Chapter 7
The Queen's Hideaway
“Marble! Marble!” Pip shouted as he rushed back to the other earth pony. “I saw the craziest thing and-” He stopped himself as he came to a halt by the tree she'd smashed. The chunk missing from the trunk was a testament to her destructive ability. “Geez, Marble. You need to take it easy.”
She shrugged. “I did it on purpose. Did you catch them?”
“Oh, no, but there was this one bat pony who flew by and knocked them both out. He took all the stolen goods and-” Pip stopped himself again, realizing Equinox was no longer in the park area. “What happened to Equinox?”
“She went back to the base.”
“Why?” Pip asked.
Marble lifted an eyebrow. “Really? You want to know why? She clearly doesn’t want to be recognized. After Mist flew off, I think she’s afraid everypony will know she’s here.”
“I-” Pip started, but stopped. He was having a hard time organizing his thoughts. He knew Equinox had been acting strange, but he hadn’t been expecting this. “Er… What I meant to tell you was that I think the pony that stopped them was Phantom Shade!”
“The old captain of the Night Guard?” Marble thought about that information for a bit. She shrugged, and in a bored tone replied, “I never bothered to ask what became of him. I guess I just assumed he died.”
“He had noticeable scars. They looked just like Equinox’s. I really want to talk to him. Did you see him fly by?”
“No.” Marble looked up at the cloud of fireflies hovering over them. They danced and swirled, almost as if they were happy. “Are those two muggers still out there?”
“Um, yeah. I guess. Phantom Shade left them.”
“I’m going to go bring them in.” Marble turned to start walking through the woods, the fireflies following after her like a swarm of gnats to a light. Pip watched her go, and only then realized that none of the fireflies had stayed behind with him. Weird.
Pip glanced around. He didn’t see anypony else from the Star Guard, but he knew where they had all gone. Galloping through the streets, he stopped once he caught a glimpse of two bat ponies. “Hello,” he called out to them. “Do you know where the Queen’s Hideaway is?”
The two bat pony mares flew off, giving him odd looks as they went. Pip sighed, but immediately perked up when he saw an armored bat pony leaning against a nearby tree. Maybe he’s with the city guard! He’ll tell me what I need to know!
Pip trotted over. “Hello, sir? Do you know where I can find a certain pub? It’s called the Queen’s Hideaway.”
The bat pony guard did a double take when he saw Pip. After the weird stare, he answered, “You wanted the Queen’s Hideaway? Since you can’t fly, you’ll have to enter through one of the ground buildings, take a ladder and walk along the bridges. Start right over there. You’ll get to it soon enough if you head in that direction.” The guard motioned with his head.
“Thanks,” Pip muttered as he trotted off. I guess not many bat ponies have seen a pinto stallion before...
---
The outside of the Queen’s Hideaway revealed everything Pip needed to know about the establishment. It was a circular building built around a huge trunk of a giant tree. There was a walkway and awning all around, but the most telling features were the patrons and atmosphere.
There were tons of bat ponies here, all of them drinking heavily and joking with each other. Most were carrying weapons, and as Pip passed, they gave him long silent stares. Bats, actual bats, were flying around and chirp-screeching at the bat ponies enjoying their drinks. Could bat ponies speak to bats? Pip had never heard anything like that… Maybe?
Pip entered the establishment and slowly looked around. The trunk of the tree had been hollowed out slightly to allow for a central bar. Pip could see through to the other side if he glanced past the two bartenders. There were tables set up everywhere; the kind of tables meant for cards and dice. On the edge of the building were booths, but the most fascinating thing were the fireflies buzzing around the inside, flying in and out through the windows.
As he took a few steps in, Pip heard the soft beat of music begin to play. On the other side of the bar was a bat pony band. It didn’t take him long to find the others… they were the only non-bat ponies here, and the tables around them were sparsely populated.
Thunder Clash was sitting at the bar, while the others were all seated around a single table. Pip approached Thunder Clash first, noting his empty glass of cider. “Everything okay?” Pip asked, barely able to hear over the music with his one good ear.
“As good as it’s going to get,” Thunder Clash grumbled.
The same janitor bat pony that had cleaned their rooms suddenly appeared next to Pip. He was wiping down the bar and smiling as he did so. Pip could already see other ponies spilling their drinks further down the bar. Cleaning the counter in record time, the bat pony with the feather duster cutie mark nodded to them before moving on.
“What a sorry existence,” Thunder Clash muttered into his empty glass. “Could you imagine if the ancient magics gave you a cutie mark like that? I might never show my face again if that happened.”
“We can’t all be soldiers,” Pip said, slightly irritated that Thunder Clash would be so judgmental. “Maybe he likes cleaning.”
Pip watched the bat pony continue straightening the bar as he went. The bats flew around, helping him pick up random knickknacks, as if they were employees of the bar.
“Squeaks! There you are!”
Mist flew over to him with an elated smile.
“I’ve been waiting for you!” she said. “Look! I even saved us a seat!” Mist pointed to a small booth by the wall. A group of fireflies were floating over it.
Crash!
One of the tables in the bar had suddenly been flipped over by a disgruntled bat pony arguing about cheaters. Pip flinched at the noise and stared at the commotion, worried that it could escalate.
“What’re you waiting for? C’mon! Sit down, before somepony takes our spot!”
Pip kept an eye on the angry and yelling bat pony that had flipped the table, but not many patrons seemed to care. Pip sat down at the booth, and Mist scooted over to him with a small smile she was barely containing. Flung over her shoulder was a small pack. She placed it on the table in front of them. Besides the fireflies, the only light was a half-burned candle, but it didn’t matter for Pip.
Rumble, Scootaloo and Specter were all playing pirate's dice. Specter stopped his rolling, however, and turned to the fighting. “Hey! If you want a game where there’s no cheating, you should come take a seat over here! You ain’t never seen ponies as bad at this game as pegasi!”
“Hey!” Scootaloo barked. “I’m plenty good!
“You gonna prove it to the other bat ponies, Scoots?”
“I’ll prove it to everypony here!”
Mist inched even closer, lightly touching Pip’s side. His attention was pulled back to her and her smiling face. Folding her leathery wings close to her sides, Mist said, “I think we’re lucky tonight, Squeaks. Just look at this romantic atmosphere!”
Pip slowly glanced back to the room. There was a flipped table, cider all over the floor, grumbling patrons, loud music, ponies shouting… and the whole place smelled as though everypony could stand to take a shower. No, two showers. “Romantic?” Pip honestly asked.
“We have a clean table,” Mist began, happily pointing. “And half an entire candle! Oh, and the music is low and inviting! I can actually hear you! And only one table flipped and no brawls? That’s almost unheard of for this place! It’s like everything is coming together, ya know? Just for us.”
Pip nervously laughed. “Well… I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Since he was made Captain of the Star Guard, Pip had barely had time to fit everything together. He knew Mist was trying to court him on some level, but he was bad at this sort of thing… and his inadequacies were only made clear to him when he realized he hadn’t made any effort to acknowledge her advances. What was his problem? At least the bar is set so very, very low, Pip thought as he examined what Mist considered romantic.
“Oh! Remember how I said I was going to make you feel welcome in Hollow Shades? I bet you didn’t know this, but most bat pony foals get their toys from the same shop here! That shop sells these little plushies! Everypony had one when I was growing up. Look at them!” She dumped out her pack onto the table, revealing a small collection of plushie dolls. What surprised Pip the most was that they were of earth, pegasus, and unicorn ponies. Some were bat ponies, but most of them were not.
Pip rummaged through them and stopped when he spotted a pinto earth pony plushie.
Mist continued, “We would all play games and guess, if we were to turn into a day-pony, what kind we’d be! We would rank them on how cool or mystical they were. Lots of bat pony foals want to know more about day-ponies!”
Pulling the pinto plushie to the side, Pip dwelled on what Mist was saying. He knew the old saying. The grass was always greener on the other side. Did the bat ponies here have some sort of weird fascination with day-ponies? What was keeping these two communities apart? Daylight.
“Do you like that one?” Mist asked, pointing to the plushie. “That was Equinox’s. She would carry it with her everywhere. Even after mom told her she was too old to play with it, Equinox refused to sleep without it. She loved that thing!”
Pip remained silent. His time in the nightmare realm came rushing back to him. Equinox’s father, unbeknownst to Mist, was a pinto stallion. Had she kept this as some sort of token, holding it and longing to see her real father? How sad was it that nopony knew, except her mother, who told her she was too old to play with it anymore?
Thinking of the nightmare world reminded Pip of Thunder Clash, still sitting at the bar. In his nightmare he had been trapped in a memory of other dying soldiers. Had it been an old memory? Was that why he was so morose lately? Why he quit his old position and had become so depressed? Was he still reliving that terrible memory every night in his dreams?
“Squeaks? You okay?” Mist asked, tilting her head from side to side.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry, just thinking.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Pip saw Specter jump up from his seat. “There’s my girl! Marble! Get over here!”
Marble had walked in and stopped to straighten her long mane. Looking around the room with a bored expression, she eventually turned toward Specter, who was now waving her down.
“If you thought pegasi were bad at this game, you should see Marble!” Specter said, nudging some of the bat ponies that had joined their game.
“What’re you talking about?” Scootaloo balked. “Marble never los- arg!” Specter jabbed her hard in the side.
“You trying to shark us?” one bat pony suddenly snapped. “You think you’re slick enough for that, boy?”
“He can’t shark us,” another bat pony chimed in with a grunt and a laugh. “She’s just an earth pony! I don’t care what this kid thinks; no earth pony is a ringer!”
Scootaloo slammed a hoof down on the table with a fierce look in her eyes. “Oh, you don’t know Marble! She’ll beat every single one of you losers! She’s amazing at this kind of stuff! Freakishly amazing!”
Scootaloo’s loud boasts got everypony’s attention. A crowd of bat pony patrons were now gathering around the table as Marble slowly trotted over. Even Thunder Clash turned slightly in his seat to get a better look.
Pip could hardly believe how much Scootaloo was talking Marble up. He had almost concluded that they hated each other.
“So, uh, Squeaks,” Mist awkwardly muttered, tapping her hooves together. “Why don’t you tell me something about your childhood?”
Pip mentally chastised himself for being so fascinated by the gambling. Mist was obviously excited to be talking to him during this moment of downtime. “Um, my childhood, eh? Well, what do you want to know?”
“What’s the earliest memory you can remember?” she asked gleefully, placing her forelegs on the table and resting her cheeks on her hooves.
“Um… Earliest memory, let’s see… I remember wanting a real Red Rider sword for my birthday once, but my mum said I’d put my eye out. Needless to say, I didn’t get one.”
Mist quickly covered her mouth with her hooves and snickered. Ke ke ke!
“What’s so funny?” Pip nervously asked.
“Did you just say mum?”
Pip flushed slightly and rubbed at his mane. “Er, yeah. I had a pretty noticeable accent when I first moved to Ponyville. It mostly went away, but sometimes I just slip back into it.”
She leaned forward, her amber eyes alight with excitement. “Can you speak with your accent on command?”
“Er, sure?”
“I. Love. Accents. You must speak with one right now.”
Slam!
Pip and Mist turned to the burly bat pony that had suddenly slammed his hoof down on their table. “Hey,” he grunted. “Aren’t you ponies with the Star Guard?”
“We are,” Pip said, confused.
“Soothsayer says we’ll be overrun by dark creatures if you don’t do your job,” the bat pony continued, narrowing his eyes. He was wearing leather armor and carrying a weapon, most of which was obscuring his black coat and gray mane.
“That’s right,” Mist happily replied, seemingly oblivious to the bat pony’s rude and disgruntled tone.
“Then what’re you doin’ here? What’re you doin’ playin’ with dolls when all our lives are on the line?” The bat pony turned his attention to the plushies on the table.
Pip hastily scooped the plushies up and shoved them back into Mist’s bag. “Well, er, this isn’t what it looks like. They were, uh, just an… example of culture, or, something.” Pip floundered with the words, barely able to put sentences together without sounding insane.
“I don’t care why you have them! The only why I care about is why aren’t you doing your job?! Why are you sitting here when you should be stopping monsters?!” The bat pony slammed the table out of the way, but Mist quickly grabbed her bag before it went with the table. Other patrons in the bar began nodding and muttering words of agreement.
“What’s going on here?” Thunder Clash asked, flying over to the group.
The music stopped. Everypony turned to see what the commotion was about.
“You day-ponies aren’t even trying, are you? Is this all some game? We were told ponies could be turning into nightmare things at any moment!” The angry bat pony turned to the others in the bar. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah!” a pony shouted in response.
“They just don’t care what happens to us!” another pony piped up.
“W-wait!” Pip tried to calm them by holding up a hoof. “We can’t just do it whenever we want! There are-”
The bat pony scoffed, cutting Pip off. “You got rules about when and how you can fight monsters? What kind of stupidity is this?”
“We don’t tell you how to do your job,” Thunder Clash interjected, landing right next to the bat pony and stepping up into his personal space with a glare. “I wouldn’t expect you to tell us how to do ours!”
Pip jumped from his seat and tried to come between the two other stallions. Was Thunder Clash trying to start a fight?! That wasn’t like him at all! Wasn’t he the one that said a true master of war never had to fight?
“Wait!” Pip shouted. “The nightmares- er, I mean the monsters, they’re nightmares! In nightmares! In dreams being nightmares, actually!” In his rush to get words out before anything escalated, Pip found it hard to fully explain the concept of only being able to fight the monsters while the bat ponies slept. If the bat ponies weren’t sleeping, they couldn’t do much…
“Ya know what I think?” the bat pony asked rhetorically, his words laced with venom. “I think you aren’t trying because you want Princess Luna to be banished to the moon again! So that the day princess is the only princess left! Admit it! You blame Princess Luna for all these troubles!”
Pip was practically flabbergasted by the statements. There could be nothing further from the truth!
“I love Luna,” Pip stated, but almost immediately regretted it as he realized that could be taken out of context. “As her loyal subject,” he hastily tacked on. “What I’m trying to say is-”
“You’re not her loyal subject!” the bat pony barked. “You just serve your sun-raising princess and her disgusting rainbow mane! You don’t even want Princess Luna around!”
Thunder Clash pushed the other bat pony, practically seething with anger. “What did you say about Princess Celestia?! She was the one that helped you while Princess Luna was banished to the moon! You’d be lost without Celestia!”
“Princess Celestia did nothing for us!” The bat pony charged, hitting Thunder Clash and coming to a standstill with the old pegasus warrior.
Specter, Rumble, Scootaloo and Marble jumped up to stop the two from fighting, but other nearby bat ponies jumped to get involved, obviously agitated by the conversation that had transpired. As if triggering something within the bar, the other patrons, some too far away to even hear what was being said, began fighting with each other. Flipping tables, bucking, throwing things… It was an all-out brawl.
A bat pony dove for Pip, but he quickly turned and bucked his attacker, slamming solidly into his chest. Winded, the bat pony crashed to the floor.
Mist suddenly bucked the tipped-over table and shoved it into a bat pony standing behind Pip. He nodded to her and turned to see Thunder Clash and the instigator still wrestling with each other. Pip dashed toward them and, when the two split apart briefly, slammed into the side of the bat pony, sending them both tumbling.
The bat pony was faster, jumping onto Pip before he could even stand. Surprisingly to Pip, the bat pony did not pull his weapon, but instead struck Pip in the muzzle with his hoof. Pip, on his back, bucked upward into his attacker’s stomach and launched him into a nearby chair, shattering it.
Scootaloo suddenly ran and collided with two other bat ponies, sending them both flying. Rumble, on the other hoof, was merely pinning a few ponies beneath him, preventing them from attacking. As Pip got up, he realized more and more that some bat ponies were fighting just to fight. They didn’t have any rhyme or reason when picking their targets.
“We’re leaving!” he commanded the others. He couldn’t believe they were fighting in the first place! What was going on? Fighting wasn’t even solving anything here; it felt more like pent up aggressions being released for no good reason.
Marble led the way out, easily knocking other ponies aside until she made it to the front door. Scootaloo hopped from table to table, easily sidestepping conflict, whereas Pip had to follow in Marble’s wake. The other ponies flew out and gathered on one of the bridges between buildings. The brawl continued unabated inside.
Pip turned to Thunder Clash, still dumbfounded that the older soldier was acting so strange. “Why did you-”
“What was that?” Specter indignantly asked Pip, unconcerned with Thunder Clash. “I thought you wanted us to make a good impression?”
“I-” Pip began.
Specter flew around the bridge and cut Pip off with, “I know bat ponies! I’m so bat pony I’m practically two bat ponies! Did you see what I was doing? Before you knew it, all of Hollow Shades would have been talking about us!”
Rumble pointed to the Queen’s Hideaway with a lifted eyebrow. “Should we be concerned? What if somepony gets hurt?”
Crash!
“Do you guys hear yourselves?” Specter asked, more frustrated than Pip had ever seen him. “What if somepony gets hurt?” Specter mocked in a sad and sniveling voice. “That’s wussy day-pony talk! You gotta be tough if you’re staying here! Tough!”
Two bat pony mares flew down to the entrance of the Queen’s Hideaway. They glanced inside, and one rolled her eyes. “Typical Monday. Wanna go see what they’re doing at the Fruit Lounge?” The other mare nodded, and they both flew off.
The bats from the bar were flying around, gathering up bits of wood and debris from the fighting. Like little worker elves, they either began piecing things back together or piling up unsalvageable material.
“This place is way different from Ponyville,” Rumble quickly commented. “Of course, I guess we do a lot of weird things, too…”
“Rainbow Dash once picked her pet by making them fly through a deadly nest of Quarray Eels,” Scootaloo nodded. “Maybe all ponies are a little weird, huh? We’ve got more in common than I thought.”
“Or what about that one time Twilight made everypony fall in love with her doll, causing a riot?”
“Oh! Oh! Or like the time ponies were dressing up as the same superhero and running around town?”
“Or that downhill road we built that just dead-ends at a cliff!”
“Enough!” somepony shouted. They all turned and were surprised to see Phantom Shade landing on the bridge with them, disgust written all over his face. “What is the meaning of this?! Why are you all here?!” The old Night Guard captain, without his armor on but wrapped in gauze and bandages, was tall and regal, despite the terrible scars. He had a dark gray coat, his mane was black, and his bright gold eyes matched his cutie mark; a single gold eye with a slit-pupil.
The others were shocked to see the old captain and didn’t speak up. Pip, on the other hoof, stepped forward, glad to see him. “Phantom Shade! I knew it was you! I can’t believe you’re okay!” It was then that Pip realized his shoulder wasn’t even bothering him that much. What were those leaves that Equinox had given him?
“Why are you here?” Phantom Shade angrily repeated. “Why do you always have a problem with answering simple questions?”
“We’re part of the Star Guard now!” Mist uncharacteristically interjected, taking a step closer to Pip. “We’re here to vanquish the Nightmare Forces!”
“Tsk,” Phantom Shade said, taken aback. “They gave that task to you? I refuse to believe it.”
“What? You think we can’t do it?!” Scootaloo unfurled her tiny wings and stepped closer. “Princess Luna believes in us! We can do it!”
“Princess Luna isn’t immune to poor decisions,” Phantom Shade hissed.
“Wait!” Pip jumped in front of the others. He'd wanted to speak to Phantom Shade since the moment he'd realized that the bat pony was here. He had been the only other pony in the nightmare realm to free himself. He understood the oblivion and darkness… he had been a captain of the guard, for Celestia’s sake! “Phantom Shade, please hear me out! Let me tell you everything that's happened! Let me take you into the dreamscape tomorrow during the day and show you what’s happening!”
The bat pony glared at him but said nothing as he contemplated Pip’s statements. “Take me into the dreamscape?” he asked.
Pip nodded. “I could use your help.”