//------------------------------//
// Chapter II 
// Story: Peaceful Nights 
// by Gulheru 
//------------------------------//

	

Colgate was following her tutor through the cave system. Her trot was unsure and her eyes were going left and right, nervously, observing the details of this incredibly unsettling for her place. Countless grottos were naturally forming a sprawling complex and it looked like only a few passages and chambers were artificially carved in the solid, granite inside of the Canterlot mountain to complete the creation of this place. Here and there some amorphous crystals were sticking out of the solid rock. The light of enchanted torches combined with the dancing reflections, mirroring from those spread out formations, was giving the whole place a rather eerie feeling.

'Tutor, may I ask you something?' the blue unicorn whispered faintly to the pony in front of her.

The echo of hoofsteps was bouncing off the walls, combined with an occasional faint voice, cough, grunt. A cacophony of nearly non-hearable sounds, always present, resonating inside Colgate’s head. To top it all, each cave wasn't just an unused, geological wonder, but had at least a couple of doors with barred holes in them acting as peepholes, all locked shut, leading to smaller grottos. And amongst all of this, Colgate, her teacher Moonwarden and Shining Armor, who was leading the two Conclave agents through this grim labyrinth.

'Ask away, initiate,' an answering whisper was finally heard and the caped pony looked behind him, curiously.
'How come this place isn't known of?'

The grey stallion halted and moved to one side of the corridor the group was going through, waiting for the young mare and then, when she was just beside him, started walking again and whispering.

'Let me explain this thoroughly, initiate,' he began. 'You see, petty thieves, pickpockets and many other minor perpetrators are normally kept in incarceration at the local Royal Guard or Nightguard outpost, depending on the region of Equestria...' the stallion was explaining patiently. 'But when a pony of particularly malicious intentions is caught, he or she is sent right here, to the Delves,' the grey pony looked at his companion and Colgate nodded, confirming she is following. 'And since ponies are a naturally gossiping and exaggerating species,' Moonwarden let out a long sigh, 'we do not wish the existence of such a complex to spawn even more outrageous fables about Equestria's criminal deterrence techniques and sentencing philosophy.'

'We have enough of those tales already...' Shining Armor suddenly added and Colgate realized that those were his first words since he greeted the two ponies at the barracks.

'There seems to be a case we agree upon after all, Captain,' the grey stallion admitted. 'If I hear one more rumor about sending somepony to the Moon as a valid punishment in our legal system, I might as well throw my hooves up in the air and admit that our species, aside from the traits I mentioned before is, in addition, naturally prone to idiocy,' Moonwarden's words were a bit harsh, but Colgate was unable to tell whether he was really serious, or himself exaggerating.

'I could think of a pony or two I would like to be gone for such a trip...' the white stallion added silently, yet clearly enough, which made the caped pony roll his eyes.

'As much as I would adore a chance to contemplate the beauty of the Moon up close and personal,' the grey stallion replied sarcastically, 'I am afraid it shall not ever come to being.'

Colgate could swear that a sad blink appeared in her teacher's eyes, but it was gone almost instantly. Shining Armor didn't respond to the agent’s words, instead focusing on finding the correct path in this net of corridors and caves. A couple of minutes later he stopped in front of an entrance to one of the caves. The place had four cells on the opposite wall, with tough wooden doors.

'She is in the first one on the left. Do you wish to take her to the interrogation chamber?' the Captain turned to Moonwarden, but the stallion waved his head in negation.

'Unnecessary for now, Captain. She would feel threatened more than is needed.’

'Here is the key to her cell then,' the white pony handed the mentioned key, firm and iron, to Colgate's teacher. 'I still expect your work to be done in the shortest amount of time,' he said afterwards, harshly.

'It shall be done when it shall be done,' the other stallion responded, calmly and yet immediately.

'You shouldn't try my patience, Moonwarden. The moment you are done our cooperation ends,’ Shining Armor’s voice resounded with irritation.

‘Do not expect me to rush things for the sake of your comfort, Captain,’ Colgate’s teacher gave one of his cold looks to the leader of the Royal Guard. ‘My art is of delicate nature... it shall not suffer because of your superstition.'

'I won’t repeat myself, Moonwarden,' the Captain’s voice was intimidating to say the least.

'Neither will I, Captain.'

Colgate was quietly observing this exchange. She couldn't tell if the two stallions still remembered that she was nearby and listening to all of it.

'One wrong move, Moonwarden, and you are done for,' Shining Armor said finally, which made Colgate realize she never told her tutor about what the Captain said yesterday about “watching” the grey pony.

'I was expecting nothing less than careful scrutiny of my actions, Captain,' the caped pony was still keeping his tranquility, surprisingly, 'but if you think that your position might give you the right to interfere with my duties and actions now that I am on official assignment, you might be in for a rather unpleasant surprise, Captain,' Moonwarden finished, his sentence sending an unsettling, faint echo that made Colgate shiver a bit.

Shining Armor’s expression was furious. He took a step forward, nearly pressing his muzzle against Moonwarden's. His eyes were filled with fiery anger, while the other pony was like a stoic statue, his face unmoved, his stare frigid. 

The mare, while observing this curious stare-down, started thinking extensively. After what she heard from the Captain earlier, her mind had a bit of a rough time, trying to figure this whole situation out. The white unicorn was clearly negative towards her new tutor and he claimed that Moonwarden was dangerous... that he was threatening somepony, that his art was... “vile”... It was like, out of a sudden, Colgate ended up being an apprentice of a dark sorcerer, or something... Moonwarden, though, didn't appear to be an evil pony. Sure, she thought, he could have been seen as enigmatic, maybe slightly intimidating, with his cape and that cold look she spotted on him once or twice. And with that speech pattern, all formal and official. But, to be honest, after talking to him... after that... that touch of his... Oh, she really couldn't gather her thoughts about all of this!

Finally, after a longer while of nearly visible tension, the Captain turned away and stormed past the two agents.

'You have three hours tonight,' he hissed through clenched teeth, then went down the corridor, back from where the group arrived.

When the Captain's silhouette disappeared behind a turn, the grey pony let out a long sigh and sat down slowly, like he was about to faint.

'Tutor, is everything alright?' Colgate asked immediately, concerned, seeing as her teacher got quite pale on his face and started to breath heavily.

'Yes... yes. I just need a moment,' he responded like he was very tired, closing his eyes. 'I do not enjoy situations like that.'

'I can imagine,' the blue pony said in return. 'What's the real thing going between you two, tutor?' she asked a rather upfront question, feeling she needs to really know more.

'The usual,' the stallion answered with a shrug then continued when he spotted the mare's clueless expression. 'I do realize, like I mentioned to you before, initiate, that my line of work is often despised and I myself am treated with ostracism. Yet Shining Armor is particularly vicious in that aspect, inexplicably,' Moonwarden finished with a tone a bit sad and yet a bit not caring.

'He... he did mention that you were threatening somepony earlier and...' Colgate tried to present her conversation with the Captain, deciding that now might be a good moment to for her to get some answers  that will help her understand the situation more.

'Yes, I am aware that he misunderstood my safety concerns for veiled threats. I might have used a rather unfortunate figure of speech, I admit,' the caped pony looked down, like ashamed. 'At the same time, I am astounded that he had the daring to discredit me in your eyes.'

'He did not!’ Colgate nearly shouted. ‘I mean... I... I didn't really believe him...' Colgate admitted. ‘It’s just... confusing...’

'Trust me, initiate, it is  far more than confusing for me for a long time now...’ a lamentable tone came from her teacher’s mouth. ‘I guess I should mention that our pony kind is also rather... judgmental,’ he sighed with his eyes closed.

‘But I... I don’t judge you...’ the mare didn’t know what to say but this.

‘	It is of no matter now,' Moonwarden raised back to four legs. ‘Back to the task at hand,' the caped pony said with conviction, although there was something of a sad tone in his voice still. 

‘Oh... alright...’ Colgate said, lowering her head.

'First rule of a successful interrogation is not making it look like one. We shall attempt to befriend her, make her believe we want to get her out of this misunderstanding,' Moonwarden's voice was fully smooth and stern now. 'That is the goal for today.'

'Alright,' the mare nodded in response, trying to be as focused as he now was. 'What precisely should I do?' she inquired, in her head deciding that she will at least try her best when it comes to the assignment. Although she still was upset inside that she didn’t know how to make her tutor feel better.

'Be yourself, initiate,' the stallion answered, a sudden glimmer of a smile dancing on Moonwarden’s lips.

'I... I am rather good at that,' she responded, perplexed a little.

'Wonderful. Let us proceed then,' the stallion started approaching the door to the correct cell and grabbed the key with his magic. Colgate spotted that the energy was of silver color, like Moonwarden's eyes. It was like he conjured a little cloud of faintly shining mist. 'Oh... And Colgate? Thank you for your...“misjudgment”...' the caped pony suddenly said. Colgate opened her mouth, surprised. She looked straight at her teacher, who turned his head around and winked at her, with a full, thankful smile on his face. She realized what he meant now and grinned back at him, a certain warmth filling her.

After the stallion opened the door with a large clang noise of the lock, both of the ponies ventured in the cell slowly. The little cave was lit dimly by a glowing crystal, positioned usefully above the center of the place. It was sheading its faintly bluish light on a wooden table in need of immediate restoration and some straw gathered at the distant side of the room. On this counterfeit form of a bed, under a dirty piece of rag lied a pony, turned away from the agents, seemingly asleep.
Moonwarden beckoned Colgate to follow him as he started trotting into the cell. The mare followed, carefully observing the prisoner. It was a pegasus, a mare quite possibly. She had a coat colored like a puddle of rainwater on a sunless day, grey-bluish. And her mane, even if now without care and dirty, was the color of clouds bringing a warm downpour. Even though she was sleeping, she was holding the piece of material she was using for cover very firmly. It appeared like she felt the cell being very cold, although the temperature inside the Delves was but a bit lower than outside.

The caped unicorn, once he stood right near the pushed-together fodder and above the prisoner, did a rather loud, theatrical almost, throat-clearing cough. That made the lying pegasus move a bit. She appeared to have woken up, rubbing her eyes with her hooves before turning around to see what was the source of that sudden noise. But once she finally spotted that someone was with her in the cell, her reaction made Colgate quickly back off a step, while Moonwarden raised his eyebrow. The prisoner sat up almost in an eye-blink, turned towards the agents and pressed herself to the wall so tightly she was almost trying to meld into the granite surface. Her eyes, as Colgate saw, the color of sun reflecting in clear lakes, got huge and panicked, while her lower lip was shaking from outright horror. She was looking at one, then at the other unicorn, in a state of shock.

‘Wh-who are you?!’ her voice resounded with fear. Moonwarden reacted in an instant.

‘Forgive us this intrusion...’ he said calmly, bowing his head a little. ‘We mean you no harm-‘

‘Get away from me!’ the mare screamed in response.

‘Please, listen-‘

‘Get away!’ the pegasus voice cracked and she shielded her head in her front legs. Moonwarden closed his eyes for a second, Colgate could swear that out of irritation.

‘Calm down, please...’ he continued with a silent voice. ‘We are backing off... See?’ he took a step backwards and Colgate followed as soon as she spotted his motion.

‘What do you want...?’ the prisoner’s voice was still with a note of panic, her eyes closed tight, her position unchanged.

‘Talk, that is all...’ the grey pony said delicately. ‘We understand you were dragged into an unfortunate set of events and we wish to help you.’

‘Help? No, you do not want to help...’ the pegasus replied with sudden conviction. She looked straight at the caped pony. ‘You want to make me talk.’

‘We do not wish to “make” you talk...’ Moonwarden answered with a soft tone to counter hers. ‘We are hoping you shall aid us in getting you out of this misunderstanding. Isn’t it right, my friend?’ the pony turned to Colgate, who reacted with a little delay, first trying to cope with the way she was addressed. 

‘Yes! Yes...’ the unicorn mare said. ‘We don’t think you should be where you are. We will do our best to make you free,’ she realized she didn’t sound as convincing as her mentor, but she was trying to give her all.

‘Of course you do...’ the pegasus muttered under her breath and turned her head away.

‘Give us a chance, at least,’ the caped pony said with a dosage of plea. ‘What is your name?’ he asked, but only silence answered him. His muzzle twitched slightly. ‘Please, I just wish to know your name,’ he queried again, but the same silence occurred. ‘We wish to make it a civilized interaction, but we need your name first...’

‘You know it already,’ the prisoner finally responded, which just made Moonwarden smile faintly.

‘I do, but courtesy is vital in any situation,’ the grey pony stated. ‘Let us give a good example then... My name is Moonwarden and this is Colgate,’ he bowed his head shortly then pointed to the unicorn mare who smiled delicately.

‘I don’t care.’

The grey stallion rolled his eyes and turned his face away from the two mares, but Colgate could swear he looked rightfully irked out of a sudden. She herself felt concerned that the pegasus was so distrustful, at the same time understanding that being imprisoned in a place like this would make it hard for anypony to trust two strangers entering a cell in the middle of the night and trying to appear friendly. Moonwarden turned his head back to face the winged pony, but his eyes, as the blue unicorn spotted, were colder than before.

‘We offer you a chance to work in unison with us,’ he once more spoke to the prisoner. ‘We do not wish to suddenly spawn adversity, do we?’ he added softly, in contradiction to the words.

‘Just leave me alone...’ the pegasus, still not looking at her visitors, whispered with a sorrowful tone. Colgate decided to act.

‘We do not want you to be alone. We want you to have somepony to help you. And we want to be those... uhm... someponies,’ she said and the prisoner stared straight at her, silently. In her eyes the unicorn mare saw something like a... longing.

‘Well, said, my friend,’ the caped pony nodded. ‘But we need you to let us be the aforementioned... “someponies”...’ he made a hearable pause.

The pegasus was for a while observing both the faintly smiling Colgate and the stoically calm Moonwarden. Then she let out a sigh.

‘My name is Summer Rainfall,’ she said. ‘I am the herald of Star Swirl’s will.’