So, that's it. My house, the one place I knew to go to, all what was left of my mind. They took it all. I stared around my room, my window's glass scattered across the floor along with the lone broken furniture. They even took the wheelchair. Posters, food, everything. I stood in the carcass that was once my home. I once felt safe here, where do I have left now?
"So that's it..." I heard my voice repeat out loud, shaking and hollow.
Summer stayed silent, standing against one of the four white walls of my abandoned bedroom. She had been quiet since I stopped crying. What was the point? Crying wasn't going to change anything. "I have nothing left for me now." I said, sitting back down in the center of the floor. For some reason, I couldn't shake the small smile creeping on to my face. I started laughing. have I gone insane? "They'll find us."
"No, they won't." Summer said, stomping her hoof. "I won't let that happen. If they do, I'll make sure they leave you alone. They want me, anyway."
I still laughed, shaking my head. I could feel the loose tears streaming down the sides of my muzzle and dripping down to the floor. "No...no..." I repeated.
I guess I had myself to blame, right? I should have just stayed home, or had kept my mouth shut so I wouldn't be attacked after school. I should have never been born and burdened my parents with a flightless pegasus son. What was my purpose in this world? What could I do, to change anything? To create something? I'm just taking up space, wasting oxygen.
The room grew quiet, neither Summer nor I spoke or moved from my once bedroom. The only sounds were the ones out side, of the wind blowing through my window or the trash being blown around the house. What will my mom think of all this? Does she even know where I am or what's happening?
Suddenly, I felt a pair of hooves wrap around my body. I looked up, Summer's eyes were the only thing visible in the darkness of my bedroom. She held on to me, tightening her grip. I didn't want this, I don't need her feeling sorry for me. She doesn't even have to stay with me, she never did! I'm dead now, inside and soon out. I pulled away, or at least tried. When I made one movement, she pulled me back. Summer was holding me tight now, her chest against mine. I could feel her heart beat, it was slow and calm, but every beat felt like something was jabbing my chest. Without much thought, my hooves found minds of their own and wrapped themselves around her waist. I buried my face into her fur, hiding away from the scene around us.
There we stood, quieter than the night itself. Soon, we sat beside each other in my empty closet. The doors were barely hanging on their hinges, but were closed anyway. It was pitch black, a small crack of light highlighting the wall of the closet and between us. I stared through the crack, imagining my room the way it was a week ago. I was laying on my bed doing homework and studying for a test, just like everypony my age would be doing at night. Yet here I sat, hiding away in my closet like a scared little kid with a strange mare who could easily break my neck or hug me.
Summer then leaned against me, her breath hot on my ear. "Dove? You awake?"
My voice was weak, my throat was sore and dust dry. "Yeah."
"Make a wish." She whispered. I turned to her, I could make out the small smile on her lips. I chuckled, leaning my head back and meeting the wall behind us with a light thud. Make a wish? What could I wish for, at this moment? What could you give a flightless pegasus who has nothing?
Regardless, I closed my eyes and made a wish.
"H-Hey!"
Me and Summer froze, slowly turning our heads towards the closet door. We saw someone walking into the room, he wore a long black jacket. When he stepped into the center of the room, he removed something out of his coat pocket. It sparked at the end, a cattle prod. Who was this guy? Was he with the organization?
"C-Come out!" He called out, holding out the prod and nervously spinning. "Uh, we have you surrounded!"
"Pssh!" Summer whispered, standing up. I grabbed her by the hoof, she looked down at me.
"Don't go out there!" I whispered. "We're bucked if you do, you heard him. We're surrounded!"
Her limestone eyes rolled. "He's bluffing."
"How do you know that?" I tried asking, but she was already moving out the closet. "Wait, Sum-"
In an instant, the closet doors burst opened. I watched as Summer, in one move, disarm the pony and knock him back against the opposite wall. I got up and stood beside her, watching the pony crumble to the ground and the cattle prod leave his hooves. She grabbed the device, held the pony up against the wall and held the prod to his neck. I had seen her like this twice before, without a weapon, I didn't think I would like to see what she can do with one.
"Summer, wait!" I shouted, but backed up and the pony struggled in her grip.
"Who are you?!" She growled, her eyes' glow reflecting off the wall and the pony's fur. "Tell us or I see what this could do to the inside of your throat!"
"P-Please!" He said, holding his hooves up. "Stop! I give up, don't hurt me!"
"Name!" Summer hissed, holding the prod closer to him.
"Flamerider!" He said. "My name is F-Flamerider!"
I walked up to Summer and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back at me, her facial expression relaxing. She turned back to the pony and moved the prod away from him, letting him go as he squirmed away to the opposite wall. Slowly, I walked towards him.
"Flamerider..." I said, keeping my voice quiet and calm. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I don't know about her. So I need you to tell me a few things, okay?"
He said nothing, only shook as we stood over him. Summer stood beside me, waving the cattle prod at him.
"Talk, Rider! Or the only thing you'll be riding is this!" She hissed.
"A-Alright, alright!" He stammered, holding his hooves out towards us. "I'll talk, kid! I'll talk, just keep that chick away from me!"
I sat down in front of him, my eyes never leaving his face to memorize it. "Flamerider. You do know who we are, right?" I asked. "You work for the ponies who kidnapped me?"
He slowly shook his head.
"How long have you been watching us?"
Flamerider leaned his head back and closed his eyes, as if he was thinking. "Uh, uh-Two days! No, four! After we heard word of her in the hospital."
I continued. "Do you know who 'The Director' is?"
Behind me, I heard Summer gasp. "You met him?"
I turned to her. "He was there in the room before you got me. He kept asking about where you were and this special gene." I closed my eyes, his words returning to my thoughts.
"He's my boss." Flamerider said. "Kinda. There is another above him, but he runs the main operations. Rumors are he's just another puppet, but man I've seen him do things..." He held a hoof to his head, it was shaking rapidly. He reached into his coat pocket.
"Hey!" Summer held up the prod.
"Relax!" He shouted, pulling out a pill canister. "It's my medication."
"If you don't mind me asking, what is it for?" I asked.
"I have seizures." He told us. "I take this medication to keep myself from going into shock."
Summer lowered the cattle prod and sat beside me, Flamerider took a couple of pills and I saw his hoof slowly stop shaking. "The special gene he told you about, did he tell you what he has planned for it?"
"No." I said. "He didn't, why?"
Flamerider shook his head. "He originally had it planned for the war a long while back, this stuff was suppose to turn ponies like me into powerful ponies like the princesses. Walking gods among the mortal winning wars without needing to waste the lives of humble stallions just for them to die like pawns. But, as you probably saw, he's snapped."
Its' job was to give power to the ones who didn't have it. Earth ponies would be able to join the fight for freedom... "Now, why are you all after Summer?" I asked.
He looked at me, shaking his head. "Sorry, can't tell ya."
"Tell him!" Summer yelled.
"I can't tell either of you because I don't know!" Flamerider snapped, I jumped back from his outburst. He took a deep breath and spoke slow. "The operation as of now is to obtain Subject 7-G and that is all I know. What the Director wants with her is as big of a mystery to me as it is to you, I'm just the pony who stares at the screens and watches. I have no control over anything."
"Bullshit." Summer said, crossing her hooves. "How can we believe anything you say?"
Flamerider glared at Summer, then turned to me. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was tensed. "Because I can tell you what force you're dealing with."
I sat back down. "Tell us."
"The ones who came in and grabbed you, the ones in masks? They were S.C.A.V.A."
It was at that moment, my heart skipped a beat. "S-S.C.A.V.A.?" No...
"Yup, we got the green light from Commander Showers himself yesterday morning." He said, a look of accomplishment on his face. "You can hate his guts but you have to say this about the Director, he can pull some strings."
"S-S-Showers?!" My breathing grew heavy, my vision was blurring.
"Dove?" Summer said, placing a hoof around me. "Dove? Hey, Dove! What's wrong?"
"My...my dad? He...He gave the okay to..." My heart was racing, my jaw was locking up. I didn't know what to...I can't remember every thought that went through my mind in that moment, all of them laced with the feeling of betrayal and anger. I remember me grabbing the cattle prod and running up to Flamerider, I remember him screaming...After that, darkness...
~*~*~
"You have a visitor." The guard said to the black stallion. He was walked out of his cell and down the hall, passing all of the other ponies he's held up with in the small holding facility. He's eyes were cold, his teeth constantly barred. His head racked with the constant and rapidly repeating images of his friends being slaughtered in front of him. His hooves shook with every step he took, the chains around them clanging and dragging across the concrete floor.
Him and the guard enter in through one door, the room was brighter then the one he's been sitting in for days. He was seated down in front of a dark window, a small black phone hung off to the side. The lights in the room behind the window came on, his eyes shutting from the extreme brightness. As they got used to it, a silhouette of a familiar pony sat in front of him. When his vision cleared, he quickly grabbed the phone.
"Rose?" He asked, his voice scratchy from his lack of water.
"Darkstar..." She wept, holding her hoof up to the glass. "I've missed you."
"Rose, baby please." Darkstar begged. "You gotta get me outta here!"
Rose sighed. "I don't know how, Star. Your trial's not for another week, and they still haven't found Hail-"
"Don't you even mention that twig's name to me!" Darkstar growled into the phone. "His flank got me in here in the first place...I didn't kill him, Rose." He whispered, his hoof weakly sliding down the glass. "I didn't kill him..."
Rose leaned her head against the glass. "Then where is he, Darkstar?"
"I don't know. That crazy bitch, she had to have done it! She killed Saint, Dex, Tide-"
"Star, listen to me!" Rose said. "What do you want me to do?"
Darkstar slowly looked up to Rose, his red eyes meeting her's. "Find her. Find that bitch. Tan fur, yellow and black jacket, and yellow eyes." He said, watching as Rose mentally took his words down. "If you can't find twig, find her. And if you do find twig..."
Rose paused. "Yeah, baby?"
"If you do find twig, then don't tell me." He said, his voice cold and his teeth grinding. "Cuz I'll find him and gut him."
~*~*~
"Ugh..."
"Dove, get up!" Summer's voice echoed in my head. I opened my eyes, seeing her face. She looked worried, what just happened?
"Summer?"
"No time." She said, picking me up. "We have to get you out of here. I think somepony called the cops."
I stood up, wobbling as I tried to find my balance. "Wait, what are you-" When I tried to look around the room, Summer grabbed my face in her hooves and kept it looking at her.
"Dove." She said to me. "Don't look behind me."
I became more awake when I heard the tone in her voice. "Summer, what happened?"
"Don't look behind me, Dove!"
I tried to struggle out of her grip, she held onto me as much as she could. "Summer, let me go!" I yelled, pushing her away. "Where's Flamerider?!" I broke free and ran around her. "What happ-"
For the second time that night, my heart skipped a beat. On the floor slumped down against the wall, Flamerider's lifeless body laid. His blood pooling the space around him and painted the wall.