Insomnia

“Oh, hello! My name is Silver Charm; I work here. I noticed you sitting here alone, and.... No, no that's too formal. Hi I'm Silver! Are you here alone? Oh for pony’s sake you just sound like a creep now. Maybe something more like-”

“Miss Charm!”

I spun away from the mirror, startled by Joe's sudden, uninvited presence behind me.

“Y-yes sir?” I gulped, wondering how much of my little rehearsal he might have witnessed.

“Your break’s been over for five minutes and we got customers. So, basically, get your flank behind the counter pronto!”

Had I lost track of time again? I could have sworn I checked the wall clock just seconds ago.

“I'm sorry; I won't let it happen again,” I promised.

“Yeah, sure,” Joe scoffed before turning back towards the main dining area.

“Wait!” I interjected, remembering just what I had been practicing for. “Can I have, um, just one more minute to, uh...” I struggled to bring the right words to my mouth, but Joe made it unnecessary.

“Yeah, go get him,” he said dejectedly, rolling his eyes as he left the back room.

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks when I realized he had witnessed more of my little “rehearsal” than I had hoped, but I dismissed the embarrassment quickly. I had to do this.

Alright, now’s your chance.

I psyched myself up, took a deep breath, and stepped into the main dining area of the doughnut shop.

Quickly scanning the tables, I searched for the pony I had seen before retreating to the back room, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Another chance at freedom had eluded me; it was rare to come across a single stallion in this area of Canterlot, let alone a rich one that could put me in a position to quit this minimum wage job for good.

I trudged back to the counter and prepared to spend the rest of my day mindlessly taking orders, packaging baked goods, and preparing the dark ichor these ponies called coffee - all the while daydreaming of a rich, naive unicorn coming along and becoming my ticket out of here.

What does it take for a mare to get a guy around here anyways? Though I suppose the obscene number of mares in Canterlot as opposed to the very few stallions doesn’t exactly give me the best odds.

The day went like most any day of mine had for the past few years. I dreamt up fantasies across a long shift of menial labor, before heading back home just to listen to my parents lecturing me about putting myself out there, and something about my full potential. In the end, I was simply resetting the same day again via a barely restful night of sleep.

I was particularly sick of having to cater to our pegasus and earth pony customers. Unicorns could handle their purchases with grace by using their magic. These non magic-users, on the other hoof, required special attention. They could barely manage to throw their waste in the bin, let alone eat and drink it all in the first place

Maybe they couldn't help what race they were born, but they could at least leave sophisticated actions to more sophisticated ponies.

I kept myself distracted with my wandering thoughts for the next few hours until it was finally time for the shop to close for the night.

I swiftly cleaned up the tables and my work station. I clocked out, nodding a goodbye to Joe.

“See ya in the morning then, Miss Charm?”

I rolled my eyes, scoffing at him.

“Is that really even a question at this point, Joe? What choice do I have? It was hard enough getting you to hire me.”

Joe snorted, and stamped one of his hooves on the hard floor.

“Keep your attitude and I may be inclined to retract that favor, kid - and that's Mr. Joe to you.”

I didn't bother turning back to reply, instead heading out the door and calling back to him.

“Good night, Joe”

It was still quite bright outside, but the sun was just beginning to touch the horizon, so it wouldn't be much longer before darkness fell.

Barely enough time in the day to do anything for myself, part of the reason I just have to keep hoping an eligible unicorn will come into the coffee shop one day to sweep me away, instead of just going out to search for one like-

My inner monologue was interrupted as something plowed into my rear end, knocking me onto the ground and disorienting me.

What the hay was that?

I steadied myself onto all fours, and spun around, trying to spot what had knocked me down. Up the road a ways I saw a pony, galloping away at an alarming pace - most likely to avoid getting his flank kicked when I caught him.

“You aren't getting away that easy. Didn’t notice the horn did ya?”

My horn illuminated with it’s typical blue glow as I reached out to wrap the pony in a telekinetic field. I succeeded in stopping him in his tracks, and began struggling to pull him back to me across the distance he had been able to span while I was discombobulated.

“Just who do you think you- oof!”

Another force struck my hindquarters, this one was different though: it felt much sturdier, and colder than the first.

I was able to catch myself from falling this time, but it required releasing my telekinetic grip on the pony. I no longer needed to hold him as it turned out, though, as the second force that had struck me was one of a pair of guards. They now had the pony pinned down to the pavement.

“Ha! serves you right, cretin.” I brushed myself off and slowly trotted over to where the guards were still struggling to keep the stallion pinned down.

Suddenly he stopped struggling, and his horn began to glow, but one of the guards quickly snapped a ring onto the unicorns horn: a ring designed by the guards to inhibit magic use. Immediately, the glow of his horn became very faint, none of its glow going beyond the point the ring was wrapped around.

He slowly turned his head towards me, locking eyes with me with a listless expression.

“Bet you regret running now, huh?” I taunted, flipping my mane to the side.

“Heh....” The unicorn’s expression quickly changed to a sinister grin, and a fierce look washed over his eyes. “You are the one that will regret meddling in business you know nothing about, little filly.”

I was admittedly quite disturbed by his sudden change in demeanor, but I put on a mask of bravery.

“Is that so? Because it looks to me like you're the one being put in hoof cuffs, and I'm-”

For a third time I was interrupted and knocked to the ground, this time much more forcefully than the others. This time it wasn't another pony, but instead what seemed to be a shockwave from the criminal’s horn.

But, that should be impossible... right?!

The air filled with smoke before I even had a chance to look back up. The smoke dissipated  quickly, but when it did, only the guards remained, looking dazed and confused.

“What happened? What was that shockwave?! Shouldn't that have been im-”

“Ma'am.”

Being interrupted seemed to be a trend today as the guard began speaking over me.

“What do you know about that stallion?”

I was quite frankly offended at the guard’s complete lack of interest in my well-being, but knew it was in my best interest to answer him.

“Well, I know he knocked me on my ass, and that he just did the same to you two pansies.”

“So you never met him before now?” The guard looked very serious; it felt like his questioning gaze was piercing my soul.

“N-no, I've no idea who he was, why?” I was genuinely puzzled by the guards strange concern with the unidentified pony.

“Just forget what you saw here tonight, okay? Go home; we’ll take care of this.”

The first night in a long time something interesting is going on, and now the guards are lecturing me to go home and ignore it? Nah, not having that.

“I need to know what was going on and- hey!”

The guards ignored me, and began galloping back the way they had come from. They promptly disappeared around a corner.

Ugh, so that's it? No compensation? No justice? What is this place coming to?

I had no real choice but to head home. I couldn't very well stalk the guards without consequence, and the other pony had disappeared completely.

I went home and headed inside, grabbing the mail off the floor as I walked in. My parents had taken a short trip to Ponyville for some political rally or something, and wouldn't be back until tomorrow afternoon. I started to toss the mail on the table, then heard the mail flap on the door clink as another letter fell through the door.

I opened the door and looked outside, I looked left, right, and all around, but saw nopony at all.

“Weird....”

I lifted the piece of parchment from the ground with my magic and illuminated it. The first side was blank, but on the opposite side was some sort of design. There was a hoofprint, with a crescent passing through it horizontally, and two rings in the space made between them.

What in Equestria is this supposed to be, an advertisement or something? I've never seen this logo before... yet, it seems familiar somehow.

I placed the parchment aside and locked and bolted the front door. Becoming increasingly worried by the strange events of the night, I made sure all the doors and windows were secure before getting ready for bed. What sleep I did get that night was far from restful though.

In my dream, there was complete darkness, aside from a small light in the distance. It appeared that the light was from some sort of lantern, at my best guess.

I walked towards it, but no matter how much I walked it didn’t seem to get any closer, or brighter. I heard a voice.

“Why... resist....”

Before I could answer, or question the voice, there was a flash of light.

I went through my usual routine the next morning, a bit anxious from the strange dream I had coupled with the events of the night. Before heading to work I took another look at the symbol on the paper I had received, still puzzling over why it seemed familiar to me. Nothing ever came to mind though.

I grabbed my things and opened the door to head outside, where it was still slightly dark out. I locked the door behind me, and turned around to begin walking. I saw a flash of color, followed immediately by blackness.