When Somnambula was woken up early in the morning by Meadowbrook who told her that it was breakfast and that they would be leaving early and hoped to make it to Kludgetown by the afternoon.
Groggily, the orange-coated mare got out of her tent and ate breakfast in silence while the other ponies and dragon chatted animatedly with one another. Afterwards, they pulled down their tents and food, packed everything up, and made sure that they didn’t leave anything behind.
They left the mine in silence, but not before Twilight had somehow found old scrolls that she insisted on taking with her.
They had walked for about thirty minutes and Somnambula walked ahead of everypony and dragon. A mare on a mission. Her eyes scanned the lands before her but all she saw were large cave entrances and sand hills that decorated the place and let everypony and dragon know that they were in the desert.
Somnambula, again, didn’t feel the unforgiving sun due to her being used to such climates while the others showed a different story. Spike was also the only other dragon that didn’t react to the warmth.
The pegasus figured it would be an insult to the dragons due to them bathing in lava.
However, as they walked, Somnambula continued to feel the stares of her friends—particularly Meadowbrook. She knew the earth pony was worried for her, but the orange-coated pegasus just didn’t get it. Why were they so concerned for her?
Yes, she may have spoken about how she desired to live in darkness if it meant that Stygian would forgive them, but most if not all of them felt the same way, so why were they so… pushy with her?
She sighed for what felt like the millionth time and glanced back slightly, her eyes resting momentarily on the Pillar of Healing before continuing to look forward.
“What’s the first thing we should do when we reach Kludgetown?” Rainbow asked while panting as if she had flown around the planet five times without stopping.
Starswirl turned to her. “Go to the pub, not to get a drink, but to get information. If you want, you can check in into a hotel. I know of one pretty cheap but has a reputation of housing a few dark magic users, so be aware,”
Twilight frowned. “Why would they house those who practice dark magic?” It didn’t make sense to her.
“Twilight,” Starswirl spoke in a serious tone. “There’s nothing wrong with dark magic, it’s only considered dark because the spells you’re thinking of were used for dark purposes. Anyways, to answer your question; it’s because ‘dark users’ as they’re called, protect the different hotels, restaurants and shops across Kludgetown. They earn money out of it.”
Twilight didn’t respond.
“So we check into a hotel and then we go to a pub to get information?” Spike asked with a raised brow.
“Yes, it seems so…” Twilight replied, frown still decorating her face.
Somnambula listened to their conversation with a blank expression. While listening, she couldn’t help but feel as though they would discover something horrifying. Something they would have nightmares about. She didn’t know why.
She pulled out a large water bottle, dropped three drops to her tongue and put it back in her saddle bag. Her mouth had been dry for a while now, but those drops would relieve for a few long minutes.
“Aha!” Starswirl shouted, making everypony and dragon jump and turn to him with a small glare which he ignored. “Over there!” He pointed with his hoof. “Over that sand hill, we will find Kludgetown!”
Somnambula’s head shot towards the sandhill and flew there as quickly as possible, the others trailing after her with the same vigour but not speed.
The pegasus reached the hill that looked over a good chunk of the Badlands and saw a town. The town was very big so perhaps not a town but a city. The buildings looked… broken to put it simply. But life was thriving from what little she could see in the distance.
The other ponies and dragon came upon the sandhill behind her and saw the town. Starswirl let out a chuckle in delight. “That’s the town, alright. Looks bigger than what I remember but otherwise, is the same.”
“What are we waiting for?!” Somnambula yelled and flew away from them, intending to enter the town as quickly as possible. She flew as fast as her wings would carry her but did stop a good chunk away from the town so her friends could catch up.
She looked back and saw them running towards her and trotted the last bit before they started to walk together again.
The Pillar of Hope couldn’t help but feel impatience when they entered the town. The creatures around them ignored them as they walked through, too busy to care about a few foreigners.
From a distance, the town didn’t look terrible and life was thriving which was still true, but the houses up close looked a lot worse than any of them—including Starswirl—anticipated. There were holes, cracks, rats, mouses, dirt and garbage that littered entire streets and the houses looked as though they would cripple at any second.
Somnambula looked around, not feeling uneasy in the slightest. When she grew up in her homeland, poverty was almost everywhere, so this wasn’t new to her.
The other ponies, par Starswirl, looked uneasy though. Rarity bit her lip but didn’t look at the creatures around in disgust, it was… sorrow. Fluttershy also sported a sorrowful look but focused specifically on the critters that roamed the trash around the town.
The streets were narrow with wide space for drivable vehicles but very small space for walking. The houses were tightly packed with apartments that looked rundown.
“How can any creature live here?” Rarity asked, her face wrinkled in disgust at the lack of better buildings and trash-littered streets.
“They don’t want to live here, but they were banished from their homelands and probably had no place else to go,” Somnambula replied, surprising them. “Some were perhaps born here, so it's not surprising why they wouldn’t leave home.”
None of them replied to that.
They continued to walk through the streets but it soon became obvious about one particular thing that was noticed by Rarity. She looked at every creature closely and saw something that surprised her. She looked at a creature that walked passed them just to be sure.
“Is it just me, or does every creature here look… afraid?” Rarity asked while looking up at a few windows that were sealed shut.
“You noticed it too?” Fluttershy questioned in a whisper.
The others turned to face the two. Starswirl was the one most surprised out of the group. It may have been years since he was last here, but it shouldn’t have changed that much. He looked at a creature that stood by a corner and handed out a plastic bag to another creature that exchanged money and noticed that there was fear in both of their eyes.
The old wizard looked at another creature that was hunched down in a squatting position and looked around every five seconds… fear evident in his eyes.
“Yes…” Starswirl whispered so only they could hear. “...It would appear that these creatures fear… something,”
“They have a cruel ruler?” Pinkie theorised while eating a muffin that no one was sure where she’d gotten it from.
“The Badlands is famous for being an anarchist place, I would have doubted that was the reason they are afraid of whatever,” Starswirl started. “But, I am curious… There were rumours that there was a King here calling himself the Storm King who allegedly ruled Badlands. Hm, maybe that was true…”
They stopped outside of a large building made entirely out of black bricks with a sign on top written in gold. Capper’s Hotel & Resort.
“Ah, so he did open it…” Starswirl spoke to himself and walked inside, the others following.
The inside was a lot cleaner than they thought. The floors were polished and there was a sitting area with dark green-leathered armchairs and sofas and a coffee table with magazines on top, scattered.
The reception desk was made from cheap wood but was polished and painted in dark blue with a moon to the side. On the other side of the reception desk stood a cat that was writing something and didn’t look up when they moved closer to him.
Starswirl was going to be the speaking. “Capper, long time no see,” he spoke with a friendly voice.
The cat—Capper—looked up and did a double-take when he saw Starswirl before a large smile came across his features.
“Starswirl the Bearded… it certainly wasn’t yesterday! How have you been?” Capper asked while shaking Starswirl’s hoof.
“Like I always say; I could be better. But something truly amazing happened.” Starswirl spoke with a joyful voice. “You remember the story I told you about?”
Capper’s eyes widened but there was also something else in them that none of the ponies and dragon recognised. “Yes?”
“It’s them,” Starswirl pointed his hoof towards the Pillars. Capper’s eyes widened in shock. His mouth hung open and it took everything Somnambula had to not laugh.
“Wha— how?!” Capper demanded.
“Well, Miss Applejack—” Starswirl pointed towards the farmer. — ”had a dream from my old friends that warned them of a creature named the Pony Of Shadows. She informed her friends and the princesses and went to Stonehenge where we managed to return my dear friends,”
Starswirl didn’t want to have a large explanation and could always give one later.
Throughout the explanation, Somnambula noticed how the cat shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Stygian and at one point looked out a large window as if some creature was outside watching.
“Well, it’s good that they’re back. I assume you’re here to find…” he looked over at the Element Bearers as if unsure if he should say anything.
Starswirl noticed. “They know about Stygian and what happened all those years ago,” he assured.
“Ah,” Capper nodded. “Well, if you’re looking for rooms, then I can give you the finest ones as you are a friend of mine, It will be free of charge, the only thing I will charge for is the food,”
“That’s completely fine, I wouldn’t have minded if we paid for the rooms,” Starswirl replied with a smile at his friend who returned the gesture.
“Alright then,” Capper said and walked around the desk to properly greet them with a smile. “If you would follow me, I will take you to your rooms.”
Capper opened a brown wooden door with a silver handle and led them sic flights of stairs until he opened a similar wooden door.
The hallway was decorated with paintings of Kludgetown and flags of different towns that the group of ponies and dragon assumed were the “country” flags. There was a long red matt that led down the hallways with doors that led to the rooms they would use for their stay.
Rarity gushed over the painting details and apparently noticed a colour she hadn’t seen before and took a note and even asked a surprised Capper what colour it was.
“Up here aren’t many creatures that stay because it costs quite a bit to stay in these rooms. But you’re a friend of Starswirl whom I owe a massive favour to, this is the least I can do.” Capper explained while motioning with his paws before putting them behind his back like an army general. “Feel free to pick whatever room you desire, there’s no creature in them currently. All I ask is that you notify me what room number you have so I know which ones are occupied.”
They nodded in understanding and Capper left them and headed down to the reception.
Somnambula took that as her leave and began walking down a random hallway while the others did the same in different directions. The pegasus looked at the different numbers on the doors while she heard the soft crunching of the mat under her hooves that satisfied her ears.
She briefly glanced back to see if anypony or dragon followed her but didn’t see them. Shrugging, she walked to the end of the hallway and was met with a crossroads. There was a left and right path. The right path led down a hallway with ten rows of bedrooms while the left one only had five.
‘Doesn’t matter either way,’ she thought while turning to the left path and reaching the fifth door. ‘I will only be here for a little while… or longer depending on if we find the right information,’
The door to her bedroom had a golden five carved into it and a key inside the keyhole. She tried to pull it out but was surprised to find that the key refused to move. Slowly, she turned the key until she heard a ‘click’ and pushed the door with her hoof.
The door silently swung open and revealed a large bedroom. She walked inside and closed the door and was surprised when she saw that the key wasn’t at the front of the door but inside the bedroom door instead. ‘Enchanted keys!’ She realised.
Somnambula looked over to the bed and appreciated the grey-coloured bedsheets and soft fluffy pillows. The mattress wasn’t hard but not soft either, a perfect match for her.
She took off her saddlebags, tossed them to the bed and took another look around. There were a few magazines on a coffee table near a small living room with a large painting of the Alicorn sisters with a fire and moon background with bowing ponies. There was a black-leathered sofa that was highly uncomfortable for the poor mare.
Somnambula was delighted to see that there was a functioning bathroom with a bathtub where she could clean herself from the dirt and sand under her hooves that were starting to ache.
She removed her white cloth with golden half-moon, placing it near the sink and stepped into the bathtub where she began to clean herself.
***
When Somnambula finished, she felt content. Never in her life had she felt so clean. Her signature white cloth and golden half-moon were on her head again and she made her way to the bed.
‘After I… If I succeed with Stygian, I hope we can have a vacation, just him and I,’ she thought while pulling out her blindfold she used when defeating the Sphinx so many years ago.
She hesitantly draped it around her eyes and began to meditate on the bed, her vision going black.
However, just ten minutes into her meditation, she was interrupted by a knock on the door that woke her up from her musings. She forgot she still had the blindfold, tripped off the bed and groaned at the impact.
‘I forgot I had that on,’ she muttered inwardly. Somnambula took off the blindfold, made her way to the door and checked through the peephole and saw that Meadowbrook was there.
The orange-coated pegasus opened the door with a smile. “Hello, want to have some tea?” She asked leading the other mare inside.
In the living room was a coffee and tea brewer with a few small choices.
“That would be nice,” Meadowbrook smiled and followed Somnambula to the living room.
“I apologise for the couch, It’s highly uncomfortable, I don’t know how any creature can have this,” Somnambula whined. “Back in my homeland, I’ll admit, we didn’t have proper couches, but at least the floor was more comfortable!”
The Pillar of Healing laughed at her fellow Pillar’s complaints.
“Well, I believe it's either because they don’t have any other couches or because they want to show off their wealth,” Meadowbrook reasoned. “Besides, this was for the rich creatures, so… Capper was it? He wanted to mostly soothe and live up to the rich creatures standards,”
“I guess so,” Somnambula grumbled while pouring tea into two cups. “One or two sugars?”
“One please,”
The pegasus tossed one sugarcube inside one of the cups while she tossed two into her cup and placed them in front of Meadowbrook. They sat in silence while enjoying each other's company.
The silence was only broken whenever they took a sip of their tea and placed it on the table. It was nice in a way. It wasn’t often they would have time to spend it together so whenever they had the chance with the other Pillars, they would relax. Meadowbrook went to Somnambula to help her with the pain that she sadly couldn’t heal.
“How did you like the room?” Somnambula asked. “Is it any different from mine?”
“Not really,” Meadowbrook replied. “The only difference was that the bed was so fluffy!” She spoke while stretching the ‘o’s
There was silence again, only disturbed when they took a sip of their tea.
“Wait, how did you find me? This place is massive, you didn’t knock on every door did you?” Somnambula asked while looking over the earth pony who smiled guiltily. “Meadowbrook…”
“Well, to be fair, you just walked away and I was getting worried…” the healer trailed off with pink cheeks while looking away from the pegasus. “Anyways, what were you doing before? I heard a loud thud…”
It was Somnambula’s turn to blush. “I… was meditating with my blindfold when I heard you knocking and I forgot that I still wore it,”
They both giggled.
“Have you spoken to the others?” Somnambula asked while sipping her tea. Meadowbrook shook her head.
“No, Rockhoof and I share the same hallway with the Element Bearers but they weren’t outside when I went to find you,”
They finished their tea and started chatting about different topics and sharing good memories they had of Stygian while crying together when they remembered the horrible day when they accused him of stealing power.
The conversation then went back to happier topics, wondering what was going on inside and outside Equestria. However, their cheery conversation didn’t last for long because a short while into their discussion of flowers they had found, there was a knock on the door. Somnambula opened the door while Meadowbrook stood, looking from the threshold.
On the other side of the door stood the other Pillars and Element Bearers along with Capper who stood in the front.
The owner of the hotel had a sad look on his face and Starswirl looked at his friend in worry.
“Hello, Somnambula, Meadowbrook,” Capper spoke with a nod in their direction. “...Is it okay for us to come in? I wanted to discuss something with you. Something I suspect at least one of you have noticed.”
The seriousness in his tone made Meadowbrook and Somnambula worried.
At her nod, everypony, dragon and cat entered the bedroom and sat around the bedroom, the living room being too small to fit all of them together. They spread out so they wouldn’t be on top of one another.
When they were all seated, Capper began to speak.
“I’m sure that you have noticed the… quietness of Kludgetown?” He looked around and they all nodded their heads, none interrupting him. “Well, the answer to that is simple.”
He was wearing a red trenchcoat and gloves over his paws along with a red fedora hat. He pulled out a small vial of milk and drank it in one big gulp. Everypony and dragon were looking at him, waiting for him to reveal what was going on.
“A few years ago, there was a creature by the name of Storm King that invaded and took over our home.” A few gasped at the revelation. “We lived under a tyrannical King that enslaved us with outrageous taxes that no kingdom else would have been able to pay for but that was because we were all—and still are—criminals.
“We lived under the horrible Storm King for over a decade until one day, there were dark, gloomy skies that filled the terrain. For the first time in a hundred years, it rained. It poured down and darkness filled our town. Storm King was known for controlling the weather so many creatures—including myself—assumed he wanted some rain. How wrong we were…
“You see, the rain hadn’t come from the dreaded king but from a different source. A pony with a pure dark coat and white eyes walked the streets of Kludgetown with an army behind him, hovering and waiting for a command. Storm King demanded that the new pony leave the land and never return…”
Capper winced at something painful that they couldn’t see. A memory.
“However,” Capper looked to the floor before reaching into a pocket, grabbing another vial of milk and downing it in one go. “He didn’t anticipate resistance.”
Starswirl quirked a brow. “Resistance?”
The hotel owner nodded. “Yes, resistance. The Storm King lost but it didn’t end there. After he was defeated, his commander, a unicorn with a broken horn that I do not know the name of, challenged the military the pony had behind him. She was killed.”
The ponies and dragon gasped. In Equestria, hearing of murder was unheard of, much less mentioned. Twilight looked highly uncomfortable by the sudden dark topic that Capper brought forth. Starswirl and the other Pillars may not have gasped as loudly because murder was far more common for them in ancient times, but hearing a pony or any creature get killed still brought some emotions.
“Like I mentioned; the Storm King was defeated but he was also killed that day. Afterwards, the pony and his followers took the bodies to the centre of town and…” he flinched as if he had been burned by something hot. “...crucified them.”
There was dead silence in the room. The looks on the ponies faces were one of shock. Somnambula’s head was spinning and feeling fuzzy from the information. She leaned back to make it calm down but it would go away. Judging from the looks on the other's faces, they too, were in the same predicament.
The Pillar of Hope looked towards Starswirl who licked his lips, trying to moisten his suddenly dry lips. “Did… the pony ever introduce herself or himself?”
Capper didn’t respond for a long while. The silence was deafening. It was eating at the ponies and dragon gathered inside the room and Starswirl looked just about ready to ask again when he responded with something that Somnambula suspected but had prayed wasn’t true.
“He… introduced himself as the Pony Of Shadows,”