Plight of the Pegasi

‘Vagrant’

I have flown for some time now, my shoulders ache and my wings feel as if they are going to break. But soon I see the great overbearing tower blocks and skyscrapers that tell me I’m home. I touch down before I reach the hustle and bustle, just in case I am spotted and they ask to see my flight papers. I can still remember where my parents live in the urban sprawl. I begin my lively trot through the busy streets before a newspaper slaps me right in the face. I claw the pages off of me and place the paper down.

“Luna Missing, royal consort place blame as the Princess of the night mysteriously goes missing…

Canterlot in disarray… Ponies already complaining of violent nightmares… Future of Equestria now shrouded with doubt”

I leave the paper where it lays and continue my trek through the twisting maze of streets. I keep taking note of signposts and road names, I can’t remember exactly where the road was, but I knew the name. I carry on with my search, scouring every angle and every direction till finally my efforts are rewarded. The name of the road was Cadence Street. I pelted down the intricately paved sidewalk until I found my home. But it was not what I remembered at all. There was a family inside but it was not my family, there was a home there, but it was not mine. I cautiously approach the door and knock politely. A young mare answers; perhaps she is still a filly.

“Who are you?” She asks

“My name is Rainbow Dash. I umm… I used to live here”

“We live here now” The young filly exclaims, her attention turning to her parents.

“Josephine who’s at the door?” sounds a concerned father

“Umm hi I was just wondering if you know what happened to the previous owners of this house.”

“I couldn’t tell you, we never met them. This house went on sale and I just snapped it up”

“So okay thanks” I say unenthusiastically.

“Anything else we can help you with?” the father asks.

“Umm no it’s fine; hope I haven’t ruined your evening”

“Don’t worry little mare, I’m sure you’ll find your parents”

“How did you know…?”

“Because they must’ve left in hurry, there were some photos of you in one of the bedrooms”

“Oh that’s worrying… I’ll go now.”

The door shuts but something in my mind opens… This city is far more advanced than quaint little PonyVille. It stands to reason that the changes we were experiencing have hit this place too only sevenfold. A police cart blares its siren a few beats before pulling up next to me. Two officers leave the carriage and one confronts me.

“It’s awfully late to be out miss” a stallion says with an Irish accent.

“I’m just on my way home”

“Really? You don’t look like you’re from this neighbourhood”

“I was just taking a short-cut” I continue to lie.

“You think us a couple of ninnies love? We are officers of the law. We saw you begging at that house just there” he explains, pointing to the house.

“I wasn’t begging… I was asking directions”

“So now you don’t know where you live? I tought you were taking shortcut”

“No I just got a little lost, this place is huge”

“Well regardless of the circumstances I’m gonna have to write you a ticket. Who shall I make it out to? Any papers?” he requests. He has a notepad and biro quill ready.

“Not on me no” I lie, patting down my person.

“Then let us not catch you flying. Flying without flight insurance and proof you have paid your flight tax is a crime. Quite a serious crime at that”

“OK I’ll just be going then” I say, I start down the road.

“Hold your horses little missy, I’m still yet to get a name. For the ticket”

“Oh then it’s… My name is Lightning Dust”

“Well just let this be a warning t yah. You shant be getting another one” he warns, passing me the ticket.

I shy away and return to my search. Who can I ask to find ponies? I walk down the road a little way before I spy a glass box. I open the door and look inside. There is a strange contraption attached to the inside of the strange room. I lift the smaller component of the device and as I do I hear a weird buzzing sound inside of it. I then read something else, most things I read these days just remind me of how poor I am. One bit per minute, I had nothing. I leave the strange glass box and begin to panic. I gallop back to the main streets and dart down an alleyway. Police are swarming everywhere. Where could my parents be? I try to hide as a flashlight beam aims at me. A few more police officers steadily approach my useless hiding spot. One holds my wings down while the other swings a baton into my cheek and knocks me out.

‘Kin’

A painful clanging wakes me from my nightmares. I look at strangers faces through prison bars, they look at me like I’m a criminal.

“Good morning” I address them

“DCI Bailer at your service” the Irish officer asserts.

“Nice to meet you…” I wearily answer.

“So you are Lightning Dust? Am I right?”

“That’s my name”

“Well I just got off the phone with the International Identification Database and they say you are not who you say you are”

“I don’t know why I would lie”

“Cut the crap Miss Dash. You are not fooling anypony. Now you are in trouble. Serious trouble, do you have any idea why?” he demands, pressing his nose up to the bars.

“I don’t know”

“You were flying without insurance and without flight tax”

“How could you have known about that?” I ask, shaking my head.

“We have eyes in the sky you stupid filly!”

“I didn’t mean to, I had no other way”

“Do you think we make these laws for fun? Do you think we push ponies around because we enjoy it? No! We do this because Princess Celestia decides it is the law. Now fall into line, consider this a warning. But don’t be found loitering in my streets again”

The uniformed stallions leave me to the stagnant cell for a while. I get off the faecal straw and climb up to the rudimentary bed. I lay there for as long as I stay in the cold prison cell. The one who called himself Bailer returns and opens the bolted door, allowing me to feel sweet freedom again. I am given an escort to the front foyer before being kicked from the door.

Bailer spits something out and then warns.

“If I find ye on the streets tonight I’ll personally recommend you for execution. Now git away from here, travel as far away as you can. And never again make my beautiful city look like a doss house!”

“Wait! My parents? Do you know where they are?” I say, struggling to my hooves.

“Daimler and Rapide Dash, they became homeless but three days ago. Are you sure you want to see them now? Now that you know they are just screwed as you”

“I don’t care what they are, I care that they are my parents. I at least want to see them before the winter takes me”

He nods and hoofs me a map

“We’ve been able to track down where they are staying. You won’t like what you find”

“I’m not scared of anything. I just want to see them” I say, half-truths becoming a second language to me.

“Good Luck Miss… Dust, take care”

“But I’m Rain…”

“Your secret is safe with me, I know how dire it is out there. Besides, some rules are made to be broken”

I give a final smile and gallop away with the location now in my possession. I open the note when I have put enough distance between me and the police station.

“422 North 31st street”

I read this and automatically feel as lost as I was before. I thought it necessary this time to ask directions, but with my appearance ponies might give me a wide birth. I then remember what a ghostly hour it is. No pony will be wandering the streets except the ones who call a cardboard box a home. I continue on up the streets until the tall and pretty sky towers are replaced with grotty, derelict hovels and nests. I search about the filth-ridden streets. Each corner I turn brings a new smell; the smell of desperation, the smell of poverty, the smell that clings to me. I see the great unwashed wondering from their daytime hiding places. They light fires with scraps that they find just to keep the cold at bay. I am scared to talk to them; even though I am them I still feel they are a threat. I evade their gaze for I do not wish to become an interest.  It may not be their fault they are out here but I still know they have the basic needs of stallions. I start up the precarious street; I check all the signs along the way until I am fruitful and see the street name I seek. I bolt down it, my extravert actions noted by the dullards watching from behind. I count down the numbers until my heart flies. This was it. This is where my parents are. I push through the hard wooden door and race up the stairs. Some of the noises in this place make my skin crawl. A few rooms are filled with coughing and possibly diseased ponies. I put an ear to the door I am to walk through and hear noises which do not but turn my stomach. It sounds as if ponies are struggling to breathe. I ignore my premonition of what lies past the door and enter the room. I put on a false vale of confidence and make myself known in the centre of the shared living space.

“I’m looking for Daimler and Rapide”

“Who the hell are you?” a rustic looking stallion demands

“My name is…”

“Could it really be you?”

A mare approaches me. She rubs her eyes with a hoof and then places a caring hoof on my face.

“You’re hurt, my beautiful daughter”

“Mum? I’m so glad to see you” I say, throwing my arms around her

“Oh my little Dash, you’ve grown so much”

“Umm mum, where’s dad?” I ask, backing away and looking confused

“Oh we have so much to talk about…”

“No mum! Where is dad?” I insist, my hoof crashing on the concrete floor

“We have so much to catch up on! I’ve missed you so much”

“Mum! Where is d…”

“Dead”

“What did you just say?”

“Your father Dash… He’s dead”

“But it’s only been a few days”

“It doesn’t take much Dash. He tried to protect me, to shield me from this darker side of life”

“I just… I thought it might be different”

“Oh were you expecting to come home and everything would be fine? Well welcome to the real world Dash! Ponies fight to survive, ponies kill for food, and ponies die”

“I don’t know what to do mum”

“Leave here Dash. Forget you found me, forget me completely. I have some bits I was saving for a rainy day, you should have them. Get a train back to PonyVille. Don’t think about this Dash. Just go”

“No mum! I don’t wanna spend the rest of my life…”

“I said don’t think”

She hoofs me the bits and looks about the room.

“Run Dash! They will smell the metal, and they will try to stop you. Just never look back and catch that train”

I finally do what I was never able to do. As I am told. I head down the stairwell and am immediately set upon by pairs of starving hooves. I duck under a putrid stallion as he nearly catches me and continue down to the front entrance. I buck the door out of my way and avoid yet another desperate soul who seeks the small change I now have. I try to outpace the pursuers who run for me relentlessly. But It soon becomes old news that there are too many of the downtrodden ponies to escape. I am forced to turn into a corner where I continue to gallop before I reach a dead-end. A dirtied hoof grips at my flank as I try to climb the fire escape. I fall back down. I flail my hooves to deter the vagrant who still possess the basic need, the need to breed. I am caught off guard by a stallion who forces my rear legs apart. He lowers his head; it nears closer and closer until I scream. I cannot move. More tramps huddle around me. More eyes fix on my slight form. I hear somepony yelling from the street.

“Get off of her” the mare screams as she plunges a kitchen knife into the soft neck of one of the vagrants. She tears the knife away. He falls; a dead weight on to the shattered dreams he may have once had. She evades a few grasping hooves and eventually reaches where I am trapped. She is grabbed from behind and is incapable to do everything, just I was. The vagrant nearest to me turns and reveals a strung together blade and inserts it deep into the Pegasus’s stomach.

I climb out from among the perverted intentions and then I stop fearing the pointless laws and open my wings. I hover just out of reach and then through some divine blessing the light sifts through this darkest corner. With this light I can see my saviour, though this blessing now betrays me and takes the form of a curse. For it frightens me the face I see, for only just now I had seen the same one.

“Mum?”

“It’s better… “My mother coughs. “It’s better to just forget us Dash. Don’t ever come back here”

“Mum I… I… I wish I could do something”

“Just go, you are my greatest accomplishment”

“I don’t wanna leave you”

“It’s too late” she begins, blood pouring from her gaping mouth. “My time is up. Fly! Don’t run. Fly! It’s all we have left”

“I’ll make them pay mum. I promise” I say as the life creeps from her body and she flops to the filth below. I launch up above the roof tops and head back for PonyVille. I see the police station far below, Bailer is there hindering the pursuit Pegasi from following me.

“This was no order from me. Now take your insubordinate asses back to my office” he orders

“She has already been warned sir. With all due respect, but we don’t let celebrities off of the hook. Everypony gets the same treatment”

“I’ll hear none of it! Now her father was Daimler Dash, a prolific police officer. He lost his home and everything. He even died to save his wife. Now he was a hero have some bucking respect for his progeny. Fly true Rainbow Dash! Fly True”

‘Down and out’

My coat drapes over the arm of the recliner and I am not there to drink the coffee perched daintily on the coaster. Instead I am losing my head over a torrent of bills that spill through the post like water. My short blue mane is scruffy from me constantly scratching my forelock. Ends refuse to meet and this recent bad news only digs our pit further. My wife is still hard at work; we both work without end to make it in this city. Well at least I used to… being laid off in this most perilous of times has hit our small family with incredible force. Taxation is a matter most ridiculous here, the kind of bits we are charged for our little slice of mediocrity is laughable. If we don’t laugh we only end up crying. I find myself suffering greatly from four walls syndrome, I cannot explain how much I miss being in the police force. I switch the TV set on and I catch a brief glimpse of a documentary looking into the Missing Princesses. Those affairs have never much weighed heavily on my mind and so like most things that don’t concern me I ignore them.

I hear hoof step on the other side of one of the four walls. I think maybe it could be my Rapide, the soul breadwinner thanks to me. I curry favour with her by being somewhat of a house husband. But our Dash lives far from us, and the other. She died so young. So I keep myself occupied with little chores and such I do about the home, but when she returns I make it my personal mission to ensure she does not lift a hoof. The hoof steps sound as if they getting closer, my heart leaps in my chest as the tap, tap, tapping sounds at my door. Why would my sweet knock? The door is never locked when I am at home. The awful tapping becomes much louder, my curiosity takes president and out my hoof to the door handle. It opens, my heart sinks back to its hiding place.

“Are you the homeowner?” a stallion with a clipboard requests.

“What reason do you call now? We’ve paid our tax for this week” I contest him.

“It’s a matter we’re attending to sir” he says, looking at his clipboard.

“Yes, and what is this matter so darn prevalent?”

“I’m here on behalf of the NYPD. Can we talk inside?” he insists.

“I’ve nothing to say. I no longer work for them” I patiently explain.

“Please, if you would just allow me the chance to talk you through some things”

“I don’t think I can be any clearer…”

“There’s a warrant for your arrest, I did suggest we talked inside…” He drops the board and places his hoof on his holster.

“You have no uniform ‘officer’. What crime am I accused of?” I reply, eyeing the corner table draw.

“Fraud Mr Dash. Forged bank statements”

“What, I have no part in this and I will not be your scapegoat” I persist, resting my hoof on the doorframe.

“Oh believe me Daimler; we have a lot more on you than you think”

“I… I was… It was tough. We were struggling to get by. We…

“Does this stuttering story have some sort of ending Mr Dash?”

“Rapide, she was working herself to death” I reply solemnly, shaking my head and looking down.

“These are harsh times I agree, but as a stallion once of the law you must see the error of your ways”

“My error was not taking more. So many in this town do so little but lie and are given so much in return”

“A personal vendetta…” he accuses, he walk towards with me in an ill-deserved swagger.

“Cast your aspersions elsewhere! I know what I did. I can’t atone for it. Ever”

“Yes but what of your family Mr Dash? What will they think of what you’ve done…? Not so much a hero now…”

“None of us are heroes, but the villains are all too real” I say, getting ready to slam the door.

“Is that so? Well please point one out to me”

“I’m looking at one”

“Always the joker, but now you’re the butt of this joke…”

“Is this back and forth really getting us anywh…”

“Money”

“What?”

“Bits, coins, payment Daimler… And the whole case disappears” he says, throwing in some over the top hoof gestures.

“So it’s… Blackmail?”

“Sharp as a tack, I knew you would see things my way”

“No deal. No lying, enough lying. I won’t give you a dime”

“I gave you a choice Daimler, and you spat it in my face” he says with his weapon now drawn.

“My family will understand”

“400 bits”

“I can’t stamp that up”

“Tomorrow, there’s a safe deposit box in the central bank. I know you know your way around the bank. Or just be an honest fool and spend the rest of your waking days rotting!” He digs once more before turning his back to me.

I have grown weary of his forked tongue. No pony would have known he was here. I take my side arm from a draw in the hall and blast him once in the head. He collapses into a pile of bad news; I peer around to see if anypony noticed. Of course there were witnesses, every day I see their twitching curtains and their tweaked blinds. I feel like I’m in an episode of the Truman show, many mindless cameras, they sit in wait. Then comes around the most inopportune occurrence, Rapide sees my folly and means to run away. I think to give chase but what can it be worth? In my moments of distraction she must have arrived, she must’ve seen me pull the trigger. She was just another part of my audience now. Though not an Oscar can be awarded for my performance, only prison time will act as my after party. I walk back to my slice of mediocrity and leave the door to swing. I imagine the nosy neighbours nearly racing to turn me in to the boys in blue. I make a decision at this point, family is what mattered above all else.

I fetch my gun, the murder evidence and head for the edge of my lawn. I unroll my wings and give a powerful stroke with them to propel myself far above the city streets. I have to find my sweet, my only silver lining. She was only on hoof, her wings have been awfully sore lately since huge smoke stacks starting popping up here and there. I think of who to blame but the only pony I can place it on is me. I continue through the evening hush, searching for my Rapide in a sea of faces.

‘Cold’

We hit up the sirens as a report plays over the radio. Our carts quickly speed through Broadway towards Cadence Street. I arrive at the scene and find fortune that I am first there. I call of the other cars and approach a still pony lying on a well-kept lawn. My partner tries to walk ahead of me but I pull at his shirt and tell him to stow it.

“Looks to me like second degree murder” my colleague concludes.

“You know Arable we didn’t see anything” I reply.

“You pulling my tail sir? I’m not covering for another one…”

“Not covering constable, just giving him a head start”

“Well I aint being culpable in this shit. I’m calling this in now”

I rip his radio from his lapel and snap the aerial off

“You will do as your superiors order”

“You know what Bailer? You used to be a great cop, then… now you’re just a putz”

“You wanna make me cry Mr Arable? Then get my stepmother on the phone. Now get your rump back in the car and give Dash a chance”

“A chance? I’m not a bent cop!”

“Are you questioning my judgement?”

“You’re damned right! This is straight up perversion”

“You can stamp any fancy term you want on this”

“They’ll stamp your P90”

“Dash was 10 times the cop you ever were. You’re here to fill his boots. But you… You’re not even fit to wipe his arse!”

“Car 128, car 128. Requesting backup”

I storm over to the cart and near enough rip the door off of its hinges. I grab my inferior, insubordinate officer and drag him from the cockpit.

“You’ll go in front of a court for this!” he yells.

“I don’t know if you know this Arable but this is Manehatton. I do golf with the Supreme Court justice. Make an attempt to make me look bad and you’ll be the one shovelling shit”

“This aint just!”

“Then quit Zachary, I assure you, the higher up you get. The more shit you let go!”

“Well you’re pal got his head start. But the streets are about to light up with whole patrols looking for him. He’ll be in a nice cosy cell before morning”

Soon as promised the streets do effervesce with a blinding aura of police brutality. They attack all the downtrodden citizens, beat them to a bloody pulp. Soon we are the monsters because we let this happen. The majestic creatures die on my streets every day and now it’s become a pandemic. I look to my constable, he look pleased with himself. I draw my Glock and drop him in plain view of my associates. Some come to arrest me, some will say I went mad with power. But neigh, I went mad for the world around me is doing exactly the same.

“DCI Bailer I arrest you on suspicion of first degree murder and perverting the course of justice. How do you plead?”

“My plea is this. When this is all over, and balance returns will you be able to look at yourself in the mirror without hating what you see?”

“Take him in, lost his bucking mind”

“I speak more sense than those laws you tell me are just! I feel like an executioner for a once beautiful part of our pony population. You make me kill these unfortunate souls, for this is your law. This is your order. Not mine” I rave, the doors slamming on the back of the prison cart. I know I’ll be given pardon, the system doesn’t work anymore.