Awoken 3: An Endless Nightmare

Chapter 8: Mass Murder?

(Excuse any errors in this chapter, it's really late and I was half asleep while editing, oops.)

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Strife.ink is temporarily closed, sorry for any inconvenience. -

- Said the hastily made sign on the door of Strife.ink, the words scrawled out in messy cursive. Goddamnit. Did I really come all this way for nothing? A trip back to Manehatten now would be an awfully long train ride...

I cursed under my breath, knocking at the door. There was no answer. The store was dark, and so was the apartment above. So much for having a conversation with Tyra. It's pretty strange for Strife.ink to be closed at this time, the store hours schedule in the window said that it should be open. The sign doesn't look professional at all, so my guess is that she just went out to get some things. She has to come back at some point... I guess I'll just wait.

I sat down on the sidewalk, leaning up against the window and peering into the shop. My own reflection stared back at me, and I put my hoof up to the glass to stop the glare.

Beside me, a mare put two hooves up on the windowsill and did the same as me, looking a little worried.

"Are you looking for Strife too?" I asked quietly.

She nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, I have something important to tell her, but she must have already left..."

"Left? Left to go where?"

The pale blue pegasus looked over at me, pushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "The mall, I think. She told me that's where she was going."

"The mall...? She left her parlor unattended to go shopping?"

She grimaced, averting her gaze. "Sort of..." She raised her hoof and banged on the door a few times, then cursed quietly under her breath.

"Wait so, the Cloudsdale mall, right?"

The other pony nodded, her burgundy eyes shifting from side to side, not paying much attention to me. "Yeah. But if I were you, I wouldn't go anywhere near there."

"Huh? Why not?"

She rubbed the back of her neck and shook her head. "Just... Don't go. And tell everypony you know not to go there either."

I looked her up and down. "Tell me why."

She glanced up at me, shaking her head sadly. "I'm sorry. Just please stay away from there-"

"What's your name?" I cut in.

She paused for a moment. "... Silent Spark... I'm Silent Spark."

I narrowed my eyes, remembering back to the newspaper article. "... Silent Spark... From the CCPA. You helped manufacture that new numbing syringe..."

She gulped, nodding slightly.

I looked her over again, taking in her nervous stance and worried expression. "Well... Then I hope you know exactly what you've done..."

She blinked in surprise, a look of fear and guilt making its way into her eyes.

"I'll come back..." I hissed, taking off at a run. "I don't have time to deal with you. Right now I have to stop whatever's planned to happen at the mall from happening in the first place..."

I launched myself into the air. The mall is in the upper part of Cloudsdale, on the opposite side, too. I don't know how long ago Tyra left, but she'll definitely be there before I will. Let's just hope I'm not going to be too late...