"Celestia, are you insane!? This will never work out!" the cry of the guard surprised Celestia
"You dare challenge my judgment?," replied an angry Celestia.
"No! I just think that the district shouldn't be abandoned like that..."
"Silence! Take him away!!," ordered Celestia. The guard was grabbed and slowly dragged away, as he kicked and screamed in anger.
"You wi-" Suddenly, a bolt flew through the air, killing him. The bolt pierced through his skin, ripping and tearing through his flesh. A slow bleeding stream of blood flowed down his face and dripped onto the ground. The bolt was able to penetrate the stallions skull. Celestia was startled by this sudden event. Cautiously she approached the bolt and came to a stop over the stallion. Celestia took out the bolt from the stallion’s skull, and saw a note attached to it. It was somewhat distorted by blood, but still was readable. The note was wrapped around the main section of the bolt, allowing for minimal change in trajectory.
I know what you’re trying to do Celestia, and I cannot allow that.
This is your one and only warning, stop this madness, or else.
-P.-
The last letter was smeared and impossible to read.
"How did he get in so quickly? Guards! Step up security!," screamed Celestia.
A guard galloped up to her. "What shall we do about this stranger?," asked the guard.
"Round subjects with the first initial of P, primary suspect Polyester Homes.,"
The guard shivered. "Are you sure? All we really have is initials that may or may not be his, plus, why would he do this?," asked the nervous guard.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK!? OF COURSE I'M SURE!" yelled Celestia at the top of her lungs.
The guard galloped away and rounded up a small unit to escort Polyester to prison.
Polyester woke up from his sleep.
"No dreams again. Do I ever have them? I don't know anymore." Polyester groggily walked do his wardrobe and tripped over a small rock, only to catch his fall and become fully awake. He went into his wardrobe and grabbed some cloths.
"Ah the Victorian age, so underrated." Polyester grabbed the back zipper of the suit and pulled it back. He got himself settled into the suit and grabbed the zipper once more and pulled it forward. He walked to a small screen in the room, a prototype device designed to send recordings across Equestria almost instantaneously. He made a connection with Celestia's device.
"Good morning Celestia," yawned Polyester.
"So tired after a night’s sleep, Polyester?," There was a sinister tone in Celestia's voice, but Polyester did not notice.
"I work hard every day, finally got my crossbow working. It's a beauty really, someone with proper aim could kill a pony from 100 yards away. Theoretically of course, even my best soldiers can't pull it off.," replied Polyester. Polyester was lying of course, the crossbow was far to small to have that kind of range and the arrow was light but sharp, it was more suited for up close combat, perhaps a hoof bow you would hide up your sleeve.
"One of my guardsmen was killed last night. I got this letter from the bolt.,"
"Murdered? Why would some pony do that."
"Lets find out Polyester. Celestia's tone was kept constant as she read the entire letter.
"My initials? Some pony must be trying to frame me!" Polyester was interrupted by Celestia.
"Liar! My guard was killed by a bolt! Your the only pony that has a crossbow that could have killed from that distance!" Celestia's voice was rising, as if she was trying to threaten someone.
"Are you suggesting I killed that guard?,"
"Yes, I am. I suggest you turn yourself in, Polyester. You can't beat every pony in Equestria.," Celestia's voice was getting slightly lower now, as if she expected Polyester to subdue himself.
"Celestia! Of all the ponies to suspect! Why would I do that?," objected Polyester.
"It does not matter, You are the one that did the crime.,"
"But there are plenty of crossbows in Equestia!,"
"It does not matter. You are the culprit..,"
Polyester cut the com link, there was no way he could talk his way out of it. He had no private guards to rely on.
Suddenly, the sound of advancing troops interrupted his thought process. Polyester scrambled around the room for something, a mask to hide behind. He found an old mask, used by miners to hide their faces. His face would be concealed and the only hint to his identity would be his eyes. He put it on and ran out of his room. The mansion had Was a luxurious dwelling, designed to fit a person of wealth. Polyester strapped on his supplies, a light blade, his prototype crossbow, his pistol, regular bolts, sleep bolts, and incendiary bolts along with incendiary bullets. He also packed a springrasor, a device designed to tear apart anyone unfortunate enough not properly attuned to it, along with some grenades and of course some sticky grenades. He looks outside to see the guards rapidly He scrambles to his roof and hurriedly thinks of a solution. Being a unicorn, his only hope was to honestly to use a teleportation spell to get away. He looked behind him as Celestia's army broke into the house. While this bothered him, he had to escape.
Polyester teleported to a flat landscape. On one of his hiking trips, he had stumbled off the path and gotten lost, only to find this field. He quickly looked around to gain his general bearings. He checked his supply bag. It contained a compass, 1 maps of Equestria, and a receiving radio. As he looked to his weapons, he had a crossbow that was a supposed murder weapon, and a small sword. He noticed most of his gear had been lost during the teleportation. He turned on the receiving radio and quickly flipped to Celestia's broadcast center. He happened to hear Celestia's opening speech.
"Equestria is in dark times. A plague has caused chaos around the city claiming lives, injuring others, and has allowed our enemy's to strike. It is time for a new order! First off, anyone with over 1 million bits must donate 500,000 bits for every million! Secondly, committing the smallest crime will result in execution. Furthermore, those in possession of a weapon must hand it over to authorities. The boldest measures are the safest!"
Polyester was not surprised about the news. Paranoia has taken over Celestia, but what to do? Celestia was not trying to be a bad guy as much as to protect her people, but why go this far?
The plain was silent as Polyester tuned the device back to his modest home.
"Where is he?" A guard scrambled around the mansion before s gone. Were to now?," Princess Celestia's voice blasted through the air out of the commander's communicator. "Where could he have gone, think about it! He might have fled into the Everfree!" The commander ordered his troops to move out into the forest. After some walking, he found a few weapons lying on the roof of the dwelling. He confiscated these items immediately.
Polyester switched off the device. There was no point in trying to hang onto a past long gone, as he could not regain his wealth any time soon. Polyester got up and glanced at his surroundings. There were not many sources of food, or water for that matter. He went into his helicopter after packing his things, the tank was empty. Grunting in frustration, he opened the door then stepped through it, slamming it behind him. The helicopter did shudders in retaliation. Polyester grabbed his weapons and left everything else behind; as he left his home in so much of a hurry he forgot to pack food and water. He noticed a forest on the horizon, which seemed the only logical place to start the search. After about a 6 hour walk Polyester was exhausted. Gazing at the night sky remembered him of Princess Luna. While thinking about how he was going to deal with them he drifted into his sleep.
Parks Brit was starving, like he has been for weeks on end. He has been eating berries off bushes, fruits off trees; he even tried to eat grass out of sheer desperation. Nothing managed to cure his hunger. But what was worse was his social state. Ever since he got lost from the crystal mines he worked from he has had absolutely no one to talk to. What were left of his memory now were short spans of time, all he could remember is that he was some sort of miner. He did not dare to go back to those mines. When he finally found home a week ago he was dismayed to find the mine over run by changelings. Before they could spot him he quickly dashed back into the forest. He suddenly heard a noise; it was the sound of hooves crushing grasses. Parks instinctively found a vantage point, a tree around 10 feet tall, and climbed up there branch by branch. He finally got a visual of the creature, a earth pony. The pony had several devices with them and was falling asleep. The pony appeared to be a yellowish stallion. Parks shimmied down the tree and tried to get a closer look. There was a crossbow with bolts, some of them having containers containing strange liquids. There was also some strange thing that seemed to him like a rectangle and a cylinder strapped on each other. Parks saw something in the stallions hoof; it appeared to be something black. As Parks inched closer he bumped his hoof into the stallion, starting him awake. The stallion awoke and had the black object near Parks throat.
"Who are you?" The Stallions voice was full of suspicion. Parks swallowed down his fear.
"I'm Parks. Parks Brit. I have been lost out here for weeks! I have no weapons, I swear!," The stallion moved the blade away from his throat and let him go.
"Sorry about that, I'm just tense. I'm Polyester Homes.," there was a tone of fear in the stallion’s voice.
"Polyester Homes? Isn't that a fabric?,"
"I don't know why my parents named me that either. You look starving."
"I have been for weeks Homes."
"Do you know a source of water?"
"Yes, I do Homes."
"Good, you should get some rest; you look like you have been up for days."
Parks Brit lied down on the grass, a respectable distance from the weapons. He drifted into sleep.
As Parks drifted into his dream state, he could not help but feel suspicious. Why was this stallion in the middle of the woods? As he entered his dream, these thought's subsided. The dream consisted of him walking through a gallery of paintings, some colorful, some black and white. He came across a painting that looked more like a letter. The letter drifted onto the ground without him even touching it. The letter was completely unreadable, but for whatever reason he grabbed the paper regardless. Before long, he tried to make his way out only to be blocked off by security guards. The guards tried to subdue him to get the letter, but Parks would have none of this. Brandishing a knife, he stabbed the first guard and sped off, leaving a shocked crowd behind him.
As parks ran away from the crowd, he immediately started questioning himself. Why would he suddenly murder a pony like that? Was he insane, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode when least convenient? No! How could I possibly be insane? Within seconds he doubts his reasoning. After all, was the guard really after him, and if he was, would it not be a smart idea to just give him the letter? As Parks wrestles with this possibility, Parks discovered thinking about it seemed to make it worse. Eventually, he was done with it, he would finish the job tonight, some pony wanted the letter. Quite badly. Perhaps he could use this to gain money.
