//------------------------------// // Last Day, part 1. // Story: Dysphoria // by Owlor //------------------------------// “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I immediately drop Pinkie’s letter, along with the clues she sent me, and gallop around my house, trying to find my trenchcoat. Tank, noticing my rush, tries to follow me, but he’s left quickly changing direction, as I gallop past him several times. Several frantic minutes pass as I search every room in the house thrice. “Sun damn it, fuck!” I shout, grabbing my old wardrobe and pulling it down to the floor. The furniture’s fall is stopped by my bed, leaving it dangling at a low angle. All the drawers inside immediately open, spewing forth clothes and junk. Just as I’m about to give up, I spot my trenchcoat lying battered on one corner of the room. I rush to it and put it on, thanking Celestia that Mully allowed me to keep my nightstick after he fired me. After it and its inner belt is secured around my waist, I dash outside, forcing every inch of my muscles to comply. Even in my speed, I am stopped by a sound coming from my home. It sounds like a deep, grave yawn. I turn around and see Tank walking as quickly as he can manage towards me. “Tank! Go back!” I yell at him, but the turtle merely opens his mouth and produces the same deep sound in protest. “Oh, for fuck’s sakes!” I gallop towards the tortoise, pick up up and place him over my back and gallop towards the hospital. I slam the double doors open, nearly shattering their glass in the process. Everypony inside, which is not much, considering the late hour, looks at me. I do not care, however. I have to work quickly. “Ma’am!” I shout to the pony at the reception, recognizing her as the same one who was here a mere half hour earlier. “Please, I need to talk to Shining Badge!” Without batting an eyelash, the mare smiles to me and says, “I’m sorry, Mr. Buckshot. Visiting hours were over half an hour ago. You’ll have to—” “No! You don’t understand! I need to see Shining Badge this instant!” The mare takes her time, looking at me. “You know what? Fuck this. I am going to see her!” I say and start walking towards the main hallway. “Please wait a second, Mr. Buckshot,” she says stopping mine and the security pony’s advance. “I’ll make this an exception. If you’re willing to wait, I’ll call her caring nurse and see if Mrs. Badge is feeling disposed.” “But—” “Please, sir. It’s hospital policy.” I feel the security pony eyeballing me as I wait pacing around on the reception in anxiety. She picks up the interphone and proceeds to talk with somepony. “Calling doctor Stronghoof! Doctor Stronghoof, you are needed in the surgery room.” the ceiling intercom announces. That’s when I notice it; not only did the reception remained dead-silent, everypony’s eyes were on me. I look behind me and see that the security pony moved, blocking my way to the exit. From the main hallway another one emerges, followed by a nurse and a doctor. I slowly pick up Tank from my back and place him on the floor. When I return my gaze to my surroundings, another pony has joined their team. “Mr. Buckshot, would you mind accompanying us?” the doctor asks. I notice his forehoof shuffling hastily on his lab coat’s pocket. No doubt looking for a needle. Damn it! I’ll have to be quick about this. “Sure, is anything wrong?” They don’t reply, choosing to just keep their eyes focused on my every move. I walk slowly towards, them, unwilling to startle any. As I approach the main hallway, I see another security pony standing near the door, invisible from my previous standing place. Said security pony starts walking in front of us, leading the way to the office where, I’m sure, they’ll strap me to a bed and start asking questions about my mental health. The doctor walks by my side, standing too close for comfort. As we walk, I see an opening when the stairs come into view. I silently inhale as much air as I manage and jump forward, knocking the security pony to the floor. My muscles complain as I gallop towards the stairs. I ignore the orders for me to stop, focusing only on making it to her room. “Get him!” I duck my head and hear something whisking pass by my ears. I look up to see what it was and am surprised to see a needle floating, suspended by a golden glimmer. It quickly readies its trajectory before being flung toward me once more. I halt my steps for a moment, enough so that the needle misses my neck. The doctor, surely followed by all the security ponies present, near me, forcing me to dash my way up the steps. It seems as if Lady Luck has it for me, for a small cart is sitting on the first floor, unattended. I bite it and pivot my body, transferring all my momentum to the cart. It rolls down the stairs, fortunately not hitting anypony in the process. But its size is enough to create a small blockage in the landing. Now undeterred, I continue to the third floor, looking for her room. All the doors in the corridor seem the same, sans for their number and the following letter. All the hospital staff seems to be mobilized into getting to me, it seems, as a new squad of health-related professionals pursue me as if I’m a common criminal. Finally, I find her room. Just at the end of the hallway. I push my muscles a little further, trying to get enough distance between me and my pursuers. I try to stop before opening the door, but I misjudged my position, so my momentum propels me into crashing with it. The door opens and I am practically thrown inside, skidding to a halt on the middle of the room, sprawled on the floor. I get up and quickly look for the light switch inside. I turn it on the exact same time a doctor grabs me by hind leg. Another one is quick to follow, restraining my forehooves with his. They all let go of me, however, as they see that her bed is empty, save for mattered covers and sheets. “What did you do to her?” one of the doctors asks, pointing his forehoof at me. “This is what I wanted to warn her about!” I say, slapping his forehoof out of the way. “She is Pinkamena’s next victim!” “But—but how could she steal a patient without anypony noticing?” “Does it matter now?” I ask, shooting him an annoyed glare. “We need to find her!” “He’s right!” a nurse, this time, says. “We need to split up and cover all the exits and floors!” As quick as they were to chase me around the hospital, most of them disband and spread out throughout the hospital. “I’ll go call the police!” one of the security ponies say. Fuck, I need to get out of here as quickly as possible. “I go with you,” I say to the security pony, who just nods at me before turning around and galloping towards the reception. I follow him, only stopping to pick a surprised-looking Tank up in the middle of the way back. We quickly reach the reception, taking another set of stairs, and the pony quickly runs towards the door. “Wait,” I tell him. He stops, shooting me an irritated glare. “You’re the strongest one of us! You should stay here, guarding the door in case that psychopath tries to exit this way.” He lowers his eyes, looking thoughtful. “Think about it: I am quicker than you! I could go and get the police while you stop Pinkie from leaving.” He stays silent for a few moments, pondering my words. “Okay, but the only reason why I’m doing this is because I see you care for the patient as well. Don’t pull a funny one at me!” “Don’t worry, I won’t.” He steps aside, granting me passage to the outside. I waste not a second, unwilling to test his faith in me for a second longer, and gallop towards the town. I disappear inside thin alleyways, unwilling to look back and check if the stallion has, somehow, followed me. I make it halfway into the town proper before I pause to collect my thoughts. There’s no use in calling the police. If Pinkie has her hands on Shining, that means that her time is short as it is. Were I to call some help, they’d only slow me down with more questions, meaning that it would give me less time to try and find Shining. Fuck! I see no easy way out of this situation. I spend a couple of minutes galloping towards the more desolated part of town. Not that it was needed, since Ponyville seemed like an abandoned town due to this harsh winter. I stop in an alleyway and, after placing Tank on the ground, sit beside a big garbage container to ponder. Alright, now I need to find out where Pinkie is hiding. She called it a game, hinting that I could stop her. But stopping her would not only mean saving her victims, no. Pinkie takes her “games” seriously. This whole time, all the clues must’ve had a double meaning. Both the next target and her hiding place. Which means that the clues must be connected somehow, since all of them are different. I work my mind, trying to remember every little detail about all the clues I’ve gotten so far. What’s their connection?! Well, so far, every single one of them had an animal… okay. But what does that mean? Shining’s clue, for instance, makes absolutely no sense! A tortoise and a medal… Well, I could link the tortoise to Tank, and him with me, but that still doesn’t lead me anywhere! I stay there, trying my best to make some sense of it, but nothing comes of it. Every second that passes is another second I waste in trying to find Shining. But I just can’t make these subtle hints work! “Fuck!” I mutter in frustration, punching the garbage container as hard as I can. The instant my hoof meets the iron, I hear a rumble from the inside of it and something falls on my lap. It is a bottle of a cleaning product. Utterly defeated, I pick it up and prepare to throw it as far away as possible. That is when I see Tank looking at me. I close my eyes, inhale and exhale, slumping down to the floor completely, allowing the bottle to fall from my hooves. When I open them, I see Tank smiling at me from my peripheral vision. When I turn to look properly at him, I notice that it isn’t Tank, but the bottle. Out of curiosity, I pick it up and inspect it further. My breath gets stuck in my throat as I read its front sticker. “Turtle Wax; The best product to give that extra special something a nice polish. Guaranteed to leave it shining!” I drop the bottle, shocked from the sudden epiphany. This is it! This is it! A wolf and a crescent moon… A stone and a cat… A tortoise and a medal… All of these clues include animals! But not only that; they all include animals that could have been at the PACA shelter. Maybe her hideout could be… No wait, that couldn’t work. Too much security, and I don’t remember there being any wolves at the animal shelter... My mind stops dead in its tracks, only to kickstart again when a notion enters my mind: there were no wolves… except for one! I didn’t see it, but I heard other cops talking about it, I’m sure! And… before going to the animal shelter, all these animals were under the care of... Oh, dear Celestia! I instantly got up from my lying position and galloped towards the open streets. Before I was completely out from the alleyway, I turned around to face the tortoise. “Tank, I need to hurry now! I’m so sorry to do this to you, buddy, but you’ll have to walk home yourself.” Without waiting for a reply, I depart once more. My heart thuds. My lungs burn. My muscles cry. But I have to be strong now. For Shining! I mustn’t falter. My hooves impact against what feels like hard concrete, shaking my bones. Through the dirt road I gallop, cursing myself for not being able to notice it sooner. I was such a stupid fucking idiot. If I hadn’t spent most of that time around my house, moping, then I would’ve been able to deduce this sooner. I’d be able to save them… maybe not all, but at least one more pony. Stop it, Buckshot! You have to focus now! You’ll have all the time in the world to mope later! Right now what we need is to save Shining and catch Pinkie! I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the cottage in the distance. To put it simply, the place was dead. The rich vegetation that surrounded it had long since died, when they weren’t given any more care. Some of the roof tiles were missing and the paint on the walls was cracked in many places. It sent a pang of sorrow through my heart, seeing a place that was, no doubt, so happy and full of life in the past in this state... Mother Gaia died in there. I start walking slowly towards the cottage; moreso when I have to cross the small bridge over the now-frozen stream. The boards crack with my every step, making me pause at every couple of those in order to see if she managed to hear me. Eventually, I approach the door and sigh. This is it. This is finally it. After all she’s done to me… to Equestria... it all ends tonight. When I’m done rescuing Shining Badge, Pinkie Pie is gonna pay! I twist the doorknob...