Ch2 A Disappointing Morning
Andres awoke from his sleepless slumber as he slowly dragged himself out of bed. Andres never liked mornings and the fact that today was Monday didn't help much either. Sometimes it was hard to get up and get to work every day and thoughts about leaving town and society forever grew more and more frequent with each passing day. But today there was a reason to get up. Today would be his day in the spot light, although no one could know it was him, as the new master thief and most wanted pony in Equestria. With slow, sluggish movements Andres worked to make himself a decent breakfast before heading off into town to go back to work as a clerk at the local bank.
On his way he kept his ears open to hear what everypony was talking about and eyes open for a newspaper stand, the local one being the Trottingham Star. Along the way he heard conversations about the price of fish, the upcoming Winter Rap up festival, and even one or two about surprise parties planned for friends and upcoming dances. But no one was talking about his amazing and daring robbery last night.
As he continued to walk through town, he came across his friends Anon and Merlee. Perhaps friends was a strong word, Andres really didn't have any "Friends" but there were those whose acquaintance he preferred more than others. He stopped to give them a formal "Good day" or a "Hey guys what's happening" but all that escaped his lips was a soft "hello…"
The stallion and mare looked at him with amusement and Andres felt a ping of embarrassment. Here he wasn't Dusk the master thief, here he was Andres the gray haired and off color black mane stallion who could barely speak in coherent sentences, who had difficulty walking in a straight line outdoors, and whose own shadow seemed as though the sun itself was trying to ignore his existence. The only reason these ponies even acknowledged they knew him is that he met them at a night time social, otherwise known as a "party" and was able to make a good impression on them.
Anon was a loud mouth Pegasus whose idea of a good time included pulling mischief on ponies he didn't like and even more on ponies he did. Then when that was over, he spent the rest of his day bragging to everyone about what he did earlier and every single detail about how he set it up and what the intended outcome was and if he was going to do it again. He was not the best flyer ever seen, but it was rumored that he could talk so fast his mouth could break the sound barrier.
One of his more famous pranks included replacing Elliot Cuisine's (a local chef who worked at the deli in town) peanut butter with a spicy mustard sauce, causing every dish that included peanut butter to earn a three fire rating for heat and caused the ponies that ordered them to run out of the deli with a mouth full of flame. Oddly enough most came back and had another one and the spicy mustard sandwich was now one of the most popular local dishes in town. Needless to say this was not the outcome Anon had expected and soon he went on to claim that it was him that had started the whole thing. Not surprisingly no one believed him, except Merlee and Andres of course. Upon his flank a cutie mark of a brush rested, representing his talent for painting and portraits. A talent which he used mostly to make some of the finest graffiti in Equestria.
Andres has never been sure why Merlee hung out with the two stallions, Andres being a slow witted, somewhat depressed pony and Anon being a loud mouth and obsessive compulsive prankster. He supposed Merlee could relate to him since both felt like a little out of place in society. Merlee liked to wear all dark colors (her favorite being a dark velvet red and rich purples which contrasted her bright pink skin to no end.) Her mane was dyed a dark blue, or at least it was today. The color of her mane changed as often as the weather and even when she chose a color everyone liked she would immediately change it as soon as she saved up enough bits for a different color of mane dye. She spoke with a soft, slightly harsh voice making every word seem like she was somehow disappointed in whatever action you just performed. Her favorite activities seemed to include sulking, grumbling, dyeing her mane, and enjoying the pain and misfortune of others. Since Anon usually caused that misfortune to others it was slightly easier to see how they tolerated one another, Anon's cheerfulness seemingly canceling out Merlee's darkness and pessimism. On the few times Andres saw her without a giant dark robe around her, hiding her from society's judgment, she had a glass bowl cutie mark, which confused Andres since he has never seen her make glass in the short time he has known her.
They were probably the only ponies aware of his split personality during night and day, which was discovered the first time they met at that fateful celebration. Dusk still remembered that evening. It was a fear years back, back when he didn't have anybody outside of family that he conversed with. It was a Friday night and the sun was setting on what was the Winter Wrap up celebration. He had arrived to help set up some of the tables and snacks for the ponies coming to have a fun night out with friends. Andres of course never liked social gatherings as he always seemed to be excluded from every group, even the nerds. This was the night he met Anon and Merlee and he still remembered their first adventure.