If there was one thing that Dark Star always prided himself on, it was always having a plan. A good plan, a bad plan, an escape plan or a plan of attack, it didn’t matter- Dark had at least one and usually two or more in place at any given time. Often, however, this led to long bouts of intense consideration on his part as he tried to use the very best plan for the job; the plan that would be the least dangerous, the one which would accomplish the most objectives the fastest, and so on and so forth. Often, it would only take him a split second to find the correct plan and employ it, but occasionally he would find himself in a mental stalemate as each plan revealed problems, and no one plan stuck out to him as “best”.
This was the situation he found himself in as he looked out the small window in the room he’d been given at the inn; the layer of dust on everything in the innkeeper’s supposed “best room” had told him that at least Hay Bale hadn’t been lying about not getting visitors in their town. As he watched the sky above the town darken as the world slid towards night, his mind was racing as he tried to consider every possible angle of every plan available to him; but to his irritation he was running into snags in every single one of them.
Dark Star sighed as he shuffled his hooves across the bare wood floor beneath them, his ears flicking in agitation. The naked truth of the matter is that I just don’t have enough information, he thought, and as unfortunate as it was he knew that he was right.
What little he knew for certain was that ponies had been disappearing into the forest, either because they were taken in the night or because they had gone in after said kidnapped ponies and simply never returned. That was, however, the extent of his absolute certainty; the rest was simply implied and inferred, but it was all he had to go on.
The ponies of Clyde’s Dale seemed far more familiar with this than they should have had to be, he thought as he gazed out the window, so it’s safe to assume that things like this have been happening frequently enough that they know what to do if it happens, but on a non-linear timeline so as to keep them unprepared for the attacks, whenever they come. Dark snorted. Clever of them; keeps the town from organizing a ready defense.
His eyes swept the portion of the street visible outside his window as he shifted slightly and felt his sword bump against his leg. If I knew for certain that the ponies were here, getting them out wouldn’t be much of a task, he thought. No matter what that charlatan Hay Bale told me, I highly doubt that they would be able to replace all of those traps in one single night. His mind flickered back to the sturdy earth pony who had brought him here- the one pony he’d had any real interaction with in the town… and the one, single reason he thought that the kidnapped ponies were here.
A group of four ponies wandered past his window, their curious eyes darting towards his room intently; when they noticed him standing in the window, however, they became very, very interested in the ground around their hooves, and simultaneously seemed to remember that they were urgently needed somewhere else. Dark watched the group fly off down the street, his eyes narrow.
Any reactions that the majority of the ponies here have had are fairly commonplace for an isolated village. Curiosity, distrust and fear; these things are to be expected when you’re dealing with a population who has been cut off from the outside world. His lip twisted. I guess I should feel lucky- it would have been worse if they had cut themselves off purposely. However, of all the reactions he’d seen and judged Hay Bale’s had been the least… convincing.
He just gave up. Any kind of change in a situation like this should have spurred a desire to escape, I would think. The stallion sighed again, and this time it was tinged with vexation. But that’s pure speculation- every pony is different, and perhaps Hay Bale is just too disheartened to feel any hope at all...
Dark stepped away from the window and turned towards the interior of the modest room, his eyes sweeping every inch of the woodwork around the door, the windows and the ceiling. But something tells me that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t anything he could rationalize… but Dark felt like he was in the right spot. He didn’t know the ponies were here… but he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that if they weren’t here, he’d find a clue to their whereabouts in this town.
And that, of course, is where it all fell down. He had quite a few plans for escape, for rescuing the kidnapped ponies, and even had contingency plans that took into account all kinds of injuries they might have sustained… but until he could find more evidence that they were here, or had been here, he had no reason to go about strong-arming the populace. In fact, doing just that could and most likely would end very, very badly. But I HAVE to get out of this room and try to find something, he thought as he paced to the foot of the bed in the room where his cloak lay splayed out across the threadbare quilt that covered it. The more quietly I can do that, the better… but what are the chances that these ponies are just going to let me wander about their town? And more importantly, if I DO get a chance to wander about, how am I going to ensure that I’m not followed or observed? He sighed once more.
I think the bigger question is: how long can I just sit here and do NOTHING before I rip down the walls and start taking the town apart piece by piece..?
As luck, or fate, or both would have it, Dark Star didn’t have long to wait.
He had barely finished deciding exactly which wall he would take out first when there was a tentative rapping at his door. The unicorn’s eyes darted to it, and his horn lit up brightly; off to his right, his cloak lifted smoothly from the bed and settled neatly over his back and shoulders. He clasped it tightly beneath his chin and made sure it concealed his sword completely before he unlocked the door with his magic and cleared his throat.
“Come in, the door isn’t locked,” he said, trying to sound as casual as he possibly could. The knob turned, and into the room walked Hay Bale, a smile plastered on his face so firmly that Dark could have sworn he saw glue at the edges.
“Hello again, sir!” the earth pony greeted him cordially as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. “I trust that your lodgings are acceptable, sir?” He turned to face Dark Star, his smile wide, but Dark didn’t miss the way his blue eyes darted sporadically around the room before finally coming to rest on his own. “I was told that this was the best room at the inn, sir; I hope it’s suitable?”
If by suitable you mean dusty enough to choke a timberwolf, then yes, Dark thought, but he thought a comment like that might disenchant the already unstable Hay Bale; and unstable he was, if his body language was anything to go by. He kept shifting uncomfortably from side to side, as if he longed to be anywhere but here, and even from across the room Dark Star could hear that his breathing was sharp and fast, as if he had run a marathon all the way to Dark’s room. The dark stallion watched him closely for a moment, which made the already obviously nervous Hay Bale squirm more. It was all Dark could do to keep a slight smile from curving his lips. Perfect. I can work with nervous. Nerves betray secrets faster than torture or interrogation.
“The room is very nice, Hay Bale,” Dark said as cordially as he could. “Thank you again for putting me up here for the night…” He shook his head slightly. “Or, as long as I’ll be staying here, I guess. If the forest and the ponies in it are as dangerous as you say, I may be staying here for a very long time.” He dropped his head ever so slightly, and hoped he managed to look appropriately forlorn. Across the room, Hay Bale took a step forward.
“Don’t you worry about that, sir,” he said, and Dark raised his head again to find the stallion smiling- or at least, trying to smile. It was so forced it looked almost like a grimace… and once more, Dark thought there was something completely off about him, even if he couldn’t put a hoof to what it was, exactly. “We won’t charge an unfortunate bystander like yourself bits for a room when there’s no choice in whether or not you stay, sir.”
These ‘sirs’ are becoming quite a nuisance…
“But I do have some news that may lift your spirits, sir!” Hay Bale continued. “Our village elder has decided to make you his guest of honor at the feast we were going to be holding tonight. He’d like you to feel welcome, sir, even if the circumstances aren’t quite what any of us would like them to be.”
“Well, that’s very… nice of him.” Dark arched an eyebrow. “But I certainly hope he’s not holding a feast on my account.” He gestured to the window. “If you ponies are stuck here, your food supplies must be limited after the winter. I’d rather not be the source of shortfalls later.” His eyes narrowed as he watched Hay Bale closely.
The yellow earth pony shook his head vigorously. “Oh no, sir, please don’t misunderstand. We were already planning a feast for tonight; you being our guest of honor is just a feather in our cap, as it were!”
“Oh, you were already planning a feast for tonight?” Dark smiled disarmingly, but when he spoke his voice was razor sharp. “And what are you celebrating? If I’m not mistaken, the time for the Spring Festival is long past.”
It was, perhaps, an underhanded trick, but Dark Star was desperate for information; and if Hay Bale did in fact turn out to be accomplice to this little conspiracy, as Dark thought he was, then the black stallion certainly would not feel the least bit guilty about putting him on the spot like this. Hay Bale opened and closed his mouth once, and Dark was pleased by the panic he saw flit through the other stallion’s eyes. It’s not always loose lips that sink ships, Dark thought. The moment of anxious silence stretched on in the room, and Dark was about to continue the conversation when Hay finally found his tongue again.
“I-it’s not the Spring Festival, sir, it’s… um…” He paused for the barest of moments before plowing on. “It’s a festival to lift the spirits of our poor, careworn town, sir. It was a hard winter, sir, and while we had our Spring Festival on time, things are still looking pretty bleak with the forest closed off to us like it is. So, our village elder decided that we would take the risk of being a little short later in the season to throw another feast, if it meant making our townsponies feel better, sir.” Hay let the words hang in the air, as if seeing if they would come crashing down around him. Dark Star let them stay there, not bothering to fight them with his own; he watched Hay’s shoulders straighten as the lie cemented itself upright and seemed to hold tightly, giving the earth pony the slim boost of courage he needed to continue. “The elder simply wanted you, our newest addition, to join us so we can make proper introductions, sir!” He smiled. “I hope you’ll accept, sir. It’d be an awful let-down if you didn’t.”
They were having a feast, all right, he thought. But not for why he says… It was fairly obvious that Hay Bale was lying, and lying through his teeth. He is obviously not used to having to deal with outsiders, or at the very least he’s not used to doing this particular job. Whichever it was, Dark felt justified in writing Hay off as an unhelpful party in the town, if not an enemy directly. The unicorn cast a critical eye to the earth pony, and it was all he could do not to snicker in derision. I don’t think he’d try to fight me even if he had to.
But that information itself didn’t help Dark with his decision. He knew that Hay Bale was lying to him- he’d seen enough deception in his lifetime to know it when he saw it. Exactly why he was lying, the actual reasons behind his duplicity remained hidden from Dark, however... and no matter what he tried to tell himself to the contrary, Dark felt that he would not be able to crack this particular nut without throwing his whole self into it, body and mind. So, naturally, there’s only one thing to do.
“Of course I’ll come,” Dark said. “After all, it wouldn’t do to offend the elder and ponies of my… adopted village, would it?” He gave Hay his best smile. “I’d be honored to attend as your elder’s guest, Hay Bale.”
The earth pony nodded gratefully, and his ears drooped. “That’s great, sir, just great!” Relief painted his voice, and Dark Star suddenly wondered what Hay had been told to do if he’d refused to capitulate. For the briefest of moments Dark considered changing his mind, but he ultimately held his tongue. After all, this might give me a chance to see who’s behind this game. Hay Bale took a step towards the door, the smile on his face genuine for the first time since he’d entered Dark’s room. “Now, the feast won’t be starting for another hour; our elder suggests you take the time to freshen up from your journey and rest. I’ll be coming back in an hour to get you, sir, so you don’t have to worry about anything at all.”
Dark’s ear twitched, and just as Hay turned towards the door he spoke again.
“Actually, Hay Bale, would it be too much trouble to ask for somepony to show me around town a bit more thoroughly?” he asked. “If this is going to be my… port of call for a while, I’d like to get to know it as well as possible.” Hay turned back towards him, and he grinned sheepishly. “I really don’t like getting lost, so I try to learn my surroundings quickly in a new place.” This time, it was clear that Hay Bale had been told what to say, and he didn’t hesitate for even a moment before answering.
“I’m sorry, sir, but everypony available is helping prepare the feast.”
“Every pony? Every single pony in the village is preparing the feast?”
“Yes, sir, every last one; it’s a big deal in our village, and everypony is eager to help. We all gather in the town square and see what we can do to help before everything starts, and we all stay until everything is cleaned up at the end.”
“Oh, I see. Well, what about you?”
“You know I’d love to show you around town again, sir, but I’m supposed to be helping too. And I’m late, to boot, sir.” He gave Dark an apologetic smile that almost seemed sincere. “The elder suggests you stay here and rest, sir- there’ll be plenty of time to explore tomorrow.” Hay grinned in what he obviously meant to be a friendly way. “And besides, isn’t it more fun to leave the feast preparations as a surprise, sir? It’ll make for a memorable first night in the village!”
“I… I suppose so,” Dark said, allowing his face to fall ever so slightly. “That does make it easier to stay here…” He looked up to Hay again, and he smiled again. “An hour, you say?”
“Just an hour, sir, and then you’ll be treated to all the hospitality our town can muster!” Hay Bale said with a nod. “I’ll come get you in one hour on the dot, sir. Until then!” He turned, put a hoof to the knob of the door, stepped through and closed it behind himself with a soft click.
The unicorn watched the door for a long moment, his hooves glued to the floor as he strained his ears; he heard the earth pony’s heavy hoof-falls thump down the hall, getting softer and softer as he got farther away. His ear flicked as he closed his eyes and held his breath, eliminating all other stimuli and variables to his hearing; he heard the dim plod of Hay’s hooves stop for a moment, and a distant muttering that was a brief exchange of words with the innkeeper in the lobby down the hall that Dark couldn’t quite make out. Then the sound of hooves again, more than one this time; the door opened and closed in the entrance to the inn, and then absolute silence reigned.
Immediately Dark Star’s horn flared to life; a pulsating blue aura surrounded the hilt of his sword, and after a few moments the grip of the blade began to glow a gentle blue as the magic sank into it. The stallion held his magic around the hilt for a few more moments before releasing it, yet even after his horn had gone dark the hilt of his sword did not; it continued to glow with the same soft blue light that it had when his magic had touched it. Dark shifted and watched the glow carefully; it had been a great while since he’d attempted this spell, and he wanted to make absolutely sure that it had worked properly. Silently he counted off the seconds as they passed, meticulously keeping time as best he could. Finally, just before he reached sixty seconds, a tiny portion at the pommel of the sword darkened and faded away, leaving the shining silver of the pommel just as it had been before the spell had been cast.
That’s close enough, he thought, letting his sword settle back to his side. It wasn’t a spell that he’d used often, but it was one that had come in handy when trying to time an attack with several other groups; and now it would allow him to keep track of the time before Hay Bale came back to get him for the feast.
He turned sharply, his cloak swishing around him as he hurried to the window. An hour seems like a long time when you’re just waiting, but it feels like the blink of an eye when you have something to do. The stallion all but pressed his nose to the glass as he scanned the street outside, his eyes darting to and fro. Hay Bale said everypony would be helping with the feast, but that could easily be yet another strand in the weave of this lie. After all, what better way to lure a target into complacency than to let him think he’s alone, and can do whatever he wants? However, the street outside did look properly devoid of activity. If he was telling the truth, I’ll be able to scout around for a bit, and maybe I’ll find something that can tell me where the kidnapped ponies are being kept. His eyes swept over the rooftops that he could see, checking for any Pegasi who might be lurking about- though all the ponies he’d seen in this village so far had been earth ponies.
If Hay Bale was lying, however, and this is a trap… Dark’s eyes swept the street once more as he grinned. Well, I guess that would answer a lot of questions real quick, wouldn’t it?
Dark’s hooves slid up the glass pane of the window and pressed upwards against the frame, opening it as quietly as he could; it squeaked once or twice as he opened it, but it didn’t shriek or groan as he did so, and he silently thanked the innkeeper for at least maintaining his building properly, regardless of the lack of guests. He lifted the window open and slipped out into the street, closing the window silently behind himself before turning to his left and trotting quickly down the street, away from the main thoroughfare that sat to his right. An hour may not be a lot of time, but it’ll have to do, he thought as he approached the end of the street. But having so little time means that I’m going to have to prioritize my targets instead of investigating at random.
He tucked himself into the shadows of the building to his right side as he stuck his nose around the corner. The coast was clear; if there were ponies watching him, they were doing a very good job of hiding themselves, and clearly they were interested to see what he would do. The street before him was narrow, little more than an alleyway that had been worn down to dirt by the hooves of many, many ponies who had trod there before him. It ran east and west, and would take him to both the entrance to town and towards the town square and the manor house that rested there.
Dark pulled his nose back around the corner and frowned. I guess if I had to start somewhere, my point of interest would be the old mayor’s house, he thought. But that’s in full view of the town square, where every pony in town is currently setting up this feast of theirs. He sighed. That’s a little more attention that I want right now… The stallion glanced around the corner again, making sure that the street was still deserted as he considered his options. I suppose if I could use an invisibility spell that wouldn’t be a problem. He snorted softly. But that’s not really an option.
Dark Star was a powerful unicorn, but what his magic had in brute strength, it lacked in true finesse. He could use his sword with delicate alacrity, but when it came down to weaving complex and fragile spells like an invisibility spell, he failed horribly. As like as not if he tried to cast one on himself it would fail right in the middle of the town square, and everypony would see him. Or, I could lose control while weaving it in the first place, and it could explode in my face like last time. He winced and shook his head. No way am I trying that again. I guess if Twilight Sparkle was here, she could master a spell like that in less than an hour and help me get to the manor, he thought. As things stand, that just means that the manor is off limits to me for now... but where else if not there?
Almost unbidden, the image of the run-down ramshackle shed he’d seen squatting near one of the homes just off the square rose in his mind. It had stood out as unusual to him then, but compared to the manor, it seemed a long shot. But… I guess it would be remiss of me to ignore my instincts.
He cast his eyes around the street once more before finally darting along the edges of the buildings, keeping to the growing shadows of the evening as he hurried to the west, his hooves making little noise on the dirt below him. The sun was almost set, now, and the town was shrouded in twilight. In spite of his need for stealth and speed, Dark Star smirked to himself. The perfect time of day to go skulking around, wouldn’t you say? His hoofsteps were soft and sure, his body perfectly balanced as he slid from shadow to shadow, his cloak flowing about him as if the night itself had descended and draped itself about his shoulders to conceal him from view. Above him, the first star of the night flickered to life as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, as if to watch him in his perilous foray.
As he approached the far western edge of the town, he could hear the bustle from the square. It wasn’t a cacophony by any means, but it was certainly loud enough for Dark to hear it above the silence of the night, and even from this distance he could hear the sound of large objects being shuffled around as well as the waxing and waning voices of a good number of ponies. He pressed himself against the dark wall of a home, his ears pricked attentively. They certainly don’t appear to be trying to ambush me, he thought as he listened. He even heard the voice of a pony who sounded like she was barely more than a filly, and from her tone she was complaining about something.
It sounds like a normal gathering. He held his breath, listening closely to the gathered crowd of ponies for several long moments; as he did so, an overwhelming sense of absurdity washed over Dark Star. If this was just a regular party, and he was sneaking about town in the most clandestine manner that he could muster all for naught… The stallion shook his head and turned away from the subtle glow from the square, squashing that feeling as he set his eyes back to the darkness of the narrow street. If that’s the case, then I’ll feel ridiculous while enjoying a party, he thought. There are far worse things that could happen to me.
The evening air was chill around his legs as he slid quietly down the street, his presence a mere whisper in the night as he passed several more of the oddly identical houses until finally a strange abnormality loomed up out of the darkness at him; a shadow that was different from the perfectly straight apparitions of the well-constructed buildings that surrounded it, a slightly smaller shadow that leaned slightly to one side, away from the house that was obviously meant to guard it as if it longed to be free.
From beneath the shadow of his hood, Dark’s eyes darted around the small building, first towards the lighted street beyond the corner of the house next to the shed, then back across the two buildings to the shadows of the side street. His steps slowed to a stop, and his ears perked attentively. He could still hear the mishmash of muffled noise coming from the town square, but there was no audible evidence that they were alerted to his presence. The side street remained completely silent as Dark slid forward the last few feet to the door of the lean-to, his eyes sweeping the outline of the door in the low light. The sky was completely dark, now, and a quick glance at his sword told Dark that he had already exhausted over half his time. Time flies when you’re having fun… or clandestinely invading enemy territory, he thought wryly. He let his cloak fall back in place, hiding the subtle glow of his sword hilt as he turned his eyes back to the door.
The entire building was little more than a shadow, and the door was no better; Dark couldn’t even tell which side was knob and which side was hinges in the deepening night. He started to feel around the edges of the door, briefly considering simply lighting it up with his magic and ripping it from the building itself. That didn’t seem like a very surreptitious way of doing things, however. Finally, his right hoof touched something that protruded from the wood about halfway down- the knob, or what played the part of the knob, at least. Dark poked at it with his hoof and quickly realized that it wasn’t even a proper knob at all, but a crude handle sticking out of the door. His hoof followed the long, thin piece of metal downwards until it ended in a thick slab of metal; a smaller piece of metal clinked gently against the larger piece as he brushed it. Dark frowned. That sounded like a lock, he thought. If it was indeed a lock, then he had two choices- pick the lock or rip the door off- and BOTH of them required magic.
Well, I guess if they see me, they see me, he thought with a snort. I’m not much good if I can’t get through a simple lock.
The unicorn took a deep, steady breath as his horn lit up ever so softly, barely casting enough illumination out of his hood to see the lock by; for lock it was, rusty and square, latching the heavy door in place via a U-shaped piece of metal and the large metal slab he’d felt before, a slab that ended in a hinge on the wall. In the light of his horn, the wood of the building looked new to Dark Star’s untrained eye, even if the lock didn’t. That must be why it’s so different compared to the houses, he thought as he took the lock in his magic. Everything else is so precise and perfect, while this looks like it was constructed recently. The rusted lock lifted ever so gently up from where it hung, and Dark eyed it critically. This lock looks like it was picked out of somepony’s cellar about a decade after its prime, he thought. His magic melted into the lock, coating the rusted mechanisms inside the casing with a dim blue light as he closed his eyes and felt around for the tumblers inside. Probably the only one they could find to secure a door in such a way. That lent credibility to the theory that this had been hastily constructed, but didn’t do much to tell him what was on the other side of this door.
And there’s only one way to find that out, Dark thought. He smiled as his magic found the tumblers inside the corroded lock; he gave his horn a small jerk to the left, and the large lock made an equally large click and popped open.
~*~*~*~*~
I deserve this.
It was the only thing the mare could think as she sat in the blackness that comprised her world at the moment. It was the same despairing thought that had pervaded her existence since she had been brought to this place- this horrible, dark, frigid shack with the unforgiving dirt floor. She shifted her weight and felt an uncomfortable squeezing in her side as she sat up, shaking her mane out as she did so. She could feel the sticks and twigs in it, still stuck there from her terrifying abduction from the village where she had been staying, and she was certain that they would stay there until the moment she…
She sighed in the darkness, and the empty hole that had opened up in her chest over the past year seemed to yawn wide before her, waiting just as surely as the blackness around her to swallow her up.
I deserve this…
As she had so many times before, she tried to be strong; she tried to sit up straight, throw her nose in the air and simply believe with all her heart that nothing was beyond her- that there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do… but there, in the darkness of that shed, the shadows of her heart lengthened and filled her with despair… despair at where her chosen path had brought her, and regret, oh Celestia, regret…
She’d never felt so hollow, so lost or so alone, even though she knew she shared this shed with three other ponies, citizens from the village she’d stopped in. There was a stallion, she knew; he’d tried talking to them all when they’d first been placed in here, had tried to calm them all down and had even tried to reason with their captors to no avail. He’d tried to comfort everypony else and had tried, much to the mare’s distaste, to try and converse with everypony in the shack, as if that would keep their spirits up. He hadn’t had much success, and had eventually lapsed into silence. The mare was fine with that… she’d gotten used to the sound of silence in her life, even though it had been less than a year since she would have done anything for cheers from a crowd… cheers from anypony…
She felt that uncomfortable feeling building in her chest, that sickening pressure at the base of her throat that meant she was going to cry again. AGAIN. It seemed like all she did was cry these days… Her eyes started to burn, and she swiped at them angrily with the back of her hoof. If I start crying, the filly in the corner will start crying again… she thought. She was a very selfish mare, she knew that… but somehow the sound of that little filly crying while her mother whispered empty comforts and lies about being rescued drove a knife into her bitter heart and twisted there. She didn’t know if it was the hollow promises or the filly’s tears that brought the knife out, and she didn’t care to find out. I don’t want to hear her cry again! Not again!
But the mare’s tears would not be dissuaded; they slowly built in her eyes, pooling like rainwater in a basin until finally she could hold them no more. She stifled a sob as the tears began to pour down her cheeks, her chest squeezing painfully as she struggled to cry silently in the deathly quiet shed. The quiet wasn’t what bothered her, truthfully- it was the darkness, the engulfing blackness that was broken only by the torch that their keeper brought with him when he brought what little food and water they had been given. If only I could use my magic, she thought… but her captors were very smart. She lifted a hoof to the base of her horn, where a ring was nestled tightly amidst her flowing mane. Every unicorn worth their salt knew that there were materials in the world that would hamper or hinder magic entirely, but they weren’t used very often… at least not in civilized parts of the world. The ring was sealed to her horn, and without her magic she had no hope of removing it; she also knew that the mare with the filly had a similar ring on her horn, so there was no hope of removing it that way. And so they sat, trapped in the dark… waiting for who knew what…
I deserve this, she thought again. I deserve to be forgotten forever… I deserve to be kidnapped and beaten and… and Celestia knows what else! She wrapped her hooves around her muddy coat and squeezed herself as she rocked back and forth, silent sobs wracking her relentlessly. She opened her mouth, trying to breathe as quietly as she could, but to her dismay she gasped as her body convulsed in wretched self-pity yet again. She could taste her tears now, salty and hot at the corners of her mouth; tears that followed so many others that had gone before.
There had been a time not so long ago that she had been somepony, even if she had not been a very important somepony. She had been a performer, an icon of stage and show… but one simple trip to a small village not unlike the town of Clyde’s Dale had changed that; one trip that should have been a few quick, easy bits that had turned into a huge thorn in her soul that had changed her dramatically and forever. A thorn that pained her even now, digging ever deeper into her, festering and infecting as it went.
She had tried to be like them, those ponies whom she admired and hated, but it hadn’t worked… and she had, in the end, become what she had feared over anything else in this entire world: a failure.
The mare clapped a hoof over her mouth to stifle another, more insistent sob, but it slipped past her and seemed to echo like a clap of thunder in the small space. Off in the corner, over her own miserable noise, she heard the filly stir and whimper something to her mother; a sound that only exacerbated her wretchedness. Well done, you disgusting creature- you’ve gone and made the filly scared! Again! She ground her teeth together with enough force that it vibrated her eyes. You truly are a worthless piece of trash… can’t even hold your emotions together for the sake of a scared filly…
And yet even as she berated herself… she knew that this was what she had bought with her actions. This was the destiny she had so painstakingly chosen for herself… a destiny of darkness, pain, and tears.
A destiny that I deserve…
But destiny is a funny, funny thing sometimes.
As so many times before, they heard rattling at the door before they saw anything. The stallion suddenly spoke; something whispered that the mare didn’t bother to listen to as she simply curled up on the floor, awash in her misery. Just leave me be… leave me here in the darkness. In the other corner, the filly whimpered again, and her mother spoke softly to her as she no doubt moved herself to block her daughter from the view of the door as she had done every time their kidnappers had brought them food or water.
The mare turned away from the door, her mane bunching beneath her in the mud. Nothing that could possibly happen could interest her at all.
After a much shorter amount of time than usual, the noise from the door ceased and the lock made a solid whump as it landed in the dirt outside the shack. The mare’s ear twitched; that was different. The door creaked softly as it opened, and to her surprise she saw not the shivering glow of firelight on the wall, but a soft, steady blue glow that could only come from one thing: magic.
The mare sighed and curled up a bit tighter on the floor. Wonderful, now I’m hallucinating…
But to her surprise, the others in the shed reacted to the light. She heard the stallion stand, and the other mare shuffled backwards until she had pressed her filly against the wall, her breathing loud and ragged. The mare turned her eyes from the wall to the stallion, who was standing, his brown coat stained with mud, his eyes determined and solemn. Suddenly, a voice filled the shack; no doubt the speaker thought he was whispering, but to the mare’s silence-heightened ears he may as well have been shouting.
“Well, at least I wasn’t wrong.”
It wasn’t the voice of the stallion in the shed, and it certainly wasn’t the mare to her other side. This voice was deep and commanding, a voice filled with self-confidence and power that seemed to slide beneath the mare’s chin and pull her towards it, slowly prying her eyes from the other stallion to the new pony and the source of the light as she sat up onto her rump.
The new stallion was tall, very tall even compared to the brown stallion who had been captured with them. He wore a black cloak that matched his coat and covered him from head to tail, showing only his face and hooves. The blue light was coming from his horn, which held a gentle steady glow- a light spell that was focused by his hood into a wide beam, illuminating the interior of the shed and the ponies inside. The mare looked up at him, her violet eyes squinting in the light; soft as it might be, it was more than her dark-attuned eyes could handle.
“You… you’re not one who usually brings us food,” the brown stallion said, his hooves set apart slightly as if he were expecting trouble, and the mare had to admit that trouble was the first thing she expected, as well. But to her surprise, the stallion in the black cloak merely shook his head.
“No, I suppose I’m not. I’m not one of these… villagers.” He fairly spat the word, as if calling them that was a disgrace to villagers everywhere. “I’m not here to hurt you, either- I’m here to help you, to rescue you.”
Silence greeted his words for a long moment, their full impact taking several seconds to sink in; when they did, the other mare let out a loud sob from her corner.
“You… y-you came to rescue us..?” she said shakily, her mane trembling along with her body. “But… but how… w-we don’t even know you…” She shook her head erratically. “You’re n-not from Clyde’s Dale… why are you-,”
The stallion threw back his hood, allowing the light spell on his horn to fill the room with its blue radiance. He shook his pitch-black mane out once before turning his striking green eyes to the cream-colored mare and smiling ever so slightly.
“I came to help, ma’am,” he said, his voice rich and soothing. “I came because nopony in Clyde’s Dale seemed willing to try to stop me from doing so.” His eyes dropped to the filly, who had mustered up the courage to peek out from behind her mother’s legs. “I’m here to rescue you all from this place and take you home.”
That seemed to mollify the cream-colored mare, who slipped down the wall to sit next to her filly as he turned his attention to the other stallion in the room.
“You must be Mr. Turnover,” he said with a nod. “A pleasure to meet you, finally.”
The brown stallion, Mr. Turnover, blinked and lifted a hoof out of his aggressive stance. “You… you know my name? B-but how..?”
The black stallion’s smile twitched slightly. “Your wife is very worried about you, and your son specifically asked me to find you.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t the kind of request I could ignore.” Turnover stared at him blankly for a moment, as if he couldn’t quite comprehend what had just been said. Finally he broke into a wide smile and actually laughed lightly.
“Leave it to my son to find help in strange places,” he said. “But how did you get here? They told us that the forest-,”
“Was filled with booby traps,” the stallion finished with a snort. “Oh yes, it most certainly was, let me tell you.”
“And yet you came anyway? It must have been very dangerous…”
“I don’t break my promises, Mr. Turnover, no matter how dangerous keeping them may be.”
The mare stared at him, her eyes slowly adjusting to the light. There wasn’t much of him to be seen outside the voluminous cloak that he wore, but what she could see impressed her; his horn was straight and tall, his neck well muscled and toned. It was clear that even though he was a unicorn he boasted considerable physical strength. His eyes went from Turnover to her own, and as their eyes met the mare felt a jolt flash through her whole body- as if her entire life had suddenly aligned and deposited her here, at this very moment in time. She felt her mouth open slightly as she stared at him unabashedly, holding his gaze for several long moments until he finally turned away from her.
“All right, we don’t have much time to talk.” He lifted the edge of his cloak with a hoof and gazed beneath it; the mare could briefly see something glow faintly beneath his cloak before he dropped it back into place. “I’m going to get you out of here, but to do that, I’m going to need to know your names; that way, if I have to tell you to do something, I can call you by name instead of hey you.” He looked at Turnover. “I know your name, sir.” His eyes went to the far side, to the mare and her filly, who took an unsteady breath before speaking.
“M-my name is Moonflower… a-and this is Melody,” she said with a nod to the small filly. “We’ll… we’ll do as you say, sir.”
“Excellent.” The dark stallion turned his luminous green eyes back to the mare, and again she felt that sizzle of electricity slice down her back as their eyes met. “And you?”
The mare held his gaze as she rose to her hooves, running one hoof through her messy, muddy powder blue mane as she did so. Of all the days… she thought wryly.
“My name… my name is Trixie,” she said.
“Nice to meet you, Trixie, Moonflower, Melody,” the stallion said with a nod. “All right, now that introductions are done- it’s time to form a plan.”