//------------------------------// // Chapter XIII // Story: Of Moments and Melodies // by Church //------------------------------// I never meant to cause you trouble And I never meant to do you wrong And I, well if I ever caused you trouble Oh no, I never meant to do you harm Night. I never very much liked the night here. It certainly wasn’t the same as the outside. in here, the room was pitch black, and the bed was made of what seemed to be concrete. I could never sleep. My restlessness had not gone unnoticed, either. Though I couldn’t see them, I felt eyes on me at all times. The others. They couldn’t sleep. Perhaps it was infectious. Fluttershy could never sleep. She never so much as even closed her eyes. Though the room was dark, I could always see her, her eyes shining. She seemed to be outlined in the dark, her edges glowed. I thought she was something like a firefly. Whenever I thought back to that first night, it was her that I saw. She always seemed to be in tune with nature somehow. I couldn’t explain it. Maybe that was another life. But I couldn’t look at her anymore, ‘cuz I needed to sleep. Something stabbed at my back as I rolled over. I yipped and immediately covered my mouth, ‘cuz I was being too loud. I grabbed at the thing caught under me. It was the pin. It was that rainbow pin that that old restaurant guy had given me. I still didn’t know why he gave it to me. Not like I ever did anything for him. Maybe he just knew. Yeah. I think he knew. He knew this was a bad place, and it needed some color. And that made me think about Mister Blue. He was a weird pony. I don’t think that he liked others very much. I mean, he did stick us in here. This place looked sorta like a prison. Not that I have ever been to a prison. I didn’t know what they looked like. But that’s what it felt like. I think he brought ponies in here to crush their spirits. I don’t know why. I don’t know why anypony would want to do that. And that just made me think about why I’m here. Why would he want to crush my spirit? What does he want with me? I was put in a box with a bunch of zombie-like ponies and I was left here for no reason. That was confusing. If he was in kahootz with my Mum, then I think I would be back home right now. No, he was just keeping us cooped up in here. That was the scariest thing of all. We were probably put in here to lose our minds. And so I just stopped thinking. I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. I didn’t try to think about the concrete mattress, or the grey walls, or Mister Blue, or Fluttershy, or nothin. I just tried to sleep. It was difficult to say the least. My head started to hurt. It was like a headache that wasn’t brought upon by anything at all. After fifteen minutes of shuffling around on the mattress, I knew I wasn’t going to fall asleep. So then I got mad at myself. And then I really wasn’t going to wind up falling asleep. So what I ended up doing was lay flat on my back and stare at the ceiling that I couldn’t see. It wasn’t anything I ever really dreamed of doing. About fifteen more minutes of boredom passed over before I got a tap on the shoulder. I groaned and rolled over on my side. Fluttershy was sitting at the edge of the bed, peering at me through those gorgeous blue eyes, the eyes I wish I had. Her features were spread thin, she looked tired. I hadn’t a clue what she was doing up. It was possible she was just like me, ‘cuz I could never sleep either. But why she’d get up for a conversation in the middle of the night was confusing to me. “Hm?” I grumbled, trying to keep my voice low ‘cuz I knew everypony was listening in. I was sorta half asleep, half awake. I wasn’t exactly in a state you’d want to hold a conversation with me in. Fluttershy put her hoof to my lips. Evidently, she didn’t want me to speak. Now I was truly confused. What was she getting at? Ever since the other day, when we were all lined up and some lady came in and took a look at us, she’s been on edge. This wasn’t typical of her. I wanted to talk to her, ‘cuz she’s my best friend and all, but she doesn’t really want to talk to me it seems. But now she was acting real strange. I needed to see what was up. “What is i-” I was silenced once again by her hoof. This was silly. I didn’t need this in the middle of the night, I was tired. We could do whatever it is she wanted to do in the morning, I wasn’t really in the mood for charades. Fluttershy tapped me on the shoulder again to make sure I was paying attention. I decided I’d give her that attention though I didn’t really want to. She pointed to the door, the only door in here on the far side of the room. I knew that’s what she was pointing to, because what else was interesting in this grey prison place? Nothing much. And so I sort of shrugged and shook my head in confusion. Yes. That was the door. And then I heard something like the jangling of keys. And then I looked back to the door. And then I got all surprised and stuff. I realized why I had to be extra quiet now. I went all wide-eyed as Fluttershy gestured for me to follow her. I wasn’t so tired anymore all of a sudden. Now everything was all exciting. We were going to get out of here. This just wasn’t the place for us. The ponies here know it. They don’t like us, ‘cuz we’re the odd ones out, so they sort of hang us up to dry. But now we were going to get out. It was like Mum’s house all over again. What wonders awaited us outside now? Making sure that I grabbed the pin nestled in the bedsheets, I began to follow Fluttershy toward the door. Her hoofsteps were much quieter than mine, and I’ll admit, I was a bit jealous. She was very sneaky, it was almost as if her hooves didn’t touch the ground at all. Mine were like anvils hitting the pavement. I felt their eyes. I felt their eyes watching us as we left. They didn’t do anything about it, just as they hadn’t for the entirety of our stay. But they were still cold and scary. The faster we got out of the room, the better. As we neared the door, sneakily, Fluttershy handed me the key so that I could open it. I accepted it, and tried to muffle the noise that it produced. I was terrible at it. The keys made a lot of noise. But I was getting real antsy, so I guess I didn’t care much. I stopped at the base of the door, and, gently, I pushed the key into the lock. It was a perfect fit. Slowly, I turned it, and turned it, and turned it, until... *click* That was the sound of freedom. Perhaps a bit too eagerly, I jumped out into the hallway without checking to see if anypony was coming. Luckily, nopony was guarding the door, or else we would have been in for it. The next part was easy. I knew where the exit was, because the place was so small you couldn’t even have missed it. It was just right down the hall. I walked with my hoof covering my mouth, ‘cuz I was giggling, and I was being too loud. Fluttershy tailed me. We were so close we could taste it. The door was right there, and nopony was around to stop us. Fluttershy and I could live on our own again, chasing fireflies and eating at picnics and looking at stars to our liking without anypony threatening the way we chose to live our lives. It would be perfect, because I was in the company of the most perfect mare in Equestria. It would be perfect because we wouldn’t have Mum, or Mister Blue, or anypony else. It would just be us. I stopped at the base of the front door. My heart was beating like a bongo as I pushed it open and stepped out into the night. I never did like the night here, but I liked it now. My heart raced as I stepped on down the steps. Fluttershy was right behind me, and she was smiling a happy smile, the one she had back when I first met her. I liked her smile more than my own. And we pranced on down the street. We were free. I couldn’t believe it! We were free! No more grey walls! No more concrete mattresses! No more cold stares! I was happy again, like I was when I was a little filly, and I had my- My thoughts, joyous as they were, were interrupted by a sound that I didn’t want to hear. “Hey! Hey! What are you doing? How did you get out!?” Mister Blue stormed down the steps of the prison. My hooves were in motion before I even thought about it. “Run!” I said to Fluttershy.