Swiftly flows the water in its glass container, the water tap being closed when the edge is half an inch away. Putting it on a plate, Lofty carries the glass casually away to its recipient, a panting Pegasus. “Here ya go, Full Wind. Looks like you need it.”
The green Pegasus takes the glass and gulps its content greedily down his throat. “Aaah~, just what I needed!” he calls out.
“You are lucky you came today, and not yesterday, my friend,” the red Pegasus says to his co-worker.
“How so, Lofty?”
The red Pegasus scoffs. “Yesterday I had to pick up a crate of mining stuffs. Totally do able under normal circumstances,” he pauses dramatically. “Yesterday’s winds were the worst. If you were not shielded by the buildings in the town, you would get blown away. And I had a delivery to make,” he ends with an intended grim tone, perking up immediately afterwards. “Oh well, I got it to Tough Nails and spent the rest of the day enjoying the howling winds in bed.”
Full Wind sighed loudly. “And here I sat, expecting an epic event for a moment, and you blow it away with a simple, “I got it done”.” Full Wind stared annoyed at Lofty Dreams. He merely shrugged in response. “Alright I got to go again, see you later Lofty.” With a quick goodbye chasing him, he left the storage room jumping into the stormy winds, not as powerful as they were but still dangerous.
Full Wind had brought in a large amount of small packages. Hardly worth Lofty’s time as he was used to carrying bigger stuff, but it was his job and thus it would be done. Rummaging through the packages, he was looking for anything labelled urgent. If he found such a package, it would mean immediate action, or there would be consequences. Luckily for him, there weren’t any, which was a great relief. Due to the storm these packages were already delayed, being urgent would just make it worse.
He started to sort them out depending on location, stacking them on top of each other, when he found a package for Honey Rock. Lofty was unsure of what to do. Even in the storm it didn’t take long for everypony to hear what happened to him. It has been said that he was cursed by the spirits in the mine. True or not, the mine was closed until further notice. Meanwhile Honey lies to be in the hospital for treatment. Lofty contemplates about leaving the package at the counter, giving it to him directly or try and get it in the mailbox at Honey’s house. Ultimately, he decides to just throw it in the bag and see what he does with it.
A quarter hour later, Lofty was flying above Rocky Slopes. The windstorm was not making it easy for him, but he could manage the gusts, especially after yesterday trying to get the crate to Tough Nails. His saddlebags were already a bit lighter then when he started, and currently he was on his way to Spirit-in-a-Bottle, the local bar owner. The sloshing in the package seemed to tell that he has found a nice spirit, probably from a far off place, or a new one he wanted to test before hauling it in his bar.
Coming close to the bar, Lofty sets in for the descend, adjusting himself as he lands on the mountain road. In front of him stands a big wooden building with a stone base. The windows are checkered with pieces of differently colored glass, each of them having slight mat finish to make it not easy to see inside. Above the door hanged a sign showing a brown silhouette of a minotaur, with the name of the place written in old equestrian under it, The Muddy Minotaur.
But Lofty didn’t even look at what the sign said, all he needed to know this was the place he needed to be. Entering the bar, he looks around the place. A few candles were lit to brighten up the place, the storm clouds above not helping with that, but besides the wooden furniture there wasn’t anything else there. “Spirit, are you here?” A sound of glass being hit came from behind the bar. As Lofty walked up to the bar, a green unicorn climbs from a hatch behind it.
“Hello Lofty,” Spirit-in-a-Bottle greets the Pegasus, “What do you have for me?”
“This.” He takes out the package from his saddlebags and places it front of the unicorn. “By the sound of it, it is another liquor, or something like that.” Lofty says.
Lighting his horn, Spirit-in-a-Bottle tore off the brown package paper and shredded the cardboard box in it. In a yellow glow he held a clear bottle with a yellow-brown liquid inside it. “Ah, the honey spirit I ordered. Honey Rock recommended this to me, too bad he is in the hospital, but I save a glass for him.”
“Sounds great Spirit, I want try it out later. But for now¬-”
“You need to fly, right?” Spirit-in-a-Bottle interrupted him.
“As always” - Lofty smiled - “¬see ya later!” he said as he went back outside. Bending through his legs, spreading his wings open and back he was in the air he belonged too. Tracing his memory, he remembered having a package for the inn. With a flap of his wings he was on his way.
It was a short flight as he was already nearing the place, when all of the sudden a burst of blue light shines from a window from the inn. Lofty halts midair, his wings keeping him in place as well as the stormy wind would allow. Obviously it would be magic that caused the light, but the amount of light was odd. What kind of spell needs that much mag- a scream piercing the sky abruptly took him away from his thoughts.
With a wingbeat, Lofty went flying to the source of the sound, a street nearby. Once there, he noticed a gathering around a loudly screaming Silent Song. Although at first it seems nothing is wrong, he feels that something is off with her voice. After a moment, he realizes it is constant, there is no change in tone or anything like that.
As ponies gather around Silent Song ¬ thinking she is shouting because she is in distress ¬ she screams; “I CANNOT STOP SHOUTING!” Trying to explain what is going on.
Remembering that Honey Rock’s cutiemark had changed, he glances a peek at the flank of the screaming pony. Upon her flank was a megaphone with crude soundwaves emanating from it, not quite the red lipstick mark he remembered when he asked about it a long time ago. While she was being slightly embarrassed about the shape of it, she had proudly stated that her cutiemark signified her great talking skills.
“Another cursed cutiemark,” he said to none but himself. As more ponies came looking for what was causing all the shouting, Lofty turned around and trotted away from the crowd of ponies. He had a package to deliver to the innkeeper.
He opened the door to High on the Top, eyeing upon entry an blue unicorn in a brown coat who walked towards the door. “I see you later, miss Shine,” he spoke to the mare behind the counter. She lifted her head from the papers she was writing in. “Have fun, Mr. Lazuli,” she answers cheerfully. “And hello, Lofty.”
Lofty approached the counter and put the package for SilkShine on it. “SilkShine, the room in the back on our right, who is in there?” he asked on a serious tone.
“That would be that stallion just now, Lapis Lazuli. How so Lofty?” she wonders.
“SilkShine, a few minutes ago I saw a bright blue burst of light coming from that room, it can’t be anything but magic. And right after that, Silent Song got a cursed Mark.”
SilkShine is shocked hearing this. “Oh Celestia, not Silent Song too!” she frets around, mumbling in herself what she should do.
“Hey…hey, SilkShine!” the red Pegasus yells at the beige Pegasus. She turns to Lofty, her eyes already moist in fear for her friend. “I believe that Lazuli guy has something to do with it.”
“What? How do you come up to such an ludicrous idea?”
Lofty Dreams scratches his head and sighs. “Well first of I saw a burst of magic coming from his room right before Silent Song got cursed, secondly, how long is he in this town?” He stares at SilkShine expectantly.
She lifts her head and frowns, lost in thought. “He is in town… since Monday, just past eleven,” she sighs, “But that doesn’t say he did it!” she says with a blush.
“But the evidence does point in his direction. That’s why I wanna take a peek in his room. To see if there is any concrete evidence.”
SilkShine looks horrified. “But…but the guests privacy would be invaded!”
“And you do that everyday when you go clean their rooms. We have a good reason for it Silk!” he yells, getting annoyed with SilkShine’s avoidance.
Lofty is staring harshly to SilkShine, she glances back and forth to Lofty. After half a minute, she ducks under the counter. Reluctantly she puts a shiny, labelled key in front of the red Pegasus. “Here, take it.”
Lofty Dreams takes the key and walks towards the door of Lapis’ room.
SilkShine slowly walks from behind the counter, with a slight blush on her cheeks. “I just hope you are wrong.”
The key slides in the lock, Lofty gives it a twist. The door opens and he walks carefully inside. The room looks used but still a bit tidy, several travel bags are put in a corner, the bed covers look disturbed and the desk has some items on it. Hoping to find something in the bags, he walks up to them.
He is surprised at the amount of travel material he sees, there are saddlebags, backpacks, a sleeping bag, climbing irons and several meters of rope. All of it seemed to be used to varying extents, the travel bags being worn the most. Lofty opens one of the bags and rummages through its contents. An orange beanie for unicorns, a scarf, some woolly socks, nothing out the ordinary, except it is winter equipment, but he may have been travelling for a long time.
Opening more bags, their contents were varied to say the least. Food that could be conserved for a long time, a raincoat, a photograph of two elderly ponies, some blank paper together with quill and ink, a first aid kit and something pink that will leave Lofty with disturbing mental images about Lapis Lazuli. After the somewhat abhorrent mental image, he decides to abandon his search through the bags and look further.
His attention drawn to the table, he spots several items as he makes his way over there. One in particular strikes his interest, an diary as it clearly states on the cover. Opening it, he starts where the last entry was made. As he reads the contents of the small book, his eyes widen, he flips through the pages to random points in the diary all the way back to the beginning. His heart races, a lump is stuck in his throat, fear and excitement run parallel through his mind.
He swallows the lump away. “SilkShine!” he calls out. The beige Pegasus mare stands in the doorframe, carrying a worried expression.
Lofty turns his head to her, his eyes looking grim. “Call the sheriff.”