Quincy

I woke up in the hotel room’s bathroom. I was laying on the dirty floor.

I instantly got up from the floor. Not because of the filth, but because I just recalled what just happened. I looked at each of the room’s walls, but… The hole was gone.

There was something new, however. A mirror. I think it on the wall where the hole once was. I opened the mirror to see if the hole was on the other side. It was not.

Instead, there was a bottle of morphine pills, just sitting in one of the shelves.

I took the bottle of pills and slid them into one of my saddlebags.

I left the bathroom. The apartment was the same. Just as filthy as I remembered. I looked at the bedroom door and noticed that it was wide open.

“M-Mortus?” I muttered. First, I took a look in the living room and kitchen. He wasn’t in either of the rooms.

I quickly ran into the bedroom.

He wasn’t there, either.

“M-Mortus?” I tried calling out.

He wasn’t here.

I noticed right beside the bed, was a nightstand. The window was opened and I could see the white fog. Light shined into the room almost perfectly.

On the stand, was a cigarette in an ashtray, which emitted smoke. Mortus smoked? What? At his age?

There was something else, next to the ashtray. I went to the nightstand to see what it was.

A bright blue ticket. I levitated it up and read the words imprinted into the tiny piece of paper.

Ponyville theatre.

I thought for a moment. Did Mortus go there?

There’s only one way to find out…

I sighed. I hope he didn’t get himself hurt.

Hopefully… Hopefully, that clown isn’t after him.

I shoved the tickle into one of my saddlebags and moved out of the room. I took one last look around the living room. Nothing of interest was left. So, I went out through the front door.

The monster was back in the hallway, but it just stood completely still in the light. I think it was daydreaming or sleeping.

But whatever it was doing, it gave me an opportunity to sneak past it.

And I did. Without it noticing. Thank Celestia.

I got out of Hayside Hotel. Now I was back in the open fog. I looked at my map and saw where the theatre was located.

I followed the map strictly. Until I noticed that I was right next to that mysterious question mark I copied off of the map in town hall a while ago.

It seemed to be some kind of an alleyway. It was between a house and this bakery shop. I went down it.

There was a fence at the end of the alley. On the ground, was a newspaper. I picked it up, and read.

Drugged Out Pegasus Found In Alleyway, Dead With Multiple Stab Wounds

A resident of Ponyville came across a dead pegasus in an alleyway between SugarCube Corner and a pony’s home. Royal Guards took the corpse, where it would be examined. An unhealthy amount of morphine was found in the pony’s system.

The last pony to talk to the dead pegasus was one of the co-owners who work in a local bar. Cherry* said she saw him leave the bar when it became night. . .

. . . Note: Cherry* is a made-up alias to protect the pony’s identity.

A pony, murdered while high on morphine? That’s terrible. What did they do wrong?

I rolled up the newspaper and slid it into one of my saddlebags. Then I moved on.

It was more of the same. Fog, surrounding me. Feeling like I was being watched, being judged for everything I’m doing. But there was something different about the fog, that I noticed. It got less thick. I can see farther now.

It seems like it’s slowly going away. That’s good, I think. But honestly, from what I’ve seen so far since entering this town…

… Do I really want to know what it looks like without all of this fog?

I thought about that question as I trotted. Then the question faded away when I saw the entrance of the movie theatre.

I walked up to the ticket booth. Nopony was here. There were movie posters. One caught my eye.

Daring Do and The Quest for The Sapphire Stone: The Movie.

I saw this with my brother. It was a good movie. I don’t remember the ending, though.

I probably should’ve read the book.

Anyway, I turned my attention to the set of double doors. I noticed something on the doorknobs. It was a chain that was held together with a lock. I still had that bolt cutter.

I looked into both of my saddlebags and got out the bolt cutters with my magic. I aimed the cutter onto the chains, and squeezed the handles together.

The chain fell onto the ground. The theatre was now unlocked.

I slide the bolt cutters back into one of my saddlebags, and went inside.

The condition of the interior was the worst I’ve seen. The walls were almost completely black and the wooden floors were rotting. It smelt absolutely disgusting, but not as bad as the corpse in the bathroom.

I quickly moved on, not even bothering to search the area. I went straight into the screen room, while calling Mortus’ name as I walked.

The screen room was empty. Except for all the chairs, which were all badly conditioned.

I went down the seats, looking in each row. Mortus wasn’t here, but there was a reel on one of the seats in the first row. I picked it up… And looked up at where the movie would be projected.

I went out of the screen room and went upstairs. I went straight into the film projection booth. The projector was already positioned properly. I just had to put the reel on the projector…

Which I knew how to do. When I was a colt, my brother worked in a movie theatre in Manehattan. He taught me how to operate the projector, so that he could slack off a little.

Who knew it would be this useful right about now?

The reel was ready. I just had to turn on the projector… Which was easy.

I looked out into the screen room and frowned when realizing something; there were curtains that blocked the projection from hitting the white screen.

I went out of the film projection booth and went back into the screen room. I went straight to the door that lead to behind the curtains.

I opened it and went inside. My eyes started to water… From… Smoke?

Smoke?!

I saw an orange light emitting from around the corner. Oh no. Oh no, oh no!

I ran around the corner, and I saw it. The fire. Burning up the room and curtains. The wooden floor, the entire stage…

I saw somepony standing on the stage.

It was Hailea.

“H-Hailea?!” I shouted.

She turned and looked at me. “Quincy…” She murmured.

“What are y-you doing here?! In this fire!?” I shouted again, my heart beating. She’s going to burn herself!

“...” She didn’t say anything.

Suddenly, the curtains fell down into the rows of seats. The entire theatre was burning down. Was this the end?

“H-Hailea, we need to g-get out of here!” I shouted.

She turned to me. “Quincy… Do you know what this is?”

W-what?

“W-what?” I repeated out loud.

“This fire. Do you know what it is?” She asked again.

I blinked. Has she gone insane?

I muttered, “N-no.”

She nodded. “It’s… It’s my anger.”

The air was heavy.

Her anger?

“My anger for that… That monster.”

That monster? The blob with tentacles?

“He did terrible things to me. He treated me like dirt because of how I was a stupid little mare,” she said with tears in her eyes as she rubbed her forehoof. “He forced me into prostitution, Quincy. Into prostitution! W-what kind of a father does that to their child?!”

Her… Father?

Her father forced her into…

Into…

That… Monster.

She cried.

“H-Hailea… I’m s-so sorry for what happened to you… But p-please… Come with m-”

“Then he had my sisters killed. Murdered. Along with my mother. Just because of how we were cursed.” The fire was getting closer to her. “And I killed him.” She looked at me, with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I fucking stabbed him with a pair of scissors until he was dead. Until I saw his life leave his e-eyes.” She choked on her word. “And you know what? I don’t fucking regret it.”

“H-Hailea…”

“My sisters and my mother? They’re why I’m here! All because I couldn’t save them…”

“H-Hailea!” I shouted.

“What? What Quincy?” Hailea said as she looked at me.

“H-Hailea, come with me, please… I’ll t-treat you right. You w-will be an equal to me… A p-pony, A pony w-with feelings and n-needs. Please, H-Hailea… Please, it d-doesn’t have to e-end like this.” I started crying. “I-I’ll be a… Friend.”

None of us said anything.

Then she said something.

“Thanks, Quincy. But… I’m worthless now. There’s no point for me to live anymore.” She turned to the rows of chairs. “It’s just… Time for me to sit down and give up.”

“H-Hailea…” I murmured.

Then she sprinted and leapt into the massive fire the burned the chairs.

“HAILEA!” I screamed.

Then suddenly, when I blinked, the fire went out.

Everything went back to normal. The curtains were still there. Nothing was on fire. Nothing was burning.

I sat down and looked at the ground. I started tearing up. She was… She was gone. Dead. Was she?

I didn’t save her.

Why am I so weak? So pathetic? It was the stuttering. She thought I was scared of her, didn’t she? That I didn’t want to help her but felt like I had to.

Why am I so… So… So damn weak?

Hailea…

I’m sorry. I really am.

I wish I knew you.

I… I got up.

Well…

Time to pull these curtains.

That’s what I did. With no emotion but sadness.

The curtains were pulled back. I got to see what was projected onto the screen.

It was a red medical cross. The same symbol on the hospital I worked at.

I guess I gotta go there now.

I marked it down onto my map.