//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Wrath (8 hours Until Dawn) Part 1 // Story: Blackhoof Mountain // by DeskManiac //------------------------------// 11:06 p.m. ~ 8 Hours Until Dawn Starlight ran as fast as she could, coughing and stopping at intervals to catch her breath. The trail she has been chasing has went on for about an hour now, and the footprints seemed to never end. Starlight was beginning to wonder if this has all been a ruse. A fake trail left behind to lure her farther into the woods. But Starlight wasn’t afraid. The only one who needs to be afraid was the one messing with her and her friends. She was going to give whoever it is such a beat down they won’t be playing any more jokes after this. Starlight finally stopped when she saw where the trail ends: a mine. Starlight stood facing the dark mine, huffing and puffing from all the running she’s done. But she regretted nothing. She was finally one step closer to finding the culprit. Starlight peeked into the mine. It was a 5 feet drop from up there, but some simple levitation should do the trick. As Starlight prepared a levitation spell, she heard a familiar voice behind her. “Starlight…” Spike was out of breath when he found Starlight. “Oh my gosh! Spike!” She ran to him, catching him in her hooves. “I thought you went back to the lodge!” Spike continued to breathe in heavily. “Spike, you shouldn’t have followed me. You should have just went back to the lodge to Twilight. I can handle things on my own.” Spike raised a finger in protest, but needed one more breath before being able to speak proper sentences. “Which was why I followed you…” Spike inhaled once more. “What am I supposed to tell Twi if I left you behind? She’d go crazy looking for you.” Starlight frowned at Spike. She wanted him to be safe, which was why she ran off alone in the first place. She thought Spike would've went back to the lodge to tell the others, since it was a way shorter path. But here he is now. “Spike, you have to go back. I know Twilight will lose it but I can take care of myself, but you?” Upon hearing that sentence, Spike scowled and pushed her away from him. “I can take care of myself just fine. I’m not just some baby dragon you all treat me to be.” Starlight couldn’t help but show helplessness and guilt on her face. Spike continued, “I’m just worried about you, ok?” Looking momentarily away from Spike, Starlight fought for words to say. “Fine. But be careful.” Starlight hadn’t hoped that this would happen, but she had no choice but to let Spike follow her. After levitating Spike and herself down into the shaft, they began to look around. 20 minutes went by and there weren’t much to see but pickaxes and mine carts left behind by ponies who used to work there. After taking a wrong turn at a junction, they stumbled upon the ‘nest’, or as Starlight called it. It was at the end of a sealed tunnel. A deer’s skull, a large jacket, a bottle of whisky, books and a cigarette tray furnished the humble home in the mines. “Well someone’s been living here,” Spike commented. Starlight agreed and quickly set to work. She studied the jacket first. The pockets had some shotgun bullets and scrunched up paper, but nothing useful that could point out the perpetrators identity. After shaking of the odor from the jacket, she proceeded to read the books. One was a little guidebook on mythical creatures and the other was a badly scribbled notebook. The dates were inconsistent and the entries didn’t make sense at all. There were also a repeatedly scribbled ‘W’ word on all the pages but Starlight couldn’t read it because of all the other words written on it. There were also many drawings of long-legged ponies that she just couldn’t understand. Maybe all this just reflected the sanity of the pony living in the mines. The whisky bottle and ash in the cigarette tray suggest the occupant was a drinker and a smoker, but other than that, still no ground breaking discoveries. Starlight let out a long sigh and slumped to the ground. She was hoping they would find more but that’s all it seems. She put her head in her hooves and started to moan. Just then, Spike popped up from behind her, really happy. “Starlight! Look what I found!” Hoping Spike would have found some interesting clues again, Starlight was most certainly disappointed at what he had to show her. “Look! Dynamites!” Spike held them in his hands. Starlight looked at him with indescribable disdain. “Think we could blow stuff up with these cool babies?” Spike snickered. “SPIKE!” Starlight shouted, “We are supposed to be looking for clues! Not play with explosives!” She couldn’t believe all Spike did was find a few sticks of gunpowder. She was simply frustrated at his lack of focus and concentration. They were already so far behind the culprit, how can Spike waste precious time like this? But deep down, she was mad at herself for not finding anything either. “Yeesh fine, I’ll put them back.” Spike said as he walked away. “No.” Starlight placed her head in her hooves again. “I’m sorry. I’m just mad we didn’t find anything.” Spike walked over and knelt next to her. “Hey, it’s ok. We still have the rest of this tunnel to explore. What’s the rush?” Starlight smiled and then frowned at his statement. She was glad she had a friend like him to cheer her up, but she was also in a hurry to find some clues. After flashing a another brief smile at Spike, she felt that she was able to go on again. “Alright Spike, let’s keep going. We’ll find something eventually.” “That’s the spirit!” Spike cheered in response. And so Starlight continued to lead the way, going deeper and deeper into the dark mines. Spike followed closely behind, still clutching a piece of dynamite in his hands. 11:27 p.m. “Discord! DISCORD!” Twilight was galloping at full speed, but she was still far behind the draconequus. Discord hasn’t stopped since he left the lodge and he wasn’t planning to stop now. “Dis- Urgh” Twilight teleported in front of him. “Why are you avoiding me? What the hay were you saying back there?” Discord didn’t respond, he just moved her to the side and continued walking. “Hey!” Twilight teleported in front of him again, but this time he looked down at her with a rather unamused look. “Stop playing games with me Discord! I want an explanation now!” Twilight shouted. Discord simply maintained the expression he had on his face. Finally, he spoke up. “I don’t feel like talking to a pony that judges me all the time.” Crossing his arms, he held his head away from Twilight, showing that he was disgusted by her presence. “WHAT?” Twilight’s face burned. She has heard many ridiculous things from that idiot before, but this was by far the stupidest thing he has ever said. “I said I don’t feel like talking to a pony that judges me ALL THE TIME.” Discord continued walking, arms crossed and head slouched. Twilight teleported in front of him once again. “Is this what this is all about? Some petty feelings of what I think of you?” Immediately, Discord turned around and snapped back at her. “First of all, YES. This is because of my petty feelings. And second of all, I am sick of being judged for doing nothing wrong.” Discord’s breathing quickened with every word he had to force through his gritted teeth. He felt he was about to lose it at any moment now. Twilight thought it was ridiculous. Rainbow Dash went missing because he kept important information to himself. Knowing that information, they could’ve done something to prevent Rainbow’s disappearance. If Discord wasn’t to blame, who else? Fluttershy? Twilight cleared her throat. She was about to start lecturing him, “Well-” “What did you expect me to do?!” Discord burst into a fit of rage shouting, “Tell everyone to pack their bags because Fluttershy’s little bird friend told her to?” Twilight blinked heavily. She was stunned. “I didn’t want to disturb anyone! I was trying to let everyone have a quiet night to themselves! No interruptions! No shenanigans!” She has never seen him upset, much less this agitated before. Discord took a deep breath, “I just wanted to stay out of YOUR mane for once!” Twilight continued to fixate her stare on Discord, not knowing what to say. She never really thought of things that way before, she had always assumed that Discord was trying to pull a fast one on everybody. Discord bit his tongue, tears trickling from his eyes. “I DIDN’T WANT RAINBOW DASH TO GO MISSING!!” Silence followed as Twilight stared into Discord’s tear filled eyes for the longest time. She felt defeated. Wrong. Judgemental. She couldn’t, and didn’t feel that she deserved to say anything to him. Discord wiped his own tears with his paw, he couldn’t believe how big of a baby he was being in front of Twilight. He looked at her again, and all over her face was the sympathy and remorse she felt for him. Discord looked away. He never really knew how to deal with his emotions, or how to talk about it. He always hid it under his care-free troublemaker facade. And now... Discord didn’t say another word. He flew away. “Discord!” Twilight called out, “DISCORD!” He flew further and further away from her, eventually disappearing into the mist. Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”