Something moved through the corridor.
Nightshade dived from the window snatching up the K-Lance with her foreleg. She flung her hinds sideward, landed, skidded on her rump and slammed against the wall folding her other fore beneath the barrel and training it against the doorway.
Everypony else followed her, their weapons coming around in a single snap movement.
Straight Flush burst through the doorway, his eyes came wide and he skidded to a stop before sitting back and throwing his fores into the air. “Whoa! It’s me you crazy bucks!”
Nightshade sighed and blew a dangle of dark mane off her free eye. She huffed, “Dammit, Flush. Whatever happened to the signals?” She slung her lance across her back and got up on all fours. The room relaxed a little.
“Sorry, chief, but Vermillion is reporting Keshi’s on the road to the north, moving fast.”
Nightshade moved to the window and hopped up, one hoof on the sill and the other pulling her lance to her side. “They’ve found us.”
Magnum was on his back, neck flat up against the window and peering outside with his lance held across his body. He exhaled and looked to her, his voice as calm as always, “So what do we do?”
Nightshade, still looking out into the shadowed streets felt her eye twitch, “We get them out, now.” She turned to Straight Flush. “Get your ponies and meet me in the next quadrant, by the descent.” Eyes all around the room met her.
“But, chief,” came the reply behind her. “Nopony goes into the descent, its suicide.”
Nightshade looked around to Straight Flush and smiled. “I know.”
He stood for a moment, then a grin spread across his face. He thrust a hoof forward. “You’re crazy,” he said, then turned around and galloped back out into the corridor with an almost maniacal laughter. “I love this crazy mare,” echoed behind him.
As she turned around she caught Magnum staring at the floor in thought. “They’ll not follow us into the descent.”
“Exactly.”
He exhaled, turned his head briefly as if to loosen some strain then got back to watching the street.
Nightshade’s ear lifted to the sound of engines, a deep humming echoing from behind the ruined buildings below them.
“Keshi,” somepony muttered.
“Get ready,” Magnum called. “Remember, we’re not here for a fight. Keep your heads down, your tails in and don’t get lanced.”
Everypony jumped with the sudden shriek of electricity that sounded in the air above them. The sky-lights above their quadrant shut down, leaving Nightshade and her squad in complete darkness. She stared out into the darkness for a moment. It dropped from behind the building, the sound of its engines raking at her ears with great whooping rotations resembling the animal for which the machine took its name. She looked up at the Hyena gunship, then swung back around as the spot-light burst through. She spoke with widened eyes and clenched teeth, “Get behind something, now.”
She should have been ready for this.
Ponies scuffled in the shadows. The beam slid sideward. Nightshade felt herself pushing harder and harder against the stone as it crept across the room. The gunship’s engines revolved with an almost sickening laughter, a psychotic predator teasing its prey.
One of her ponies stood back up against the corner of the room with nothing around him and completely exposed as the spotlight made its way toward him.
Magnum, tucked beneath the windowsill looked up. “What do we do?” His eyes switching between her and the colt in the corner who stood motionless, an ever increasing look of fear on his face. The eye of light slithered over a mound of rubble, the ponies behind it ducking their heads away at the very last moment.
Nightshade swallowed and shut her eyes. She should have been ready.
Engines roared into the street below, slowed and then idled. Pneumatics droned through the darkness, ramps lowering, gunned turrets revolving. The sound of hooves falling against metal filled the night.
“Shade, what do we do?” Magnum called a little louder than he should have. The gunship screached as it moved sideward.
Nightshade opened her eyes then, and a slash of hot air left her nostrils.
No. She wouldn’t fail them again…
Darling May looked especially nervous today. The curls of her orange, usually kempt mane sat atop her head like broken springs, uncoiled and mischievous. Her eyes cut around the factory, wide and watchful, and every now and then her nose would twitch and she’d tap her hoof against the floor.
Nightshade clenched her teeth as she approached her friend. May would get them both caught if she kept acting like that. She stopped beside her, flashed a quick side glance and then turned away to watch for the security ponies.
“You going to tell me why you keep needing these?” said May. Nightshade felt a brief weight against her saddle pack. Watching the floor, her eyes strayed to the overmare’s office, a glass perch in the corner of the workshop. Then to the security routes. Empty. Good. She rolled her tongue across the corner of her lip and said, “Nope.”
May huffed behind her, then appeared in the corner of Nightshade’s vision, looking back over. “Nights, you need to tell me what I keep risking my neck for?” She looked away. “It’s obviously important to you or I wouldn’t keep doing this but-,”
“I know,” Nightshade turned to her friend. “You’re the best, May, and I know what you’re doing for me and what would happen if they-,”
“Hey,” May came over and embraced her. “You’re my friend, Nights.”
Nightshade nodded. “It’s just the less you know-,”
“Okay.” May let her go, looked at her with her big orange eyes and shook her head. “I’ll not ask anymore.” She turned around and started trotting off towards the exit.
“One day.” Nightshade called.
Darling May stopped, looked around and sniffed, she only nodded as if knowing that somehow that wouldn’t happen and then left through the exit.
Nightshade wavered and dug her hoof into the ground. Darling May was risking everything getting her the extra ticket she needed, and she couldn’t even tell her why. She figured if she herself were ever caught she could handle the interrogation. The Keshi had their ways but she’d seen them all. May on the other hand. Nightshade couldn’t imagine that gentle pony lasting more than a few minutes in front of a Keshi inquisitor, and then it would be all over. Yet May still risked her neck, knowing the risks. Nightshade sighed, wondering if she were betraying her friend either way.
“Shift’s over, worker!”
Nightshade, startled, spun around. The security pony in his black uniform and cap stood behind her, his eyes like darts as he watched her.
“Go home, now!” He moved toward her and his eyes narrowed, his voice turning reasonable but holding a sinister after tone, “unless you’re working overtime?”
Nightshade felt herself swallow. Fifteen hour shifts were long enough for her. She shook her head, “No. I’m going.” Her nerves had rattled more over her recent exchange rather than the shock, and she didn’t want to give the guard any reason to feel suspicious, so she just turned around and started for the clocking-office, feeling the weight of his eyes at her back on her way out.
She left the clocking-office and onto the elevated platform that led to the E-Tram. The industrial district of Danarsi sprawled beneath her.
Danarsi stuck to the edge of the city like a festering scab. The industrial powerhouse of New Equis. Thousands of factories sat like fungal spores spewing toxic concoctions into the clouds, clouds that greeted the intruder with rapturous thunder and sudden flashes of lightning that kept even the wendigos’ at bay with its terror. It was little wonder then why the Keshi hadn’t invested in many sky-lights over Danarsi, the spectral lightning above kept the district in a semi-dull miasma, leaving ponies wandering the industrial area in a stumbling, disoriented mess - unless of course, they stayed within Keshi outlined security zones.
Behind Danarsi, even further from the city, sat the C-Class zones. The C-Class zones were where the Keshi expunged all those unworthy ponies they couldn’t find a use for. Ponies whose capacity or talents didn’t meet any criteria that fell within the Keshi ideals for their big society; the elderly and infirm, ponies like artists, bakers, singers and florists. Anypony who couldn’t contribute to the Keshi commercial or industrial heart was a wasted body unworthy of their circle. As such, the ponies in the C-class zones received nothing in the form of healthcare. They scavenged in the wastes for their water and food. Took help from half-trained doctor ponies with a less than reputable history for proper diagnosis. Griffon gangs had dug their claws into the zones, forming protection rackets and demands for special permits. All whilst the angered skies above drowned out all vestiges of sunlight, searing the skies with lightning and poisoning the earth tainted rain. And in the centre of it all was New Equis; the dark heart of the machine that drank the lives of ponies like petrol, churning them through its cogs until burned out and with nothing else left to give, then spitting them back out to wither.
Nightshade mounted the E-Tram platform that hung above Danarsi, her eyes unable to linger far from the towering city that sat on the horizon. It’s tall, cloud tearing structures gleamed subtle green, whether from the residual pollution from the factories, or the reflection of the many envious eyes that stared so longingly at the Keshi social elite that sat its flanks there. Money and power the only currency anypony in New Equis respected. Ponies like Nightshade would work hard, have enough so she wouldn’t starve, and have the luxury of a broadcast display so she could turn her face at the Keshi propaganda that bombarded the networks. But at least she didn’t have to live in the C-Class zone… but then that was the problem wasn’t it.
The E-tram strained its way onto the platform. One of the benefits of missing the first tram was that the second was always a bit more empty, all the worker ponies were so eager to get home after their long shifts that many didn’t miss the opportunity of the first train. Nightshade, however, had other reasons for her tardiness. She trotted on board with only a handful of her fellow latecomers, all sat heads hung low, eyes sullen. Better for her privacy, but it always stung her how worn out her fellow workers looked and wondered if she looked the same. The E-Tram signal beeped. The doors hissed shut and with a quiet power-up of electricity the tram pulled away from the platform and onto the elevated track.
Nightshade moved to the front where she commanded a perfect frontal view of the landscape and smiled as she caught sight of the broken panel. They still hadn’t fixed it. She stood in front of the glass, allowing the gushing wind from the broken panel to rustle her mane and coat. Her smile widened as she raised her wings, closing her eyes against the wind, every breath a long and soul-filling taste of the sweet air, every exhale a gulf of relieving laughter that left her body in a state childlike euphoria, all drowned out the majesty of the cool wind and the open sky. She was flying over the world, through the clouds, so high she could see the sun beneath the horizon. All her woes and troubles blown away from her. Freedom…
… and then they punished her with a singing pain that shot down her spine, bringing her out of her trance and back to the cold, dark reality of Equestria. Her wings couldn’t move more than a few inches from her back, the grounders made sure of that, fastened bindings on every pegusi’s wings that ensured they couldn’t fly.
The grounding law was only a few years old but for Nightshade and all the other pegasus ponies, it dug a hoof straight through their culture.
With their trams, sub-trains, elevators and transit vehicles, the Keshi leadership deemed anypony’s natural ability to fly to be an obsolete function that served only to mock technological advancement.
Nightshade twisted on her hooves and snarled. Everypony knew the real truth was that the Keshi couldn’t tax the sky – well, if they tried hard enough they probably could have, but transit fares and road levies were a much more efficient and ‘enforceable’ revenue production method. Pegasus ponies represented practically half of New Equis' population, and having them fly freely from destination to destination was just a waste of exploitable resources, not only that but a pegasus natural ability to manipulate clouds was considered magical… and the Keshi hated magic above all else. The Keshi ponies got extremely jealous of other ponies with anything they could remotely consider to be an advantage over them… In truth, thought Nightshade, the profit was probably just a bonus. So they demanded all pegusi be clipped, no exceptions. Not to do so was a crime punishable by incarceration. There were protests. There were riots. And in time the internment facilities gained many new winged ‘volunteers’ for their labour force.
Nightshade stepped off the tram at Equis central, made her way down the ramp and onto the street. The ration office was only a short walk from the station, and her home. Homeless ponies squatted in the gutters behind the alleys, warming their frail bodies against flaming barrels. Brave few, considering what the KMP, the Keshi Municipal Police did to the useless.
Nightshade walked by, making a quick prayer to the Night Princess for their protection and stepped inside the office. The lines were thankfully short and it didn’t take long before she stood at the kiosk. She mouthed in her saddle pack for the tickets and slipped the two of them into the mechanical insert that snatched them away like a greedy foal. Seconds later, two rounded containers fell into a deposit bin beneath her. She took up the ration packs and slipped them into her pack.
Back outside the streets were awash with neon lights and the sound of rowdy colts from the many cider holes that littered central Equis, the pretty wrapping over the gift of dung. She then fell into the same melancholy that affected all the ponies living here. The very same looks she saw on the tram. No laughter echoed here. No happiness warmed their hearts. Friendship was an accolade purchased with wealth and position, and the bright glimmer of magic a forgotten and forbidden relic of the old times. In times like these she always looked up to the night sky, to the moon that always filled her with a glimmer of hope, a nag to carry on no matter what, but the cloudy sky wouldn’t allow for it on this night. Instead she was greeted with a reflection of reds and blues on the walls to the next street. They took her attention, and her curiosity pulled her in a mild gallop to the corner. The KMP van sat at the entrance to Equis central hospital, the flashing lights casting their spinning beams over the darkened trans-cars and buildings. KMP officer ponies stood by the doors moved aside as they burst open in the face of a squad of Keshi soldiers wheeling a maternity trolley from the entrance, the wails of crying fillies filling the night air. Nightshade crept forward and sat herself behind a trans-car away from any light, her deep purple coat made it difficult to spot her in the darkness, a trait that came in handy on her previous vocation, and she’d use now to get a better view of what was going on.
Another pony burst through the door and the KMP security pounced, pining the nurse pony with the look of absolute terror on her face back.
“No!” She cried. The KMP tussled with her, struggling to keep her from advancing. “You can’t do this!”
Nightshade looked over her, behind the nurse a mare sat in a maternity robe, weeping, cradled by a colt with the same look of despair on his face.
The Keshi soldier pony dug his neck into the trolley and heaved it up into the van. Nightshade caught the two little horns protruding from the trolley and something icy slithered through her spine – she understood now. She ran a fore down her face and sat back, trying so desperately to find the moon in the sky that she needed now more than ever. She exhaled slowly and looked around. The soldier pony rolled his neck from the strain of lifting the trolley. The would be father glanced her way and he spotted her, his face pale, as if all the happiness he could ever feel had been sapped away. Then his eyes widened, they stuck to her, fearful, pleading, beseeching eyes.
Something simmered inside of her. The sight of the fillies, the crying mare, the homeless ponies. She let a sharp breath burst from her nostrils filled with a kind of drive she’d never felt for three years… too long.
She didn’t realise her speed, or how she must look storming forward from the shadows, she couldn’t just sit and watch this any longer. Thoughts slammed into her head: what was she going to do… What ‘was’ she going to do? She slowed slightly. There were two KMP and two Keshi soldiers armed to the tail with gear. What did she have? A couple of ration packs and her good charm. And what about Sweet Flower? Then before she could even realise, she was staring down the barrel of a E-Lance. She stopped dead, all her rage flowing from her nostrils like bursts of fire, probably looking like some crazed dragon.
“We going to have a problem, madam?” The soldier asked matter of fact. He tilted his head. The other soldier bucked back with his hinds slamming away the sound of weeping fillies behind the van doors.
Nightshade glanced briefly at the two of them, then at the colt whose head only sank. She sniffed, shaking with the rush of adrenaline and shook her head. The guards watched her leave with roiling contempt. And as she looked back she caught one last look at the colt, who swallowed and nodded to her. She took the left onto the road that led to her apartment. She stopped at a bulletin screen and threw all her anger backwards sending the shattered glass to shower the pavement, her scream ending a second later. She stood for a moment, wiped away a stray tear and then headed for home…
