I focused on moving forward. It was all I could do, for if I let my mind wander, I might have hesitated. If we weren’t going to dig in and make camp in Cloudcrest, we needed to make it to the safe house. Everything in the direction Mint was guiding us was either plains or feral fields for miles—far from ideal for traveling undetected and suicidally vulnerable to make camp in. With each moment bringing more and more darkness, there was no room for second guessing.
My eyes flitted everywhere as the dying light cast shadows between every remotely thick clump of wheat. I couldn’t let them linger on the ground too long, either, for clouds were beginning to take up more and more of the sky. It was almost like being back in the Badlands.
After way too long, a faint light appeared on the horizon. I looked at Mint, ready to stop and break away at a moment’s notice. However, Mint banked, pointing herself directly at the light. I let out just the barest sigh of relief.
Below was what appeared to be a small farm, its land cutting a very rough square out of the tall grass. Within the square was a small sea of orange dots, winking in and out of existence as the pumpkins’ leaves swayed in the breeze. At the head of the field was a lantern post—the light we’d seen in the distance. Just a few feet away from that was a farm house, though as we closed in, it struck me as more of a shed than anything. Regardless, there was no light on inside.
Giving house and field a relatively wide berth, was an oddly large barn. Or, perhaps it just seemed that way compared to the shack. I had difficulty telling in the dark, but it at least seemed like more care had been put into assembling it. I supposed it made sense, given that any animals and equipment would be more valuable than anything kept in the house.
Touching down, Mint took the lantern from the post, sparing only a moment to make sure we were still following before trotting toward the barn. We passed the main doors, and I raised an eyebrow as Mint turned the far corner. The terrain grew a little rougher here, with some large stones that had not been cleared away. I wondered if there was some hidden cave we would be hunkering down in.
I was half-right.
Beyond the second stone were the heavy wooden doors of an underground cellar. With barely a grunt, Mint swung the left door open, waving us in. Despite my best efforts, I felt my heart stop—and myself along with it. All that lay before me was a set of stone steps, the darkness at the bottom leaving the rest to my imagination. I knew it would be clean, containing little more than preserved fruits and yet, all I could see was the warehouse basement. The smooth, cement walls were painted in the blood of Guard and Cartel alike. They closed in, pushing the corpses ever closer, invading my nostrils. I heard the screams: two stallions locked in mortal combat.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward, even as the images grew more and more vivid.
“You okay?” Night’s whisper nearly made me jump.
“I’ll be fine. I just need a few moments,” I replied, taking a few deep breaths.
Once the door thumped shut behind us, Mint came down, illuminating the cobblestone cellar. Uneven wooden shelves lined each wall, though they were currently empty. I felt myself calm down a little, but the blood lingered at the edge of my mind, threatening to invade without notice.
“Almost there,” whispered Mint.
“Almost?” Relief crossed Night’s face as he surveyed the room once more. To be perfectly fair, I hadn’t been looking forward to sleeping in the corner of a dusty fruit cellar, either.
With another wave of her wing, Mint led the way to the very back of the room. There, she pressed herself against the wall, giving it a firm shove. Then another. With a third, a small section of the wall eased open.
Inside was another cobblestone room, about half the size of the main cellar. Several crates sat near the back of the room, forming a semi-circle around a trio of cots.
Once the wall was back in place, Mint pointed a hoof. “Food’s on the left. Water in the middle. Other basics in the right. We need to get out of here fast, there’s another door in the back-left corner.”
“Okay.” I nodded, trying to take the information in between breaths. Now that we were relatively safe, a tidal wave of exhaustion hit me, and I fell to my haunches. Night pressed up against me. He didn’t say a word, but his worried glance told me all I needed to know. With a shake of my head, I forced a smile. “Thanks, Night. I’ll be fine.”
---
My assailant lay motionless, slumped in the corner of my room, his eyes rolled back behind his bloodied balaclava. I kept my wingblade leveled at him. Five seconds. Ten. Nothing.
He’d nearly done me in, caught me with my back half-turned. Never had I been so glad to be too restless to sleep. At the same time, I felt dread pressing at the back of my mind, seeking to replace the adrenaline currently setting my senses ablaze. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t. We were supposed to be safe, hidden in the basement of this warehouse. Instead, this side storage had almost become a coffin.
As I turned to the door, a stitch pulled at my side, quickly tearing and sending a ripple of pain across my body. I clenched my teeth, silencing myself. There was no way I could take another fight like this. I needed to find the Guards. They’d know what to do.
Stumbling out of my room, I wanted to throw up. A half-dozen corpses lay strewn across the cement floor. Blood was smeared and spattered every which way—mostly on the floor, but also on the walls. Even the ceiling couldn’t escape it, with several of the lanterns casting misshapen black blots across every surface.
I didn’t understand. We were supposed to be safe.
There was shouting. Screaming. Someone was dying. I didn’t know if I dared move toward the sounds. Some part of me wanted to go in the opposite direction. The only problem was that was ten feet, then straight into a wall.
One of the other side doors burst open, its overwhelming echo almost sending me scurrying for cover. Out stepped a large, tan earth pony. When last I’d seen him, the words I’d have to used to describe Silent Vigil would have been “rugged”, “handsome”, and just about every other word an action novel would want in a protagonist. Now, the thick jacket that doubled as padded barding was caked in blood—which I couldn’t be certain if it was his or another’s. He squinted behind the start of a black eye, and his deep brown mane looked like it’d been through a hurricane or two.
“You okay?” he called out in a low tone.
“Yeah, I… I’m a little banged up, but nothing compared to you.” I nodded almost mechanically. “But what’s going on? What’s happening?”
“We’ve been compromised,” he growled. “We have to get you out of here.”
“Compromised? How?” I squeaked out.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure out it after. This way.” He led me down the hall from where he’d come. Two more Cartel lay crumpled against the wall.
After a couple turns that I barely remembered, we hit a set of stairs that led us back up to the main floor. It came out somewhere within the offices, of which the floor was composed of endless white tiles. As we reached a T-intersection, more shouting echoed down the hall. It was close, likely just outside, in the main storage area.
Silent Vigil winced as he made a hard left, whispering, “This way! Hurry”
The next room finally held some friendly faces, grim as they were. As we passed them, they pushed the double doors shut behind us, jamming a steel office table under the handles.
“Status?” Silent Vigil asked.
“The rear exit is still secure,” replied the brown mare. Her partner, a purple stallion, braced himself against the table.
“Good. Once we get out, we’ll take the alley four warehouses over. Should we get separated, there’s an old dingy under the bridge. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but it’s also quiet.” Silent Vigil turned and motioned for me to follow.
“What about them?” I glanced at the other Guards.
Silent Vigil’s face grew cold. “Forget them. They’re doing their job.”
“What? No! We can’t leave them behind! Not to mention the others!” I suddenly found myself standing my ground.
“Don’t be foolish.” Silent Vigil shook his head. “This is what we’re trained to do. You are not. Let them do their jobs and we’ll all get out of this.”
“But…” I turned back to the other Guards. I didn’t think Silent Vigil would lie to me, but given the looks on their faces, I found myself hesitating.
“We don’t have time for this.” He grabbed my tail, pulling me along.
That’s when the double doors burst open. Almost in one motion, the red-brown earth pony came crashing through the middle, ramming into the purple Guard. As the doors swung fully open, a unicorn and a pegasus appeared alongside him. The brown Guard leapt upon the unicorn amidst an echoing cry of, “Go!”
Silent Vigil yanked harder. It should have hurt, but I was too numb. Somehow I was already in the next room, no thanks to my own efforts. It was only then, as everything collapsed around me, that I truly realized why my mom always said that there were no rules or honour on the battlefield—just doing what had to be done.
The Cartel pegasus came sailing through the doorway, his own wingblade narrowly missing me as I half-ducked, half-fell. I rolled to face him while simultaneously trying to scramble out of range of a second strike—all with the approximate grace of a lumbering ox. He wore a thick cloak, but otherwise did little to conceal his face. I guess with the assassins having failed, they had simply decided to bulldoze their way through in more ways than one.
Silent Vigil rocketed in like a runaway cart, ramming into the Cartel thug, pushing him out of reach. They tumbled away in a pile of flailing limbs. I followed, looking for an opportunity to intervene. That was when I saw the blade turn his way, helpless to do anything as it slid into his kidney.
With a rage-filled grunt, Silent Vigil rained down blows, completely unhindered by the pegasus’s increasingly desperate counterattacks. The whole thing was over in an instant. But even as Silent Vigil pushed himself up, staggering my way, I knew it was over, that I had failed. I couldn’t believe it.
Yet, the cold, unfeeling reality sent him sprawling, falling to his side, a prominent red streak trailing across the white tile.
“Vigil!” I yelled, running to his side. “Hang in there!”
“No…. The wounds... they’re too deep. You have to go.”
“Don’t say that. I can’t leave you behind.”
“There’s too many… You… you have to run! Live… and show them they… can’t just do what they want.”
I knew he was right. I hated it. I couldn’t take on a horde of Cartel thugs. Neither was I strong enough to carry him.
Sparing one last glance, I whispered, “I’m sorry,” before turning toward the door.
Only to come face-to-face with Summer Leaf. She grinned wickedly.
Something inside me snapped, rage welling up. “You! This is all your fault!”
“So what if it is? What are you going to do about it?”
I lunged. I had no chance, yet I didn’t care—anger was all that drove me. Despite the size difference, I pushed her off balance, slamming her into the wall. I brought my wingblade up, sinking it into her soft belly. Again and again. All I could see was red. Was it blood?
As I tired, the walls began to melt away, taking everything else with them. Except for the cackling, echoing laugh.
“Just… like… me…”
My eyes snapped open. Everything was dark. Slowly sitting up, I remembered where I was. I squinted as I stared across the room. The secret passage was still securely in place. Letting out a quiet sigh, I shifted into a more comfortable position. There was little sleep to be had now.
---
The rest of the night was quiet, as was the remaining distance to Ponyville. I figured we were now too close to Canterlot for them to be moving too brazenly. Still, there were plenty of places to hide in a town. As such, I had us touch down at the edge of Whitetail Woods, using the trails to cover our approach.
Spying on the town from the underbrush proved to be rather limited. I’d expected as much, but it at least told me the outskirts were clear. Mint volunteered to go in first, confident that she wouldn’t be recognized. After last night, I almost told her, ‘no’. But the rational side of me knew there was no other way. Sitting out here indefinitely would just get us surrounded.
By now, the market was well underway, giving me a relative sense of normalcy as the silhouettes flickered in and out of existence around the stands. I found my eyes drifting behind us, watching, listening for any sign that someone was taking advantage of our interest in the mundane.
It was then that I noticed Night casting a longing look out at the market. Stealing a quick nuzzle, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s… home.” He turned his gaze outward again. “I mean, we’re back… but it still feels like we’re so far away.”
“I know. But even here we can’t be too careful. Once Mint gets back and the market closes, we should be able to move quickly and reach the library before the sun sets without anyone seeing us.”
Night pondered a moment, then let out a low chuckle. “And it’s not just that. I mean, as silly as it sounds in the face of everything… our trip. It’s sorta… over now, isn’t it?”
I flashed him a reassuring smile. “One of many more to come, I promise.”
He slumped a little. “I just didn’t realize until now, how much I wanted to keep going.”
Wrapping a wing around him, I kept one eye behind us. “We will, in time.”
Leaning up against me, he stared off into the distance. “Dusky I… I want you to move in with me. Or, to move in with you. It doesn’t matter. I just… I can’t go back to sleeping alone.”
“I assumed we would move in together, what with getting married and all.” I smirked a little. “There’s still a lot that needs to be done first.”
Night stiffened, a touch of blush spreading across his cheeks. “R-right, right. Of course. Sorry.”
Stealing a quick peck on his muzzle, I smiled again. “Nothing to be sorry about. I know this hasn’t been easy for you, but I appreciate you seeing it through with me.”
“For better, or worse Dusky. I… I knew what I was getting into when I asked that question. This trip has been wonderful… and terrifying. It’s been beautiful, and breathtaking, and exhausting. But even now, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything, Dusky. Thank you.”
I leaned in, giving him one more kiss, holding it for as long as I dared—which was little more than a moment or two. “Thank you, Night Light. I’m glad the rough patches didn’t put you off.”
In turn he gave me a sappy look and a nod.
Glancing back at the market, I added, “Assuming nothing’s wrong, Mint should be back from scouting soon. Another hour or so and we can head in.”