A great clang of thin metal and shuffling of rushing ponies milled Amissus from his sleep. He groaned, stretching as he did, and blinked at least two dozen times to shake the sleep from them. His back and backside were coming alive, giving him the 'pins-and-needles' feeling through a thick numbness. He'd fallen asleep in his chair against the wall, and now he awoke lifting his face off the table. The sunlight through the window next to him was grey. He turned his weak sight out the window, glimpsing at the waning storm in its final moments; which now was nothing more than a weathered attempt to wring the last water drops from the clouds. The streets were still filled with water, but not river-like as last night was.
Again, clanging racked his early morning mind. His eyes adjusted to being awake, he scanned around the room for the noise. It was heard again: coming from the kitchen door. The door then opened and a large-set mare, blue and apron-draped, backed out to behind the counter. She had a pan of many pastries in her mouth which she began to sort and fill the display case with. The delicate swirls and waves of the many colors of icing atop all these varied cakes had made these, inarguably, prime display pieces. Amissus, in his morning haze, watched her in mesmerized laziness as she set the display case full of these colors, giving new light to the dead air. She stepped away from task for a moment, creeping back into the kitchen halfway, and came back to finish the task.
The door opened again, louder than before which took away the spellbinding over Amissus. A heavy aroma filled his nose, making him find the 'breakfast' waiting for him under it. Pinkie Pie sat to his left on the wider part of the table, putting her facing his right.
"Morning, table-snoozer!" She greeted with a poke of fun. She had brought him a sort of bread, filled with a brown jelly. It didn't look appetizing. "I made this for you for breakfast. I had to get up super early so I didn't get in Mr. and Mrs. Cake's way." Amissus then felt obligated to - he felt a gag coming - eat it. It smelled too sweet, it looked oozy, and Amissus's will had yet to awake to tackle.
"Thank you…Pinkie…" He said slowly, trying not to breathe in any more of the suffocating aroma. She still stared at him, expecting a bite. Amissus grimaced away from her as not to be rude. He leaned down for the bite after bracing himself. A chomp later and he tasted it in all its 'glory.' His tongue shot into the roof of his mouth, tasting the choking sweetness. He held it there, unsure of what he would let his body do next. He swallowed then…a moist lump burned its way down through him. He held his reaction as Pinkie watched him. He gave a brief smile and a nod, hoping that it would draw her away from him with her self-satisfaction.
"You don't like it, do you?" She asked with a frown.
"It's…sweet." He told her reassuringly.
She looked down at the attempt at a meal for him. "I guess I overdid it. I can tell when somepony doesn't like something."
"I…I just don't…like sweet food." He told her while searching for the right words.
"I should've known you didn't like sweet things." She had a tone of self-scolding.
"Well we haven't really had the time to talk. Also, I haven't been eating as well as I should've been." He made up excuses to spare her pride.
"I'll finish it." Taking the plate, she looked up at the door as someone knocked. Looking to Amissus, she began to rise but he rose quicker and said "I'll get it, you eat."
She lowered again and Amissus made his way around the tables to the door as the pony knocked again. Amissus opened the top half to uncover a lean stallion in a purple rain slicker. His coat was a dark teal, similarly colored mane thinly falling out under his rubbery rain hat. His face had a sarcastic look to it, like he had something to hide and places to be. He and Amissus stared at one another for a few seconds onward to a full moment. Amissus glanced down then back, wondering what he wanted.
"Can we help you?" He said with hesitation.
"Yeah, I'm looking for some guy calling himself 'Amissus.'" He spoke too quickly.
"I…I'm Amissus." He told him having to double think.
"Yeah…here ya' are." He shoved his hoof into the inside of his slicker and pulled out a folded sheet, thrusting it at him.
Taking the paper, he opened it:
Amissus,
Come to the library. Now.
I've found something that you need to see.
-TS
Amissus, crumpling the paper angrily, tossed it away, not wanting to follow its message through and thusly defeating the purpose of this pony's time. He looked around, as if waiting Twilight herself to appear in anger of his infraction. But the only ones around were he and the other stallion, oddly standing there.
"Do you need something else?" Amissus spat at him.
"Yeah, uh, can I get a cupcake?"
…
The stallion got his cake from Pinkie while Amissus, walking passed him as she did, stood in front of Sugar Cube Corner alongside his uncertainty if he should actually meet Twilight's request. The standing water sloshed around as he paced from end to end of the face of the wide building, the roads empty and the sun still blinded by the overcast, calculating. He knew it'd be best to, finding out what Twilight had uncovered, but he didn't want it to be Twilight who he'd have to face. Did he fear her in the common sense? Of course not; but she was vastly better than he in anything trivial that could come to mind, especially in a debate. She had an entourage of influential friends and direct contact with the princess of the country. And he wondered and worried if she, too, was more adept in magic than him. The entire prospect was looming over him now: to meet up with a pony he knew was superior to him and had information he wanted.
It was like walking into a pit and pulling the stone slate over the only way out. He was descending into an ever deeper trap of this town. He couldn't pull himself away because, well, what was said was true. He had nowhere else to go, even if he could escape. The six ponies that he'd met were the only ones he even knew the names. It all came down to this gamble of meeting with Twilight today, walking into a possible time trap taking away this life he had to find the one he'd lost: A lifetime to find a lifetime.
He took strides over the water towards where he believed the library was. A trapped lead was better than no lead. If he had to waste his life, perhaps he wouldn't be the only one to waste it. He could have Twilight's life wasted as well. If he must fall, then he would pull her down too-No, no, no! The thoughts that came troubled him, almost as much as his 'hatred of the sun.' He couldn't do that to somepony who genuinely wanted to help him, no matter his doubts about who they actually were. Perhaps this mystery would solve itself, quicker than the time he spent pointing it out to himself. He would know what to do when he met Twilight, trap or no trap, resolution or not. But he remembered that this was the mare who'd kept him here, who'd sabotaged any escape by commanding these five others to keep him under watch. If he was gone, the alarm would be raised. With their collective effort, it'd be a miracle if he managed a day escaped; any more time was fantasy. If this is what he had to go through, he needed some encouragement to kick him into it.
…
He felt the coin he held, the only had one left. Twilight's money was as good as any, but he'd been reserved about actually buying anything 'useful.' But what he sought was more useful to him right now than any other commodity. He was walking to an alleyway in what he assumed to be about the midpoint of his trip, he scanned it to its open end. He saw nothing was there and turned away like the others he had passed walking here, but…
"Hic!"
A hiccup echoed shortly in the alley. Amissus followed the sound to the middle, where a dumpster full of garbage hid three homeless ponies. Two of them were opposite the dumpster and passed out atop one another. The third, a faded pink of a coat and the strong smell of liquor, was awake.
"Hic! What d'you –hic- want?" She slurred.
"Do you have any more drink?" He asked.
"Oh yeah…" She smiled devilishly. "Take a –hic! - Take a look." She began to pull bottle after bottle of full liquor from under the dumpster.
"I'll take one."
She chuckled as she slurred "Which one? What're'you –hic- goin' for? I got-" She glanced at her selections. "-some for 'telling your girlfriend off,' some for –hic- 'look at me mommy, I'm not a failure,' or how'bout 'this is the last bottle, I swear?'"
"Anything for 'just before you have to do something don't want to do?'"
"Y'sure it's not the 'telling your girlfriend off' one? Hic!"
"I'm sure."
"Are we talkin'-" She suppressed a hiccup. "-murder?" She whispered, already selecting a bottle.
"No! No." He quickly said.
"Alright then, you want this'n" She handed him a generously-sized bottle with the label 'Punch Brew 'Talk&Drink.'' "How'll you be pay'n?" She asked.
"I only have one bit…" He expected rejection.
"That'll do." She took the coin he flipped to her and caught his surprised look. "I don' ask for much. I n'ver 'ave. How d'you think they paid? They'd no money." Amissus quickly let their payment method sink in for a moment before being shocked. "And I got to watch them after they're done pay'n." She laughed. "To a fine p'chase! Hic!" She took a swallow of an already open bottle as Amissus, awed that in such a town that would happen, walked away quickly. As he left, he uncorked the bottle and took a sip, then a swig. Soon he was on his way, shakily, to the library to meet that unicorn.
…
"Twilight!" He pounded on the door and waited. When nothing happened, he again hit the door. "Twilight, I'm here!" Still nothing answered. Amissus dropped himself onto the barely raised step of the library. He sat against the door and uncorked the bottle, still having most of its concoction, and downed a bit. He let the taste sit as he closed his eyes and sighed, exhaling from his nostrils. He swallowed and rested his head against the soft wood of the door. "You're the one who wanted me to come." He quietly said to an imaginary Twilight. "You said you found something and now you don't want to show me? That's why we have trust issues between you and I-" He again drank. "You say 'Amissus, don't run away.' 'Amissus, write down something and I'll tell you it's important.' 'Amissus, I found something but now I'm suddenly too busy to help you. But of course I'd be happy to help you when you don't need it and I'll force you to need it, Amissus!'" He became angrier as he made his imaginary Twilight talk. He then began to chuckle in his throat, deep and silent to the rest of the ponies who walked about; he was amused by this illusion of his, like a filly with a puppet. He smiled as he realized that he made things a little better, when nothing was, by a little mockery.
"Is that you talking down there?!" A stark voice from above rained. Amissus tilted his head almost straight up to see the purple dragon that followed Twilight almost everywhere hanging out the window above the door.
"Hey look, a fat birdy!" He laughed, letting a little bit of happiness fill him.
"By Celestia, you're drunk aren't you?"
"Not yet!" He quickly said, rather loudly, in reply. It wasn't known to him that he was drawing a few viewers onto his antics as he took another drink.
"Geez…I better let you in."
"You do that! I'm just goin' stay here and take a load off until you get here." He lazily said as Spike retreated from the window.
"Sir!" A third voice, male, called, full of authority. "Public drinking is illegal! Move on!" The accuser, a lightly grey coated pegasus guard, demanded.
"Calm down there, I was just going inside."
"You've been loitering here for almost half an hour!" He pushed a hoof forward, making his sliver armor clank together.
"Yeah, so? I'm going inside." He said while gesturing to the door, which he hoped opened soon.
"I'm sick of you damned drunks just about, spoiling the town. I have half a mind to arrest you right now! Look at your wing, even! Did that happen in one of your drunken brawls?" He began to hint at a small concern through his taunting as he pointed to Amissus's hanging wing.
"Day!" A familiar voice called. The stallion, apparently named 'Day,' quieted down for. Soon after the voice came Penn Swift.
"Penn…I…"
"What're you doing harassing one of my pieces?" She came close to him threateningly.
"You're writing about this drunk?!"
"Of course: He's front page news! You'd know that if you ever cared enough to read my articles! Or even read at all!"
"Darling, I'm sorry! I didn't know the drunk was-"
"And stop calling him a 'drunk!' He's a drinker. Although I didn't expect him just drinking straight from the bottle…" She said as Amissus, amused at the scene that he'd caused, took yet another drink. The door unbolted behind them as Spike pulled it just far enough for Amissus to back up through.
"Hey, thanks Penn! I guess I owe you a line!" Amissus parted with those words as the door shut the crowd out, Penn's voice still yelling at Day, and Spike reset the bolt. Amissus turned and walked unsteadily to the stairs to sit, bottle to his lips. Spike leaped up and snatched it, causing some liquor to dribble onto the floor. "What'd you do that for?!" Amissus, now without his comfort, whined.
"Twilight said no alcohol in the library." He climbed the stairs and onto a few ledges until he stood by an open window. He then poured out the remaining half of the bottle's content.
"Damn it! I needed that!"
"You don't need it." Spike said, dropping the bottle, too, out the window.
"It took that much just for me to get here!" He yelled at Spike as he descended.
"Yeah? Well you can sit and wait for Twilight without it."
"And just where is the 'Grand Librarian?'"
"She's attending to something."
"And that would be…?" He egged him on.
"She-she didn't tell me." He said quietly.
"Oh look here! Forbid me to actually find out something for once!" He said looking into the ceiling. He then flopped down and lay still. "I give up. I'm finished. You took my liquor and my hope of finding out where Twilight was. Did she even say when she would be back?"
"Sometime this afternoon, I'd guess."
"You'd guess?"
Spike remained silent for a long while. Amissus rested his head as he began his withdrawal. He heard the claws of Spike shamble to the other end of the room to the door.
"I'm going out for a walk."
Amissus had the urge to go outside again, feeling that a walk would do him good. "I think I'll come too."
"That may be a problem." Spike told him as he stepped out of the doorway to the outside.
"Why?" Amissus saw it then: a slight shimmer all around the door and everywhere else outside.
"Twilight put a spell on the library so that any pony who enters can't leave. I'm free to go because…well, I'm a dragon."
"You…!" Amissus screamed as he forced both hoofs onto the magic in the doorframe, making him lean there on an invisible board, staring at the dragon leaving him in this trap. "Spike! Get back here!" Spike began strolling with an unbound mockery towards Amissus, stopping short of his grasp.
"Maybe if you're good, I'll come back with some friends." His voice split its way into his ears with its condescending tone.
"Maybe if I burn this tree down, I'll come and kick your pointy teeth in." Amissus replied with a shallow, absorbing rage.
"No magic in the library. Twilight made sure of that."
"Then the books will be-"
"The shelves are sealed. Twilight takes every precaution before she leaves." He began to walk away with the crowd of ponies from before as Amissus slammed the door, rocking the tree and setting the magic to glow as it steadied the tree's swaying.
Amissus opened himself to scream from this aggravation, but nothing came. The rage was gone, slipped away from him. A pressure put on him, light, undemanding, drove him to sit. The pressure increased, not by much, but it had him continue to lie down. Then the full force of whatever was doing this slammed his body down and had him pinned, unmoving. He struggled futilely against it with his bare strength; his wing between himself and the pressure caused him to cease almost as soon as he began, the pain quickly unbearable. He attempted some sort of magic, not knowing what it would do, but his horn's glow fizzed away. Spike's words of 'no magic in the library' jumped his anger, but like his rage, it was taken. There he was left, an apathetic hostage. The pressure didn't only push down, but all his prayer wouldn't prevent it from squeezing his sides. Every breath out was another inch. Every breath in was shallower than the last. The situation was escalating as slowly as he could hold his breath until his lungs forced him to cycle his air. His mind was beginning to weigh down, and the familiar black around his sight greeted him into unconsciousness as a white hoof stepped into his view as it, too, was taken.