Mercury slowly trotted through the cold, dreary fall evening. The sun had been quickly setting, and looked as if it’s very existence was to be wiped out by the dark horizon. This neither stopped nor disheartened the unicorn. Rather, it steeled his resolve.
It had been hours since he had noticed her disappearance, but that didn’t lower his hopes. He was going to find her. He just knew it. Even if it dragged him to the very ends of Equestria, he was going to find his sister. The minutes began to drag on, every step of his trek throughout the bustling city bringing him the hope that he was coming closer.
He went up and down every road, searching every nook and cranny. He would often knock on doors, asking for the whereabouts of the small grey filly, but every time he would be greeted with a shake of the head and a prayer for her safety.
Hour after hour he searched, the temperature dropping and a light snowfall coming in from the north. This still did not deter him. He continued to trudge along, dragging his weary body through the streets before finding an enclosed bus stop. Stepping inside, he laid his head down to rest on the rough wooden bench…
~~~
Quik slept fitfully through the night, the thoughts of her abduction running rampant throughout her tired mind. She tossed and turned on the hard leather couch, her body tense with aggravation and annoyance. She couldn’t get comfortable on the couch, and resorted to falling the short distance to the floor.
The small thump of her body woke the old stallion behind the desk. He had been resting after a long day of paperwork and dealing with the other, lesser ponies of his faction. It had been stressful, but not nearly as stressful as a certain grey filly’s had been.
Glancing over his desk, he noticed his ‘niece’’s form slumped on the plush carpet, still squirming here and there to find the right spot to lay in. She hadn’t been restrained, as Silver Shears had no reason to do so. She was a restless child, but not a disobedient one. Especially in the presence of her elders.
Standing up, Shears walked slowly and quietly around his desk to her, lifting her into his long, slim hooves. He cradled her gently, sitting down on the couch as she slept in his arms. The stallion had nothing against Quik. Neither anger nor hatred. But it was her brother he most despised.
Yes, the white stallion always did his job, and had always done it well, but rumor had it that the pony had plans to remove Shears from power. It was marked as betrayal within their organization, and was treated with severe consequences. Shears had made a point of this months previous, when one of his workers had been caught smuggling potions to the northern half of the city, where a rival mob often held their operations.
The mare had been taken to the back alleys of Trottingham, where he forced the other members to watch her torture. She was whipped, beaten, and tossed around by a pair of testosterone fueled stallions. They pummeled her until she was nothing more than a broken sack of bones and blood. After over an hour of this, Shears went on a rant about what would happen to the next pony who ever dared to betray him.
The rumors about Mercury were not true, as a few jealous acquaintances had spread it throughout the corrupted company. The lies continued to spread, climbing higher and higher on the ladder until they had reached the very top, to Silver Shears.
Now, he would have easily dismissed the rumors, and all that had to do with them, but there was a spark of skepticism within his heart. Would his most trusted friend betray him? Try to destroy all the hard work he’d poured into his life? It was unlikely, but still….
~~~
Mercury awoke with a start, the ear shattering horn of the bus blaring through the damp November morning. He had slept longer than he thought, as the sun was rather high in comparison to the horizon. Glancing at the small clock residing on the inside wall of the bus stop, he saw that it was nearly noon.
I’ve been out that long? He thought to himself, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I could’ve sworn that it was going to be sooner. The bus driver glared at him, before calling out to the stallion. “Oi! Buddy! Are ya gonna get on or not? I’ve got a schedule to keep!” Mercury shook his head at the driver, who immediately shut the doors of the bus and drove off.
The rain from the previous night had left to roads and cobblestone paths slick and dark, revealing small cracks and crevices in the ground that had previously been unnoticable on the dark grey canvas they laid upon. It didn’t seem as if the weather was going to let up anytime soon, so the stallion donned his scarf and took off once again into the bustling streets.
Thoughts continued to run through his mind, as they had the day previous. Who could have taken her? Who would have taken her? Granted, she was an adorable looking filly, and often caught the eye of the young colts in the parks and along the streets, and the eyes of a few… ‘aged’ ponies as well. It wasn’t a look of admiration, but something more perverse.
Once I find the pony who did this, Mercury thought, gritting his teeth just a bit too hard, I’m going to tear them limb from limb.
His walk continued on, the constant dripping of water from the fall of a few stray raindrops mixed with the noise of hooves clacking about on the dark pavement. It was a bit of a droning noise to Mercury, like that of a gnat or a fly drifting near your ears. It was white noise nonetheless, and he wouldn’t let himself get distracted.
He glanced up, towards the outskirts of the city. He had finally made his fourth march through the city, with nothing but a few elderly mares mistaking the filly he described as their own grandchildren, and a shop owner or two giving him nasty glances that could turn any piece of fruit rancid.
Mercury pushed all those meaningless memories from his mind and dropped to the ground, sitting in a small patch of grass. “Okay…” He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a large map of the city, which had been covered in scribbles and other markings. “I’ve searched all throughout Northern Trottingham, down the East District, and now I’ve just finished searching the Southern half…” Placing a few more notes and scribbles on the map, he tapped his chin with a hoof in a most thoughtful way.
“That leaves about three places left to check. The house, Hoofington’s Park, or Uncle Shear’s estate. I can check the park and the house in just a few minutes, but it’ll take a while to get to the manor…” Swiftly packing up his things, he began to trot home, a determined look on his face.