Will To Survive

“Please don’t…”

I stand aiming a gun on an unknown pony; I’m unsure how I even got into this position. His hooves cover his face as tear run down his cheeks.

“I’m begging you, please don’t…” His voice is worn down and having difficulties pleading for his life under his shaking body.

I stand over him with my pistol to his face ready to blow his head open, and I was content on doing it. It felt wrong, but there was a feeling it needed to be done.

“HEY!”

I look behind me to see nopony there, I look back and the pony who was begging for his life was gone.

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

I was hit across the face by a mare in front of me. When consciousness came to me I realized it was Golden. She was angry, but she was afraid of something. Back and forth she drifted between anger and paranoia as she tried to bring herself together to talk to me.

In the room was almost everypony I had met, inside Sparky’s Den, all except Cosmic Joy and Roseberry Bud. As I try to get up Golden shoves me back into my recliner.

She puts her hoof on my chest and stares me dead in the eyes, “Where the hell were you last night?”

“I was on a date with Cosmic…”

“Where the hell did you two go?”

“To a concert then a bar. What’s going on here?”

Golden gets away from me and sits on the sofa next to Mercurial who looks at Sparky. He points to her, “Care to explain what you heard Sparky?”

Sparky’s eyes were wide open and in a state of shock as she turned her head to look at me, she was sitting still and slightly shaking. “Y-you killed him didn’t you?”

My heart stops for a second to hear Sparky stutter like that. She stutters sometimes, but not in fear like she had done.

“Who?”

“Evergreens Reigns son,” Black Mail speaks up in the corner not making eye contact looking down to the floor. “Midnight Haze is his name.”

I was a bit shocked to hear this, but confused. “What’s the big deal?”

All of them looked at me, like I was insane to even ask that. Golden grabs ahold of me and begins to shake me. “We’re all going to die because of you!”

Mercurial gets up and gets Golden off of me. Golden walks away before turning around to speak to me again; almost vibrating from the panic she had started. “Evergreen is a fucking psychopath. If he gets his hooves on us we’re going to be killed, TOURTURED to death!”

“So, what do we do?” I asked hoping to calm her down.

“I-,” She falls on the couch and puts her head down, “I don’t know.” Golden was afraid for her life, but was willing to surrender easily.

There was a bit of silence in the room before the boss who kept completely quiet the whole time spoke up. “It’s obvious we have to hit first.” He sounded more calm and content. He looks to Black Mail, who immediately gets up from his seat.

Black Mail sighs, “I’ll see if I can find his whereabouts.” He heads out the door, the boss soon follows suit.

Sparky and Golden begin to head out the door, but Sparky stayed behind for second letting Golden head up before her. She looks to me and heads into the kitchen. After a few moments she heads back in with a letter in her mouth and her eyes closed. She drops the letter on the table next to me and heads out without another word.

I was wondering why her eyes were closed until I looked at the envelope which had, “For Blue Sparks eyes only” written on the side. Even in fear she never changes. I picked up the white enveloped a bit confused. This wasn’t a typical thing to have happen. I opened it up to see what was inside.

“I know who you are.

I know what you’ve done.

I know what’s wrong.

I want to help.

Meet me at my office at Emerald Boulevard, near Mezzo Park. Building number 231, Room 212.

Come alone.”

I stared at the letter blankly for a while, confused by who would send me this. After sitting alone in the dark for a few minutes I shoved the letter in the crack of the couch and headed to the streets. I wandered around for a while wanting to find something to do. My mind was strapped with the letter, wondering who gave it to me.

After an hour of mindless walking I noticed I was at Mezzo Park. Children ran around playing in the first warm sunny day we’ve had in the past few weeks. Ponies socialized as they jogged or played their games in the lush green park.

I sat on a bench facing the large white old fashion styled building where the letter allegedly came from. Out front were two large Equestrian flags waving in the slight breeze. Four massive columns sat on the outside on top of a large white marble staircase. For a few minutes I stared and wondered if I wanted to make the attempted to enter. With Evergreen wanted me and my friends dead, I saw no harm in investigating where the letter of help came from, even if it was a trap.

===

I walked in front into the lobby of this massive structure. The main floor was mainly consistent of chairs and couches around coffee table, a bar in one corner, decorative carpet flooring, and a massive fountain in the center, which wasn’t working. Two pegasi with orange construction hats were working on trying to fix the broken water shooter.

After gazing in awe at the astonishing inside, I made my way to the front desk to find out which way to go to get to room 212. The receptionist was working frantically, shuffling through the large amounts of paperwork trying to get through it all. Her mane was all messed up and her glasses fogged. Trying my best not to upset her, I stood next to the desk waiting for her to respond to me.

This didn’t work; she eventually stopped and looked at me with her mouth open and glaring me down.

She sighs, “Can I help you?”

“Which way to room 212?”

She looks back down and points to the left of her. “Go upstairs to the second floor, take a right, it’ll be down that way.”

I double tap the counter as I walk away, “Thank you Ma’am.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she continues to wave through her paperwork.

I hiked my way to the second floor and down the white hallways to a brown door with a white 212 on it. There was no name tag underneath it like many offices did. There was a hesitation before knocking on the door. Eventually I did, and in the same rhythm that is used on Sparky’s Den. It wasn’t my intention to do that, but it has become a habit.

“Come on in Blue Sparks.”

I froze before opening the door. When I opened it I walk in, close the door behind me and see a stallion sitting in a spinning office chair looking out the window into the busy city streets. He was levitating a cigar in the air along with a folder with his magic.

I took a second before speaking up. “You sent me the letter?”

He spins around and looks at me with a devious grin. He was wearing a black business suit with a red tie. As soon as he did that my eyes went wide open, I recognized him.

“Wait a minute, I’ve seen you before. You were at Siamese when I-“

He cuts me off, “Killed Spearmint? Yes, nice work on that by the way.”

It was the drunken business pony I saw at Siamese when I had to kill Spearmint. He places the folder on the counter and gently puts his cigar down on the ash tray. “Take a seat Blue.”

I grab a seat in one of his grey chairs. He opens the folder and looks through some of the papers inside. After a moment he smiles gets even larger as he takes one paper out and closes the folder.

“You know Blue, when I saw you kill Spearmint at the bar; I knew you’d be perfect.”

“Perfect, for what?”

He leans back in his seat. “You see, it’s my job to take down the scum in this city. Ponies who mean harm to the peace, ponies like you. However, I was given the task to take down a specific green pony, one you know.”

I lean forward, “Let me guess, Evergreen?”

His smile goes away, “No, a pony more… personal to you.”

I stop and think for a minute about any other green pony I knew then it hit me, “Cosmic Joy?”

“Precisely, she is wanted, but not by the police. She is wanted, dead, by the Royal Guard.”

“W-what? Why?”

He pauses, “Not important, but here is the thing-”

I get up and put my hooves on his table. “What is she wanted for?”

He didn’t flinch, “I’ll say later, but may I talk about what I asked you to come down here for?”

I slowly sit back down, “fine.”

He levitates the cigar to his mouth and takes a drag, “Good, now.” He puts the cigar out in the ash tray.

“You mentioned the name Evergreen Reign, the rightfully nominated biggest psychopath in Manehattan. I know about his son, it’s all over the news he’s dead.”

“How do you know it was me?”

He takes a picture out of the folder and levitates it in front of me. It was me and Cosmic in front of the pub where we had the shootout last night. It was shocking to see the evidence go around so quickly.

“My job is to find ponies and give the all clear to take them down. With the crime in the city so high they made a law allowing that if a pony is suspected of a crime big enough, we can bust in and arrest them without a warrant or trial. I was asked to find you and Cosmic Joy. You were easy to find, Cosmic, not so much.”

I push the picture away, “I’m not betraying Cosmic if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, I have nothing against her.” He leans forward quickly, “I want Evergreen gone, and I know you do to. Work with me and I’ll lead you to him.”

“You expect me to work with you? You’re a government pony!”

“Sort of yes, but does that mean you can’t trust me?”

“You’re government, wouldn’t you be corrupt?”

He chuckles a little bit, “Yes, if I wasn’t then I would have done my job and would have arrested you right now.”

He had a good point, but I wasn’t taking any risks with him. I stand up, “I won’t work with you.”

“You sure? I can help you find Evergreen Reign and help you out, clear your record.”

I start to head out the door, “I’m sure,”

“Okay, but remember this, my offer still stands. You won’t be able to refuse.”

I head out of the building and headed down the street.

===

An hour has passed since I left the government building. Since then I’ve been sitting at a table outside a small café. As I was about to leave until I noticed Cosmic walking down the street alone wearing a white hoodie with the hood covering most of her head, she looks over my direction. I wave my hoof to grab her attention. She sees me and trots over and sits down.

“Hey Blue, what are doing here?”

I didn’t make eye contact, “Just hanging out.”

There was a brief moment of silence before she spoke up. “Golden and them integrate you to?”

I look at her, “Yeah, they’re in quite the panic.”

“They have a reason to be, trust me Evergreen isn’t a pony to be messed with.”

After a few more second of awkward silence we got up and decided to head back to Sparky’s Den. There was a large order to be shipped out and we would need to work over time to make it. After an hour of walking to Sparky’s I asked Cosmic about what she said the other night.

“Hey, what did you mean you’re ‘running for your life’?”

She shakes her head, “nothing, don’t worry about it.”

I wanted to find a way to get the answer out of her without making it obvious I was on to her about something.

“Is somepony after you?”

“No,” she rests her hoof on my shoulder, “like said it’s nothing, no need to worry.”

“I’m not worrying, I’m just wondering.”

“I underst-” Cosmic froze with her mouth wide open. I stopped and looked in shock at what she had seen.

We were a few yards away from Sparky’s Den, and outside were wagons with police going in and out of Sparky’s Den removing all the contents within it. The vials, the tubs, and every other lab equipment used to make the powder. Some were holding back a wave of ponies all trying to gain a glimpse of the mass of illegal substances.

After staring at the horrific sight Comic downed ears perk up and she grabs ahold of me with one of her hooves lightly. She looks me in the eyes with fear. “Was Sparky in there?”

My eyes go wide, “I, I don’t know.”

We begin to back up and started to head off without a destination in mind. After a few minutes we get far enough away from Sparky’s we started to drift off and headed down into the subways and to Roseberry’s Buds weapons shop. When we got to it, Comic’s horn lit up and unlocked the large metal door.

We walk inside to the sound of reggae music echoing from a living space. We went into the room to see Roseberry lying on the couch humming to the music. Cosmic wakes her up and asks about Sparky’s whereabouts. Roseberry gets up and rubs her eyes before responding.

Roseberry clears her throat, “SPARKY! COSMIC IS HERE TO SEE YOU!” after that Roseberry opens her eyes to reveal them heavily bloodshot. She smiles and flops back down on the couch. Sparky walks in with a joint rolled in her mouth and sits on a chair.

“H-hey there Cosmic, and Blue, what’s up?” She begins to giggle a little.

Cosmic looks at her with frustrated eyes, “Sparky, your house has been raided by the police.”

Roseberry lift up from the couch as lightning fast speeds, “COPS?!”

I wave my hoof in front of her, “No, cops raided Sparky’s place. We came here to see if she was here.” Roseberry closes her eyes and sighs as she relaxes back on the couch.

“Well, I am, so, yeah. I’m fine,” she lifts her joint and smiles, “very very fine.”

Cosmic shakes her head, and sits down on a chair across from Roseberry’s. I stood there thinking about Sparky’s Den being raided. Why would they do it today of all days? We’ve always been careful to make sure we didn’t attract too much attention to it. After thinking for a minute I came to a realization.

“Hey I’m going to go; I’ll see you all later.” I said while making my way to the exit.

Cosmic lifts her head up, “Where you going?”

“To do something, I’ll see you later.” I headed out before they could say another word.

===

I walk quickly up the staircase and to the brown wooden door and opened it up and rushed into his office. I slammed the door closed and went up right to his face. He doesn’t move at all.

“Why did you do it?” I ask through my teeth.

“Well, I was thinking about what you said. I am corrupt; I should do the right thing. So I should do my job and take you and your friends down.”

“You said you were after Evergreen.”

He leans back in his chair, “No I’m ordered to take down your friend Cosmic Joy. She’s a worthy foe, in order to take her down I have to wipe out her support.” He pauses and points to me, “like you. I WANT Evergreen instead.”

I step back, “What do I have to do to get you to stop?”

“My last offer still stands, work for me and I’ll leave you, Cosmic, and the rest of your friends and organization alone. At the same time I’ll help you find and kill Evergreen Reign and I’ll clear your record. All you have to do is some jobs I need attended to.”

“And if I say no?”

He sighs and looks out the window, “Then I’ll be forced to hunt you and your friends down. Arresting them one by one and taking down the entire drug operation that is going on. We will eventually get our hooves on Cosmic to which she will most likely resist so she’ll die on the spot. Either that or she’ll surrender to which it’s to the electric chair with her.”

“You’ll be in jail for a long time or Evergreen sends somepony or himself in to kill you.”

“What are you going to make me do?”

He spins his chair and faces me with a smile and looks me in the eyes. “Things you’ve already done, taking lives is only a portion of what I’ll have you do. So, what’ll it be?”

I stood there for a moment trying to figure out what to do. If I say no, my life as well as the only friends I’ve come to know will have their lives ruined and destroyed. If I say yes, then I’m working for a government agent to find Evergreen, but if my friends found out, who knows what they will do.

We stared at each other until I eventually spoke up with three words. The same three words that got me involved in this conundrum of crime in the first place. Now, without a winning choice, I’m left to go deeper, all because I accepted the offer to start almost a year ago, with three simple words.

“I’ll do it,”