Prologue- No Time For Farewells
This had to be what hell was like. Endless torture through boredom.
I watched as mares and stallions in bright blue uniforms with polished officer badges on their chests go about their business, filling out paperwork at their desks or talking cases amongst themselves, inside the police station. They paid no attention to the lights that flickered on and off every few minutes. Neither did the three ponies they arrested earlier warrant any attention. They were content with us dying of boredom upon those blue seats bolted to the wall, each one flaked with rust and covered with the red or yellow stains of previous occupants. Steel bands connected by equally hard links of chain locked around our hooves allowed the officers to continue ignoring us, knowing we couldn’t escape.
I, the great unicorn thief Dusk Flare, just so happened to be sitting in the middle seat between two ponies, both of whom were stuck with me in this police station. A stoic pegasus mare with too many facial piercings was sitting on the seat to my right, her eyes locked onto my face. She tried to put her hoof on my leg, only to have it smacked aside by my own. This process, much to my dislike, repeated over and over again. Meanwhile, an Earth Pony stallion sat to my left rocking back and forth with his head down. He kept scratching at his cheek to the point blood began trickling down his hoof and chin and dripped on the clear linoleum floor. All the while muttering conspiracy theories under his breath. He wasn’t as much of a bother considering he at least respected my privacy and didn’t call me a bitch every few minutes.
This was my particular hell for what felt like hours until I heard the annoyed voice of a stallion.
“Nice to see you again, Dusk.”
I looked up and sighed at the appearance of a dirt-brown earth pony, his expression mirroring my own. “Really? You again?"
“I’m not pleased about it either,” the stallion said before he leaned his head down, opening the flap of his jacket pocket with his teeth. A metal ring of jangling keys then came out.
“Isn’t that against the rules, Fresh Soil?” I said, watching as the officer sorted through the keys. Once he found it, he went on to unlocking the steel bands around my hooves. With a final click, the cuffs fell onto the linoleum floor. “I thought criminals had to be cuffed at all times?”
“I’ve known you for years, Dusk. Nopony is in danger if you’re not in cuffs,” he answered pocketing the keys. He waved his hoof at me and pointed to a hallway of doors. “Come on, we have a lot to talk about.”
I followed behind the officer with a scowl on my face, rubbing where the cuffs used to be on my right foreleg. I already knew we were going into the interrogation room at the far end of hallway. I’d taken this trip many times before. To be honest, it was nerve-wracking the first time I visited that interrogation room. I couldn’t sit still, my mind raced to worst-case scenarios, and sweat poured out of me like a faucet. Now? Now it was just an unpleasant experience on the same level as a dentist appointment. As least with dentists you get something out of it like no painful cavities or a nice smile. There was no such silver lining with interrogations.
Is Ivory’s Diner serving lunch right now? I could really go for a nice hay burger and fries with a Sparkle-Cola Cherry. I thought during our trip to the interrogation room. That waitress Lemony… something is pretty hot. I heard she broke up with her boyfriend recently so… two birds with one stone?
Ignoring my growling stomach and perverted thoughts about sexy waitresses, I sat down in the chair reserved for me in the interrogation room while Fresh Soil sat in his usual seat opposite of me. The stallion dropped a stack of folders onto the table but my wandering eyes focused on the overly familiar room instead of the folders between us. The white walls that were in dire need of a new paint job, the one-way mirror, the recording talisman hanging in the corner of the ceiling, and even the gum from my last visit was still stuck underneath the table.
I wonder if any of the police noticed the insults I wrote here during my last visit? I thought feeling for any tiny grooves on the underside of the table.
“Do you know why you’re here, Dusk?” Fresh Soil asked.
My eyes stopped their wandering and focused back on the officer. “Because I’m so handsome, it must be a crime?”
Fresh Soil rolled his eyes. He then pushed forward a black and white picture of a serious-looking unicorn mare wearing a suit. “You were arrested for pickpocketing, Dusk. Again, I might add. And from a respected Ministry of Arcane Sciences official no less.”
“The only crime here is how much our government is paying their employees,” I replied with a smirk. I crossed my front hooves behind my head and leaned back. “You of all people should know that, Fresh Soil.”
Fresh Soil groaned while he rubbed his eyes. “Dusk, I know what you’re trying to do.”
“Oh yeah? And what would that be?”
“You’re stalling for time by irritating me until your mother gets here and uses some law bullshit to get you out of this mess,” he answered.
“This is a surprise, Fresh Soil,” I chuckled as I clopped my hooves together for added insult. “I honestly believed you were the same as the rest of the force but you’ve proven to me that you’re just a touch above the average. To reward this burst of surprising intelligence, I admit I may have used my personal call to inform my mother of the situation.”
Fresh Soil bit his lower lip before sighing. “Dusk, you cannot keep being this thorn in your mother’s side. You’ve got to stop relying on her to save you every time you get into trouble.” Fresh Soil brought a hoof down on the table, making me jump in my chair. “You’re an adult, Dusk! Start acting like it!”
Sure, I understand why Fresh Soil and just about everyone else complained about me crying for mommy every time I got sent to the police station but could you blame me? My mother, Midnight Mist, was one of the best lawyers in the entire Crystal Empire, maybe even Equestria. She once got the charges against a zebra dropped even when all evidence was against her. Ponies would have to shell out their life savings to afford my mother and yet, I didn’t have to pay a single bit because I just so happen to be her flesh and blood.
Fresh Soil, however, didn’t appreciate how much of a pain I was to such a respected and beloved pony such as Midnight Mist. He shouldn’t have been complaining though. It’s only because of me that he got to talk to my mom every time she came to pick me up. It wasn’t hard to notice that look in his eyes when she came walking in. Just about every stallion her age has the same look in their eyes when they saw her trotting into the room.
Fresh Soil sighed yet again before he continued. “Dusk, I know you can do better. You’re a smart pony. Smarter than half the force here, I admit. You’re wasting your potential-”
As if on cue, a middle-aged unicorn in a dark blue suit with an ash grey coat and violet mane near-identical to my own, barged into the interrogation room. I had only a second to brace myself at the sight of her hoof before it made contact with my face.
Only my mother could get away with assaulting her son inside a police station.
“What am I going to do with you, Dusk Flare!” my mother yelled while I recovered on the floor of the interrogation room. “How many times do I have to bail you out? Huh? I want a number, Dusk! I want to know how times we go through with this parade before you learn your fucking lesson!”
Fresh Soil adjusted his tie and raised his hoof to speak. “Miss Midnight, I just want to say how lovely-”
My mother swung her head to the officer and jabbed her hoof into his chest. “And you! I don’t appreciate being interrupted during work to be told my son has been arrested again!”
“But your son called-”
“I’ve contacted the mare involved and she’s willing to drop the charges after receiving a formal letter of apology from my son,” my mother said, interrupting the officer again. A light purple aura surrounded my body, lifting me off the floor and into the air. “With no charges against my son, I’m free to take this idiot home and there’s nothing you can say to stop me.”
Fresh Soil bit his lip and then opened his mouth to speak but snapped it shut after my mother pierced him with her burning glare. He and none of the other officers would argue against my mother. She had far more experience in the art of pointless arguing than anypony else in the building. She would leave with me no matter what.
I stuck my tongue out at the officer while I floated out the door. On the way out, I snatched a coffee cup full of a fragrant dark brown liquid off of Fresh Soil’s desk. None of the other officers noticed, each one too busy with their own work, but the mare with a face full of piercings witnessed my petty crime. She zipped her mouth, giving me a smile before disappearing from my sight.
She’s going to blackmail me into sleeping with her, I just know it. I thought while taking a sip of lukewarm and cheap coffee.
Well… maybe if she takes off the piercings.
…
A filly-like robot came galloping toward us the instant her glowing pink eyes caught sight of my mother and I. She bounced circles around Mom, blinding me with the reflection of the sun off her polished silver body, before doing a complete stop in front of her owner. My mother dropped me onto the hard cement, quite painfully I should add, to pat the robot’s mane, sculpted out of swirling pink steel, and calm her down.
“Welcome back, Midnight!” Sugar Song screeched. Every time she spoke, it was like a whistle going off. I plugged my ears with my front hooves, levitating the coffee cup up to my mouth to take another sip. “Now that you’re done helping the parasite, do you want to get some of your favorite double-crème brie and bread at the usual store?”
“I would love some later, Sugar,” my mom said patting the robot’s head again. “But I have to deal with my stupid son right now.”
Sugar turned her glowing pink eyes at me. The robot’s glowing eyes switched to a bright red while several mechanical arms popped out of her back, each one carrying a different tool or cooking utensil.
“I’ll deal with the parasite, Midnight!” Sugar told her owner. “Don’t let him stop you from enjoying your lunch.”
I probably should have mentioned that Sugar Song was a gift from Robronco after my mother successfully defended them in a case involving illegal business practices two years ago. Sugar Song was one of the early prototype developed by Mr. Horse before he moved on to creating robotic versions of the Stable-Tec founders when they were fillies. It was still obvious he built Sugar to resemble Sweetie Belle though. Mr. Horse decided it was the perfect gift for the lawyer who saved him millions of bits. I’d much rather have gotten a Mister Handy for a gift but Sugar Song did just as many chores as a Mister Handy and my mother loved how cute she looked doing it.
I hated the robot. The feeling was mutual.
“Any last words, parasite?” She asked inching a flathead screwdriver, a spatula, a pair of pliers, and several different knifes closer and closer to my face.
An exasperated sigh left my mouth. “Remind me to inform Mr. Horse that he should make future models waterproof.”
I tipped the coffee cup I levitated over her head upside down, dumping the brown liquid on her mechanical body. Curses flew out of the robot’s mouth before sparks began flying out of her joints. Her head spun around, eyes flashing different lights, while her limbs flailed around uncontrollably. I tossed the coffee cup into a nearby trash bin, watching the light show with a small smile on my face. The show ended when Sugar collapsed on the ground, the glow of her eyes fading away as her systems shut down.
I caught sight of a hoof coming straight for my face in the corner of my eye. Again, I felt the hard surface of my mother’s hoof make contact with the side of my head.
“How could you do that to Sugar, Dusk!?” Mom screamed while I recovered on the ground. “I’m going to have to call Robronco for repairs again!”
“Just put her in a tub of rice, Mom,” I joked, rubbing my stinging cheek. “I heard that really helps with water damaged machines."
My joke earned me another right hook. Seriously, my jaw felt like it was going pop right off my skull if I was struck again.
“She was threatening me, Mom! You saw her!” I argued, pointing a hoof at the robot lying on the cement in a broken mess.
“She wouldn’t go through with it, Dusk!” she argued back. “Robronco and Mr. Horse assured me none of their robots can ever hurt ponies on purpose!”
“Really? Cause it sure looked like Sugar was ready to shove a screwdriver up my ass!”
“Dusk, stop being such a stupid-” my mother forced her mouth shut. Her face turned a bright shade of red but that disappeared just as quickly after she took several deep breaths. “...I don’t want to argue right now.”
My mother picked up Sugar with her magic, surrounding her body with a purple aura that levitated her to a nearby bench. She flipped Sugar upside down in the air, letting the coffee drip out of her body, before putting her down onto the bench. I saw tears were welling up in her eyes before she buried her face in her hooves. Other ponies were looking at us with uncomfortable expressions on their faces before they disappeared from sight.
I could handle police interrogations but I was ill-equipped to deal with this situation. I’m not a good pony. I never believed I was. But only a complete monster would feel nothing when they see their mother crying.
“I’m sorry for breaking Sugar again, Mom,” I said taking a seat next to her. “I know how much you love her…” more than you love your own flesh and blood, I wanted to add. “I promise it won’t happen again.”
My mother swung her head out from her hooves to glare at me with her reddened and still tearful eyes. I received yet another hoof to the face and even though I knew it was coming, I didn’t bother to dodge. Other ponies passing by stared for a moment but moved on when they saw my mother’s expression.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said. “I won’t let you be an idiot like your father, Dusk Flare.”
I never once met my father but I heard from Mom that he now worked for the Ministry of Morale, interrogating ponies suspected of helping the zebras and other such war crimes. Apparently, I looked exactly like him but I was a unicorn while he was a Pegasus. Even our Cutie Marks were similar in meaning. Mine was of three cups with one cup revealing a star underneath while my father’s was a tongue made out of silver clouds. We were both good at tricking ponies to get what we want.
My father, a traveling salespony at the time, met my mother during the year she passed the bar exam. Eager to prove herself, she took on the case my father brought to her. She was so ecstatic when she got the charges against my father dropped, winning her first case, that she fell for the stallion’s honeyed words and against all common sense, begun a personal relationship with him. My father galloped out the door the moment she told him she was pregnant. He didn’t contact her once until I got my Cutie Mark at the age of ten. I still remember her murderous rage, screaming at my father to leave when he appeared at her front door a week later.
“I can’t do this anymore, Dusk,” Mom said. She levitated Sugar’s body closer to her and began realigning her limbs and stuffing her wires back inside her body. “Things have got to change between us. If they don’t, I… I don’t know if you can live with me anymore.”
“Mom! If this is about what I did to Sugar, I really won’t do it again! I mean it!”
I always knew we’d have this conversation one day, ever since I became an adult and remained in her house.
“Dusk, it’s not about Sugar,” she replied. “She can always be repaired. I am pissed you keep breaking her and wasting my bits but I’m more concerned about your future right now. My friends are right, I’m babying you too much lately with the free food, shelter, and lawyering. You have to start earning your keep and stop the stealing.”
“I tried getting a job, Mom! Nobody will hire me after they see my history!” I said jumping off the bench and onto my hooves. “You know I have a problem! I can’t keep my hooves off other ponies’ stuff even if I try.”
My ex-bosses were bastards. The worst kind of ponies. They took advantage of the poor and desperate. They deserved to have all the bits in their safes stolen. I wasn’t caught for that though. I was caught taking worthless junk off their desks, eating the product, or just plain being an ass to them.
“I knew that would happen so I called in a few favors and got you a job being a janitor at the Ministry of Image hub in the Diamond District.” She levitated a slip of paper out of her pocket and gave it to me. A phone number was written on it. “One of the best therapists in the entire Ministry of Peace is willing to help you overcome that problem of yours too. You just have to call him and set up an appointment.”
I heard the rumors about the therapists at the Ministry of Peace. If I went there, I would be pumped full of experimental drugs that would make me dumb and compliant.
“But Mom-”
“Don’t argue, Dusk! It’s this or the streets!” my mother snapped. She pointed a hoof at my face. “You should be grateful I’m even giving you a choice! If I had a choice, I would’ve never met your father!”
I could feel my throat tightening up, making it hard to breath normally. My vision got blurry while I tried my best to get words out of my unresponsive mouth.
“So… you wish you never had me, huh?”
The anger on her face disappeared, a shocked expression taking its place. Tears began to trickle out of my mother's eyes. “Dusk, I-I didn’t…”
“I’m just a huge disappointment you wish you never gave birth to! That’s what you want to say, right?”
“I never said that, Dusk!”
Sugar’s eyes opened then and began glowing a faint pink as her systems hummed back to life. She looked up at me and then to my mother’s, seeing the hooves over her mouth while tears flowed down her face.
“W-what’s happening, Midnight? Why are you crying?” she asked, trying to lift an unresponsive hoof to comfort her owner. “Is… is it the parasite? Is he making you cry again?”
My mother looked down at Sugar and shook her head. “No, Sugar, Dusk isn’t-”
“That’s right, Sugar.” I turned my back on the two. “I’m just a disappointing parasite to my mother…”
I galloped away as fast as my legs could move, ignoring the cries of my mother behind me.
…
I am not a good pony.
I liked stealing. Loved it in fact. My mom believes I simply have a kleptomania problem and while I do sometimes feel compelled to steal worthless junk that I discard later, I just loved the art of thievery. There’s something beautiful and awe-inspiring about getting past all the security a pony sets up and taking what they tried to protect. More so when that particular pony happens to a complete bastard cause then I view my crime as karmic justice.
Take the mare from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences I was caught pickpocketing from for example. She overworked her employees every day and took all the credit when they made a breakthrough. She believed I took only the bits in her pockets but really, I wanted the keys. I had exchanged the keys to her house in the Sapphire District with some generic keys that only unlocked some lockers at the train station. Each one with a different surprise inside for either her or the police I might add.
I then broke into her house later that day to steal some documents. After I had finished beating myself up in an alley, that is. Mom’s words were a blow to the heart but I had a job to finish before I descended into a self-pity party.
I had disguised myself as a simple toaster repair pony, in case any passing ponies witnessed me, and walked in through the front door.
For a pony working under Twilight Sparkle, her house was a mess. All kinds of magical junk like talismans and crystals were lying around on the furniture and shelves in disorganized piles but I wasn’t interested in stealing magical artifacts. My targets were the files she kept on her personal terminal. I found that terminal in a small secret room accessible only by pulling on the one book not covered in dust in the bookshelves of her bedroom.
The security on a Ministry official’s terminal was a formidable foe to say the least. I spent almost an hour at that chair hacking the terminal, watching lines of text race up the screen while my hooves worked on the keyboard. I was in no particular hurry since I knew for a fact that the owner wouldn’t be back for quite a while. She was currently working at the Ministry of Arcane Sciences' hub in the Diamond District and if my sources were correct, Twilight Sparkle herself is about to visit tomorrow. She probably had her hooves full getting the hub ready for the Ministry Mare’s visit.
A sigh of relief escaped my mouth when the terminal unlocked, giving me access to everything stored on it. There were some personal logs but I didn’t want to read the personal thoughts of a lonely mare older than my mother so I downloaded the files onto a holodisk and left the house in a flash.
My stomach, however, growled at me the moment I took a step outside the house.
...
“Steel Rangers raided an apartment complex in Manehattan today and found a group of Zebra-sympathizers plotting an attack on the Ministry of Morale hub in order to free the zebras trapped within. Sadly, a firefight broke out and several Rangers were injured. All the Zebra-sympathizers, however, were thankfully dealt with. In other news, Princess Cadence is ready to reveal more details about the Crystal Empire’s plans involving the expansion of the Crystal Heart’s influence as well as the plans to help the Crystal Ponies with their recent bout of depression after the disappearance of their hero, Spike the Brave and Glorious…”
“You know what, Ivory? I think my neighbor might be talking to a zebra. Every night she leaves her house and comes back in the middle of the night looking suspicious and all that. I once talked to her about it and she slammed the door in my face. Can you believe it?”
“Ponies should respect another pony’s privacy, Kite. What kind of world do we live in when everypony butts into other pony’s private lives?”
“You don’t get it. I’m telling you, she’s really suspicious. I’m sure one day MoM agents will appear and drag her out of her house. Then you’ll see that I’m right…”
I sipped Sparkle-Cola Cherry and took a bite of my hayburger while listening to both the radio and the conversation between the diner’s owner and a regular. Luna had raised the moon outside the diner’s window but the lights of the diner illuminated the diner with its artificial light. I tapped my hoof against my flank, against the holodisk resting in my pocket. My eyes watched every pony that passed outside, searching for the pony who hired me and sometimes taking in the eye candy of a hot mare’s rear as she walked by. A sprite-bot even floated through the streets, spouting off pre-recorded quotes from Pinkie Pie herself and playing music on its trip through the Crystal Empire. I was about ready to leave until I saw a pony wearing a trench coat with a fedora that hid his face trot up to the diner’s door.
The bell above the door rang as the pony entered. Ivory took one glance at the pony and pointed him my way without tipping off the pegasus pony still talking to him. The pony tipped his fedora down before he turned my way. My eyes glanced down at my food while the pony sat down opposite of me in the booth.
“Did you get it?” he asked resting his front hooves on the table.
“Do you have my bits?” I replied before shoving a hoof full of fries into my mouth.
“Do you have my-”
“Listen, I’m not in the mood for this right now, can we please get this over quickly so I can go to sleep? I’ve had a very eventful day and I just want to lay down in a bed right now.” I took out the holodisk and slid it over to the pony. He snatched it off the table faster than I could see.
“I’ll leave the bits here when I leave,” he told me patting the seat.
“Thank you.”
“But before I leave, I have another job-”
“Save it for later, I’m not in the mood for any more jobs right now. Maybe not for a while.”
The pony chuckled. “Sorry but this job is very time-sensitive, you see. The offer’s going to be off the table very soon,” he told me. “My boss and I happen to work for Stable-Tec and my boss is very high up on the ladder. Only the three founders have more power than him.”
“Why are you telling me this?” If I cared the tiniest bit, It wouldn’t be hard for me to find out the identities of the ponies who hired me, especially now that I know they worked for Stable-Tec.
“Well, my boss wants to hire you to infiltrate one of the Stables we’re building here in the Crystal Empire,” he told me.
I heard the rumors about the Stables Stable-Tec were building. They were supposed to protect ponies and keep them safe. Just in case the zebras ever decided to say fuck the war and fire their megaspells at Equestria. Normal ponies like myself didn’t believe it could happen and laughed at the ponies who were paranoid enough to enter and live out their lives inside one of the Stables.
“I won’t lie; I am interested,” I said still keeping my eyes on the food in front of me. “But what am I going to steal in a Stable?.”
The pony chuckled as he answered. “Pip-Bucks. All of Stable 21’s Pip-Bucks.”
I choked on my Sparkle-Cola Cherry. I coughed as carbonated soda leaked out of my nostrils. “Pip-Bucks!?”
I had heard about how great wearing a Pip-Buck was. It mapped out all the places you’ve ever been, kept track of all your possessions and even sorted them for you, and the Eyes Forward Sparkle told you the general location of other creatures and whether they’re hostile or not. The Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell, or S.A.T.S for short, was especially useful in dangerous situations where precision is needed. The most valuable feature of the Pip-Buck to me, however, was the spell that allowed it to make a near hundred percent accurate guess at the worth of everything you have on you as well as the ability to know the name of anything you pick up. If I had a Pip-Buck, I wouldn’t have to worry about stealing the wrong object again. One look at my hoof would tell me all I need to know about the name and value of an object.
Pip-Bucks were usually only seen worn by the high class, ponies working in the Ministry of Wartime Technology or Arcane Sciences, or soldiers fighting in the war. Even a pony as respected as my mother couldn’t get one. It would be near impossible for a unicorn who makes a living taking other pony’s stuff to afford one. Stealing one was even more of a daunting task. Those devices were guarded by only the best of the best and would require a team of ponies to steal a single shipment of them. I preferred being a lone act so it was impossible for me to obtain a Pip-Buck unless I was willing to hack off the leg of a pony, dead or alive, who wore one.
“Unlike the Pip-Bucks everywhere else, the Stable has much less security guarding their Pip-Bucks. We are sure your skills are up to the task,” the pony told me. “The job is to infiltrate the Stable under the name Dusk Shine and steal as many Pip-Bucks as you can carry and destroy the rest. We’ll buy each Pip-Buck for ten thousand bits each and should you choose to keep a few for yourself, we’ll understand. And as for the reason why, let’s just say my boss wants to discredit the founders in any way possible and is willing to pay any price.”
Ten thousand bits a Pip-Buck? If I steal eleven and keep one for myself, I’d make over a hundred thousand bits in a single job. That would be enough to last me a few years even if I go crazy with my spending. I could buy a house in the Diamond District and steal from the wealthy asshole ponies who lived in a city built within Mount Everhoof.
I… I could pay back Mom for raising me when she didn’t even want me.
“All right, I’m in,” I said. “So you said this job was time-sensitive. How much time do I have to finish it?”
The pony chuckled. “Stable 21 is closing its doors in a week but by then, there’ll be too many ponies who can witness the crime,” he told me. He handed me a slip of paper with a number written on one side and an address on the other. “You got until tomorrow night to contact us with the job’s completion.”
With that said, the pony stood up and left the booth. I looked up at him and saw the flash of his bright white teeth as well as the star shaped brand on his left cheek.
“Good luck, Dusk,” he said. “ You’ll need it.”
…
Using the bits the pony left behind, I rented a room at the Nice Dreams Hotel, a below-average hotel on the edge of the Sapphire District. I requested a room with a working telephone line, not caring about its condition. I should have cared. Upon entering the room on the second floor, I understood why the room with a working telephone was so cheap to rent for the night. The cloud-themed wallpaper was peeling off in strips, the carpet had several stains that strangely resembled a pony, and there was a rat chewing on a moldy piece of cheese underneath the bathroom’s sink. I would have liked to use a UV light spell on the bed but that spell was out of my Cutie Mark’s zone.
As much as I wanted to sleep, I couldn’t go off into Luna’s domain and dream of a perfect Equestria. Not before I finished one last task.
I forced myself to pick up the phone and dial the number for my mom. It took even more willpower not to hang up when a familiar voice answered the phone.
“This is Midnight Mist’s Filly-Bot, Sugar Song, speaking,” Sugar answered. “Midnight Mist isn’t currently available or taking messages right now-”
I interrupted before her high-pitched voice caused my eardrums to burst. “Can I talk to Mom, Sugar? Please?”
“No way, parasite!” Sugar yelled back, losing the formal tone. She wasn’t even bothering to hide her hostility towards me. “Do you know Midnight took the day off work only to spent it crying in her bedroom? I tried cheering her up with her favorite cheeses and wine but she refused. Midnight never refuses cheese and alcohol! Also, why should I listen to a parasite who almost broke me?!”
I wished Mr. Horse included a list of code phrases that would allow me to force Sugar to obey my orders. Sadly, no such thing existed in the box he sent to my mother’s front door. “I’m sorry for pouring coffee on you, Sugar, so can you please tell Mom I just want to talk?”
“Fixing the water-damage was an easy task for me once I recovered some of my functions,” Sugar told me. “Fixing emotional damage is a much more difficult task, parasite. You made Midnight believe she’s a terrible mother when she’s the most wonderful pony alive!”
A part of me wanted to say it was her fault for implying she didn’t want me but that wasn’t true. The fault was entirely on me. “Can you give her a message then?”
“Maybe… depends on the message.”
I wished there existed magic to teleport that piece of junk to my location so I could disassemble her but sadly, such magic probably required the entire Ministry of Arcane Magic working day and night to develop.
So I sighed and said “Tell Mom… that I’m sorry and that she’s the best mother a pony could have and…” I wiped a tear away. “that I love her.”
Silence.
“…I’ll tell her,” Sugar finally answered.
“Thanks, Sugar.”
“I’m still mad about the coffee, Dusk.”
“I know. I’ll try and make it up to you soon. I promise.”
Sugar hung up, leaving me to lay on the springy bed for several minutes. My eyes moved around and around, following the blades of the spinning fan above. I then took out the two slips of papers I got today. One from my mother and the other from my client. One called a therapist from the Ministry of Peace who would help me deal with my kleptomania and the other called a stranger who awaited my confirmation of a job done.
I tossed the Ministry of Peace number into the trash.
“Sorry, Mom,” I whispered to myself. I closed my eyes, awaiting the bliss of sleep to come upon my tired body. “I promise to pay you back…”
…
Stable 21 was located smack dab in the middle of the Sapphire District on a street adjacent to the vast Cadenza National Park. The address I was given had brought me to the door of a maintenance tunnel on an empty lot between an ice cream shop and bookstore. A cerulean pegasus mare wearing the same trench coat as the pony I met yesterday but with holes for her wings to stick out of stood guard outside the entrance. Every now and then, she removed the lit cigarette from her mouth, blowing out a cloud of grey smoke.
Before I continued, I used my magic to change the color of my coat from a purplish-grey to a drab brownish red and then my violet mane a lighter shade of my coat while inside the bathroom of the ice cream shop. So long as nopony hit me, the disguise would hold up.
I bought and finished off a cone of rocky road before I trotted up to the pegasus.
Catching attention of my presence, she spat out the cigarette onto the grass and snuffed it out with a stomp.
“Name, kid?” Before I could tell her my name, the Pegasus pointed upwards with her left wing. One of those fancy new laser turrets was installed inside a lamppost that had its insides pulled out to make room for the complicated systems required to make the turret work. “And let me warn you that if your name isn’t on the list, this turret here will turn you into a pile of ash. Which I’ll have to clean up later. Being here means you understand that Stable-Tec is in no way responsible for your death and will not recompense family in case of possible lawsuits.”
Wow, this much security just to stop unwanted ponies from getting in? Shouldn’t the Stable be open to anypony who wants in? Wasn’t that the purpose of the Stables?
“Don’t worry, I’m definitely on the list, Ma’am! Dusk Shine’s the name and don’t forget it!” I said with a wide smile, ignoring the thoughts of the laser turret’s purpose and why only ponies on the list were allowed inside the Stable. “I’m ready to be safe inside a Stable. No way I’m going to be outside in the open when the zebras fire their megaspells at the Crystal Empire.”
The pegasus eyed me, probably searching for any confirmations of her suspicions on my face, but I gave her my best mare-melting smile and she sighed. She pulled out a clipboard from within her coat and searched the list for my fake name. When she found it, she took out a key and unlocked the maintenance door behind her.
“You’re a weird pony, you know that?” she said the moment she opened the door. “Most ponies know the megaspell threat is a hoax so it’s pointless to get into one of these Stables. In a decade or so, they’re going to open this Stable and you’ll see that you’re throwing away a good chunk of your life because of some Grade-A paranoia.”
Shows what you know. I’m leaving this Stable tonight after I find out where they keep the Pip-Bucks. “No price for safety is too much,” I replied smiling again. The Pegasus scowled at me in response.
She slammed the door, leaving me in the dark until a single bulb hummed to life above me. I found myself in a small space where the only way forward was down a ladder. The ladder down brought me into a long tunnel of pipes where I could see the infrastructure of the Sapphire District above. A green arrow painted on a metal box showed me the direction I should take and in some ten minutes of trotting along the wall of pipes, I entered what must be the location of Stable 21.
Floodlights illuminated the large perfectly square room filled with various construction tools like jackhammers or shovels. Large and thick cables ran along the flat walls into the blue and gold vault door inscribed with the large number 21. The Stable entrance was slightly opened, enough for ponies to enter. Trotting up to the Stable prompted the appearance of a slate-grey unicorn wearing a lab coat to gallop out and greet me.
“Welcome to Stable 21,” he said pushing up his glasses. “You’re the fifth pony to choose to live in safety in one of Stable-Tec’s Stables. Congratulations on choosing life over death in an irradiated wasteland.”
Fifth, huh? Honestly, I thought I would be the first. Guess the few ponies with Grade-A paranoia really do exist.
“Glad to be here,” I said smiling. “So am I going to get a tour of the Stable first?”
I needed to plan my escape as soon as possible since my time limit was tonight. A tour of the Stable would be perfect to learn about the layout of the facility. If I can get a map of the layout, even better.
The unicorn chuckled at my question. “In due time,” he said. “We got to get the boring but necessary tasks out of the way first.”
The unicorn led me into the Stable, past a metal grate bridge and through a metal detector. There was even one of those new detectors that could find curses and other dark magicks set up as well. A glance to the left showed me four other ponies dressed in heavy-duty gear inside a room. They were playing with cards on a folding table from what I could see through the window. One guard looked up at me and our eyes met but he dismissed my presence and went back to the game.
I’d have to remember the number of guards already in the Stable when I made my escape with the Pip-Bucks.
The unicorn levitated a clipboard to him and held up a pencil to it. “Name?”
“Dusk Shine,” I lied, turning my head back to the slate-grey unicorn.
He wrote down my answer and led me into a long hallway full of gates to other sections of the Stable. An earth pony mare handed me a blue and gold jumpsuit and took my jacket after telling me to change into the jumpsuit. The unicorn asked a few more questions while I changed inside a closet. My age, where I was born, my list of skills, the meaning of my Cutie Mark, and more. A few of the questions were a little too personal but I purposefully gave false information so none of these ponies could possibly find me when I steal all of their Pip-Bucks. Hopefully, my client would take care of any leads after I complete the job.
After I finished changing, the unicorn led me into a vast room filled with cables filled with arcane energies and electricity feeding into the many glass pods installed in two rows of four. There were two other ponies being interviewed in the back, a cyan pegasus mare and an indigo unicorn colt. I assumed they were mother and son seeing how close the colt was holding onto the mare’s leg while she spoke with the Stable representative. A few second later, the two ponies entered adjacent glass pods, the Pegasus comforting her nervous son from her pod.
“We just need to have you take a disinfecting shower before we take the tour, Dusk Shine,” he said pointing to a glass pod. He tapped his horn against the glass and a door formed in the glass. “We don’t want any outside contaminants ruining our personal farm’s ecosystem, you see. This Stable has to be entirely self-sufficient in order to live separate from the Crystal Empire and Equestria.”
“Understandable,” I said as I stepped inside the glass pod. The door closed behind me, fusing back into the glass. I turned to face the unicorn, who was now pushing buttons on the terminal next to my pod. “So what kind of food you grow here?”
The unicorn didn’t answer me. He remained focused on the terminal’s screen. I heard a click from below and looked down to see the floor opened below me. Five nozzles popped out of the floor, each one aiming itself at me. A rainbow-colored cloud sprayed out of each nozzle at my body. The cloud felt like glass cutting up my mouth, throat, and nose when I breathed it in and each breath made it harder to breathe again.
“What’s… What’s in this stuff?” I coughed.
The unicorn continued to remain silent while my coughing became more violent. Every cough threatened to push my lungs up my throat and out my mouth. Soon, blood started spraying out along with the spit.
I pounded my hoof against the glass. “Hey! What is this stuff!?” I screamed between coughs.
A sharp pain came from my chest. I looked down… and saw a crystal spire poking out of my coat.
“What the hell…”
More crystal spires pierced my chest from inside my body, each one feeling like a knife being pushed out of my flesh, and I got to see each one pop out with a trail of blood. I fell to my knees coughing while my strength left me. My disguise disappeared, returning my coat and mane back to its original color. Seeing my true appearance didn’t elicit a response from the unicorn at the terminal. He continued typing away.
“What are you doing to my baby!?”
A scream coming from the other side of the room demanded my attention. The pegasus had crystal spires popping out of her chest too but also had spires piercing out of her flank and legs. Despite that, she was more concerned about her child, who was only a head connected to a body made out of crystal.
“Mommy! It hurts!” the colt cried, crystal spires growing out of his eyes and mouth.
“Mommy’s here, Pea Whistle! Everything’s going to be fine!” the pegasus cried while trying to break the glass pod with hooves covered with crystal spires. Her struggle stopped when her son fell silent; his whole body having transformed into crystal. She was silent for a moment... before she began screaming at the red unicorn in front of her glass pod. “I’m going to fucking kill you! I’m going to kill all of you bastards! Let me out!”
Her screaming became incoherent the more she bashed her crystal-covered hooves against the glass pod. She couldn’t see the cracks forming in the crystal around her front legs. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see her face when we heard the inevitable sound of crystal shattering. I couldn’t cover my ears, however, and was forced to listen to the screams of a pony who lost her front legs.
“Damn it, Pomegranate! You should have preserved her first! Now we got a crippled Pegasus in crystal stasis!” the unicorn in front of my pod yelled over the pegasus’ screaming.
The red unicorn, Pomegranate, shrugged before giving his co-worker a reply that I couldn’t hear.
I opened my eyes, turning them away from the screaming pegasus, and saw that more crystal spires were pushing themselves out of my flesh. A bright rainbow-colored sheet of crystal was connecting the spires and transforming my body underneath it. The crystal spires stopped hurting while more pierced my flesh. I wasn’t coughing anymore either, probably because my lungs were almost entirely made of crystal.
It didn’t take much thinking to realize there was no job to steal and destroy Stable 21’s Pip-Bucks. I was being silenced by becoming one of Stable 21’s test subjects. Most ponies in my line of work were silenced sooner or later. We knew way too much and were too dangerous to let walk free. I always figured I’d be shot in Manehattan or dumped in the ocean with cement horseshoes. I didn’t expect being turned into a fucking crystal statue.
“My mom will find out what happened me, you bastards.” I gave him my best hope-you-die grin but a crystal spire was pushing against the back of my teeth. “She’ll… bring down Stable-Tec… when she finds out you fuckers... killed her son.”
“Stable-Tec isn’t worried about your mother, Dusk Flare. She and her firm aren’t a threat.” He chuckled at my expression. “I already know everything about you, Dusk Flare, and I assure you, nopony will find you. Not until everypony who ever remembered you existed is long gone. Stable-Tec took every precaution to make that possible...”
His lips kept flapping but none of the words coming out of his mouth reached me. He appeared to be very proud of whatever he was talking about, not noticing my ears had already turned into crystal. My eyes were the only part of my body I could move but by then, my pod was filled with the rainbow-colored gas responsible for my condition. I closed my eyelids as tight as I could, ignoring the spires pushing their way out from underneath them, and waited for the moment everything disappeared into a void of nothingness.
This was my fault for being the stupid pony Mom tried to stop me from becoming. My mother told me to be a good pony instead of the pony my father was. She repeated the same advice whenever she could. I ignored her advice and became a thief stealing bits out of other pony’s pockets. I took my mother’s kindness for granted and used her. I had never talked to my father once and yet, I turned out to be the same kind of scum he was.
I’m not a good pony. I had never once considered myself to be a good pony.
I was given countless chances to turn my life around and become the pony my mother could be proud of. Every time I ignored the chance and continued to be a pony who tricked others out of their hard earned bits. But if I was given one more chance...
I promise to Celestia I’m going to try and do better.
…
Prologue End
