5: Hate
Every hair on Starry’s body stood on end, his hooves quivering in fear as they were pinned by an unseen force above his body. His mind went into overdrive in order to try to piece together what was going on and how they had figured out his feelings. Pinned against the wall, he tried harder and harder to wiggle free, the grip around him only tightening, painfully constricting his body. Thrown to the ground, he began to taste the sickly metallic sensation of blood in his mouth, tongue aching from when his head hit the ground and his teeth bit down hard.
“N-no…” was all he could choke out as his captor only glared harder, a sinister grin stretching over his face.
The leader spoke up again, his deep, throaty voice sending a fresh wave of chills. “I don’t think you understand.” Starry felt a hoof force itself into his stomach. Not a punch, but gut-shattering pressure being applied slowly and painfully, forcing air out of the guard’s lungs. His ragged breaths only became more panicked.
“We discovered your perverted little thoughts in this little book you so happened to leave out in the open. We don’t value your kind destroying the sanctity of such an honourable profession.” The leader used his rear hoof to step on the downed stallion’s stomach, his spit flying into Starry’s face with every venomous word towards his victim on the ground. Pushing his hoof harder into the stallion’s stomach, Starry gasped for air, becoming more and more winded the harder his attacker pushed. Suddenly he let off Starry, the magic grip on his hooves fading at the same time, sending Starry sprawling into a fetal position at the foot of the wall. Winded body desperate for a way out, his lungs struggled to take in every gasp of air.
He began a futile crawl towards the light of the street that seemed to get more and more distant as his vision clouded over. Another sudden jolt, and he found himself propped against the wall, the ring leader shoving his large face into Starry’s own. At this point, his hazy vision and aching stomach all but obscured the stallion. Yet no matter the volume of pain and visual impairment, the words the ringleader spoke sent a deathening chill through his body: “Consider this a retirement.”
Starry’s eye sockets went wide in fear, his head shaking as the larger guard stood straight and turned around, two other guards standing over him to prevent escape. The ringleader exchanged nods to the rest of the gang, leaving the circle to surround a petrified Starry, who was trying to make himself as small as possible. “I’m going to cover our tracks, cant have this being pinned on us”, The leader turned back and looked dead into the little guard’s eyes before turning around and addressing the rest of his gang.
“Make it permanent,” his cold voice trailed away, the gap he made in the circle quickly filled with the guards closing in on Starry.
Silver anxiously looked up at the clock again for the fifth time since Starry had gone out nearly half an hour ago. Violet had long since gotten bored and started plucking at the salad in her bowl, leaving Silver to save the day and keep her entertained whilst Starry was still missing from his quick departure. A nervous smile spread along Silver’s face as he got up from his seat.
Both mares looked up, frustrated looks on their faces. “Not you too,” Violet muttered, stabbing a tomato rather vigorously.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back, I just gotta find him. I swear, he isn’t usually like this,” he reassured, leaving the girls at the table. Quickly striding to the door, he burst into the street, looking around the entrance for his friend. It didn’t take long for him, however, to notice the commotion further down the street where an alley was being completely encompassed with onlookers. Furrowing his brow, Silver made his way over the small crowd around the alley entrance.
Finding someone on the outside of the small crowd, he lightly tapped the stallion on the shoulder. “What happened here?” he asked, frowning in curiosity.
“Somepony was attacked, that’s what I’ve been hearing. Quite bad too,” the stallion replied. Turning back to the scene, Silver peered through the crowd and caught the sight of police tape. His gut churned at the situation, yet he quickly shook his head and turned back to the restaurant.
He probably went home, he isn’t exactly the most confident pony. This was all probably too much for him. I’ll talk to him tonight if he isn’t already asleep.
Opening the doors, both mares looked over to him, questioning looks on their faces. He gave them a shrug, cringing as Violet slapped her hooves on the table and got up from her seat, storming past Silver and out of the restaurant. Ribbon Twirl got up as well, but stopped at Silver, a concerned look on her face. “I’d better go after her…”
Silver sighed and returned a weak smile. “Yeah, but it was fun.”
“We should do this again,” she smiled back, giving him a small slip of paper and following her frustrated friend out the restaurant.
Silver felt strange. He had a great night with Ribbon, everything was going smoothly. Why did he not feel excited at the thought of seeing her again? Shaking his head, he began to head to the door, thinking about finding Starry back at his room. He’ll ask him what’s wrong and hopefully get to bed after such a wild turn in the night. Yet just as he started towards the door, he heard a rather urgent call behind him.
“Sir! Sir! Wait!” He turned around to see a flustered waiter holding out a leather booklet “You forgot the bill, if you’ll just follow me we’ll head up to the front.”
Silver gulped as he slowly opened the booklet and silently cursed Starry’s quick getaway, whatever the reason it may be.
“Starry? Starry! You home? What’s the matter, what happened back there? Starry! Come on dude, where are you!?” Silver banged on Starry’s dorm door, not receiving an answer.
He called again; nothing but silence replied back to him. Confused, he began to turn around and head to his own dorm, deciding to try again tomorrow. Something got his attention as he walked, however, causing him to turn around and hear muffled talking approaching his bend in the hallway.
Waiting for the ponies around the corner, he started walking closer to the bend, thinking it might be Starry. Closer and closer the talking ponies got, to the point where he could clearly tell it wasn’t his friend about to turn the corner. Beginning to turn, around he stopped dead and looked on, for whilst the ponies turning the corner were indeed not his friend, two of them sent an uneasy, gut-churning queasiness to the pit of Silver’s stomach.
“Don’t worry Mr. Sentry, my colleague and I are just here to ask some questions regardi-”
The two police ponies and guard they were with looked over to Silver Heart, choosing to stop themselves. The police officer that was talking stepped forward, turning his attention from the guard to Silver. “Sorry sir, but unless you know anything about the incident tonight outside of the The Gilded Lily, then I will kindly ask you to move along.”
Silver felt raw fear, the crystal-encrusted room getting paler and paler by the second as the pit in his stomach got larger. Taking a shaky step forward, he took a deep breath and tried his best to keep his voice even. “I was dining there tonight with my friend. He ran off unexpectedly, so I came here looking for him.”
The two police officers exchanged glances. “Alright,” the one in front spoke again, “sorry to trouble you but I will just ask if you could just follow my colleague here for some quick questions regarding your time tonight.”
Gulping, Silver nodded, coming forward and passing the guard and police officer, the two of them walking off in the other direction. Silver looked at the other police officer who stayed back and walked ahead of him. “My dorm is just down this way.”
The police officer gave him a smile and indicated for him to go forward. “Thank you for your cooperation sir, lead the way.”
The police pony sat at the desk in the dorm room, his notepad prepped and ready to go whilst Silver brought in two cups of coffee. Setting one on the desk, the officer nodded his thanks, blowing the steam away and taking a quick sip as Silver sat on the edge of the bed.
“So to make sure I have this right,” he began, tapping his notepad with his quill in his magic, “I’m talking with Silver Heart of the Canterlot guard, address fifty-six Snapdragon Place, Canterlot North. We are discussing the incident that occured at Nine-twenty-five P.M. on Saturday, the third of November, at the restaurant The Gilded Lily.”
Silver nodded slowly, trying hard to not let panic overwhelm him. He didn’t want to get worked up and risk the police officer not telling him what happened to Starry. He took calming breaths as he nodded slowly and methodically, putting the coffee down on the floor next to the bed. “Correct, everything there is fine.”
The police officer nodded, scratching something into his notebook. “Thank you Silver, is it okay if I call you that?”
Silver nodded, taking a slow sip of his coffee.
“Alright, so let’s take a step back here: what brings you to the Crystal Empire in the first place?”
Silver set down his coffee again, sitting back a bit. “I came here as part of increased palace security for the Equestria Games.”
The officer nodded slowly, taking more notes as he carried on. “Okay, and would I be correct in saying you had or have a personal relationship with the member of the Crystal Guard, Starry Scroll?”
Silver felt bile in his throat trying to make its way up from his stomach. The scene outside the restaurant, Starry’s getaway, his sudden absence, and the police asking about him. Controlling his breathing and closing his eyes, Silver knew what it was like when emotion got involved in things like this, he needed a level head and cooperation with this officer. Taking a moment to keep his voice steady, he began to cooperate, holding the fear and anger inwards.
“I do,” he answered, surprising even himself with his calm composure.
More of that irritating scritching from the quill on paper as the officer prepared his next question. Silver shuffled his hooves, his nerves trying anything to try to escape his body as the wait continued to fill his stomach with butterflies. “Would you say that this mutual relationship with Starry had formed before your time on this assignment of yours?”
“No, I didn’t know Starry until I was assigned as his guard partner.”
“As part of your assignment, yes?” The guard looked up, his quill still at the ready to proceed with the mind aching, agonisingly slow scritching noises.
“Yes…”
“Now, tonight, before our meeting, you mentioned unofficially of your going out to dinner with a friend. Would I be correct in assuming this was in fact Mr. Scroll that went with you to the Gilded Lily before the time of nine-twenty five P.M. tonight?”
Silver didn’t reply for a long time, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“It’s okay, you can take your ti-”
“What has happened to Starry? Please, I need to know, where is he? Is he okay?”
Shifting in his seat uncomfortably, the officer looked at Silver in concern. “Are you saying that this is the first you have heard of this incident? I’ll need more details and it may be possible we pull you in for further questioning, but as for now, seeing as you claim to be of a personal relationship with Mr. Scroll…” The officer shut his notebook and shifted his chair to face Silver. The anxiety reached a peak as the sad eyes of the officer carried over to him.
“As far as our understanding goes, your friend Starry Scroll has been a victim of an assault.”
Horror spread over Silver’s face, shaking his head in disbelief. “No… no no, not Starry, there is no way…” Silver’s voice went icy cold, choking up as he began shaking. “Who would want to hurt him…”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you, but he remains in a serious condition at the hospital.”
Silver instantly stood up, knocking over his coffee with lack of care. “Take me to him. Right. Now.”
“I’m sorry Silver, but this is a very delicate situation, and would really be best if you stay here. You won’t be able to be any help at the hospital. I’ll forget the interview for now and we can contact you in a later date but-”
“Officer, with all due respect,” Silver interrupted angrily, trying very hard not to get any louder, rising in his seat. “But according to you, my friend is beaten up and lying in a hospital bed I don’t know how you expect me to sleep or do anything less than see him.”
The police officer got up from his chair and put the notebook back into his pocket before grinding their chair back into place. “Listen, I can waive the interview for now, but this is a serious investigation. Now, stallion to stallion, I know right away you don’t have anything to do with this. I’m absolutely sure you know how this stuff goes, a couple of witness statements and we will rule you out quickly but until then it wouldn’t be good for you to be sneaking around the place and barging into hospitals whilst the people that hurt him are still around.
Silver huffed angrily, clearly not satisfied.
The police officer made his way over to Silver, a hoof on his shoulder. “Forget the uniform for a moment, Silver. I’ve been in your position, you won’t be able to do anything for him. Just try to get as much rest as possible, I’m sure you will want to be ruled out as soon as daylight hits so you can be there when he wakes up.” The officer handed over a card from the same pocket as the handbook. “Head to this address in the morning, and we can get you through as quick as possible, just a quick statement and interview so we can get as much info as we can.”
“Thanks officer, if these are my choices, then I guess I will take what I can get.” He sighed softly. “I’ll… try to get some sleep.” choking on his own words, Silver opened the door with his magic to let the officer be on his way.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Mr. Heart. Please, try to rest easy and know that your friend is in good hooves.” The officer smiled, put his hat on his head and with nothing left to be said, made his departure, closing the door behind him.
“Yeah… friend.” Silver spent a moment to play with that word on his tongue.
The night didn’t become any easier for Silver. Fear of his… friend’s wellbeing. Anger over whoever had done such a heinous act to his friend. It swirled on top of regret for not being there when Starry needed him, or stopping him from running out of the restaurant. To top it all off, a large dollop of confusion for why Starry had run off lingered. Tho could possibly have so much spite? Why they would have so much spite? The cocktail of grizzly emotions stirred and rocked within him, making his belly ache and his head hurt. His eyes remained unclosed and far from allowing him the capacity for sleep. Minute after minute ticked by, each feeling like an hour longer than the last. Every sleep position he tried, he was too hot, then too cold, then his mind wandered back to the emotions.
Starry’s face, his innocent face engulfed his mind. It filled him with guilt, with anxiety, with… something. He couldn’t understand why he felt so connected to Starry, yet the image couldn’t leave his mind. Eyes open, the darkened room still held Starry’s nervous, sweet face. Eyes shut, it was all he could see.
Squeezing his eyes closed as tight as he could in an attempt to rid the onslaught of images and emotions taking mutiny over his mind, he finally sat up in an aggressive fit, rubbing his face angrily and throwing the blanket to the floor, marching to the door without a second glance backward.
“That is bucking it, Starry… I’m coming,” he told himself, slamming the door behind himself and marching down the dimly lit dorm hallway as fast as he could.
Stats
Page generated in 0.055 seconds
Total duration
1,061 users online
2,046,861 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yeah, I don't care what part of the world you are, but if a bunch of guards beats up another (regardless the reason), they should be nervous for this action if they get caught. Best case scenario for them is to be fired and possibly banned for all other jobs for life. Worst case scenario - death. After all, they did something incredibly stupid: they left Starry alive. In other words: as long as there's a witness, there's a much higher chance of them getting caught.
avoided the story at one time or two for it was incomplete & decided to read The regular instead. Love it & those guards better get what's coming to them!
in my story the latter part with first base(younger brother of flash sentry that was given by the fandom!) when he join the guards in crystal empire they absolute bros(more like the Romains in greece)
So, I had been putting off reading this chapter for a while, actually, because of what happened in the last chapter. (I had also read another fic inbetween that dealt with the same themes) when I finished the first bit that still focused on Starry, I actually had to stop reading briefly because I was so high-strung. Reading the rest of the chapter went about as well as you’d expect and now I’m apprehensively awaiting the next chapter.