Hollow Hope

Sunny limped into a niche between buildings, drawing in a deep and harrowed breath.

After the outburst, Torque had talked Cloudy down; but they both agreed that it was better if they went on without him. "I'll take her to the edge of town," Torque had said, "and see if we can get out of here." She had left him the shotgun, as he was in no condition to tangle with a monster. He checked the chamber of the gun again, muttering to himself as he scanned the street for more of the horrors--the horrors that he knew were lurking just around the corner.

In the distance, he saw a light--a flickering red neon. It was familiar to him--the local watering hole, "Snaredrum's Suds", was once a place where he would spend three nights a week. These days, he avoided that ruddy glow; it reminded him too much of the past.

He heard a low growl from the other side of the street, and with a start, he realized he was being watched by half a dozen figures crawling out of the next alley. His hooves carried him down the sidewalk as fast as he could manage, and he winced as he pushed open the door to the bar.

He slammed the door shut behind him, panting heavily.

"...'bout time you showed up," said a familiar voice. Sunny's body seized up--was it that madmare, Glider? Had he left the frying pan and leapt into the fire?

His eyes swept the room with frantic, panicked attention--and they settled on an even more familiar beak. It was Gilda!

"Gilda! Oh thank the Princesses you're safe!" he cried, dropping the shotgun by the door and rushing to the booth she was sitting at.

"Yeah. I told you I'd be here, dweeb. What happened to your leg?"

"One of those things bit a chunk out of it. I'm glad you made it here in one piece, those monsters are something else! Of course, you're you. I knew you'd make it."

"Monsters?" Gilda said, quirking an eyebrow. "What monsters?"

"Oh, so you only see regular ponies? Huh. I wonder if that means anything--seeing different monsters, that is."

Gilda squinted at him. "Sunny, are you...feelin' right?"

"Not really. I had a...run-in with..." He trailed off.

"Sunny--"

"Look, it's been so long, I didn't even recognize my own daughter--"

"Sunny." Gilda crossed her arms, her claws clacking on the table.

"And the zombie-things running around are taking a toll on me, too--"

Gilda slammed her fists on the table. "SUNNY!" she screamed, and he finally shut up. "I don't care! I didn't ask about your bastard kid, or your monsters, or--or whatever else you're talking about! I wanted to see you!"

Sunny's jaw dropped. "You..."

"That's right, dummy. I wanted to see you. I wanted to see if you'd changed. And you have. You've gone insane! You're fucking insane, Sunny!" She threw herself out of the booth, stomping away. "Have fun with your little family, Sunny. I'm not wasting any more time on it."

She stamped and clomped out the door, kicking the shotgun off to the side as she left. Sunny scrambled for the door, snatched up the gun, and rushed out after her.

"Gilda!"

He could see her through the fog--slim, athletic, unmistakable. She rounded a corner, and he followed soon after; she seemed always just out of reach.

At the third left, she stopped--and Sunny saw her, driving her wicked talon into the chest of one of the headless griffon-things! "Gilda! Hang on!"

And as he galloped--ignoring the growing pain in his leg--the fog parted...

"Wrong again, big guy. C'mon, you still don't remember my name~?" Gilded Glider purred, drawing her knife out of her prey with a slick grin.

"Sorry, sorry, I just--I could've sworn she was heading this way. You haven't seen her? She's--she looks a lot like you, but she's a griffon--"

"You mean like this one?" Glider said with a chuckle. Sunny's heart nearly stopped. "Relax! This isn't her. It's just one of the monsters."

"Don't scare me like that!" Sunny snapped. "Ugh, pour me a glass of milk and call me a milkmare. Everything's going exactly wrong."

"I know, right? Fuck, I could use a drink," Glider murmured, sheathing her knife. "And you look like you could use two. I got some scotch back at my place--good stuff. And there's no monsters there. Whaddaya say?"

"I don't know..."

"If it's about last time, I promise, I'll keep my hooves to myself."

"Sure. And I'm the queen of Sheepa," Sunny scoffed. "Besides, whatever booze you have won't compare to the Glenfilly I keep in my office."

"Ooh? Your place it is, then."

"I wasn't inviting you," Sunny grumbled.

"Look, buddy. Who would you rather spend your time with? More of these--" She gestured to the dead griffon-zombie--"or more of me?"

The golden liquid flowed into the shot glasses like melted butter. Sunny was still, shamefully, proud of his bartending technique--even if he couldn't actually mix drinks to save his life.

"Cheers," Glider said softly, and Sunny nodded. She took her shot right away; he hesitated.

"C'mon, dude. You can't raise your glass and not drink it. It's rude."

"...fine. If that's how you're going to be about it." Sunny tossed his back; the sting of alcohol was barely noticeable beneath the smoothly-aged flavor of the whisky. It had cost him many bits when he first purchased it, and he was glad to have bought it back then, because the price tag had only gone up since.

"So how's your day going?" Glider said, leaning over the desk between them.

"Horribly." Sunny left his glass sitting next to the bottle, steepling his hooves. "First the monsters, then Cloudy, then Gilda..."

"All your exes coming back to haunt you, huh?"

"In a sense. Cloudy's my--er, my daughter."

"Oh. Ex-marefriend?"

"Affair."

"Shit, man. That sucks." She reached for the bottle, and poured herself another shot--and one for him, too. He raised an eyebrow; she shrugged and set the bottle back down without another word.

"And then I run into my ex. Who broke up with me after that affair. And worse, she thinks I'm crazy. She doesn't see the monsters!"

"Whoa, really?" Glider murmured, scooting Sunny's glass toward him.

"Yep. True as twilight. She thinks I'm crazy now."

"Wow."

"And on top of all that, horrible monsters are trying to kill me. And so are you." Sunny smirked, and nodded to his newly-filled glass.

"Aw, shut up. One more won't hurt you."

"Glider, I didn't come here to get drunk. I came here because you guessed there wouldn't be any monsters around."

"And there aren't! Maybe scotch drives them off." Glider laughed--another short, barking noise, that made Sunny's heart jump and the fur on his neck stand on end.

"I don't know," Sunny murmurs, as he levitates his shot-glass to his lips. Another quick tip of the glass sends the drink down.

"I've never had luck with anything, y'know that?" Glider whispered. It took Sunny a moment to realize she was talking. They had gone through a respectable chunk of the bottle, and he hadn't expected Glider to be so quiet.

"...what do you mean?" Sunny whispered back.

"Studs. Mares. Had a griffon once--the barbs were fun."

"Barbs?"

"Do you really wanna know~?" Glider hummed to herself, smirking, daring Sunny to ask. Sunny, wisely, kept his mouth shut. "But that one ended too. Turns out ponies and griffons can't actually breed."

Sunny's heart leapt into his throat. "Wh-wh-what?"

"Yeah! Turns out that's not where hippogriffs come from. We had everything going--a steady job, a nice house, and Moon, the sex was so good..." She laughed softly, and put the bottle to her lips, chugging a triple-shot's worth of liquor at an inadvisable rate.

"But?"

"But he wanted a family. And honestly, I did too." She sighed, setting the bottle on the table--maybe a little too hard. Sunny winced.

"I--" Sunny trailed off. What could he say?

"You get it, don'cha?" Glider said, locking eyes with him. "How that can drive a couple apart. You care about each other...but you know it isn't what you want." She puts a hoof to the bottle, and scoots it across the desk to him; he takes it, considers pouring another shot--then simply takes a swig from the bottle.

"Yeah. Yeah, I get it--" When he opened his eyes again, she was staring right at him--right into his eyes. Her gaze pierced him, in much the same way that her knife pierced flesh. He felt exposed, vulnerable; he felt that he should flee--and felt that he should remain still, so as to not reveal himself.

"...what do you want, Sunny?" she asked; a chill ran down his spine. "'Cuz I can give it to ya. I can give you everything you want..."

She leaned over the desk, and fear filled his chest, froze his limbs.

"All you gotta do is take it, Sunny. Take everything you want, 'cuz nopony will stop you..."

He could feel her breath on his cheek as she whispered.

"I'll take you. You'll take me. We both get what we want."

"Glider--I shouldn't--"

"Take me."

She pressed her lips to his; he tasted iron, and whisky, and a spice he could only think of as 'gunpowder'. Her body was warm, and it quickly met his--he wasn't sure exactly how they ended up on the floor, but they rolled for a moment, and when he broke the kiss, she was under him, wings spread.

"Heh. You know, I'm usually the one on top." She bit her lip, kicking her hindlegs out. "Some ponies tell me I'm like a predator in bed. Tell you what--you make me your prey, and I'll let you finish inside..."