//------------------------------// // A Break in Baltimare, Part 2 // Story: Sunset Imperishable // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// Crimson Blade and Scarlet Blaze decided to trot along the street together to their old home. As they went, they decided to reflect on their old life in the city. "Baltimare..." sighed Crimson. "I never thought I'd be walking these streets again." "Me neither, dad." Scarlet told him. "I sure made a mess of things the last time I was here, didn't I?" "Certainly." said Crimson. "I still remember all the reports I had to file to the mayor from when you wrecked the front doors of that synagogue. Not to mention the embarrassment of finding out that my only daughter had eloped and ran off with a professor from the university...even when she was a priestess and thus not even allowed to be married in that manner." Scarlet cringed, barring her teeth. "Still, I'm happy to know that you had managed to settle down and have a good family of your own, my dear Scarlet." Crimson assured her. "Thanks." Scarlet nodded. They realized that they just passed the old schoolhouse. Scarlet paused and looked on, chuckling nervously. "What's wrong?" "Ah, nothing." snickered Scarlet. "I was just thinking about how things were around here, back when I was a filly. I still remember the day when I got my cutie mark..." FORTY-TWO YEARS AGO... Young nine-year-old filly Scarlet Blaze was nervously walking out of the schoolhouse, and waited at the corner for her father to finish his guard duties and collect her. "Hey, Scarlet!" taunted a filly. "Nice glasses! They sure make those eyes look big and stupid!" Scarlet felt her very thick glasses, which were almost twice as big and wide as her eyes, and blushed. "Oh, leave me alone, Topaz!" Scarlet whined as she turned around. "Or what, your dad's gonna arrest me?" laughed Topaz. A brown-maned unicorn filly with a beige coat and blue eyes approached Scarlet. Even though Scarlet was taller than Topaz by a few inches, she still shook nervously and buckled her knees. "Why would anyone wanna defend a stupid-looking blank flank like you?" inquired Topaz. "Everyone else has their cutie marks! And none of them look anywhere near as geeky or desperate as you." Scarlet's legs were almost bone-thin, she had a visible overbite with braces, her red-gold mane was big and excessively curly, and she had a long braid in the back of her head bound with an oversized ribbon. She also had her inhaler tied around her neck by a string. "Hey, lemme see that." said Topaz, grinning mischievously as she reached for the inhaler. "No! That's mine!" Scarlet pleaded as she backed away. "Don't worry, I just wanna look at it." said Topaz. Topaz's horn glowed with a silver aura as the inhaler was levitated off Scarlet's neck. She inspected it while it floated in the air, then turned it to face Scarlet, and sprayed it in her face. "Yow!" exclaimed Scarlet. "Here, you can keep the stupid thing." said Topaz, levitating it back to Scarlet. Scarlet reached for the inhaler, which suddenly flew into her face, and smacked her between the eyes. "Oops!" The inhaler hit Scarlet on the face again, then sprayed behind Scarlet's glasses, causing some of the vapor to get into her eyes. "Cut it out!" said Scarlet. "Whatever, I've got better things to do than mess with you anyway." Topaz levitated the inhaler over Scarlet's head and let it fall. It bounced off her head and landed in a nearby fountain, while Topaz left. Scarlet angrily dove into the fountain, got the inhaler out, and then put it back on the necklace around her neck. She sneaked after Topaz, her horn glowing. When Topaz decided to take a detour in a back-alley, she ran back out seconds later screaming: "Eww! Rats! Gross, disgusting rats!" She galloped away as fast as she could down the streets, and Scarlet tried chasing after her. As she passed by the alley, she heard screeching, and turned to see rodents of unusual size approaching her with ravenous mouths. There were five of them, and they all looked hungry for something, and Scarlet could guess what it was. Scarlet stood paralyzed with fear as the rats approached her. Scarlet looked around hastily, but nopony else was around to help, but she could make out the hairs of Topaz's tail as she ran around the corner. "She just makes me soooo mad!" growled Scarlet. She started to growl even harder, when she remembered that the rats were still approaching her. Suddenly, one of them leapt at her through the air to pounce her, and she cried out. Her horn, which was still glowing, suddenly discharged a cluster of projectiles at the rats, and the recoil was so strong that Scarlet was knocked back against a wall, from which she slid to the ground in a half-daze. Her glasses were knocked off her head and lay lopsided on the street. "Scarlet!" shouted the voice of her father. "Are you okay?!" Crimson Blade came galloping up to her, and helped her up. "Oh, thank goodness you aren't hurt." he sighed. "I thought those rats were gonna get you for sure! Just a second longer and--" "I'm fine, daddy!" moaned Scarlet. "But did'ja see that spell I just used on 'em?" Crimson saw Scarlet's glasses laying on the ground, then put them back on his daughter's head, allowing her to see clearly. Not only were the rats all incapacitated, but there were multiple scorch marks on the garbage cans and walls in the alley. "Wowzers!" Scarlet gasped. "Did I really do that, daddy?" "I'd say you did, kiddo." said Crimson. "But what were you doing fighting those rats anyway?" "Well, Topaz was making fun of me...again. So I thought I'd give her a piece of my mind...again." said Scarlet. "When all of a sudden, these big ol' rats showed up and--" "Great Scott!" Crimson Blade said with surprise. "Your flank!" Scarlet Blaze looked at her flank, and saw there was indeed a cutie mark there: three fireballs burning brightly together in a triangular pattern. "Scarlet, do you know what this means?" whispered Crimson. "That I'm in trouble?" whimpered Scarlet, lowering her ears, and quivering. "No." smiled Crimson Blade. "It means you've made me proud to be your father. You know that wind-up toy you wanted me to get you for your birthday?" "Yeah?" "Well, how about after I get off-duty, we go to the toy shop and buy it a little early? I think you earned it today." "Shucks, daddy! You're the best!" Scarlet grinned. PRESENT DAY... Scarlet and Crimson laughed together. At that moment, they made it to their original home address, at 2761 Starhawk Avenue. They noticed that the house had been redecorated and the front door now had a bell installed beside it. "Looks like somepony else lives here now." said Crimson Blade. "I guess it was a given." He approached the door, and rang the bell next to it. "Hello?" He called. There were faint hooffalls inside, and the door slowly opened. Pressure Point was on the train, en route to Canterlot. He was sighing in relief that he would finally get to return to work as a doctor in Canterlot. "Finally, I'm free from all that...insanity." he scoffed, as he laid down in a seat in his compartment. "Good riddance. I thought Sunset and her friends would be the death of me. If I have to see any one of them ever again, it'll be too soon--" "Hey, Pressure." said a familiar monotone voice. Pressured hissed in annoyance as he mechanically turned his head to see who just opened the door. He snorted when he realized who it was. "Maud Pie, I didn't expect to see you on this train." said Pressure. "Are any of the others here, too?"' "No...just you and me." said Maud. "Do you mind if I sit in here with you?" "No, go ahead." said Pressure. Maud slowly trotted into the compartment, shut the door behind her, and sat across from Pressure. Pressure looked out into the countryside, as the train sped on. Suddenly, it became apparent that Maud was staring at him. Even though Maud rarely ever showed any sign of emotion in her face or body language, something about her gaze seemed to indicate that she had something on her mind. But Pressure already had a hunch as to what Maud wanted to talk about, but didn't say anything. He continued looking out the window for five minutes. Maud stared on. Ten minutes. Maud stared on. Fifteen minutes. Maud stared-- "I'm not going to talk about it, Maud." Pressure suddenly snapped. "Why not?" asked Maud. "He's your brother." "Frosty is a pest." said Pressure. "I didn't need to spend a whole month in the desert with him to realize that. The less I see him from this point, the better." "But he's your family." said Maud. "We have nothing in common, though." Maud blinked. "Pressure, that's no excuse." she said. "My sisters are all different. We don't all do the same things, look alike, or talk the same way, but we love each other all the same. Pinkie Pie, for example--" "Pinkie Pie?" repeated Pressure Point, stunned. "She's your sister?" "Mm-hmm..." nodded Maud. "But she's--" "Different?" "To say the least." "That's not a bad thing, though." said Maud. "Pinkie is my little sister, and I love and care for her and the rest of my family so much. That's why I'm here right now, to get back to them." "Good for you." said Pressure. "But I'm on this train to get away from my family. My obnoxious 'brother' Frosty and my loudmouth 'cousin' Trixie are enough to drive me up the wall, down, and back up again. One thing I like about being a doctor is that I get to meet families that are far better than my own. But me? I don't need my family to be happy. As long as I help others, that's all that matters." Maud stared at him blankly. "Call me selfish or insecure, but that's just how it is for me." said Pressure. "Wouldn't have it any other way..." Maud kept staring. "Any other way..." Pressure Point muttered. Maud just kept staring at him, her eyes perfectly still and unblinking. Pressure Point groaned. "How do you do it, Maud?" he spat out. "Okay, okay. I--I'll give them another chance. But I...I'm still going back to Canterlot. I don't want to end up losing my job. I'll see them for...Hearth's Warming Eve." "That sounds good." nodded Maud. "Boulder thinks so, too." She held up the familiar pebble in her hoof. "Do you carry that thing around with you everywhere?" Pressure asked, distracted. "Only because I don't have something to carry him in."