The Darkest Time is Just Before Dawn

by bookhorse125

Ever Wondered What It's Like To Go On A Rescue Mission?

Since Luster was last seen at the Bean, I thought it would be most logical to go there and pick up on a more specific trail to follow. Under normal circumstances, I would have walked, but the emergency clouded out all caution I had on spending money. As soon as I stepped out of the house, I waved down a cab and told the driver to take me to the Bean. He chuckled.

"Haven't seen the news, kid? The Bean's crowded with authorities. Police are trying to find out about the unicorn scandal that happened there, trying to decide if it was a prank or actually real. You sure you want to go?"

"Yes!" I said, although the bit about the authorities worried me. How many people would be there? I shook myself, fixating my mind on one single thought: Luster was in danger, and I needed to go rescue her.

The driver rolled his eyes, muttered something about crazy people, and stepped on the gas, propelling the cab down the road. I stared out the window, watching the brightly lit signs advertising products above stores, watching the people, casually strolling down the street, chatting with their friends, as if nothing was wrong. My blood boiled with anger, anger that they would ignore everything that was going on, disregard it as nothing, when it was the most important thing in the world.

The cab skidded to a halt, the driver having slammed the brakes to avoid hitting the barriers that had been placed on the road to keep anyone from going any further. Police officers came over, and the cab driver rolled down the window to speak with them.

"Evening," the driver said to the two officers.

One of them nodded. "You can't go any further," he said. "This area's under inspection by the federal government. They want to find more about that unicorn who was spotted here a few minutes ago; want to find it before it gets away."

"You hear that, kid?" The cab driver turned to me, his eyebrows raised. "Bean's closed. Guess you'll have to find some other tourist attraction for your scrapbooks."

"First of all," I said, my anger reaching a boiling point (which almost never happened), "I live here. Second, I don't scrapbook. Third, I lost something, and I think it might be at the Bean. So, if you officers would be kind enough to let me look..."

The second officer shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Nobody goes in until the investigation's over. Your... thing will still be there afterwards."

"NO!" I shouted, attracting the attention of other officers and some shoppers and tourists on the streets. They all looked at me with strange looks, but I didn't care. I was usually a quiet person who hated being the center of attention, but right now, my rage blocked everything else out. I didn't care what they thought. I didn't care what they could do to me. I was going to find Luster Dawn and keep her away from these goons.

I got out of the car and stepped up to the first officer, my furious face an inch from his. "Listen to me," I growled, my voice deathly quiet. "I lost someone extremely important to me because of my own mistakes, and now she's running around in the real world with no idea how it works, and she's probably scared out of her mind, and the fact that you guys are chasing her down isn't making it any better. And I'm going to find her and you guys can get back to more important matters like all the people walking literally right in front of you who refuse to wear masks when they go shopping."

The police looked to the shoppers, and, sure enough, at least half of them scrambled around in their bags to pull out a grimy disposable mask which they shoved on and shuffled along, avoiding the gaze of the police officers.

While they were distracted, I pushed past them, jumping over the barriers. I imagined me heroically leaping over the fences, landing perfectly on my feet, running into the heart of the square, and Luster would come running out of her hiding place and would leap into my arms, and we would both have a lovely moment where we apologized profusely to each other, and then we went back home and binge-watched My Little Pony for the rest of our days while the government paid me a generous amount of cold, hard cash for getting this problem off there hands.

Obviously, it didn't work like that.

First of all, I tripped over the barrier and landed on my face, so it was far from the heroic entrance I had imagined. I also lost valuable time, because now the police had figured out what had happened, and they didn't look too happy about it. "Hey, kid!" one of them shouted. "Get back here!"

I scrambled to my feet, running as fast as I could to gain enough ground to search for Luster. I had been walking to just about every place I'd ever been for the past few years, so I was in pretty good shape, but these police guys were better. I had to duck and dodge and slip into and out of the groves of trees at least a dozen times before I could take refuge under one of the picnic tables, my drab clothing helping me to camouflage.

From my little hideout, I saw the police officers confiding with the people from the FBI or something; the people who had come to do the investigation for Luster. I shrank back into the shadows, but the sound of a twig snapping (cliché, much?) made me turn towards the forest. Err, grove of trees. I guess that was the closest Chicago could get to a forest.

Between the trees, I could clearly see Luster Dawn, talking with a human.

My breath stopped. I nearly choked.

The human was vaguely familiar... until my heart froze in my chest, and I was sure I was about to die of shock. The human wasn't just vaguely familiar, I knew her. And, in all my life, I would never have guessed that my girlfriend, the hater of all things pony, would be casually chatting with Luster Dawn from My Little Pony, hidden in the woods in the middle of a restricted area that was swarming with government officials.

"There he is!" came a voice, loud and clear. I turned to see a policeman, pointing an accusing finger at me, several dozen other officials behind him. All of their faces were contorted with anger.

Luster and Lissa looked up, startled, as I bolted out from under the table and into the trees, having no idea what would happen when I inevitably got caught.

Author's Note:

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!
Inspired by My Little Dashie.

Comments

[Pete100]

This dude is an idiot.

[Eduardo de leon]

10819691
If you were in his place, what would you have done?

[Pete100]

10819700
Not scream and expose myself. Not only did he cause a scene, but he also basically revealed that he knew about the unicorn in front of the police and possibly the fbi.

[Matthais Unidostres]

10819774
You were asked what you would have done, not what you would NOT have done. So, what WOULD you have done.

[Pete100]

10820164
Oh my bad. For starters, I would walk around the park, because I assume although your not allowed in the park you can still walk around from the outside. So I would do that and see if I can find her. If that doesn’t work I would look somewhere else.

[NotMeleeFox]

Luster Dawn, just calm down and apologize… I don’t like fighting all that much… (I know it is only a story, but what if the one who took care of Luster Dawn and Luster Dawn herself, then I would be kinda afraid..)