The Tragic Tale of Gloomy Dusk

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Now I Have Nothing
Chapter 2 - What is AHPA?
Chapter 3 - The Stormy Path
Chapter 4 - You Are Everything

Chapter 1 - Now I Have Nothing

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

The unpleasant sound of the magical alarm clock rang through the whole apartment room. A pony underneath the sheets of the bed started to toss and turn in irritation to the sound. Slowly, a hoof reached out from under the covers towards the alarm in an effort to silence it. After a few failed attempts that caused some clutter on the nightstand to fall off, the hoof finally made contact with the alarm button. Click!
Silence. Sweet sweet silence, the pony thought as he drifted back to sleep. The memory of being woken up slowly faded as though it had never happened. After some time, he opened his groggy dark yellow eyes to make out the time on the alarm clock.

10 am...10 AM!?!, he thought. The pony realized with dread that he had snoozed for too long and was supposed to get up forty minutes ago. I’m so gonna be late for work.

Taking his time, the light gray stallion emerged from the covers. His jet black droopy mane which covered most of his right face was more unkempt than usual. His exposed cutie mark was a black heart that appeared to have been cracked in half.

After getting out of bed, he did a slow cat-like stretch while yawning before heading to the kitchen. His horn magically levitated some Hay Flakes cereal from the top pantry along with some milk from the fridge and proceeded to make some breakfast. While he ate, he silently contemplated about how today would turn out.

I haven’t been late to work since who knows how long. How am I gonna explain it to everyone at the office? Should I just tell them I came down with a fever? Ya, right. A fever that only lasted a night. Like they’ll believe that. I’ve been down with the horse flu before and I still came to work on time. I don’t think I’ve used ANY of my sick days.

He left his empty bowl at the counter as he went to the front door to check his mail. A small stack was on the floor underneath the mail deposit slot on the door. He picked up the first few. They were just bills. He flipped through them until he came across a letter from his landlord. “Oh great, what is it this time?”, he said as he reluctantly opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.

“Dear Gloomy Dusk, this letter is to inform you that your rent has come late for a third consecutive month. I understand you are a hard working individual, Mr. Dusk, but that does not excuse the inability to make payments on schedule. Here at Saddle Horn Apartments, we try to handle our business professionally and in a responsible timely manner. We have been flexible enough to give you the time you need to address any issues that would conflict with making these payments, and you have been an accommodating tenant for the past few years. However, a long standing reputation does not absolve you of continual negligence. This is a final warning if you so choose to continue doing business with us. Failure to meet this month’s next deadline will result in eviction within a thirty day notice as per terms of agreement.”

Sincerely, Mr. Grant.”

Guy sure is trying hard not to sound like a complete prick, thought Gloomy. He ripped the letter into pieces and then disposed of it in the trash can. He made his way to the small patio of his third floor apartment room to clear his mind.

Outside, he reclined in a plastic lounge chair. Laying on a small stand next to him was a pack of Manticore cigarettes, an ashtray, and a matchbox. He removed one of the cigarettes from the pack, placed it in his mouth, and lit it with one of the matches. Gloomy inhaled deeply before exhaling a steady stream of smoke. His mind started to wander.

My boss is gonna kill me. But what does it matter...he doesn’t respect me, doesn’t give me a raise, has me neck-deep in paperwork… Gloomy took in another puff of the cigarette. But I can’t get fired now. Not when she’s almost done with college. I could care less about this apartment or my job. I’m really just doing it all for her. To make her happy.

The smell of the smoke mixed with the rancid morning air that blew in from the city dump made him think about all the ugliness in it, like how all the bad things underneath were trying to be covered up by the sweet smell of vices. He gave one more inhale before snuffing the cigarette in the ashtray. Besides...since when has anypony else ever really cared about me, he thought.

He made his way back inside to check the time. It was 10:22 am. Okay, now I’m really late. He quickly put on his work shirt and tie, tidied up his hair with a comb, lifted his briefcase with his magic, and left out the front door.

~~~

Detrot was quite a busy city most days, but Mondays were especially busy. Streets were crowded with taxi carriages, and the constant racket from the hustle and bustle of city ponies made even small conversation quite challenging. On some occasion, it proved to be even more busy than its Eastward neighbor, Manehattan.

While most of the city belonged to the wealthy and refined, Detrot had gained a massive reputation as having one of the worst poverty rates. Failing infrastructure and makeshift tents where littered throughout the areas neglected by the city council, and Downtown was the biggest eyesore of them all. Gloomy Dusk had managed to find a place to live just on the edge of Downtown, but he still resented the fact of even being near it. The last thing he needed was more reason to despise his life.

Making his usual way to the street corner just outside his apartment, Gloomy called for a taxi. Just moments pass before he could see a taxi carriage make its way past the chaos of intersection traffic before arriving at the street corner. Thank Celestia, some luck, he thought.

“Excuse me, I need this ride!” shouted some pony running from behind Gloomy, bumping into him as he went past.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Gloomy responded as the other pony quickly jumped onto the carriage and told the driver his destination. “But that’s...my cab…” Gloomy tried to speak up but swallowed his words. He felt getting into a confrontation on a busy day would just make things worse for him.

“Sorry buddy. Ya snooze, ya lose”, the pony on the taxi replied as it quickly took off.

Gloomy looked on in anger at the departing carriage and stomped a hoof in frustration. Stupid, stupid, stupid! His temper quickly began to subside into a more sad, defeated state. Ya...some luck. A several minutes pass before he could get another taxi.

Gloomy Dusk landed a job as an intern at Buck Hill’s Accounting & Finances a few years back and worked his way up to personal accounting affairs clerk. Still, to Gloomy, the pay wasn’t worth the amount of stress it put on him: dealing with angry or sad customers being turned down financial support for their struggling families. He either desired to quit or get promoted to accounting staff manager, but his boss had turned him down several times.

The taxi finally arrived at Gloomy’s place of work. He promptly paid the driver four bits for the fare and entered the front door of the building.

Inside, he quickly made his way to the front desk.

“You’re late”, said the receptionist in her usual half-hearted tone.

“I know”. Gloomy didn’t even stop to make eye contact as he went past her into the staff lounge.

In the room, he noticed no pony was inside. It was quiet except for the sound of the refrigerator buzzing on magic power. He went to the half-empty coffee pot on the counter where he always got his coffee and poured himself a hot cup. He was one of the few who took it black and without sugar. For some reason, he liked the bitter taste it provided; unspoiled by the creams and sugars that try to mask its natural flavor, much like how lime masks the natural taste of cooked fish.

After taking a sip, he sat at one of the circular desks, leaning back in his chair. His eyes closed shut in a moment of peace. When he opened them again, he could spot a poster on the wall across the room. It was a motivational poster one of his co-workers had put up a few weeks ago. Gloomy had never stopped to really look at the poster because the office was filled with other poster designs that had cliche phrases like “We can do it!” or “Hang in there!”. But now looking at it, there was something about the poster that drew his interest. The image on the poster was of a gray silhouette of a pony looking down two paths: one that was bright and pleasant, the other being dark and stormy. The text displayed below the image read “Your destiny is in your hooves”.

Gloomy spent several minutes just staring at the poster while sipping his coffee. He pondered about what made this poster any different from the others. His eyes seemed to be drawn to the silhouetted pony more than any other part of the image. As his eyes looked down the two paths, he had to make a choice on which path to focus on first. He decided to look down the bad path, and then the good path. The fact that he was even given an option of how to look at the poster was a message so profound to him. Gloomy just kept on staring at it until he could hear the door to the lounge open.

“Dusk...will you mind explaining to me why you showed up fifty minutes late for work?” His boss had just entered the room. Gloomy could already tell his employer was beyond peeved just by the sound of his voice.

“Sorry, Mr. Stocks. I...I was up late last night doing paperwork and…” the gray unicorn softly replied. He swallowed, trying to finish his sentence. “...I overslept.”

“Wait, hold on...did you just say...overslept?” Mr. Stocks’ big judging eyebrows furrowed. He made his way to the opposite side of the table that Gloomy was sitting at and planted his front hooves on top of it. He leaned towards him in an intimidating manner. “Can you see me in my office?” He then pulled back off the table and walked back to the lounge door.

“Should I leave my coffee here?” said Gloomy timidly.

“Oh, by all means. Don’t want it to go to waste,” Mr. Stocks said sarcastically.

There he goes again with his guilt-tripping attitude, but dammit does it work every time, Gloomy thought. He reluctantly got up and followed his boss to his office. The front door to it had a semi-transparent window with the words “Mr. Birken Stocks, Chief Financial Officer” painted on it.

“Close the door”, commanded Mr. Stocks as he sat down in his chair. Gloomy proceeded to close the door behind him. “Have a seat”. Gloomy proceeded to sit down. “Now about last night…”

“I told you I was-”

“No, no...I wasn’t finished,” said Mr. Stocks cutting off Gloomy’s words. “Last night you said you were doing paperwork and that you overslept because of it, correct?”

“Yes”, Gloomy replied.

“Now you see that would make sense...if you actually did any paperwork from yesterday.”

Oh, horse crap! He knows!

“You see, normally I don’t check yesterday's records until the afternoon, but then I got a discrepancy notice about a different employee earlier this morning. And with noticing you being late to work, I decided to check your records as well.”

I’m so screwed!

Mr. Stocks pulled out a folder from behind his desk, opened it, and started to scan over it. “Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, it says here you submitted you’re last paperwork for that day at 6pm. You still had over thirty five cases left to review, but you never submitted any of them from 6pm till now. So by seeing you’re pattern of submission dates not match up with your statements, you must’ve been making false dates. And what’s even more interesting: I’ve noticed that you’ve been submitting an oddly consistent number of cases these past few weeks, and yet I see your number of clients go up and up. So I did some digging and found out that you’ve actually been falsifying those numbers as well. You’ve been re-submitting older files under the term ‘re-evaluated’ but with barely any changes made.”

Gloomy wanted to say something but felt too in the wrong to say a word.

Mr.Stocks’ tone began to become more enraged. “So what? You thought you could just put off my clients and laze about in my workplace? You thought you could just lie to my face and cover this up!?” Mr. Stocks rose from his chair and planted his front hooves on his desk the same way as before. “I don’t know why after four years of working here, showing up on time, getting the work done, you decide to pull a stunt like this?" Mr. Stocks appeared to be steaming like a train engine at this point. "So let’s hear it! What was the reason for all this? I want to know.”

Gloomy felt a great weight over his whole body. His mind was racing, thinking, I don’t know what to tell him. I’m...not lazy. I’ve just been feeling really overwhelmed these past few weeks. I can’t afford to take time off work. I got my apartment bills, my student loans. I know I took on the responsibility of helping to pay for her tuition, but I can’t let her down when she’s so close to getting her master’s. Not now. But the pressure is killing me.

“Well!?” His boss was growing impatient.

“I...I came down with horse flu” said Gloomy, desperately trying to keep his cool. “I lied because I know how short we are on staff currently and how it would be a real burden for you if I called in sick.”

Mr. Stocks raised one of his bushy brows. “Horse flu? Really?”

“I thought I could fake through it till it went away, but it got to the point where I literally felt exhausted all the time.” Gloomy’s lie started to sound more confident as though he himself believed in it. “And after realizing I wasn’t finishing my papers, I thought I could make up for it later before you found out.”

Mr. Stocks slowly sat back down and contemplated for a moment. “Well... you still could’ve requested sick time off. Even so, you still messed up big time. I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut your hours back for the rest of the week.”

“But sir!” quickly replied Gloomy. Normally, he would love to have less hours, but he needed the extra time for bills. “I really need those hours. I’m kinda living on a budget and-”

“Well maybe you should’ve thought of that before you tried to go under my muzzle,” said Mr. Stocks. “Besides, I’ve already hired a new intern just yesterday to fill in for you. You’ll be giving him the orientation. Now get out of my office.”

Gloomy wanted to reply, but he knew it was a bad idea to talk back to an already ill-tempered boss. He instead sulked his head and got up to leave.

As he was going out the door, Mr. Stocks called to him one last time. “And Dusk...if you do anything like this again...you’re fired.”

Gloomy merely nodded as the office door closed shut.

What a mule!, Gloomy thought, enraged. As he walked looking at the floor in utter frustration, he didn’t notice the pony in his path until it was too late and bumped into him.

“Oops, I’m so sorry sir!” said the nervous pony. “I-I uh was looking at my papers a-and I uh didn’t see you coming.”

“No, It’s fine. I wasn’t looking where I was going either.” Gloomy’s anger slowly subsided as he realized he did not recognized the office pony in front of him. “Wait a second...are you the new intern they hired?”

“I uh...yes. Yes I am.” The new intern was looking a bit on edge. Gloomy found it understandable as he too was very nervous on his first day of work. “I-I’m looking for the one t-they told me would be s-showing me around.”

“Funny coincidence cuz the boss just said I’m your pony.” He took a moment to collect himself. "So. What's your name?"

"I-I-It's a Q-Quiver Quill." The nervous pony put out a shaky hoof to Gloomy. "N-nice to meet you."

Gloomy gave a half-hearted smile and shook the hoof in return. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Gloomy Dusk, one of the clerks here." He then motioned to the main office complex. “Well, let’s get started.”

As Gloomy went around the office with the new intern, showing him where important appliances and drop off boxes were, he occasionally asked for input or thoughts from him. He took notice at how Quiver Quill was different than most that they got, barely giving feedback and instead just nodding in agreement. As the orientation concluded, Gloomy wanted to give him one more opportunity to say something.

“So, any thoughts or questions about everything that I showed you?” Gloomy asked.

Quiver just shook his head in silence, waiting for him to move on.

“ANY thoughts at all?”

“N-no. I think I understand everything. T-thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. It’s just part of my job. Glad to have you as part of the team, Mr. Quill.” They shook hooves again before they both headed off to their respective cubicles.

Sitting down at his desk, he worried if this whole train wreck of a day would ruin the rest of his week. He looked at a framed portrait on his desk of a couple hugging under a large pine tree.

I can’t forget, he thought. I still got some time off this weekend to see her. I haven’t seen her in months. Don’t let this day ruin that moment. We’ve been together for five years. I can’t let her worry about what’s been going on with me. She’s got too much on her plate already. I need to be strong...for her.

He looked at the sticky note he left attached to the corner of the photo. It read: “You are everything I could ever want. I always dream of you, for you are my Evening Star.

~~~

“So how have things been at Vanhoover State?” said Gloomy Dusk, taking a sip of his latte.

“Great. The classes are pretty easy. Well...at least for me,” replied Evening Star.

Both of them were sitting at an outdoor table in front of a local cafe in central Vanhoover, enjoying the calm weather and the smell of coffee.

“Braggy much?” he joked.

“Oh, stop it, you!” Evening let out a giggle. She parted some of her bright blue and magenta mane to the side to reveal more of her cornflower blue face. “So how’s work?”

“Things are...okay right now. I met a new intern. He doesn’t talk much, so we both got along fast.” Both ponies chuckled. “So what about you? How’s the daycare job so far?”

“Oh, I love it so much! The little foals really seem to like me. I’ve even seen their moms take notice and wish I was working there more often,” said Evening. She looked down in disappointment. “I just wish I wasn’t so busy in college. Those foals are just so cute and adorable; the way they coo when left in their playpen, and the way their eyes shine when you bottle feed them.”

Gloomy gave an appreciative look to Evening. Evening's cutie mark of a purple cloud with a bright blue shooting star going into it was a reflection of the comfort and joy she brought to little ones. He envied how much she liked her job. “Sounds like it’s the perfect fit for you, huh Eve?”

“Definitely. And thank you so much for pitching in to help me become a foal nurse.” She put a hoof on Gloomy’s foreleg and gave him a gentle kiss. “I really appreciate it.”

The act warmed his heart and made him feel deeply entranced by her smile. “Don’t mention it, Eve." As Evening removed her hoof, he looked down at it to admire the purple bracelets she wore to represent her contributions to the foal care & adoption programs she supported. "So back to Vanhoover. Did you meet anypony new?”

Evening Star thought a bit, then suddenly remembered. “Oh, I never told you about him.”

“Him? Him who?”

“My roommate. His name is Teddy Bear.”

“Teddy Bear? What’s he all about?”

“He’s like this big tall earth pony who’s kinda southern but not too southern, used to work on a farm...”

“Is he studying agriculture or something like that?” Gloomy teased.

“Actually, he’s studying Ecology. He wants to become a wildlife preserver. He’s pretty smart too. In fact, he scored one of the highest in class on his entry test.”

“Well, maybe I should meet him sometime.”

“Ya sure, sometime…” Evening’s smile faded for a moment as her eyes stared off to the side. Then perking up again, she gave him another quick kiss on the lips. “Well I wish we could spend more time together, but I really have to head back.”

“Oh...ok” Gloomy quickly pulled himself out of the moment. They both got up from their seats and gave each other a deep hug. As Evening started to walk away, Gloomy called to her,“Hey! I love you!”

Evening stopped and looked back. She hesitated shortly before saying, “I love you too.”

~~~

About a month had passed and Gloomy had started becoming anxious over his long-distance relationship with Evening Star. After their last visit, he had sent letters to her several times but had gotten no reply. He began to wonder if they were growing apart. Gloomy decided to take a leap of faith.

It’s been five years, but is it the right time?

Gloomy had thought about this decision many months beforehand, but he was convinced that it was now or never at this point. He made his way to the nearest jewelry store. After about an hour, he walked out with a white shopping bag.

Traveling back to Vanhoover, Gloomy predicted Evening would be at the cafe around 1:00 pm because he knew that was the time when her lunch break began, and the cafe was her favorite place to go that was nearby. As he walked there, Gloomy began to sweat.

Evening...will you… Uh… Evening, may I… no. Evening Star, will you please take…

The closer he got, the more it started to sink in. He was finally going to do it. He was going to propose to her.

When he made it to the cafe, he decided to hide in some far off bushes to spy out the place. He wanted to surprise her first and possibly hide the ring somewhere special.

I could hide it in her purse. Ya! I’ll switch it with her makeup when she’s not looking, and then I’ll tell her she has something on her muzzle. I’ll suggest she look in a mirror, and she’ll naturally reach for her powder. Oh, she’ll love it!

Gloomy scanned the exterior of the cafe for a few minutes until, suddenly, he spotted her. “There she is,” Gloomy whispered. Evening Star was sitting at one of the outside tables sipping her usual coffee and reading the morning newspaper.

Okay, so now I just have to think of a way to distract her so-

He was unable to finish his thought when he noticed Evening raise her head to look at somepony approaching.

Wait, who’s this?

A large orange earth pony with a yellow scruffy mane walked up to greet her. Her smile was beaming when she got up to greet him as well. They both gave each other a deep hug and then sat down. Gloomy looked puzzled by this stallion he had never met before, and then he saw the earth pony’s cutie mark. It resembled a stuffed toy bear.

Is…? Is that Teddy Bear? I mean I guess it’s him, but what is he doing here?

He watched on as they both talked, becoming ever so interested in her girlfriend’s facial expressions.

She looks so happy, just like I remember when she first met me.”

The next thing that happened shocked Gloomy. As the earth pony got up to use the restroom, he gave Evening Star a passionate kiss on the lips. The gaze they shared that followed destroyed any doubt in Gloomy’s mind as to what was going on.

Gloomy felt more sorrow than anger as tears started to form under his eyes.

She’s...she’s...cheating on me?

Gloomy tried desperately to deny what he had just witnessed, but the mental image of that kiss had burrowed itself deep into his mind. He wanted so bad to run away and hide from this situation, but he knew he had to face her.

As soon as the earth pony went deeper inside the restaurant, Gloomy jumped out of the bushes and quickly made his way across the street and right up to Evening’s desk. She barely had any time to react as he sat down opposite to her and glared deep into her eyes.

“Umm...hey Gloomy, what are you doing here?” Evening started to become uncomfortable as her boyfriend continued to just stare at her. “Is something alright?”

After a moment of silence Gloomy spoke up “Why? After all these years, why did you decide to do this to me?”

“What...do you mean?”

“You know Celestia damn well what I mean! Why are you cheating on me!?” Ponies at nearby tables turned to look at him. Gloomy had rarely ever shouted at anyone before, so even he was surprised by his sudden outburst.

Evening was increasingly nervous until she saw tears forming in his eyes, and then she relented. “So...you know then? But how did you- Wait...were you spying on me?”

“Ya, I was! And I saw you kissing your roommate.”

Evening was trying to get Gloomy to lower his voice as he was drawing too much attention. “Why were you spying on me?”

“Because…because…” Gloomy took a moment to think. “It doesn’t matter why! What matters is why would you go out with somepony behind my back!?”

Evening sighed. “I’m sorry, Gloomy, but you’re...not enough.”

“What do you mean not enough?” His volume was more controlled yet became more vicious. “We went to dinners together, I sent you love letters, spent nights talking and cuddling…” He started to feel a frog in his throat. “I even supported you when you wanted to become a nurse. Is that not enough?”

Evening took a deep breath and exhaled before she spoke. “You’re a coward, Gloomy. Ever since I met you in highschool, you never stood up for yourself. You kept trying to find the easy way out, but you always ended up feeling sorry for yourself because you wish you could’ve done more. I thought it was cute at first. I thought maybe I could teach you how to be better...but you never changed. You were always the weak, sad, love-needing sob story in my life. I don’t want to pity a stallion more than I love him.”

Gloomy’s heart dropped as he heard those words come out of what was normally a cheerful mouth. “So why didn’t you just leave me then?”

“...Because then you’d stop paying for my classes.” It pained her to say that.

Gloomy’s tear ridden eyes became wide in disbelief. He said faintly to her, “You...bitch.”

Evening didn’t reply but merely accepted the insult. Their painful staring was only broken by the sound of a deep masculine voice.

“Hey honey, I’m back-” The tall earth pony took notice of the other pony who occupied his chair. “Uh...hey there.” He could see Gloomy’s eyes were glowing red from all the tears, so he turned to her. “Uh...what’s goin’ on, Eve? Is this a bad time?”

Without looking at him, she said, “Everything’s fine, Tedd. We just need some time alone.”

“No, stay,” said Gloomy in an angry sarcastic tone. He looked at Evening. “Why don’t you tell him what’s going on? He does know, right?”

Evening gave a shameful nod. It took only a few seconds for Teddy to understand what was happening. “Oh...I see. So he’s…?” His question was met with another slow nod from her.

“Gloomy...I think that you should go.” Evening Star looked at Gloomy’s sorrowful expression. It made her pity him even more.

“Go? Go where?” He started to tear up again. “I hate my job. I hate my apartment. I hate my life. The only real thing I cared about was you. And now I have nothing.”

Evening started getting emotional. “I-I’m sorry, I just can’t talk to you.” She began crying. As she tried to get up from her chair, Gloomy grabbed her by her left hoof. “Let go, Gloomy,” she demanded. Teddy became alert as she struggled to free herself from his grip. “I said LET GO!” Suddenly freeing herself from his grip, she stumbled backwards. Some of the spectating ponies nearby gasped in response.

Teddy immediately went up to Gloomy and pressed his hoof on his neck. The chair started to lean back a little. “Listen here, buddy. I know it’s hard what you’re goin’ through, but you and her? It’s OVER. And if you ever put your hooves on her again or even come close to her, I will break you in two. Do you understand me?” The pressure from Teddy’s hoof made Gloomy start to choke. He answered the big behemoth with a nod and the earth pony relinquished his grip. Teddy went to comfort his girlfriend, and then they both departed from the cafe.

Gloomy was left sitting by himself in silence. Then, he got up and walked back to his old hiding spot. He reached into the bushes to pull out the ring he had spent hundreds of bits on. He stared at it for a moment before walking to the nearest trash can and dropping it inside.

Chapter 2 - What is AHPA?

I did some investigation on the current whereabouts of the Alicorn Amulet during what was taking place in Gloomy Dusk’s life. I believed it too had a significance worth looking into. Apparently, it was being held up in the Canterlot Holding Facility at that time until two months later it was stolen. There had been a fault in the defense system of the facility’s holding chamber that oversaw the safekeeping of the Alicorn Amulet among other dangerous artifacts. The magical deterrent field spell had expired, its purpose being to prevent any form of magic from being used inside the holding chamber as well a making sure no magic from the outside got in. It would take about a week to muster enough magic to recreate the field which would leave plenty of opportunity for intruders to seize the artifact, so the best logical step to ensure the Amulet’s safety was to escort it to another facility in Trottingham. The problem was, however, the fastest and most effective route without drawing public attention was through the Everfree Forest.

It was deep into the night when the guards entered the forest, pulling the heavy reinforced wagon that contained the artifact. The moonlight provided just enough vision to see the path. The guards also used illumination spells and torches to light their surrounding area.

It was about halfway through the forest when the lights were mysteriously snuffed out. Then, they were suddenly ambushed by a tall hooded figure. The guards could tell it was a pony, but the low light made it difficult to get a look at the intruder’s face. Many of the unicorns tried to use their magic to no avail. For some reason, all their magical energy had been drained from them. Still, the guards tried to apprehend the pony, but the intruder had thrown smoke bombs which clouded their vision. One by one, the pony knocked the guards unconscious with precise blows to the head. Only one guard was smart enough to lay on the floor and pretend to be unconscious.

The hooded pony then produced a magic key that could open any door or lock. The guard lying down saw it and in surprise he whispered, “The Key of Unfettered Entrance? But how?”

The whisper wasn’t quiet enough though, as the intruder turned towards him. This was the first time during the incident the hooded pony actually spoke. “I’ve studied many things in my lifetime, and it’s a little known fact that this Key isn’t destroyed after use. It is merely teleported to somewhere far away. All you need to do is find it.” The guard could tell it was a male voice.

The pony approached the now trembling guard on the ground. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, but I need something from this Amulet. I hope you don’t mind.” He then knocked the guard unconscious with a swift kick to the head.

When the escort team came to, the vault had been opened and the Alicorn Amulet had been stolen. No evidence was left behind by the intruder.

~~~

About three days after the breakup at the cafe, Gloomy Dusk decided to stop coming into work. It had only been a few days of absence before he was eventually fired from his job. At the end of the month, due to spending the last of his savings on a piece of jewelry that he threw away, he was unable to pay his rent and was given 30 days to leave his apartment.

After getting evicted, Gloomy lived on the streets of Detrot which he hated walking on every day. There was no pony to fall back on as most of his close relatives were either dead or had their own struggles. He had very few friends in the city, but even they were unwilling to help him out. All he had on himself was a backpack filled with essentials, food, and a photo of his ex-girlfriend. Gloomy was officially homeless.

His anxiety and depression began to build in the face hardship of living from meal to meal, collecting recyclables just to earn enough to eat. He kept his distance from other homeless ponies because it only reminded him of how pathetic his situation was, but being homeless alone was hard for him. As time went on, Gloomy’s loneliness made him start to talk to himself. He would sometimes rave madly regardless of who was in earshot.

During this time, he came upon a substance called crystalite. For those who are unfamiliar, crystalite is a highly addictive gem based chemical that is illegally manufactured in areas near the Crystal Empire, and then it is smuggled to various places within Equestria. Once Gloomy had gotten a taste of it, it wasn’t long before he was hooked. His priorities quickly shifted to drugs before any other necessity. He even resorted to begging and petty theft when he wasn’t making enough bits to pay for his addiction. Gloomy was on a downward spiral of disparity with no sign of hope in sight.

One night, he was unable to scrounge up enough bits to get his daily fix. He did, however, have enough to spend at a nearby bar. Gloomy didn’t normally drink, but he was willing to try anything to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms of his addiction that had started to set in. He walked into the nearest bar he could find and took a seat at the bar counter. He ordered three shots of bourbon with the remaining bits that he had and slowly savored each shot. When he had finished the last one, he rested his head on the counter for a while.

“Gloomy? Gloomy Dusk? Is that you?” said somepony to Gloomy’s right who was sitting farther down the counter. His coat was light yellow, and he was wearing a purple striped suit jacket and purple spectacles. His cutie mark was of a bright yellow sun with purple flames surrounding it. He got up from his seat and approached the drowsy unicorn. “Well if it isn’t old Gloom and Doom. How you’ve been, buddy? Remember me?”

Gloomy slowly raised his head to look at the well-dressed stallion. It only took him a few seconds to realize who it was. “...Vanilla?”

“Yours truly,” said Vanilla Cream, taking a moment to comb his sleek brown mane back. Vanilla had been close friends with Gloomy since middle school. It was only until Vanilla had moved away from Detrot after high school that they were separated.

“What...are you doing here?” inquired Gloomy.

“Oh, I was just in town for a business meeting and thought I’d grab a drink.” Vanilla seemed to have a haughty aura surrounding him that let others know how sophisticated he was. But when he looked more closely at Gloomy’s downcast appearance, his attitude quickly shifted. “I should ask you the same thing. I never took you as a drinker, Gloomy. Even at those after-school parties, you always preferred to sit by yourself with a glass of punch.”

Gloomy felt too careless to lie. “I’m...I’m not in a good place right now.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I broke up with my girlfriend about three months ago...or was it four months? It’s hard to keep track nowadays,” said Gloomy nonchalantly as if he had said it a thousand times in his head.

“Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. I know how close you two were. She was indeed a very lovely mare.”

“Too lovely for me I guess,” Gloomy said under his breath.

“Gloomy, my friend. Don’t beat yourself up-”

“No, no. It’s fine. You don’t gotta worry about me. I’m just dealing with it my own way.” Gloomy sulked even more.

His friend took a moment to think of what to say. “Look...I can see that you’re still hurting from this. If she’s moved on, then there’s no sense in holding onto what used to be. You need to let her go, Gloomy.”

Those last words triggered a flashback in Gloomy’s mind, of the last thing Evening Star said to him. “...let go…” He felt that familiar sense of anguish flow back over him as he fell face forward on the counter and began to cry uncontrollably.

Vanilla became sympathetic towards him. He could also tell Gloomy was slightly drunk. He sat at the stool next to him and put a comforting hoof on the back of his sobbing friend. It was convenient there weren’t many eyes in the bar at this hour to make either of them feel self-conscious.

When he eventually calmed down, Gloomy spoke with a sore throat, “She’s better off without me.”

“No, no, no. Gloomy, don’t think like that. YOU are the one who’s better off without her,” advised Vanilla. “You can finally start to be your own pony and rediscover who you are! Rather than put all your hopes into somepony else, you can find your true calling.”

Gloomy was surprised by how wisely his friend spoke. Back in the day, Vanilla would just make wisecracks and jokes about other ponies’ moms. “How do you know so much about this?”

“Ehh. I was in a relationship with a filly once. Didn’t work out.”

“How long did it last?”

“About three years. She left me for some hot shot stallion supermodel.”

“But doesn’t it suck, though? Having your heart ripped out after so long?”

“Ya...it did...but then I moved on. I found out how refreshing it was not to be weighed down by a mare.” Vanilla realized the error in his words. “...not to say that you can never find love. You just have to find yourself first, and hope that the one you fall in love with has too.”

Gloomy felt a great sense of companionship from Vanilla as they both sat together. Even though it was only a few minutes, to him it felt like he was reliving the days they both used to hang out.

Then, the moment ceased as reality set back in. “Well...it was nice seeing you, but I gotta go,” said Gloomy.

“Uh uh, I don’t think so,” objected Vanilla. “You’re in no shape to be out at night, especially with how chilly the air is outside. No, I’m getting us a taxi and you’re staying the night at my hotel.”

“That’s nice of you to offer, but I really can’t-”

“I won’t take no for an answer. Besides, it’s the least I can do for a friend.”

Gloomy didn’t want to trouble him, but he eventually conceded. “Oh alright.”

Vanilla was very pleased by his response and, after tipping the bartender, they both headed outside to flag a taxi carriage.

Back at Vanilla Cream’s hotel suite, Gloomy began to open up to him about his previous struggles. He confessed how he planned to propose to Evening Star, how he found out he was being cheated on, and how the resulting divide affected his livelihood. Vanilla just listened attentively, occasionally giving advice.
Even though he planned on renting a room by himself, Vanilla still had an extra bedroom for Gloomy to sleep in. When asked why he got a two bedroom suite, his reply was simply, “It has a great view.”

~~~

The next day, Gloomy got up to eat breakfast that was already prepared by his early bird friend. As they were eating, Vanilla decided to ask something of him.

“Hey Gloomy...I’ve been thinking. I know you’re going through a lot right now, but I was hoping you could come with me to my business meeting. It’s this evening at the Canter Theatre and I was thinking of inviting you.”

Gloomy was confused by his proposal. “Wait, what? Aren’t only employees allowed in the meeting? And why do you want me to come?”

“It’s...not quite a business meeting. That’s just what we call it. It’s more of a...club if you will.”

“You mean like a secret club?”

“Yes, exactly like a secret club. We call it the Ancient History Preservation Association, or AHPA for short. And since I’m well-respected in it, I can probably get you a ticket inside.”

Gloomy became disinterested. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t feel like being a part of some club right now.”

“I never said you had to be a part of it.”

Gloomy looked at him with curiosity. “What do you mean?”

“I know some wealthy individuals in AHPA that own financial businesses. My reason for bringing you is to have us meet with those gentleponies, and hopefully I can put in a good word for you so they may consider you for hire.”

“What!? No...I can’t just meet some rich folks and expect them to give me a job. I appreciate it and all, but I can go find a job on my own.”

“You mean like the one you had for years that barely made you enough to live on? The whole reason why I’m doing this for you, Gloomy, is so that you might have a better chance at a new start. If you go back to looking for jobs in Detrot, you’re only going to backslide. I guarantee it. At least this way you might have a shot at happiness.”

Gloomy needed some time to think it over. He went back to his bedroom while Vanilla went out to the balcony of the hotel room to smoke a cigar. After about half an hour had passed, Gloomy joined him outside.

“Okay…” said Gloomy.

“Okay? Okay what?”

“Okay, I’ll go with you to this ‘business meeting’.” There was some reluctance in his voice that Vanilla picked up on.

“Are you sure, Gloomy? I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”

“No...I thought about it and I’ve decided that it’s probably best for me to have a new start. I don’t think I’ll find one in Detrot. Unemployment rates are high, and if word gets around that you’re a drug addict, you’re pretty much done for. Which begs the question. What if they decide to turn me down for being a gem snorter as well?”

“Well, first things first. After this meeting, we need to get you to a rehab center. I know some good places that will have you back on your hooves in no time. And don’t worry about getting turned down. I know quite of few of them have given a handful of addicts a chance and most of them have successful jobs to this day. A lot of these fellows care more about a pony’s character than what it says on their resume. They think hiring based solely on credentials and background checks makes employees too cocky.”

“Just one more thing...” Gloomy pondered for a moment. “...are we going to be watching a play since it’s at a theatre?”

“Oh, heavens no!” laughed Vanilla. “We’re just renting the whole place out. We’re actually hosting an auction there, with some of the proceeds going to charity.”

“An auction? Are you bidding for antiques or something?”

“I...guess you could say they’re antiques.”

“Then what exactly are they?” Gloomy was becoming suspicious.

“Look, I really can’t tell you what they are because I’m under oath. You see, it’s like a game of mystery auction. All the items that are submitted up for bid are by the same members who participate in the auction. Each member does not know who’s item is who’s except their own. We strictly prohibit telling outsiders about what’s being submitted, lest word gets around and the integrity of the auction is besmirched by biased bidding. If any member were to ever get caught cheating, it would mean immediate and permanent exclusion from the club.”

Gloomy was blown back by the amount of information that Vanilla had unleashed upon him. “I guess that makes sense.”

“So...you’ll still go?”

“Ya...I’ll go.”

Vanilla Cream suddenly beamed with optimism. “Great! I’ve got some errands to run today, so I’ll see you this evening at the theatre, 7:00 pm sharp. Oh, and don’t forget to wear something formal.”

“But...I don’t have any clothes with me.”

“Oh yes...well then you can just use one of my suits in the wardrobe. Anyway, I’ve got to go. See you then!”

“Hey wait!” Before the gray unicorn could get his attention once more, the yellow stallion in purple had already exited the front door to the suite. Gloomy was now left to think about what he had gotten himself into. There was still something fishy to him about the situation despite being given a reasonable explanation.

He put the thought aside as he entered Vanilla’s bedroom. It was much nicer looking than the rest of the suite. The bed was king sized with luxury pillows. The sink mirror was large and had two additional side mirrors to cover both sides of the face. The bath had a jacuzzi system with many shampoos, bath salts, and soap sponges on the edges of the tub. He even noticed out of the corner of his eye a book rack by the bed that consisted of several literature books as well as a few Playfilly magazines. The last thing he looked at was the wardrobe which was like a mini hallway. The most surprising thing about the wardrobe was the amount of suits that hanged along the rack.

“There’s got to be at least twenty five of them.” Gloomy started to rifle through the selection with his magic. “But why would anypony bring this many suits to a hotel?”

Most of them were in a consistent shade of purple, but there were a few other colors as well. He stopped when he saw a jet black suit with a scarlet red tie. He levitated it towards him. Gloomy liked its simplistic appearance and how it seemed to fit his personality. “This one looks nice.”

~~~

It was 6:58 pm when Gloomy arrived at the Canter Theatre. He saw his friend waiting by the entrance wearing the same purple suit he wore at the bar last night. When he saw him approach, Vanilla took notice of the suit he was wearing.

“I see you went with black on gray. I like it. It’s so...you,” said Vanilla as he gave Gloomy a pass that allowed him entrance into the theatre.

Before entering the main lobby, they both went through a security checkpoint. Vanilla went first.

“Stand on your hind legs, please,” ordered the security pony. Vanilla easily complied. “Got any magical items on you, sir?” The security pony used a scan spell as he waved his horn along both sides of Vanilla.

“No sir!” he cheerfully replied.

“Okay, you’re all good.”

Allowing him to pass, it was now Gloomy’s turn. He was more nervous than his friend due to having close run-ins with the police on the streets. He went through the same process, standing on his hind legs and having himself scanned. Even though it was brief, he felt as though a lot of dignity was stripped from him.

“Okay, your clean. Next!”

Gloomy gave a sigh of relief as he entered the main lobby. He looked around to see many sophisticated ponies conversing and giving fake haughty laughs every so often. If Gloomy didn’t know any better, he’d think he was at a more pompous version of the Grand Galloping Gala. He could see waiters trotting up to groups and offering hors d'oeuvres. The classical music that played in the lobby added the ambiance not unlike a three hoof restaurant.

He managed to find his friend Vanilla conversing with a middle aged dark gray earth pony with a dark sea green mane and wearing an Olive green suit. He noticed his cutie mark was an orb that was covered by green fire. As Gloomy approached the both of them, his friend took noticed and waved at him.

“Hey, Gloomy! I’d like you to meet my associate, Avarice. He’s one of the founders of AHPA and it’s current leading official.” Vanilla motioned his hoof toward the elder gentlepony. “Avarice, this is a close friend of mine, Gloomy Dusk.”

“It’s a...pleasure to meet you, sir,” said Gloomy in a bashful tone.

Avarice appeared calm and collective before him. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. Vanilla expressed how much dedication you show when it comes to your job.”

“I wouldn’t say...dedicated. I’ve just been used to doing what I’m told.”

Avarice smirked. “So I see. Nevertheless, it is an admirable trait to do what one is told, when it is to be done, and without question by a superior.”

“It’s a sign of good character too,” Vanilla interjected.

“Indeed,” said Avarice.

Gloomy was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable over the sudden attention he was getting. “So...what do you do for a living, Mr. Avarice?”

“I own and run the Ancient Artifacts Museum up in Trottingham.”

“Wow, what kind of things do you put on exhibit there?”

“Mostly just stones with ancient languages carved in them, primitive tools, and illustrations of what the items signified.”

“Sounds like an interesting place to work.”

“Mmmn not really. It’s mostly just general maintenance and checking the authenticity of archaeological findings.” Avarice laughed to himself. “Once, I received glyph that was claimed to have dated back to the Primitive Pony Era. Turns out it was just a modern day stone carved into a glyph, scratched up, and smeared with dirt. I had the pony who submitted it banned from ever visiting my museum.”

“Maybe I should visit your museum some time. My favorite subject in school was mostly history, so it might be cool to browse.”

“And why is that?”

“Why is what?”

“The reason you like history?”

“I don’t know...It’s just the way all the seemingly random events that take place all sort of fit together in the present, you know?”

“Yes...and that it tells a story of the nature of ponykind, shedding light on society and the foundations of today’s culture.” Avarice was suddenly more engaged in the conversation.

“Exactly! It’s like you read my mind!” Gloomy, caught up in his giddiness, accidentally raised his voice. Some heads turned from their social circles to look in the direction of the outburst. Gloomy nervously looked at his surroundings and then back to Avarice. “Umm, sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’d rather let one word be heard out loud than a thousand in silence.” Avarice looked to his friend. “Vanilla, did you tell him what we do here at the Ancient History Preservation Association?”

“I told him we were having an auction for charity,” Vanilla admitted honestly.

“And did you tell him what exactly we would be auctioning off?”

“No, sir. I was afraid I’d break the code.”

“Well now that he’s here, I see no reason why to hide it any longer. Go on…”

“Gloomy, the items in this auction are no ordinary items. They’re artifacts from all over Equestria with certain...‘powers’.”

“Powers?” replied Gloomy. “Do you mean like the Elements of Harmony?”

“Not exactly...They’re powerful, yes, but they can also be very dangerous.”

“What do you mean by dangerous?” Gloomy was becoming increasingly concerned.

“Curses. Each item holds a curse that affects those who use its powers. For instance, last year I submitted an item called the Practitioner’s Medallion. Any pony who wears it will be gifted with the perseverance and will to succeed in any goal they wish to achieve. This medallion may seem like a placebo effect, but it has proven to win many athletic competitions, make lowly interns reach CEO in a matter of weeks, and has cured severe drug addicts in less than a month. The drawback, however, is once a goal is achieved, the pony will seek out new goals more ambitious than the last. Eventually, the goals would become so dangerous that it would inevitably lead to that pony’s demise. It can always be taken off, but once a pony has decided their goal, they will stop at nothing to finish it with or without the medallion.”

Gloomy was surprised and yet felt like his friend was pulling his leg. But before he could speak, Avarice added his own example.

“I too last year submitted the Eye of Arimaspi which when one looks closely into it, they are able to see the location of anypony they desire. This has allowed many criminal cases to be solved, but it comes with a great price. The user and the one the user looks upon can now see what the other sees. Think of it as a second pair of eyes, except your counterpart has control over them. This makes sleep extremely difficult as both ponies would need to synchronize their sleep schedule. The curse, unfortunately, is irreversible. The only way for it to stop would be that one of the two would have to close their eyes and never wake up. This artifact is one of the more dangerous ones as it can reach anypony anywhere.”

Gloomy stared at both of them as he was speechless at first. Then, he gave a short laugh. “Are you two pulling my leg?”

The two of them looked dead serious which slowly wiped away Gloomy’s grin. “You’re both serious? W-well why are these things at an auction and not in some protected facility somewhere?”

Avarice motioned to speak, but was stopped by Vanilla. “I’ll tell him,” he said looking at his friend. “Gloomy, AHPA is just a cover name for a secret organization ran by wealthy individuals. The royal capital knows little of our actual dealings and we try to keep it that way. That’s not to say that we’re not fully cable of keeping these dangerous items locked and protected from the public.”

“Then why put them up for auction? Why not just keep them locked up?”

“It’s called playing with fire without getting burned,” Avarice interjected. “We started this organization because we found there was not enough guard power at the time to protect highly exposed facilities. If you’ve read the newspaper, there was an ambush on a caravan escort from the Canterlot facility about a month ago. But it wasn’t satisfying enough for the members to simply keep these artifacts in hiding, so they made a game out of it, hosting one every year. Call it childish and irresponsible if you will, but it is an integral part of keeping this organization intact. I hope you can understand that.”

“But isn’t this...illegal?” Gloomy sheepishly questioned.

“Yes…” said Vanilla. “But we’re doing what the capital couldn’t do effectively. We have a major hand in keeping Equestria safe, even though the outside world knows little of us.”

Taking some time to realize how deep he already was in this situation, Gloomy decided not to question it any longer. “I see...Thanks for explaining everything.”

“I know it’s a lot to process, but I thought you deserved to know the truth seeing as you’re already here,” said Avarice. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to discuss with other members. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dusk. I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening.”

With that, Avarice made his way to a group of ponies on the far side of the lobby.

Vanilla, being a bit embarrassed, leaned in and whispered to Gloomy, “Sorry about that. I was gonna tell you myself privately after we got in, but Avarice was eager to chat with me.”

“Nah, it’s fine. At least I get now why everypony here is so excited about good ol’ history.”

They both enjoyed a short laugh.

“That was a good start. Now, how about we go mingle with some other stuffed shirts?” said Vanilla, pointing to a nearby social gathering.

Gloomy reluctantly agreed and they continued conversing with the other members. Gloomy met bankers, lawyers, theme park owners, business managers, and even a few celebrities. But as time went on, he began to feel more ill and anxious as if an urge inside him was resurfacing. He began to sweat and have occasional tremors. The walls of the lobby felt as though they were closing in, pushing all the occupants closer together. His breathing became more intense, and his mind started turning numb to all the lights and music. He looked to see his friend looking back at him in concern for his well-being.

“Heeeeeey bbbuuuudddyyy...Arrrreee yoooou okaaaaayy?”

Time felt like it was slowing down. He decided he needed to remove himself from the crowds and find a more secluded spot. He went over by the vacant table decorated with various wines and cheeses and sat down, rubbing his hooves on his head.

“It’s the withdrawals, isn’t it?” said Vanilla as he came to check on him.

“I...I think I just need a drink…”

“The only drink you’ll be having tonight is water, I’m afraid.” Vanilla sighed. “I knew this was gonna happen sooner or later. I just wish it would’ve came later.”

Vanilla went over to Gloomy and wrapped his arm around his back, giving him a playful shake. “You’ll get through this. I promise.” The comforting gesture helped ease his stress, but then a thought rose in Gloomy’s mind.

“Vanilla?”

“Ya?”

“Are you...gay?”

“Am I what?”

“Are you gay?”

Vanilla was caught off guard by that question, removing his hoof from Gloomy. “Why would you ask me that?”

“When I was in your room, I saw some magazines...with stallions on them and…”

Vanilla quickly realized what he meant. “Oh...you saw those?”

Gloomy nodded. “So...are you?”

“Well...I...uh…geez.” Vanilla’s face started to blush as his eyes avoided contact. He then relented. “Yes...I’m gay. But...why are you asking me this now?”

Now it was Gloomy’s turn to feel embarrassed. “It’s just that...most of my old friends abandoned me after I lost my job. Then you come along after years of not seeing me and decide to help me? It just feels like you’re being a little...too nice?”

Vanilla started to connect the dots until it hit him. “Wait, wait. Hold on a second. You think that’s the real reason I invited you here? To date you?”

Me and my stupid mouth.

“Gloomy, listen to me. I invited you because you’re my closest friend. I would never try to use you.” The words he spoke were reassuring and empathetic. “Now...can we pretend we never had this conversation, okay? I still want to enjoy the rest of the night.”

Before he got up to get his friend a glass of water, Gloomy stopped him for a second. “Hey, just so you know, I’m not into-”

“Stallions? I know. You don’t seem like the gay type, anyway,” Vanilla said as he walked off.

When the clock struck 8:00 pm, a staff member of the theatre opened the doors to the auditorium to let the members in so they could take their seats. Gloomy and Vanilla took a seat towards the back of the auditorium to spectate the whole auction. Moments shortly after everypony was seated, the curtains opened to reveal a pony standing behind a podium with a gavel. He swung the gavel on its accompanied sound block a few times.

“I’d like to commence the 25th annual AHPA auction event. As same as last year, 10% of the proceeds will go to the Equestrian Foal Care Fund non-profit organization.” As he was speaking, another pony dragged in a large object covered by a curtain. When it reached the center of the stage, he removed the document attached to it and handed it to the auctioneer.

He began to read the document out loud. “Item 1: The Sphinx’s Headpiece, discovered in Southern Equestria.” As he spoke, the other pony removed the sheet to reveal a giant golden headwear, spanning multiple feet in length. It had a pyramid in its center. Many of the ponies in the audience reacted with “oohs” and “aahs”.

“Activating the centerpiece located on the backside will enable the user to send out large amounts of solar energy originating from the top of the pyramid, promoting plant growth and enriching soil for seven days of plenty. Negative side effects include extreme drought and nutrient starvation for seven days of famine following the seven days of plenty. Headpiece can be activated multiple times to increase both durations. Longest recorded: 312 days of plenty followed by 312 days of famine. We shall start the bidding at 5,000 bits. Do I hear 5,500?”

As the auctioneer began speaking in a quick rhythm, some of the members sitting near the stage began waving up cards to raise the bid. Eventually, the cards stopped raising and the auctioneer called the final bid as he struck the gavel.
“Sold for 10,500 to number 35!” As the first mover pony re-draped and pushed the headpiece off to the right side of the stage, another pony entered from the left pushing the next item in. “Item 2…”

The following items proceeded in a similar fashion. Gloomy witnessed several fascinating artifacts ranging in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Some standouts were The Eighth Ring of Scorchero, Lavandar’s Puzzle Box, and the Siamese Mirror. During the bidding, Vanilla would whisper to Gloomy his guess on who might’ve submitted the item currently on display.

The next item got pushed in. The cover was removed to reveal a square glass case with a small object inside. It was a silver sheen triangle with a bright red gem in its center. From both sides of it protruded black wings with red along the tops of them. In between them appeared to be what looked like the head of a unicorn.

“Item 13: The Alicorn Amulet, last reported location in the Everfree Forest within an escort caravan.”

Gloomy perked up upon hearing the words “escort caravan”. He remembered those words from Avarice’s mention of it being in the paper. Gloomy stared with deep interest at the item as the auctioneer read its description.

“Any unicorn wearing the amulet will be blessed with untold powers. Magical potential has been described as rivaling the powers of the Princesses, but maximum potential varies from pony to pony. Negative side…”

It was suddenly difficult for Gloomy to hear the words of the auctioneer as his voice started to fade into a muffled sound. He noticed the auditorium became very silent as he continued staring at the amulet.

What is going on? Why is everything so quiet?

As he looked at it, he started hearing faint unintelligible whispers as if they were being spoken close to his ears. He stared on as the whispers grew louder.

Hey, do you hear that? He tried speaking to Vanilla, but for some reason he could only think the words. He looked to see Vanilla was oblivious to the sounds as well as the other ponies in the auditorium. Gloomy looked back down at the amulet. He felt something calling him, pulling his eyes towards it. The whispers grew louder. Eventually, a voice emerged from the others that he could actually understand.

“Find...Me…”

The voice was strange and at the same time, familiar. To him, it sounded almost like Evening Star’s voice.

“Come find me… I’ll be waiting…”

It was unsettling, yet the beckoning call started to allure Gloomy. He could see the red gem begin to glow and its red aura filling his whole vision. Then, he suddenly shook his head. When he looked again, everything was back to normal. All the whispering and red light had vanished, and he could hear the auctioneer’s voice again.

“Sold for 12,700 to number 73!” The Alicorn Amulet was covered and taken off stage like the rest. Gloomy scratched his head in bewilderment.

Did I just have a hallucination? Maybe it was from the withdrawal symptoms. But there was something about that amulet. Something strange...why did I hear her voice?

He decided to keep these thoughts to himself as he continued to watch the auction near its conclusion.

It was approximately 9:45 pm when the last item had been sold off, prompting the members to make their way back to the lobby to chat about their winnings. Gloomy and Vanilla both took a moment to get up from their seats and stretch.

“Ah, wasn’t that something?” said Vanilla.

Gloomy looked a bit disappointed. “I thought the whole auction was cool, but it was hard to see them from far away. I wish we could’ve gotten a closer view.”

“Oh, really? Well, I do have security clearance with our passes. If you want to, we could browse around where they keep them all.”

“Really!? Where do they keep them?”

“In the basement storage through the stairway leading down. It’s normally where the theatre keeps its props and costumes.”

“So you can get us up close?”

“Sure thing. Even Avarice and I browse around there after the auction sometimes. It feels quite exhilarating yet intimidating at the same time, being around so many potentially catastrophic things. Like he said, ‘It’s like playing with fire without getting burned.’”

Vanilla obligated to show Gloomy to the entrance downstairs to the basement storage room. Guarding the entrance were two staff security. They both recognized Vanilla as a regular who then presented his pass and told them Gloomy was accompanying him inside. As a formality, the guards gave a run down of the rules and regulations.

“When going inside, you are not permitted to touch any items in the room, nor are you allowed to remove their coverings. You are only allowed to look around. I repeat, do NOT touch any of the items inside.”

When they were both cleared to enter, they arrived inside a large dimly lit and dusty room with no windows. The artifacts were all covered with sheets and arranged in columns. As Gloomy approached one of them, he tried to guess which one it was by the shape of the sheet.

“That’s the Sea Jewel of Melusine,” Vanilla said confidently.

“How can you tell?”

“My dad used to run an antique shop when I was young. I liked to play a game of guessing what was under the sheets, and I eventually got good at it.”

Gloomy was impressed as they went from sheet to sheet. Vanilla would give Gloomy the first chance to guess with most of the guesses being wrong, but they both found it to be a fun experience. When they came to a certain sheet, Gloomy could feel something strange about it. He felt something from behind it. He knew what it was.

“The Alicorn Amulet…” he said faintly.

“That’s right! Not bad for a beginner,” Vanilla joked. “Alright, on to the next one.”

As he continued on, he noticed Gloomy didn’t follow but was just staring blankly at the sheet. “Hey, you comin’?”

“I think I’ll just stay here a bit,” he said, not breaking line of sight with the sheet. “I just want to do my own browsing if that’s okay.”

“Yah, sure thing. I’ll be over on this side of the room if you need me.” Vanilla walked down the aisle of artifacts and around the corner to where he could no longer be seen by Gloomy.

Gloomy felt that same feeling as before in the auditorium. A sensation of a presence calling out to him, egging him on. He could hear the whispers slowly come back to him.

What’s going on? Am I crazy? Am I daydreaming?

He felt as though something was moving underneath the sheets, stirring and waiting impatiently. He felt a great urge to grab the corner of the sheet with his magic despite all the warning signals going off in his head. He just had to know what was on the other side. Like ripping off a band-aide of curiosity, he pulled the sheet off with a quick tug. Underneath, he could see it clear as day. The Amulet in all its terrifying beauty. There was nothing else besides it. Nothing moving underneath. Just an amulet in a glass case, but he could still hear the whispers intensify. That same red aura as before began to glow brightly in his eyes.

“How long...How long must I wait for you?”

It sounded even more like her voice than before. Evening? Is that you? Why can’t I see you?

“I’m here...Look…”

He looked closely into the red gem as its glow intensified. He could barely make it out, but he could see some resemblance of her image. Yes! I see you! But how did you-

“There’s no time. I need you to help me…”

But how?

“Put it on and I’ll show you…”

He didn’t know why, but he felt as though he could trust the voice speaking to him. He seemed to forget all logic of the situation and using his magic, he slowly lifted the glass case. He gradually levitated the Alicorn Amulet into his hooves and examined it with such appreciation for its silver shine and crimson glow. With slight hesitation, he fastened it to his neck. The sound of it snapping into place gave a resounding echo.

Then, a sudden burst of energy shot through his whole body. All the whispers and weird sensations were now replaced with a sudden feeling of clarity. He felt great. Greater than he felt in a long time. This sudden feeling of pure joy was shattered at the sound of a voice.

“Gloomy? What are you-”

He turned to see his friend Vanilla, now staring in absolute shock.

“What are you doing!?!

“Now, now. I-I can explain-”

“Have you gone mad!? Take that off this instant!?!”

Gloomy tried to continue, but then they both heard the sound of hoofsteps.

“Is everything okay in there?” said one of the guards approaching.

Vanilla quickly lowered his voice down to the loudest whisper he could muster. “Gloomy, put it back before they spot you. Now.”

Gloomy so desperately wanted to, but he couldn’t get over this feeling he had. “I...I...I don’t think I want to.”

“Are you crazy? Don’t you know what they’ll do to you if they find you with an artifact?”

“I...I don’t care anymore.” Gloomy looked down in rejection of his friend’s plea. It was clear his mind was made up.

“That thing you're wearing...do you know what it does to ponies? It-” Before he could finish, he was interrupted by one of the security entering the aisle where the two were.

“We heard yelling and-” The guard stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted the amulet on Gloomy’s neck. He immediately used his magic to communicate to the other guards. “Intruder in the basement! He has possession of one of the items! I need back-up!”

Now Gloomy knew that there was no going back from this. Taking one more look at each other, Vanilla gave one last word of advice.

“...Run...”

Gloomy immediately turned and ran as fast as he could to the opposite end of the basement room. He could hear the sound of multiple security guards entering the room from the entrance. He began to panic as he reached the wall. Frantically looking both ways, he ran to the right and towards the far corner of the room.

When he arrived at the corner, he realized he was at a dead end. He turned around and looked to see if there were any guards coming for him. Though he couldn’t see any yet, he could hear them closing in on his location. Gloomy was sweating and breathing heavily.

There’s no way out! This can’t be happening!

They were getting closer.

I need some way to escape! Something! Anything! Just some way to escape!

They were even closer.

Gloomy could feel a strange magic take over as it filled his horn with red energy. The magic started to build as one word filled his mind.

ESCAPE!!!

The guards saw a bright flash of red magic coming from around the corner of one of the aisles. They all rushed to its source to find nothing but what appeared to be black ashe stains covering the floors, walls, and ceiling of the area where Gloomy had once stood. All that remained in the center was a jet black suit that had been smoldered and covered in ashe.

One of the guards used his magic to communicate to a higher up. “We have an emergency! The Alicorn Amulet has been stolen!”

Chapter 3 - The Stormy Path

It was approximately 10:15 pm. An occasional breeze rustled the tall pine trees in a local forest near the city of Detrot. The night sky was partially cloudy with a few stars that shone through. Sounds of nocturnal animals scurrying about were quiet and subtle, and an owl’s sequence of hoots would play periodically. For the most part, the wilderness was in peaceful silence.

A sudden thunderous boom, as if lightning had struck, penetrated the silence and echoed through the forest. Almost all the animals within the vicinity of it were scared off. The sound ended as quickly as it started, and in the center of it all appeared a gray unicorn. A circle of ashe that burned up the duff surrounded where he stood, and he too had parts of him covered in it. Disoriented, he looked confused as to his whereabouts.

“Wha? Who? Where?” said Gloomy, trying to get his bearings. He noticed he walked a few feet away from where he started and looked back at the ashe circle in surprise. He pondered. “D-did I just...teleport?”

Gloomy tried to figure out the cause of this feet as he had never been to magic school nor had he ever attempted teleportation, much less any other advanced magic. Then he realized what it was. Looking down, there it was. The Alicorn Amulet was still on his neck.

So I’m not dreaming? This is real?

It is all too real.

Gloomy jumped as he thought somepony else was in the woods, but there was only him and the forest.

Was that me? It sounded like me, but it felt...different.

He soon figured he was in a forest, but it took him longer to realize what kind of forest it was. He examined the clearing, the familiar placement of the bushes and rocks.

Wait...I remember this place.

Recalling the memories, he turned around to see a large pine tree sticking the farthest out into the clearing. He approached it and scanned its bark until he found an engraving on it. It read: “G & E were here” and had a heart surrounding it.

This is where we first kissed... But why? Why would I teleport here? Why in Equestria did I hear her voice and see an image of her in a reflection?

Maybe I miss her.

Again, Gloomy was startled by what he thought wasn’t his mind speaking.

Am I losing it? Wait a minute. The drugs! It must be my mind going through withdrawals again. I haven’t had a fix in two days.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a cold breeze of the night winter air. He started to shiver as his body struggled to adjust to it, but it was proving too difficult for him.

It’s f-f-f-freezing out here. Wait, where are my clothes!? Oh...I guess they must’ve gotten lost through the teleportation. Figures.

He motioned to head out until he remembered how long a trek it was from the city. It was at least an hour’s journey.

Of course! This was also the day we went on that dumb hiking trip for our forestry class. Or was it survival class?

Then, Gloomy suddenly got an idea as he looked back down at the amulet he was wearing.

Wait a minute. I remember they said this thing granted its user powers. I wonder…

Gloomy stared at a lone bush surrounded by dirt that looked isolated from the other plants. He focused real hard on it as red magic started glowing from his horn. In one swift zap, a beam of energy shot from it which made the bush burst into flames.

“Woah!” he exclaimed as he retracted from the sudden brightness. He looked in amazement at what he had just made with little effort, and then looked down at his amulet in delight.

This thing is amazing!

He sat down near the fire and rubbed his hooves together before extending them out to be warmed up.

Okay. It’s probably a bad idea to go out when it’s this cold at night. It’s best I just stay here by the fire until morning. But what about those guards? And that organization? They’ve most likely already put the word out that I’m a wanted thief. I’m not safe in the city. Gotta skip town. But I’ve got no supplies to live on. Nothing on me except this…

Getting up and turning around, he magically materialized a tent in front of him. It was large enough to easily accommodate ten ponies. Inside it was a king sized bed with comfy pillows.

I think I’ll be fine.

~~~

“Honey, what are you doing in there?”

“Go away! I wanna be alone!”

“Gloomy, please come out.” His mother was at her son’s door, speaking to him just outside his room. “You didn’t even talk to me on the way back from school. You just ran straight into your room when we got home. What’s going on?”

“I hate my life! I don’t wanna talk to anypony!”

“Honey, don’t say that. You’ve got friends and a mom who loves you very much. Just come out and talk to me.” She could tell her son was sobbing on the other side. She could hear the choked raspiness of his voice from all the crying. “Did something bad happen at school?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it! Just leave me alone!”

“Gloomy, sweety. If anything bad happened, you can tell me. I promise I won’t be mad at you.”

The sound of his crying calming down as well as sniffling could be heard from the other side. “...Promise?”

“Promise.”

A few seconds passed before she heard the sound of the door unlocking. It slowly opened to reveal an 8-year-old Gloomy with dry tear marks on his face, snorting occasionally to stop the mucus from flowing out of his nose.

“I-I’m sorry for yelling at you,” said Gloomy, trying his best not to cry anymore.

“Oh, honey. Shhhh.” She wrapped her arms around him in a comforting embrace. “You don’t need to be sorry. I can see you’re very upset. Now, can you tell me what happened?”

Gloomy levitated his backpack from his room to him and reached into it to pull out a pink slip of paper. She took it and started to read it over.

“Detention? But you’ve gotten detention before. Why is this time any-” She froze for a second. “Oh no, Gloomy you didn’t…”

Gloomy merely nodded shamefully.

“You know what your father is going to think when he finds out about this, do you?”

“Please mom, don’t tell dad! I don’t want him to find out!” Gloomy started crying again.

“Alright. Alright. Calm down. I won’t tell him, but you have to promise you’ll try not to do this again. Okay?”

“Yes mommy.”

“Alright. Now go clean up. Can’t have you looking that way when your dad gets home from work.” As she spoke, she heard the front door to the house open.

“Hey, I’m home!” Gloomy’s dad shouted as he entered.

“Hey handsome!” the mom replied as she trotted over from the hallway to greet him with a kiss. “How was work?”

“Aww, well we had a slow day at the bank, so some us got sent home early,” he said as he scanned the room. “Where’s my little stallion?”

“Oh, he’s washing up. School germs and all.”

“How was school?”

“Great. He said he got along with the other students just fine.”

“What about his grade report? There’s supposed to be one today, right?”

“Oh, yes. He did really great. Got straight A’s on all his homework.”

“Can I see it?”

“See what?”

“The progress report.”

“But...I just said-.”

“I know. I just want to see for myself. Please...dear?”

“What? You don’t believe me? You know your son’s a smart colt.”

“Look, are you gonna stop wasting my time and get the damn report or am I gonna have to do it myself!?” His voice quickly grew impatient. Gloomy’s mom lowered her head in defeat and went to get her son’s backpack.

Meanwhile, Gloomy was peeking from inside the hallway and watching in fear as her mom went near him to retrieve the backpack. She whispered to him, “I’m sorry.”

When she presented the backpack to the father, he opened it up and looked over all the papers until he found the progress report. He looked it over in confusion as all the A’s were crossed out. He noticed a note on the upper left corner that read: “See pink slip.”

“Where’s the pink slip?”

The mom thought it pointless to beat around the bush and handed him the pink slip she was hiding in one of her hooves. As he read it, his expression grew more enraged. “Your son has been caught copying the answers to homework assignments from other students this past week. Due to cheating on his homework, we have revised his overall grade this week to an F-!?” His face began to get red hot. “Gloomy! Get out here now!”

It was only a few seconds before Gloomy arrived on the spot, shaking in fear of his father’s wrath. “Y-yes dad?”

“What in Celestia’s name sake is this!? You think cheating in school is funny?”

“No dad, I don’t.”

“You think you can just get through life by taking short cuts!?”

“No dad, I-”

“You think any school is gonna want some no good cheater as one of their graduates!? Huh!?”

“Dad, I tried but some of the homework is hard and-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!” He firmly grabbed Gloomy by his foreleg and started leading him to the parents’ bedroom. “I’m sorry son, but you’ve got to suffer the consequences.”

Gloomy never saw his father this angry before, and as he neared the room, the father pulled out a wooden paddle that had never been used before on him. Gloomy was shocked. He was expecting his father to use his signature belt which wasn’t that much worse than a hoof spanking, but a hard wooden paddle along with his father’s rage was too much for him to handle. He began pulling desperately against his father’s grip in an effort to free himself, shouting “No! Please! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” In a moment of sheer panic, Gloomy bit down on his father’s ankle as hard as he could.

“AHH!” The dad shouted in pain as he let go of his son. Gloomy ran to his mother and clung to one of her legs as a means of sanctuary. As the father rubbed the bite mark, he gave his son a deadly glare. “Why you little…”

“Candle, please. He’s learned his lesson,” the mother pleaded.

“You stay out of this, Maple!” Candle Wick lifted his son’s body with his magic and tore him from Maple Tree’s leg. “You don’t know what’s best for him!”

Candle turned to confront Gloomy who was trembling mid-air. “And you. I was gonna go easy on you, but now you’ve forced my hoof.” He picked up the paddle again that had fallen on the floor and, instead of going to his bedroom, he headed to the front door.

Gloomy realized with horror where he was being taken. “Dad, no! Please! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Please, no!” He desperately thrashed about in the air, trying to grab onto whatever he could on the way out the entrance to the house, but it all proved futile.

His father stopped when they had arrived at the front edge of their lawn. Gloomy could see some of his friends playing outside on the neighborhood street with their parents watching from a distance. As some of them turned to notice them both, Candle placed his son on his belly in the grass and held him down with one hoof. Gloomy knew this position all too well and was trying to find escape in his own mind.

“This!” His father raised the paddle high in the air. His son braced himself in dreadful anticipation in what felt like eternity. Then the paddle came down on Gloomy’s rump with a thunderous WHACK! Gloomy immediately screamed in agony at the sudden surge of pain. Candle spoke with each spank to bring power to his words. “Is for! Dis-! Respecting! Me! In front! Of! Your! Mother!”

With each strike of the paddle, Gloomy convulsed and squirmed in response. He could feel the spanks growing more and more intense. Tears flowed down like streams from his eyes. He could see most of his neighborhood friends stopping what they were doing to point and giggle at him. Even some of their parents who were prying from a distance nodded their heads in approval. Others were talking to their spouses, and although he couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, Gloomy could tell it was something along the lines of “Looks like the little brat got what was coming to him.”

He turned his gaze to the front door of his house to see his mother standing just outside it. She was looking down at the floor in utter hopelessness. Not once did she make eye contact with her son during the ordeal. Gloomy felt something change in him as he looked at the expression on her face. Then, the final spank the father administered woke him up.

Gloomy shot up from his bed in the tent, breathing heavily from the terrible nightmare he had endured. It was still nighttime and, telling by how the fire was almost about to go out, it had only been about an hour since he fell asleep.

That dream...It felt so real...like I was reliving it.

Taking a moment to reason with himself that it was only a nightmare, he laid back down in his bed and closed his eyes. But something felt different. He couldn’t fall asleep as easily as before. He tried laying in different positions, tossing and turning for hours, but he couldn’t get relaxed enough. Gloomy even examined the bed and pillows which were very comfy. In fact, he thought it was the most comfortable bed he had ever slept on. As he racked his brain as to what was hindering his slumber, he barely noticed his tent was beginning to illuminate. He looked outside to see that the sun was just peeking through the forest trees.

It’s morning? ALREADY!?!

Gloomy groaned in annoyed frustration.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Feeling the air temperature now start to rise and seeing no reason to stay, he left his camp and set out in the direction away from Detrot. Gloomy knew of a local small town called Yoke Park nearby that could be a good spot to lay low. On his way, he looked down again at his amulet.

Eve...I know this has something to do with you. But what are you trying to tell me?

He imagined there would’ve been some kind of response in his head like before, but there was only his thoughts. Then, he was startled by a rustling of bushes nearby. He turned around and just several feet in front of him was a giant grizzly bear. Gloomy’s eyes widened and his body became petrified with fear. The bear sniffed at him a few times before it raised itself on its back paws in an aggressive stance. This was it. It was live or die, fight or flight in Gloomy’s mind. The bear raised a claw, about to maim him. As it came down, Gloomy closed his eyes.

NO!!!

A burst of electricity shot out of his horn onto the bear. The bear shook in pain as the current passed through its body. When he realized what he was doing, he stopped the spell to which the bear collapsed on the ground. Gloomy at first was surprised, but then remembering the capabilities of the Alicorn Amulet, he smiled triumphantly.

“Ya! You like that?” He gave another small shock to the bear which convulsed in response.

This...feels good.

He gave one shock after another, feeling the exhilaration of having power over the now helpless bear. “You want some more? Huh?” His shocks grew more intense until he heard the bear start moaning in agony. He stopped the torture.

Wait...what am I doing? I’m defending myself. But the bear... it’s not a threat anymore. It could be if I give it a chance to fight back. It looks really scared though.

As he reasoned with himself, he was surprised to see the bear get up quickly and run off into the bushes from whence it came. Gloomy sighed in relief. He figured the bear wouldn’t return, but just in case he didn’t want to stay to find out.

He had been traveling for about half a day till he reached the edge of Yoke Park. His hooves were pretty sore from all the trekking through the rough forest floor. He decided to spy out the town from the brush. The streets weren’t nearly as busy as the ones in Detrot. Only a few ponies were walking along the sidewalks, some with their pets, others with their foals. The town had only a handful of businesses for shopping, eating, recreation, etc. It was a town Gloomy could really get used to living in as opposed to the slums of Downtown.

As he observed the town, something suddenly obscured part of his vision. For a moment, Gloomy could see the back of himself as if he were standing behind himself looking at himself. Thinking somepony was behind him, he quickly turned around, but there was nopony there. But now Gloomy could see himself looking at himself. Then, the image of himself quickly disappeared and he was able to see clearly again.

What in Celestia was that? Am I hallucinating again?

He waited to see if he would have another mirage, yet nothing happened. He felt uneasy and looked over his shoulder occasionally as he continued to scout out the town.

Okay, I need a plan to blend in unnoticed. But how can I not draw attention with this Amulet around my neck. It sticks out like a sore hoof.

He then spotted a house nearby that had a clothesline outside. On it were various types of clothing.

Perfect.

He carefully snuck over to the clothesline and checked to see if anypony was around. He could hear dishes being done inside the house, but he couldn’t see anypony through the windows. He looked at the clothes until he saw a black cape with a hood. Thinking it was the best choice, he quickly removed it from the line with his magic and bolted behind one of the nearest buildings.

He secured the black cape around his neck and did his best to cover the Alicorn Amulet so it would be out of view.

I suppose that’ll have to do.

Seeing nopony still in sight, he cautiously walked around the building and onto the street. He began to relax, though, as he went down it, examining some of the stores along the way. Most of them were actually vacant buildings for sale. Many of the shops went out of business due to the decreasing population of the town. He also noticed how most of the shops he came across were either novelty stores or bakeries.

I can see why this place is almost a ghost town. Who makes a living selling nothing but bath salts?

Gloomy was so fixated on the buildings he didn’t notice an elderly couple walking their dog towards him on the same sidewalk. When he finally took notice, he got nervous again. He could see they were looking at him as well. They had care-free smiles on their faces and the dog they were walking was a golden retriever.

He smiled politely back at them, but then took notice as the couple’s smiles lowered to a more concerned expression as they drew closer.

What’s wrong? Why are they looking at me like that? I knew the cape was a bad idea!

The couple then put on a half smile as they were about to cross paths when their dog immediately started to lung towards Gloomy, barking viciously at him. The sudden yanking of the dog’s leash made the elderly husband holding it stumble forward a bit.

“Daisy! Calm down, girl! What’s gotten into you?” said the old pony, startled by their dog’s reaction.He soon regained control of the leash and vigorously tried holding his dog back.

Gloomy was surprised and immediately backed away from the dog. He then went off the sidewalk and around them in the hopes that it would be enough distance between him and the dog.

“I’m really sorry,” the elderly stallion said to Gloomy as the dog continued to bark and pull. “She’s usually nice to strangers.”

“It’s fine…” Gloomy just continued to walk around them to let them go about their day.

“You have a nice day. And again, we’re really sorry,” said the wife.

After passing each other, Gloomy looked back to see them still trying to calm their pet.

I’ve never seen an animal that angry at me before...well except for that bear earlier.

He soon put the moment behind him as he noticed a hayburger stand with a stallion working at it on a corner across the street to where he was. As he got closer, he could smell the pleasing aroma of freshly cooked hay patties. His mouth started to water and he heard a sudden groaning in his stomach.

Of course. I haven’t eaten since yesterday. But...I’ve got no bits on me. It’s not like he’ll just give me a hayburger. I...could just- NO! No, I can’t just keep stealing stuff. I promised my friend I’d make a better start for myself. But...I really AM hungry. It’s just one little burger, right? I’m sure he won’t mind if he never finds out.

Gloomy approached the stand and surveyed the food, being taken in by the smell.

“Well, hello there!” The pony at the stand was preparing another batch of hay fries. “Interested in buying a hayburger? Fresh off the grill!”

“No...not right now. I ate very recently. I’m just looking.” Gloomy began to formulate a plan as he scanned the food selection.

“Are ya sure? You look a bit...pale.”

Did he just say I look...pale? Oh, if we weren’t in broad daylight, you’d be im-paled right about now!

“No, I’m sure,” said Gloomy trying to keep his cool.

“Well alright then. Do stop by when your hankerin for some good food.”

Gloomy could see a newspaper rack right behind where the hayburger stand was set up, and then he got an idea. When the pony wasn’t looking, he concentrated his magic on the stand and ignited a small flame to one of the newspapers. The fire began to grow rapidly as it consumed much of the other newspapers and magazines.

“Heya...do you smell smoke?” said the stand pony facing Gloomy. He put his nose in the air, sniffing and turning to look behind him. “Oh, horse crap!” He freaked out as soon as he saw the huge flames just a few feet away from the cart. He pulled out a fire extinguisher he stored in his cart for such an occasion and began hosing the burning rack.

While he was distracted, Gloomy quickly grabbed a few hayburgers and a drink and ran off.

~~~

Gloomy slowly opened his eyes to see he was lying in his old bed in his old apartment. It was just after sunrise and he’d just woken up from one of the best nights he ever had. As he lay there, he stretched around a bit when one of his legs bumped into another pony’s under the covers. A tired mare with a magenta and bright blue mane emerged from the covers and turned herself to face Gloomy. Her eyelids slowly opened to reveal her beautiful turquoise eyes. She gave a loving smile. Gloomy smiled back. They both laid facing each other in a moment of blissful silence.

“Morning,” said Evening Star.

“Morning,” said Gloomy.

“What time is it?”

Gloomy looked over to the alarm clock behind him. “It’s...about a quarter past 8:00.”

“You’ve gotta go to work in like an hour, right?”

“Ya...I’m just glad I got to wake up early so I could spend a little more time with you.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet.” She gave him a little kiss.

“You know what sounds sweet right about now? Some coffee.” Gloomy got up quickly from his bed and went towards the kitchen. “You want any?”

“Sure. Easy cream, extra-”

“Sugar?” He levitated a container of sugar to show her. “I know how you like your coffee. After all, you work at a cafe.” He brought two mugs for him and her to the bed and they both had a sip.

“...Actually, I may not be working there anymore pretty soon,” said Evening, looking at Gloomy with a grin.

Gloomy looked at her confused, then his eyes widened “No...you didn’t...you got accepted? To Vanhoover!?”

She nodded cheerfully.

“So you’re actually gonna be...”

“A foal nurse.”

Gloomy became elated. “By Celestia, that’s wonderful news!” He set his mug aside and sat on the bed beside her and gave her a deep hug. “I’m so happy for you!”

“There’s just one problem.”

Gloomy ceased his hugging and looked at her confused. “What do you mean?”

“I looked at the unit prices they charge for the classes...and the book prices...It’s all so expensive. I’m working a near-minimum wage job. I’ve got some bits in my savings, but I doubt it’ll last me a whole year. Maybe I could take out a loan. Doesn’t Buck Hill’s have fair interest rates?”

“Ya...but...wait, are you having second thoughts about all this?”

“Kinda...I just don’t know if I can pay off all that debt. I mean I’m not a math expert, but I think I would be paying off my student loans for most of my life. I’m not sure I can handle-”

“Eve...If I said I could help pay for your tuition, would that be enough to make you want to go?”

“Gloomy...you don’t have to-”

“I want to. I can’t imagine anything better than seeing you fulfill a dream you had since you were a filly. You mean that much to me.”

Evening’s expression became soft and thankful, but then turned to one of concern. “Are you sure you can handle paying for those classes. I see how you’re not living on much right now what with the apartment.”

“It’s no big deal. My dad got me into the habit of saving up bits, so now I have a good amount of it in the bank. Originally, I was saving it for a rainy day, but those rainy days never came and now I don’t really know what to do with it all....till now.”

But if you’re certain you want to go through with this...that means I’ll be living over there for several years and...we’ll barley get to see each other during that time.”

“We can send each other letters, and we may find time to visit each other every now and then. It’s gonna be hard, I know. I just want to let you know that if you’re on board, so am I.”

She looked at him with eyes full of adoration. “Okay then...I’m on board.”

Gloomy delightfully hugged and kissed her in celebration.

Evening looked deep into his eyes and with a calm smile said, “I love you.”

Gloomy was surprised by her response as it was the first time either of them had said in a meaningful way ‘I love you’. He wasn’t sure how to respond until her calming gaze helped him to relax. He took a deep breath and said, “I love you too.”

Gloomy opened his eyes to find himself sitting against a tree outside Yoke Park. He looked down to see an empty cup and a few wrappers, the remains of the food he had stolen. It took him a moment to realize he had a nap under the tree after finishing his meal. The sun had already set and it was getting dark. A large storm cloud could be seen in the horizon moving towards the town. He could hear occasional sounds of thunder.

Another dream...It felt as real as the last one.

He got up and went back into town. The streets were empty and much of the stores were closed. He could feel the air getting colder. He stopped next to a clothing store with a wide glass window displaying mannequins dressed in outfits.

Why am I having these vivid dreams? I don’t think it’s the withdrawals anymore. It’s...something else.

Gloomy looked down at his cape and parted the front of it, revealing the Alicorn Amulet.

Is it the Amulet? Is that why I’ve been getting all these strange visions? This thing been messing with my head all this time?

He grabbed the Amulet with one of his hooves and motioned to take it off.

Wait...no...why should I get rid of it? It’s helped me get out of tight spots. The guards, the cold night, the bear in the woods...I’d be dead without it. It’s only looking out for me, trying to keep me safe. That’s all. I NEED it.

He released his hoof from the Amulet. When he looked up, he noticed something moving down the street where he was. A pony. It appeared to be a stallion walking towards him wearing a hoodie over his head so that part of his face was obstructed.

Gloomy began to feel uneasy by how fast he was walking. “Uh...hello?” The pony didn’t respond to Gloomy’s call but rather increased his pace almost to the point of running. The nervous unicorn began to back away as he got closer. “Hey...Can I help you or something!?”

Before Gloomy could say anymore, the hooded pony pulled out a knife. As soon as Gloomy saw it, his heart dropped and a surge of fear came over him. The pony, using his magic, launched the knife at Gloomy. In an instant, Gloomy teleported behind him. The enemy then quickly redirected the knife to strike again. Gloomy thought fast and produced a shield made out of magical energy which absorbed the attack. The pony then threw the knife off to the side past Gloomy. He then used his magic to make it come back around like a boomerang aiming for Gloomy’s backside. Gloomy quickly turned his shield around to deal with the projectile, but he let his guard down as the assailant pulled out another knife from his other pocket. Then a feeling came over Gloomy as his life was about to be ended. Pure rage.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Gloomy unleashed a powerful wave of magic that slammed the hooded pony from the side which launched him into the clothing store window. The loud thunderous sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the town causing some of the nearby resident lights to turn on.

Gloomy was breathing heavily from the intense moment as he went to investigate the state of his attacker. He saw him lying there in the store among shards of glass and knocked-over mannequins. He appeared to be unconscious with a few cuts on his body. He pulled the hood back to unveil a male middle-aged unicorn, but he did not recognize him.

Why...why did he attack me out of nowhere?

Gloomy then noticed there was a shirt underneath his hoodie. He carefully unzipped his sweater with his magic to reveal an outfit that looked very familiar to Gloomy. He spotted a badge with four distinct initials.

AHPA? So...he’s one of them? How did they find me so fast? H-he saw me.

Gloomy levitated a sharp piece of glass in the air and hovered it over the pony’s neck.

Wait! What am I doing? I can’t kill a pony. But he saw me. He needs to die. I can’t let him tell the others. But he’s just a pony. A pony who tried to kill me. I’d be in so much trouble for murder. Who cares when you got an Amulet of untold powers!? I-I can’t...Yes you can. Stop being a little chicken and-

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of some civilian ponies approaching from around the corner of the store. Gloomy immediately dropped the piece of glass and quickly left the scene into the woods before they arrived.

~~~

It had been hours since the incident at the town and Gloomy had exited the forest into an open valley. The storm clouds had already covered most of the sky and a heavy rain with frequent jolts of lightning was all over the valley. The uncomfortable wetness made Gloomy sulk in discomfort as he trudged through mud and grass.

“Is this...my life now? On the run from ponies out to kill me? There’s no way my life can go back to normal. Not from this. I’ve messed up too much. That’s not such a bad thing. After all...disappointing ponies IS my special talent.”

Gloomy lifted his black cape to reveal his cutie mark, a black heart that had been cracked in half.

“You’ve been really struggling with what your true purpose in life is, haven’t you? Maybe it’s because I’ve been looking at things the wrong way all this time, huh? Pain, suffering, despair? Those are all the things I feel surrounding me everyday. It’s like most times I feel like I’m a black hole, destroying myself and everypony around me. It’s been impossible to escape...so why try to fight it? Why not embrace the black hole? I mean it makes sense, doesn’t it? Here I’ve been trying all my life to be the kind of happy other ponies want me to be, but what if...they don’t see that I’m already happy being in the dark?”

Gloomy gave a little chuckle.

“Now I get it. What she was trying to show me was...ME.

He began to break out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. After it died down, he took a deep breath.

“I guess for all she’s done for me, I still owe her one last favor.”

Gloomy continued on through the darkness of the storm. The only light there was were the flashes of lightning that briefly illuminated the whole valley. His pale white face had wide eyes and large smile. He started heading in the direction of Vanhoover.

Chapter 4 - You Are Everything

The clock struck 8:00 pm when Evening Star had left her afternoon class at Vanhoover State. She was met shortly down the hallway by her boyfriend, Teddy Bear.

“Ready for the finals coming up?” said Teddy.

“Ya, but if I’m honest...I’m still kinda nervous.”

“Don’t be. You’ve never missed a class, and you did great on the mid-term. You’ll pass.” Teddy reassured her with a smile and she let go of her tension as she smiled back.

“You’re so sweet sometimes, you know that?” They embraced in a kiss before heading to the front exit.

“So where you wanna eat tonight, Eve?”

“I was thinking we try Barley’s Bakery just a few blocks away. I’ve been dying to try their new hay cakes.”

“Mmmm. Sounds good. I’ve never been there before. What they got on the menu?”

“Mostly it’s foods like pot pies, sandwiches, and baked goods. But they have a pretty delicious carrot soup, and I know how much you like carrots.”

“Now we’re talkin’. Barley’s Bakery it is then.”

They both trotted down the outside stairs of the university leading to the sidewalk. As she was walking down, Evening looked up for a moment to see somepony across the street. She couldn’t make out the pony’s appearance on account of how dark it was outside, but she could tell he or she was wearing a black cloak with a hood that covered the pony’s head. She also noticed the pony wasn’t heading somewhere but just standing there, facing towards her while looking down at the floor. Her gaze was interrupted by tripping on one of the stairs as she went down. She quickly caught herself, but when she looked back up again, the pony was gone.

“Hey babe? You alright?” Teddy, already at the bottom, was looking back up at her quizzically.

“Ya...I’m fine. I just lost my balance, that’s all.”

When they came to the restaurant, they both sat down and ordered some food. They enjoyed some friendly banter before Teddy got up to use the restroom. Evening patiently waited, occasionally checking her appearance with her makeup mirror. In a few minutes the food came, but Evening wanted to be polite and waited for Teddy to return before eating. She waited for about fifteen minutes before she started to suspect something was wrong. She got up from the table and went over to the stallion’s restroom and knocked on it.

“Teddy? You in there?”

She waited a few seconds for a response, but there was none. She noticed the door was unlocked and peered inside. It was empty. She was puzzled. She never saw him leave the hallway leading to the restrooms, then her attention turned to a door near the restrooms. It was a back exit door. Thinking that he must’ve went outside for some fresh air, she went outside through the exit to find herself in an alleyway between the buildings.

It was a long, dark and narrow alley that had some dimly lit lamps hung by the exit doors for both customers and employees. There was nopony in sight in either direction. Then she heard a faint sound of crying, like it was a pony in agonizing pain. The sound was coming from her right, and upon heading in that direction it led to a much larger opening that served as the intersection of four alleyways that were in between the buildings. She immediately spotted Teddy as the source of the sound who was lying on the floor in the corner, writhing in pain.

“Tedd! Are you alright!?” She rushed to him and put her hooves around him. In response, he let out a sharp cry of pain. She quickly released her grip. “Oh Celestia! I’m so sorry!” She looked down his body and gasped. He was riddled with bruises as if he was severely beaten, and one of his back legs was broken. She began crying. “What happened to you?”

Teddy struggled to speak, with each word filled with affliction. “You’re...not safe here. You need to leave. Now…”

“I don’t understand. Why? Why would anypony do something like this to you?”

“He’s...here…”

“Who’s here?”

Evening saw Teddy slowly raise a hoof to point at the alleyway behind her. She turned around to see that same familiar dark figure standing right at the entrance of it. He emerged from the shadow and removed his hood to reveal a very pale unicorn with jet black hair. On his face were two wide, bloodshot eyes with a wide disturbing smile.

“Gloomy? Is...Is that you?” said Evening with a bit of fear in her voice.

“Why of course it’s me, silly. You don’t recognize your ex?”

Something in his voice didn’t settle right with Evening. “What are doing here? And...what happened to you? You look like you haven’t slept in weeks?”

“More like days, but who’s counting? I really came to say my last goodbyes and ‘bury the hatchet’ so to speak.”

Teddy got her attention as he gained enough strength to speak again. “He’s...the one who...did this to me. He’s not a pony. He’s something else.”

She looked back at Gloomy in disbelief. “You...did this to him?”

“Well, he was going to make things difficult. I just thought there shouldn’t be any interruptions between us.”

“Oh, Celestia...What has gotten into you? I never thought you were even capable of something so...so terrible.”

“Oh but you misunderstand, my sweet sweet Evening Star. This IS who I am. I know now more than ever that that wasn’t me before. It was my past holding me back all this time, keeping me from who I was meant to be. But not anymore.”

Evening was shocked by his words. She didn’t want to believe what she was hearing. “No! This isn’t you! I’ve known you for a long time, Gloomy. You’re sweet and gentle. You’d never hurt anypony! No matter how much they’ve hurt you.”

“That’s funny, cuz I remember you saying how much I was a coward and a love-needing sob story. Or was that what you meant by sweet and gentle?”

“Gloomy...I’m sorry I said those things to you. And I’m also sorry for using you to pay for school. I know those things were hurtful and I regret it looking back, but I want you to know that it was because things weren’t working between us. WE don’t work as a couple.”

“I know, and I’ve already forgiven you. That’s why I’m here.”

“What?” Evening was now beyond confused. “Then why did you hurt him?”

Gloomy started laughing in an unsettling manner. “You really need to listen better. I said he was going to get in the way.”

“That’s no excuse to attack somepony! What is wrong with you?”

Gloomy shot out some magic from his horn that quickly wrapped around Evening’s neck and began to tighten. She moved her hooves up to her throat in an effort to remove it. “I think it’s time for you to stop talking, ay? Besides, you look so adorable when you struggle.”

Gloomy smiled sadistically as he continued to tighten the magical noose around her neck. He lifted her up so that she was forced stand on the tips of her back hooves in order to breathe. “Oh, this gives me an idea!”

He moved her away from Teddy to the center of the alley intersection. Gloomy also went to the center and when they were both in the middle, he bowed his head to her. “May I have this dance, please?” He forced her head to move up and down to imitate nodding. He then commenced moving her in a sort of waltz motion around him as he began waltzing himself. She was frantically trying to push herself up with her hooves whenever they made contact with the alley floor. She let out sounds of gasping and choking as they danced and was struggling to stay conscious. After a few minutes of dancing, he decided to put her back on all four hooves but still kept a tight grip on her. “Now wasn’t that fun?”

“Y-you’re a psychopath.” Evening could barely talk as she struggled to stay breathing.

“Don’t be like that. How about we try to do the Cha Cha next?” Gloomy let out an insane fit of laughter.

Then suddenly, Teddy leapt onto his back. The big stallion hit and kicked with his other three hooves with all his might. He even sank his teeth hard into Gloomy’s neck. The attack caused Gloomy to yell in pain and try to shake the earth pony off. In the struggle, Gloomy released his magical grip from Evening who fell on the floor. She began gasping heavily in an effort to regain her breath.

“Enough!” Gloomy shouted as he teleport himself out from underneath Teddy who fell onto the ground. Gloomy reappeared just a few feet in front of him and levitated Teddy’s whole body into the air. Gloomy was rubbing the bite mark left on his neck. “Ooooh! Feisty, aren’t you? Even with a broken leg, you just don’t seem to quit, huh? Well let’s see you try that again with no legs!”

Evening upon hearing those words was filled with terror. “Oh Celestia, please no.”

She watched in horror as she saw each of his other three legs slowly bend in on themselves. Teddy shrieked in agony as the distinct sound of bone snapping could be heard, and the bones near his hooves were bent in half. Two of them had fractured bone protruding from the skin. The pain was so excruciating that Teddy could barely stay conscious through the ordeal, begging for the pale unicorn to stop.

Gloomy laughed maliciously at him. “What’s the matter? Can’t take a little pain? I thought you earth pony types were built for endurance.”

“Gloomy, stop! You’re killing him!” Evening pleaded.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill him...yet,” said Gloomy as he stopped twisting Teddy’s limbs.

As Gloomy began lowering his limp body to the same spot he had been previously, Evening realizing the severity of the situation, got up and bolted for the alleyway that she entered from. When she got to the alleyway entrance, she was immediately stopped by an invisible wall that flashed for a second as she collided with it. In confusion, she pressed a hoof against the surface of it. It appeared in response to the hoof but didn’t move. She pushed harder. It wouldn’t budge. She then quickly went into a banging fit onto the force field in desperation.

“Help! Somepony help us! Please!” Evening cried, but it seemed nopony could hear her.

“Screaming won’t do you any good, my silly Eve. This whole force field is sound proof. But I do like it when you cry for help, so keep going. It gives me nice, warm, fuzzy feelings.”

After a few more attempts of yelling, she turned around to face him. “You’re sick. I can’t believe I ever dated you, you sadistic fu-” She was cut off as some duct tape magically appeared out of thin air and covered her mouth.

“Now, now. There’s no need for that kind of foul language.”

She made muffled sounds, struggling to remove the tape when some red magic levitated her towards Gloomy. The magic held tightly around her body, restraining her movement. He brought her close to him to where their faces were inches apart. Her breathing became more frantic and her eyes started welling up in fear.

“Oh, shh shh shh, don’t cry. All those tears are going to ruin your makeup.” Gloomy placed a hoof on the side of her face in a caressing manner to which she recoiled, closing her eyes with tears flowing down. “You are truly beautiful, which makes it such a shame that we have to part ways. But we’ll make the most of this moment. You and me. Let’s start with a game, shall we?”

He levitated her to one end of the alley intersection near a wall and released his magic grip on her. He then made a wall of red fire surrounding her to keep her from escaping. “Teddy and I had some fun playing this before you showed up. I’m sure you’re familiar with the game dodgeball, right? I remember it being my least favorite because I always got singled out. Well, this game is a lot like that except...you don’t get out with just getting hit by one ball. You’re only out when you, let’s just say, are unable to get back up. Oh, and one more thing! If you can survive all the balls I throw at you, you win!”

Gloomy started to materialize several red balls and levitated some in preparation to throw them. Evening was shaking and waiting for the inevitable onslaught.

“Ready? Set? GO!” Gloomy hurled the first ball at her, which she managed to evade. The ball, instead of bouncing like a regular dodgeball would, hit the wall with a hard thud which left a small crack on the wall. Evening was startled by the sound and examined the ball on the floor.

“Oops! Silly me. Did I mention that these are actually bowling balls? I thought it would make the game more fun, you know?” He began throwing the hard surfaced balls with more and more frequency. Evening was finding it harder and harder to dodge them until one of them hit a front hoof. She cried in pain as she stumbled to the floor. “Looks like I barely got you. Come on, get up. I’ll still give you a fighting chance.”

He waited for her to stand back up, although she was limping. Not many dodges later, she got hit on her side and collapsed on the ground. It took her much longer to recover, making pained grunts and moans through her taped mouth. Again, another ball hit her thigh. This time, she was making no effort to move as she laid on the ground.

“Aww, did you give up already? I know Teddy lasted much longer on account of his size, but I expected you’d last more than just three hits.”

As he finished speaking, he noticed she starting moving again. She was struggling with all her might to get up, stumbling a bit here and there. When she was finally able to stand, she turned to look at Gloomy with pure hatred on her face.

“That fire in your eyes. It’s what I love about you, Eve. You’re so determined to keep going. Something I wish I had.” He charged up the last ball. “This one’s for all the marbles!” It shot straight at her, but she was too physically drained to move in time. She only managed to sidestep a bit when the ball hit her directly in the chest. She let out a muffled scream as one of her ribs fractured, causing her to fall back down onto the floor. She began sobbing in pain. There was no more energy left in her to even bother moving.

“Ouch! That’s gotta hurt!” Gloomy laughed to himself for a bit before taking notice that Evening still wasn’t moving. “Alright, game’s over. I win. You can get up now.” She still didn’t respond. “Somepony’s being a bad sport. Guess I have to do everything myself.”

He magically extinguished the fire, lifted her whole body over to him, and turned her upright to face him. She was in terrible pain but still conscious. “Ah, you’re still awake. Perfect!” She began making muffled noises to him as though she was trying to speak. “I’m sorry, are you...trying to say something? Here, let me help you with that.” He grabbed the duct tape on her mouth and ripped it off fast, which elicited a painful yelp from her. “There, that’s better. Now, you were saying?”

She coughed a bit of blood, then struggled to speak. “W-why? Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” Gloomy paused with a look of confusion. “Why…” He began to chuckle softly until it turned into a laugh and then an insane fit of laughter. Calming down, he said, “You know why. We both know. We’ve always known since we first met eyes. We’ve just been ignoring it all these years though it was right in front of us.”

“W-what are you...talking about?”

His smile grew wide. “Our destiny.” Those two words sent chills down her spine. She didn’t even recognize the pony before her anymore.

Gloomy turned to look at Teddy still wallowing in pain and then back to Evening. “I want him to see what’s about to happen next. He deserves a front row seat to the finale.” He magically adjusted Teddy’s head to face them and forced his eyes open.

Gloomy levitated himself and her several feet into the air. He then materialized a large red thorn the size of a dagger and hovered it over Evening Star’s chest. He drew himself near to her as her breathing became more rapid. “Are you ready, my dear?”

She could see death in his eyes and not a shred of remorse. Evening began to well up in tears as she tried to cope with the reality of her inevitable fate. “You...you don’t have to do this...please…I’m sorry for whatever I did to you.”

“Oh Eve, Eve, Eve. You don’t have to be sorry. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve never found this amulet. I would’ve never embraced who I truly am. And we would never have met like this so I could thank you for what you’ve done for me. Don’t you see? You are everything I could ever want. I always dream of you, for you…” He brought her close to him and he whispered gently in her ear. “...are my Evening Star.” He then thrusted the thorn deep into her chest which caused her to scream in pain.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Teddy yelled in despair and struggled to move his crippled body. Tears flowed down his eyes as he was powerless to stop him.

Gloomy continued to push the thorn deeper, causing blood to ooze out of Evening’s chest around the edges of the thorn. Her screams started to turn into gargled coughs as she began coughing up blood. “Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon.” The thorn eventually reached her heart and pierced right through it. She started convulsing as large amounts of blood left her body to form a pool underneath. The Alicorn Amulet’s gem started to glow brightly as her eyes became lifeless. She eventually stopped moving and her body became limp. Gloomy gave her one last kiss, tasting the blood that was in her mouth. He then lowered them both down and laid her body on its side in the pool of her own blood. He smiled, relishing every bit of the moment.

It’s finally over.

“You sick bastard!” shouted Teddy, full of rage and anguish.

“Oh, right. Almost forgot about you. Glad you enjoyed the show, but now it’s your turn.” Gloomy approached him when he was stopped by something. He was suddenly able to see down one of the alleyways leading to the center. He didn’t understand what was happening, but he also noticed two security guard ponies walking ahead on either side down the alleyway. He could sense something was coming to his location. Turning to look at the alleyway, he saw the guards, but he also saw somepony he recognized. It was a tall, dark grey earth pony with a dark sea green mane. He was wearing a black gear vest with a cape as if he was a night OPs agent. “I remember you. You’re that pony I met back at the theater. What was your name again? Aviary? Amorous? Aardvark?

“Avarice,” the aged earth pony calmly stated.

“Well whatever it was, it’s nice of you and your...friends to join us. After I’m done with Ol’ Tedders here, we can have some REAL fun! I do have to ask, though. How come I can see what you’re seeing? Cuz let me tell you, it’s a bit disorienting being able to look at myself and you at the same time.”

“That’s because we share sight with one another. We’ve been sharing it for over a day, but you had no knowledge of it. You remember I mentioned the Eye of Arimaspi? How it can locate anypony but comes with the price of the two always sharing vision? That’s how I found you. All I had to do was keep a blindfold on while directing my guards to your location.”

“Well, I’m impressed. So did you come all this way to kill me and take back your precious amulet?”

Avarice, with a determined face, nodded.

“Well, sorry to disappoint you.” Gloomy magically created three spears, each one pointed at them. “...but you should’ve known what you were getting yourselves into.” He hurled the spears with great speed towards them. Avarice quickly reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a little pink ball. He threw the ball againstthe ground and after one bounce, it expanded into a large flat disc shape in front of them. The spears impacted the pink rubber before bouncing off. The pink rubber disc then retracted back into the shape of a pink ball which Avarice put back into his pocket. He gave a slight grin to Gloomy.

“I know.”

Gloomy smiled back with delight. “Now this is gonna be fun…” His horn glowed with red electricity as he began to charge up his next spell.

The guards motioned forward to attempt to interrupt the spell when they were stopped by Avarice. “You two need to leave. I’ll stay behind.”

“Are you crazy? He’ll tear you apart!” said one of the guards.

“Don’t question me! I paid you to do a job and that was to escort me to him. You’ve fulfilled your duty. Now go!” Avarice’s tone of urgency made the guards reluctantly obey and left him alone with Gloomy.

When he turned his attention back to the unicorn, he had already create a twister spell that started to pull in anything facing its gaping mouth. Avarice was being pulled in when he took out a grappling hook and tethered himself to a nearby wall. He then took out a spiky metal cube, pressed a button on one of its sides, and threw it straight into the twister. The cube beeped for a few seconds before exploding, causing many spikes to fly out of the twister. Some of them hit Gloomy and got lodged in his skin which made him shriek in pain. The distraction gave Avarice enough time to pull out another item, this time a black jagged stone with holes in it. He also pulled out a clear glass ball with green liquid in it. He began shaking the ball vigorously, making the green substance inside start to glow.

After Gloomy pulled the spikes out and magically healed his wounds, he took notice of Avarice’s preparations. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you? What are you? Some kind of magician? I can’t wait to see what other kinds of stuff you got up your sleeve. Or up your intestines!” He shot a powerful bolt of magic at Avarice who had finished charging the glass ball. But before the bolt was able to reach him, he put the glowing green ball to the black stone which quickly absorbed the green energy to activate the stone. The bolt of magic was immediately sucked into the black stone which stunned Gloomy. He tried using a combustion spell next, but he felt the magic swiftly drain away as it was sucked into the stone. He tried once more to muster a spell to no avail.

“What is that thing and why is it sucking out all the fun?”

“It’s one of the shards of Queen Chrysalis’ throne. When activated by changeling magic, it sucks away any non-changeling magic in its area. That includes magic created by the Alicorn Amulet. In short, it renders you utterly powerless.”

“Ya, right! You think some silly little rock can stop me!?” Gloomy tried over and over to charge up his magic, but it was taken away faster than he could charge it. He became frustrated, trying harder and harder with each spell. Tons of magical energy was pouring out of him and into the shard.

“You’re wasting your time. You’re only going to exhaust yourself.” Avarice calmly untied himself from his grappling hook and walked towards Gloomy, still holding the shard in front of him. “The best thing you should do right now is run, but I’d imagine you’re not sensible enough for that.”

Gloomy finally stopped and was panting from all the energy he had expended. “Have...you...ever wondered...what a pony without skin looks like?”

“Is that supposed to intimidate me?”

“No. I just can’t wait to find out!” He readied himself as Avarice grew closer. He waited until Avarice was only a few feet away before he lunged at him with one hoof aiming for his face. Avarice easily moved his head out of the way and punched Gloomy straight in the gut. He went down almost immediately and started tossing and turning in agony. His moans turned into pained laughs.

“That was some punch. I-I can’t even get up. Bravo!” Avarice went over to him and pinned his neck to the ground with his hoof. Gloomy struggled to speak with the sudden pressure on his throat. “Well...that was certainly a quick fight. I was really hoping there’d be more action.”

“The Amulet really did a number on you. I knew the one it chose would be a desperate soul, but I never imagined it would find a pony this bad.”

“Wait...you said it chooses ponies. So it chose me? So it was fate.”

“The way I see it, you’re just an unfortunate bystander in the grand scheme. You see, it’s a little known fact that the Alicorn Amulet has a mind of its own. It chooses weak, desperate ponies and lures them with their deepest desires. Makes them less likely to take it off.”

“I know. I’ve already embraced the Amulet’s possession of me. I have now become its vessel.”

Avarice gave out a short laugh. You actually thought the Amulet was possessing you? It doesn’t possess ponies, it takes the deepest darkest parts of your mind and brings them to the forefront. You essentially become what you’ve suppressed in your thoughts throughout most of your life. That’s why ponies with great integrity can resist its corruption much longer than those living in denial.”

“So...this is really who I am deep inside? Wow. I am one screwed up pony.” Gloomy laughed again, but then looked curiously at Avarice. “Wait...how do you know so much about the Amulet anyway?”

“Because I was the one who studied it for years. And the one who stole it from that caravan. It seemed like the easiest solution out of all the other artifacts in order for me to obtain absolute dominance and authority over my inferiors.”

“But I thought it only works on unicorns, and you’re obviously not a unicorn. Also, why even steal the amulet for power if you put it up for auction?”

“It surprises me how dimwitted you are. Obviously, I couldn’t use it myself due to my race and its corruption. But I did find a loophole. The red gem that powers the amulet is the source of all its abilities and can be used by even earth ponies. The rest of the amulet carries the corruption and is tied to the gem with a powerful magical seal. The only way to break the seal is to offer it a sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice? I’m sorry, but are you talking like demonic rituals or something like that because that sounds right up my alley.”

Avarice was growing impatient. “You’re lucky I haven’t killed you already. The only reason I’m telling you all this is because I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, so I’d like to savor every bit of it, thank you.”

“So I’m not the only power hungry psycho. I was starting to feel like I was the only one.”

“Be silent!” Gloomy could tell Avarice had had enough of his retorts, so he smugly smiled and rolled his eyes. “As I was saying, the seal can only be broken through the current user of the Alicorn Amulet. It requires that the user must first kill the pony he values the most, and then he must perish with the amulet still on. Clearly one of those criteria have been met.” He pointed to Evening’s corpse.

“And now all that needs to happen is for me to die, right?” Gloomy smiled in full acceptance of what awaited him.

Avarice pulled a sharp dagger out of his chest pocket and positioned it on one side of Gloomy’s throat. Gloomy didn’t resist or panic, but just smiled wide at him. Then, he grabbed Avarice’s hoof holding the dagger and pulled it closer to his neck to the point where it started to cause a little bleeding. Gloomy’s face was filled with certainty.

“Go ahead. Do it. I’ve been wanting this for so long. I’ve wanted it ever since she left me. Make it be painful and slow.”

Avarice would’ve pitied him if it wasn’t for his lack of empathy for others. “You truly are the most pathetic creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.” In a quick motion, he sliced Gloomy’s throat from left to right. Gloomy grabbed at his throat reactively to the blood gushing out of his arteries. As Avarice wiped his dagger clean and put it back into its sheath, Gloomy managed to get out two words to him.

“Thank… you…” He relinquished his grip on his throat and soon afterward stopped breathing. A pool of blood formed around him and the expression left on his face was a peaceful smile.

Silence. Sweet Sweet Silence.

When there was no more life in him, the gem on the amulet began to glow a vibrant red. It started to separate itself from the amulet’s socket, floating just above it. Avarice could feel the power just within his reach.

Then, suddenly a net came out from one of the alleyways and wrapped around him. He became entangled in it as he fell to the floor. Avarice quickly grabbed part of Gloomy, turning him over on his side in an effort to grab the gem, but the net had already pulled him out of reach. As it was dragging him away, he attempted to pull his dagger out. But before he could, an electric current surged from the rope attached to the net and into Avarice. The shock completely incapacitated him.

Several royal guards stepped out from the shadows along with a light yellow pony with a purple suit and purple spectacles. The guards removed Avarice from the net, stripped him of his gear, and bound his front and back hooves.

“Avarice, you are under arrest for the theft, exchanging, and illegal use of dangerous artifacts. You are also under arrest for attacking several officials of the royal guard battalion, participating in an illegal conspiracy group, and murder.” As one guard read him his rights, Avarice’s former friend walked up to him.

“Avarice...”

“Vanilla Cream...How did you find me?”

“I knew I couldn’t find you without a little...determination.” Vanilla pulled out a shiny green medallion from his coat pocket.

“The Practitioner's Medallion? I thought that was smuggled far into the northern kingdom.”

“You’re not the only one with connections.” Vanilla got one of the guards’ attention and threw the medallion to him. “Here you go, sirs. Make sure it gets locked up with him and that cursed amulet.”

“You know what you’ve just done, right? You’re involved just as much as I am. If I go down, you go down with me,” said Avarice in a threatening manner.

“I know I’m in deep, but I managed to cut a deal with one of the princesses. My reduced sentence of only 3 years in exchange for the ringleader of AHPA’s whole operation. Sounds like a pretty good deal.”

“You know you’re gonna have a lot of important ponies out for your head, including me.”

“Well it was worth putting a stop to your whole plan once I realized what you were going to do with the Alicorn Amulet after you got your hooves on it.”

“Mark my words, Vanilla. You’ll regret this.” said Avarice as he was being escorted away by two guards.

One guard went to cuff Vanilla and lead him away when he turned to look at Gloomy’s deceased body. “I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of all this. You truly were my best friend. Goodbye Gloomy.”

As a grieving Teddy Bear was being taken away by emergency medical staff, a few guards examined the bodies that lay in the center of the alley intersection.

“What in Celestia and Luna’s name happened here?” said one of the guards.

“I...don’t wanna know,” replied another.

As they lay there, Gloomy Dusk and Evening Star each were on their side facing one another. Their eyes were fixed perfectly on each other’s. The pool of coagulated blood that had spread around them had miraculously formed into two halves of a heart.

And one small stream connected them together.

The End