Life, liberty, and the Pursuit of Bits.

by Timemaster

The Taste of Freedom.

Light.

Light brighter than anything Gold has ever seen erupts into his eyes. The area around him is wet with morning dew, washing some dirt off of his scruffy coat. The stains from that dirt, though, remained. Gold lays on the ground, surrounded by grass and what appears to be the light of bliss. The pure, unadulterated, bliss he felt at that moment made him feel alive again.

He sits up.

Looking to his left, he sees a long road leading to nowhere; while on his right, he sees something off in the distance. For good measure, he looks behind him, hoping to find Lady... she wasn't there. He was on his own, just as he planned to in the beginning anyways, but he felt something odd. He felt guilt. He did not protect somepony he could have saved. He was pitiful. His eyes burned with pain, realizing he had been staring at many things without blinking. He blinks a few times. His vision begins to clear. He stands up all the way, popping many joints while doing so.

He looks to his right once more, seeing a large dome. He knew what it was. It was the one city allowed to succeed from Equestria. It was home. It was Hell. He stares at the dome, wondering why he was outside and not inside the jail as he thought would happen... He thinks for a long time, blankly staring at the dome.

The dome was nearly featureless, looking like a snow globe with nothing inside BUT snow, making it the perfect hiding place for what the place had actually become. This is the place where his life began and ended... And he has despised every moment of this place. He looks leftward, seeing the long road ahead...

'If I am out, then maybe Lady is out,too... She is probably having the time of her life without me, with all that gold, too!' Gold thought, slightly angry. He had trusted her, but like all things inside that dome, she cannot be trusted any longer. *Huff*

The heat was getting to him. Sweat was apparent on his forehead. He was not used to this weather. Gold moves down the road slowly, trying to cool down a bit by flapping his hoof towards his face. He felt so hot, but why? Gold looks at himself, seeing something odd...

A vest. a blue vest, with many pockets, was on him. It seemed to be stitched horribly, for the thing had many small holes on it. Gold, curious, checks the pockets... nothing.

"Ah well." He puffed to himself, now knowing why he was so hot. Gold has always hated the real sun, for it was a much hotter mistress than the multi-colored sun of the Dome...

He bangs his head.

He has finally gotten away from the place and NOW he wants to complain about the real world? He grins slightly.

"I have gotten away..." He stands up on his hindlegs, " I am FREE!"

He says it many times until he became tired. He laughed. He finally got what he wanted--freedom. He looks down the left side road, grinning gleefully, "Look out world..." he begins to run, "here I come!"

He began to sprint, leaving dust behind him. He ran and ran, the day turning to night and the hot sun replaced with the cooling, beautiful, moon. He smiles at the moon and saw something odd. It was different. There was no pony-shaped mark on the moon like he had remembered from his childhood. That could only mean...

She was back. She must be back and armed to the teeth with an army. Gold wonders if this could be true, if this could hurt his chances at a good life, and if it can be fixed if so. During his thinking, he noticed, he had stopped sprinting. In act, he was huffing a lot.

*Huff huff*

He looks leftwards, seeing a thin area of trees. He believes it may have food in it. He walks towards the trees, seeing small apples growing on them, and gags. Apples were his most hated food, after all, because they had no nutritional or taste value at all. They were bland. He moves past the apple trees, hearing small sounds in the small forest in front of him.

He began to notice the distinct sounds, each with their own tone, to decide which one was the weakest. He had done this many times before, when he was younger, but he still had a knack for it. *Sc-re-ech* went a critter around him somewhere. He moves closer the the sound, seeming to come from his left, and listens.

*Scr-cough-ee*

He looks towards the sound, coming from the inside of a small, yellowish-green bush under a big tree. Using his usual stealth, he comes closer to the bush, making sure not even a TWIG was below his foot. He edges closer and closer, beginning to see something. Fluffy and white, a creature he hasn't seen for awhile comes out of the bush in front of him.

A bunny.

The bunny looked very young, possibly just matured, and stared into the eyes of its predator. The eyes looked pale and glaringly bright, as if it has accepted its fate. The bunny is frozen, but not in fear. Its foot was injured severely, possibly from jumping from a high up place; and it tried, but failed, to move away. It was too injured and weak to move any longer.

Gold stares at the bunny. "I am sorry." He says, opening his jaw. His fangs jut out of his normal teeth, slightly hurting himself, and he continues to look at the living, breathing creature. He sheds a small tear for the pure being, and attacks.

The taste is riddled with the dreaded taste of fear, loneliness, and sadness. Since the bunny was so pure-hearted, Gold saw the bunny's entire life before his very eyes as he ate it. He saw its mother being mauled to death before it. He saw the pain of his father disappearing after trekking through the woods. He felt the agony of being alone for several years. He felt the hatred of ponies, for it is they who the universe gave power. He felt the acceptance of death... And the pain of causing it.

Gold shed tears eating his meal. Savoring every last morsel of the cute being, he began to finish up his meal.

...

He stood fully up, cleaning himself off with a leaf. He frowned, full. He picked up a twig, stabbing it through the ground--Marking the grave of the bunny.

And with that act of eating fulfilled, he went back onto the road, continuing on his (slightly) merry way...

He saw something far off into the distance, blocking the view of the glorious moon. Large rectangular things in the distance cut light from his vision. He smiled. He knew fully well what it was.

A city.

He ran to it, not bothering to stop for one second. The vest scratching his back as he went...

---

Lady awakened to complete darkness. She , in fear, lights up her horn. She see shelves, each aligned with jars. She inspects the jars. She sees a vague red liquid in them and screams. She scrambles behind her, seeing only a chair. "Sit." A voice, bouncing off the walls in echos, said. She quivered. "Sit." The voice repeated. She did as told and sits on the chair. The chair was hard, pale, and cold. Lady has tears in her eyes, with full knowledge about what was to follow.

A large arm, made of metal, comes from the ceiling, descending in at a fast pace. The arm holds a ring, which is placed onto Lady's horn in a quick swipe. Lady screeches, her magic being sucked from her very core. Arms jut from the sides of the chair, restraining Lady by grabbing her body and pulling it down.

A second arm comes from the ceiling, holding a giant syringe...

Before Lady passes out from the pain, she screams, "Curse you, Gold!"

*Speuluch*