The Big City Blues

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    "Hold that pose, look at the Camera and smile" A flash of light and the small click on the camera and a picture was taken. Later the developed film would show a model with a name unimportant to Lens Flare wearing some dress from some kind of designer. He wasn't much into fashion but he was into the payment he received from his pictures from various ponies. From the newspaper to unknown sources asking for his services to photograph far away places.  As long as he was paid for his services he was happy.

    At the end of the session Lens shook hooves with the model and the designer informing him that his pictures would be delivered soon. In the corner a gleeful laugh from a small foal only a year old with a white pelt and light and dark spiked hair and tail playing with his toy pony. "Come on Frost lets go home!" At his fathers call Frost got up, put his plush pony on his back, and galloped over next to his father as he walked out the door with his gear in his bags and in then into his cart. Frost jumped in the front seat and rode home with his father through the busy streets of Manehatten. 

    Upon reaching their apartment building, Lens parked their cart in front and helped Frost down from the seat. Walking inside he checked the mail, an excited foal jumping behind him and fluttering his little wings asking "mommy?!" He of course was trying to ask if there had been a letter from his mother Glide Heart. "No son not today.." he said with a disappointed tone to his voice. Just bills and letters from the newspaper in the pile hovering in front of his face. 

    Once inside their small apartment Frost bolted in side holding his pony plushie in his mouth. Lens set down his camera gear on the sofa and headed to his dark room to develop his photos. He hung the last shoots photos up to dry and sighed. He was looking forward to a letter from his wife. I hope shes okay. He thought to himself mindlessly working with his photos. After that was done, he left his dark room and headed to the kitchen to cook up some dinner for him and Frost. 

[Draft Design]

Draft gave two solid knocks on the door to the small apartment. He was off-duty and out of uniform, appearing as a normal, forest-green pegasus. There was certainly no indication that he was part of the Rainlock Security Force, nor did there need to be. He wasn't here on official business.

Draft and Lens' mothers had been friends when the two were growing up, which by extension made them acquaintances. The two far from saw each-other regularly, but they knew each-other. And Draft had been at Lens' wedding, if that meant anything.

Why was he here again? Well, he had known Lens was in town and still hadn't paid a visit. But it was more than that. Draft had been having trouble getting along with his fellow guards ever since he and the major had a falling out. Ugh, he didn't even want to think back to that night. It was stupid.

The green pegasus wanted social interaction with someone outside of the Security Force. That was the real reason why he was here.

[Deleted]

    When the door opened it wasn't Lens Flare standing there but young Frost looking confused as to why there was a strange pony he had never seen before standing at their door. Tilting his head in confusion he fluttered his wings to look at Draft from eye level. He fluttered about him for awhile curiously poking at his armor and landing on his back to have a look at his mane. "Daddy!" Frost cried as he flew off of Draft and headed into the apartment.

    "I'm coming son hold on" called Lens as he walked out of the kitchen using his magic to levitate and carry his bowl and the food he was preparing inside to the door. Lens didn't immediately recognize the pegasus standing at the door and looked confused for a moment before remembering. "Draft! It's great to see you! What brings you around this part of manehatten?" He asked in polite conversation. To be honest he didn't know much about Draft and hadn't seen him in so long he felt slightly detached from him. "Please come in make yourself comfortable I'll get you something to drink." Lens opened the door and gestured toward the living room where Frost ran about the room holding a toy sword in his mouth pretending to be fighting on the battlefield. "boom! crash!" he cried as he swatted down his pretend foes.

[Draft Design]

((Just an FYI that Draft is out-of-uniform. Isn't wearing any armor.))

It wasn't Lens Flare who greeted Draft at the door, but rather his son. Draft knew from the census the Security Force had taken that Lens was living here with his son, and that Gilde was in Canterlot. "You're Frost Zone, right?" Draft asked, watching the curious foal as he floated in front of him before landing on his back. "Is your dad-"

The young pegasus beat him to the punch, however, calling for his father and darting back into the apartment. Not long after came Lens Flare. "Hey Lens." The blue unicorn didn't seem to recognize him at first, though that lasted only for a moment.

Draft glanced at the bowl Lens was levitating a moment before the unicorn beckoned him in. "Were you about to eat? I can come back another time," Draft spoke, stepping into the doorway. The sound of Frost Zone playing in the living room distracted him for a moment, but he soon turned back in Lens' direction. "I wouldn't want to interrupt."

[Deleted]

    "Oh No Draft we love to have company. It gets rather lonely around here. Would you want to stay for dinner?" He retreated into the kitchen to get a glass of water for draft and returned moments later still stirring the bowl. "We're having breakfast for dinner. Pancakes and orange juice!" Lens levitated the bowl into the kitchen to let the batter sit for a bit before cooking in up. "Frost here just loves to have breakfast for dinner." Frost looked up at the sound of his name and giggled in agreement with his father. 

    Lens took a seat on the sofa joined by Frost snuggling up against his dad. "Come and sit Draft tell me what brings you around here while we wait." Lens gestured toward the chair across from the sofa with a friendly smile on his face. It was always nice catching up with friends and passing the time. It was almost as if nothing was going on outside the doors of the apartment, and he liked it that way.

[Draft Design]

"I wouldn't mind. If it's no trouble of course." At least it was only pancakes. For something like that, he probably wouldn't be creating a lot of extra work to get another plate out.

Draft walked over to the indicated seat, doing a quick check to make sure he wasn't going to crush any toys or the like before sitting down. "I'd heard you were in town. And it'd been a while since we last saw each other so... I thought I'd catch up."

The pegasus looked at the camera equipment next to where Lens was sitting. "Been keeping busy with the photography?"

[Deleted]

    "As busy as you can be now a days. All there really is around to take pictures of is patrols and uniformed ponies." He quickly decided to change the subject to the recent events around town the little things heard around town. Gossip and idle chatter. Eventually reaching another part of the conversation he asked "What have you been doing to keep busy?" He motioned for Draft to follow him into the kitchen where he would resume preparing dinner for the three of them.

    He took down a pan and sprayed it with cooking spray before pouring on big globs of pancake batter as the sizzle and brown. "Any news about these Diamond dogs and when we can leave this dark and damp city? I'm feeling a nice vacation somewhere is in order." He flipped the pancakes revealing the warm golden brown cooked side and starting a new wave of sizzling from the cooking batter. The apartment was filling up with the smell of food making Frost antsy as he now joined the two adults in the kitchen curious as to what they were doing. He sniffed the air and smiled getting excited realizing his dad was cooking pancakes "Cakes!" he exclaimed in excitement. 

[Draft Design]

Draft blinked in awkward silence. He was, of course, one of those uniformed ponies, and he wasn't absolutely certain what Lens meant by that statement. The pegasus waited until he and Lens had arrived in the kitchen before speaking. "Patrolling," Draft stated, answering Lens' question about what he had been doing to keep busy. "Trying to keep the city safe."

"Last I heard the dogs hadn't decided to pack up and leave. And until they do, it isn't safe to leave the city. Don't think anypony would make it very far trying to get past their 'blockade'." Draft noticed Frost Zone entering the kitchen shortly after the smell of pancakes began to drift through the apartment. "'Sides, Manehattan's a lot nicer than you give it credit for. All things considered, I think the ponies here have had it much better off than the ones elsewhere in the kingdom. No one here's really had to experience the invasion first-hoof."

[Deleted]

    Serving up the pancakes and setting the plate on the table Lens looked at Draft and nodded in agreement. "Theres truth to that, but i guess this city is getting to me. My old house used to be much bigger. I also had a yard for my son and my wife by my side." He sighed sadly then shook his head putting a smile on his face. "On a lighter note Draft, dinner is ready, lets eat!" Lens put Frost in his booster seat and gave him a pancake and a sippy cup full of orange juice then took a seat himself. 

    "Anything exciting going on with you all? I heard about that gang with the Griffon leader attacking that pegasus and unicorn." He ate politely refraining from talking with food in his mouth while trying to keep Frost relatively clean. "Got anything important coming up? A scoop anywhere the newspaper could use?" His job required him to get pictures of important goings on in the city. What better resource than a member of the guard?

[Draft Design]

Draft took the seat opposite Lens, drowning his pancakes in syrup after the other had started eating. "You should take Frost to Manehattan Central Park," the pegasus responded as he cut into the food. "A thousand times nicer than a yard. And you don't have to mow it."

"The thing with the griffon's not surprising. They have have a tendency to be troublemakers. That's why their kingdom has such a large problem with crime. A few thugs is nothing compared to the triads they've got over there."

The Rainlock guard swallowed a bite of pancakes, following it with a gulp of orange juice to wash the syrup out of his mouth. "Don't have anything to share regarding scoops. Nothing that the papers don't know already anyway."

[Deleted]

    Taking a bite of his own pancakes he needed and listened. "You're right you should join us some time soon to take little Frost to the park" He picked up the fork Frost had thrown on the ground and returned it to the table. He was smart enough to bring extra forks for the little one. He handed it to him as he dove back into his pancakes. 

    "Shame about the news bit thought I could've had you on the front page!" he laughed. Lens took another stack of pancakes having finished his previous stack and enjoyed another bite. Frost at this point was getting feisty. He had heard the word "park" and was eager to go now. "Look like he would love to go. Plus it would be a little more fun catching up in the park instead of this crummy apartment." Lens looked around at the tiny apartment. The room was nicely lit but it felt small. Maybe it was the furniture. 

    Outside the stars gleamed almost as if things were starting to get better. It was getting late and Frost needed to get cleaned up for bed. He enjoyed having company around his age to talk to. Maybe Frost could stay up a little longer as long as he wasn't grumpy. He usually behaved himself when food or toys were involved. "How long are you willing to stay Draft? I enjoy your company."

[Draft Design]

"I'm off-duty for the rest of the night, though I wouldn't want to impose. I came over to visit, not overstay my welcome."

Draft couldn't avoid glancing over at Frost as he dropped his fork and squirmed in his booster seat. It was a good example of why Draft didn't particularly enjoy being around young children. It always felt awkward, watching them scream or make a mess and having to stand by quietly or do your best to ignore it.

"All things considered I think it's a nice apartment. And at a time like this, I think a lot of ponies would be thankful to have a place half this nice." It had come out hammy, but it was true, especially after what had happened in Canterlot. With the capital leveled, there were now more than a city's worth of ponies having to make-do with living conditions far worse than what Lens was experiencing.

[Red Charge]

Not a second after Draft said the last sentence a mighty explosion rocked the earth. All Draft could see was a bright flash of light and then feel a rumble beneath his hooves until suddenly, his hooves were no longer connected to the floor. Something that seemed very strange to the pegasus. He was still blinded by the white flash, what was going on? It was as though time had been moving in slow motion as he felt himself falling down, but time had a habit of catching up and a sharp blow to the back of the head knocked Draft out.

When the pegasus had awoken, he realized it was awfully dark around him. A sliver of flickering orange light immediately caught his eye and he had just come to realize his entire body was in pain, most of all his head. He was buried, the building had collapsed. Fortunately, the debris he was on was swiftly lifted by a couple more pegasi, Rainlock Pegasi. "We have one! This one's alive! By the Lady it's Draft! Hey buddy, can you hear me?" One of the pegasi rescuers asked, throwing the debris aside and landing in front of him.

"Get a medic here, we got a Rainlock down!" Another soldier called. The ponies around Draft helped him up once they ascertained there was no vertabrae damage. "Just scratches and bruises, knew you were one tough son of a Sea Serpent." One of his rescuers said, it was one of his old buddies, did that mean his old unit was there? Before he could even react to this, his old commander handed him a crossbow and a Rainlock Security cap. Seeming intent on diverting Draft's gaze from something off the side. Of course, naturally that was the first thing Draft looked at. Two paramedics standing over two body bags, one adult size... one foal sized... The same rumble that he escaped killed Lens and Frost.

"Eyes front soldier, we're dealing with a Diamond Dog breach! They've got blood bearers all over the area, we're holding them here until further orders now get it together!" His commander shouted, handing him a quiver of bolts.

"We got the group that blew you up, but we need to secure the area, go with Delta 3 and hold them back!"

[Draft Design]

Cutting through the flesh of a quiet, mildly pleasant evening came a massive blast. The stinging flash of bright light wiped his vision, leaving the pegasus blinded as the floor set forth an awful cacophony of discouraging rumbling. Soon there was no floor, and Draft was in free fall. It was like the walls of a dream had been torn apart, leaving the helpless pegasus slowly falling through the white abyss. But soon his head had hit something, and in an instant dark unconscious had swallowed everything.

Consciousness returned, though the darkness stayed. With it came pain throughout his body. Especially his head, which was dazedly trying to pick up the broken pieces of what had just happened and where he was.

Buried. In the rubble of Lens' apartment building. And so was-

The debris above him was soon lifted by a pegasus... Rainlock pegasus; looking for survivors. Draft kept still while they examined him before helping him up, the gears in his head now beginning to turn at full speed. This was his old crew. Here was his old commander, handing the Rainlock guard a cap and a crossbow. The dogs had attacked. The building had collapsed with him in it. Where were Lens and Frost?

A glance to the side answered the question in a heartbeat. Draft stared at the body-bags in stupefied silence, his brain blocking his thoughts from processing a reaction. His commander's voice snapped him back into reality. He was a Rainlock, with orders to follow. Questions, reactions, those had to wait. "Aye, sir!" he answered, putting on the security cap and taking the quiver.

The pegasus loaded his crossbow as he followed the rest of Delta 3. Manehattan would fend off the assault, force every dirt-ridden mutt into death, retreat, or surrender. Rainlock would make sure of it. He would make sure of it.