Shouts broke through the halls of the art gallery, prompting a collective groan from its frequent patrons. Splitting off of every surface as two similar voices started an argument. “Again?” one of them asked incredulously.
In the center of the main gallery, the collection's two main curators were having a sisterly argument. Again. About work. Again.
“How can you say this is good, Upvote!?" the red one shouted, snorting as she gestured at the 'painting.'
"Just look at it, Downvote!" the green sister shouted back. "It's creative! It's art!” She waved a hoof in her sister's face.
Upvote shoved the hoof away. "It's not art! It looks like a pegasus rolled in paint and then body-slammed a canvas! Because that's what it is!"
"Well, would you have thought of it?" the unicorn asked, a smug smile building on her face.
Downvote found herself at a momentary loss of words. "It's mostly brown! Trust me! It's terrible!" Downvote cried as she turned her side and gestured at her cutie mark ."And I know bad! It's my special talent!" Downvote nearly screeched.
"Yeah, bad at judging good art," Upvote said, sticking her tongue out.
Downvote growled in response. "Well, well -- your FACE is bad at judging good art!"
Silence fell across the art gallery, finally broken when Upvote began to tsk through her teeth. She sidled up to her sister and threw an arm over the red earth pony's withers, before dragging a ficus close with her magic. "Downvote, do you see this plant?"
"Uhm, yeah?" she asked, not sure of her sister's intent.
"This plant just worked all damn day making the oxygen you wasted with that comeback."
Downvote's expression dropped to one of her signature pouts, drawing at least one adorable squee from a nearby stallion. "Yeah. I'm leaving."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
"Fine! Come back with some taste!"
"I will!" Downvote replied, already almost at the door. Her brain caught up with her mouth, nearly making her trip. "Wait! Wait! I won't because I already have taste, and – and –"
"Ya already stepped in that one, Downvote," Comment, youngest of the four sisters, said from her normal perch over the door. She often reclined on the rafters with a book, just waiting to add her two bits to whatever was going on below her. "Just go for a breather, it's fine."
With a huff, Downvote stormed out the front doors and onto the street. Her first order of business was to find a rock to kick along. Finding a little bit of basalt lying on the sidewalk, she began to kick the rock along, bottom lip stuck out. She hadn't gone a block before it bounced between the hooves of two stallions. With another angry huff, she looked up to see both of them wearing a stupid expression.
Magnesium Flash – and another she didn't recognize. "What?" she asked. "What? You want some downvotes, huh?” she barked when their stupid expressions changed into stupid grins.
"No!" the other said, covering his grin. "Not at all, miss." Flash added, stepping out of her way while hiding his own smile.
Downvote stalked through the opening left and continued kicking her rock.
She hadn't gone a dozen paces when she heard one of the stallions giggle like a filly. "Bro! You were right!" she overheard him say in a voice not hushed nearly enough. '
"See! I told you, from a 7 to a solid 10, that one's the town's cutiepie!" the other joked back.
Downvote's pout deepened into a scowl. "Stupid ponies. I’m not a cutie when I pout." There was a squee of joy from somewhere far away, counterbalancing her point. "Can't believe ponies these days, wanting to buy something like that. How much effort does it take?” She continued kicking her rock. “Why is it that nopony else ever seems to be able to understand what makes something bad? It’s not hard, you should be able to just look at it and see." Even as she vented, she knew deep down that that wasn't true. There would be far, far less to argue with Upvote about if that were the case.
It didn’t take Downvote much longer to reach her favorite place in town: the hill overlooking the park. Crowned with a massive oak tree, with the view of the mountains in the distance, the forest and the green pasture all came together at the shady perch in such a way that, try as she might, Downvote could never find anything wrong with it.
This was where she always went after an argument with her sisters. It wasn't that she didn't love them, or even that she wanted to fight. But sibling clashes were always stressful, and lately they’ve gotten worse. Hence, Downvote found herself coming here more and more often. With a little sigh, the crimson pony stretched out between two tree roots and settled on watching some foals play ball down below.
If she'd known she was going to be taking a bit of the day off, Downvote would have brought a book with her. As it was, between the warm sunbeams, cool shade and the gentle breeze, she soon found herself laying in the grass, drifting into a pleasant nap.
Some time later, Downvote awoke to a rough hoof kicking her over. She cried out as she rolled off her legs, eyes blinking away the sand of her nap a. "What! You want some of this! I'll- I- Oh."
Downvote's fierce expression faded as she eyed the three ponies standing next to her on the hill. Two royal guards flanked a pony red hidden beneath a cloak, the hood pulled up despite the summer's heat. "Oh great." Downvote snarked, expression falling flat. "It's the molds in golds. You guys here to arrest me again? ’Cause I haven't even done anything since last time."
One of the guards raised an eyebrow. He was a large, grim-faced fellow and looked to be chiseled from stone. Quite unlike the other guard, who had a face like a rat and a slender build. "Downvote I presume?" the cloaked pony asked, seeming to hide herself better in the shadows of her cowl.
"Yeah, ya found me. So what's this about?” She stood up. “Because if it's about me egging the eyesore the Cakes call a house, they need to make up their minds. Are they pressing charges, or not?"
The grimface guard grunted. "You've been declared a public menace and a threat to society," he said, stepping closer, his stance low as if expecting her to fight. "As such, you are –”
Downvote rolled her eyes. "Right then," she said, cutting off whatever he was going to add. "Lets just get it done with."
"What?" The guard raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?"
"Yep." Downvote said. "Sooner we get the paperwork done, the sooner my sisters can get me out." She turned so the guard could press up against her.
"But- I mean-"
The grim-faced guard started before his fellow cut him off. "Just take it, Steel. She wants to go quietly; who are we to stop her?" His rat face broke into a wide grin that sent a shiver down Downvote’s spine, even as they both boxed her in.
The guards and the cloaked pony lead her downtown, the march quiet as a dirge. Downvote felt more and more uneasy with every step. "This is too easy." The grim faced guard said. "Hide, are you sure we have the right pony?" he asked.
"Absolutely," the cloaked mare said, not stopping her determined stride.
Steel grunted. "I – well, I mean, I was expecting more of a. . . more of a threat, you know."
"What, getting cold hooves?" His rat-like companion said with a chuckle. "Come on, Steel, loosen up. This is absolutely the best part of the job. Hell, this is why I joined the guard: getting to do shit like this."
"You're sick, Sarge." Steel replied, his tone implying that he believed it. "I mean, what exactly are we doing this for? I can't think of what she's done that would actually warrant this –"
"Steel, shut up." Sarge said. "Do what you're told and don't question.”
Downvote grunted. "That's a really terrible answer, actually." she said. "Appeal to authority fallacy and advocating an argument to ignorance fallacy. I'd downvote it." She smiled at their sideways glances, but then felt a sudden spike of panic when she saw what road they were on. "Hey, fellows, I don't mean to complain, but that was the turn for the jail back there."
"We aren't going to the jail," Hide said.
Downvote blinked, mind trying to figure out just where they were going then, but it kept coming up blank. "We're going the wrong way for the train, then." she said. "And –" She lost her voice as they entered the village green, and saw what was sitting on the stage. "What? What in – Why in – Why is that there!?" she asked, eyes fixated on the gallows. Nopony had been hung in her village since her great-grandmother's childhood.
"Oh, just a special surprise for you, you little menace," the Sergeant said. “And maybe a little surprise for me too.”
It took just half a moment for Downvote to realize what was going on and to react before she decided to do something she'd never done before.
Resist arrest.
She kicked herself backwards, a cry escaping her lips. "No! No I-I haven't done anything wrong!" A surge of adrenaline entered her veins, and Downvote kicked Sarge with all her earth pony strength.
The stallion nearly toppled over, and the mare bolted. "HELP!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, moving for the edge of the green as fast as her legs could carry her. Where was everypony? The green normally had somepony here this time of day.
Downvote nearly made it to the edge of the clearing when Sarge jumped on her back, roaring. The two went down in a heap of limbs and shouting. At first, Downvote managed to resist them quite well, rolling and slamming both front hooves against her attacker one after the other, screaming all the while.
In a moment though, Sarge had the upper hoof, rolling her and climbing on her back, pressing his captive's face into the grass. "Dammit, Private, get over here and tie her hooves!"
Steel startled from his stupor, rushing forward from where he'd been standing, and did as he was told. "Let me go!" Downvote shouted, thrashing against the ropes. "I've not had a trial! I want my lawyer! I want to talk this out! I want my mom!"
Somehow, Steel got her hooves tied. "This isn't okay," he said. "I – we need to stop this. It’s getting way out of hoof, already was, ah heck, shame on me, shame on my family…." He descended into mumbling, eyes flashing between the other three ponies in the square.
For Downvote, the horror was growing with every second as she was dragged up the stairs onto the stage. "Stop! Stop, please!" she begged the guard.
"Why should I stop?" the Sergeant asked. "Don't you know? Watching a pony dangle is the best part of my day any day I get to see it!" He laughed and continued to drag her away from a comatose Steel. Downvote wanted it to be a joke, for somepony to jump out and yell "Gotcha!" and take a picture of her shocked and tear-streaked face. She wanted to find out that the pony dragging her along like a dead weight was actually a great stallion, and that he had been convinced to do this as a joke! She wanted somepony to stop it all and declare that she was on Scare Strategies, or for anything unexpected.
But none of those happened. Downvote renewed her struggle against Sarge as he tried to hoist her onto a waiting stool. She managed to slip out of his grasp and hobble over the edge of stage, crashing into a heap that knocked the breath from her body, leaving her right at Hide’s hooves.
The other mare grabbed Downvote and slapped her. "Listen you," Hide said, voice almost grinding. "Look around. Look!" She grabbed Downy’s head and pointed it at the surrounding green. "Do you see anypony?"
Downvote didn't. "We built a gallows right here in broad daylight, and then arrested you and dragged you right to it. And nopony stopped us, nopony said anything, nopony even questioned." There was a wet sound right in Downvote's ear as Hide licked her lips. "You know why?
"It's because nopony likes you, Downvote." Hide whispered in her ears. "Nopony even cares that you're going to die. Nopony even thinks you're cute." The pony brushed a hoof along Downvote's jawbone, their coat colors matching perfectly. "So why don't you give up? Just let it be."
A sob escaped Downvote's lips as her mind raced to find a counterargument. But nothing came. She'd had happy times with her sisters at least, right? One gesture of kindness? She couldn't even recall a Hearth’s Warming gift. Tears began to form in her eyes as Sarge lifted her back up and dragged her limp to the gallows.
He stood her and placed the noose around her neck, cinching it down with a motion of finality. "B-b-but…" Downvote sobbed. "I-I had a fight with my sister just this m-morning." She tried to dry her tears with her bound hooves. "Can't I at least say goodbye? I don't – I d –" another sob – "I don't want our last memory to be a fight!" She begged her killers.
Hide stepped right up to her, and lifted her cowl. The blood in Downvote's veins chilled to a icy low as she stared into the pony's face. A face identical to hers. "Oh, don't worry, you silly pony," Hide said. "I honestly doubt any of them will miss you very much. Why, I was made to replace you.”
Downvote screamed!
Horror gripped her as she realized that the other pony intended not only to kill her, but also to replace her. She screamed again, trying to move back from the pony. The stool under her hooves leaned dangerously back, the rope pulling tightly around her neck and prompting her to move back forward.
Then she slipped.
The solid surface beneath her flew away and with a soft fwip sound, a hurricane in her ears, the rope pulled tightly around her neck, strangling her scream.
Downvote tried to gasp for breath, her lungs working at the block in her throat. She could feel her heartbeat against the sharp sisal fibers of the rope, the pulse stopping against it with her air supply. She could hear Sarge laughing, Steel cursing, and a roar that didn't make any sense as darkness began to crowd the edges of her vision. She saw the Reaper approach the gallows.
The defeat from earlier was replaced by a new will to survive as she kicked her hooves, every bounce having the opposite effect as the noose tightened.
You're right. She’s cute when she's grumpy. From a seven to a perfect ten. the memory, as well as all the others she hadn't been able to recall earlier passed through her frenzied brain. "I'm sorry," Hide said, drawing Downvote's fading attention. "My talent isn't quite like yours. I just…make things hidden. Including memories. I thought I'd at least let you have those back."
Downvote gurgled, the most she could do to express her anger as her eyes rolled back into her head, the darkness rimming everything but a small circle right in front of her.The last thing Downvote saw, before the blackness took her was Steel's face, torn by indecision.
Magnesium Flash gestured with a hoof as he talked to his friends, his lunch sitting half-eaten on the fancy café table. "Anyways, that's all irrelevant though, because the new chemical bath that we're using can get them in high contrast and high color on one plate. We don't need to keep improving multiple plate photogr – whoa." He pointed into the street.
"Aw buck. They're arresting Downy again?" Spitzer said, interrupting him.
"Really?" Carbide asked, the unicorn leaning forward. "She's too cute to get arrested regularly. What are they doing it for?"
"I don't know." Flash said, looking at them. Then, "They – They aren't going to the jail. What do you think’s up?"
"I dunno," Carbide said. "Does she get arrested often? You guys don't seem too worried." His out-of-towner status was on full display in that question.
Flash and Spitz shared a glance and then a laugh. "‘Oh man, does she get arrested often?’" Spitz wiped a tear from his eye. "Mate, last month she changed some road signs before Celestia came to visit."
Flash burst out laughing. "Oh man, was that how she ended up at the gentlestallion's club?" he asked, roaring in laughter.
"Anyways, after she got out, she egged the sheriff’s house and was back in the jail in ten minutes flat."
Flash laughed. "Sheriff Buttons was so mad he put her in a cat carrier!"
"Oh, and then there’s the downvote cannon." Spitzer said, trying to be serious and failing.
"Never forget the downvote cannon."
Carbide grinned "Downvote cannon?"
"You had to be there." Flash said. "Oh man, remember when that restaurant opened up?"
"IT’S RAAAAAAAAW!" Spitz shouted, doubling over. "Man, she was on a roll that day, they had to cart her out in hoofcuffs."
"Oh, Oh! Remember the time the Mayor tried to pass that bill banning Dihydrogen Monoxide?"
Spitz started laughing again, so hard he had to hide his face in his hooves. "Downy ran up on the stage with two halves of a loaf of bread, pressed them to the mayor’s ears and shouted "Hey, everypony! I made an idiot sandwich!"" Carbide and Flash broke down laughing.
"Man, she sounds spicy. I think I might be in love." Carbide said. "She's like –"
With a bang, a pegasus, one Flower Kisses, landed right in the middle of their table. "Guys! They're trying to kill Downvote!" she shouted, eyes wide and frantic.
The laughter died. They all turned and stared at Flower. "What?" Flash asked.
"They – Gallows – At the green, trying to hang. Not joking!"
Flash stood up so fast his chair toppled. "Oh Sweet Celestia on a bicycle! Spitz! Kisses! Fly! Go get anypony you can find! Carbide, we – I don't care what's going on, we need to go and stop it!"
"Why would they do that? Are you sure?" Carbide asked.
Flash took off into the street at a dead run. "Better to check!" he shouted, running towards the green. Carbide followed.
Steel Skin was locked in battle. True, he wasn't moving, but inside his head a thousand thoughts and a lifetime of trial danced about. He had always struggled with authority. Ever since he’d been a colt, standing up to authority had meant bad things for him. But now… now he was at a point where the road of submission could go no further. And he didn't know where to go.
In front of him, a mare hung dying. A mare that he had every reason to believe to be innocent of any crime deserving this. He couldn't let that happen – he had joined the guard to protect ponies, and to act an extension of royal authority. But now he had a pony bearing the seals of royal authority leading him to murder.
How could he kill an innocent pony?
How could he disobey an order?
"What the actual buck!? Get her down from there!" a stallion shouted. Steel turned his head to see a pair of ponies running into the green, and what looked like a restaurant’s entire waitstaff following.
"How? Hide, I thought you were keeping them out!" Sargent Ironhoof shouted.
Steel looked into his face. It wasn't the look of a pony who was a protector. All he could see was his father. A father who ground the idea into him, that orders must always be obeyed, that to question was to be beaten.
More ponies kept pouring into the square. "I can't keep them out if they're specifically looking for it!” Hide hised. “Stop them! I need this to happen!”
Downvote gurgled, eyes rolling back into her head as she kicked her last, the sounds of shouting ponies filled the air. "Get her down!" Some shouted. Somewhere in the crowd a call went out. "Reprieve! Reprieve!" A mob had formed around the gallows.
Sergeant Ironhoof brushed past Steel, nearly knocking him over. "All of you settle down!" he shouted. "We have a warrant, this is happening whether you –" That was as far as he got when a dozen different unicorn auras lit around various points of his body, and with a collective heave he was shoved over the edge and dragged into the sea of angry ponies.
"I'm stopping this," Steel said, more to himself than anypony else. Ponies were beginning to scramble up the stairs to the stage, nearly tripping over themselves in their enraged movements. Several pegasi landed atop the gallows and started pulling at the noose’s knot.
Downvote had been described to Steel as a monster, one that terrorized a town, one that its citizens wanted gone, dead even. But what he was seeing here was no monster, nor the reaction of the terrorized.
Steel had been lied to. But he would see this end now. With a decisive movement, his spear swung over the condemned’s head, parting the rope.
Downvote didn't expect it. What she heard next, because in truth she hadn't ever expected to hear anything else again. But a muffled voice was clearly calling at her, tugging at her mind from someplace far away. It was so quiet though, the darkness gripped at her tightly, like Death’s bony hoof muffling it.
She floated in that infinite blackness, listening to the sound of a far away voice. And the more she listened, the more the voice made sense. "Downvote… Open… C’mon, sweetie." She drifted in a sea of darkness a moment longer, before some far away part of her body hurt, even if gently.
Somepony was gently smacking at her face. "C'mon, Downvote sweetie, wake up. Wake up, you can pull through this." She felt a strange dragging sensation in her throat, and the voice became a little sharper than before.
She knew that pony. Redheart was a patron of the gallery. She was a friend. With a great effort, she willed an eye to open. It twitched, and cracked, and then vision returned, even if it was just a small prick of light surrounded in darkness. Her ears were ringing like a bell, her backside sore. Something cold and smooth pressed over her face, and the darkness began to flee away.
Downvote was back with the living. Her head was pounding, her neck was on fire, she felt like she'd taken several bad spills. Nurse Redheart was leaning over her, applying an oxygen mask. "What…" Downvote tried to say, but paused at the alien voice that escaped.
"Shh-shh-shh. Don't talk. You might’ve hurt your vocal chords, don't agitate them" The nurse said, rubbing one of her patient's legs. "Somepony noticed what they were doing. I’m sure half the town is here now. Follow my hoof." Redheart put a hoof where Downvote could see it, and moved it back and forth.
She didn't think she did very well at the test at all, but Redheart seemed satisfied. She looked over her shoulder. "I think she's going to be okay!"
There was a sudden cheering, like half the town was packed into the green, an ear splitting raise of whoops and whistles. Eventually it died down. "You hear that Downy?" the nurse said. "I think everypony in town is pulling for you!"
Downvote awoke in the middle of the night – just like she'd done every night for the past fortnight. She didn't even know whose house she was sleeping in – everypony in town insisted that she not stay the same place twice; Hide had escaped in the chaos that followed her reprieve. But it didn't matter if Hide found her or not; that pony was haunting her every night in her dreams.
Tears streamed down her face. That happened a lot these days. Dozens of ponies were trying to figure out exactly what had happened. How had Hide come into existence? How had she gotten two members of the Royal Guard to do her bidding? Most importantly, where had she gone?
Downvote wiped her eyes on her pillow. It was already wet from the tears. A sudden motion on the bed nearly caused her to sit bolt upright. "Shhh. Downy." Upvote's voice cut the dark. "It's just me.” Downvote laid back down, letting her sister embrace her.
She snuggled closer to her dear sister and fell asleep again, and this time she managed to get through the night.
Author's Note
This was fun to write. Downvote is probably my favorite OC in the brony fandom. 
