My stay in the clinic felt like ages, even though it was only a few days. I was worried that perhaps Terra hadn’t had all the details, but the nurses didn’t have much worse to say. My wounds were serious, but not life-threatening. Given the kinds of hits I’d taken and the fact that I’d fainted, I was surprised it wasn’t worse—not that I was complaining.
If there was one good thing about the longer stay, it was that it gave me time to refine my explanation. Originally, I just intended to say I accidentally ingested some bad stuff at a Canterlot party. However, given that I’d collapsed, I had to assume they’d press me further. After a few hours, I was confident I’d worked out enough small details to make the story plausible, but still vague enough that I could claim forgetfulness when it came to anything major.
The rest of the days came and went and they discharged me without a single question, never mind any of the long and awkward variety. As I trotted out into the soft, morning sun, I had a pretty good idea who I had to thank.
At this point, all my other concerns returned to me. I needed to figure out when the Cartel might return and get everyone apprised of the situation. I couldn’t allow what happened to Mahogany to occur again. On top of that, we still didn’t know who or what this Bellerophon really was. What I did know, what haunted me, was the way Night looked when it was there.
Before I knew it, my hooves were taking me to the library. What I expected to find there, I didn’t know. After all, if even Star and Merriweather knew so little about this Ostfriesen legend, then what chance did such a small collection of tomes stand? In fact, what chance did Equestrian knowledge, in general, stand? Still, I couldn’t just give up, and if there was anyone who could dig up the most obscure of books, it was Twilight Sparkle.
Being discharged early on a work day was quite fortunate, as the library was completely dead. The only other time I’d have been able to get Twilight to myself would have been after the library closed—meaning another half-day of doing nothing while Bellerophon scurried around Night’s mind.
Twilight was near one of the wall shelves, extracting books from an overflowing cart as she hummed to herself. I didn’t recognize the tune, which generally meant that it was another one of her mnemonics.
“Twilight?”
“Oh, Dusky!” She smiled. “You’re okay.”
“Yeah. I just needed some minor treatment.”
“Really? Rainbow had me thinking it was worse.”
“The situation was definitely non-trivial, but the recovery itself was quick and simple.”
Twilight nodded. “That’s a relief. So what do you need?”
I glanced around, even though I was ninety-nine-percent certain we were still alone. “I need some information on Ostfriesen. Specifically, someone named Bellerophon.”
“Bellerophon? Hmmm, well, we don’t have much on Ostfriesen, but give me a second.” Twilight went over to her catalog and spent the next few minutes poring over it. “Aha!”
“Found something?”
“We might have a book. Foreign Lands: A Short History.”
“Uh, well, I guess that’s better than nothing.” While I knew finding anything more specific was a long shot, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
She wandered into the back and reappeared with a thick textbook. She flipped to the back, probing its contents. “Here we go. Ostfriesen, pages two-hundred to two-hundred-three.”
At this point, I almost felt like the library itself was mocking me. I imagined a big, bold header, followed by the statement ‘It exists.’ and then a whole bunch of artists’ interpretations of how they thought it looked.
“Warlord Tapioca founded Ostfriesen after a long campaign that lasted several years… wanted to unite all the tribes to stabilize them against the encroaching threats of the badlands…” Twilight flipped to the next page. “Key victory at Raging River… Aha! Bellerophon!”
“Where? What does it say?” I darted up beside her.
“Warlord Bellerophon was her final obstacle to unification. Outnumbered and desperate, Bellerophon challenged Tapioca to single combat and was defeated, cementing her position as Queen of the newly minted Ostfriesen.”
“And?”
“That’s it. Sorry.”
I stared at the book through slitted eyes. “Gah, that hardly tells us anything. I suppose it makes sense that the texts wouldn’t be too concerned with him if he was the loser, though.”
Grudgingly, I had to admit that the whole warlord schtick explained the sudden enhancement to Night’s combat skills.
“Why do you want to know about him so badly?” Twilight asked.
Glancing behind me again, I took a deep breath. “It’s… complicated, in a way we don’t fully understand yet. That’s why I’m doing this research. But the long and short of it is that Bellerophon is somehow inside Night’s head. I hate to ask this, but could you tell me about your experience?”
A dead serious look washed over Twilight’s face. She remained silent for what felt like hours and I couldn’t help but cringe. At last, she spoke, “Of course. Just give me a minute.”
Twilight trotted back to her desk, retrieving one of those ‘Be right back!’ signs with the customizable clock. She set the hands to precisely one hour later before locking the door.
She motioned me over to a cluster of reading stools. “How and when?”
“We don’t know for sure, but it seems like it’s something to do with an old, magical hoofblade. Night reported no troubles and none of us thought anything of it. Then, a few days ago, Night was talking about voices and visions and I think there was a point where… where…” I felt like I was going to have to squeeze my throat to get the words out, “...it was Bellerophon in control.”
A deep frown formed on Twilight’s lips. “That’s definitely similar.”
My throat went dry. “How similar?”
“The voices, the visions, the takeover. But not the hoofblade.”
I wilted. Only now was I realizing just how much Twilight had suffered and how much Night must be suffering. And once again, it seemed I was helpless to do anything but watch. “Is that a significant difference?”
Twilight tapped her chin. “Maybe. Did he use the hoofblade much before he brought up the symptoms?”
“Yes. He spent quite a bit of time training with it.”
“Hmm. When it came to the Nameless, it needed a catalyst to link us. In my case, it was a spell. I thought maybe the hoofblade was Bellerophon’s, but if Night was using it for a long time, I have doubts.”
“A catalyst?” Then it hit me like a brick wall and my blood ran cold. “Oh. Oh.”
“Dusky?”
“He… he accepted Bellerophon’s power because he thought it would help me.”
“Sorry. I know this isn’t looking good, but bear with me a second. Do you know if the offer was malicious or not?”
“I don’t know. Is there any other reason to possess a pony like that?”
“I can’t say for certain, but it’s a possibility. When the Nameless came for me, the whole thing was engineered to make me trust it. Getting lost in the storm, trapping me in, the monster attack, it was all a setup to make me accept the help, then trick me into casting the spell.”
A modicum of relief was quickly overrun by apprehension. To think that a disembodied being could do things like that before it even began the possession was more than a little frightening.
Twilight continued, “So the question is, does your situation look like a setup?”
“No. There were too many people involved. If he could exert that kind of power unassisted, he wouldn’t need Night. But… what’s to stop him from being an opportunist?”
“Nothing. If you’re certain he’s evil, we could use the Elements of Harmony. But you have to be sure. This is not a trifling amount of magic, and I’m not sure what would happen if we hit an unintended target. What we do know is if the users aren’t centred, the results can be unpredictable.”
I sighed. “If only I knew more about him, then maybe I could make a call. I can’t exactly take him at his word and I can’t even be sure Night’s wouldn’t be biased by his influence. I guess I need to do more research, but I wonder if I’d even have better luck with Canterlot.”
“I can check.” Twilight returned to her desk and began rummaging around. “It’s a little dated, but I’ve got a Canterlot index somewhere around here. Maybe I can at least point you in the right direction.”
Not an hour had passed, yet I felt drained as though we’d been going over this for days. With some effort, I was able to mumble out, “Thanks, Twilight.”
“Anything I can do to help.” By now, Twilight had located her catalog, magenta light flipping through the pages as she jotted things onto a long parchment. “While you’re gone, I’ll contact Princess Celestia and see what she has to say. When we’d talked, I got the impression that Nameless was the only one of its kind, but it looks like I was wrong.”
“If only you weren’t.”
---
I felt like a zombie and I was sure anyone who saw me would say I looked like one. The pale moonlight filtering in through high library windows and the dim candles, by which Ruby and I were reading, probably didn’t help.
The Canterlot university’s library was dark, the librarian and students long gone for the night. Shadows lurked in every corner of the room, but most hadn’t moved since the lights went out. The only exceptions were when the guard in our wing of the university periodically poked in to check on us. Technically, we weren’t even supposed to be there, but Ruby was good at exercising the perks of her profession.
We’d accumulated so many stacks of books that even the solid oak table groaned as we shifted them about. I was starting to lose track of which stack was what, and time had long escaped me. All I knew was, in spite of all our effort, none of the tomes said anything about Bellerophon that wasn’t in the Ponyville text.
My focus was fading and I found myself drifting back to The Record Club. Lockbox had been much quicker than usual, which boded either very well or very poorly. I’d squirmed in my seat, waiting for him to say something.
“I heard you plugged a leak,” he said. I wasn’t sure at first, given that it was barely there, but his voice almost sounded congratulatory.
“You could say that.”
“And you’re concerned about retaliation?” His voice was a normal neutral again.
I leaned back. “Yeah. I can’t imagine he was the only one upset about the previous incident.”
“The war has begun. They’ll have their hooves full for some time. Don’t let your guard down, but without a dedicated hunter, their efforts will be far more limited.” There was that tone again.
Relief washed over me, overflowing into a smile. “Thanks.”
I heard the coin bag jingle as he shook it. Then a couple more jingles before the bag plopped onto the floor. “Check down here once we’re done. Consider it a discount for mutual exchange.”
“Lockbox...”
“Dusky?” Ruby’s voice cut through my trance.
“Huh?”
We were almost muzzle to muzzle. Concern filled her eyes. “That’s the third time tonight. I think we should call it.”
“Just a couple more,” I mumbled. “We have to find something.”
“That’s what you said the last two times.” Ruby waved a hoof. “Besides, we’re out of list.”
I blinked. “What?”
“I know, right?” She grinned widely. “Finishing a Twilight Sparkle list is no mean feat.”
She had a point. Twilight’s list was long. Very long—even for her. In fact, it had overflowed my flight satchel to the point where the trip over had involved me checking every few minutes to make sure the clasp hadn't come undone.
I half-heartedly met Ruby’s smirk. “Yeah, guess so. Wish we could’ve gotten more out of it, though.”
“Nothing says we can’t come back tomorrow and look for books she missed.”
With a sigh, I stood up and stretched my wings. “Thanks, Ruby. See you tomorrow n—ack!”
My hooves dug into the floor in vain as the tingle of magic pulled my tail. “Ruby, what are you doing?”
“Taking you back to my place.”
Terra materialized in the back of my mind. Oh my.
Shush. I shooed the apparition away.
“You were going to fly all the way back to Ponyville, weren’t you?”
“Well, that is where my apartment is.”
“Dusky, you’re exhausted and it’s five in the morning,” Ruby said.
“Okay, okay, geez, you could have just said that in the first place.”
---
As I trudged toward the Seapony, I found it hard to believe that another day had already passed. Half of me wished it wasn’t so, that I was still back in Canterlot, working through more books. The other half was glad, looking forward to just hanging out with everyone.
Thanks to Ruby and her couch, we’d been able to get back to the library by late morning. She stayed with me as long as she could, but those classes weren’t going to teach themselves. Even by myself, I quickly found myself running out of options. Every dozen or so books, I’d just gotten more and more tangential. Eventually, there was nothing to do but admit that I’d hit a dead end.
Ruby tried to cheer me up, of course, but that only held me until I was out of the city. On the upside, I made it back to my apartment without incident and everything was pretty much the way I’d left it. With most of the day gone, I knew what I had to do.
So I found myself here, looking forward to a cider or two. And perhaps, if I was patient, we could learn something about Bellerophon.
I was one of the last to arrive and as such, was treated to the sight of another one of Merriweather’s smorgasbords of alcohol. As I slipped into my seat, a cider emerged from the forest of cups.
“Thanks, Merriweather,” I said, giving her a bit of a smirk.
She flourished. “I’m a mare of my word~.”
Before I dug in, I snuck Night a short nuzzle, which he was quick to return. Across the table, a grin formed on Terra’s face, growing larger and larger until it was just shy of consuming her head.
“So, you two are just, a thing now, out in the open, eh?” She waggled her eyebrows.
I raised my own brow and giggled. “I think you already know the answer to that, don't you?”
“Well, I just wanted to say it's about time!” Terra toasted to the air, then, before anyone could meet her gesture, knocked back half the glass.
“Yeah, but it was funnier when Flurry was all embarrassed and Dusky didn't know he existed,” Mahogany said through his glass, which still had a surprising amount of liquid in it. “You ask me, it's a step backwards, comedy-wise.”
Terra let out a snort and placed an indignant hoof to her chest. “Bah, you're thinking about it all wrong, Mahogany! There are fresh new ways to embarrass Flurry now! Like kissing! How much have they kissed? And for how long?”
Merriweather laughed loudly enough to wake the dead. The nice thing about bars is that no one really cares about something like that for more than a second, or else Night might have melted. Merriweather grinned a grin that matched Terra’s. “At least once we've seen. Really long one too~.”
Even though Night’s face turned red, it didn’t slow him down. He darted in for a quick peck on my cheek. “Well, um... there's one more.”
I giggled and leaned up against him. Night being Night really put my mind at ease. At least, for that moment, we didn’t have to worry about Bellerophon.
“They're so pwecious! So cyoot! So... saccharine. Bleh.” Mahogany rolled his eyes and was in the process of making a retching face when Terra prodded him right between the ribs. He shot her an annoyed look.
Terra hardly noticed the glare. “Well, I'm happy for you two at least. Another Terrabona success story.”
“Alright, Terra. Thank you for all your hard work.” I stuck my tongue out.
“Damn right.” She turned her gaze to Mahogany, Merriweather and Star, rubbing her hooves together as she did. “Two down. Three to go.”
“I will pass, thank you.” Star gave Terra a flat look.
Terra pouted. “Awww, come on! I bet I can hook you up with so—”
“Mahogany Forest!” a stallion’s voice boomed. A large, dark brown pegasus clomped across the floor as some of the regulars scrambled to get out of the way. His carefully trimmed mustache framed his lips in such a way that it was hard to imagine him as anything but perpetually pissed off. He slammed his hoof down on the table, drawing more than a few extra eyes. “Celestia's Hell, Mahogany, I was afraid I'd find you in some rundown slum and I can see I was right.”
Mahogany shrank down behind his glass, ears wilted. It was almost imperceptible, but I could tell he was shaking. Quickly and quietly, I shifted myself so that I could easily get out of my seat.
“Hey, now. No need to shout.” Terra glared at the stallion. “We were trying to have a pleasant conversation before you interrupted.”
The stallion met her gaze. “Ma'am, I am this colt's father. I can interrupt any time I choose.”
Mahogany had never been one to talk about his family. I was always curious, but hadn’t wanted to pry. The more hot air escaped his father’s mouth, though, the more I knew why. The bar seemed to catch on as well, growing quieter as more and more heads turned.
I cleared my throat. “Well, perhaps it would be best to move into the back room to—”
“He's my son, and I'll speak to him where I damn well want to.” Mahogany’s father didn’t even bother to look at me.
“Guys... don't,” Mahogany mumbled.
“Right. At least the colt still has some sense. I'm here for a simple conversation with my son. It's my privilege as his father,” Mahogany’s father bellowed. I wondered if he was going to start beating his chest next.
Mahogany sighed, peering up over his glass. “What do you want, Dad?”
“Hmph. Some respect first. And an apology, for wasting years of your life out here, when you should have been back home, helping your family.” The larger stallion aligned his muzzle so he could look straight down it.
“Dad, I don't want anything to do with the company.”
“Well, you've had your chance. It's been four, almost five years? You've moped around in this backwater wasting your time in this bar with these little friends, but now it's time to admit your mistakes and come home.”
Mahogany looked like he wanted to protest, but did little more than nod.
“You've wasted all your time on that terrible job, but at least your boss had the sense to call me when you failed to show up for a whole month, and again when you failed to show up last week.”
A lumped formed in my stomach. This was all because of me. I cleared my throat again. “Sir, in case you haven’t noticed, Mahogany is a full-grown stallion—one capable of making his own choices.”
“He's a child. He could barely make it through school, and when I offered him real responsibility, he ran. He's been running ever since. Usually into a bottle. And I'm done tolerating his crap. It's time to go home.” He turned that same gaze upon me, but, well, frankly, he wasn’t very good at it.
“H-home?” Mahogany squirmed.
“Home. Time to leave your filthy little apartment, and your pointless job and gray nothing life with these so-called friends behind.” Mahogany’s father drew himself up. “You've got a position to fill, and a purpose greater than the pathetic little box on your flank. Now come on. Your little vacation is over.”
I wanted to point out that airing his family’s dirty laundry in public was more childish than anything Mahogany could have done, but I could already tell he was the kind of person who would take that as a license to dump the whole basket.
Terra rose, meeting Mahogany’s father’s posture, even though she was at least a good foot shorter. I slid myself back a little, getting ready to back her up if need be.
With undisguised indignation, Terra pointed a hoof right at his chest. “It's not a vacation! It's his life! Do you have any idea what he's been through?”
“Do you have any idea what he's put me through?” Mahogany’s father stepped right around Terra. “I've got train tickets for the eight-thirty train home. Come on, Mahogany.”
Without even waiting for a response, he grabbed Mahogany by the mane and dragged him out of his seat.
“No,” Mahogany said as he pushed himself to his hooves.
“I'm sorry, did you just tell me no?” His father’s face contorted into the same look I’d seen on many a violent drunk. Slowly, I rose from my seat, contemplating the quickest way to bring him down.
Mahogany stood tall, and while his voice cracked, the defiance in his eyes was unmistakable. “I did, yeah. I'm not going to come back with you.”
“You're not serious.” Mahogany’s father looked stunned for just a second, before motioning to the entirety of the bar. “You're throwing away your only chance for what? For this? For these so-called friends? You're in a gutter, Mahogany, and they're just draggi—”
“Shut up!” Mahogany thrust out a hoof, and though his father stepped back, the motion was so wild that it caught his father under the chin with an audible crack.
Mahogany either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He was up in his father’s face, shouting just as loudly. “You've ruined every good thing in my life! All you ever cared about was the company, the company, the company! You've never cared about anything I wanted, or that I could be!”
His father spat a small glob of blood onto the floor. “I am your father! You can't treat me like that! I'm not afraid to teach you a harsher lesson, if you refuse to listen.”
“Better ponies than you have taken shots, Birch. You're a monster, and you're no father of mine. You, sir, are no White Riot.”
I frowned. This was not something he should be advertising, especially to the public. I would have cut in, but it was crucial that I not kill his momentum. At least the whole statement seemed to go over Birch’s head. While his expression hardly changed, I’m sure he wouldn’t have passed up another opportunity to declare how much of a screw-up Mahogany was. I felt a wing brush across my back and my eyes flitted over to Night. He gave me an apologetic look, to which I nodded.
Mahogany and his father continued to stare each other down, but neither raised a hoof.
Birch was apparently all bluster, as he stepped back and sneered. “You think this is over? You think you've won? Fine, let me give you what you've always wanted. As is my right as patriarch of the Forest family, I cast you out! As of today, you forfeit your shares of the company, your inheritance, and your family name! Choke on your miserable little life.”
He whirled and crashed through the door, leaving the entire bar staring after him. Ten seconds later, the whole incident was forgotten by all but our table.
“Never wanted to be one of you anyways.” Mahogany slumped.
Terra was the first to speak, “Whoa... damn, Mahogany…”
Mahogany stumbled back to his seat and flopped down, staring at his Buzzard. “That was the hardest thing I've ever done.”
“He's wrong, Mahogany…” Night added.
“He's wrong about a lot of things, but so am I, usually.”
“Well, sometimes.” Night shook his head. “But you're not worthless... and we are your friends. We'll support you.”
I took the opportunity to slip over and give Mahogany a hug. “Just like you've supported us.”