The Chronicles of Dark Star: A Blade of Redemption

by D4ftP0ny

Chapter 7

As far as odds went, Dark Star thought he had gotten quite lucky. If nothing else, he had done much more with much less; in fact, he had once defended a village along Equestria’s northern border from a griffon attack with six earth ponies, ten burlap sacks and a spool of baling twine. It had been a near thing, but he’d managed it- and that was very much his mindset as he gazed at the small group of ponies he had set out to rescue. In all of his calculations, in all of his equations as to the dynamic of the group he would have to lead when he finally found the kidnapped ponies, he had always factored in extreme age. It had seemed completely implausible that he would not get at least one elderly mare or stallion that he would have to assist through the trap-laden forest late at night, but as he gazed at the small group that gathered around the light of his horn, he couldn’t help but thank Luna for her silent support. Because there’s no way that I could get this lucky.

Behind the door he’d found a strong earth pony stallion and two young unicorn mares, all still physically fit and ready to move, as far as his eye could see. Turnover wasn’t limping or moving as if he was hurt, and neither were the two mares, Trixie and Moonflower. Dark’s eyes flickered to the filly, who was cowering behind her mother’s legs even as the unicorn mare shuffled forward to stand near Dark. The worst that I’ve been given to deal with is a filly, and she’s small enough that I could carry her on my back with little trouble. The stallion felt his lip curve slightly in a smile. Not too bad at all.

But there was something that didn’t quite seem right. As much as he believed that he’d taken all the proper precautions, as much as he was certain that he had gotten very lucky… something nagged at the back of his mind. It was the same kind of feeling he got when he looked at Hay Bale; that strange feeling like he was ignoring something that should have been completely obvious to him. Like I’m missing something, he thought. But if he was missing something, it was hard to say it was important. After all, he’d made it to the kidnapped ponies, which had been the hardest part of his plan in the first place… but so often, small things overlooked came back to bite one in the rump.

“I still can’t believe it,” Turnover said as he approached, squinting even in the low light of Dark’s horn. “I mean, I’m sure glad to see you, sir, but you came all the way here to rescue us… and now it’s actually happening… it’s kind of hard to take in, if you’ll pardon the phrase.”

“Not at all; I can imagine that it’s a bit hard to believe.” He turned his eyes to Moonflower, who still looked absolutely thunderstruck, and gave her a small smile. “Everypony wants to believe that they’ll be rescued, but it’s quite another thing when it actually happens.” He shook his head slightly. “Although I would discourage you from counting your chickens before they hatch, Mr. Turnover- we’re not free yet. In fact,” he said as he turned his eyes to the powder blue mare named Trixie, who had as yet not made a single move past standing when he’d entered the shack, “I’m admittedly surprised to see you all still in here at all. With two unicorns locked in a structure this simple, I would have thought that at least one of you would have escaped.”

Moonflower sighed shakily, her pure white mane falling over one shocking blue eye. “We would have tried,” she said, her voice trembling. “But we couldn’t… because of these.” She lifted a hoof from the floor and pointed to the base of her horn. Dark leaned forward, and in the light from his horn he could see a wide silver ring nestled deep in her snow-white tresses.

“Oooh…” said Dark, his brow furrowing. “Interesting…” He leaned forward further, squinting in at the ring. “I take it this is keeping you from using your magic?” That would certainly explain why they hadn’t taken off yet. A minor problem…

“It’s blocking it, somehow,” Moonflower confirmed, distress seeping into her every word. “A-and no matter how hard I try, I can’t press past it… can’t force my magic to work… I-I’ve tried so hard…” She sniffed, and tears ran down her cream-colored cheeks.

Dark winced slightly in the face of the mare’s tears, but he managed to give her a smile he hoped looked more encouraging than it felt. “You make it sound like it’s easy to force your way past a sealing ring,” he said, lowering his head until his horn touched the mare’s own. His magic pulsed softly and a gentle click reached his ear as the ring snapped open. Moonflower gasped and jerked away from him, causing the ring to dislodge from her horn and fall through her mane to land on the floor.

“How… how did you do that?!” she whispered, her eyes wide in disbelief. Dark’s horn pulsed again, and the strange ring lifted from the dirt to hover before his eyes in a subtle haze of blue magic.

“A ring like this is made to come off with the slightest magical manipulation, but is otherwise impossible to remove,” he said simply, twisting the ring in the air as his eyes followed its smooth edges and almost invisible clasp. “Not to mention that they’re strong enough to keep even the most powerful unicorn in Equestria from breaking through the seal, so you’ll pardon me for saying that it’s most certainly not your fault that you couldn’t remove it.” This ring is quite the work of art, he thought as he scrutinized the object closely. In my day, sealing rings were clunky and huge, woven with more dampening magic and sealing spells than most unicorns could ever learn on their own, but this…

He shifted to the side, and his sword bumped his leg; the very sword which held his timer in its hilt. The stallion sighed, and without a second thought he clasped the ring shut so it appeared to be one solid band of unbroken metal and slipped it into his cloak to the small concealed pouch that lay there. A further examination is in order, he thought, but perhaps at a more appropriate place and time. He lifted the hem of his cloak once more, and the small amount of glow left on his sword hilt made him swear lightly under his breath. Time to get going, Dark.

“All right, ponies,” he said as he stepped forward to Trixie. She stared at him, and as Dark met her eyes he saw a strange mixture of awe and suspicion. He offered her what he hoped was an encouraging smile before lowering his horn to her in the same kind of motion he’d used with Moonflower. The blue mare squinted at him with her left eye, but after a moment she stepped forward and held her horn close to his. Dark’s magic pulsed once more, and the ring popped free of Trixie’s horn.

As the ring fell away and Dark Star moved to step back, his horn brushed Trixie’s; a bare touch, to be certain, and not one that should have sparked any kind of reaction between two ponies who had never met before. But as his horn touched Trixie’s, there was a reaction- her magic seemed to flare to life inside him, creating a burning thread from his horn to hers. His eyes widened, and before he could stop himself he jerked away from her, his hooves tripping over each other for the briefest of moments before he regained his footing. The dark stallion stared at the blue mare, his green eyes wide in disbelief and shock as his heart pounded in his ears. What… what in the name of the moon was THAT? Trixie was giving him a look that mirrored his in shock, her ears pressed flat against her head as she backed up a step to press her rump against the back wall of the shack.

“Wh…what happened?” asked Moonflower, her voice tight with worry as her eyes darted between Dark and Trixie. The black unicorn blinked hard for a few moments, trying to get the sudden aching sensation behind his eyes to go away before he spoke; it faded only slightly, and try as he might he could not get it to disappear completely.

“It was nothing,” Dark Star answered finally, though he knew as soon as he said it that it sounded like the lie it was. He tried to continue, to forestall any further questions on the matter, but instead he found himself grinding his teeth to keep from raising a hoof to his horn and rubbing it; he could still feel that peculiar burning, like some pony had wrapped hot piece of wire midway up it…

Come on, Dark, get it together! You only have so much time! With a vexed sigh, Dark swiveled his head back to face Turnover, who was looking at him as if he might grow a second head.

“Mr. Turnover, I’m afraid that I must ask you to wait here for a while,” he said as he moved towards the door. “I’ve been invited to some kind of a feast here in town tonight, at which I’ll be trying to find out as much as I can about why you were brought here as well as scouting the town’s defensive means. From what I’ve seen, the town doesn’t have any unicorns, so escaping shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll agree to that, though I haven’t seen much of the town since we were brought here,” Turnover said. “Every pony I’ve seen so far has been an earth pony.”

“Indeed. At any rate, once the feast is over, I’ll move back under cover of darkness to-,”

“Don’t forget the Pegasi.”

Dark Star halted mid-word, and slowly turned his eyes to Moonflower, who looked like he might yell at her for interrupting him.

“…excuse me,” Dark said as the uncomfortable feeling that he missed something suddenly started growing in his chest- as if he had just taken a breath of dry, dusty air from a long-sealed room. “Did you say Pegasi, miss?”

Moonflower glanced at Turnover before turning her eyes back to Dark, and she physically winced and swallowed audibly before answering.

“Y-yes… I did.”

“Pegasi here in this town?” Dark persisted.

“Yes, sir… Th-they were the ones who kidnapped us from our homes…”

“-and the ones who carried you here through the forest,” Dark finished for her, his hoof rising to his forehead. The musty feeling in his chest suddenly dove into his stomach, raising prickles of bile at the base of his throat as the missing pieces of the puzzle that he’d noticed weren’t there suddenly appeared out of thin air to slap him in the face. “I missed it,” he said softly. “I can’t believe I missed it…”

“Missed it?” said Moonflower, her eyes widening as panic rose in her voice. “Missed what?”

The unicorn stallion merely shook his head and smiled sadly. With a sigh he raised his hoof again, lifting the hem of his cloak once more so he could see the glowing hilt of his sword; a subtle twitch of his still-glowing horn, and the light emanating from the weapon faded before winking out entirely. I won’t need that anymore, he thought wryly. A shame, really- I was so careful, otherwise… He let his cloak fall back into place before turning once more to Turnover.

“I’m afraid there’s been a change of plan,” he said, his voice calm and confident.

“A change of plan?” Turnover asked. “But you never finished the first plan…”

“Then I’m certain you won’t mind me revising it,” Dark said, arching an eyebrow. “Or would you rather stay here in this hut?” The brown stallion blinked at him a moment before shaking his head slowly. “Good.” Dark turned back towards the door, his cloak swirling about him as he did. “I have to leave you all here for now- my plans have been… accelerated a bit.”

“Leave us?” asked Moonflower, her voice tight with anxiety. “B-but I thought you were going to get us out of here!”

“I am, Miss,” Dark said as his magic raised the hood of his cloak back over his head, once again funneling the light spell into a single beam. “But I’m afraid that to take you all out of here right now would be a mistake.” He let the light spell extinguish, plunging the room into darkness.

As soon as the light went out, however, a plaintive shriek rose from Moonflower’s corner, so sharp and full of absolute misery that Dark re-cast the light spell and spun to that side of the room. The filly, who had until this point simply hidden behind her mother’s legs, had curled up on the floor in a shaking ball, her rose-red mane bouncing in time to her frenetic shivers.

“No…no… please… not the dark again…” she whimpered, her voice little more than a weak sob. “P-please, sir… d-don’t leave us in the dark…” Moonflower dropped to her knees, her white mane falling over her eyes as she huddled low over her filly.

“Hush, Melody,” she said, her voice suddenly soothing and strong, without a trace of the fear and doubt Dark Star had heard in it moments before. “It’s going to be all right- this stallion is going to help us get out of here.”

“B-but h-h-he’s gonna leave us,” she sobbed, burying her face between her hooves as her shaking intensified. “A-and then he’ll forget us… a-and-aand then, then we’ll be stuck h-here in this darkness f-f-f-forEVER!”

“No, we won’t,” Moonflower said, and her voice was so fiercely confident that the tiny filly looked up in surprise. The mare’s bright blue eyes burned as she gave her filly a smile. “He’s going to get us out of here, Melody,” she said. “I know he will.” She closed her eyes, and after a moment her horn ignited with a gentle, pale blue light, casting a chill glow over the room that played a lighter counterpoint to Dark Star’s own- a light spell.

The black stallion let his own light die, casting his face into darkness once again as Melody looked up at her mother, the tears that stained her dirty white coat glinting in Moonflower’s magical luminance. His heart ached for the poor filly, so scared and uncertain, but who could blame her- she had just been kidnapped and held hostage. But his eyes went to her mother, who looked so calm and confident now…

I guess that’s what you do for your foal, he thought. You’ll do anything to help them hold on to hope, no matter how hopeless the situation seems. He almost wanted to tell the filly that they may not make it out of here, to give her a dose of the harsh reality of the situation… but as he watched her eyes gaze up at her mother’s magic and fill with courage once more, he knew that doing such a thing would destroy him as surely as a sword through the heart.

Suddenly, Melody turned her sapphire-blue eyes towards him, her gaze piercing the darkness of his hood.

“Mister…” she said, her voice still shaking ever so slightly. “You… you’ll come back for us… won’t you?” From within his hood, Dark Star smiled.

“Of course I will,” he answered without hesitation. It’s not the kind of request I can ignore…

“Do you promise?” she asked.

“I promise,” he replied. “And I always keep my promises.”

Suddenly, the one pony in the shack who hadn’t said anything for a very long while spoke from her dark corner.

“Promises are made to be broken,” said Trixie, her voice thick with disgust. “Empty words and hollow sentiment, that’s all promises are.”

The dark stallion turned his eyes to her and found her staring at him, her lavender eyes boring into him. He frowned at the blue mare, and was about to reassure Melody that his promises were never empty when he noticed the look in Trixie’s eyes. It wasn’t anger, it wasn’t disgust… it was desperation, a look of such absolute hunger that he almost took a step back.

“That’s what they are, right?” said Trixie, her voice as sharp as a razor. “Empty lies told to placate a scared filly. We’re all going to stay in here, here in the darkness until we-,”

“No,” Dark Star said, the firmness of his voice cutting through her tirade. “No, you are not going to stay in here any longer.”

“A likely story,” Trixie scoffed. “You’re an awful lot of talk for just one pony.” Dark squinted at her from the shadows of his hood, his anger rising as heated words to his lips… but even as he opened his mouth to give her a few choice pieces of his mind he met her eyes again, and again the look of complete and utter desperation gave him pause.

What does she want? He wondered as he closed his mouth slowly. She’s doing nothing but causing trouble…

“A lot of talk,” the blue mare sneered. “You promise the filly you’ll get her out of here because she’s a gullible foal and will believe your lies so she cooperates, and you promise the stallion you’ll get him out of here so he’ll help you. Trixie bets that you won’t promise her such things!”

Dark stared at her in disbelief for a long moment. This mare has absolutely lost her mind, he thought, and given the current state of events he couldn’t exactly blame her. Being in a tense, hostile situation like this could and did have adverse effects on ponies- no doubt including pushing them to speak in the third person. I’ve seen weirder things happen on the battlefield, Dark thought. However, I don’t have the time to play psychologist at the moment. With a slight shake of his head he started to turn away, but then Trixie’s eyes became hungry again and she lunged towards him a step, causing his muscles to tense warily beneath his cloak.

“T-Trixie bets you won’t!” she said loudly, her mane falling over one hysterical eye. “Trixie bets you would never make a promise like that to Trixie because you could never keep it!!”

The dark stallion’s teeth ground together, and with as much composure as he could muster he turned back to face her squarely, his hood still holding his face in a realm of shadow.

“And what makes you say that?” he asked, his voice as cold as ice. This mare is starting to get on my nerves… “How can you stand there and call me a liar, when I’m your only way out of this mess?”

“Because…” The mare’s mane quivered, and Dark was surprised to note that it was because she was shaking. “Because… because you can’t keep it… because this is where Trixie is meant to be… where Trixie is meant to stay…” Her whole body shuddered, and she dropped her eyes to the floor as she whispered something that Dark Star almost didn’t catch:

“…because Trixie doesn’t deserve to leave.”

Dark watched her closely as she shook from nose to tail, her entire body vibrating with her sorrow and misery; and even as Trixie’s tears began to make spots on the floor below her, he couldn’t help but smile just slightly.

“You don’t deserve to leave, Trixie?” he said quietly. “That’s a bold statement; you make it sound as if you know your destiny.” Trixie’s head shot up at the word destiny, and her tear-filled eyes stared at him as emotions flickered through their depths.

“Trixie knows her destiny,” she whispered hoarsely. “Trixie knows her fate… what she deserves.” Dark Star chuckled under his breath and shook his head minutely.

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you that if your destiny is to die in a dark, awful shack like this one,” Dark said, turning back to the door, “then you’re going to have to do it on your own time, Trixie- because I’m going to get you and everypony else out of here.” Without waiting for her to reply he stepped up to the door and put his hoof to it. “Stay in here, everypony,” he said over his shoulder. “Things out here aren’t going to be very pleasant.”

“Wh-what do you mean by that?” Turnover said from off to his right.

In answer, Dark Star pushed the door of the shack open… and instead of the dark of night to greet him the flickering light of many torches illuminated the interior of the small shed, torches that were held by a large semi-circle of earth ponies that cut off all escape routes away from the small building. Dark glanced back into the shed, to the ponies he had come so far to rescue, and gave them a smile that they could not see.

“That’s what I mean. If you’ll excuse me,” he said before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

~*~*~*~

Walking into a trap was a very ticklish business, especially if one knew the trap was there. On the one hoof, simply knowing that it is, indeed, a trap changes the very dynamic of the situation, removing all element of surprise and allowing one to face the situation with no preconceived notions of victory or defeat. On the other hoof, it is common knowledge that identifying a trap would allow one to avoid it completely. For Dark Star, however, things were not quite so straight-forward as “avoiding” the trap.

As soon as Moonflower had mentioned the Pegasi she had seen while being captured, all the little pieces of uncertainty that had been flitting around Dark’s mind congealed into a single irrefutable fact: that he had been watched and followed. The feeling of eyes on him through the forest had been undeniable, and the fact that the watchers had kept their identity secret from Dark had said a great deal about their stealth abilities. That fact, of course, made it easier for the stallion to believe that he had been watched silently through the town, as well; after all, he’d had a great deal more to think about while sneaking through an occupied town versus creeping through an empty forest. Once he had realized that, it was a short jump to foreseeing a trap. After all, they can’t simply have a stallion wandering about their town free, now can they?

Admittedly, getting caught in an ambush was never a very good way to go about completing a mission, but it certainly appealed to Dark Star’s inner warrior. He had never enjoyed subterfuge, and would certainly prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around even if doing so would make it a little more difficult to escape with the prisoners. His eyes swept the ponies that surrounded him, the firelight dancing across their stoic faces and muscular shoulders as they stared back at him. Finally, his eyes found a pony he recognized, even though the torches painted his merry yellow coat a pale orange in the darkness.

“Hello again, Hay Bale,” said Dark, a smile curving his lips. “I have to say, the torches are a very nice touch. It’s been a long time since I faced down an angry mob.” The earth pony snorted and stepped out from the ranks, his torch held firmly in his right hoof.

“You should have stayed in your room, sir,” Hay Bale said, his voice angry and firm. “If you had just stayed there, all of this unpleasantness could have been avoided!”

The unicorn’s smile became predatory. “Oh I think you’re mistaken. There would have been plenty of unpleasantness to go around- it just would have been a different kind.”

Hay Bale’s gaze never left Dark’s, but he could see Hay’s body moving as he shifted on his hooves ever so slightly beneath Dark’s scrutiny. To his credit, however, the earth pony held his ground; it was clear that he was determined to lead this group, even if by all appearances he did not wish to. The unicorn’s eyes narrowed as he watched Hay Bale. That was a look he had seen a very long time ago on guards sent to bring in one of their own who had been branded a traitor- a mission that nopony wanted, but one that had to be done nevertheless. It would seem that Mr. Bale doesn’t actually want to be facing me down in the street like this, he thought. He’s doing this at somepony else’s behest… which means that he has a specific set of orders he’s supposed to follow.

And while those orders could have consisted of any number of things, Dark Star had a suspicion that they were very simple… and very messy.

His eyes darted again to the other ponies surrounding him, his gaze cool and calculating as he let wisdom learned a thousand years in the past lead his thoughts. I’d estimate… about fifteen big, strong earth ponies. His head turned ever so slightly, allowing him to take in the corners of the formation from beneath his hood. Broad shoulders, sturdy legs- farmers, if I had to guess, meaning that they have a lot of brute strength and good stamina. However, that would indicate a lack of speed, and most likely a lack of actual training in combat. The corner of his lip quirked slightly. A stray brawl here and there, no doubt, but no real training to speak of. His eyes darted back to the other side of the circle. With the number of ponies they have against me, and their obvious advantage in combined physical strength…

He grinned as his eyes went back to Hay Bale. If this is how it’s going to be, it’ll all be over in a matter of moments. Dark shifted his hooves ever so slightly beneath his cloak, settling into a combat stance. The entire circle of ponies tensed as he moved, their eyes narrowing and muscles bulging; but before anypony could attack Hay Bale waved his torch frantically, putting himself between Dark and the largest part of the group.

“NO!” he shouted, his voice tinged with anxiety as he waved hoof and torch about. “Leave him be!” But the group of stallions didn’t relax; their muscles were tense and their eyes were narrow, watching Dark for any sign of movement that may indicate an attack. The black stallion smirked as he shifted his left front hoof back slightly to make drawing his blade easier. Obviously they’re not as stupid as they look.

“Stand down!” Hay Bale shouted at the group around him, his voice rising to almost a shriek. “I order you to stand down!”

“What’s the matter, Hay Bale?” Dark taunted softly, just loud enough for the words to reach the other stallion’s ears. “Lost control of your little unit, have you?” The earth pony whirled on him, his eyes flashing with anger; but it faded immediately to fear and uncertainty as he turned back to the rest of the group, who were regarding Dark Star like a group of mountain lions who had cornered a lone deer.

A bit reversed, if you asked me.

“Stop! Stand down! I…” Hay stopped mid-sentence, falling silent for a moment before he stood up straight and tall. “Need I remind you what our orders are?” he said finally, his voice loud and desperate. “We are to bring this stallion to him, remember?” Hay turned slowly, taking in the whole semi-circle of stallions before he spoke again. “And if anything were to happen to this pony, my head will not be the only one that rolls!”

Despite the less than confident delivery, Hay Bale’s words seemed to have the effect he desired on the surrounding stallions; there was a general grumbling of displeasure from them, but as one they all relaxed and took a step back, giving Dark Star a bit more space. Hay Bale nodded firmly.

“Good- I’m glad we understand one another,” he said, his voice shaking despite his strong words. “Now, on to what we came here for.” The stallion turned to face Dark, his jaw clenched so tightly Dark could see the muscles bunching along the side of Hay Bale’s face. “You,” Hay said, pointing with a hoof at Dark. “You are to come with us, sir.”

Dark did not relax, no matter that the situation seemed to be under control once more. After all, it’s not the opponents I can see that concern me. His eyes swept the group of ponies around him once more before darting up into the darkness above them. In this torchlight, they could be hovering right above me and I’d never know it until it was too late. The unicorn turned his eyes back to Hay Bale, who stood patiently waiting for his compliance. It would be easy enough to dispatch this group, Dark thought. Easy as thinking. He was a war-trained unicorn with ample magic at his command; even with odds this stacked against him, his victory was all but assured…

But it was completely obvious to him that Hay Bale was not the pony in charge here- and Hay’s own admission had confirmed that for him. A mysterious party was leading these ponies, giving the orders to subdue visitors to their town and to do Celestia knew what else. Dark relaxed his stance, standing up straight once more as a smile quirked the corner of his mouth. Give me a little more, Hay Bale. Just a little more.

“And what does your village elder want with me?” asked Dark, casting his line for clues.

“What he wants is his own business, unicorn,” Hay spat as he lowered his head angrily. “We follow his orders to the letter and do not ask questions.” Dark smirked ever so slightly. That’s good enough for me.

“All right, Hay Bale. I’ll come with you.” He stepped forward, away from the shed; as soon as he was a few more pony lengths away from it, two of the stallions closest to the small building rushed to it and yanked the door open before darting inside. Dark whirled, his teeth bared, just in time to see the tail of the last stallion disappear inside. He spun back to Hay Bale, his eyes full of fire. “What are you doing?!” he barked. “I told you I’d come with you- there’s no need to involve these other ponies!”

Hay Bale gave him a smile so smug it took all of Dark’s self-control not to conjure up a fireball to wipe it from the earth pony’s face.

“All part of my orders, sir,” Hay said simply. “We are to bring you and our other… guests… to the elder. He claims that you will understand in due course, sir.”

There was a general clamor as the door of the shed swung open and the four ponies inside were thrust out into the night by the two guards; Turnover looked angry, but he wisely kept his hooves in check. Moonflower was hovering over Melody as protectively as she could, with the little filly appearing close to tears, and Trixie was simply allowing herself to be pushed along with the group, her eyes uncaring. The two stallions behind them closed the door to the shack and pushed the group to Dark Star, who turned back to give Hay Bale a hateful glare.

“…I’m sure that I will,” said Dark simply, his voice as cold as ice. The earth pony just smirked and turned to the group.

“All right, let’s move.” He started off towards the town square, his torch held high; as Dark and the other prisoners followed him, the semi-circle of ponies closed behind them, forming a solid wall of earth pony muscle between them and freedom. Next to Dark, Melody sniffled loudly; the black stallion looked down at her and found her staring up at him, her eyes full of fear.

“W-what’s going to happen to us, mister?” she asked, her voice filled with terror.

“Nothing,” Dark replied, giving her the most confident smile he could muster. “You’re going to be just fine, Melody.” He nodded before turning his eyes to Hay Bale once more, his mouth tight as he frowned angrily. And everypony involved in this is going to wish they had never been born.

In mere moments they reached the town square, which was barely two streets away from where the captives had been held, and as Dark cast his gaze about the area he had to admit that it seemed to be just a normal festival. There were long tables set up, with ample plates lined along the sides for the plethora of ponies that stood waiting in the square; and a plethora there were, many more than Dark Star had seen when he’d first entered town. There were mares and stallions of every shape and size lining the edges of the square several rows deep- so many that as they were escorted from the outlying buildings into the square proper, Dark Star couldn’t believe how many there were. There have got to be almost three hundred ponies here, he thought in disbelief as his eyes danced across the gathered crowd. The villagers watched the group carefully, speaking in low tones to one another so that the entire area was filled with subtle murmuring… but no matter where Dark looked, he could find only earth ponies. There were no Pegasi that he could see, nor were there unicorns. Only earth ponies as far as the eye could see.

Hay Bale led the group towards the manor house at the edge of the square, past the tables of plates to the tables full of vegetables. Dark felt his eyebrows rise at the sheer amount of them they had; huge mounds of carrots and cabbages, lettuce and corn, vegetables of every shape and size by the dozens covered the wide tables. This must be almost all of their winter stores, Dark thought in surprise. I hope whatever they’re celebrating is worth it.

The tables full of vegetables fell behind them, and only a wide swath of open ground stood between them and the manor house. Hay led them forward for several more moments before halting in his tracks at the start of the walkway that led to the house, causing the guards surrounding them to slow and stop, as well. Melody whimpered as Hay spun about, his torch held high.

“And now, prisoners,” he said, his voice heavy with eagerness, “You are brought before our leader. Behold him and tremble!” He raised the torch high into the air and threw it away to Dark’s left; it whirled through the air, almost going out as it arched up into the night, then fell to earth into a pit of stones where they ignited a large pile of wood that had been set in it. Dark blinked and squinted at the fire as it flared to life. It was a simple setup, and one that he personally had used on innumerable occasions: a large circle made of stones inside a larger circle of exposed earth, to keep the fire from getting out of control. But something stuck out to him as strange; on either side of the fire, there was a large metal pole standing up out of the ground, and extending between the two poles extended a third pole that ended in a large crank.

The stallion frowned heavily. That isn’t something ponies normally use, he thought, but… but I know I’ve seen that somewhere… Think, Dark, think! He turned his eyes to the ground, trying his level best to remember where he had seen such a contraption before. It hasn’t been anytime recently… no, it was way, way back… back before I’d met Luna… before I was a Captain of the Guard… back when I was on the frontier, fighting-

His eyes widened, and unbidden a snarl leaped to his lips that caused Moonflower and Melody both to jump slightly.

“It can’t be…” he breathed.

Suddenly, the double doors of the manor house burst open, slamming wide against the sides of the house as if they had been propelled from the inside by a tornado. Hay Bale laughed loudly, and as one the ponies surrounding their little group split, falling back behind them so that nothing stood between the group and the manor. Dark Star’s teeth ground together as sounds began to echo out from inside the house; footsteps that approached slowly, confidently… footsteps that scratched and padded alternately.

“W-what is going on?” Moonflower whispered, her voice shaking once more. “W-wh-what is happening?!” But even as Dark opened his mouth to answer, a screech rent the air- a sound like a bird of prey swooping in to snatch its prey.

Out of the gaping door of the manor came a beast that everypony knew on sight; a beast whose long, silver and black feathers slowly faded into soft black fur along its hindquarters, a beast with long black talons for front legs and keen, prideful yellow eyes above a wickedly hooked silver beak.

The beast strutted forward to the edge of the manor’s large porch and spread his impressive wings wide, the firelight glinting off the chainmail vest he wore across his broad chest as he lifted his head to the sky once more and let out a long, loud screech that caused many ponies to cover their ears in surprise. As the echo of the noise rebounded across the square he folded his wings again and turned his eyes to the group, the corner of his mouth quirking into a smile.

“Welcome, ponies,” he said, his voice a rough, harsh tenor. “I do hope you have found our village… accommodating?” He snickered at his own joke. “Ah, me…”

Dark Star glared up at him, and without removing his eyes from the beast he answered Moonflower:

“We’ve just been invited to a griffon’s dinner party.”

The griffon on the porch grinned broadly down at him and took a mock bow, holding one talon across the chainmail vest.

“Indeed you have, ponies,” the griffon said. “You have been given the honor to be in the presence of Razorbeak the griffon.” Razorbeak raised his head once more, and his eyes gleamed gold in the firelight. “And I daresay that we couldn’t have dinner without you.”

Comments

[-Brutus]

Oh dang! It was a griffon who was behind all of this, now its all up to you Dark!