinking.

Damn. They're doing it again. Typical.

  Being the oh so tough guys the guards were, they would generally wreck or take things to get a rise out of the ponies whose home they were invading. It almost never worked these days. Everypony was too used used to it, save a few hotheads who wound up in jail.

  "All clear," Nightmare heard one of the guards out in the shabby living room say in disappointment. He and the others quickly left, but Nightmare still remained hidden. For every house they ransacked, they always kept one of them waiting by the place to watch for the pony's nasty little secrets to be brought out when they thought it was safe. Which meant no showing her face for another day. Her mom would have to sneak her food.

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  "Ah. Great to be out of there."

  The day which Nightmare had spent in her cramped quarters was one she was starting to get used to. Not that the guards hit her house on a regular basis, but they did it often enough she could call the hidden closet space her second bedroom.

  Smiling at her daughter, Peacock ruffled her mane. "Well, the next one won't come for another month at least, so no hiding for a while."

  Hearing that made Nightmare grin, and she almost gave in to the urge to leap with joy. Thankfully, she managed to restrain herself.

  While she beamed, Peacock examined her daughter. After a moment minute, she nodded. "Alright, Nightmare, honey, I think it's about time I give you a little taste of responsibility. Daddy and I are going to go talk to Liquor about something, and I want you to hold down the fort till we get back. Ok?"

  Although slightly confused, Nightmare also felt the thrill of pride that her mother was trusting her like this. "Of course, mom! I promise I won't let anything happen while you're gone!"

  Peacock nodded, a proud smile on her face. "Good. Now remember, no opening the door to anyone, and if someone tries to break in, hide."

  Nodding in understanding, Nightmare watched her mom leave her bedroom. She heard talking and a little yelling on the other side of the door, then the opening and closing of the front door.

  The house was now deathly silent. Looking around, Nightmare rubbed one of her forehooves with the other. Now that she was alone, she realized she had no clue what her mom wanted her to exactly do. Just simply sit here and wait?

  After she had been contemplating this for a while, she heard a crash come from her parents' bedroom. Rushing quickly out of her bedroom, Nightmare stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Hello? Mom? Dad? You still here?"

  She heard hoofsteps approaching the top of the stairs, but the pony who appeared was not one of her parents.

  "Hey kiddo," said Liquor, a drunken grin on his face.

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  Peacock and Brute stood directly below the sign of the club, which read, The Flying Buffoon, in big, cheesy neon lights. Sighing, Brute looked through the window beside them, eyes locking on the clock behind the bar. "Where is that idiot? He was supposed to be here half an hour ago. We need to settle this debt."

  Peacock laid a hoof on her husband's shoulder. "Relax, you know how he is. Probably drunk off his ass and lost again. He'll turn up sooner or later."

  Grunting in disbelief, the couple waited ten more minutes. Then a familiar pony stepped out of the club. "...and fuck you too!" she was screaming back at somepony inside. There was a reply, but the door closed before anypony outside could really hear it. Grumbling, Disco took a cigarette and lit it, getting in a few puffs before she noticed the two ponies staring at her. "Peacock? Brute? What the fuck you doing here? I thought ya's was making a deal with Liquor."

  Peacock gave her friend a strange look. "We are. This is the place he said he'd meet us." Disco raised an eyebrow as she took another drag. "Well, he was here earlier, but 'e said he was gonna meetcha at your house. Left just twenty minutes ago."

  Peacock paled as she exchanged a look with her husband. "Our house?...Oh sweet Celestia. Brute, did we remember to close the upstairs window?"

  The look on her husband's face said it all. It didn't take long for Disco to realize what the panic was about, what with the absence of a certain black filly. Throwing her cigarette down, Disc's eyes blazed as she stomped it out while saying, "Ah hell no. If he's hurt even one tiny fur on my goddaughter's head, I will fucking kill him!" With each pronunciation of the last words, she twisted her hoof, grinding the cigarette into the ground.

  She probably wasn't lying either.

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  Nightmare stared in absolute horror at the pony above her, alarm bells ringing in her head. She knew rule number one of her part of the city was never, ever approach strangers. Especially ones who are not only named after alcohol, but also have a moonshine bottle as a cutie mark.

  Gulping, Nightmare went to take a step back. Liquor was not lost this action, even in his drunken state, and took a step forward, down the first step of the flight of stairs.

  "A-ah, hey Liquor. What brings you here?" she asked, stuttering. The drunkard grinned wider and took another step forward, which made Nightmare take one back. "Oh, just settling an old debt with your parents. You know, a lot of stallions here can't wait for you to grow up."

  The way he said those things made more alarm bells go off. "Yeah, and why's that?" she asked, attempting to stall for time.

  Liquor shrugged, replying, "Oh, well, ya see, there's this thing called the birds and the bees. It may sound like an animal thing, and technically it is, but for us ponies, it's special. And, well, stallions prefer to have it with gorgeous, unique, young mares, much like yourself. Get it, little filly?"

  Her mind had gone beyond full grown panic. She knew exactly what he was talking about, but knew revealing that her mother told her the other day would be a very bad idea. "O-oh. Sounds interesting. Can't wait to learn about it. Hehe...."

  Everything seemed to pause as the two stared each other down. Then Liquor made his move. He rushed down the stairs, making Nightmare react by bolting toward her room. Slamming the door shut, she quickly turned her dresser, which was to the side of the door, in front of her door. Banging was heard not a second later as the drunken stallion tried to get in. "Oh Niiiiightmaaaare. Let your uncy Liquor in!"

  Ignoring him, she dove into her closet's hidden space and curled up inside. A few minutes later she heard her door bust open with the sound of splintering wood. Nightmare nearly forgot how to breath as the drunkard stumbled into her room, rage apparent on his face. "Come on, you ungrateful little brat! Show yourself!"

  Cowering in fear, Nightmare remained as silent as a butterfly, barely managing to get in air in her terrified state. She could hear him clopping around her room, searching and cussing up a storm. Then, the hoofsteps stopped. Nightmare's heart dropped into her stomach, for they had ended right outside the closet.

  Suddenly, an eye appeared in a narrow slit of the hatch. "There you are."

  Acting on instinct, Nightmare turned around in the crowded space and bucked with all her might. The hatch burst open, hitting Liquor clear in the face and sending him flying. Seeing her chance, Nightmare scrambled out and shot like a bullet from her bedroom. She was halfway up the stairs by the time she realized there was no sounds of pursuit.

  Eyebrows furrowing, she tiphoofed back down to her doorway and peeked inside. What she saw nearly made her laugh, had she not been terrified of waking him. There was Liquor, unconscious, drooling a puddle onto her floor. His hindhooves were up in the air above his face, with his back against the wall where her bed used to be before he had tossed it in his search.

  Feeling slightly more safe, but also knowing he could wake up soon, Nightmare went back to the stairs, up them, and inside her parents' bedroom.

  It was there when she finally saw how the drunk got in. Quickly, she rushed over and slammed the window shut. Sighing in relief, she went to the door of her mom and dad's room and shut it, locking it. Stupidly enough, it and the front door were the only things to have locks. No windows did, nor her bedroom door. Oh well. Not like they could offord the things.

  After waiting for what seemed like hours, Nightmare finally heard the front door burst open, then slam shut, and her mother call, "Nightmare! Sweety, where are you?!"

  Unlocking the door, Nightmare threw it open, and rushed downstairs, leaping into her mom's embrace. "Mom! Dad! Godmommy Disco!" she said, delighted to see them all here, especially her godmother, who rarely visited.

  Disco gave her a quick smile before a pissed-off scowl overtook her. "Alright, where is the asshole?! I will rip his precious meat sack right off him!"

  Wincing at her godmother's choice of words, Nightmare pointed to her splintered door. Disco marched inside. Then couldn't stop laughing. "Ahahahahahahahahahaha! Kid's got your strength, Brute!" she laughed out, dragging the still sleeping Liquor from the room. Everyone could see the huge bump on the idiot's head.

  Peacock looked down at her daughter, who had stopped hugging her and had turned to watch. "You knocked him out? How?"

  Feeling suddenly awkward under the three adults' gazes, Nightmare rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I had gone into the closet space like any smart pony woulda done, but then he found me! Before he could open the door, I turned and bucked the thing open. And, well, his head was right there..."

  More laughter erupted around the room, and Peacock hugged Nightmare again. "Oh Moony, you truly are my clever little filly."