Rustling branches sent their melodies across the breeze blanketing the city. As clouds above slowly rolled across the sky, the homes and buildings below became bathed in the light of a new day, warm rays dancing along the horizon and pouring through Ponyville’s streets like gentle streams. Birdsong soon rose to announce the morning. One by one, street lamps were extinguished by tired ponies who waved to the early risers they met on their way home. The city was waking up, filling the air with their soft greetings.
Along the paths of warm streets stood the Carousel Boutique. Sunlight crashed against its windows, protected by heavy curtains along the top most level, to shield its occupants and grant them a spare moment more of precious sleep. The room within was dark. Across the floor were scattered rolls of fabric, abandoned sketches of intricate designs, and the few pieces of clothing regularly worn by the slowly shifting shapes hidden beneath the mound of bedding in the center. A veil of curtains surrounded the bed, pierced by only the occasional beam of light from beyond their many layers of protection. The bedding shifted slowly. Fumbling hooves reached out to pull the curtain shut, but as time went on the rays now peaking into the room refused to be ignored, dancing across the closed lids of the unicorn inside.
She slowly opened her eyes. Dainty grunts announced each sluggish movement, weak and aimless, peaking cautiously over the lip of the comforter towards the clock at her side, until something grabbed her. Memories of similar events flooded her mind with warmth as she grasped the hoof around her waist. A larger shape rested behind her, soft breaths brushing against her bedraggled mane. Little whispers flew from his lips. She allowed herself a moment to simply exist in his embrace, feeling the rise of his chest with each breath, but soon her tired thoughts were drawn to the image of something warm, bitter, and served in a porcelain mug. Gently, she drew open the blinds.
“Guh…” Her companion groaned at the sudden arrival of morning into their sanctum.
“I’m sorry, love, but it’s time to get up.”
A string of indecipherable muttering followed her as she stood from the warm confines of the bed, stretching her limbs and avoiding the early-morning horror of her own reflection in the tall vanity mirror as she crossed the floor towards the bathroom. Finally, the other pony found the courage to open his eyes. Sunlight upon the horizon was an almost foreign image. Nighttime, starlight, darkened streets and alleys, these were his natural habitat. As he rose, though, stretching his limbs and scarred back to a chorus of pops and clicks, he found himself lingering in the fresh rays spilling into the room. Languid steps carried him to the window, where he fully welcomed the morning sun.
Silver spent his morning in a haze. With a flutter in his chest, he followed Rarity along each stop of her morning routine, mesmerized by her careful precision. To Rarity, between the curls and makeup and countless brush strokes through her mane, it was all a necessary sequence of tasks, unworthy of any admiration. To Silver, it was beautiful. He had long since cleaned himself up and prepared coffee for them both when she finally joined him in the kitchen. A mug landed gently beside her with a small stack of mail, joined by a kiss to her cheek as Silver sat beside her, Rarity’s blue eyes following him all the way. One letter stood out, lined in gold leaf and made from hefty parchment.
“A letter from Twilight,” Rarity announced, slowly opening and reading the fine missive. “Looks like she was able to come up with a plan. She wants to meet at city hall.”
“I don’t suppose it’s a lunchtime meeting, is it?” Silver asked, leaning over to kiss Rarity’s shoulder.
“More of the ‘as soon as possible’ sort. You can’t save the world with romance, my love,” she said, kissing his muzzle.
“Not with that attitude.”
Rarity rolled her eyes as Silver placed another kiss on her cheek, pushing him away with a chuckle. “Go get your coat and head down there, will you? I’ll catch up with you at the ship once I’ve packed a bag… silly colt.”
Per her instruction, Silver sauntered over to the rack carrying his maroon tailcoat, a sturdy garment that fit well across his shoulders as he pulled it over the tapestry of striking, yet fading scars. She waved behind him as the door shut and Silver stepped out into the sunny streets of Ponyville at dawn.
Trotting through streets chirping with activity filled him with warmth, buzzing within his chest and along his limbs and pushing his hooves ever onward. Smiles and waves greeted him. A few ponies stopped in their tracks, searching for proper greetings amongst the stuttering words they uttered, but he smiled at each approach. Along the open streets, lined with thatch houses and brick businesses, he could see city hall towering over all others. This time, he was greeted by a familiar face.
“About time you made it. Here I thought I was the nocturnal one.”
“Just like service all over again,” Silver laughed, gently jabbing Kindle in the side. “Good to see you again, Kindle. Gilda letting you take notes for her, huh?”
“She’s getting the ship ready to head out.” His statement was met with a cocked eyebrow from Silver, followed by a smile. “Yeah, I’m taking notes.”
Silver laughed, patting Kindle’s shoulder. “Between the two of us, I’m sure we can handle a simple meeting without breaking something.”
“Here’s hoping,” he said with a smirk. With a push on the door the two stepped into the wide open lobby of the Ponyville City Hall, lined with stone busts of mayors past and old diagrams of the city itself along the walls. Its warm amber color ended in the hallway before them, branching upwards into two identical stairways, and at the bottom stood a pegasus.
“Hello! You’re here to meet Princess Twilight? She’s just upstairs with Mayor Mare, I’ll lead you up.”
“She’s here already?” Kindle asked. “I just came from the palace.”
“Flew in like a hurricane, sir. That’s our Princess Twilight.”
Together, the three made their way up past the second and third levels, glancing occasionally into the branching hallways and the offices of busy ponies rushing to and from each room, until they finally landed upon the final step before a large pair of double doors carved with the reliefs of six ponies, a pair for each of the species. The pegasus pushed the door open a crack.
“Just head on in. If there’s anything you need, I’m sure they’ll be able to handle you. Have a good day!”
He stepped around the group and retreated down the stairs, all the while followed by Silver’s gaze. A nudge from Kindle, though, convinced him to follow them through the threshold and into the spacious office of the mayor, framing a large window overlooking the entire city and flanked by many more, smaller ones. The polished desk before them, however, sat empty.
“Hello? Twilight?” Kindle’s call echoed slightly in the office, the only voice heard, and Kindle stepped around and peered out the windows. “There’s no one here? We can’t be early, can we?”
While Kindle investigated the empty office, the ears of Silver’s head swiveled behind him. Barely detectable above the faint bustle of the outside world was a soft patter coming closer. It grew louder with each second, and as Kindle turned to notice what Silver had long recognized, the argent pony began to scan the inside of his coat, patting down pockets and sleeves before calmly returning to his original pose.
“First lesson, Kindle,” Silver said, eyes on the door. “How to survive being taken hostage.”
Right on que, the door burst open. A crowd of eight ponies of all types, armed and armored, stormed across the floor. The unicorns stood by the door and aimed their horns forward while the pegasi hovered just above their targets. Two earth ponies with grim faces closed in, with a scowling bat pony carrying a gray-maned mare in his foreleg, pressing a knife to her throat.
“Resist and the mayor becomes a stain on this beautiful floor. You two, make sure her guests stay put. Contain the others.”
Kindle almost growled as he was shoved to the floor of the office, while two pegasi hovered over Silver, ready to fulfill their orders. The mayor’s captor released his grip on her and shoved her towards the desk, sending her against the wood.
“Alright,” he grunted, walking towards her with thunderous steps as he patted his saddlebag. “Finance reports, trade routes, treasury funds. All of it on the desk now.”
“After nearly snapping my neck dragging me into my own office? Whoever you work for has another thing coming if-”
“Lady, either you do as we say, or there won’t be anything ‘nearly’ done with your neck, got it?”
Mayor Mare’s lips sealed themselves, trembling at his cold words as she slowly began rummaging through her desk. While this went on, Silver sat on his knees watching the brute with keen eyes. Tall, black mane, deep brown fur, with a scar down the back of his neck, and as Silver followed the mark he spied something on the front of his saddle bag. A sigil, one that made Silver squint. A shield with two spears.
“Come on, Silver,” Kindle whispered. “You’ve got a plan, right? We jump the two above us and move in?”
Silver remained silent, scanning the room slowly, taking in the details of each stone cold expression their attackers wore, before he cracked a small smile. “Just watch, you might learn something.”
“Hurry up.” The brute was almost standing over the mayor now, his hot breath against her neck.
“I-It’s not all here, some of it will be down in records,” Mayor Mare stammered, avoiding the brute’s gaze.
“You’re not making this difficult for me, are you?”
The mayor could hardly stutter out a response before the sound of hard panting overpowered any sound she could make, followed by a light wheeze from the pony in his maroon tailcoat. His eyes darted around the room, each jerky movement punctuated by a slight whimper. “P-Please, I’m of no importance to you, just let me go!”
“Shut it,” their leader ordered, but Silver’s chest began to heave at the sudden command.
“I-I can pay, I promise! Gold, property, anything, j-just please let me go and you can have it all!” His limbs shook as he spoke, with all eyes of the room falling squarely upon him. Even Kindle tilted his head in bewilderment of the display his friend made.
“Will you shut him up?”
“No, no! I knew this would happen one day, and I… I… no! Not like this!”
As one of the pegasi reached down to swipe at Silver’s head he flailed against him, the sudden jerk sending the pegasus against the wall. The other latched onto him. Silver flailed against his grasp, hollering as the other assailants moved to intervene, but when his hold was finally released Silver turned his frantic attention towards the closest thing resembling an exit, leaving everyone to watch in awe as his dove head first through the closed window with a terrible crash. The pegasus scrambled to reach the window, poking his head out and searching for a falling body, but pulling his head in only revealed a face of shock.
“He… he’s gone.”
Beyond the shattered window, Silver clung to the outside of the building with tense hooves. Carefully, he reached his right sleeve to his mouth, catching the small tab of a zipper hidden beneath the cuff in his mouth as he pulled back, allowing a length of dark fabric to shoot out from within the coat. More and more of the cloak and costume emerged from within the tailcoat as Silver carried himself upwards, perched just above the largest window.
Inside, tension faded around the room. Each of the brigands slacked in their posture, staring perplexed at each other. One even shared a confused glance with Kindle, but their leader stomped over to the broken window. Throwing his head out of it, he found a crowd of ponies gathering at the base of the building and beginning to circle outside. Soon, guards followed behind them. He returned his attention to the mayor, fury in his eyes and sharp words prepared for launch behind thin, clenched lips, but as soon as he closed in on the desk with the cowering mare behind it the light from outside began to dim. Shade cast itself across the large window before him, and very soon he was trapped by the shadow’s deep, piercing eyes.
Glass blasted forth from the window with a thundering crash. Everyone took cover, ducking to escape the hail of sharp debris scattering itself across the ground. When they looked up, they found the billowing shape of darkness standing atop the deck, separating the mayor from her tormentor, and the cloak he wore began to spill over the desk like rivers of blackness. He crouched, a smirk on his lips.
No time was wasted as he leapt over the large pony before him, casting the ends of the cloak around his midsection and sending him flying towards the door on the downswing. The unicorns opened fire, but their volley of magical power did little against the impervious ebon hide now charging towards them. Quick strikes to the neck, a sweep behind the forelegs, and well-practiced knee to the chin dispatched one as the other jumped onto him, forelegs locked around the shade’s throat, but he held firm. A tendril shot to the rafters above, and with a yank they both flew up into the air and spun hard. The unicorn’s grip broke as he fell right on top of a charging pegasus. With their number down by three, the other captives made their move.
Kindle gave a powerful beat of his wings and flipped, sending his hind leg up into the chin of another pegasus. The crash against the wall announced his charge towards the mayor, scooping her up in his hold and carrying her out through the open window, but not before driving another powerful kick into the head of Kindle’s captor. With a nod and a grin, Kindle’s wings beat hard and sent him rocketing across the floor to crash into the hooves of any who stood near him. Spinning in the air, Kindle crashed against one’s spine and joined the Ghost’s side.
Both Kindle and the Ghost held their five foes at bay with powerful blows and artful maneuvering, deftly avoiding any violent intentions sent their way, but their leader stood a greater challenge. He plowed towards Kindle, ramming hard against the bat pony to cast him against the wall with a hard thud. Dark snickers left his mouth until the world went dark. A length of the cloak snapped around his head, trapping his eyes in darkness as the Ghost pulled with all his strength, hoisting his target off his hooves and flat onto his back, landing with a pained shout. The cloak snaked back to him as the other four timidly followed it back to their owner, who smiled as he spoke.
“First one to surrender gets to stay conscious. So…” The Ghost squared up, head low and ready to pounce. “Any takers?”
One, trembling with a hoof raised to his head, let out a yell and charged the Ghost, followed by the rest of his allies, but soon his vision was filled with flashes of black hooves battering against him. The Ghost unleashed a flurry against him before sidestepping and hoisting him upwards, with the cloak around his belly, to slam against the floor. An earth pony took a swing at the shade, catching only air as the Ghost lept and mounted his shoulders. One hoof slammed into his muzzle as the other sent the cloak out to ensnare the forelegs of another earth pony. Yanking and thrashing against its hold was futile, the grip tightening with each second he struggled, and he helplessly watched as the Ghost soared from his freshly-bloodied perch and down onto him.
Their leader groaned. He limply dragged his hooves across the floor, searching for purchase along the smooth tile, turning his hazy vision towards the sounds of battle behind him just in time to witness his final conscious memory. The Ghost’s hoof was bound in the cloak. With a lunge, he drove the empowered limb across his target’s cheek and sent him sliding back against the wall, a final groan punctuating the loss of his resolve as he fell limp.
“Holy smokes, that was cool,” Kindle said, standing from the floor and stepping over the slumbering ponies around him. “I never got to see you work back in the Empire, but… look out!”
Kindle grasped the Ghost’s shoulder and pivoted on his hooves. A knife sailed overtop them both, just barely grazing the top of their heads as a final pegasus, panting and barely standing, retracted his throwing hoof and beat his wings hard, peeling out through the open window. With haggard breath he forces his wings to flap, but his muscles almost froze solid as he dared to look behind him. The Ghost dove from the window. Inertia carried him as the cloak reached out to grasp one of the many flagpoles lining the building, swinging hard enough to launch himself like a black bullet through the air, eyes trained on the panicking pegasus. He beat his wings, faster and faster, his heart about to burst from the strain and fear.
But something else came for him, fast and hard and bearing the glint of dark knives. A violent caw announced the blur as it snatched the fleeing pegasus from the air and slammed against the ground, kicking up dust that fell at the hooves of the few stumbling onlookers surrounding the scene. Gilda stood over him, eyes wicked.
“Alright, creep, spill! Numbers, employer, hideout, and whatever else you think might convince me not to gut you.” Jet black talons made themselves known, glinting in the eyes of their prey as Gilda turned towards the landing shadow behind her. “I leave you alone for two minutes…”
“But then your morning wouldn’t be exciting. I’m looking out for you.” The Ghost smirked, causing Gilda to roll her eyes and return to the cowering pegasus in the dirt. A firm shake of her claw sent his lips babbling.
“I-I don’t know much, but w-we came under orders to get trade schedules for the city. We were gonna set up heists along the roads leading into town.”
“Orders from who, dweeb?!”
“O-Oh, no… if I tell you, he-”
“Shield Wall.” The Ghost’s staunch declaration snagged the pegasus’ attention, mouth quivering as he shook.
“How… h-how do you know that?” Such a question caused the Ghost’s eyebrow to hike up. Two steps forward and he slowly closed in on the pony, trapped as much by his glare as he was by the silence, until the Ghost finally spoke.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” He placed a hoof gingerly against the pony’s throat. “So tell me where he is… now.”
“Canterlot! He’s in Canterlot, b-but I don’t know where. We got our orders from a dead drop, honest!”
“And what about her?”
“U-Uh… who?”
Gilda’s firm grip was overpowered by the sudden yank against it as the pegasus was pulled from the earth. The Ghost slammed him against the wall of the nearest building. “Abundant Glow. Where is she?!”
“I’ve never seen her before, honest!”
“I don’t believe you.”
Fear turned to panic in his eyes as the Ghost’s words announced his sudden flight from the mouth of a nearby alleyway and down onto the shaded stone, hard. He skidded a ways before stopping, coughing, before turning his weary attention towards the growing shadow closing in on him. Limp hooves tried to scramble away but black hooves were already upon him.
“Tell me,” the Ghost seethed.
“P-Please, I don’t… I swear I don’t know.”
Specs of red dotted the ground at the first strike, falling from his lips as the Ghost struck him and growled. “Where?”
“Dude,” Gilda’s words followed the firm claw placed upon the Ghost’s shoulder. “Cool it. There’s ponies watching.”
The Ghost stayed still. Squinting amber eyes pierced his prey’s resolve, as if digging behind his mind for whatever lie might lurk within, but his grip slackened.
One moment the pegasus watched the Ghost’s hoof move away, and the next he felt the sudden force of his last strike rake across his jaw, sending him straight into unconsciousness. Not far away, they could hear the clunking armor of the city guards spreading away from city hall and directly towards them. When they arrived, though, all they found was the sleeping pegasus, the scene now watched over from the rooftops by the duo as their dispatched foe was dragged away. Behind him, Gilda tapped her claw against the roof.
“What was that?”
“An interrogation.”
“Looked like the start of torture to me.” Her words landed weakly against the firm posture of the Ghost. “Don’t give me the broody silence, dude, we talked about this. What’s wrong?”
Long, staggered breaths escaped from his chest as a hoof reached up to pull the dark fabric from his face, peering over his shoulder to her. “It’s the first real lead, the first chance I’ve had to find her.”
“You know he can’t talk if you turn his jaw to mashed potatoes, right?”
“I wasn’t…” Silver sighed, facing Gilda before sitting down on the rooftop. “It’s my fault, G. She needed me, and I wasn’t there.”
“There you go, blaming yourself again. You can’t control what she does, dude, you know that.” Gilda’s face was unchanged, but her voice softened as she sat beside Silver.
“But you saw her, how angry she was. I was so busy trying to keep everyone safe that I never let myself see it, and now she…” Silver looked out to the horizon and the outline of a city resting against the far mountains. “I can’t stop thinking about it. What he might be doing to her. She’s trapped with him because I wasn’t there, until it was too late.”
His words hung in the air for a moment, drifting between them as Gilda gave a sigh. “Shit, dude, maybe, but what’s it matter? You wanna make it better and that’s all that counts, whether it’s your fault or not. You’re enough, dude, remember that.”
The corners of his mouth curled as she spoke, and Silver found himself placing a foreleg over her broad shoulders and feeling her return the gesture. “You got better at this.”
“I’m a natural,” she snarked, laughing alongside Silver as they stood.
With a warm smile, Silver placed his gloved hoof onto Gilda’s claw, patting it twice. The same hoof beckoned her to follow, and the two lept from the roof to begin their course through the city. Silver swung from buildings and glided across long, open streets, with Gilda hovering above him the entire way, her sharp eyes spying the air balloon of the Tornado off in the distance.