//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: The Filly Without a Name // by Scribble Script //------------------------------// Chapter 11 - CALM MIND’S PLAN… So what Silver Blaze had feared all along had happened. He had feared that Calm Mind would do something rash and dangerous, as obsessed as she was with Dawn’s case. But that the Count's bodyguards were now on the hunt for the filly was the very epitome of rash and dangerous. The situation was complicated: Count Rainbow in fact held the jurisdiction in Hollow Shades, but had no direct command in the town. He could issue an arrest warrant, but his pegasus guardsponies were only responsible for protecting him and his abode. They were certainly not allowed to just go and arrest ponies. That was the authority and task of the town guard and even a count had to abide by it. So, either old Rainbow had bribed the guards captain to turn a blind eye, or he had immediately imposed martial law on the entire city, overruling existing Equestrian law. Both possibilities were about equally likely, Silver Blaze thought, it all depended on how exactly Calm Mind had persuaded the Count to use, or rather to abuse his power. And there was no question for Silver Blaze that Calm Mind had something to do with this issue. He was angry that he had underestimated her, but who could have known that she would turn the disappearance of the filly into a state affair? Silver Blaze hadn’t thought it would be easy to talk sense into Calm Mind, after all he had tried that for more or less the whole week, but against this new alliance he had an even worse position. As expected, he was not greeted very warmly by the guards when he entered the garden together with Sliderule, who in the meantime had halfway regained his composure: As he opened the door, at once two dark looking pegasi stepped into his way: “Stop, don’t take another step!” They wore full armour and even had blades strapped to their wings as if they were going to war. These wing blades were dangerous close combat weapons, and the way the two pegasi spread their wings to point the edges at Silver Blaze looked like they also knew how to use them. But Silver Blaze carried his own sword Wintermoon unmistakably at his side, and he was pretty sure that he was more skilled than those two. He wouldn't be intimidated. “Fillies and gentlecolts, may I ask what this charade is all about?” he said as calm as possible, and then since they didn't make a move to let him pass, he added: "Do we have a problem?" “His highborn, the Count, has given us strict orders..." one of the guards began, but he was immediately interrupted again by Silver Blaze, who cut him off in the friendliest of all tones. “First of all, you two will lower your weapons before somepony gets hurt. And this somepony certainly will not be me, I can promise that.” He was beginning to give the guards the creeps. He was not adequately intimidated, and even more, despite all his shown courtesy, his posture and body tension made clear that he was ready to attack, like a poisonous snake, completely calm and yet about to strike within the blink of an eye. For a long moment, they just stared at him and Silver Blaze stared back with his one, bright eye, a half smile on his lips that appeared somewhat dangerous and wolf-like. He won this staring contest. Almost unconsciously they folded their wings and stepped aside. “Well, that was downright scary”, Doctor Ragstitch said to Silver Blaze as he joined them in the circle of the other guards. “Y-yes, sir”, Sliderule confirmed. “I thought you were going to… um… well…” “I would have never attacked”, Silver Blaze whispered to them. “But they need not to know that, do they?” And with a smile that was real this time, he turned to Dawn. “How art thou doing?” Dawn didn't look very good. She sniffed. “Could do better…” She casted a quick glance at one of the pegasus guards who in turn critically was eyeing Silver Blaze. “Nopony wants to tell me anything! What’s going on here?” Silver Blaze would have liked to tell her everything was fine. She probably wouldn’t have believed him, though. She was a clever girl. He had to recall the last words Firefly had said to him before they had hastily parted ways earlier: Nothing’s gonna happen to Dawn, sir, promise me that! He had given her no reply, but now he needed to say something. “Thou hath been very brave, Dawn. This will soon be over, but thou needst to be brave once more. I will allow nopony to hurt thee anymore, but thou must not run away anymore. Canst thou promise me that?” He had said that loud enough for all bystanders to hear him. How he should behave towards Calm Mind, in the end, he still did not know that. The doctor had said that Silver Blaze had lost much of his honour, and she was probably right. He basically had nothing against the Princess herself, but he would have been happy if the High Council went to Tartarus! He would ‘ve done everything he could to harm their influence, even if that bordered treason. Only some things, he could not and would not allow, not because his honour commanded him, but because otherwise he could never have looked in the mirror again. After Silver Blaze's clarification, Dawn looked at him with wide eyes. Hesitantly she nodded. Although she didn’t say anything, Silver decided to accept this as a promise and turned instead to the leader of the guards. “Now that this has been made clear, maybe we can get to know what is wanted from us? Are we under arrest?” The mare was a lieutenant at sky if Silver Blaze correctly remembered the rank insignia of the Pegasus Guard. She had to be about his age, but unlike Silver, she looked older, and a little haggard. At a closer look, the pegasi altogether didn’t look to well. Especially the northern pegasi who hailed from the cloud villages often didn’t adjust well to a rather confined life on the ground. However, the mare’s officer rank ensured that she could show a minimum of courtesy when she answered Silver Blaze. “Not arrested, Sir, but we have order to take you before His Highness, Count Rainbow, immediately. This order extends also to all your companions and foremost this filly here. I regret to have to inconvenience you. Should you refuse to accompany us, however, I have permission to use force, if necessary.” “Well, that we should avoid at all cost, should we not?” Silver Blaze replied. The lieutenant bowed slightly. "Thank you for understanding, sir." She cleared her throat. "We’ve received word from the gatekeeper that you should also have with you a blue pegasus and a black unicorn. Their cutie marks are two blue lightning bolts and a violet blossom. They have to come with us as well. Where are they?” "Not here, can you not see that?" growled Doctor Ragstitch. He was angry that those stuck-up guys treated him like a criminal, and he thought Silver Blaze was having this conversation a little too polite. Silver Blaze put his hoof on Ragstitch’s shoulder to calm him down, so that he wouldn't talk himself through his teeth out of wrath. “Ye mean Firefly and Nightshade? They are gone, I fear. Nightshade went out, southwards, for Greenvale. He gave us no details, only said that he wanted to do an important research, but Cadet Firefly accompanies him, in case he needs to send us a message.” “We haven’t received any message they’ve left town”, the lieutenant tried to object, but Silver Blaze had awaited that dissent. It wasn’t hard for him to explain this inconsistency. He looked the officer straight in the eye and smiled, as he lied without blushing: “Nightshade is a master sorcerer and Firefly is the fastest flyer in all Equestria. Use your imagination, it would be quite easy for them to leave town, secretly, without any of the guards noticing. I am afraid ye will have to do without them. Ye could certainly order a search, but that would be difficult considering the woods surrounding the town, would it not?” The lieutenant grinded her teeth. Not thirty steps away from the house of healing was the town’s northern wall and beyond that wall almost immediately grew the first trees of Hollow Shades’s forest. For a pegasus it took only a blink to cross the wall and that surely was true for a royal sorcerer as well. It wasn’t important whether the officer believed Silver Blaze or not, by now he had stalled for enough time for the two of them to get into the woods. Silver Blaze saw the lieutenant’s dilemma and felt unduly rejoice that they at least had somewhat outwitted the guards. Around Hollow Shades, the conifers stood so thick that even the sharp-eyed pegasi would have severe problems spotting them from above, and especially Nightshade knew how to avert being seen when he wanted to; for the last half-mile or so they had to leave the cover of the trees, but until then they were relatively safe from hostile eyes. The lieutenant briefly conferred with her second in command. Silver Blaze couldn’t help but marvel her discipline for she managed to stay polite, when she now turned back to him. “Well played, sir”, she said. “We have no time to search for them. My orders are to waste no time, we’ll have to go without them.” She stepped forward towards him, came very close. “But be assured that I will hold you responsible for all problems that might arise from this.” Silver Blaze nodded and suggested to the lieutenant that she led the way. Without another word, the strange procession began to move. To see ten pegasi in full war gear accompanying an earth pony, two unicorns and a unicorn filly through town surely wasn’t an everyday sight. Silver Blaze saw multiple pairs of eyes peeping from the windows, but nopony showed themselves on the streets. Even the ponies guarding the gate looked like they really wished to be someplace else. None of the townsfolk wanted to be drawn into this mess; hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing, typical, Silver Blaze thought, but he couldn’t really blame them. He himself would have thought twice before he deliberately brought himself in a situation like that. But that was the problem, was it not? One didn’t always have a choice. You never sought trouble, rather trouble was seeking you… **** It was a quiet march, at least of the behalf of most of them. The pegasi kept a stoic silence, as well as Silver Blaze; and Sliderule and Dawn were too intimidated to speak. Only Doctor Ragstitch mentioned repeatedly that he had never liked their destination, Lakeside Castle, which was towering above them, dark and grey against a pale autumn sky, like an old mystical creature. Built as an irregular pentagon, with four thickset turrets on four corners and a high keep at the fifth, lakeward corner, Lakeside Castle was a massive stronghold. Made from heavy, grey stone blocks its high walls were as hard as the mountains themselves. Silver Blaze usually took pride in his folks for being gifted architects, but although the castle was a prime example for the durability of earth-pony art of construction, he had to agree with Doctor Ragstitch. The castle was impressive but looked anything but inviting. Once upon a time the townsfolk of Hollow Shades used to retreat there during wartime, but it was hardly imaginable that anypony, let alone pegasi, would want to live there. The hoisting of rainbow flags on the turrets was as misplaced as the painting of the sun beaming through white clouds on the castle portal. “Please, tell me you have a plan”, Doctor Ragstitch hissed to Silver Blaze, as they entered through the heavy gates. “Alright: I have a plan”, Silver Blaze replied tonelessly. Ragstitch wasn’t convinced at all. “You’re just saying that, aren’t you?”, he chased up. “Yes, I am just saying that…” Silver Blaze nodded. This futile conversation was cut short by the heavy bang of the castle gates falling shut behind them. It wouldn’t have taken the heavy portcullis looming above the other side of the entranceway to make clear that leaving the castle against the will of its master was nigh impossible for them. The castle yard was shadowed by the wide branches of a knotty old tree, whose colourful leaves lay shattered over the cobblestones. It was a cherry tree, quite rare for this area and with its white blossoms it would have been a wonderful sight in spring. But now it rather underlined the creeping desolation of the castle. The atmosphere was very similar in the main hall where many white cloths that had been hung. They were supposed to lighten the atmosphere but had a contrary effect. The hall bore striking resemblance to a house where the furniture was covered with sheets because all its inhabitants are gone or dead. In the middle of the hall, however, was an open fire pit, alike the old cooking place in the House of Healing. A crackling fire was burning inside and provided warmth quite passably. It was unmistakable that the master of the castle held court here, because behind the fireplace was a pedestal with a large chair on it, and behind the chair on the wall hung another rainbow flag. In contrast to the cheerful banner stood a second chair next to the first one. This chair was the reason why the room made such a dark impression: There was no doubt about for what sad reason that chair had been covered. It must’ve belonged to the Count’s late wife… Three more chairs had been placed around the fire, one on the one side and two on the other. Silver Blaze was allocated to one of those chairs, the other one had likewise been meant for Nightshade but due to his absence, Doctor Ragstitch now took seat at Silver’s side. Their guards retreated but didn’t leave the room. They positioned themselves besides the wooden pillars supporting the ceiling. Silver Blaze noticed that there apparently were no chairs for Sliderule and Dawn. That was a rudeness, and even more, it was a way to teach them their place. Or rather what Count Rainbow thought their place was: He thought that Dawn, Sliderule and the others had no say in that matter. If the Count had known Silver Blaze, he had also known that he couldn’t stand to be treated this patronizingly, all the more, since Silver had the strong suspicion that there was only a chair for himself because Doctor Calm Mind had insisted thereupon; he doubted that a ‘jumped-up colt’ like Silver otherwise would've even appeared in the atmosphere of a Count Double Rainbow. But his worry was stronger than his anger, slightly but still. The filly looked now really like she was about to drop dead on the spot with fright, or at least to bolt. Ragstitch and Sliderule were really no help, the two of them looked only slightly less uncertain: The attention of the most powerful pony in these lands seemed to cause Sliderule an upset stomach and he was looking like he was about to throw up. Ragstitch also was visibly struggling to retain his composure, the glances he was incessantly shooting at Silver Blaze were quite poisonous. But Silver couldn’t really blame them, though he was the only one who didn’t turn a hair – for Dawn’s sake. Dawn had given her promise not to run away but Silver Blaze wasn’t eager on finding out whether she still felt bound to that promise. And so, he found it important that he at least remained calm. After all, he thought, acting calm come what might was one of the few leadership talents he possessed. Well, he tried to remain calm, but he neither knew the actions Doctor Calm Mind had taken while he had to be content with just biding; nor could he comprehend for what reason she had changed her attitude towards the whole affair so fundamentally. Hadn’t she wanted to settle things as secret as possible? All he knew was, and this was his last thought before the events irrevocably took their course, that the decision he had stalled for so long now perchance would be forced upon him. **** Dawn went to great lengths to look like she wasn't even there, but she doubted that the pegasi would overlook her just because she was ducking behind Silver Blaze’s chair. The filly turned to Cloud Dash, seeking help, but she didn’t dare to say a word, out of fear to draw any more attention. Her imaginary friend looked miserable himself and he didn’t dare to speak either, although nopony would’ve heard him. Maybe he kept silent because he didn’t want to irritate her, but he made clear and urgent gestures towards the door. Cloud, there are soldiers all around, she thought, because she didn’t want to talk out loud lest the others thought she was crazy. I can’t run, they’ll get me before I can take two steps! But whether Cloud Dash could read her mind or not, he couldn’t help her now. Silver Blaze’s look came to rest upon her again and for a moment she thought to see through his strong appearance. There was fear, but whether he was afraid for himself or for her, she could not tell. Now she was afraid even more. Silver Blaze took a deep breath and shook his head. He had seen her look and interpreted it just right. He reached up to his neck and pulled out a medallion from under his scarf. It was a crescent moon, set in silver and made of a shimmering black material. “This is my little good luck charm”, he said as he loosened the clasp of the necklace. “It was carved from a scale of the Black Dragon Alkyagon. Her majesty, Princess Celestia, has made it for me; it is supposed to protect me, but now I am giving it to thee.” And he put the amulet around the astonished Dawn’s neck. “And whatever may happen, I…” He interrupted himself because, at that moment, a door was opened, and the main actors of this play entered the stage: In came a unicorn and a pegasus. “Father!” The exclamation would’ve roused everybody in the room, had it not come from Cloud Dash. Nopony except Dawn heard him, not the unicorn mare who had to be Doctor Calm Mind, not the pegasus noble and not Silver Blaze. He was saying something to her, something she couldn’t understand because Cloud was chipping in excitedly: “That’s my father, Dawn! That’s the Count!” **** And indeed: The aristocratical pegasus was no other than Count Double Rainbow, third bearer of this name, and at present steward of this county, which of course Dawn didn’t know at that moment. The pegasus was an impressive appearance, tall and good looking, and with his cyan blue coat and his subtly greyed, yet still rainbow-coloured mane he seemed born to stand out, especially amongst the umbra colours of Hollow Shades. “Venerated Silver Blaze”, Count Rainbow opened, as he took seat on his chair. His voice was strong and sonorous, and he spoke in clipped, precise tones. “First, I must apologise to you for the circumstances under which we meet. Nevertheless and a fortiori am I glad that we finally are able to get to know each other.” That was Count Rainbow’s way of speaking. He was a good speaker, one of the old school. The two rainbows on his flanks stood for his talent to inspire, and he had been good at it to an extend that even the High Council had once feared his influence. Silver Blaze had only met before his two older sons, the twins Rainbow Road and Rainbow Bridge and the two of them possessed by far not their father’s diplomatic skill. But Silver Blaze had never been somepony who let himself be lulled by fine words alone, anyway. “Ye speak fine, Your Highness“, he said, putting his hooves together. “But words are just words, and should not be wasted without good reason when time is running short.” Calm Mind on the other side of the fire almost insensibly twisted her mouth. Was that a smile she was stifling? Maybe she wasn’t satisfied with the way, Count Rainbow tried to manage the matter, herself? But that was her own fault, why did she have to turn this into a state affair, anyway? The count cleared his throat, he did not allow himself more than this little sign of irritation. Silver Blaze had heard rumors that his youngest son's death had made the Count a broken stallion, all the more so since his wife had died some years ago, but he could see no signs for this. Double Rainbow was calm and collected, and he seemed to be absolutely master of his feelings. That was admirable, despite everything, but it also told Silver Blaze that he was better off not to underestimate him. Count Rainbow himself had likewise reached the same conclusion regarding Silver Blaze: “You are right”, he said. “My apologies. Well, if you like a more direct approach better: Shall we put the little tit for tat aside and get right to the point?” Approving nods from all sides. “Doctor Calm Mind, if you would? In our previous conversation you put me in the picture about things that seem incredible and about things that, admittedly, go beyond my horizon. However, I have agreed on helping you to put this argument to a good end. But first we need to make sure we all know why we are here, how this matter concerns all of us. So, Doctor, please go ahead and explain to the others what you have told me.” While Calm Mind straightened herself out laboriously, Silver Blaze noticed that Rainbow had lately addressed all of them. Perhaps he had noticed that it had stung Silver that he so disdained his companions. He really was as good they said. “We are”, Doctor Calm Mind eventually explained in an unusual soft tone. “In a difficult situation and that is well partly my fault, though I must emphasise that I always had only best intention. Mistakes have been made -on all sides as I want to add- resulting in dishonesty and distrust. I, for my my part, have relied on secrecy where I probably should have entrusted myself to my subordinates. That resulted in I being lied to and in myself knowingly keeping information secret from the one pony I dared ask for help. No wonder that you, Silver, decided to follow your own plans.” Being addressed directly, Silver Blaze, who had sat on his chair silently and with no readable expression whatsoever, now rose his voice: “I have never”, he objected. “Followed my own plans, as ye say, Doctor. But truly, I tried to learn more about the lore of this situation than ye wanted to share with me, with all its toiled threads and lose ends. Once ye shewed me the filly’s”, he paused and then quickly corrected himself. “Pardon me, once ye shewed me Dawn’s belongings, I had no other choice.” His face now took a dolorous expression. “There was that worn red cloak, which resembles so much a cloak that I myself had given away two years ago.” He remembered very well that day, although he would rather choose not to. More than one time he been asking himself if couldn’t have done more for the poor filly, if it wouldn’t have been his duty to do more for her; because sometimes, giving somepony a spark of hope wasn’t enough… But be it as it may, now that her paths had crossed again by a strange variation of chance, and since it seemed that she now needed his help more than ever, he would not have been able to forgive himself if he had let her down again without at least reassuring himself that she was doing fine. “I had never the intention to do her any harm, Silver.” Doctor Calm Mind asserted thereupon. "It's a little hard for me to believe that, dear colleague," Ragstitch suddenly intervened. "You prescribe radical treatments, carry out questionable experiments without her consent and erase her name from the patient's file, so that there is no way of locating any possible relatives. But you never meant to hurt her?" “That you of all ponies would complain about radical treatments is also questionable”, Calm Mind sourly replied, before, however, giving in: “The name she gave us was wrong anyway. Knew I had read it somewhere before, just didn't know where. A fake name, all the more a known one, would have just drawn more unwanted attention to the poor thing. But if you need to know, the name was ‘Desert Rose’.” Doctor Ragstitch made a helpless face, the name didn't bore any meaning for him. But apparently it did for Silderule. He hesitantly spoke up: “I… um… That name… Desert Rose… I know the name from a tract on the magic of the Crystal Empire.” "She was my mother," Silver Blaze was suddenly heard. He started laughing. "Desert Rose was my mother, and she had earned at least some fame as a historian. Her name is mentioned numerously, especially in matters regarding the Crystal Empire. I rarely talk about my past, so I guess hardly anypony in Canterlot knows that we are related.” But it did, in any case, explain some of Dawn's past, Silver Blaze thought. After their meeting back then, she supposedly had tried to find out more about her benefactor. The ponies in Canterlot only knew that the Princess had brought him from the north, almost wounded to death. After his miraculous recovery, after he had earned his Cutie Mark, he was dubbed Silver Blaze and henceforth became known in Canterlot only by this name. But although he didn’t talk too much about his origins, in the towns and villages of the north lived some folks that still remembered that it had been the son of Desert Rose and Tinheart of Stonehaven whom the princess had rescued from the flames. If Dawn had asked her way through to him, she had probably learned about his family and origins that way. However, that had been quite a bit of snooping around, and it spoke for her alert mind, which she also showed in her present, deranged state. Pretty impressive. What exactly had happened to her was still unclear, but at least on her time in the sanatorium Doctor Calm Mind wanted to shed light now. She had obviously prepared herself for this moment and everypony now listened to her eagerly, even Dawn hung on her every word: “Even if my methods seem radical, all that counts for me is the recovery of my patients. The case of this filly… What did you call her? Dawn? Well, the case of Dawn turned out to be far more complicated than expected. It started with a concussion but her -let’s call it disease pattern- started soon to develop certain similarities to another case I was entrusted with three years ago. This sad case, we really lack the time to explain it in detail here, concerned the Count's family, which is why I finally decided to ask His Highness for help.” The death of Count Rainbow’s youngest son, and subsequently the death of his ward, she couldn’t possibly refer to anything else! Silver Blaze had read the file, inevitably, after somepony had put it in the envelope of Dawns' case. For the first time, the Count showed a slight uncertainty. Silver saw grief flickering on his face. “Similar in what way?” he nevertheless asked. It became quite clear that this course of their conversation had been staged in advance by him and Calm Mind. As things stood, it would be hard to get anywhere against the will of these two, Silver thought, but he kept his thoughts for himself because he was too interested in what Calm Mind still had to reveal. “Will do my best to explain it. It begins with shock and sudden feelings of weakness, followed by more and more uncontrollable attacks of anxiety that eventually turn into full-blown delusions. Recurring motifs of these hallucinations are impenetrable darkness and the deep water, both in White Nimbus’s and our filly’s case." But the real revelation was yet to come. Contrary to what had been later announced, White Nimbus had not died. She had been near death after Herbal Green had poisoned her with moonflower, had suffered from severe hallucinations, but she had not died; on the contrary, actually. In her madness, Calm Mind suspected, she somehow had mustered the strength to bite through her shackles and flee through a window, completely in panic, of course. Calm Mind and the count himself had been looking for her, but they had never found a clue about her whereabouts. At the Count's request, Calm Mind had destroyed all the other documents, her notes and transcripts of the conversations with her, she burnt them all in her fireplace. Only with the file she had not brought it over her heart. And she hadn’t forgotten that White Nimbus had uttered certain things that made her question whether these panic attacks and hallucinations had to be attributed to more external influences rather than to an illness of her mind. “And then the matter with Herbal Green. Could never explain why he suddenly lost his mind. No signs, no indications, that…” She took a deep breath. The fact that her diagnostic eye had failed so badly with her long-time colleague, of all ponies, that seemed to have scratched her self-confidence. In any other case, her sudden willingness to believe in evil spirits would have sounded like a lame excuse. Silver Blaze still was not fully convinced, but Nightshade would certainly have agreed with the doctor in this point. The sorcerer hadn’t told them much about Discord, but apparently, it was exactly his favoured approach to slowly drive ponies insane. From Nightshade’s point of view, maybe all of this was making sense. At least it would explain how a passionate healer like Herbal Green could turn into a murderous lunatic. “It is a pity that Nightshade is not here with us”, Count Rainbow stated. “I would like to hear more about what he has to say regarding Discord.” “So would I”, Silver Blaze agreed. He stared absentmindedly into the fire and scratched his chin. “During my time in Canterlot, I heard nigh nothing about Discord but his name. All that we learned so far comes from Master Nightshade, and that does not suffice to pass a judgment already. All I know is that Discord seems to scare Nightshade beyond belief, and I can tell you he is afraid of nopony, take that from one of his students. Also, I cannot deny that Firefly, Sliderule and Dawn were attacked last night. According to how Firefly described her experience, it sounds very similar to what ye just told us, Calm Mind. If there really is an evil ghost named Discord haunting these lands, it would also at least partly explain the rumours surrounding this town.” That had been more thought aloud, but in fact he slowly began to believe that for himself. And the prospective that Discord -Who knew how long?- was out there on the lookout, looking for new victims he could drive into madness and to horrible deeds, that prospective was terrible. Doctor Ragstitch, however, had apparently never heard even the name of Discord before this very conversation. Or maybe he just was still angry at Calm Mind. In any case he decided to play the part of the voice of doubt again. “Fine, but even if we just accept the existence of this bugbear for the moment - without any evidence I might add- then there is still a very decisive question left: Why?” That was truly a reasonable question. Why did Discord haunt Calm Mind and her patients in the first place? Count Rainbow nodded approvingly. “Very good, Doctor Ragstitch”, he said. “We do not know this Discord’s nature, and the one pony we could ask has chosen to deny us his company. Right now, we can only make assumptions. But has not his name become a word conterminous to quarrel and disharmony and many other flaws that weaken us and make us turn against each other? How can we assume Discord’s reasons would be others than the decomposition of our homeland?” Silver Blaze was still staring into the fire and looked even more absentminded than before. “Or straight forwardly”, he said and suddenly his eye darted up and he faced Calm Mind. “Is there any discovery ye have made that could stir such a reckless hatred?” “Good question”, Calm Mind replied and for some reason she was now smiling. And with all that talking about insanity, her smile looked a little eerie as well. Or maybe just tired, like all of them. Well, all of them except the Count. Although Calm Mind surely had briefed him about everything in advance, for the first time he showed more than his usually polite interest. Concerning the discovery Silver had asked her about, she still did not know, so to speak. She had come to some conclusion, she told them, considering everything she had experienced during the treatment of White Nimbus and she hadn’t forgotten certain things the filly had uttered during their sessions despite there was no longer a record of them. “She was often talking to somepony”, Calm Mind said. “Not me, but somepony else. Was hearing voices, apparently, much like Herbal Green does now, only that those voices were by far not as violent.” “Excuse me if I play Tartarus’s advocate again, dear colleague”, Ragstitch objected. “But would that not be the most common sign of madness, hearing voices?” “Thought so, too, at first. Caught her more than one time talking to Cloud Dash, and the colt clearly wasn’t there. Or even still alive for that matter!” Silver Blaze felt Dawn shifting uneasily next to him. She really had more in common with that poor pegasus filly, he thought. And that they both had a dead colt as an imaginary (or maybe not so imaginary, after all?) friend, and exactly the same dead colt nonetheless, that was really too much of a coincidence. All the more since it was very unlikely that Dawn had even heard about Cloud Dash before her accident. He said nothing regarding this matter, and also signalled Dawn to keep quiet as well; he didn’t want to fire up Calm Mind’s thoughts artificially, but now he was himself fully convinced that the doctor was onto something. “As her case grew more severe”, Calm Mind continued. “She began to refer to somepony that wasn’t Cloud Dash, but who she wouldn’t or couldn’t name. Need you to know that Herbal Green poisoned her with strong, mind-expanding drugs, with Moonflower. In the thus induced delusional state, White Nimbus was really fearing for her life, and not without good reason. Her screams were terrible!” Calm Mind for once showed decency and shivered a little as she told this. Knowing her usually rather cold-blooded demeanour, White Nimbus’s screams must’ve been really heartbreaking to affect her that way. “Poor thing, cried and prayed and called out a name, over and over. One would think she would have prayed to Princess Celestia to save her, but astonishingly, she instead called upon the other sister: Princess Luna.” Count Rainbow almost fell from his chair when Doctor Calm Mind said the name. That part apparently was new for him, too, and this time he didn’t get back his composure so easily. “That is… I mean…” he stuttered indignantly. “She was never taught that… I mean, I think she was never taught about Princess Luna!” Calm Mind knew that, of course. She hadn’t pictured the Rainbow-family to be Children of the Night. All the more important was the fact that, while at the brink of death, White Nimbus nevertheless had started to pray to the Princess of the Night. Calm Mind had put together a theory about that, based on the belief of the Children of the Night: It was said that, despite her apparent death, Princess Luna would still watch over all ponies from the other side of the night. White Nimbus had casted a look through the veil that separated this world from the next, she had been saved from inherent death by Cloud Dash, who in return drowned in the waters of Cauldron lake. But even though Nimbus returned to life, there still had remained a connection to the spirit realm thereafter, upheld by the medicines she was put under. What first had been interpreted as progressing hallucinations had actual been the two worlds blending together, at least from the filly’s point of view. So far Calm Mind’s theory. That was indeed a frightening possibility and Calm Mind went even further and proposed that the Count’s ward hadn’t only be able to see the other side but that she had been able to interact with it. The fact that she had repeatedly talked to Cloud Dash and apparently also received answers from beyond the grave spoke in favour of this. Of course, Calm Mind couldn't prove her theory, at least not without further experiments. So, the filly, now called Dawn, had come just in time for her because she had thus been able to recreate the initial situation: Both were young fillies, both hadn’t earned their Cutie Mark yet, and both had been brought to her in a state of shock. Dawn, admittedly, was a unicorn instead of a pegasus, but Calm Mind believed that the untapped magical potential of a young unicorn could only improve a possible result. She did not apologize for having so criminally broken her healer’s oath, and Silver Blaze suspected that Dawn would never hear an apology from her either; that was the way she was rolling... However, that the filly had eventually lost her memories so completely wasn’t her fault, the doctor asserted. After the disaster with Herbal Green, she now always ordered the ingredients for her remedies herself from the large greenhouses in Greenvale, where all effective herbs were grown. But something had gone wrong with the last shipment and the moonflower extract had suddenly shown unprecedented and devastating side effects. In the end, Calm Mind was left with a completely stupefied filly that showed about es much reaction as a trunk of wood, so her words. She had had little hope left for her experiment, when she left for Greenvale to vent her anger (the herbwives had been able to credibly assure her that they had manufactured the medicine exactly according to Calm Mind's instructions and also in the right dose, by the way). And the experiment had begun so promisingly! Silver Blaze’s compassion with Calm Mind was a bit limited as he heard her talking so coldly. Usually he greeted a straight, honest manner, but there was being straightforward and then there was just being rude! With all due respect to her zeal the doctor should have known better than to trample on a poor filly’s feeling! Just that it didn’t seem like Dawn’s feelings were hurt at all; she opened her mouth, but not to complain: “No, it worked!” she exclaimed exceedingly excited, forgetting all restraint. “I have seen the other side… I think! And I still can see ghosts! Well… I can see ONE ghost and he’s not scary at all!” The looks Doctor Calm Mind and Count Double Rainbow gave her were priceless, they seemed to have forgotten about the filly’s presence altogether. But for Silver Blaze this still was no laughing matter. He doubted that it was a good idea to tell him the truth. “Dawn…” he cautioned, but before he could say anything else, the count interrupted him. “No, let her speak, Silver Blaze! Who is this ghost you see, my child?” Does he suspect something?, Silver Blaze was wondering. His scar started to itch, which he always took for a bad sign. That she was directly addressed by Count Rainbow, however, had intimidated Dawn so much that she lost her speech again, right away. Searching for help, she looked at Silver. Now that his efforts to circumvent the discussion about the count's dead son had been shattered anyway, he couldn’t do anything but smile at her encouragingly. He wanted her to see that he believed her. Dawn nodded and then cheeped shyly: “It’s Cloud, Your Highness, Cloud Dash.” Count Rainbow looked like he was struck by lightning and Silver Blaze now expected the sky to fall on their heads, so to speak. If the count had only the slightest doubt about the credibility of Calm Mind, then… Silver left his thought unfinished because Doctor Calm Mind gave out a sudden triumphant cry. “Oh, I knew it! No wonder Discord wants to hinder me! Do you understand what that means? Can you comprehend the significance of this discovery? No, of course you cannot!” Silver Blaze hadn’t seen her this excited since his own miraculous recovery all those years ago, and on the contrary, he thought to understand very well what she was getting at. But this realisation was so unbelievable that he wanted to hear it from the mouth of the doctor herself: “It means that death is no longer an insurmountable barrier for us. The gate is now open! It is a century’s opportunity and I shall be damned if I waste this chance!” And she also had a certain pony in mind that she wanted to reawaken: Tonight she would try to bring back Princess Luna! ****