~4 Days till.
Three ponies lived in a cramped apartment filled with trash and stolen goods. The neighbors always called to complain about the loud sounds they could hear at night or the smell of alcohol that lingered all day. This morning, the occupants had once again started yelling at one another, and once again, the thin walls failed to block the sounds.
Their names... are not important. They will be referred to by their Cutie Marks.
"All I said was that you sounded a little horse; no need to yell." Said the orange Earth Pony with the Red Sun Cutie Mark... He will be called Red Star.
"I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN WHEN YOU FUCKING SAY THAT! YOU'RE TRYING TO CALL ME SHORT! AND YOU SAID LOOKED A LITTLE HORSE, NOT SOUNDED, LOOKED!" Screamed the dark cyan Earth Pony with the lone wave cutie mark. His name will be Wave.
"CAN YOU TWO NOT YELL EVERY- Oh uh... Could you to please stop fucking yelling every morning?! The neighbors are going to snap one day!" Called the pinkish-purple Earth Pony. Her Cutie Mark reflected a heart that had once been torn and stitched back together once more... Stitches.
Wave snorted in response causing Red Star to laugh. This just led Wave to go right back to yelling. Stitches had to physically slap him on the back of the head to shut him up. Red Star just enjoyed the show, knowing damn well how much Wave hated getting back-hooved.
Red Star was not lucky after that, as Stitches then began to hypocritically yell at him for always starting trouble with Wave.
Once again, the neighbors began the daily tradition of writing a letter of complaint.
~ 3 Days till.
Stitches stuffed as much food as possible into her bag, her heart racing and her hooves shaking. Red Star and Wave were busy fighting the shop owner, who had caught them stealing to help her. He was a strong stallion and a challenge for the two ponies at first. Red Star was thrilled to fight somepony and Wave was blindly throwing punches in the direction of the shop owner.
Stitches had hoped they could just come in, shoplift, then leave... but Red Star had to taunt the owner, thinking he was too dumb to realize what was going on. This taunting led to threats of calling guards, which led to Wave punching him... which led to Red Star also punching him... All this tension made Stitches's hooves hurt.
The world is going a bit black, and she can feel herself breathing heavily... She tries to stop putting food into the overstuffed bag, but it's the only thing she can do... She didn't feel this way at the start of the fight, but seeing Wave and Red Star bleeding made her heart flurry with panic. Nothing matters now but ignoring the fight and stealing some food.
She could feel somepony shaking her, but she was too focused on her task to see who it was. Even as she was dragged out of the shop, she ignored the world around her. It was when Red Star and Wave laid against a tree, sat beside her, and calmly held her hooves did she noticed the worl: that she was near a forest.
"Shit... we tried to get you to move, but you were... doing that thing again..." Wave spoke between breaths. "Guards were coming, and... we... [Red Star] dragged you out by the tail, because we... we were not going to leave you behind..."
Red Star let out a small chuckle. Wave began to tend to his wounds with some stolen bandages... and Stitches closed her eyes and took deep breaths.
~ 2 Days till.
Drinks were tossed, laughs were had, and tails were pulled. All in all, the three punks always loved to take any excuse to drink. Not much happened that night, say for more teasing from Red Star, more yelling from Wave, and...
Stitches had passed out on the floor. It seems the stress of healing up and hiding from guards the day before, mixed with a few drinks of alcohol, had made her legs weak and her eyes tired. Red Star took notice when he realized nopony was telling Wave off for yelling.
"Hold... hold on a sec [Wave], she uh... [Stitches] is uh..." Red Star wobbly walked over to Stitches.
"DON'T ... DON'T TALK TO... TO ME LIKE... LIKE THAT! I- I- I CAN DO WHAT I WANT! DO YOU- Are- YOu You ARE NOT... NoBODY TELLS ME WhaTS WHAat... any-AnYMore... I'M Fucking FREE! FUCK YOU DA-"
Wave then passed out on the table. Red Star smirked, knowing full well he'd have to come back and drag Wave to bed as well.
With much struggle, Red Star dragged Stitches to her bed. The bed they all slept in. The bed just barely fit the small bedroom they slept in. Red Star laid Stitches to the far end of the bed, but as he turned to exit, he felt her grab him by the tail. For a moment, he's imbalanced.
"Don't... leave me..." Stitches whispered in her sleep. Red Star stood still, sobering up a bit from the suddenness of her words. "I'll... I'll be good..."
Red Star gave Stitches a comforting pat on her head, and she released his tail. He worried sometimes about Stitches, as she was very secretive about her home life. All he knew was that the very thing that gave her a Cutie Mark also drove her to run away. The broken heart... cobbled back together with shoddy stitches...
Red Star stared at his Cutie Mark. He knew how it felt to get a Cutie Mark from a traumatic event... a Red Star is a Red Giant, ready to engulf the world in flames...
Red Star laughed a bit, then turned to get Wave.
They were going out tomorrow, so they needed to rest up. Money was running low again, and they needed to pay rent. Somepony was going to get mugged tomorrow.
~Dawn.
The four of them head off to waste some time before the night falls; Red Star was thinking about where a pony with cash to steal could be, Wave was itching for some action, Stitches was holding her tongue and putting on a facade of control, and the I behind them walked invisibly along their shadows just as I walk behind yours. I am ever unseen; my pale and bony face: emotionless, and my hollow eyes ever watching the trail behind the three young punks.
Author's Note
Prequal to This story
