Under lock and key

by neighsayer99

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad
Length: 1463

A jailbird pegasus writes a letter to her parents.

Skeleton Key is a no-good pickpocket pegasus with an extraordinary list of pardons and quite a file at the manehatten jail. But when Celestia's patience runs out, she gets the chance for one last letter home.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-26 11:46:05 UTC

Hello muddah, hello faddah

Dear mother & father,

  I wish I could treat this like a normal letter, all how-d'you do and well-wishings. Unfortunately, this is my last letter... probably ever. I guess my 'habit' got a little out of hand. I know you warned me, I know you said, 'this cannot end well'. I only wish i had listened. I remember how it all began...

   You dressed my up in a frilly pinkndress that day, mom. A silly pink thing with far too many ruffles for my liking. But i wore it, because you said it was big and imporrant and you'd buy me a pet if I was good. I complained the whole way there, but you and dad just ignored my pleas to fly around. We made it to the gala without a few minutes to spare, so you introduced me to the princesses. After a minute of listening to you talking to royalty about royal debt and whatnot, i became so bored that dad, you had to excuse me under the excuse of 'please excuse her, your highness. She's just a filly, annd an adventurous one at that.' The princess just smiled and i trotted away happily, off to explore the castle. I remember you calling after me, dad. I remember you telling me to stay out of trouble. If only I'd listened...

   In that castle, there were enough nooks and crannies to keep a filly like me happily wandering and exploring for days. I guess I got carried away. I should have stayed away from the princesses rooms, like the signs said. But then again, I was an adventurous filly. I remember ducking into a closet and leaving my dress there, fluttering my wings, leaving. My fur was the same color as the marble. I remember flying over the royal guards, silent as the moon. Then i saw a room, door ajar, that was unguarded. I was unprepared. I thought, "Adventure!" I should have paid attention to my classes... because it turned out I found princess Luna's room. Of course, this was the age of the mare in the moon. I saw a burnt crown and four boots and a bib. I didnt know what they were, what they meant. I just picked them up and put them on. I was so proud of myself when i came out wearing princess Luna's jewelery. I remember yelling, "Mommy! I look pretty now!" And you turned around from where you were talking to Celestia and you ran to me and picked me up. Princess Celestia saw me though, and she ran towards me and I saw her crying, mom. I saw our Princess with tears rolling down her cheeks. Then she turned to you, dad, and said ssomething quietly that I couldnt hear. You looked despaired, dad, shocked even. We left soon after. I remember in the chariot ride back to Bridletown, I asked you if I could still get a pet when we got home. You just looked at me, mom with tears rolling down your cheeks. But at home, I got my first dog, a fast little fellow I fondly named Sprint. A few weeks later, we moved to Phillydelphia. Sprint and I were inseperable. I even sat in the back of the big truck that carried all our stuff to Phillydelphia. I know you said it was dangerous, that furniture could fall on me. But I loved that little dog too much to care. I ended up almost beimg hit by a dresser. I dont think I ever told you that. Oh well, too late now. I wasnt injured. The oak finish dresser in the other hand, didnt fare as well. We made it to our new house without any major injuries, at least so I thought. That night, Celestia had fired my father from his position as Director of Financial Studies at the Royal Academy, leaving us far from the comfortable house big enough to house half the town. I had to go to a public school, socialize with ponies I was sure had never even been in the royal palace, let alone have shaken hooves with the Princess. At the insistence of my mom, I kept the story of my taking Luna's crown secret.  And I tried as hard as I could to be nice and stay out of trouble. I guess that being nice began my 'adventures' through town. I had a few friends, but I made a big mistake by becoming a little too friendly with a filly named Blink. She was sly, sneaky, and up to no good. Definetly not a filly that the principal's daughter should be hanging around with.

   She was the one who convinced me to give her the key to your supply closet, dad. She told me we would be the best of friends after that. I dont know how smearing the hallways with suds would improve our friendship, but she insisted. We hid in the air ducts and watched teachers and students alike slip down the halls. She convinced me it was fine, and I believed her. Thats when my life really began to unravel. Wearing scarves that we hid things in when we went into the stores, flying up into the clouds and munching on candy bars we pilfered and laughing, even flying to Sweet Apple Acres and taking a barrel of apple cider once. We did end up dropping it a few miles away, but we laughed about it for so long that Blink said we could be blood sisters, we were so alike. Of course, I believed her. She found a piece of sharp glass and we cut our hoofs, placed then together, and watched as my clean white fur stained red. I told you that I had hurt my hoof on a rock, mom. But Blink's fur was the crimson of blood, so nothing happened to her. My hoof got infected from that cut, I had to wear a bandage and couldnt run and play with Blink for a few weeks. She got angry, said I abandoned my new 'blood sister' and stormed off. I couldnt run after her. A few days later, I saw her in the paper. She had gotten caught  taking bits from a cash register. She was on trial when people connected her to all the disappearing money and merchandise in their stores. She was ruined. I had to see my blood sister one last time.

As i say this now, i know how bad it sounds. A filly, breaking into a jail? It seemed unbelievable to everyone who heard the story as well, that little Grayscale got her bad rap early. But unfortunately, it is true. I snuck into the jail one night, hoping to see Blink, that it wasn't too late. I can still remember seeing her turquoise eyes stare at me, unwaveringly. As I unlocked her cell, i felt like this was the point of no return. Like canoing over a waterfall. After a certain point, theres no turning back. And that night, I passed that point.

Blink wasted no time. In moments, we were flying free, our bare flanks showing proudly. Neither of us had a special talent yet. I was hoping, praying at night for my Cutie mark, but she was not. She seemed perfectly fine without one, whereas it was the bane of my existence. I remember watching ponies go by in the streets, seeing their cutie marks and imagining what their talents were. I had always wanted to be a weather pony, but my name suggested an artist. My talentd were elsewhere. What was a filly to do?

And there were complications.

I remember going to the jailhouse the next day, if only to see my friend again. However, the gruff stallion at the gate scowled at me. "Such a nice filly shouldn't be with such scum," he said, on the inside of the jail. I implored him to let me see my sister, and finally he roughly agreed. "And only five minutes, Greyscale!" he called after me, as I ran down the cells looking for the midnight colored filly with the grey mane. Finally I found her, desolate in the cold cell. She had her back turned to me. "Blink?" I whispered, afraid of what I would see. The pegasus turned around, and then ran full speed at me. She crashed into the bars and took a few steps back. "Wh-what are you doing?" I asked her. She looked at me, then motioned me closer. "The bars are rusty. If I slam myself into them, I can break them down and get out."

   I stared at her. "You're only in here for a day!" She just smiled.