Insomnia

I had another dream. I was in the same darkness as the first dream, and saw the same light in the distance.

As if the torture of my real-life situation wasn't enough, I had to be plagued in my dreams as well.

The light was much closer this time. I could almost make out the form of a pony within it, but if it was a pony, it was terribly deformed.

It spoke to me again.

"Why do... you hide?" The disembodied voice seemed to be coming from all directions, as if I were somehow within the source. It was a regal voice, like that of royalty. There was an ethereal echo to it.

"Who even are you, and what do you want with me?" I called towards it. I felt a bit silly attempting to speak to my own dream.

"I am truth…. You are... deceived."

The voice of the light-pony sent a chill through my body.

"By whom?" I enquired, dissatisfied with such a vague answer. "Who is deceiving me?"

The light stayed silent for a few moments.

"Look there's a lot of ponies that could be deceiving me so if you want me to take any stock in what you say, you'll need to tell me something I don't already know. You are just a dream after all; I could just be going crazy with this cult stuff going on."

The being appeared to shudder at my words, as much as an almost-pony made of light can shudder, that is.

"Cultists," it finally said. "They are... the ones."

That would be no real surprise. This thing could just be bluffing though, assuming it is even separate from my mind, since I kinda just mentioned the cult.

I decided to see if the creature could give me some specifics, since it seemed so sure of itself.

"If you really know that they're trying to trick me, then tell me what they're planning to do in Manehattan."

It shouldn't be able to answer if it's just my subconscious, right?.

"Mane...hattan?"

"Now entering Manehattan station! Please keep all heads, tails, and hooves inside the train until we reach a complete stop."

The conductor's voice coming over the train's intercom nearly caused me to jump out of my seat as I awoke, eliciting a chuckle from Starfire.

"Mornin' sunshine," he said with a smile. "We was afraid you weren't gonna wake up."

"That's enough," Candy scolded, rolling her eyes. "We have to get off here, and we don't want to be late."

These guys are just way too goofy to be killers and kidnappers. I wonder how they ended up working with a cult.

The four of us gathered what meager supplies we had and stepped off the train. I was taken aback by what I saw. Sure, I had seen postcards with pictures of Manehattan, but seeing these huge skyscrapers in the flesh was a different feeling entirely.

Ponies were darting to and fro, all in a rush. Taxi-carriages were lining the streets as far as the eye could see, and not a single pony seemed to stop for even a moment.

I realized, as I stood there awestruck, that my mouth had been hanging open. I quickly shut it, hoping I hadn't been noticed.

"Quite a change from the serenity of Canterlot isn't it?" Candy turned to ask me. I only nodded.

"So if you don't mind my interrupting, where is it we're supposed to be going?" Starfire walked to the edge of the train platform and stretched out his wings. A low groan came from his gut. "Somewhere with some food?" he added hopefully.

"Well actually, we've got a while before we're supposed to meet with the, uh, client. Something to eat wouldn't  be a bad idea," Candy agreed.

I thought this was a mission of some kind, not a vacation.

Rather than protest only to be overruled, I begrudgingly went along with it. As we walked, I chose to stay towards the rear, alongside Crush. He was my favorite of the group; he hadn't said a single word since we met.

Candy and Starfire eventually managed to settle upon a simple sandwich shop to eat from. I wasn't particularly interested in sharing lunch with them, as that meant even more talking.

This city is pretty crowded... a pony could easily disappear into the throngs of citizens.

Before I had a chance to try out that theory, however, Candy had taken me under her wing and was dragging me to a table.

As she sat me down I saw a gryphon at a nearby table eating what appeared to be a large piece of meat. I had the sudden urge to vomit.

“Urgh…. D-do we have to eat here?" I asked, holding a forehoof over my muzzle.

"What's wrong?" Starfire looked around for a moment before spotting what offended my stomach so. He shook his head. "Girl, I'm sorry to say, but that's hardly the worst thing you're gonna see in a city this big."

"Can I at least switch places with somepony so I don't have to watch?"

Candy gave me a half smile, then nodded at her brother. Crush got up, allowing  me to switch to the other side of the table.

"He's right though," Candy began, "and that's just a cultural thing. There are ponies who do things that... that shouldn't be acceptable in any place. In broad daylight no less."

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Like knocking somepony out and dragging them to their lair?" I said, letting my disgust drip from my words.

Starfire banged a hoof on the table, frightening both Candy and me.

"Now listen here little filly," he began, his voice raised, "wasn't none of us that hit you, and if things had gone according to protocol nopony would have! So you wallow in self-pity all you want, we have to protect our own first and foremost."

"Starfire, please." Candy put a forehoof on his shoulder. "Don't make a scene."

I looked around, noticing some of the ponies at the tables nearest us giving us sideways glares. Candy turned to me.

"Look, I know you're frightened, and we didn't exactly give you any reason to trust us. You have to believe that we don't mean you any harm though."

"There are a multitude of reasons I can't believe that. Mostly the knocking me out cold, kidnapping me, forcing me to work, and then refusing to tell me anything about your society part."

Candy winced at my words, looking to the ground and tracing circles with a hoof.

"Just stick with us through this; I promise you'll get an explanation.... After that, the rest is up to you. You have to earn our trust just as much as we have to earn yours."

“Or else I get my mind wiped right?” I grumbled.

Candy sighed.

“Look, if you want some answers... just ask. If I can’t answer, I won’t, but I’ll try to answer what I can.”

“Well first off... why the hay did you kidnap me? That seems like a good start.”

“It’s already been said, you attacked the courier, you were deemed a threat. End of story.”

“Enough of a threat to have my mind wiped and to kick me out of Canterlot?”

She hesitated for a few moments, looking over to Starfire, who nodded at her.

“If we were to be compromised... we wouldn’t stand a chance. Our group is small, at least, compared to those who would oppose us. The courier said you attacked him without even seeing the guards, so he assumed you knew about... us.”

Regarding her with suspicion, I responded.

“So you just took his word for it?”

“I’m the one who vouched for you, or did you forget already? I am the only reason you aren’t braindead right now,” she reminded me in a callous tone.

Her words stunned me. She was right, if she hadn’t spoke up, I wouldn’t have been able to talk my way out of that basement.

“I’m... I’m sorry. I’ve been ungrateful to you. Your cult’s actions, however, I can’t forgive so easily.”

She only nodded.

We went the rest of the meal without speaking, but it was far from silent. The constant noises of Manehatten were a big change from the calmer streets of Canterlot. Though that was to be expected, I thought, being a melting pot of many races and bloodlines of ponies and gryphons, rather than being filled with thoroughbred families like Canterlot.

Everypony rushed about from place to place, never staying still for long. I thought how horrible it must be to live among such constant commotion.

Crush broke the silence within our group by tapping his hoof on the pavement. We each looked up to him, and he pointed a hoof to his opposite foreleg.

"Oh, is it time now?" Candy looked at the wall clock that hung beside the shop's entrance. "Let's be off then."

Starfire stuffed his head into his saddlebag, emerging with a few bits between his teeth.

This is exactly what we need another unicorn for, that is just gross.

He dropped the bits onto the table as we got up to continue through the streets on our search for this "client".

We walked for a while before stopping at a fairly busy intersection. Candy put a wing around my back, and I recoiled slightly, remembering her dragging me around earlier. She adjusted my angle and pointed to a small pony-drawn carriage that a light-green unicorn mare clad with a cape was packing some seemingly random items into.

"Fireworks, playing cards, and... mirrors? What is she, a magician?"

"Precisely," Starfire confirmed. "She's the one we're here to deliver a message to."

"Address her as Aura, and wait for her to give an answer to the message you give."

"Wait, me? Why me?" I questioned.

"You won't be recognized. I mean, there shouldn't be guards, but if there are, they're not likely to recognize you like they might one of us," Candy explained. "Besides, this is your test, remember? You want to get that ring off your horn so you can be rid of us?"

"Now hurry up, before she leaves." Starfire pushed me with his head.

I turned and snorted at him, but it only managed to make him chuckle, rather than intimidating him.

Welp, here goes nothing.

I trotted to the other side of the street and approached the light-green mare's carriage. I got a better look at her now, and noticed she was quite a well-groomed unicorn, a sight for sore eyes in this city.

She was expertly maneuvering her things into the carriage when she noticed me and turned.

"Show's over, what do you want dear?" Her voice was elegant, and a little proud.

Oh it is so nice to finally hear somepony speak with intelligence again.

"Message for Aura?" Instinctually, I tried to lift the letter from my saddlebag with magic, instantly triggering a horrible headache. I recoiled in pain.

Celestia damn this ring to Tartarus. I'm gonna make a fool of myself.

I reached my head into my bag and awkwardly removed the letter with my teeth, hoofing it over to the mare who was grinning at my little display.

She looked all around, then slowly unrolled the scroll. She only viewed it for a few moments before wrapping it back up, and making it disappear in a puff of flames.

"I accept," she said, staring at me expectantly.

I stood there a few seconds, unsure of what to do next.

They didn't exactly explain to me what to do once I got a response. Oops.

I cleared my throat.

"I, uh... wasn't told what the note said, so."

"Where are your superiors then?" she asked, squinting her eyes at me. She quickly took a look around, ears at attention.

I looked back to the other side of the street, and saw Starfire hovering slightly above the rest of the crowd. I was about to gesture to him, but first saw him wildly gesturing his own forelegs at me. From what I could tell, he was urging me to move.

I turned back to Aura, she was no longer facing me. I traced her stare to a pair of guards standing at our side.

A guard! Maybe I can tell them about these cultists and—

“Ma’am.” One of the guards nodded a greeting to Aura, then turned to face me. “I just happened to walk by this fair mare’s stand, and noticed you wearing a rather quaint piece of jewelry on your horn. Where did you get it?”

Oh shit... the anti-magic ring. He probably thinks I’m on the run. So much for getting help.

“Some... friends gave it to me. Isn’t it lovely?” I struck a pose, angling myself away from the guards in the process. I noticed Aura’s horn glowing. “I think it looks lovely with my mane, don’t you?” I asked, fluttering my eyelashes in an attempt to prolong the distraction.

“What’s your name, miss?” The guard asked without missing a beat.

“You give me your name and I’ll give you mine,” I teased.

Just then, there was a green flash and both Aura and I were on the other side of the street alongside the others.

“Run!” I yelped after gaining my footing.

I glanced back and saw the guards were already halfway across the street. Any ponies in their path were quickly clearing the way for them.

Of all the times for these ponies to start acting courteous.

All of us took off in the opposite direction of the guards, all except Starfire.

“Where is he going?” Aura asked between gasps for air.

“Hopefully to run interference for us!” Candy replied, quickening her pace.

We rounded a corner, only to run into another pair of guards, who noticed the guards in pursuit behind us. They too joined in the chase. We turned the only way we could, down an alleyway, only to be met with a wall.

“Dead end....” Aura said, powering her horn and forming a forcefield between us and the guards.

I turned and saw Crush behind us, but Candy was nowhere to be seen.

Pegasi....

One of the guards chuckled, his mouth slowly curling into a grim smile.

“We have the right to use deadly force against these types, yeah?”

“I don’t see nobody watching... so that’s a yes,” another said matter-of-factly.

The unicorn guard’s horn began glowing brightly, and a second layer of magical energy even layered over the first. This was going to be a kill-shot, even with the shield up.

Right before the would-be killer’s spell went off though, something fell onto his horn from above. There was an enormous explosion that expelled Aura’s forcefield and knocked all three of us back against the wall.

When the smoke cleared, all that I could see were black stains on the ground and walls, surrounded by molten puddles of metal, which I assumed were from the guard’s armor.

“Those rings sure come in handy,” Candy said from above, sounding a little too giddy about what she had just done. “Come on, Starfire’s distracting the rest, let’s go!”

What a gruesome way to die....

I couldn’t dwell on the situation now though, if I wanted to avoid getting cornered again. I followed after Candy and the others as fast as my hooves could carry me. I could see Starfire fighting in midair with a pegasus guard out of the corner of my eye as we ran away from the alley.

“Where are we even running to? The train station?” I yelled to Candy.

“What? That would be a terrible idea! They aren’t just gonna stop chasing us because we get onto public transportation!”

She had a point.

“We’re just gonna get as far away from the city as we can, we might have to walk back, but that’s a price we’ll just have to pay for our lives.”

The outskirts of the city seemed relatively unpatrolled and calm, at least compared to where we had just left.

Starfire finally caught up to us as we were crossing the city line.

“I think I lost ‘em,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. “That was a good workout.”

He looked to Aura, then flew over to Candy and whispered something into her ear. In a moment, Candy began hovering and slowly worked her way above the group. She began flying directly above Aura.

I regarded her with suspicion, then suddenly had a realization.

Is she really going to go for the same trick twice?

“Aura,” I spoke up. “Watch your head.”

She looked up, and was met with an anti-magic ring to the eye.

She yelped in pain.

“Now what did you do that for?” Candy said, furrowing her brow at me.

“We gotta have somepony with magic around here,” I deadpanned.

Aura turned and smiled at me.

“Thanks, um...”

“Silver,” I informed her proudly.

“Yes, thank you Silver, but I agreed to it. It was in the letter.”

My jaw dropped.

“Not everypony is as stubborn about taking necessary precautions as you, Silver,” Starfire snickered.

“Well not everypony is asked nicely before forced to wear something that inhibits what makes them useful,” I stated, flaring my nostrils.

“If that’s all that makes you useful, then you’re in bad shape,” Starfire said with much too large a grin on his face.

I give up.

After Candy applied her anti-magic ring, Aura slowed her gait and walked beside me.

“I don’t like it either darling, but it’s a good cause.”

“Yeah, well the problem is they won’t even tell me what the cause is.”

She stopped and turned towards me. She cocked her head at me, eyes widened.

“Wait, you really don’t know what they do?”

“I apparently pissed off one of their ponies, got kidnapped, and almost got my mind wiped. Candy ‘saved’ me though, and got me sent on a mission with them.”

We continued walking.

“Well that’s... unfortunate.”

“You’re tellin’ me.” I kicked at the dirt with one of my forehooves as we walked.

“Well,” Aura began, “All I really know is-”

“We’re in luck, ponies!” Starfire interrupted, before speeding up ahead.

I looked towards where he was headed, and saw an abandoned sky-carriage.

“Oh thank Luna! My hooves are killing me.” Aura sighed in relief.

“This thing’ll get us back twice as fast as that lousy train with me and Candy pulling it.” Starfire excitedly did a somersault in the air.

“I’m no expert but, it looks a little... broken.” I pointed at the rotting boards and broken harness.

“Nothing big bro can’t handle, right?” Candy looked at Crush with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

Crush removed his saddlebags and began peering through their contents. After a moment he looked back up at us and blew his mane out of his eyes.

He nodded.