//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Filly Without a Name // by Scribble Script //------------------------------// CHAPTER 3 - A DIFFERENT APPROACH To crown it all, a cold drizzling rain had started in the afternoon. That of course did no good at all to Firefly’s attempts. After she had asked around some more in the House of Healing (the results hadn’t been all too helpful) Firefly had resorted in questioning ponies she would occasionally meet on the streets and at the market. Indeed, she had by now worked out a list of questions, but the few ponies that were still on the streets despite the nasty weather hadn’t been in a talkative mood at all. Brusquely, they had quickly excused themselves and hurried on… So by the time the afternoon made way for the evening, Firefly’s was wet to the bones, tired and depressed. Back in the guard house, Sliderule was still buried in his books. The only change in the scene was a glass lantern he had placed on his table. It was filled with buzzing insects emitting light like an oil lamp. The young paymaster didn’t look up this time either when the door was tossed open and a dripping wet Firefly entered the room, her head and wings hanging low. She scuffed over to Sliderule’s table, fetched a chair and plonked herself down on it, moaning. With a dull movement she pushed aside the lamp with her namesakes in it, then she rested her forehead on the table top with an audible ‘thunk’. “I’m sooo done for!” she groaned. Sliderule closed his eyes, it was clear he wouldn’t be able to just continue his reading. Not with Firefly dripping water on his papers. So he uttered a devoted sigh and shut his book. “What’s the matter?” he asked and tried to save his book with the magic circle on the cover from the slowly spreading puddle of water on the table top. Firefly rose her head for about an inch, barely enough to return Sliderule’s look. At the moment she showed about as much body tension as an octopus. “I’m a complete failure”, she lamented. “In the long history of failing I must be the one failing hardest!” Sliderule had the indistinct feeling that Firefly expected him to say some encouraging words. Not that had much experience in encouraging other ponies, but he tried his best: “Hey… They didn’t want to talk to you, did they? Um… how goes the saying? No hard feelings…” “That’s not even it!” Firefly cried out. “The few who actually talked to me gave me nothing but riddles and vague clues and I’m too stupid to see any sense!” Thunk, and down went her head on the table again. Sliderule irresolutely chewed away on his lip. His work for the Guard was in the first instance safe bread and butter for him, followed by the fact he could order books and writings from Canterlot’s Royal Library. He didn’t like trouble or furore, and the missing filly didn’t appear on his list at all, he had stood out of this willingly, for caution’s sake and against his own curiosity. Luckily for Firefly, before she could wallow in self-pity, he decided to help her out where her own mind failed her. “I don’t know if it helps, but you could tell me what you’ve got”, he provided. “Maybe we can… um, make a sense together…” “Maybe…” Firefly sighed and pulled up great effort to sit up straight. Then she tried dig up from her mind all she had learned today: “Alright, let me get the story straight… I’ve met this other doctor, this Ragstitch character, y’know? He didn’t tell me much, really, but he showed me around a little. The filly was hosted in a room on second floor, a one-bed room, small but fair enough, I guess…” “Or so it seems”, Sliderule remarked mysteriously. “Please go on, did you find any clues in her room?” “Oh, that’s the first mystery… The filly was a stray, she hadn’t much with her, just a raddled satchel and… strangely… a dark red cloak, just a little worn-out. Ragstitch mentioned this cloak had been especially precious to her. He said she was clinging to it! So why, I’m asking you, why in all Equestria did she leave it behind then?” “The more important question is”, her opposite corrected. “How did she get the cloak in the first place? Dyer’s madder –that’s the plant the red colour comes from- doesn’t grow hereabouts. Red is rare and expensive! If we’re led to believe the filly is a stray, then why does she possess a cloak fitting for an officer or a noble?” Sliderule was still talking in his careful manner, like if he had to taste every word’s flavour before spelling it, but he sounded more self-confident now. This was a conversation after his fancy. The Royal Library contained, according to rumours, every single book written in Equestria up to this day and Sliderule had already read plenty of them. Now finally his widespread (and admittedly sometimes rather esoteric) knowledge could come in hoofy. And Sliderule was right to mention it, that important question hadn’t struck Firefly at all. “So you want to say there’s more to her than you see on the first look?” she asked. Hadn’t this other stallion said something similar? “And second”, Firefly remembered. “What makes this filly so important?” “Wha-what was that?” Sliderule was startled about his trails of thought being interrupted by this mysterious statement, but the undertone in Firefly’s words had drawn his attention. “That’s what this stallion with the eyepatch said to me: Ye must ask yourself two questions!” Firefly gave a rather poor imitation of the stallion’s voice by trying to sound mystical. Sliderule’s reaction however came completely unexpected: Like at their first meeting, earlier today, he jumped up abruptly so abruptly he almost knocked over the table and definitely knocked Firefly off her chair. “What? A stallion with an eyepatch?” Now it was Firefly’s turn to be hesitate. She didn’t really understand the fuss Sliderule was making about that stallion. “Yes, he was wearing a bandage over his left eye. What about him?” “He’s back in town then”, Sliderule murmured, grimacing. “That’s bad, actually… The Captain ordered us not to talk to him.” Firefly was wondering why... For her flavour the stallion could’ve spoken more straight talk, but he seemed eager to help out. “He better should be” the paymaster shrugged off her argument with a bitterness uncommon for him. “Silver Blaze is Calm Mind’s new right-hoof stallion.” At once, Firefly blundered out: “Wait, wait, wait, wait! Silver Blaze? Like in ‘Silver Blaze, youngest captain of the Royal Guard in the history of the Equestrian army’? This Silver Blaze?” The unicorn shrugged his shoulders. If there was a document about a Royal Guard named Silver Blaze, he hadn’t read it yet. But Firefly knew very well: She remembered that certain day, over ten years ago. On that day, Canterlot had hosted the biggest army review for the last five hundred years; to muster an army against an evil dragon and his forces, if Firefly was recalling right. All those armours and weapons, the young filly Firefly had never seen anything more impressive before. The moving out of the Equestrian army had been led by no less pony than Princess Celestia herself, wearing a shining, golden armour and riding her richly ornamented sun chariot. Flush with her, even ahead of the Princess’s bodyguards and the Council of Unicorns, and celebrated almost as much as the Princess, had proudly paced along an earth pony stallion. His armament had been made of stainless steel but polished until it shone like silver and he had worn a helmet with a flowing penache. This stallion’s name, Firefly had later learned, was Silver Blaze, once a pony of unknown origin, and now the Guard’s rising star. The glory of that moment had burned itself into Firefly’s mind forever. Silver Blaze had been an inspiration for her (and for probably every other foal in Canterlot), and the same day she had decided she’d join the Royal Guard once she was old enough. One day she’d come to honour and glory and would earn her place at the side of the Princess as well, that was her declared goal! “But Silver Blaze is a hero! How could he end up in a one-horse town like this? Oh… Uh, no offense…” Firefly quickly added once she realized she was insulting Sliderule’s hometown. “Um, none taken.” Sliderule scratched his head. Then he said: “According to the doctor, he’s just here to aid us, but the Captain says Blaze only barged into the guard’s business until he halted it.” With some right, Firefly thought. Hollow Shade’s guard had failed miserably in doing its job! But then she remembered that she herself hadn’t done any better until now and stifled her barbed remark… “But he talked to me, that’s a step in the right direction, isn’t it?” she asked instead. Sliderule thought about that for a moment. “That… Um, well… That depends on what he said to you. Do you recall anything else? You mentioned something about two questions?” he wanted to know. Firefly nodded. “The first one was if Calm Mind had told me the truth, and the second one was what made the filly so important… Do you think he’s got a point?” “I do... Likely. Or maybe. Anything else?” Indeed, Silver Blaze had said something else about Doctor Calm Mind. Now what had that been again? “Got any clue why he would want me to consider that Doctor Mind is a mare of science?” Sliderule pondered. “Sure he used these words? Hmmm…. Interesting…” For the first time Firefly saw the unicorn smile. “Actually, I think I do: It’s about records. Any pony who indeed wants to call himself a scientist must be able to proof his results. So he needs to keep meticulous records about his researches.” “Meti-whatnow?” Firefly wondered. Then she realized it: “Wait, do you want to say she writes down everything? About the filly, too?” “Most likely, yes.” That was brilliant. Something clearly was fishy about this case, but if Sliderule was right, a single look into Calm Mind’s notes could solve this mystery. But how to get at them? Surely, the physician wouldn’t just hoof them over, would she? Well, of course there was one way. Probably not easy and definitely not legal, but a way at least… “No, Firefly, no!” Sliderule strictly was against that plan. “With all due respect to your ambition to find the filly, but somepony’s got to draw a line. And that line… um, that is exactly here! You can’t just break into the House of Healing!” Firefly bit on her lip. “I don’t like it either”, she sternly said. “But we can’t just ask Calm Mind to hoof us over her records, can we? And honestly, Sliderule, I’ve been transferred from Canterlot right to the middle of nowhere! Without a wonder, my career is as dead as dust; I have nothing to lose…” “But I do!” Sliderule exclaimed. For once in a long time a pony had managed upset him. “If you want to throw everything away, fine! If you want to ruin your life, go ahead! But I won’t allow you to ruin MY life!” All the much Firefly hated to drag somepony else in, and all the much she hated to admit it, there was no use in denying it: “Sliderule, look, I can’t do this without you. I…” She stopped took a deep breath. “I need you!” That probably nopony had told Sliderule before and he seemed to be hit right between the eyes by Firefly’s words. All he managed to stutter was a single word in reply: “W-why?” Firefly still hesitated. She hadn’t felt that awkward in a long time… But eventually she blurted out: “I can’t read, alright?” Whatever Sliderule had expected, it surely hadn’t been that! His facial features slipped. “You… you can’t read?” Sliderule enquired, just to be sure. Now Firefly blushed even more. “It’s no big deal, is it?”, she beat off. “It’s just… Just a little embarrassing, that’s all.” Not being able to read was all but no big deal in Sliderule’s opinion. A life without reading was indescribably cruel and dull! But besides his dismay he now knew one thing for sure: There in fact was simply no way Firefly could do this without him; he practically was already breaking into the hospital… “Oh, ponyfeathers”, he groaned. **** The sanatorium was even more creepy during the dark hours than it was during daylight: Drab, gloomy and threatening, a place to better avoid. Not a single soul crossed the way of the two ponies that were carefully groping their way through the dark streets. At nightfall, the drizzle had ceased, yet the sky still was thickly covered with low hanging clouds. Outside the pools of light from the streetlamps it was pitch black. Doctor Calm Mind had left the sanatorium half an hour ago, so it was now or never. “Why again did we have to wrap our hooves with cloth?” Firefly whispered into Sliderule’s ear. The cobblestones were wet and slippery, and it wasn’t easy for hooves to get a grip on them, especially when they were wrapped in two layers of cotton. “Hooves clop”, The young paymaster hissed back. “I hope the cotton will stifle our hoof beat. If I have to break the law for you, I’m doing it properly at least. And now hush…” “Yes, sir”, Firefly solemnly retorted. Sliderule was affronted, understandably of course. And a grumpy but focussed Sliderule surely was more suitable for their purpose than his usual, confused self, though maybe he had prepared himself a little too much: He was laden with saddlebags almost like a packhorse. Firefly however liked the old Sliderule better, hopefully the prospect of unknown knowledge would help him forget his anger on Firefly in time… “Here, that’s the window”, Firefly said and pointed towards the shutters on the upper floor. Said window led to the room in which the filly had been hosted, a room that hence was empty for certain. Sliderule reached into one of his bags and fetched a curved knife. “Here”, he said. This knife, he explained in a nutshell, Firefly was supposed to put between the shutters and to move it from the bottom up. This way she should be able to open the latch. Theoretically… It was no problem for the pegasus to soar up to the window, no question. Flapping on the spot in hovering flight was actually a little catchier exercise, but how would it have looked like if Equestria’s self-appointed best flyer would have fallen down on this standard manoeuvre? No, the really tricky task was to open these damned shutters: Firefly had to take the knife between her teeth to have a fairly certain grip on it. But who has ever tried to work accurate with a tool held with the teeth will confirm how difficult that is. It took Firefly almost a minute to figure out how to even hold the knife the right way so it fit into the narrow gap between the shutters! Damned, how I envy any mechanic right now! It always looks so easy with them… Impatiently she picked around, with her wrapped front hooves propped up on the window sill, until she eventually heard the redeeming ‘click’. The shutters swung outward, revealing the rectangular, black hole of the window. Firefly gulped. To think this had been actually the easy part of the plan… Sliderule couldn’t take the same way in as Firefly. Obviously. Unicorns couldn’t fly and they couldn’t climb vertical walls either, so now she needed to find a way he could also get in. A window in an empty room downstairs should do the trick, or maybe she could find a way to unlock the door, too. But making her way through the nocturnal hospital unseen and more important unheard was more than just difficult. Firefly would need to show a downright supernatural caution, and thinking back to the casern and the kitchen-disaster… Well, she somehow had the feeling wrapping her hooves in cloth wouldn’t really make things easier. She carefully shifted from one hoof to the other. Her hoofbeat wasn’t stifled completely, but if nopony was paying too much attention she should be able to make it at least to the staircase. What a shame the corridors weren’t wide enough for her to fly. More groping around than actually seeing something, she made her way to the door. Then she put one ear against the wood and listened. There was no sound, the few inpatients Doctor Mind was housing recently seemed to be all fast asleep. Slowly, Firefly pushed the door handle. The door wasn’t locked, of course not. On their tour through the hospital, Doctor Ragstitch had mentioned that the doors of the patients’ rooms would never be locked, for security reasons. She pressed open the door with her shoulder and poked her head out into the hallway. The lightless room had felt uncomfortable, but the unsteady twilight in the halls emerging from the turned down oil lamps wasn’t any better. “C’mon Firefly, you’re not a filly anymore”, she muttered to herself, trying to calm herself down. “It’s just a hospital…” A chilly gust of wind from the open window blew through the hallway and the flickering oil lamps casted her silhouette as restless shadows on the walls by a dozen. “Ouw, a dark and creepy hospital…” Firefly shivered as she quickly went back to the window and shut it. Maybe she really should have just asked for the doctor’s records, yes, that seemed to be a quite good plan now. At least a better plan than to break into this eerie masonry. This eerie masonry meant to be a home for the mentally ill… This eerie masonry meant to be a home for the mentally ill, who could lurk behind any corner waiting to brutally murder her and… Well, that was of course overdone. Doctor Ragstitch had told her the House of Healing only had five inpatients at the moment and according to the physician none of them was treated for mental issues. But undeniably, these walls had a bad influence on Firefly’s state of mind. Was it her tension, or maybe her guilty conscience, in any case she got worked up. An almost deadly hush, only interrupted by her toddling steps, the shadows on the wall accompanying her like a pack of unsteady ghosts, all this nagged her. This was far more exciting than she’d care for and by the time she reached the staircase, she already was quite jumpy. “Ouch, dammit, blasted wraps!” A thud sounded on the stairs, followed by a supressed swearing. It wouldn’t have taken much and Firefly had yelped at the unexpected sound of this voice. The scream was already half-way up her throat but she managed to supress it to a muffled whimper. She squeezed herself against the wall, but that wouldn’t be enough. The pony on the stairs would come up any minute and there simply was no way he wouldn’t notice Firefly! She had never thought about a way out more feverishly. In the few moments the other pony needed to climb up the stairs, the young guard considered and discarded half a dozen different plans. Last stand of matters was that she’d try and dash at the pony as soon as he would come up, when suddenly a familiar redhead appeared in the archway. “Sliderule…?” The unicorn jerked so forcefully he had almost fallen down the stairs again. “Are you insane?”, Sliderule hissed and pressed a hoof to his heart. “Do want me to drop dead? Heavens…” “Sliderule, how did you get in?” Firefly wanted to know, completely ignoring his complaints. “Um, the front door was open…” Her jaws dropped. “But I… And you… But I…” The front door was open! Of course, why not? But she HAD to use this stupid knife to break into a room on the upper floor and then dabble at the almost impossible task to sneak through the hospital, unseen and unheard. And the whole time, the front door had been open?! “Oh, never mind…”, she eventually chuntered. There was no use to bicker with the pinholes her bad luck gave her. With any unnecessary moment they remained here, the danger of getting caught by a night nurse or the janitor was rising. It already was little short of a miracle everything remained so ghostly silent! Nevertheless a little miffed, Firefly led her partner in crime to the room of Doctor Calm Mind. “Let’s see if you’re lucky again and this door is open as well…” “No, this one is locked”, Sliderule replied. Two or three moments went past until he realized Firefly’s words and blinked with irritation. “C-Could it be you’re cross with me? Because, if you are I'll have to remind you that I’m here just because of you! Remember?” “Alright, alright”, admitted the blue pegasus unwillingly. “So, can you do something about this door?” The ginger unicorn took a long look at the door and especially at the lock. An impressive construction, Firefly found, a downright monstrum made of bronze and steel, one would surely need an aptly awe-inspiring key to open it! A glow, only barely visible began to shone from Sliderule’s horn, the visible sign of a spell being cast. The latch of his saddlebag was opened by his magic and from the unfathomable depth of his bag rose a briefcase with a about a dozen strange, hook-shaped tools of all magnitudes. “Well… Let me see…” With an expression of utmost concentration and making all kind of silly faces, the paymaster started to bustle about with his lockpicks. And lo and behold, after a few moments a low clicking showed that his efforts were crowned with success. “I’ll be jiggered”, Firefly gaped. “You would make a first-class burglar, Mister Sliderule!” The unicorn waved off: “No, no. It’s... um, it’s nothing.” It was hard to recognise because of the ill lighting, but he was blushing beneath his sand-coloured fur. “These old, blocky locks aren’t very safe altogether. This one only has one single bolt, a foal could have picked it… Anyway, the door’s open now. Um, shall we…?” ****