Author's Note

Ah, you've come to chapter fiver of Fireflower's fanfic that goes beyond the typical oneshots made from before, a Mature fanfic no less on the grounds of heavy subject matters proven to be unsuitable for those under eighteen, easily offended, and/or quickly nauseated; suffice to say, the second half will delve into these topics soon enough because the first one is still tame so far.

As always, My Little Pony, or rather Friendship Is Magic, including its settings and characters belong to Lauren Faust and Hasbro; however, this concept of my fanfic belongs to me so I will say this line one time only: please do not steal this story or I will sue.

Lastly, let me also say that I hope you enjoy this chapter now more than the others and still have the strength to continue onward in staying tuned for future chapters later; after New Year's, there will come a less straightforward update but I can assure you before the end of the next month, it'll all be complete as it should be

Solvent

There was sheer nothingness all throughout, bearing a simplistic form within its own world; as a matter of fact, it’d already demonstrated its capabilities by harboring the element of surprise by means of uncertainty therein. That being said, the cubic centimeters of this very transient ocean did little, if anything, to hide away the objects that would’ve been found even with the naked yet trained sort of eye bearing such abilities in so little time. The mere idea that something and/or someone dwelling within the jet–black void alone for any number of reasons known and otherwise was but time immemorial thereof; in this particular case alone, not even that can last.

Suddenly without warning, yet as if on cue, the erratic ringing of metal rapidly clanged against another resounded throughout the very darkness itself. As the echoes’ reverb quickly departed from the blackened ocean, so too did the uncertainty of nothingness alone; light filling the entire area instantly. Concrete made up the entire space, uniformed in structure and stricture hand in hand as they’d threatened to home in onto their own collective target. Here the source of illumination hung in the balance, inching away from the ceiling as electricity had unleashed its collection of photons all throughout. In the confines of the stony lonesomeness were some bedding, a desk, and seating as well as an amalgamation of a toilet and sink made with cold steel. Kneaded deep in the wall was a windowsill showing the outside world, already adorned by bars of tubular metal in a thick pattern simplistic to a fault. Opposite to the narrow prism were a much bigger set of steel with one anomaly being a small open rectangle larger than the rest of the open spaces.

Lain across the divan was a mass of flesh and fabric in the form of a man cloaked from top to bottom in orange latched onto his very body. So far, the lone individual’s hair was that of the midnight sky, not only throughout his scalp yet beneath the mouth matching both of the eyes. The man’s skin was lighter than the slabs of concrete by virtue of bearing more color, pinker as a primrose yet worn and withered by contrast. Although there was musculature within the inhabitant’s body, the frail and unfulfilled formation was being found in an instant all the while.

“Drayer, visitor…!” a harsh masculine voice had been heard, yet it didn’t even belong to the aforementioned listener within the very room.

Nevertheless, the man in orange had arisen to the call with but a tired huff escaping, “on it, sir…”

“Let’s go: strip down and pass your clothes through the food port…” the distant observer had shot back with restraint as Drayer started to pull up his shirt and reveal some of his tidy whitey underclothing, “anything sharp in there…?”

“No, not at all, sir…” the man in orange had answered as he was now down to his snow white ensemble completely.

Of course, Drayer understood clearly it wasn’t enough and began to cast them aside as the primordial voice spoke, “if I get cut, then I’m gonna have to hurt you…”

“Like fuck if you will…!” the inhabitant cerebrated as he was now in the altogether, all of his follicles standing on endwise as they were exposed to the cold air instantaneously, “you already done enough to me for the past seventeen years; the least you could do is send me with them as I’d thought before…”

It wasn’t long until Drayer watched the door afore himself open up, standing in the presence of another figure proven to be the true owner of the first voice. The inhabitant was able to make a discovery that he and the other individual in question shared but one commonality: the same gender therein alone no less. Of course, the very twosome already present and accounted for had possessed many considerable differences separating one another almost instantaneously.

The figure in question whom had just arrived to see Drayer stood up to him at a similar height range, but with some more density in the former. Unlike the inhabitant’s hair which was still clean and dark, the onlooker happened to possess thin tresses of red crawling about with light textures. Eyes belonging to the bulkier counterpart just so happened to be a hierophant green focusing in onto Drayer with a mixture of pity and contempt. Simply put, the observant overseer had donned a darker complexion, one that was reminiscent of some fresh topsoil capable of providing life to all. Dressed from head–to–toe were but a jet–black ensemble consisting of a headgear, jacket, pants and shoes covering up the heavier man already. Additional objects were found to be adorning their owner’s clothing as well; out of the many was a luminous badge upon much of the very chest. Yoking raiment was being passed out by the bare inhabitant carefully so as to appease the man in uniform up in front even at the former’s expense.

“Run your fingers through your hair…” the observant overseer had snorted, prompting Drayer to go and rake his left hand over his tresses gently.

In that brief moment, the nude man ruminated about as his hair was being stretched out thinly, “it’s been a few years since I’d ended up in this fuckhole: I’d figured that by taking the fall, the least they could do was leave them be; after all, they’d both suffered because of me and all throughout those fourteen years we’d spent together…”

“Open your mouth…” the man in uniform had ordered, watching Drayer heed those words without so much as a care in the whole wide world, “lift up your tongue, roll it side–to–side; run your finger along your gum line…”

“Might as well be brushing my teeth if Rian’s gonna put me through this: he’s worse than what my mom was and is, yet I miss her all the very same; it’s bad enough I still see her breaking down in front of me now and then whenever we visit ever since that damn day in court no less…” the bare listener had silently thought to himself, watching the observer with a grimace.

The man in uniform continued to give Drayer more commands to follow, “show me behind left ear… now your right; show me your pits, arms up. Lift your nut sack, lift your dick. Turn around. Lift your right foot; wiggle your toes. Move your left foot; wiggle your toes. Listen carefully: I want you to squat three times; on the third squat––– Stop, stop stop…!”

“What’s wrong with him now: I did what he’d asked; why now?!” the nude man had cerebrated indignantly as his face was also contorted into a grimace but not at the windowsill per se even though it couldn’t do the same right back either by virtue of being completely inorganic, “is there a problem, sir…?”

“Just squat three times; listen to my voice: on the third squat, I want you to spread your cheeks and cough… go…!” the observant overseer snapped slightly as Drayer bent both knees slowly, stopping in place to clasp onto both cheekbones and spread them apart for the former to see in real–time all the same.

As the bared inhabitant let out a loud cough, the man in uniform pulled out a jet–black tube and turned the lens around to emit a white beam of light directly aimed at the fundament up in front; after investigating the crevice within as well as its owner’s prepuce hanging in the balance from there, the former said to the latter almost instantaneously, “okay, can we please go now, sir?!”

“Just get dressed already; let’s go…” the observant overseer had replied with such restrained resentment, returning the raiment back to Drayer in a matter of seconds whom sheltered himself back from the cold again; it didn’t take long for the latter to go back to the beginning, not that he’d any motivation to prolong the emotions and lack thereof, “come on, face the wall…”

“Okay, I’m just buttoning it…” the man in orange had grumbled softly while fixing up his shirt, carefully pushing his very hands towards the open quadrangle afterwards as some thin hard metal had circled around the wrists with little warning whatsoever.

Upon hearing two clicks immediately, Drayer could also listen to the man in black sound off, “step away… crack thirteen…! Back up… close thirteen…!”

“Another day gone, another bit lost…” the man in orange had ruminated as he was being led outside of his domain, looking around to see the identities and lack thereof in a mere matter of seconds all the same no less, “I guess they’re still happy now: they wanted me out of their lives for good and all I had to do was sacrifice myself as soon as these bastards came for us three…”

Both men in different uniforms remained aware of the static architecture they were traversing in, an amalgamation of concrete and steel composed the near entirety of their shared environment: the former setting up the solidified walls and the foundation on finite multidimensional planes whilst the latter had served as walkways above ground and barriers to keep all tenants in and out. Although generally quiet to a fault, Drayer’s heartbeat went against its very internal confines, reverberating through his entire body including the very extremities attached to his own limbs; this was of a cold comfort for him as a brief of orchestra of steel was heard above, the banging surreptitiously against itself within the cold distance was lacking in a proper translation thereof. None of this paled in comparison to the fact there were others like the man in orange, a few of whom wearing hotter shades than that itself whether in part or in full, many staying out view as both pedestrians within the open space were still avoiding the sequestered majority thereof even as at least one onlooker hissed out some words barely above a careless whisper filled of toxicity. Even with the lights on display, whether from the outside world or of the ones embedded within the domain, darkness prevailed as a result of the choices made and unmade by its inhabitants, not that anyone and everyone were willing to take note of given what had been already shown so far, something Drayer and his escorting counterpart could relate to despite their differences overall.

Nevertheless, they’d both walked onto the flooring away from the confines where that particular man in orange had resided in all the same. The sights and sounds of footfalls from themselves created a pattern in which would be easily observed, only to be broken at a few times. Drayer stared at the white shoes on both feet where they’d rested upon the concrete underneath as they both traveled onward throughout. The man in black still kept his orange correspondent in close range despite showing no emotion whatsoever, focusing on the task at hand.

Within only minutes, the otherwise strenuous pattern had now met its end, overtaken by a vastly new area the twosome just walked into. Filling the wider space were but a long yet finite row of desks where its occupants sat up, all of whom wore the same colors as Drayer. The background they were residing was also painted in in a brighter color, off–white as the lights above as afore but still sterile to a fault. Although there were windows present and accounted for, rather than showing civilization, they’d been capable of showing its own people. More personnel in the same jet–black scheme were found within the vicinity, standing abaft of their colorful counterpart all vigilantly. Even the very flooring now had gained texture and color: smooth white tiles with the occasional sprinkled colors reminiscent of ceramic.

“Booth twenty…” the observant overseer directed as his blood orange counterpart walked behind the others without any hesitation, keeping the distance away from the latter’s peers whilst quietly counting the windowsills within view as people’s faces were being implanted all throughout the way.

At long last, Drayer had found himself standing up in front the individual opposite of the looking glass with a face contorted out of the straight and narrow. Like the very man in orange, his visitor was not only of the same gender as the former, they were more alike than anyone had even bothered to take note of. Despite their similarities, there were differences between Drayer and the other man, especially considering the latter was much taller and hairier as well. Even more so, the lonely visitor had on a much elaborate attire compared to the men in orange, something that the former could relate to regarding others. Resting about upon the taller individual’s visage was face framed in the shadows by a brown cap and white sunglasses, doing most to obscure emotions.

It didn’t take much for Drayer to pick up the phone nearby and speak into it almost immediately, “you have some nerve coming all the way over here now…”

“Don’t be like that, brother; your friends weren’t the only ones that vouched for you all the same: I know their ankle–biting neighbors…” the opposite visitor replied in turn, holding the same device in hand as his voice was more gruff and restrained by mere comparison, “gramps had been nearly broken by the fact he was about to lose both of us to whatever choices we’d made.”

“Don’t bring him into this mess, Tee: as far as I see it, I don’t even deserve to be anywhere near him considering what I’d done throughout the years, especially since you’d walked out on us; besides, I’d been doing fine by myself lately, even without Lumpy or Sniffles by my side…!” his brother in orange had spat out with indignation.

It didn’t take much for the titular talker to speak, “I can see that; I just want to know: why all this…?”

“Wow, for someone I’d used to look up to when I was a little boy, you’d seemed to be more of a slacker than I ever was back then…” Drayer laughed derisively at Tee, despite being devoid of mirth or any other emotion whatsoever, save for some exasperation alone, “I’d figured after everything I’d said and done, the least you could’ve done was remember it all, but I was wrong. I can remember all the choices I’d made since I was stuck as a little midget even as an adult, all for the sake of being just like you: everything that I’d done, it was so I could get a lot of things – fame, money, friends, something that you can relate to already; even as a baby, you couldn’t resist making me suffer just to get a laugh out of yourself, especially with them out of sight. Even before we were all completed, all that I could think about was being a big success like you and dad were, like it’d all made sense; after all, he’d sold used cars to rich city folks like the ones in Manehattan and you had so many talents you were like her offspring: bricklaying, bouzouki, trapping, you'd even helped him out with fixing up broken ass cars so no one would notice them.”

“That was then, this is now, lil bro: nobody’s buying cars from our dad anymore ever since that court case years ago; as a matter of fact, he’d closed it all down because of people vandalizing the junkers up and down the car lot in the passing months…” the tall visitor had said to his own brother with bated breath, still unfazed by the latter’s answer all the same so to speak of no less.

This was of no concern for the likes of Drayer himself whom continued onward, “that’s too bad… I’d really liked that dealership and all these cars he had there: Beatrices, Bernkastels, and even a Lambdadelta; they were super rare imports…”

“And now they’re gone: pops sold them away so he wouldn’t retire bankrupt; of course, we’d understood why it’d been done…” Tee had said dismayed, taking in another deep breath before looking away from his shorter sibling for at the very least a solid minute, “anyway, what’s up with you….?”

“Same old shit as always: under lock and key most of the day, have letters from two friends, showering alone with my thoughts and dreams; despite everything, all’s well that ends well…” Drayer replied, mirthlessly laughing once again.

Despite everything, the taller visitor held firm and said to the man in orange, “look, I know about what that dame Twilight’s been doing lately ‘cause of your friends; I also know why you’ve been staying here for the past few years and counting despite the progress…”

“You don’t have any fucking right whatsoever to claim that you know anything about me since you’d left this household earlier…!” Drayer had interjected with little warning whatsoever, catching those nearby themselves off–guard despite speaking ever so quietly, “last time I’d gotten anything from you, it was full of baby shit: diapers, pacifier, rattle – the whole nine yards! I knew far too well what it was like to be in your shadow and not just literally as far as you were ever concerned here, brother: even before that faggot fuck Iago came along into the world, I had to rely on you for support when people like Eugene came by; though you’d done well as my sword and shield all the same, you grew tired of me latching onto your knee at a young age. You’d said to mommy and daddy you’d wanted to move onto better and brighter things than our home, something I’d once related to: even without this bullshit murder case, I’d have seen well enough that you’d done fine without the rest of us dragging you down; I wonder what it’s like to be all alone with whatever the fuck it is you’ve been doing with your life without them or me…”

“Bro, please…!” Tee had pleaded yet to no avail.

His brother in orange persisted all the same, “I was a goddamned fool to look up to you, let alone emulate you: once upon a time, all that I had to do was give mom a nice school picture and they would give me the key to your room and I couldn’t even do that simple thing right; now, I’m in here but the only thing I had to do wasn’t to get you entangled in all this. Even without you, I’ve been carving a path of destruction for myself without even realizing before it was all too late; I’d picked up your vices and habits like a duck to muddy water despite having a few friends around: porno mags, get–rick–quick schemes, and the aggressive inlines and outlines of how to command respect. Fuck, before these trailer park girls came along seven years ago, all that we’d done together was to get these jawbreakers but first there was the matter of money; even a brat like myself knew money was what made the world go roundabout as long as people said yes: Bits, Plats, Grams, Quan, Gan, Razzles, even Heusos and Hwan. Of course, the fact that I’d almost ended up in jail for that meteorite scheme never occurred to me with my pen pal Red: to think that one Wryly Hwan is almost worthless compared to Our Majesties’ Bits is rather appalling as far as I’d seen it, especially compared to how I’d gotten kicked out of the store for. What’s funny about it was the fact that had I found out where to exchange them the first time, I would’ve been on easy street; of course, the fact that our parents caught whiff of my money meant I wasn’t allowed to keep any of it all in a bank account: saying things like the importance of money is about honest living and not misusing the customers’ willingness to buy anything. It doesn’t matter anymore, at least not to me; even without you, I knew for a fact I couldn’t go a single day I’d gotten laughed at without thinking about seeing your face plastered over them: oh how they couldn’t even fathom how guys like us are even related is a mystery not even her precious pupil could dare to figure out, not that I’d let her. Out of all the fourteen years we three had spent together as the bestest of friends, the last third thereof was complete and utter Tartarus: I couldn’t even find the strength to tell my own parents what had been done to us by these sorry excuses for would–be friends and neighbors, even on days when we weren’t out to swindle them, not that I blamed them for the most part. The fact that I’d betrayed my only friends by letting those witches fuck me made me ashamed of how much power I’d gave them: three whores whom had no problem whatsoever in ransacking the neighborhood when their own precious heirloom was stolen; of course, what’s a scrawny little pipsqueak like me could ever do when they could outrun, find, and beat us into the ground. No amount of money I made was ever going to be kept in my possession any longer, even if I’d given a fuck about honor and integrity: it means nothing without respect or power, especially if midgets like me couldn’t keep it together with Lummox and Doubles to help me along; besides, I no longer have any connection to such desires anymore, not after what had been done to me.”

“I wish I’d not heard all of that, bro; I’m sorry… I’m sorry for being an asshole to you when I was here…” the taller visitor choked out, his sunglasses sliding off to reveal darker eyes offset by red outlines upon the skin pulsating about, “there I said it, in person no less; I figured the postcard would’ve been enough, but I was wrong…”

“What did you honestly expect was going to happen, Tee, that years after your baby brother was sentenced to die would be a good time to reconcile, catch up on the past for old times’ sake like tomorrow is just a word repeated thrice in the same sentence of Sir Shunspike’s soliloquies…?” Drayer snorted about to his eponymous kinfolk with but a huff and puff from the former no less.

Despite everything, the tall visitor struggled to speak, “what more do you want from me: what more do you want to me to say; what more is there to do for you…?”

“As far as I see it, you were more better off as a ghost to me as they were best off as hellspawn to the likes of the entire avenue we’d lived on; your coming to face me now doesn’t matter at all anymore than it ever should, so the least you can do is go back to being what you’re best at: go home…” the man in orange spat out before standing back up again, prompting the others to see.

As Drayer was instantaneously accompanied by the men in black, Tee reached out for the former only to get no reply whatsoever as they were shuffled onward out of the latter’s line of sight; this was of no concern at all for anyone else on opposite sides of the glass, not even the others in the same colorful uniform could muster the strength or will to intervene all the same.

With the clicks and turns being heard, a loud slam came next as the tall visitor’s ears were being assaulted immediately so to speak of; afterwards, he was calmly shaking his head trying to make sense of what had happened, especially in regards to his brother’s departure: of the things to be made known, the former had nothing else more to say or do, save for a mere mutter, “damn…”