//------------------------------//
// Chapter I 
// Story: The Story of Bluecloud 
// by Bluecloud 
//------------------------------//

	A small colt walked along the lone street. The full moon made it easy to walk at this time of night, since it would be almost impossible to see without it. There were light posts on every street and walkway in the city, but the city feel on hard times. The lack of light and ponies didn’t seem to faze the colt walking along the street. His darkish blue coat seemed to camouflage him with the darkness and his brown hair didn’t draw any attention when it was hidden in the darkness, too. He also had some small strands of white hair, in his mane and tail that did stand out. It was unusual enough for a small colt to be walking around at night, but he wasn’t just somepony who was native to the city. Of course the city was a massive sprawl of urban society and full of ponies and some other creatures, but the fact that this pony had wings was even Stranger. Most Pegasus usually prefer to live up in the clouds, not on the ground.

The colt turned and walked down a dark, alley way. Empty boxes and trash littered the small alley everywhere. The colt shivered as he made his way through the passage, trying to spot something. “Just my luck.” He made a mental notice. The pony spotted a large cardboard box that was intact and decided to go into it. He moved around inside the box to get comfy and then the young pony settled down and rested his head on his forelegs.  He slowly drifted into a deep sleep as he thought of the day’s events.

The sun peaked through the make shift house as the young pony started to wake. He stood up and yawned. He started to leave his box as he tried to shake off the grogginess from his sleep. He looked up and down the alley, trying to remember where the best place to get some bits for some food was. He decided to come out the way he came in and he picked up his pace as he heard his stomach growl. He fought with his stomach aches as he walked around. He noticed that the streets weren’t as populated as the downtown district, but it was normal to him. He got used to the fact that the only densely populated place in this city was the downtown district. He didn’t fell different here, even though he felt extremely insecure about the place like most residence of the city. It didn’t really cross his mind that most ponies referred to this city as the ghettos. He didn’t mind much, as long as he could find a place we’re he could get some food and sleep. Just then, something small and shiny caught the colt’s eye. He bent over and picked up a small pouch with some bits in it.

“Oh, thank Celestia.” he muttered to himself.

The young colt made his way back to his temporary shelter and sat down. Slowly, he emptied the small bag of bits and counted out a total of twenty-three bits. His heart almost stopped. That was a lot of money, enough that he could have a day to enjoy to himself. He quickly tied the pouch to his waist and concealed the bits. He took extra caution walking down the streets, trying to distance himself away from other ponies. He didn’t want to loss twenty-three bits to some petty thief. As he went down the street he gradually became less cautious as he came into the downtown part of the city. The large skyscrapers stood over him, beaming with pride. Yes, he was in Detrot, once the greatest manufacturing city in the realm of Equestria. Hay, it once was one the greatest manufacturing city in the world! He took in the scenery around him. The busy ponies of Detrot moved all around. The baked goods could be smelled from afar and the aroma of drinks from cafes and other shops could be smelled, as well. The sereneness of the tall buildings along with everything else made it a fantastic view.

The colt decided it was time to move, and so he did. As he went along his normal route, he saw the train station. Almost every day he would go passed the train station, envying it as a way to leave this place. Now he saw something else. I wasn’t just something he could imagine about now; it was an actual reality in his grasp. He stopped and shivered. What if it is harder to make ends meet than in Detrot? Would the ponies there accept him for who he was? He tried to brush the questions off of his mind. He really didn’t dream about traveling across the land in a train; he really dreamed of visiting Cloudsdale. He looked down at his wings and turned away. He knew he couldn’t fly so high let alone over one hundred meters forward. It made him a little depressed that he couldn’t fly very well, but he really didn’t have anypony to help him learn to fly like that. “I don’t have anypony at all, period.” he thought.

He then cut himself short, as he walked past a pizzeria. Yum, he let his stomach think for once. He entered the small shop and took a look around. Some chairs and tables were scattered about, with a few occupants using them. He could smell the pizza’s cooking and it started to make his mouth water. Unable to bear it any longer, he went up to the counter to order a pizza.

The pony working behind the counter spoke up, “How may I help you?”

“I would just like one cheese pizza, please” The mysterious dark blue colt said, remembering to use proper manners in this part of town.

“name?” the worker asked.

“Um….Blueribbon.” He lied. If he told him his real name was Bluecloud, the Equestrian Royal Guards or Detrot Guards may be able to find him. The thought of being taken back to that place was intolerable.

The pizza worker just replied “Okay that will be twelve bits.”

Bluecloud reached his hoof into the small bag on his waist and got twelve bits out. He set it on the counter and slid them towards the worker.

“It will be about ten minutes.” the worker stated “You can take a seat and wait if you’d like.”

Bluecloud did just that and took a seat away from the door. Roughly ten minutes passed when his order was done. He went up, got his pizza, politely thanked the worker, and then sat back down in his seat as he looked at the pizza box. On the box, words were all over the place. Bluecloud tried to make out these words, but to no avail. He just barely knew how to read and these words were too complex for him. Forgetting the words, he started to eat his pizza. After he consumed a couple slices of pizza, he took the pizza box in his mouth and left the pizzeria. "That was some good pizza", Bluecloud thought to himself as he walked back to his makeshift house.

As Bluecloud walked along the streets, things felt a little eerie. The sun was starting to set in the distance as he walked along his route. Bluecloud saw something out of the corner of his eye. Armor, he thought, wait a minute! Bluecloud turned to into an alley and dropped his pizza. He then turned around to find a guard gazing at him from a distance. He had a dark grey coat and a black mane and tall. Along with being tall and strong, he was a unicorn. Trouble, Bluecloud thought grimly. He decided that he had no choice but to make a run for it. All of a sudden, Bluecloud broke into a run. The guard followed suit and it turned into a full blown chase. Bluecloud tried to run, but the guard was gaining on him fast. “I can’t beat him with raw strength”, Bluecloud thought, “but let’s see about brains.” He started dashing through different backstreets and alleys, running about the city in a very zigzagging way. The guard started to loss the distance between him and Bluecloud. All of a sudden, Bluecloud knocked over a trash can, prompting things to fly and fall everywhere in one of the alleys. The guard stopped before he ran into the obstruction created by Bluecloud. The guard let out a curse and started groaning about the waste of time he just spent and not getting the colt.

Bluecloud took a small pause. He loudly panted and collapsed on the ground. After spending several minutes on the ground, Bluecloud was finally able to get enough strength to pull himself up, off the ground. He started to back track to where he put down his pizza box. He walked anxiously, hoping that the pizza would still be there. As he got to the spot where he abandoned his pizza, he saw the box. Bluecloud let a sigh of relief out as he examined his pizza. He made a mental examination, a bit cold, but fine otherwise. He picked the pizza box up and troughed off with it back to his little cardboard box. When he got back to his house, he collapsed in it and immediately fell asleep.

Bluecloud let out a loud yawn. He shifted a little and tried to stand, but to no aim. Last night’s chase wore him out completely. Bluecloud yawned again, trying to stand up again, but got the same results as last time. After a score of tries, he finally was able to get up. He then let out a small moan of pain. All of his muscles were sore and some of them didn’t want to work. He started to do some stretches, while he thought about last night’s events. “Maybe it was safer to leave Detrot”, he thought, “I’m may not be wanted so badly if I leave.” He pondered these thoughts and soon concluded, if I escape to a distant city, I’m less likely to be caught. He liked this plan and decided that he would save up enough money to get out of Detrot. Every week he would get into these kinds of chases and sooner or later he would be caught. Bluecloud finished his stretches and began to start his day, right after he ate a slice of pizza.





Bluecloud looked around to spot any guards. Seeing that it was all clear, he went over to a list of words he couldn’t make out. Next to it was a map of the local region surrounding Detrot. There were so many cities to pick from. There was Canterlot, Trottingham, Ponyville, Manehattan, and Baltimare for starters. Bluecloud had become familiar with the names of certain cities along time ago and he was thankful for the knowledge. He ran his hoof across the map.

“If I go to Baltimare I could get a job as a sailor”, Bluecloud muttered to himself, “perfect idea. Baltimare it is, now I just need to know how much a ticket costs.”

Bluecloud went up to the attendant and asked, “How much is a ticket to Baltimare?”
The white coated attendant replied, “Thirty bits.”

Bluecloud nodded and then walked away. He muttered, “Thirty bits?!?! Where would I even get a sum like that?”

He debated with himself over question as he walked down a large street in Detrot. He could pawn items that he finds in the garbage or he could work for hire and do random jobs. Even though thirty bits don’t seem like much, it was defiantly a pain to earn, especially at the age Bluecloud was. His lack of age can be confirmed since he didn’t have a cutie mark, they also could refer to him as a “blank flank”. He didn’t spend much time thinking about this and immediately went to his Eastside house. Rest, that’s what I need, he thought. He ate some of his old pizza and hit the hay.

The next day Bluecloud woke up, stretched his legs, and began his day. He just spent a lot of his time walking around the city, making an unusual stop near the industrial district. Many factories were all over the place, but with the hard times, many factories were closed and abandoned some time ago. It reminded him of the work mom and dad did; they worked up in the skyscrapers and managed large corporations that ran the factories. He pushed these thoughts out of his mind. He continued along in his journey, soon reaching the downtown district. He looked around, trying to find a good job for himself. Maybe he could work in what left of factories there are or he could be a newspaper boy. He was desperate to find a job or he would never leave this city. It was funny to think that he was born here at the DMC (Detrot Medical Center). What was weirder than that knowing that his parents were from Cloudales, but he was born while parents staying in Detrot. It all hurt his head trying to think about it, so he stopped. He abruptly started to walk down the 7th Street looking for something, heck anything. Soon, Bluecloud found himself in the heart of the city, the main hub of activity. He looked around and saw a strange building, but next to it he saw a Detrot Guard! His muscles start to react before his brain even realized what was happening. Soon he was out of sight from the guard and slowed to a trot.

“Close one.” Bluecloud murmured.

He resorted to walking around the city. There really wasn’t much he could do and if he tried, he would run into guards. Bluecloud just sighed. He felt trapped in and every second he knew that the guards were closing in on him. He’d spent years living on the streets, yet they seemed to have just found his daily routes that he took, forcing him to go through alleys and other streets unknown to him. He tried to look into the sky for inspiration, but all he saw was the smoke of something burning in the distance. Bluecloud immediately recognized that this kind of fire was most likely from a house, but usually these houses are abandoned and have no occupants. Bluecloud just turned around and walked in the opposite direction. He just wandered around the city and gradually left the downtown district of the city. He was now in a residential area, walking past rows of houses. That’s all that he really saw, besides some towering building peeking over some of the houses. As he walked down the street, it slowly got dark and soon enough it was late. Bluecloud looked around in shock. He had been walking around for hours not even realizing that he didn’t know this side of town. He started to panic and quickened his pace, which made the situation worst. “Where am I?” Bluecloud thought. He stopped move and looked around. All he saw were some empty lots and many houses. “I’ll just have to borrow a house.” Bluecloud said to himself. He snuck into the closest house near him. It was decently big with a coat of white paint on the outside. The windows were all busted out, except for some on the second floor, and some shingles looked like they fell off the roof long ago.

Bluecloud entered the house, trying his best to move around without tripping on any debris.  Luckily, he didn’t trip and soon found his way to the stairs. As he climbed them, the stairs let out a series of creeks and moans. He made it to the top of the stairs and started looking for a room to sleep in. He found a small bedroom right next to the stairs, but there were no mattresses in the room, only a blanket. He went straight into the room, picked up the blanket, wrapped himself up, and laid down on the floor.

Bluecloud opened his eyes. Something wasn’t right, it was still dark out. He wondered what woke him up.

“I think I’m going-” Bluecloud started to state something, but was cut short when he heard a large crash in the house followed by some ponies talking.

“Be careful!” A pony hissed.

“Sorry boss, it’s just so much to carry around that it just slipped out of my hooves. Honest!” Another pony spoke up.

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your excuses. Hurry up, and dig a hole near the stairs.” The first pony said, raising his voice.

After a few minutes another load clang echoed through the house.

“We’ll come back tomorrow to pick up the load.”  The first pony said. “I’ll be waiting here at noon. Don’t disappoint me.”

The second pony meekly replied “Yes sir.”

And with that, they were gone. Bluecloud was stunned by what had happened. So much, he couldn’t process it. “With a good night’s rest, I’ll be able to figure this out.” He rationalized. It was good enough for him, because he was curled back up and sleeping within the next five minutes.

The sun’s rays poked through the window near Bluecloud. He awoke and stood for a moment, till he remembered last night’s events. He suddenly ran down the stairs, He then set about looking around for a hole in the floor, but to his displeasure, he didn’t find the hole. “Maybe I was dreaming.” He tried to come up with an excuse, but it felt so real. He continued to look around, until he spotted a rug. He bent over and lifted the rug up, revealing dirt. “Whoa….” Bluecloud began to mumble as he began to dig and before he knew it he found a chest. He tried to pick the chest up, but it was too heavy. After several failed attempts, he finally got the chest up and out of the dirt; onto the safety of the carpet. Bluecloud open the chest and gasped when he saw the contents of the chest. Inside the chest laid thousands and thousands of bits.  He stared at the bits for a long time. He finally worked up enough energy to grab a hoof full of bits, until he realized something disturbing. Inscribed on the box was, “Property of the First Equestrian Bank”. Bluecloud finally started to realize that the two ponies from last night were bank robbers and that the chest held stolen money. He held some of the bits in his hoof. “This was enough money to get to Baltimare, heck this was enough money to do something good in life.” Bluecloud threw these thoughts around in his head. He got up and ran straight out of the house and down the street.

Bluecloud didn’t stop running till he got near a local guard station, but he was stopped short of it. He was so busy running to his goal that he didn’t realize it until he ran straight into a mare. Both of them were stunned and slowly, they got up.
“Oh, Celestia! I’m sorry.” The blue colt told the light purple mare.

“It’s fine, kid.” The mare said, wiping herself off. “We’re you head to anyways?”

“Um….Just to the guard station”, Bluecloud replied.

“Really?” The light purple mare said in surprise “I work as a detective there. What’s your problem?”

“Yeah, well….” Bluecloud started “I found these bank robbers and there loot. Two of them robbed the First Equestrian Bank. The said something about coming back to their loot at noon. And the loot is hidden in an empty house.”

The detective just stared in awe.  She went inside and rounded up some guards.

“Lead the way, squirt.” The detective told Bluecloud.

Bluecloud did just that and started down the street, trying his best to remember the way. The group soon came up to the house. The sun was standing right above them; it was almost noon. The detective franticly looked around. Her eyes gazed around the surrounding area like a hawk. She must have come to some sort of conclusion as she went up to the house and tried to take a peek through the boarded up window. After a few moments she used her hoof to motion the guards to come to the house. They got into position when one of the guards suddenly gave the door a hard buck, smashing it into pieces. The other guards quickly moved inside. After what sounded like a brief conflict, the guards emerged from the house with two other ponies. One of these ponies had a large cut on his back and several other wounds. The other pony had a big bruise on his head. Both of them were bound and being moved into the street. Bluecloud noticed that several of the guards had minor scratches and bumps.

“Where’s Charley?” The detective mare asked. One of the guards went up to her and whispered something into her ear. The detective nodded and whispered back. It was a lot for Bluecloud to take in and then he saw more ponies in the distance, two of them carrying wagons. When they arrived they took the wounded criminal with a long cut on his back. Some ponies went into the house and soon were pulling a stallion out of the house. To Bluecloud’s horror, he saw that the stallion, probably Charley, was covered in blood. They set him down on to one of the wagons. That’s when they started to push the wagons down the street and the everypony started to do the same, including the one carrying the chest of bits. And as the day went on, they finally arrived back at the guard post, while the wagons continued into the city. Bluecloud was motioned into the guard station and he went inside.

Bluecloud looked around, but didn’t see anything that caught his eye. He turned around to sneak out of the station, when he heard a mare’s voice shout out. “Wait kid!”

Bluecloud stopped and turned around to face the mare, now with a manila colored folder in her hoof. Then all the 
guards surrounded him and started to compliment him on his help.

The detective chimed in “Thanks again, Bluecloud.”

Bluecloud froze. His eyes widen. “What did she just call me?”