Progress

by P-Berry

Chapter 4

She was laughing. Laughing like she hadn’t laughed for a long time.

She couldn’t explain it – not even to herself. After all, her situation didn’t give her a reason to be happy or even laugh: after the vehicle had stopped, the two ponies had torn the nearly unconscious from crying Twilight out of her plastic prison and led her through seemingly endless, with glaring strip lights enlightened corridors until finally they had stopped in front of a white metal door, loosened the shackles around her body and hooves, yet kept the magic-blocking ring around her horn, and shoved her into a small, barely enlightened room with plain, grey concrete walls and a single, metal-grilled window that wasn’t bigger than a foal.

Too drained to even think straight, Twilight had stumbled over to what she had identified as a bed and dropped herself onto the uncomfortable foam mattress, falling asleep within seconds, and forgetting about the misery she was stuck in.

There she was now: having awoken at about sunrise, she had realized that the nightmare she was in was still lasting on, yet had still been too tired to bother her head about it.

The first thing she had noticed upon leaving the scratchy polyester bedding was that somepony had pulled her some clothes on: her purple fur was covered by an orange overall; only her hooves and tail stuck out from underneath the scratchy fabric.

Since she hadn’t known when or if the two ponies that had captured her the day before would return, she had decided to do something helpful and get an overview of the room she was in.

It hadn’t taken her long to examine the cell in the minutest detail – there wasn’t much to examine after all. The room was about five times as long and four times as wide as her; the bed she had slept in had turned out to be a bunk bed – the upper mattress had appeared to be just as thin and uncomfortable as the one she had spent the night in.

Apart from the bed, there wasn’t much more to be discovered in the room: a set of two dark grey, locked lockers stood opposite to the sleeping accommodation; the tiny window she had noticed the night before was –along with a naked bulb hanging from the ceiling- the only light source, causing the room to be just as dusky as in the night before.

After rattling at the metal door opposite to the window –her only possible way out- and realizing that it wouldn’t open, not even if she bucked and gave it a powerful kick –what had ended up with her falling over and groaning with pain from her aching legs- she had finally accepted that there was no way out, not until the two ponies would return and unlock the door for her.

It had taken her mind a few more moments to catch up with her current situation: she was trapped. For the first time in her life, she had been locked up - trapped somewhere without knowing when or if she would ever be free again.

That realization, along with the lack of sleep and the confusion about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours –was this really the future? Had she –Twilight Sparkle- really traveled time? And was that –a dark, cold, stinky concrete desert- really what Ponyville was destined to be?- had finally pushed the red button in her head and thrown her mind into turmoil.

With her thoughts descending into chaos, Twilight had slowly walked over to the middle of the room, then sat down on the cold concrete, and started grinning.

She couldn’t help but to be reminded to Pinkie Pie: the pink pony had always told her that laughing –and if not laughing then at least smiling- could solve nearly any problem. “Smile and the world will smile back at you!” was one of the best lessons Twilight had learned from her since their first encounter so many years ago.

So Twilight had smiled, had literally contorted her face to a beaming smile. But that hadn’t been all: shortly after, she had started to giggle; first silently, then always louder and louder until finally, her reboant laughter echoed throughout her tiny prison, reflected by the bare concrete walls, thrown back at her like siren call.

By no stretch of the imagination could she explain why she was laughing. She was just laughing – laughing in the hope that it would make all her problems magically disappear; laughing in the hope that she could just return to her old life and forget about all the unpleasant experiences she had made in the ‘new’ Ponyville so far; laughing safe in the knowledge that it wouldn’t help her at all; that it would only make it worse since the other ponies could hear her and declare her insane for sitting in an empty room and laughing like a maniac.

So, slowly but steady, her laughter slowed down and tears formed in her eyes. Shortly after, her giggle had been completely replaced by fitful sobs and a shallow puddle of tears had formed on the concrete under her body.

“Oh who the heck am I kidding!?” she whined, “It’s all my fault that I ended up here!” she smashed a hoof onto the ground, “Why didn’t I just stay with Shining Armor!? Why did I have to run away!?”

Her look fell onto the puddle next to her body and she suddenly silenced. Without words, the face she saw in the reflection showed her how much she had been through in the near past: surrounded by dark circles, her tear-soaked, jaded violet eyes stared back at her; her formerly neat, purple mane was unkempt by the long night on her hard pillow, was bristly and showed first signs of spliss.

“Mother of Celestia…” Twilight whispered to herself, “I’m a wreck.”

Contorting her face, she used her teeth to scratch an itch on her foreleg, certainly caused by the peculiar suit she was wearing. With an angry groan, she –still unable to use her magic- leaned her head forward and grabbed the upper end of a zipper she had spotted at the overall’s side just now.

A few moments, a couple of contortions, and several furious snorts later, Twilight had finally managed to free herself from the scratchy outfit and took a second to enjoy the regained feeling of freedom around her body.

Just as her thoughts were about to drift off again, a voice made her startle and let out a silent squeal. “Your time has come, prisoner.” The deep, female voice came from the other side of the thick metal door, “You have violated the law, and now you will pay!”

Twilight span around; her look wandered over to the door: a small window situated in its lower third –at about the height of Twilight’s stomach- had been opened and a pair of violet eyes gave her a petrifying look through the opening.

“Because you, erm…” the eyes wandered to the side for a second, presumably checking some kind of name tag that was fixed to the door, “Twalait Spahkel, have infringed Paragraph one of Article eighteen of the Equestrian basic law, which clearly states that, and I quote, ‘A civilian of Equestria may not practice nudism outside his or her private property. Exceptions are officially designated areas and other ponies’ private property, subject to the condition that the other stallion or mare agrees with nudism being practiced on his or her property.’, unquote.”

“…What!?” was all Twilight could bring out, “Nudism!? Basic law? What in Equestria are you-“

“Silence!” the voice interrupted her, “You have been found guilty by the district court of Ponyville. A crime as serious as nudity in public can and will only be punished with death penalty. You have ten minutes until you will be brought to your death row cell.”

“Death row!?” Twilight squealed with growing despair, “But … but those two other ponies said I would be free before noon! How can you-“

“I said silence!” the voice shouted at her; the eyes widened with rage, “You should have thought about that before you decided to take off all your clothes and run around like a wild animal!” Filled with disgust, the eyes’ gaze wandered over Twilight’s exposed body. “Just look at you: even after being arrested, you still didn’t learn your lesson; you still behave like a … like a wildpony. Pathetic. Simply pathetic, I tell you.”

“But-“ Twilight stammered unbelieving, “How can you … How can you … kill other ponies? That’s … that’s just-“

“I SWEAR TO CELESTIA IF YOU DON’T SHUT YOUR FACE THIS INSTANT I WILL COME IN THERE AND LIGHTEN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR’S WORKLOAD!” the mare on the other side of the door yelled on top of her lungs. She closed the window with a loud smash and added, “I’ll come back in ten minutes. Better say your last prayers.”

Without thinking, Twilight shot forward and slammed her hooves against the window with all of her power, yelling, “No! No, please! Please come back! Please!”

A couple of seconds passed until the window got opened again, making Twilight step back. Giving her an annoyed look, the mare asked, “What? What do you want, you animal?”

“P-please,“ Twilight stammered, feeling tears flooding her eyes, “Please let me go!” A shiver ran through her body as she remembered the words the mare had used – death penalty, death row, and electric chair. “I … I don’t want to die!” Twilight added, hearing her voice quaver with despair, “N-not here!”

The eyes narrowed, then silently disappeared behind the white metal of the door.

“Please!” Twilight yelled at the metal of the door, her voice about to break, ”Please come back, I-“ The words seemed to dry up in her throat as the massive metal door suddenly flew open, missing her face by mere inches.

Before Twilight knew what was happening, she got hit by a white blur that caught her off-guard, grabbed her by her shoulders, and threw her over, pinning her to the ground.

“Surprise!” her assailant shouted joyfully; her voice now sounded astonishingly familiar.

As Twilight’s vision cleared, the first thing she was the pair of Violet eyes, yet this time looking happy and joyful instead of evil and furious. Casting a quick glance to further examine her attacker’s body, Twilight saw that she was a pegasus: while the white of her coat reminded her to Rarity, the rest of her was the spitting image of Pinkie Pie: her gold-blonde hair and tail had exactly the same shape as those of her friend; her violet eyes seemed to shine in the same way Pinkie’s did, and her face was adorned by the same beaming smile Twilight knew and liked from the pink pony.

Yet unlike her friend, the pony above her wore a uniform – the same model she had seen on the ponies that had captured her the day before: consisting of dark blue pants, a shirt and a cap, it covered most of her body, except for her neck, head, tail and wings.

“P-Pinkie…” Twilight mumbled, but quickly got drowned by the white pegasus as she raised herself in the air and, facing Twilight with eyes widened in excitement, asked, “So? Did I get you? Did I? Did I?”

“What … what the hell are you talking about?” Twilight asked, getting to her shaky hooves and wiping the tears from her face, yet still keeping an eye on the levitating pegasus in front of her.

“Well, duh!” the pegasus said in a surprisingly familiar way and landed on the ground in front of Twilight, “Did you believe it? Did you really believe what I said?”

Looking at the uniformed pony in pure disbelief, Twilight stuttered, “I … I don’t-“

The mare’s body suddenly went limp and she gave the pale Princess an unbelieving look. “You believed it, didn’t you?” she shot forward and flung a foreleg around Twilight’s neck, “Aww, sorry if I scared you. I actually thought everypony would know that death penalty is abolished for more than seventeen years by now.”

Twilight, slowly getting the mare’s point, turned her head towards the smiling pony and asked, “So … so you-“

“I played a trick on you, silly!” the pegasus confessed joyfully and rubbed a hoof on Twilight’s head, “Seriously, did you really think we would kill somepony just for following her natural instincts?” she giggled heartily, “No! No, that would be downright barbaric!”

Twilight was speechless. She had seen ponies playing sick jokes on others before, but that was just … she couldn’t find the words to describe it. Giving the pegasus a look that went far beyond the term ‘disgusted’ she wanted to say something, but got cut off as her tormentor picked up the overall that laid next to them and handed it to her, saying, “But if you don’t want any more trouble, you should throw that on. We’ve got some stuffy-pants here who aren’t that okay with ponies being ‘au naturel’, if you know what I mean.”

Twilight, still too shocked –and disgusted- to think of a proper objection, hesitated for a second, but then reached forward and grabbed the uncomfortable garment, reluctantly slipping back into it. Her skin began to itch again, but this time she oppressed the urge to scratch herself.

The other pony, apparently noticing Twilight’s discomfort, said, “Don’t worry, you’ll be allowed to wear something more comfortable as soon as you’re out of here,” her eyes widened, “Oh, silly me! I got totally carried away!” she turned towards the –as Twilight noticed but then- still opened exit door and added, “Come on, we gotta head to the interrogation room if we want to get you out of here as soon as possible!”

She trotted off, but abruptly stopped in front of the door and hastily turned around, flying back to Twilight and saying, “Oh, and I almost forgot about that too!” she landed in front of Twilight and used her mouth to loosen a large keyring from her belt.

Unsure what was to come next, Twilight took a cautious step backwards, doing her best to hide her shaky legs but knowing that they looked like columns of jelly.

Grabbing one of the keys with her mouth, the white pony focused Twilight and said, “You gotta stay here, silly! We want to get rid of that annoying horn-cuff, don’t we?”

Instead of replying, Twilight remained silent, focused the gaping hole in the wall opposite to her and, realizing that freedom was just a short sprint away, tensed the muscles in her legs like a predator about to pounce.

The guard seemed to notice Twilight’s intention, since her happy smile vanished instantly and she frowned at her prisoner, saying, “Hey don’t you fool around now?” she dropped the keyring and turned her head, loosening a pair of cuffs from a thick black belt around her waist, “Because if you attempt an escape, I’m gonna have to make use of those,” she said and showed Twilight the metal construction, “And I want to apply them just as little as you want to be shackled.”

With that, she slowly lowered the shackles and put them down on the ground in front of her hooves. Tilting her head to the side, she gave Twilight a happy smile and said, “So, do you want me to lead you off like a convict or can we spare the fuss?”

Twilight remained silent, unsure what to do: on the one hand, every single muscle in her body told her to grab the chance; to take to her heels and escape from the concrete hell she was stuck in. On the other hand, she didn’t know how agile the pegasus in front of her was: regarding the speed she had had while entering the cell and the almost immediately following jerk into the air, Twilight couldn’t help but assume that –if she would attempt an escape- the white pegasus would dash after her immediately, catching her off-guard, throwing her over once again, and putting her in irons. The chances of escape on that way didn’t seem too high.

Bearing that in mind, Twilight reluctantly relaxed her muscles and, her look focused on the guard, said, “You … you promise nothing will happen to me?”

Before Twilight could react, the pegasus picked up the keyring, shot forward, and inserted a small key into the ring around her horn. With a brazen clink, the metal clamp dropped to the floor and landed in front of Twilight’s hooves.

“Of course not, silly!” the white pony giggled, “I guess it’s your first time here then?”

“Y-yeah, I … I guess.” Twilight stuttered, still not sure if she could trust the pony that had played a more than cruel trick on her no five minutes ago.

“Well, then I can comfort you!” the pegasus assured her with a confident smile, “You’re not gonna stay here for long. Even though scandalization is considered a crime, it’s only charged with a bail of a hundred bits, so you just have to pay it and you’ll be free again!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “One hundred bits!? But … I don’t have any money with me.”

The mare’s smile vanished for a second, but quickly returned as she said, “Well, no problem! No problem at all! We’re just gonna call somepony and ask them to lend you some money. No big deal!”

Before Twilight could reply, the mare turned around, facing the opened exit door, and said, “Come with me, please. I’ll show you where the telephones are!”

“…what are-“

The pegasus suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and span around. Facing Twilight with a dauntingly serious look, she then said, “No funny business, alright?”

Twilight, remembering what would happen if she was in mischief, slowly nodded and said, “N-no. No, of course not, ma’am.”

The guard leaned forward and brought herself face to face with Twilight. With a petrifying stare, she asked, “Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a-“ Twilight wanted to recite the well-known pledge, but cut herself off in the middle of the sentence. “Wait!” she said, giving the mare an unbelieving look, “How in Equestria do you know about the Pinkie Promise?”

“Well, duh!” the pegasus replied, rolling her eyes, and leaned back, “I happen to know its inventor.”

“You … you know Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, having a hard time to keep herself from yelling.
Returning the unbelieving look, the uniformed mare blinked several times and asked, “Y-you’re kidding, right?” Without leaving Twilight time to answer, she raised herself into the air and, still giving her a wide smile, said, “I’m her cousin, silly! Isn’t that obvious?”

“C-cousin?” Twilight stammered unbelieving, noticing that –on second thought- the pony levitating in front of her had surprisingly many things in common with her friend.

“Of course! How didn’t you notice earlier?” she asked her and lowered to the floor again, “Ponies always say we’re as alike as two peas in a pod!”

Laying her head to the side and stroking her chin with her hoof, Twilight said, “Pinkie Pie never told me that she has a cousin. I always thought her family consisted exclusively of rock farmers…” her look wandered over to the mare’s wings, “And earth ponies, at that.”

“Ouh, that’s a long story,” the mare commenced and flung a foreleg around Twilight’s neck, “You see, my great great great uncle Rock Roller has always had a weakness for winged mares and-”

“It’s alright!” Twilight cut her off, “It’s alright, I believe you.” She eyed the uniformed pony again, “But still, how does it come I’ve never met you before? We usually introduce our friends to our relatives.”

The mare’s smile weakened and she released Twilight from her grip, “Well, Pinkie and I haven’t seen each other for quite a while. You know, she grew up on a rock farm in Ponyville, I grew up in Los Pegasus - that’s quite a distance to span.” Her smile returned, even stronger than before, “But then I found that job at the Police Department and shortly after, Pinkie joined me!” she explained, showing the Princess her shiny teeth.

Leaving Twilight no time to could ask questions, the mare’s smile vanished again and made way for a look of confusion, “But how do you know Pinkie Pie? Are you one of her friends?” she asked her with an excited look.

“Well, yeah.” Twilight replied, busy ordering her thoughts, “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I-“

She got cut off by the mare who gasped loudly and rushed, “Ohmygosh! You are Twilight Sparkle? The Twilight Sparkle!?”

“Y-yeah, I guess…” Twilight stuttered.

“Oh my gosh! You’re alive!” the pegasus shouted, her face contorted with pleasant surprise as she jumped for joy, “We thought we’d have lost you in that glacier!”

“I … uh … I guess so?” Twilight stumbled, watching the ecstatic pegasus as she jumped up and down, almost smashing into the ceiling with every jump.

“Goodness, I have to tell Pinkie!” the pegasus shouted and turned around, heading towards the exit door. Right before leaving the room, she looked over her shoulder and shouted, “You stay here! I’ll be back in a second!”

Before Twilight had realized what was going on, the pegasus was gone and she was all alone again. She took a deep breath, then lowered herself to the ground and slowly sat down.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. “For Celestia’s sake, why can’t this just turn out to be a dream? Why can’t I just wake up in Ponyville and realize that Luna has played a silly joke on me?”

She slowly raised her head and looked at the opened door at the opposite end of the room; the urge to escape grew stronger again. “I could give it a try. I would just have to find a way out before somepony sees me.”

It took her a few seconds to come to a decision. With a determined snort, Twilight tensed the muscles in her legs and mumbled, “Alright, it’s now or never!” Feeling how adrenaline shot through her veins, she hastily rolled over, jumped to her hooves, focused the exit, and dashed forward.

“And I was all like ‘Goodness, I have to tell Pinkie!’ and ran out of the room.” the familiar voice came to Twilight’s ears, accompanied by the sound of hooves running over concrete. Changing her mind within split seconds, Twilight tensed every single muscle in her body and slid across the concrete, grinding to a halt right before the exit door.

“And you’re sure it’s Twilight? You know this isn’t a topic to joke about.” Another, almost similar voice replied in a more serious tone. Twilight, knowing that the guard was about to return, hastily slid backward and got to her hooves in the middle of the room.

“Well, see yourself!” the first voice announced happily. With that, the silhouettes of two ponies stepped into the doorframe of the exit door. Before Twilight could identify them, the right one jumped into the air and yelled, “Twilight!”

Only split seconds later, Twilight felt how someone flung their forelegs around her neck and squeezed with a power she had only expected from a body builder.

As her vision slowly cleared, all she could see was pink fur; a fluffy pink mane tickled the side of her face. “Pinkie Pie?” she produced, barely able to breathe due to the iron grip around her neck.

“Oh Twilight you can’t believe how glad I am to see you!” the pink pony raved into Twilight’s nape, “I thought you were dead!”

“Well, I…” Twilight wanted to reply, but then cut herself off and flung her forelegs around her friend, acknowledging the hug, enjoying every second of it.

She felt a tear of joy running down her cheek as she buried her face into the soft fur of her friend. For a short moment, the feeling of insecurity was gone, and she felt save: save from the fate that was in store for her, save from the dirty, fetid city out there, and save from the uniformed ponies.

“Uh, Pinkie…” the voice of the white pegasus came to Twilight’s ears, “I really hate to interrupt you, but I just as well hate to upset our boss, so…”

Pinkie Pie suddenly stiffened, “Of, of course!” she said and loosened herself from Twilight’s embrace. Twilight, suddenly lacking someone to lean on, was about to stumble forward, but quickly got caught by Pinkie who grabbed her hoof and tore her towards the exit. “Come on, Twilight! You have to tell me everything!”

What Twilight noticed but then was that her friend was uniformed too: except for her neck and hooves, her pink fur was entirely covered by the blue uniform Twilight already knew; the only difference was that Pinkie Pie had passed on a cap; her fluffy pink mane bounced as unfettered as always.

Overwhelmed by questions popping up in her head, Twilight decided to ask the first and most urgent one: “Where are we going?” she said to the hurrying pink pony.

“To the interrogation room, silly!” Pinkie replied, as happy as always, “There’s still some official stuff to do!”

“So you’re going to take care of her from now on?” the white pony asked as they passed her.

Giving her cousin a happy smile, Pinkie replied, “Of course, what else should I-“ she cut herself off and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks; Twilight bumped into her friend’s back with a muffled thud.

The pink pony smashed her face against her hoof and said, “Oh, silly me! How could I ever forget about that!?” she turned around and pointed a hoof at the pegasus, “Twilight, that’s Surprise, my cousin.” Pointing a hoof at the alicorn and looking at her cousin, she added, “Surprise, that’s Twilight! You know, the pony I told you about like…”

“A bajillion times!” Surprise ended her sentence with a spontaneous jump of excitement. Before Twilight could back up, the pegasus grabbed her hoof and shook it gushingly, saying, “And as for me: I’m so super-duper mega happy to finally meet you! Pinkie has told me so much about you, but finally seeing you in person, that’s just…!” her body spasmed as her face contorted to a radiant smile, “I’m so happy I could just scream!”

Twilight pulled her hoof back and, with a slight blush on her face, said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you too, Surprise. I honestly wouldn’t have expected to meet somepony like you in that place.” She admitted, letting her glance wander over the bare walls of the austere cell.

“We actually hear that surprisingly often.” Pinkie said, “Though I don’t get it - when somepony has made some mistakes and landed in prison, the best way to help them is giving them a smile!” turning her head towards her cousin, she asked, “Am I right?”

“You sure as hay are, Pinkie!” Surprise answered, returning the smile.

“But … I don’t understand!” Twilight stuttered, turning her head towards Pinkie Pie, “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in Ponyville!?”

“Duh, this is Ponyville, silly!” Pinkie corrected her indulgently.

“But why are you here? Why aren’t you at Sugarcube Corner? And why in Equestria is everypony here wearing those weird uniforms!?” she hit her friend with questions.

“All in good time, Twily! We don’t want to be in that sticky cell longer than we have to, do we?” Pinkie replied and grabbed Twilight’s hoof again, tearing her past surprise and through the exit door.

---

The walk trough the building took no more than two minutes. Following her friend through seemingly endless, plain, white hallways and passing dozens of uniformed ponies who rushed past them without a word of greeting, Twilight had quickly lost every kind of orientation.

All the more was the relief as Pinkie had finally stopped in front of a wooden door and said, “Here we are! Enjoyed the little tour through the police station?”

Once again, Twilight had no time to answer, for her friend had already opened the small door and entered the room. “Come in, no need to be afraid!” she shouted over her shoulder.

Twilight gulped, but hesitantly took a step forward and stepped through the door.

The glaring light of a large lamp at the ceiling made her squinch her eyes close as she entered the room and looked for her friend. The comparably small chamber was completely filled out by a wooden table in its middle; the only contrast to the bare, white walls and ceiling was a small window opposite to Twilight.

“Come in, take a seat!” Pinkie invited her and pointed at one of two chairs that surrounded the table.

With her confusion written on her face, Twilight walked over to the seat. Her look focused on her friend, she asked, “What is this room good for? What are we supposed to do here?”

“We’re just gonna have a little talk!” Pinkie replied joyfully as she took a seat on the chair opposite to Twilight’s, “You know, about me, about you, about your recent descent into criminality…” she explained and giggled.

With growing discomfort, Twilight approached the chair and sat down, facing her friend with the most unconcerned look she could put on at the moment.

Noticing the worry in Twilight’s eyes, Pinkie leaned back on her chair and said, “Aww you gotta stop taking everything so seriously, Twily! You’re looking at me like if I was about to kill you!”

“Why am I here?” Twilight asked, “Why are you here? Where are we? What in Equestria has-“

Twilight got cut off by the deafening sound of an air horn echoing throughout the room. Her look fell on Pinkie’s right hoof which held the device right in front of her face. With a happy smile, the pink pony said, “One at a time, Twilight! I understand that you’re kind of confused because of all that … detention-thingy going on, but I can only answer what I understand!” she explained and stored the horn in a small box underneath her chair.

Twilight shook her head to loosen from the stiffness the shock had brought over her and took a deep breath, then slowly started over. “Alright … alright. Where am I?”

“At the Ponyville Police Department, silly!” Pinkie replied instantly and put her hooves up, “Has nopony told you about that-“

“What the hay is a police department?” Twilight cut her friend off, “Why did I get arrested!?”

For the first time since their unexpected encounter, Pinkie’s smile grew a little weaker and she sighed. Giving her friend a pitying look, she said, “You know, Twilight, it’s always hard to talk about those things, even for somepony like me.”

“Wha- what in Equestria are you talking about?” Twilight asked her with widened eyes.

“I’m going to tell you.” Pinkie hesitantly announced, maintaining eye contact all the time, “You will understand a lot of things … but you won’t be happy about it.”

“Just spit it out!” Twilight urged her, “I’m tired of being in the dark!”

“You were gone for thirty years.” Pinkie Pie explained cautiously; her smile had completely vanished, “Many things have changed in that time. Many, many-“

Pinkie Pie’s voice seemed to fade away as Twilight’s vision blurred. “Thirty years. I’ve been gone for thirty years!” the words echoed in her mind, “I’ve missed that large amount of time just by … being gone!” Her legs began to shake as her body staggered back and forth on the chair. “Everything … has changed! And I … missed it!”

“Twilight, you okay?” the worried voice of Pinkie Pie came to her ears.

Before the words had faded away, Twilight keeled over and fell off her chair. A weak moan escaped her mouth as her body collided with the hard concrete floor.

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie came to her ears and she felt the touch of two hooves flinging around her body and holding her head up, “Come on Twilight, get up!”

She was fully conscious – even though the shock had been enormous, the unconsciousness had faded away in the second her head had smashed onto the floor. Still, she didn’t open her eyes – for the second time that day, the little filly in her had shown through again: following the concept of ‘what I can’t see isn’t there’, she had kept her eyes closed, still nourishing the hope that she would wake up in her bed at the Ponyville library upon opening them.

However, her common sense had quickly gotten the better of her again, defeating her naïve urges and making her realize that hopes and wishes wouldn’t help her either – that she had to deal with the situation she had gotten herself into.

So she reluctantly opened her eyes; the broad ceiling lights blinded her once again.

“Thank goodness, I thought I’d have lost you – again!” Pinkie said with a happy smile.

“Ugh.” Twilight produced with a weak moan, “Thirty years? Really?”

“Yeah that’s quite some time, isn’t it?” Pinkie giggled and offered Twilight a hoof to help her up.

Twilight, reluctantly getting to her hooves, shook her head and said, “I … I just can’t believe it! I mean…” Overwhelmed by a sudden qualm, she stumbled over to the table and dropped herself back onto her chair, “Thirty years!”

Pinkie Pie sat down too, folded her forelegs, and gave her friend an empathetic look; a weak smile remained on her face though. “I can imagine how you’re feeling right now. I mean, if I try to remember life before you disappeared…” she craned her neck, looking at the ceiling of the small room, “That’s a difference of, like, worlds!”

“You don’t say…” Twilight mumbled and leaned forward, resting her head on her hooves.

It took a few seconds until she had collected the power to look up again. Eyeing her friend’s outfit, she added, “So I guess it’s a crime to walk around without clothes now?” she asked with a certain touch of bitterness in her voice.

Pinkie nodded confirming, striving after a smile, “Yeah, it’s … quite hard to explain though.” She said and tugged at the sleeve of her blue shirt, “I guess somehow it’s just gotten … normal to walk around like that.”

“Good gracious…” Twilight sighed; her head slowly sunk onto the table.

“Yeah…” Pinkie said compassionately. Her beaming smile finally returned, “But hey, look at the bright side! You’re back! You’re alive! You’ve got the world in your hooves!”

Twilight couldn’t exactly tell why, but for some reason, Pinkie’s words sparked something in her head – something she seemed to have completely forgotten about during the past 24 hours.

“Wait!” she shouted; her head short upward, facing her friend with widened eyes, “What about our friends!? Have they … changed too? I mean, I know that you haven’t changed, but…” a shiver ran through her spine as she thought about how much Ponyville had changed, “Have they changed!?”

Pinkie, still facing her with a wide smile, said, “Oh don’t you worry your little head about that! Our friends still are the same super-duper ponies they’ve always been!”

With a sigh of relief, the muscles in Twilight’s body relaxed and she sank back into her chair. “Could you…” she mumbled, addressing Pinkie Pie, “Could you call them here, please?” she gently rubbed her aching forehead with her right hoof, “I … I just want to see them at the moment.”

Her friend remained silent, making Twilight look up and give her an asking look. “Well,” Pinkie hesitantly commenced. Even though her face was still adorned by a broad smile, Pinkie’s worried eyes revealed her true feelings: even though she did her best to hide it, Twilight could see that her friend –deep within- was about to break out in tears.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, noticing the worry in her voice.

“What?” Pinkie asked and turned her head towards her; her smile didn’t vanish. “N-nothing’s wrong! Why should something be wrong? There’s nothing wrong at all!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight replied dryly, “You can’t lie to me. Now come on, tell me!” She hesitated, then added, “Did … did something happen to our friends?”

Pinkie’s smile grew weaker with every second as she said, “N-no! I mean, I think so. At least … I hope so.”

“So you don’t know where they are?” Twilight concluded with quavering voice.

“Y-yes, of course I do!” Pinkie ensured, making a massive effort to restore the put-on smile on her face, “I mean … I know that Rainbow Dash is still around. And … I guess Applejack is still working at Sweet Apple Acres. As for Fluttershy … I think she still lives somewhere at the edge of the Everfree Forest, but I’m not really sure about that.”

“And Rarity? What about her!?” Twilight asked impatiently.
Instantly, Pinkie stopped struggling for a smile on her face. Pouting at her friend, she said, “Oh believe me, you don’t wanna know! I tell you, there are meanie-pants, and there’s Rarity!”

“W-what happened?” Twilight

“Please, just…” Pinkie said and lowered her head, making a deterrent gesture with her hoof, “Let’s not talk about her anymore, okay?”

“But why-“

“Aaanyhow,” Pinkie cut her friend off and looked back up; her signature smile had returned, “Don’t you think we should tell Dashie that you’re here? I’m sure it would make her day! … Something she could really use at the moment.”

“What was that?” Twilight asked and leaned her head forward.

“I said we should tell Rainbow Dash that you’re not dead.” Pinkie said and loosened something that looked like a black plastic box from a holder on her chest.

“But you said something more, something about-“

Twilight got gut off by Pinkie who pressed a button on the black box in her hooves and held it in front of her mouth. With the sweetest voice Twilight had heard in a long time, Pinkie said, “Daaaashie! Could you come to the interrogation room for a second, please?”

A few seconds passed until the device produced sounds again: a voice that reminded Twilight to that of Rainbow Dash, yet sounded a lot more … strained was the only word Twilight could think of to describe it, let out an annoyed moan, then replied, “For the last time, Pinkie Pie, it’s Detective Dash to you!”

“Yeah yeah, Dashie! Now come on over! There’s somepony you sure wanna meet!” Pinkie replied joyfully.

“Pinkie I swear to god, if that’s some kind of stupid joke, I’m literally gonna-“

“Don’t be so grumpy!” the pink pony cut her off, “Now swing your flank over here! I promise, you won’t regret it.”

A sigh came from the device’s speaker, “Can’t that wait? I’m on lunch break, you know?”

“So what?” Pinkie replied with a confident smirk, “I believe the fastest pony in all of Equestria can come over here and still have enough time for her lunch, don’t you think?”

The voice grumbled something incomprehensible, then, with a noticeable amount of reluctance, said, “Alright. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Better not let me down.”

“You know I would never do that, Dashie!” Pinkie ensured with a smile and lowered the device. Giving Twilight a satisfied look, she then said, “Dash will be here in a few minutes!”

Twilight didn’t reply; all of her attention was focused on the black device Pinkie was just about to re-attach to her chest. “What’s that … thing?” she curiously asked her friend.

“Oh that?” Pinkie asked and pointed a hoof at her chest, “Nothing, just my walkie-talkie. Everypony working here gets one of those.”

“And you just … communicated with Rainbow Dash? With the help of that thing?” Twilight asked and leaned over the table, bringing herself face to face with the device.

Pinkie loosened the box again and handed it to her friend saying, “Duh, silly! That’s what a walkie-talkie is good for!”

“Amazing…” Twilight muttered, carefully eyeing the plastic speaker. A few moments passed until she looked back up and, coming to the next question that preyed on her mind, asked, “But … anyway, What brings you here? Why are you wearing those clothes? And why aren’t you at Sugarcube Corner!?”

“Well, hehe…” Pinkie hesitantly answered; her smile seemed to turn plastic again, “I would lie if I would say that I got here all by myself, but…”

“But what?” Twilight probed, eager to find out about how her friend could end up at a place like that, “What happened to The Cakes?”

“Hehe,” Pinkie replied with a put-on giggle, “I guess it would take too long to explain it –even to somepony as smart as you, hehe- but … in a world where huge companies basically own the market for sweets and pastries, it’s hard to sell hoof-made products – at least at the price we used to sell them.”

“I … can’t quite follow your drift, Pinkie.” Twilight admitted, “So you mean they had to close Sugarcube Corner?”

Affecting the worst laugh Twilight had ever heard, Pinkie shrugged and said, “That’s the way the ball bounces, isn’t it? I mean, hehe, the ones you have loved like your own family for the better half of your life are running on empty and have to shut down their life work and fire you. Hehe. You find yourself home- and jobless and, hehe, are forced to live on the street!”

“Oh my gosh,” Twilight said and leaned back on her chair in dismay, “Pinkie that’s just horrible!”

“It’s alright!” Pinkie said with a lighthearted wave of her hoof, “To my very luck, Rainbow Dash found me only a few months later and made that job at the Police Department clear for me. Everything’s fine now!” she confidently assured Twilight.

“So Rainbow Dash is working here too?” Twilight asked confused, “What about her job at the Weather Patrol?”

Again, Pinkie smiled and shrugged carelessly, “Who knows? Who cares? You can ask her when she’s here though.”

Twilight nodded slowly and relaxed her tensed muscles, trying to ignore the urge to scratch herself – if she would have been alone, or at least not in some sort of huge, unknown building, she wouldn’t have hesitated to rip the annoying garment off her body and enjoy the freedom her instinct craved for, but she was sure that if somepony –maybe even Pinkie Pie; Twilight wasn’t sure about how much she could trust her friend after everything she had heard about Pinkie’s past- would alert the other police ponies around, she would definitely land in her cell again, only that this time she wouldn’t come out this easily.

Trying to break the awkward silence that had laid over the two ponies, Twilight gave Pinkie a curious look and asked, “So what was that with Rarity? What has she done that you don’t want to talk about her?”

Once again, Pinkie smiled at her friend and giggled, “Oh it’s nothing serious, silly! She’s just a little … out of touch with the real world.“ Pinkie cut herself off as the door to the small room flew open and the sound of hooves trotting over concrete echoed from the walls.

The two mares’ heads spun around simultaneously; their gazes fell on the pony that had just entered the small room: the slim, cyan mare gave Pinkie Pie an annoyed look and said, “Here I am. What’s so important?”

“Dashie, you’re finally here!” Pinkie noticed joyfully, “You see, I wanted-“

Pinkie was the one to be cut off this time, as Twilight shouted, “Rainbow Dash!” and arose from her chair, flying over to the pouting mare and flinging her forelegs around her neck, “You can’t believe how glad I am to see you!”

Rainbow Dash, apparently too astonished to give an immediate response, said, “T-Twilight?”

“Isn’t that incredible!?” Pinkie asked her friend, her voice beaming with happiness, “A patrol found her in the outskirts yesterday evening! She’s been frozen in that glacier for the entire time!”

Rainbow Dash finally seemed to get a grip, as she loosened from her stiffness and weakly acknowledged the hug, saying, “Wow, that’s … great.”

“I know right!?” Pinkie asked and shot forward, joining the two mares and turning their embrace into a group hug, “Now we can be together again! Like in the old times!”

Twilight felt how a shudder ran through Rainbow Dash’s body and she loosened herself from the hug. “Yeah … old times…” she muttered and slowly stepped back.

It was in about that moment that Twilight noticed that her friend –just like every other pony around- was dressed; yet unlike the police ponies she had seen before, Rainbow Dash wore a white button-up shirt combined with a black jacket and a pair of black pants; the walkie-talkie Twilight knew from Pinkie’s uniform as well as a golden badge were fixed to her chest.

But what attracted Twilight’s attention even more than Rainbow Dash’s unusual clothing was the keen smell coming from her: while Rainbow Dash usually was the pony that –thanks to the long times she spent in the sky every day- had the cleanest body odor, she now emitted a mixture of old sweat, dried-up alcohol and -above all- smoke.

Twilight couldn’t help but scrunch up her nose and take a step backward as awkward silence set in yet again.

“So,” Pinkie spoke up after a few moments, “You know what I first thought when I saw that Twilight was still alive?” she paused, waiting for an answer that didn’t come, “This calls for a party!” she yelled and happily bounced up and down.

“Pinkie. No.” Rainbow Dash dryly put her off and placed a hoof on her shoulder, pinning her to the ground.

“Oh come on, Dash! Stop being such a party pooper!” Pinkie said and turned her head towards her friend, giving her an asking look.

“For the last time, it’s Detective Dash!” Rainbow Dash yelled at Pinkie, “And I’ll stop being such a ‘party pooper’ if you stop making a goddamn joke out of everything! Life isn’t a party!”

Dumbstruck by this unexpected turn of events, Twilight looked at both of her friends, then opened her mouth to say something but got cut short as Pinkie Pie spoke up. “But we can be happy; we can make jokes! For the sake of pie, our long lost friend has finally returned!” the pink pony justified herself, “Now show some happiness and let us see a smile!”

Rainbow Dash brought herself face to face with Pinkie Pie; the look she gave her showed unspeakable amounts of annoyance, anger, and despise – something Twilight had never seen in her friend’s eyes before.

With razor-sharp voice, Rainbow Dash hissed, “Fuck you.” she turned around, facing the door, “Fuck all of you! I’m sick of your shit!” with a powerful tug, she opened the door, “For fuck’s sake, I need a cig!”
The cyan mare trudged through the exit door and, without giving her friends a second look, smashed it, sending a deafening echo throughout the room.

“What the heck was that?” Twilight was the first to speak up after a few seconds of silence; she turned her head towards Pinkie Pie, giving her a look that barely managed to express her confusion.

“Well,” Pinkie said, to Twilight’s very surprise still with a happy smile on her face, “She can be a little grumpy from time to time. You’re gonna get used to it.”

“But that,” Twilight pointed a hoof at the door, “Wasn’t ‘grumpy’! That was downright rude! What the heck happened to Rainbow that makes her act like that?”

For the third time that day, Pinkie shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean, she’s been like that for several years by now, but never told anyone why.”

It took Twilight a few seconds to come to a conclusion. Clenching her teeth in determination, she stepped forward and said, “I have to follow her! I have to find out what’s wrong!”

Before she could reach for the door handle, she felt a hoof on her shoulder that –not roughly, but far from gently- held her back. “I’m afraid I can’t let that happen, Twilight.” Pinkie’s surprisingly sober voice came to her ears.

Twilight’s head shot around, looking at her friend with widened eyes, “What!? Why not?”

“Duh, you’re still under arrest, silly!” Pinkie giggled; her voice had regained its usual easiness within split seconds. Faster than Twilight could react, the pink pony shot backward, sat down at the table and –seemingly out of nowhere- pulled out a printed piece of paper she placed on the tabletop in front of her, “But don’t worry, just fill out that form here and you’ll be a free pony in no time!”

Raising an eyebrow, Twilight turned around and trotted back to the table, critically eyeing the paper: according to the tiny, barely readable paragraphs, she was required to fill in her full name, as well as her age and place of residence.

Giving her friend a skeptical look, Twilight asked, “And that’s everything? I just have to fill that out and then I can go?”
The pink pony nodded affirmatively.

“But the ponies that captured me said something about a fine. Coming to think of it…” she raised an eyebrow, “Your cousin, Surprise, also mentioned an administrative penalty.”

“Oh that!” Pinkie said with a dismissive swing of her hoof, “Never mind the fine! It’s not like anyone would care about it anyway.”

With growing skepticism, Twilight responded, “But I can’t leave without paying my fine!” she contorted her face, “Even though I find it weird that somepony gets arrested for not wearing clothes in public, I have obviously committed a crime and now I have to account for it!” Twilight declared with a determined stomp of her hoof.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “Oh you and your 'royal sense of responsibility'! Oh well, if you insist on taking the square-way out,” she stretched out her hoof, holding it in front of Twilight as if she wanted to shake hooves, “Please hand me the hundred bits!”

Twilight hesitated. In the heat of the moment, she had completely forgotten that all of her savings were still in her room in Canterlot; that –at least for now- she could be considered completely bankrupt. “Well … I …” she stuttered.

“Don’t have any money with me?” Pinkie completed her sentence with a cheeky smile, “Oh Twilight, you wouldn’t believe how often I’ve heard that sentence already!” she reached into the breast pocket of her shirt, “But what kind of pony would I be if I wouldn’t help a friend in need?” keeping the smile, she pulled out a black wallet and placed it on the table, giving it a gentle shove and making it slide over to Twilight, “Take what you need!”

Twilight used her magic to pick up the wallet and look inside. “Pinkie, are you kidding me?” she asked her friend with an unfazed look on her face, “Why the heck are you storing paper in your wallet? It’s made for money, not for paper snippets!”

With a slightly deriding giggle, Pinkie said, “Oh poor, innocent Twilight!” she leaned forward and pointed at the greenish strips of paper, “That is money! It just has the form of a bill instead of a coin!”

Twilight pulled one of the strips out and eyed it skeptically, “Are you serious?” In fact, the piece of paper appeared to have two large numbers, as well as a picture of Princess Celestia and the words ‘BANK OF EQUESTRIA – FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE’ on it. “Impressive…” Twilight said to herself, “So that piece of paper has the value of…” she looked at the printed number, “Twenty bits?”

“Of course!” Pinkie confirmed, “Now, how much do you need?”

“What?” Twilight asked; her head shot upward, “No! No, thank you, Pinkie, but I can’t accept your money.”

“Twilight please!” Pinkie said and leaned back on her chair, “Do you want to pay your fine or not?”

Twilight hesitated, her look focused on the chunk of money in her hooves. Certainly, she wouldn’t leave the building without paying what she had to pay –what kind of Princess would she be if she would do something that would equal a theft- but asking her friends to pay for something she had caused all by herself – that just didn’t feel right.

“Now just take it, Twi!” Pinkie invited her with a confident smile, “It’s alright, really.”

“Hmm…” Twilight mumbled, more to herself than to Pinkie. Coming to a decision, she hesitantly grabbed a bunch of bank notes from the purse, stored it in a pocket of her overall, then looked up and gave Pinkie a determined look, “I’ll pay it back as soon as I get the chance, I promise.” she assured her friend.

The pink pony put her off with a casual swipe of her hoof, “No hurry, Twilight. Contrary to certain other ponies,” she frowned out of the small window next to them, “I know how important it is to help a friend when she’s in need.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked and raised an eyebrow.

Still frowning, Pinkie turned away from the window and said, “N-nothing.” She shoved the paper over to Twilight, “Now come on, we want to make you a free pony, don’t we?”

Comments

[xDHannibalxD]

OK first: Yay, an update! Second: What the hell?!?

[P-Berry]

6308162
First: wow, there's more than two people actively following this story. I honestly didn't expect that.
Second: Exactly my thoughts while re-reading this last week. This whole thing has been written out almost two years ago, so it's neither written in my current style, nor is it what I would consider to be a good story anymore.
I'll upload the next (and last) chapter shortly, after that I'm pretty sure I'll put this thing out to pasture for the time being.
Regardless, thank you for reading and taking the time to comment!

[eraser]

Good idea, but slow start.

And I wish to k ow what happened with Rarity :)