Clear Firmament trudged towards the glade. She was hit on the side and as such could only move at an excruciatingly leisurely pace. She could probably gallop if her life depended on it, but hopefully it never came to that. Her brother was no where to be found. Should she go to the festival and call somepony? Where was the festival? Where was the nearest doctor?
There was only the sound of breathing and crunching leaves. The forest was cold, and every step she took and every leaf she trampled took a little bit of warmth away from her. But she had to keep moving, because she was scared of not doing so.
Pitch darkness was all she could see. Patches of moon light shone onto the forest floor, but her mind played tricks, and she saw terrible shapes. There was an odd resignation. Clear Firmament had no time to be scared of the forest monsters. There was no choice, the process was already underway. All she could do was move. The adrenaline came, but it did not stay, no matter how scared she was.
She entered the mossy glade. The bare sky shone onto it, giving Clear sight. Her world expanded to a shield of evergreens around the glade. There was nopony around, and nopony could see inside without first coming in. The filly leaned on a rocky outcrop and all but collapsed to the ground. This was bad, she needed to keep going. But maybe now was a good time to attend to her injuries? No, that can happen after retribution. And finding Haze. The mare couldn't be far,
What did that unicorn mare want? She attacked without cause, no, even worse, she made up an elaborate story and attacked. Did she think that we caused the crash? That doesn't make sense either. She needs to suffer for her sins. Clear needed to find Haze. The two of them together could do anything.
The festival was supposed to be fun, but why would anything good ever happen? The current situation was dire, and Clear did not know how to proceed. The sheer helplessness and injustice that she faced paralyzed her mind. Why was everything so hard?
A colt's voice called out to her. “What are you doing out here?”
Clear looked back for the intruder. Who else did she need to fight? The voice sounded young, so he should be easy to beat and interrogate.
“What are you doing out here?” the voice said again
A shock went through her body. This time the voice was much closer: right next to her.
On top of the rocky outcrop looking down on Clear was a colt. He had a huge build and an unkempt flaxen mane. He wore a cloak, but even in the darkness his voice betrayed that this was the silhouette of colt. A strong colt, but a colt nonetheless. His face was quite skinny. So it was all muscle underneath that cloak? Maybe he could beat her other leg so she would be balanced again.
"I am searching." Clear said. She waited a second to tell him. It was dangerous to let other ponies know that her brother was kidnapped, and what she intended to do about that. But that didn't matter. If this colt wanted her, she was screwed anyways, so skip the formalities.
"What for?" he replied.
"For the ponies that kidnapped my brother."
"You are searching for ponies in a secluded glade upon the hill? Or were you running away?"
"Watch it."
The colt smiled and looked away for a second. "Well, it worked. You found one. I captured your brother."
Oh.
This was bad. On some level Clear knew he was one of them, but to actually have it confirmed complicated matters.
And he was the one who captured Haze. And she blurted out that she was looking for him. She still wasn't sure if it was cold instinct or improvised bravado that made her say it, but it was too late now. The darkness could take her now.
But the ponies were to suffer, as Clear had ordered. How dare they just intrude on somepony's life and take it away. This colt, this exact colt right here, took Haze.
"Do not be mad, please." he said.
Acidic anger was all that Clear could feel towards the pony right there. Really now? Was he that indifferent to oth-yes, the answer was yes. Was this his idea of playing with his food? It wasn't going to work.
"I do not hate you, I was forced to." he said, looking at Clear. This was the first time he made eye contact.
Oh no, he is being serious, isn't he.
The colt sat down next to her in a much too casual manner. Looking her in the eyes, he said "For some reason the Boss wants you, so he sent ponies to capture you. My partner said something about you and your brother being able to bring the magic back, does that help you understand?"
Her ears perked up at the mention of magic, then her thoughts subsided. Really, Clear needed a moment to process the information. She spoke anyways. "Who is the Boss?"
"He is trying to bring the magic back."
This colt knew just how to push her buttons, even a none-answer like that was interesting. Magic? That couldn't be. What was this colt getting at?
"How did you meet him."
The colt hesitated. Hopefully this question didn't go to far. "I have always been with him and the gang. Many of them are the same way. I can get you all in contact if you're interested."
That just created more questions.
Clear was astonished, and a little dumbfounded. He was talking about the ponies who took Haze. Ponies. Plural. And he was here to kidnap her, presumably. Now he wants to talk about his work buddies. Why does a colt have work buddies, doesn't that violate some law? How old was he even? None of this was relevant.
"You ruined the festival and destroyed the drones! Somepony could have gotten hurt! Haze was kidnapped! Can you just answer the questions normally?"
"Sorry, I thought I had been. Can you explain a bit slower your questions?"
Something was off about the way this colt talked. The intonation, prosody, and word order were unusual. So was the pace. If he didn't fully understand Clear, that could explain his weird answer.
"How could you and the other pony just attack me and my brother?"
"Do you not want magical powers?"
"I want my brother back!"
"That can be arranged. Come with me." The colt stood up and motioned to go.
This was bad. He was going to take Clear to the other kidnappers. He was a kidnapper! He seemed nice enough, but at the end of a day he had a job to do. But the colt didn't expect Clear to fight back.
The colt looked away, and she turned her body and readied to kick. Then pain shot through her and she bit her lips. The colt looked back and gazed at her.
Clear spoke. "I can't walk. Can we stay here for now?"
"Sure" he said after a time.
This bought a little bit of time. It was all Clear Firmament could do. It had to lead somewhere.
"What do you plan to do with magical powers?" She asked.
"Nothing much, I'm an Earth Pony. But the others have big huge grand dreams. Like the pony who makes our cloaks, he wants more money for his village's school. Or the pony who wants to live forever. Oh! On the way here my partner was talking about how teleportation would change society."
What a peculiar group of criminals. Was he attempting to win Clear over?
"What does being an Earth Pony have to do with anything?"
He cocked his head. "Hmm? They don't have magic."
"According to the legends, Earth ponies have a magic of their own. But its much more mysterious and subtle."
He thought for a second. "Well, the point is...the future I have never thought about, really. I will probably keep working for the boss."
"Is that it? Don't you want to do something else?"
"What's the point? I work for the boss, or I work for somepony else. "
"It doesn't have to be that way. "
"Yes it does." He searched for an explanation for a moment. "There is no place for somepony like me."
Clear Firmament had to choose her next words very carefully. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The colt didn't answer. The darkness made his expression unreadable, and many possibilities, few of them pleasant, ran through Clear's mind. Then, the colt looked to the side and cocked his head upwards. He was just gathering his thoughts.
His next expression was clear as day. It was a bright-eyed smile. "Do you want to know, really?"
That wasn't the expected answer. There was a bit of embarrassement in the voice that almost made Clear feel sorry for the colt in front of her, so she nodded.
"Before I start, how's your leg? Do you need more time? Your brother is fine, I promise."
"A little bit more time would be great." How could she answer any differently?
"Alright, just tell me if anything changes. Oh, I forgot, what's your name?"
"Clear Firmament."
"My name is Star Gazer. I am going to ramble at you for a while to answer your earlier question."
His name was Star Gazer. His father was the boss of a shady organization('but they were good ponies, really!'). Star Gazer has five siblings, of which is he is the second youngest. He doesn't know them very well, because his father has made a habit of sending them away, somewhere, to learn. When it was Star Gazer's time, his father sent him to the Hyena tribes so as to 'learn the ways of old'. Star Gazer made special mention of one of the tribe's customs. When a member comes of age, they are to go on a solo hunt, and when they come back a divination is made based on what prey they brought back afterwards. Star Gazer brought back a pony.
"I want to show the others that I am as strong as them. No, I am in body and spirit stronger."
Star Gazer was finished talking. He really was a fascinating colt, but he still helped kidnap Haze. Well, his actions were understandable. He did spare Clear.
He killed a pony.
So far, he has spared Clear. She realized how cold the air was, and how little she could actually see. The sky clouded over during the conversation, and now everything was a vague form in the dark. She could barely see the colt in front of her
This was taking too long, Haze was in trouble, and likely, so was Clear.
"I know your leg isn't that hurt. You were faking it because you were scared. "
That statement wasn't as scary as it would have been earlier. At this point, Clear had mixed feelings about everything, but scared wasn't one of them. She felt a bit of disappointment for the colt, and anger at his father and the organization. Still, Star Gazer's words pierced her.
"Star Gazer, I'm sorry. It's been a long night."
"I understand. Lets get going."
This time, Clear stood up without hesitation. Then Star Gazer pulled something out of his cloak and gave it to Clear.
"It is a flashlight. It is dark out if you didn't notice."
Clear accepted it. "You know, I had one, until one of your own destroyed it."
"Yeah they can be like that."
"Hey, why didn't you use one."
"So I could look cool."
Star Gazer looked past Clear an pointed
"The castle is directly north of here, just past the first mountain. It should be easy to reach before sunrise. Nothing will happen until then."
Clear looked into the valley below. She and Star had different definitions of 'easy'.
"You can start walking." he said as he started walking in the other direction. Clear called out to him.
"Star Gazer?"
He kept walking. "Hey, I need to take a leak, don't stare. I will just be past the evergreens for a minute or three. Please, you should be going, to the castle past that mountain. The ponies should be all in the courtyard. Your brother is waiting."
Clear Firmament understood. She nodded, then turned around. He couldn't have seen her nod.
"Oh, Clear... Thanks for listening."
Clear smiled, then began running.