Cold Rain

by MDNGHTRDHTLN

Part I

It was cold tonight. As cold as it gets. If one were to cry, their tears would freeze before they hit the ground. Upon coming into contact with said ground, the now-frozen tears would shatter into tiny fragments. Now, you see, I could make this into a simile, this cold evening being the last five years, the tears being my self-composure, and the ground being reality.

Why, you ask? It’s been five years since my friends left me. One day, they were there. Rainbow Dash had gone to her home in the sky, Pinkie to Sugarcube Corner, Applejack to Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity to the Carousel Boutique, and Fluttershy to her cottage. I had, of course, gone to the library. When I had awoken, everything was normal. I had eaten breakfast, gotten Spike up, and went out into Ponyville for another normal day. I was on my way to Sugarcube Corner, to get Pinkie. We had a previous arrangement, though I wasn’t sure for what.

When I arrived on the porch, I noticed that it was quiet. Pinkie generally wasn’t the quiet type, and I was unnerved, if only ever so slightly. I opened the wooden door to find decorations about the walls and a large cake on the center table. The cake read, “Happy Birthday Twilight Sparkle” in pink frosting on its white body. Everything was strangely pristine, as if Pinkie was waiting for me. It’s probably safe to say that it was a surprise party for me, which means it was probably safe to say that the rest of my friends were there. I now noticed the party hats.

There were six party hats scattered throughout the room. Two were lying next to the cake. One was on the ground next to the door, and another was resting on the countertop. Yet another party hat was next to the punch bowl on the table next to the cake table. One thing to remember: all of these hats were on their sides. Except for the final hat. No, this last hat was standing up straight on the table with the cake. Like it was never worn. Like a sixth pony was supposed to be there. Like I was supposed to be there.

But now, on this cold night, I know I was supposed to be there. But I wasn’t, and now my friends were gone. That day, I had looked all over Ponyville for them. When my searches yielded nothing, I searched all of Equestria. Still nothing. My friends had left me, and they hadn’t bothered to tell me where they were going. That all changed with a letter from Princess Celestia.

It was freezing in the library, as I said before, and now there were innumerous, tiny pieces of ice on the floor. The letter was long, but, for the sake of time, I must paraphrase. Basically, my friends have been gone for five years on a secret assignment from the princess. They were sent to the human world to act as explorers. They were to report their findings on the human world on a biweekly basis. But, the princess has not been receiving letters as of late, and this worries her. She wants me to go to the human world and figure out what’s going on. After not seeing my friends for years, I was in Canterlot as fast as I could be.

You may be wondering, “Twilight! You’re a princess! Why are you not already living in Canterlot?” Good question, dear reader. You see, Ponyville was my prominent place of my residence during my unicorn years, and I want to stay there. Anyways, I was in Canterlot. The guards must have anticipated my arrival, since they were taking me to the castle’s deepest corridors within minutes of my arrival. After a short walk, we were in the room where I had first gone to the human world. There was a note taped to the mirror. Apparently, a while back, when I had chased Sunset Shimmer into the human world to get my crown, the ‘human world’ wasn’t the actual human world. It was like a limbo or something, a place where the two worlds bled into each other. By now, Celestia’s engineers had worked out the kinks, so it was safe to go through. Well, I guess there’s no point in delaying, so I’ll cut to the chase. I jumped into the portal, like a good little princess would do.

When I got to the human world, it was night. I woke up in a back alley. A strange man, dressed in shoddy clothes was there, sitting on a bench. He was smoking a cigarette. “Hey there, pretty thing. You seem to have just popped out of the sky. Need any…help of the… sexual kind?”
“Excuse me? Get lost.” I responded. What a nice first encounter, no?
“Now listen here, little miss,” he advanced. “I don’t take too kindly to people not showing me any respect.”
“That’s too bad. Again, get lost.”
He didn’t seem to like my words, so he pulled out a small, rectangular box from his back pocket. He pressed a button on its side, revealing a small, pointed edge. A switchblade. He started to walk towards me, blade outstretched.
“LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
The man wheeled around on his heels. “What the hell was-,”

Before he could finish his innocent query, a dark figure ran towards our friendly neighborhood creep, jumping up and kicking him in the chest. The man hit the floor with an audible thud.

The dark figure ran at the man’s crumpled body. She pulled her own switchblade from her pocket and held it against his neck. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t slice your throat open right now.”

The man said nothing. I decided not to interfere with their business. That would be rude.

“Okay. I can take the silent treatment.” The figure was slightly illuminated from the neon lights that bore down on us. I could see it was a woman, about average height. She was slim in figure, but still healthy-looking. I couldn’t make out any other physical features. She reached for her back pocket, and pulled out a small, white packet of something. She took her knife, and cut open the man’s cheek. It was a small, clean cut, like she had done this before. It still looked like it hurt, and it probably did, given that the man was crying now, and a small puddle of tears and blood were forming on the ground underneath his head. Then, my savior, if I can call her that, opened up the packet. She took the opened packet, positioned it over the man’s cheek, and tilted it. Small, translucent granules of something fell onto the wound. It was salt. Salt and open wounds never mix particularly well.

The woman took her hand and clamped it over the man’s mouth, stifling his screams.

“Listen to me, and listen close, you fucker. Say another word to her, and I will stuff you and hang you on my fucking wall. Got it?”

The man nodded yes.

“Good. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

The man got up and ran away as fast as he could. My savior got up, dusted herself off, and looked at me. I could see her more clearly now. Her black hair fell in front of her red eyes. She was wearing a leather jacket, with a blue collared shirt underneath. She was also wearing black jeans with chains hanging from the belt loops. Black boots covered her feet. Although she looked different, there was something about her… and her voice was familiar…
“Rainbow Dash?” I asked.
She gave me a sideways glance, like she didn’t know what I was talking about. Not her.
“Sorry. I mistook you for-,”
“Twilight?”

Comments

[MDNGHTRDHTLN]

Sorry about the cover art. I don't have good art skills. I drew it in about 5 minutes.