Last One To See Me Dies

I was completely broken when Shining Armor and the Royal Guard came bursting down the door. Literally. They had busted the door clean off it’s hinges despite the fact that it was unlocked. Apparently, the neighbors had reported hearing the gunshots, and were worried that we were being robbed. I could imagine their surprise when they found nothing but a cowardly lowlife who had just accidentally killed his own mother.

“What happened here?” Shining asked when he first saw the scene. I couldn’t answer because my cries prevented me from speaking. My tears were now mixing with my mother’s blood on the hardwood floor. I was still crying my eyes out when they found me.

“Please, calm down. We need to know why your mother is lying on the ground dead with a bullet hole in her head.” I still didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. If I told the truth and said I had tried to kill myself, they would lock me up somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to join my grandmare. But what could I have said? What lie could I tell them? Would they even believe me? In a panic, I said the first thing that came to mind.

“The black smoke.” I said silently. Barely within earshot of Shining Armor, even though he was only standing two feet away, he asked me to please say it again, so I did.

He was obviously confused. I could tell by his expression. “Black Smoke? What do you mean? What does that have to do with this?” he kept asking. I had no answers. I simply felt that the smoke was to blame for everything bad that had happened recently. My grandmare dying, the murder at the hospital, my gun’s safety mysteriously turning on, and my mom’s death. I had even seen the black smoke right before three of the four tragedies. And if I didn't know any better, I would be willing to bet that the smoke had something to do with my grandmare’s sudden passing.

I had to check the hospital where she was. If I was lucky, there would be nopony there after two months! For some reason, I started laughing hysterically as I tried to run out of the room. I felt myself being tackled by heavy metal as Shining Armor yelled orders at the other guards to hold me down.

Somehow, I suddenly felt so much stronger. I easily forced them off me before continuing for the door. Looking back, I saw Shining Armor’s horn glow right before he tackled me to the ground himself. He was definitely stronger than the other guards, but I was stronger still. I was slowly pushing myself off the ground and him with me. Suddenly, solid steel hoofcuffs materialized around my forelegs. But my hindlegs were still free, so I pushed myself across the floor. Becoming aware that he was still moving, Shining Armor cast hoofcuffs on my hindlegs as well, preventing any further progress.

He finally released me from under his weight and walked around to the front of me. I started laughing again as I tried to caterpillar crawl my way towards the door. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Shining Armor yelled at me as he conjured a straight jacket, a muzzle, and metal chains one me as well as the hoofcuffs. I still crawled forward. He finally got smart and simply lifted me into the air so I couldn’t crawl on the ground anymore.

“Huh. WHy didn’t I think of that earlier?” he asked out loud but obviously to himself. I continued to grin under the muzzle, although I now had no idea why. Restricted movement had cleared my mind somewhat, and I just now realized that I was bound tightly and was being suspended in midair by the captain of the Royal Guard as the rest of the Royal Guards were struggling to get up. I had also lost all of my sudden strength.

‘What just happened?’ I thought. The actual last thing I remembered at this point was telling Shining Armor that the Black Smoke I had seen had been the cause of everything. So how the hell did things go from point A to Point C without me remembering point B? No idea.

By now, Shining Armor was now also levitating the other guards because they were complaining about not being able to walk. I saw that one of the guards, a white unicorn with a red helmet plume was limping on two of her legs, and that another one, a yellow pegasus with a blue hair plume, looked like he had broken both of his wings and also dislocated his jaw. Did I do that? Because I had no memory of it.

Now the Royal Captain was levitating me into the back of an armored truck. Oh no, I was not going to therapy again! I tried to fight him, but Shining Armor’s magic had a firm grip on me. I couldn't break free, and before I knew it, I was lying on my side in the back of an armored van (or truck if you want to bitch about it), feeling every bump in the road as Shining armor drove me to an unknown location…