//------------------------------// // New Soul // Story: The Devil Inside // by Chelis //------------------------------// It was around three years ago when the incident happened, the night that Thunder Breeze's life changed. Before the hard work and the "one in a lifetime promotion", before the "perfect" daughter and perfect wife, there was immense pain and turmoil in Thunder Breeze's life. As the saying goes, "you have to go through Hell to get to Heaven." Six months before the incident, he lost his parents in a plane crash. The pain was exaggerated due to the fact the plane flew pilotless for six hours because of oxygen deprivation and on auto-pilot, with the bodies of his parents and their long-time friend inside the doomed flight. As much as he wanted to grieve for their loss that day, he had to assist in the evacuation of a few neighborhoods along the plane's projected crash path. A month before the incident, Hazel miscarried. They were hoping for a daughter, but instead was given heartbreak and nearly lost Hazel in the numerous complications following. So, it was not unexpected for the disciplined Thunder Breeze to be a bit of a loose cannon that night. The chief allowed him to patrol that night, stating that "taking him out of normalcy might be enough to send him over the edge," but compromised to at least gave Thunder the quiet suburbs that night. He was near the end of the shift, only mere hours before dawn, when the call came down about a possible trespasser at the local high school. Nothing seemed out of place when he pulled up in his squad car, but the protocol was to look around anyway. He had his gun and flashlight drawn as he walked past the He checked the glass doors of the school. Locked. Next step was to check the back gates, which took him through the dumpster area. It was there where he heard the sound of something going through the trash bin. Something bigger than just the common field mouse was in there. He lit his flashlight to reveal something in the open bin, eating away at the kitchen scraps. She looked very young, maybe four foot eight, leather jacket, orange and purple skirt and top. Her hair was a memorable hybrid of crimson and yellow, straight and curly. She looked at the flashlight like a deer caught in the headlights. The staredown lasted for a moment or two but ended when the girl spoke. "Uh oh." She scrambled out of the dumpster and began to run, with her back hunched over, and her arms trying to move as if she wanted to run on all fours, but the body structure made it difficult. "Wait!" Thunder Breeze called out, managing to quickly catch up to the girl, who was screaming for help the entire time. Thunder Breeze grabbed the young girl by her jacket and drag her to the ground. She fell face first into the grass, which caused him to tumble in the dew-soaked surface as well. By the time he was on his feet, the girl was on her knees, her hand clasped together, begging for mercy. "Please! No! I'm sorry! I just came here, and I'm really starving!" At that point, the girl looked like she was contemplating this might be the end of her, so she began to sob while pleading for mercy. Seeing her cry set something off inside of Thunder Breeze, and he began to calm down. He felt as if all his troubles went away, and the welfare of the girl was the only thing that was important. She became submissive, especially after letting the man lift her to her feet, and with a hand around her shoulders, began to walk her to the front of the school. "What is that box?" the girl asked, pointing to his squad car. "My car?" "What’s a car?" Thunder Breeze looked down at her and checked her arms for signs of drug use. "Huh, so how old are you?" "I got my cutie mark a few years ago." This is going to be a weird night. * * * Although Thunder Breeze did not want to take the young girl into the windowless, melancholy interrogation room, mostly because he didn't view her as a threat, there was the protocol that said he had to and that was where he was forced to take her. Her eyes were enlarged from the glass door entrance, past the lobby, through the empty desks of the central offices, and into the interrogation room. There was something odd about the girl as well: When Thunder brought a suspect into the station, usually their face would be filled with either fear or immense guilt. The girl's face was full of wonder and curiosity instead of that shame and guilt. The interrogation room was painted a bright white that, with the blinding fluorescent light, created a place where it, at times, was brighter than daylight. She shielded her eyes as Thunder Breeze lead her inside, apologizing for the brightness in advance. "So, while we figure out what is going on, can I get you something to eat?" Thunder asked. Technically she was not under arrest, so he had more of a leeway on what he can do to her, like give her food. "I would love a hayburger, please?" She asked. "W-what?" Thunder Breeze asked. He was a bit confused and concerned for the girl. "Um, I guess whatever you have here, then?" "Alright, then," he said as he walked out, leaving the girl sitting on the metal chair alone. Thunder Breeze made his way to the break room, where he had only two options: Fresh donuts that were brought in by someone before he left for the late night/early morning shift, or the candy, chips, and general junk food that was in the vending machine. Thunder patted his pockets for his wallet, and he discovered upon opening his wallet that all he had was his debit card, as he’d used the last dollar bills he had for lunch. Groan. *** "Yeah, cop with a donut. Go ahead and laugh," Thunder Breeze said as he tossed the box of donuts on the table. She took one look at the colorful pieces of bread and grabbed one: the pink one with sprinkles. She seemed unsure if it was even edible. "They look like the ones back home… But feel softer." She took one nibble and was automatically hooked. It took her 3 bites to finish that. It took her two to finish the next one. By the time she was done, seven of the dozen donuts were no longer there, and their crumbs, sugar, and pieces of the chocolate were the only evidence of their existence. "Wow, you really were hungry," Thunder said with an awkward chuckle. He pulled out his recorder, pressed the shiny red button, and laid on the table between them. "Name?" "Sunset Shimmer?" "Where were you born?" "Canterlot, Equestria." Ummm…… "unknown." "Can you tell me how you got to the trashcan at Canterlot High this evening?" "Well, I had a big fight with my mentor Princess Celestia over something stupid, so I went to the magic mirror and ended up here. By the time I wanted to go back, the portal must have closed again." Are these code words for drugs? "Tell me about your parents, where are they and who are they?" He continued “They are both unicorns, they run a import/export business that sells and buys stuff from within Equestria, Griffon Kingdom, Saddle Arabia, that continent that has all those zebras, and other kingdoms far and wide," Sunset Shimmer answered as if she was reciting it out of memory. Jesus. "Age?" "I got my cutie mark a few years ago. I would have to say maybe 144 moons?" "I need a number here," Thunder Breeze asked in frustration. "How many moons in a year here?" "Twelve?" "Twelve times twelve is one hundred and forty-four.. So twelve in this place's years?" I'll take it. Thunder pulled out a strip of paper and a pad of ink. "Alright, I'm going to take your fingerprints and with that I will find out your identity. Do you consent to this?" "I guess? But why? Aren't all of our hands the same, like hooves?" "Hooves?" he asked. "Yeah." "Well, if you didn't know: your fingerprints are unique to you and only you. That's how we know who you are," Thunder Breeze explained. "So it's like a cutie mark?" Sunset asked "A what?" "Basically it's a mark on everypony's flank that shows their particular talent. For some reason, mine is on my shirt." "I see," he said as he finished pressing all of her ink-stained fingers onto the paper. "Give me a second, I'm going to process these." * * * Thunder Breeze was not alone in the office. He was with a rookie that was forced to do the graveyard shift due to seniority. She was young, cute and already dating another member of the station. She took a liking to Thunder Breeze only because he was the only one in the station that didn't hit on her or asked her out. But, he complimented her like a real gentlemen, so he also won points there. She liked him so much she was willing to take time out of her looming report deadlines to help Thunder Breeze identify the girl. "Well… This is strange," she said after running the name and the prints on a computer only meant for fingerprint scans and accessing the id databases. "Yeah?" "We have a match for a Sunset Shimmer, but she lives over a hundred miles away. Problem is that there's no missing person report." "Fuck it, let's call them. On speaker," Thunder Breeze commanded. It took the other end a bit longer to answer, mostly because it was around midnight. But when they did answer, they were a bit surprised to find out it was a police department. "Hello, Ma'am, sorry to disturb you. But we believe to have found your daughter, Sunset Shimmer, tonight. She is with us in the station.” The voice was silent for a few seconds, and it even sounded like the person was walking. But, the footsteps stopped, and the creak of a opening door was heard. "Is this a joke?" she asked. "No, ma'am." "Well, I'm looking at my daughter in bed right now." "Wait, what?" "Sunset! Can you tell your friend to not call in the middle of the night saying they're from the police?" "Hello?" The young voice asked. No fucking way. "No fucking way," the rookie whispered under her breath. "I'm sorry, there must have been a misunderstanding. Good night," Thunder Breeze said as he disconnected the call. "Sounds exactly like her, maybe even looks like her, I bet," The Rookie guessed. "So there are two girls that are named Sunset Shimmer, both sound the same, might look the same? What the hell is going on?" "Maybe it's something bigger than just a 'found teen,' don't you think?" The old man asked as he stood behind the two. "Chief?!" they yelled as they jumped back, not expecting anyone else in the office, other than the front desk officer. "Sorry, I started you both, wrapping up some things before my vacation. But tell me, Thunder Breeze: do you think this is merely a coincidence?" "There's no other explanation, sir." "Rubbish answer. There is no such thing as coincidence, sergeant. Everything happens for a reason." "So you are saying that this girl came from a land of mythical creatures and talking horses with tattoos on their asses?" the rookie asked. "You never know, whelp. I can say it’s not outside the realm of possibility." The chief continued as the phone rang, which was answered by the rookie. “It might sound rude, but given what happened to you lately, maybe it wasn't a coincidence you found her. Besides, we can't have a potential 12-year-old here for too long, and I would hate to see her in the infamous foster system." "Sir? The van for family services is outside for the girl," the rookie announced. "It's your call, Thunder Breeze. Whatever you decide, I'll support." *** "Why the hay are they up here?" Sunset mumbled to herself as Thunder Breeze made his way inside. He really did not want to interrupt and make it awkward, but there were pressing manners. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Mammary glands are large and on the wrong side of the body, kinda stupid because it's not very aerodynamic," Sunset answered without looking up. "I see. Well, I need you to come with me." They held hands as they left the interrogation room, through the station, and back into the parking lot. There were a few vehicles in the parking lot, with the only one running being the van from child protection services. "Is that van for me?" Sunset asked as she pointed to the old, rusty van. He looked down and stared into her large, cyan, eyes. "Nope," he said as he waved at the car. It left the parking lot, and out into the city streets. "So where you are taking me?" "Well, you said that you might be stuck here for a while, so until you can go back home, you can stay with me and my wife. I called and she agreed. We would love to have you in our family." "Sure," she said as she gave him a huge hug across his stomach. They made their way across the parking lot and to the pickup truck with oversized tires. "Is this your car?" "Yep." "How am I supposed to get in? It's too tall!"