Quincy

“A-Ark?” I stuttered, my mouth was hanging wide open.

“Quincy,” Ark said with a warm smile.

I sat down on the ground. I looked at the ground. What?

“Quincy,” I heard him say again.

I looked up. “A-Ark?” I said, feeling my eyes beginning to... Tear up.

“Hey, Quincy... What's wrong? Did you get something in your eyes?” He asked with an expression of mild concern. “Did your marefriend... Leave you?”

What? “W-what?” What the hell was he talking about?

“Your marefriend...” He tilted his head. “You know?”

I shook my head. “A-Ark... W-where have you b-been?” My tears became more rapid when I asked that.

“What do you mean?” He looked confused.

“I th-thought you were d-dead, Ark.” I looked into his eyes. “P-please tell me y-you see the outbreak t-too.”

“Outbreak? What?” That made my heart shrink. “Quincy, I've just woke up in this room. I don't know what's happening out there. There's been an outbreak?”

I slowly nodded my head. “Y-yes. There are m-monsters out th-there, everywhere. We n-need to get y-you out of there.” I got up and tried to open the cell door. It didn't budge. “D-dammit!” I sat back down, and looked at the ground. The tears had stopped. But I felt that they were gonna come back.

“Hey.” Ark went up to the bars and placed one of his hooves on my chin, and made me look up at him. “Calm down, okay? When I woke up, I found a note. It said... 'Basement.' The key to the door can be down there. Just go down there, and try to find it, okay?”

I slowly smiled from the small amount of comfort I felt. I nodded slowly.

“Okay. Good. Now go there and look for it. Alright? Don't worry about me, either.” He sat back down. “I'll be alright here.”

I nodded again. “O-Okay. I'll be b-back... And I'll s-save you. I promise...” I turned around and left the room.

Once I left the room, I quickly sprinted to the stairs. I don't even care if it was reckless. He was alive! He was alive! My brother was alive!

Why was he here? When did he come here?

I don't even care.

He was alive.

Somepony I love was actually alive. Somepony I knew.

I made it to the first floor. But I kept going down.

Then stopped when I felt my hoof splash into water.

I looked down. It was getting dark.

I turned on my lantern, and saw that the basement was flooded with water. Water that was dirty and had chunks of garbage in it.

I continued on. I stepped off the stairs and onto the ground. My legs were two feet deep underwater. I looked around. There was one long hallway, so I went down it. I tried opening any door I found, but every door I would find would be jammed.

Until I found that one door that wasn't.

I went through the opened door and found myself in a big, unnatural room. Unnatural for a hospital, anyway. It looked to be some kind of a... Living room? There was a coffee table that floated in the water. There was other furniture as well, such as a couch, some chairs, and other stuff that you would find in any other kind of living room, mixed with garbage water.

It didn't smell too good, either. It reminded me of that corpse, actually...

Then I noticed that coat hanger. It had something shiny on it. I walked to it, and saw that it was a key. Probably to the cell! I took it and shoved it into the pocket on my buttoned-up shirt.

I turned around and jumped backed a bit when I noticed someone was standing in front of the door. “Hey, Quincy,” said... Ace?

“A-Ace?” I questioned. “Y-you scared me.”

“Yeah... Sorry about that.” He took a step closer to me.

“W-why did you come back? D-did you find Mortus?” I haven't forgotten about Mortus. Maybe Ark and I can look for him together.

“No... No. Actually, the pain from that attack started to come back, so... I wanted to ask if you could spare anymore of those morphine pills.” He scratched the back of his head.

“W-what? You want m-more of those p-pills? D-didn't you take those t-twenty minutes ago?” I tilted my head in confusion.

“Look, Quincy,” he said aggressively. “Give me those pills, and you don't have to get hurt.”

My ears lowered. “W-what?” I trembled in fear.

“You heard me. Give me those pills, now!” He shouted, then took a menacing step forward.

“N-no,” I stuttered. “Y-you're addicted, A-Ace... I c-can't influence that.” I took a step toward him. “P-please, walk away… I d-do not want t-to hurt y-you.”

Ace was silent. “Then be it.” He leapt at me.

My eyes widened. Fuck, my stuttering made that look absolutely pathetic!

He grabbed my head with both of his hooves and pushed my entire body underwater. I tried to fight back and I couldn't. I tried punching him, but it was pointless.

No.

It wasn't pointless.

I'm not going to die. I have a brother to save.

I remembered the knife. I had to stop fighting back for a mere second, to focus. I finally felt my magic get a tight grip on my knife. I slid it out of the sheath.

“Wait... Your horn is glowing. What are you going to d-” He stopped talking, and gasped. I stabbed him in the chest.

I turned my side and got on top of him. I began to rapidly stab him. Over and over again, blood splashing all over my face, and into the water.

Garbage was everywhere in the living room. I've been living here for a few months now, ever since that manticore attacked me. I couldn't go to a doctor, since I the Royal Guard were looking for me. And I'm being hunted down by the Unicorn Mafia.

So I went to my sister, who bandaged me up and gave me morphine pills to recover.

I'm all healed up. But... I wanted more of those pills. They made me feel... Good. Great, even. I forgot about all the problems I had.

I told my sister that I would be out by tomorrow... Maybe she can give me more of those pills, I would think.

“No,” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“You heard me, Ace. You don't need those pills anymore. I need them more than you,” she said to me.

“Horseshit, you do. You're perfectly fine, like me!” I shouted.

“Ace, you do not understand the amount of pain that I go through each day. I need these pills! They are what get me through. Ace, I gave you those pills because I understood that you were in pain from that manticore. But right now, I can tell that you're fine. I can tell that you just want them for a buzz.” She frowned. “I'm sorry, but no, I can't give you any. I know you don't understand right now... But I hope you do later on.”

I was silent.

“Now I am going to take a bath. Goodnight, Ace.” She then walked upstairs.

I need those pills... They were in the bathroom.

If I went in there and took them, then ran, she would call the police, fuck!

There is only one option.

I walked into the bathroom.

She looked at me with wide eyes then yelled at me. But I didn't hear a single word.

I went to the bathtub. “Ace?” I would read her lips. “A-Ace?”

Then I placed my hooves on her neck. And pushed.

Those pills were mine.

I was breathing heavily. I got off of Ace's corpse and threw up into the dirty water. I started crying as I puked. I saw bits of those carrots in the water.

I looked at Ace's corpse. Then said, “W-why, A-Ace. W-why?”

Why didn't I give him that health drink?

Why?

I got up. I noticed that the bandages came off of my hoof. I need to definitely replace them now, even drink that health drink.

I felt the pocket on my search. My heart instantly stopped. The key was gone.

I started searching for it. The water made it impossible. Why, Ace, why?

I searched for what felt like hours. I couldn't find it. I began to cry helplessly. Ark, I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry.

I slowly began to walk back. I went out of the living room, into the basement of the hospital. I began to walk upstairs, the dirty water dripping off of me.

I was on the second floor again. I went down the hall and turned right. I slowly walked down the hall, to Ark's cell, not even noticing the candles were out. I opened the door and went inside.

The door to the cell was opened. But Ark was... Gone.

“H-Huh? W-what?!” I went into the cell and looked around. No no no! Where did you go, Ark?!

I saw something shine on his bed, from the light that came from the window. I went to the bed, and saw a key, which laid on what looked like a magazine. I picked up the key and looked at it. It didn't look familiar...

Then I looked at the magazine. Ponyville Real Estate. It was bookmarked. I flipped to the bookmarked page. I saw a house, being sold for ten thousand bits. Wow, that's a fair amount of bits.

I've seen that house, though... Maybe the key is to that? It's worth a shot, I suppose.

I read the address off of the magazine and looked for it on my map. I circled the building with red ink.

I noticed that there was something else on the bed. Under the blankets, there was another newspaper.

I picked it up and read it.

Mare Murdered In Ponyville

It was recently discovered that another pony was murdered in Ponyville. A concerned friend went to their co-worker's home, only to find the co-worker dead in her own bathtub. The cause of death was drowning.

Drowning… I was at least fortunate enough to survive that.

I packed up everything, then left the hospital.