//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The Chronicles of Dark Star: A Blade of Redemption // by D4ftP0ny //------------------------------// As far back as his memory could stretch, Dark Star remembered hearing stories about the forest; stories that were always full of danger and darkness, stories that warned him and other young ponies like him to never, EVER stray into the forest after dark because of the dangerous things that lurked there. As far as he could tell, the stories hadn’t changed that much in a thousand years, even if the world itself had- most forests, including both the one he had lived in and the one through which he now walked, were free of any dark magic that would twist them and make them any more dangerous than anywhere else in Equestria. There were some forests, of course, that were still full of magic and danger, the Everfree Forest being the most magical and dangerous of them all, but as far as he could tell the fear of forests in general hadn’t slackened in the time he’d been gone. He would be the first to admit that when he had moved into his forest home far to the south, the very atmosphere of the forest had taken some getting used to- that feeling that you were never quite alone, that you were always being watched by unseen eyes was quite disconcerting and more difficult to get rid of than Dark had thought it would be. However, living there had given him a sense of peace in the woods that he would not have thought possible before, and even though he knew that he hadn’t exactly become a dyed-in-the-wool forestry pony by any means, he felt confident in the knowledge he had gleaned from his time there. And it was because of that experience that he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was being followed as he picked his way along a half-hidden path in the forest. He had been walking for almost an hour when he had first noticed the sensation of being watched, and it had taken all of his willpower not to stop and glance around to try and find the creatures who were watching him; but he refrained, and kept walking at the same steady pace that he had been, making his way slowly into the heart of the forest to the west of Clyde’s Dale. The stallion had been very tempted to simply dismiss the sensation as typical forest paranoia, as he had experienced when he’d first moved into the woodlands… but it was the very time he’d spent there that made him sure that this wasn’t in his mind. It was a horribly uncomfortable feeling, like somepony was pressing against the back of his head ever so gently; it made the hairs at the base of his mane stand on end, and made him want to run a hoof over it to make sure it wasn’t caught on anything- however, again he refrained. After all, giving away that he was feeling uncomfortable may tip those watching him off. After several hours of picking his way through the forest, he began to search the trees clandestinely for any signs of his followers; he never raised his head too high, always allowing his hood to hide his eyes as he scanned his surroundings with the practiced eyes of a soldier used to being suspicious of everything… and to his absolute frustration, he couldn’t see anything. No broken branches, no fleeting shadows, no moving bushes, nothing to give the eyes watching him an identity. The former General felt his frustration growing as he continued following the rough path before him. After all, it wasn’t every day that a pony could claim to be able to hide from Dark Star when he set his mind to finding them. If this wasn’t so annoying, I’d honestly be impressed, he thought sourly as he stepped over a large fallen log in the path. They clearly have knowledge of forestry that I- A barely audible snick! was the only warning he received as his hoof tripped a cleverly concealed piece of nearly-transparent thread on the other side of the log. The string, which had until contact with his hoof been stretched taut, dislodged from the small twig holding its far end and zipped into the underbrush to his right. Dark barely had time to wince when he heard a rustling sound over his head, and before he could even hope to try and avoid it a large net fell from the shadows of the boughs above him, flopping onto him with such force that it sent the large stallion to his side with a grunt. What in the name of..?! The net was huge, easily three times large enough to capture him, which meant that it wasn’t there specifically to capture him… however, it did a perfectly good job of doing so, and somehow knowing that he had blundered into a trap set for anypony and everypony irritated him even more. Way to go, Dark Star, he thought as he struggled against the net. Let’s just go waltzing through the forest, ignoring the landscape, shall we?! The net was made of heavy coarse rope, and from the way it was taut against his coat, Dark guessed that it was weighted on the corners, possibly all along the edges to properly pin any unsuspecting idiot who blundered into it. Just like me, he thought irritably. The black stallion gritted his teeth and threw his weight against the net, struggling with all his might as he tried to get his legs beneath him. If he could get his legs beneath him, he could create some space between himself and the infernal web of rope pinning him down… but try as he might he could not right himself. He exhaled sharply, a sound that was closer to a snarl than a sigh; his horn lit up, blazing with midnight blue light as he took hold of his sword and tried to draw it. The net, however, had other plans; the ropes were laced together just tightly enough that the hilt of Dark Star’s sword fit about halfway into one of the spaces between them before snagging at the crossbar and refusing to go any further, jamming halfway out of the scabbard. “Oh for the love of the Moon,” Dark growled; he gave his head a sharp jerk to the side, causing the sword to slam against the ropes, but no matter how hard he tried his sword wasn’t going anywhere; the closeness of the ropes ensured that he would be unable to use his blade to free himself from this ridiculous predicament. Deprived of his blade the unicorn felt a small sliver of panic slide into his mind as he struggled against the ropes, wriggling for all he was worth for several long moments. This is completely unacceptable! I can’t believe this is happening- after all my training, all of my time spent mastering… Suddenly he stopped himself, and allowed his muscles to relax as a solution whirled out of the back of his mind and landed squarely on his nose. With a roll of his eyes he slid his sword back into the sheath and the blue of his magic leaped from the hilt of the blade to the net surrounding him, bathing him in brilliant blue light. With a sharp flick of his horn, Dark Star sent the offending web of rope flying off of himself and away to the side of the path, where it neatly tied itself into a knot around a tree trunk. The stallion rose to his hooves casually, giving his mane and cloak a good shake to rid them both of the twigs and leaves that littered the path; with a disgruntled sigh he forced himself to keep his eyes straight ahead instead of glancing around to see if anypony had seen what had just transpired, and after a moment he pulled his hood over his head and began walking again. That was a stupid, stupid trap to fall into, he thought angrily. I shouldn’t have let my guard down. Again, he resisted the urge to glance behind him and kept his eyes focused on the path ahead of him. I guess I should be grateful that none of the other Generals were around to see that… Wild would never have let me hear the end of it… He shook his head slightly as a pang of regret resounded in his chest at the thought of his old comrades. The lament his heart sang for what had transpired between himself and Luna was something totally apart from the guilt he felt where Morninglight, Wild Wings and Shooting Star were concerned, but he knew that it would eventually have to be dealt with; just as he would have to face his punishment from Celestia when he went back, so too would he have to face his one-time friends again… and the very thought brought a sour taste to the back of his throat. But not now; that is something to deal with at another time. With a sigh, Dark pushed the thoughts of his former comrades from his mind as he continued on into the deep forest. It won’t do to lose my concentration again. He smirked. After all… the next trap might not be so benign. ~*~*~*~ Someday, I’ll get tired of being right, Dark Star thought wryly. He had no way of knowing exactly how much time had passed since he’d fallen victim to the net, but he knew it had to have been at least two hours of walking… and in that time he had triggered more traps than he could ever have imagined. Not even a hundred yards down the path from the first trap was a pitfall, cleverly covered with a woven mat of branches that completely disguised it, making it indistinguishable from the rest of the landscape. If Dark had placed his full weight onto it, he would have been trying to pick himself up from the bottom of a twenty-foot deep pit, and probably with a broken leg. He had, thankfully, been poking along at a much more sedate pace and had not fallen headlong into it. After that, it seemed to Dark that he had run a seemingly endless gauntlet of traps. After the pitfall had been another trip line, which when triggered had sent a large log swinging down at him. Then there had been another pit, but this time it had been filled with large sharpened pikes- clearly meant to kill whoever fell in. The next had been a branch, pulled back taut and covered in spikes; then two logs that swung down from opposite sides of the path to squash their prey between them. On and on and on the traps went, until Dark could barely go ten feet without triggering SOMEthing that tried to kill him. He knew that these traps were meant to kill, not detain. He knew that somepony did not want him continuing on this path, and he knew that any sane, rational pony would have turned back ages ago instead of tempting fate and pressing their skills to the limits just trying to stay alive… …but Dark Star was not your typical sane, rational pony, and he had given his word that he would do his best to find the ponies who had vanished here. No matter how difficult that is proving to be, he thought with a sigh. He stepped cautiously over a log, checking every angle about him carefully before continuing down the path, his eyes darting from one side to the other; his gaze ranged from the dirt and leaves before him to the brush on either side of him and even up to the low-hanging branches about him- one of the swinging traps had been set to trigger when a particular branch was brushed out of the way of the path, and had very nearly impaled him. I have to give it to whomever set up these traps… they’re no amateurs. The traps on the path had slowly but surely gotten more and more complex, as well as harder to detect. The pitfall after the first trip wire had been well concealed enough to almost send him plunging into it head-first, and if he hadn’t already been alert to the possibility of such a trap he would most certainly have done just that. The thin weave of branches had been covered in leaves and other detritus from the forest floor, just as much of the barely-forged path was, and only a very slow, delicate step had saved him from a very nasty fall. The next trap had been a surprise as well; this time the wire had been completely hidden in the brush and connected to a small branch beneath a camouflaged piece of wood. When Dark had stepped on it, the branch had snapped, releasing the thread that had sent the swinging log hurtling towards him. Even the pitfall trap after that had surprised him. A large tree had fallen across the path, blocking it with a myriad of branches- a perfect place for any number of wire traps, leading to who knew what painful end. Dark Star had skirted the tree… only to find a pitfall trap near the exposed roots of the tree. He hadn’t seen it coming in the least, and only a quick levitation spell had saved him from being impaled on the jagged spikes at the bottom. He’d never seen or even heard of some of the techniques used to spring traps in these woods, and most he was quite sure had been made up on the spot to suit the surroundings. I guess I really can’t blame Downdraft for not wanting his citizens to come in here, he thought as he plodded slowly along, his eyes flicking between the path and the trees around him. This place is certain death if you let your guard down. He looked up into the canopy of the forest and to the sky beyond it, where the sun was beginning to sink in the western sky. He thought it prudent to try and estimate how much time he had left before Celestia’s daylight abandoned him entirely and left him in this carnival of death alone, and by his best reckoning he had perhaps two hours of light left, then a half hour or so of twilight before full darkness would consume him amidst these trees. Night fell swiftly in the heart of the forest; the trees seemed to welcome the night with open arms, hoarding the early dark beneath their boughs and shunning the sun’s attempts to dispel it. And the last thing I want to be doing after dark is trying to blunder through this place. He paused in his steps and allowed himself a glance backwards, his hood pulling tight around his ears as he craned his neck to see back down the path. He couldn’t place exactly when, but somewhere between the net trap and the second pitfall trap, the unseen eyes that had followed him for the better part of the day had suddenly vanished. Or at least, he could no longer feel them on him; perhaps they were still out there, laughing at his slow pace through the forest, praying for his death upon the traps that he had thus far eluded… but he somehow doubted it. I guess they figured I would never make it past the first few rounds, he thought. But instead of comforting him, the thought that his audience had disappeared filled him with an unshakable foreboding. With a sigh and a shake of his head he turned back to the path and started forward again, his pace slow and measured, his steps soft and probing on the path ahead of him. Of course, it doesn’t help that I haven’t found a trap in almost a half an hour… That simple fact was starting to wear at his patience, and was slowing him down considerably. He knew that he had to find somewhere to spend the night, preferably some kind of clearing or thicket where he could set up a perimeter of defensive spells; the thought of simply ducking off the path and trying to hide amidst the foliage along the path didn’t appeal to him in the least, and Luna knew what sorts of horrible surprises were waiting for him there. And I’d rather those surprises were left unfound, he thought with a shiver. After another hour of plodding along at a snail’s pace, however, he was beginning to wish that something would happen. A single trickle of sweat ran its way down his neck as he picked his way forward, eyes squinting everywhere, trying to find the wire or trigger or net or pitfall that would again try to kill him. At least when I was dodging traps, something was happening… this anticipation is more stressful than any of those traps were! He could see that was the plan, of course; a clever ploy to lure a pony into a false sense of security, believing they had made it past whatever traps had been set, only to trigger one at the very last moment to end said pony’s intrusion into the forest. That did not make it any easier to deal with, of course. Dark let out a vexed sigh, and again raised his head to look at the sky; he had less than an hour of sunlight left, and in an unknown forest it would take him easily that long to set up even a rudimentary camp. The black stallion paused on the path, his eyes glued to the darkening blue sky beyond the trees. So the question is: do I stop, or do I go on? The area around him wasn’t exactly conducive to a camp site, but given the fact that he hadn’t run into any kinds of glens, glades, thickets or clearings since entering this impossible forest he didn’t hold out high hopes to run into such a thing before it got fully dark. Already the trees at the edges of his vision were growing darker; the night was gathering in the leafy depths of the forest, and it would cover even Dark Star without the slightest hesitation. I guess I have to make camp… He felt his shoulders droop slightly with resignation; he had hoped to avoid spending the night out in the open, but it seemed that he had no other choice. He lowered his eyes back to the path and started to turn away, into the unknown depths of the trees around him when a sudden warm flicker of light on the path far ahead of him caught his attention. Dark’s ears perked up beneath his hood, and he straightened his neck to try and catch a better glimpse of whatever it was, but even though the light remained, he could not see what it was; it was barely visible, clearly still a fair distance away and sheltered amid the tree trunks. The stallion snorted softly, and his horn began to glow. He closed his eyes, and with a few whispered words the dark blue of his magic danced across his eyelids, leaving behind innumerable points of magic. After a moment, he opened his eyes and squinted into the gathering darkness. A Farsight spell was not one that was common in modern-day Equestria, so he had gathered; most ponies simply relied on spyglasses or binoculars to observe things far away, but one thousand years ago such things were not always readily available to a soldier in the field. Farsight was not a difficult spell to master, and its usefulness was unparalleled in a battle situation; or, as it so happened, in a dark forest when one was trying to find out what lie ahead. His vision leaped forward, as if he were hurtling through the trees like a Pegasus Tartaurus-bent on getting themselves killed; the branches and trunks blurred around the edges of his sight as the light in the distance resolved into a warm, flickering square of light: a window, set in a small house. Dark Star felt a smile tug at the edge of his mouth, and with the tiniest shift of his head he moved his Farsight from the window to the left, along the side of the house… and the house next to it. He flicked the spell ever so gently to the right, and found another house, and another, and yet more houses: a village, tucked away here in the depths of the forest. Dark Star felt his spirits lift at the sight of civilization; after all, a village nearby meant that he would not have to sleep in the forest… but as quickly as they had risen they were sent crashing back to the pit of his stomach. The unicorn allowed the spell to dissipate, and his vision returned to his current surroundings as a frown slowly grew upon his lips. A village, out here in the middle of a forest filled with booby traps… I haven’t hit any traps for at least an hour… He raised his head high, his eyes gazing at the light in the distance. Is this where they’re keeping the kidnapped ponies? Considering how far he was from the nearest town and what he’d had to go through to get here, he couldn’t think of a more logical explanation: that this was, in fact, the place where these mysterious assailants were coming from, and the place where those ponies who had been kidnapped from Clyde’s Dale were being kept… but logic didn’t always give the full answer. It was entirely possible that this village was simply out in the middle of nowhere, and that he had completely missed the place where those ponies were being kept. These ponies could be completely innocent and have nothing to do with any kind of evil or mischief. Dark felt his frown quirk into a subtle smile. But I guess… there’s only one way to find out. With a subtle nod he started towards the village hidden away in the trees, his steps sure and firm, confident and calm. If nothing else, at least I won’t have to stay out in this forest tonight, he thought, unable to fight the sense of relief that spread across his shoulders at the affirmation. As much as he had no problems sleeping in the forest with nary but his cloak as cover, there was something menacing about this part of the forest that unsettled him; the hidden threat of unseen eyes, and a sense that- A gentle pressure against his fetlocks was all the warning he got, and before he could even halt his stride the pressure evaporated to the sound of a gentle shnick and a frantic rushing of thread into the underbrush. Dark ground his teeth together. “Son of a motherless…” Out of the darkness ahead of him swooped a huge log, easily three times longer than he was tall, even if he stood on his hind legs; much too large for him to dodge, even if he threw himself to the side with all his strength. The log was covered in large, jagged spikes that whistled through the air as they plummeted towards Dark Star, leaving him with no time to dodge, no time to leap back, no time to do anything… Dark blue magic flared bright, and Dark’s black cloak flicked open; there was a brilliant, clear ringing of steel that ended in a loud thock that sounded like a dozen ax heads striking their mark at the same moment. The trees overhead creaked and groaned as the weight on the ends of the long ropes shifted in ways it had not been meant to, splintering and snapping the boughs and allowing the giant spiky log to bury its deadly cargo into the ground on either side of the path. Then, as the rustling of the leaves overhead trailed off, silence fell again on the forest. A gentle rasp of steel on leather heralded the return of the sword to its sheath, and the black cloak returned to its place covering the weapon. With a snort of derision, Dark Star started forward again towards the village, passing between the two huge portions of the once suspended log, both ends embedded firmly into the soft peat of the forest floor, their innumerable spikes turning them into giant burrs that were now stuck in the coat of the forest; his cloak brushed the single smooth side that both halves shared as he passed through and continued on towards the village. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Dark knew that he only had a few options available to him where this village was concerned, and that despite his desire for speed and stealth he had to rule a few out. The first and easiest would have simply been to sneak into the village, poke around until he found the missing ponies, then sneak out again. The second and only slightly more difficult would have been to charge in, sword drawn, magic blazing, and take the ponies by force, no matter the resistance. Both of these appealed to Dark Star, but one key fact forced him to reconsider them both: he simply did not know if the ponies he sought were in this town at all. It would be incredibly bad for Dark Star to be caught creeping through a town that was completely innocent in this whole matter, and even if this WAS the right town, he would have no idea where the kidnapped ponies were kept, not to mention how much resistance he might encounter if he was to try and take them by force. Taking into consideration all of the possible options available to him, and using a simple system to decide what was useable and what was not, Dark Star rather quickly came to his conclusion, and acted upon it without hesitation. As the sun was just beginning to set outside the forest, casting its last warm orange and gold light against the tops of the trees… Dark Star simply walked into the village. No tricks, no hiding, no nothing; after all, what better way to discern if the town was hostile than to walk right into it? The stallion made sure that his cloak completely concealed his sword, as he had done in towns before; this time, however, it wasn’t just so he could avoid awkward questions and suspicious glances. He raised his head proudly as he entered the village, his green gaze sweeping the buildings and surroundings as he did so. It was built normally enough; the houses were mostly short, single-level designs built out of precisely cut planks and covered with thatched roofs, obviously taking advantage of the tall trees around them to take the brunt of high winds or inclement weather. The buildings were spaced evenly apart in a line down the main street, which was plain old packed dirt all the way down; Dark Star supposed that with so many trees and root systems around it would be hard to maintain even the foundations of the houses, much less a neatly paved street. He passed the tree line and entered the clearing in which the village was nestled, and he hadn’t gone ten feet into town when he met the first inhabitant, who stepped out from between two houses carrying a yolk across his shoulders, a bucket of water on each end. His coat was a brilliant yellow, and he sported neither horn nor wings; just a thick mop of dusty brown mane and a short brown tail that looked like it could use a good brushing, as well. At first the other pony didn’t notice Dark at all; he was turned away and slowly making his way up the street; the black stallion had to actually slow down to avoid walking into the much smaller stallion, and as he got close to him he cleared his throat gently. “Pardon me, sir-,” he began, but that was as far as he got. The other stallion started with a gasp and jolted so hard that the yolk slipped sideways across his shoulders, tipped upwards and deposited the two buckets of water onto the ground and the pony who had been carrying them. The yellow earth pony sputtered and shook his head angrily. “By the Moon and Sun! I told you guys NOT to sneak up on me when I’m taking water to-,” The pony turned towards Dark Star, his face a mask of anger and annoyance; but when he saw that it was not the ponies he thought it was, his eyes widened and his anger was replaced by surprise and alarm. Dark Star smiled at him in as friendly of a fashion as he could muster. “Excuse me,” he said politely. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was making my way through the forest, and was looking for a place to stay for the night. Is there an inn you could direct me to?” The other pony stared at him, his blue eyes as wide as dinner plates; then, just as Dark Star was about to repeat his query for fear that he had somehow broken the pony’s brain, the stallion shook his head and laughed heartily. “You did what?!” he said, his voice boisterous. “You came through the forest?? Through that forest?!” He pointed back the way Dark Star had come with a hoof, and Dark nodded slightly. “Yes, that forest,” he said, trying his best to hide the derisive edge that attempted to sneak into his words. “Well shave my tail and call me a deer!” the yellow pony said, rearing in place and giving his hooves a jovial paw at the air before settling back to the ground and turning his eyes once more to Dark, his smile broad. “We haven’t had anypony make it through that forest in a long time,” he said, taking a few steps around Dark Star as he spoke, his eyes sweeping the larger stallion as if he were something completely new to the world. Dark Star frowned slightly. “What do you mean?” he said, turning to follow the other stallion as he cantered around him. “I mean,” the stallion said, stopping and grinning again at Dark. “That ever since those traps went up we haven’t been able to get anypony in or out of this village safely. The ones who tried either came back beaten and bloody, or didn’t come back at all…” His ears drooped slightly, and Dark’s heart went out to him. If the caliber of traps that I encountered were anything to go by, any pony who tried this before probably didn’t get too far. “BUT,” the other pony said, his ears perking back up happily. “Now that somepony made it through, that must mean the traps are cleaned out, right??” He bounced happily in place for a moment. “That means we can leave, right, sir?!” The black stallion squinted ever so slightly at the yellow pony before him. There was something… off about him, and not just the strange stuff he was spouting about being trapped here against his will. He couldn’t tell exactly what, but SOMEthing was different… Maybe it’s just a trick of the twilight, he thought. Low light plays tricks on a pony better than the best stage magician ever could. But even as he tried to brush the thought from his mind it stuck to him like a fresh lollipop in a foal’s mane; something was just a little off about this pony… However, Dark Star wasn’t about to drop his façade. He let his ears droop just slightly before sighing and shaking his head. “No, I’m sorry… the forest was very heavily booby trapped,” he confessed. “I just barely made it through myself…” He gave the other pony a smile he hoped looked confident. I was never a very good actor. “But if you want, I could try to lead anypony who’s interested down the same path- I triggered a good number of the traps out there, so it wouldn’t be as tricky to get through…” But even before he finished, the other pony’s face fell mightily, until it looked as if he might cry. “Oh… no, sir…” he shook his head slowly. “No, they’ll replace the traps this very night, and by tomorrow they’ll all be different…” He sighed heavily. “Oh well… I guess it was too much to hope for…” “What do you mean?” Dark asked, his voice sharp. “Who will replace the traps?” “The ponies who keep us here, sir,” the other pony said, his ears drooping against his head. “We don’t know who or why, but… well sir, we’ve been cut off here in this village for quite some time, unable to leave or get help because of those savages.” He turned his head and spat at the ground. “When I saw you, I thought they might have moved on, but… I guess not.” The pony’s eyes stayed on the ground for a very long moment before he finally sighed and raised them back to Dark, a smile forced back onto his face. “But, that’s no reason to not at least make you feel comfortable here sir.” He gestured towards the village with a hoof. “Please, let me take you to the inn.” Dark Star squinted ever so slightly at the yellow stallion again, but he managed to force a smile onto his face, as well. “Thank you, sir,” he said, nodding politely. “And if I may ask your name?” The yellow stallion smiled again, and again Dark Star felt that strange pang of suspicion, like there was something very obviously wrong with this pony staring him right in the face but he was refusing to see it. “My name is Hay Bale, sir- I’m the town’s handipony and farmer… as much as we can farm, at least.” He sighed, but his smile remained friendly. “C’mon, sir; I’ll take you where you can bunk for the night.” “Gladly, Hay Bale; the forest took it out of me, I’m afraid.” The yellow stallion nodded and started down the street at a good pace, with Dark Star walking next to him. As they made their way deeper into town, other ponies appeared; some poking their noses out of windows to examine the newcomer, others pausing mid-step to stare open-mouthed at the strange new pony in town. In spite of himself, Dark Star smirked slightly; it was a look he had gotten used to from pretty much every town he went to, but somehow this felt… almost amusing, somehow. I guess it’s because they probably would have looked at any pony like that, he thought. There were a good deal of ponies here, it seemed; most, however, appeared more than happy to stay out of Dark Star’s way, and nopony decided to join Hay Bale’s two-pony parade towards the far end of town. The small thatched cottages marched along in several neat offset rows along the main street, about fifty of them in all if Dark’s reckoning was correct; when the rows finally stopped, a wide village green opened up around the black stallion. However, it was clear that this green wasn’t used for parties and gatherings; instead of neatly mowed grass, row after row of tilled earth was neatly kept, each row marked with a different picture of a plant. Carrots, celery, tomatoes, lettuce, everything that you could find at a farmer’s market was growing right here, and Dark realized that this must be what Hay Bale meant by “as much as they could farm”. However, it wasn’t the small farming operation that caught Dark Star’s eyes; there was a house across the clearing, one that was much larger than any of the others. It was built in the same style, but it was two floors instead of one, and easily three times as wide as any of the other buildings. The windows in it were dark despite the lateness of the day, and when Hay Bale caught him staring at it he simply chuckled. “That was our old Mayor’s house,” he explained. “He was a great gentlecolt, that one; but after he died, we just couldn’t put somepony else up in the house he worked so hard on himself. It’s sat empty for quite some time, and will stay that way, I guess.” Dark nodded absently, his eyes darting this way and that along the edge of the village that he could see; as they turned a corner and headed up one of the two side streets in the village, away from the Mayor’s home, Dark spotted something unusual: a small, run-down shack that didn’t seem to match the rest of the village at all. The rest of the town was built meticulously, all the wood and materials of the homes perfect and precise; this shack appeared hastily built, with a simple slanting roof instead of the thatch of the others. It could simply be a tool shed, he reasoned. After all, these ponies probably didn’t think they would have to farm on their own here in the forest. But the location didn’t make any sense; it wasn’t built near the farm on the green- instead, it was built almost behind one of the smaller houses on the side street, as if it was being watched over. The stallion filed that away as he lost sight of the small shack around the corner of a building. Hay Bale finally stopped walking and turned to face Dark Star with another large smile. “Well, here we are, sir!” he said, gesturing again with his hoof. “The only inn in town; I’m sure that old Dusty’ll give you a good deal, seeing that you’re the only customer he’s had in almost six months!” Dark Star glanced at the building, then offered Hay Bale a small smile. “Thank you very much, Mr. Bale,” he said with a nod. “I’m very much looking forward to a good night’s rest.” He turned to enter the building, but turned and looked back at the yellow stallion. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to give me a grand tour of the town tomorrow, would you?” He gave the pony a hopeful smile. “After all, I might be here a while.” Hay Bale smiled broadly and nodded again. “Absolutely!” he said. “It’ll be great to get to know the new addition in town!” He gave a wave of his hoof and turned down the street. “Sleep well! We’ll introduce you to the town tomorrow!” Dark waved his own hoof after the yellow pony before heading into the inn to procure a room; as it turned out, Hay Bale was more than correct- old Dusty literally gave him the room for free, and told him that he could keep it as long as he wanted. Dark thanked him, refraining from telling him that he wouldn’t be occupying it long at all. ~*~*~*~ The old Mayor’s manor was dark and dank, and as the setting sun brought darkness to the land it slowly became even more so. Hay Bale winced as he carefully pushed the door of the manor open and stepped inside, his knees quivering ever so slightly as he did so. “H-h-helloooo..?” he called, trying to keep the fear from his voice as he did so and knowing that it wouldn’t help even a little. “H-hello, s-s-sir..?? I-I’ve come to report a-a-about the-,” Suddenly, a sharp laugh from the far end of the black room caused him to gasp and cower to his knees, his eyes squeezed shut. “You’ve come to report about the newcomer, I presume?” a deep voice said from the darkness. Hay Bale shivered in spite of himself; the voice sounded like the rasp of fire against ice, an angry hiss that seemed to slice into his soul and beg him for violence, rage and hate. “Y-y-y-yes, sir,” Hay Bale said, forcing himself to stand straight. “I-I’ve set him up at Dusty’s Inn; he should be easy enough to find…” He swallowed. “D-do you think this is a g-good idea, sir..?” he asked quietly. “I mean… he d-d-did find his way through the forest…” Now the voice laughed derisively, and Hay Bale took an unconscious step backwards towards the door. “A good idea? No. It’s a perfect idea,” the voice said. There was the rustle of wings in the darkness, and a sharp clacking sound that seemed to snap and echo from everywhere in the building. From deep in the shadows, a gentle red light flared, then died out. “I shall personally make sure that our… guest… has a night that he will never forget.” “Y-yes, sir!” “Are the others prepared?” “Y-yes, sir- they’re ready for the ceremony.” The darkness remained complete, yet the smile from the voice’s owner was impossible to miss. “Excellent.”