A Million Lights in the Sky

by joe mother

Prologue: Together or Not at All

TOGETHER OR NOT AT ALL

A MILLION LIGHTS IN THE SKY

by Nexosaur

"When I said I loved you for who you were, I meant it."

Now was not the time to say that, but I was compelled to nonetheless.

There I was, holding his shoulders in the dark alleyway, pressed against a wall. Not the way I thought we'd go, but more exciting than it should have been. I had hoped that we'd die of old age, rich and happy, but maybe that just wasn't the way. My hooves ached from the running and I let them fall, his eyes watching them.

"Is it over?" he asked, kicking the wall behind him fiercely. "Is this the end for us?"

"I don't see how we're getting out," I replied, looking out into the dark sky. I saw the faint glimmers in the distance, closing in on us.

"Why can't we keep running? Why did we stop here?" He ran forward to the entrance of the corridor, but I grabbed his tail and he stopped with a grunt. "Why are just accepting a fate we can escape from?"

A hard truth ran through my mind. I didn't want to say anything, and now was certainly not the time.

"We can't keep running," I said, pulling him back and locking eyes. "We can only hide until we reach the Wastelands, and then it's too dangerous to continue."

"Does it matter?!" he yelled, eyes wide.

The paranoia was setting in, and I silenced it. Our lips met, and for a moment his breathing stilled. I felt his panic die down as he closed his eyes and welcomed my kiss more warmly. I broke the embrace and let our snouts touch, "I'd rather die with you now than struggle through the Wastelands and die alone."

"Who said you'd be alone?" he said, his eyes burning with a controlled fire. "I'll be with you."

"I wouldn't follow you out there," I ran a hoof through his mane, caressing the soft hair and relishing in the feeling. "I want my body to be found. I want to be buried whole."

"It's a nice sentiment, I guess," he said. He was never one for sentiments. "But I doubt they'll leave us in less than a billion pieces."

"Fine," I said, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I want to die at the hooves of another pony if I have the choice, and I do."

"Death closes in, and we bicker," he chuckled, kissing me. "That's how it is for us."

"Hardened criminals get what's important before death," I joked.

"They certainly do," he said, the wind breezing through his mane.

There was a buzz in the air now; the ruffle of thousands of wings shot through the air, and the lights in the sky were getting larger, becoming a formless mass in the night sky. The moon fell under a cloud as the temperature dropped. Ravens cawed from their perches among the abandoned buildings, taking flight. I sniffed the air; a storm was coming behind the lights.

"You know," he said, rubbing his mane slowly. "I think I'd like to get off before I die."

"Yeah, and be turned to ash while you do it? Isn't that a pleasant thought?"

He scowled and stamped his hoof, "It's damn better than getting killed in a dark alleyway without getting off!"

"I guess it is," I said, stifling a smirk. "But I'm sure your hooves ache too much to finish the job!"

"I'm about to die," he replied, raising a hoof in defense. "I'll do whatever I can even it destroys my hooves because at this point, it doesn't even matter."

I giggled and he started to laugh. I suppose I would've liked to get off as well before dying, but my head wasn't focused on that. I was thinking about my life before, wondering how it could've gone better, maybe have even avoided this mess.

"I got into all this because of you," I admitted. "If I hadn't stayed in this I wouldn't be here."

I was tearing up. Damn.

"It's not your fault," he said, turning to me. "I was the one who convinced you to stay."

"But you're the reason I stayed," I choked out. The tears were getting worse and it was only a matter of time until I really lost it. "Not just anypony could have told me to stay. It was you who actually made me stay. Everypony else's words didn't mean anything; they only meant something from you!"

He hugged me and I threw my face into his shoulder, letting my tears soak into his fur. The buzz was close, and the lights were within half a mile of us.

"They're almost here," he whispered, looking up at the cloudy moon. "Soon we don't have to worry about planning things anymore."

Fucking sarcastic asshole. I pushed him away and sobbed into the air, "No! Don't even fucking say that! Don't even fucking try to pretend that you don't care! That place was your life, show it some gratitude!"

"I know it was," he said, staying where he was. "That's all the more reason to joke." He was crying now, and I felt a pang of guilt run through me. "If I can't joke about my life there, then obviously it didn't make enough of an impact to be a joke now, at the border between life and death. We've skirted that border dozens of times, and each time we made it through. Now, when there's no going back, it causes you to rethink what you did. Makes we wish I never wanted all those sweets when I was a kid."

They were there. The lights were blinding as the pegasi descended, and a unicorn jumped off one of their backs.

"Fucking silly way to ride!" he yelled, throwing his most vehement voice at the pony. "To think some lightweight like you is going to kill me? Makes me laugh!"

"It doesn't matter how I ride," the unicorn said, this horn illuminating the sky beyond the lights. "What does matter is my record, and it'll look real nice with your names on it. Especially with the word 'dead' stamped over them."

I gulped. My eyes were still watery, and I could tell they were red and puffy.

"Crying?" the unicorn said, smiling. "I would hope so. Don't worry, I'll evaporate all those tears off your face."

The last thing I saw was his face, and the eyes of a cold blooded killer.

Comments

[Dapper Guy]

First chapter here, it feels a bit confusing at times as too who's speaking. It can really throw your readers off if they're not sure as to who's putting out what information or how they feel about the situation.
Not getting much of what your characters are like, except they're lovers in what I can assume is in Canterlot. I can only that because it's a ritzy place and a prime target for thieves and the guard being a unicorn. Kind of feel like I'm shooting in the dark here because what little information I have ead, there isn't much I can go off of.
I have to ask, is this just a prologue or something? I'm not sure what to think of this first chapter. This does seem to be the premise of an interesting story, Thieves can be colorful characters, I want to see how you develop them.

[joe mother]

5336468

I'll go in and add some better speaking cues. Right now it is, yes, a prologue. I am just showing off the characters simple right now and will build them in the next chapters. The thing is, the prologue is the end of the story. They die, and the first chapter will be at the beginning of they story.

I wanted to use the end of the story to give the characters, and then use their pasts to develop them and show how they got to that point, who they are, etc.

I am actually going to mark this as AU because despite the fact that yes, it is in Canterlot, it is a future? version of it. It will be somewhat different than it is in the show, but it will become what it is in the prologue as the story progresses.

[joe mother]

5336468

I fixed where I saw some issues in the speaking. There might be more you can see, but I didn't see any more than what I fixed.