From Dusk to Night

by KuroiTsubasaTenshi

23 - Uncertainties

The bar felt strange—and not just because the crowd in an expensive hotel bar was predictably sparse. From the moment Night and I walked in, it was quite plain that the idea was to act like we were at the Seapony and nothing was wrong. But nothing, especially something so overly classy, can replace the Seapony and there was just this general unease that hung over us. It wasn’t so much being on edge, as a sort of restless fatigue.

Mahogany was buried deep in his drinks, as though pushing the ‘normality’ harder would allow him to will everything to be right. Terra’s mind was definitely somewhere else, as, while she took nominal sips, her first glass wasn’t even empty. I wondered if it was her business or a certain little filly that had taken over her thoughts. Perhaps it was a bit of both. Star was about as stern as ever. And, well, Night was being Night. Only Merriweather was making a serious effort to talk. While it was appreciated, as her tales of beach leering reached her admiration of the fifth or sixth butt, it was clear she was a bit short on material.

I found that the half-familiarity sent my mind adrift, back home to the mess that would be waiting. Years on the weather team and I’d barely had more than half a dozen sick days total, nevermind no-showing. With our time in Myrtail still indefinite, the chances of explaining such a long absence without revealing everything, yet not getting fired, were pretty much nil. As much as I trusted Rainbow Dash as a boss, her reputation for acting rashly killed any inclination to let her in on the truth. What’s worse, Night and Mahogany were practically in the same situation. And while Terra didn’t have to worry about that, there’s no way her absence could be good for business.

Even if all that somehow worked out, there was still the issue of the Cartel. Noble Light’s internal cleaning would come too late. While the fact that they didn’t ambush me in my home made me reasonably sure that they didn’t have my address or, possibly even know that I lived in Ponyville, it was still my last known location. I’d have to be more vigilant than ever.

I briefly considered moving. But aside from a backwater where I could disappear entirely, there wasn’t any place I could consider more advantageous than one under the watchful eye of Canterlot. If the Cartel had spies in the Guard at that moment, then they’d surely know that their little operation had made far too much noise. If I was lucky, perhaps they would decide that keeping up the chase was just too much effort.

It took a full ten minutes before I really broke out of my daydreaming. Growing fed up with both wasting the others’ efforts, as well as the dark cloud hanging over us, I decided I needed to focus on something else. Anything else.

That’s when the sound of the bar’s gramophone reached me. I don’t even remember what song it was, just that it had a catchy beat. A bout of silliness, likely fueled by my extra cider, took hold and I started humming along. Merriweather joined in immediately, with Terra and Mahogany coming in shortly thereafter. I think I even caught a few notes from Star and Night.

---

While I might have stayed up a bit late, the night’s comradery had left me in good enough spirits that I could simply shrug off the fatigue. As the elevator doors slid open, I even found myself grinning.

I actually had to look around for once, since Mint Creme had ditched her sun hat. She was waiting by the reed furniture, almost in the exact same spot as when I’d first seen her. A slight frown creased her face as she rocked from side to side—a stark contrast from previous days. Apparently, the prospect of talking about her family made her more apprehensive than having a knife held to her throat. While I felt bad, I couldn’t help but let a small smirk creep up my lips.

As I approached, I noted one more change: her lyre cutie mark was gone, replaced by a shield with mint leaves blooming from its center. I debated whether such a perfect fit made it more or less credible. With a mental shrug, I trotted up to her; by this point, her identity was far from my chief concern.

She didn’t seem to notice me. When this went on for several seconds, I cleared my throat and said, “Hi.”

“Oh!” Mint Creme snapped to, her eyes darting down the hall before fixing on me. “Hello.”

I supposed she was still trying to avoid Night, which only made me want to hear her side of the story even more. Which then made me wonder if she remembered the promise. If she did, I had a feeling she didn’t hold it against him.

“Do you need a moment?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m ready.”

“All right, this way, then.” I led her back to the elevators and took us up to the second floor. I’d booked one of the small meeting rooms about as last-minute as I dared. I still needed to be careful, but it wouldn't have done me any good to be stuck with no room at all. Truth be told, at this point, I probably could have used one of the hotel rooms, but that risked a run-in with Night when neither sibling was ready.

Because we needed another reminder that we were at a resort, the meeting room furniture was pretty much the same as those from the lobby. Even the meeting table was just a larger version of the reed-themed coffee table.

There were no windows, something that I wasn’t too broken up about. In fact, the fewer ways to be seen, the better. However, apparently the hotel felt bad enough to hang a large picture of a beach on the wall facing the door.

As soon as we were seated, Mint Creme slipped something out from under her wing and set it in the middle of the table. She gave me a sheepish look. “Sorry for not showing this before. I, uh, forgot it in my room.”

It was a small emblem of an engraved phoenix with a starburst behind it. I stared at it, but whatever importance it held eluded me. “Um, what is this?”

Confusion washed over Mint Creme’s face. “It’s my dad’s seal. To prove my identity?”

I shook my head. “Makes sense, but this is the first I’ve heard of this.”

“Huh? But Dad said you’d know.”

“Maybe he told everyone else and they forgot to tell me,” I pondered.

“Then why didn’t your friend say anything?”

It did seem odd that Star didn’t bring it up during our initial encounter. While she would have been too late to avert the confrontation, it still would have been more decisive than the letter. Of course, that wouldn’t have addressed my concerns about the Light family baggage, but still. Then it hit me.

“Oh! I know. Since we still didn’t trust you, she probably didn’t want to reveal that there was even a cue.”

The sheepishness returned to Mint Creme’s face. “Oops.”

I shook my head. “It’s all water under the bridge now.”

“Thanks.” Her embarrassment melted away, leaving a warm smile. “I guess I promised to tell you about my family, didn’t I?”

I nodded.

“All right. Just… don’t think any less of us, okay? We didn’t mean for it to end up like this.”

While I was certain Mint Creme meant for the disclaimer to be reassuring, it did just the opposite. But she deserved a chance to explain herself, so I pushed my reservations aside.

“Okay.”

“Night Light is… complicated. There was always a lot of pressure on him. From Dad, from Diamond.” Her voice wavered a little as she looked away. “From me.”

“Diamond?” I asked. Of course, I already knew that she was Night’s sister, but this seemed like the best way to probe for more information.

“Diamond Wing, our sister. She was the middle child, so I guess she always felt she had to prove herself, to stand out. Every scheme or stunt was more brash than the last, and Spring and Night often got drafted into helping her. I found out later that Night always got the least dignified tasks, with Diamond asserting that those tasks belonged to the youngest. It didn’t help that Night had a bad habit of just silently accepting his role, as though he didn’t want to get her in trouble.” Mint Creme let out a heavy sigh. “She regrets it now, of course. I mean, she wasn’t the only one who gave him a hard time now and then, but we all thought it was kid stuff. By the time we realized how he felt, the damage was already done.”

I nodded, feeling bad that I’d have to press her further. “And you? I’m guessing it was something more specific than just ‘giving him a hard time.’”

“Yes, but I don’t really know. He was a really quiet colt and, like I said, he made a habit of not speaking up. If I had to guess, I think he thinks I abandoned him.”

“Abandoned? Why would he think that?” I leaned forward. This was definitely shaping up to be nothing like what Night feared.

“Well, I was the one who usually bailed him out whenever Diamond went too far. On top of that, he looked up to me in a lot of ways. Come to think of it, I wonder if it wasn’t because I was following in Dad’s footsteps. Eventually, I had to leave home for basic. I’m not entirely sure about specific incidents, but I know that while I was gone, Mom and Sun were fighting a lot, and everyone else kind of fell through the cracks.

“Sun is another one of your sisters?”

“Yeah, she’s the oldest. Then me, Diamond, then Spring. Night is younger than all of us.”

I nodded. “So Diamond Wing pretty much had free reign.”

“More or less.”

“But that’s her fault, not yours.”

Mint Creme shrugged. “Maybe not, but there’s more to it than that.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Our family has a long history with the Guard. Dad isn’t the first and I probably won’t be the last. I guess Night got it into his head that he needed to be part of that.” Mint Creme let out a long sigh. “I still remember when I went off to basic, he made this promise to me that we would be in the Guard together. ‘See you at the barracks,’ he’d said. Of course, basic wasn’t for him. Most of us already knew this.”

“But if you already knew,” I tilted my head, “why did you let him go?”

“I can’t speak for everyone else, but there was a part of me that hoped he’d succeed, anyway. It wasn’t about the family history. It was that whenever he spoke of the Guard, he had such confidence, a rarity in his colthood. I guess I didn’t want to take that away from him.”

While my knee-jerk reaction was to be critical based on the end result, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I would have done the same thing. There’s just something about telling someone, ‘You’re going to fail at your passion.’ that seemed exceptionally cruel.

Mint Creme stared at the wall. “He dropped out and, without so much as a word, transferred to the weather program at Cloudsdale University. I kept meaning to talk to him about it, but by the time I was able to get leave, it was too late. The day before I came home, he just disappeared and cut all ties.”

I blinked. It like such an extreme reaction, but after putting everything together, it was clear that all that miscommunication had silently built up into a powder keg. The question, then, was just how much I should meddle in this whole mess. I decided to err on the side of caution.

“Was it really that bad?”

“He must have thought it was.”

“And you think he still feels the same way?”

Mint Creme’s eyes wandered over to the beach picture. “He hasn’t come back to see us yet.”

I thought about mentioning the meeting with Noble Light, but that was more of an emergency situation. Night needed to do it without any other excuse. That didn’t mean I was out of approaches, though. “Isn’t this what caused this problem in the first place?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Just assuming he felt a certain way. It’s half of why Night was left alone until he reached breaking point, isn’t it?”

She sat there thinking for what must have been at least ten seconds. “You’re right.”

I looked her straight in the eye. “You said you wanted to talk to him. Maybe it’s a little late coming and maybe the circumstances aren’t exactly pleasant, but isn’t this basically a golden second opportunity?”

“Yeah. If Dad hadn’t sent me…” Mint Creme froze, realization washing over her face, which was then followed by a flood of laughter. “Dad, you old war horse!”

“What?”

The look she gave me was almost apologetic. “He must have had the same idea. It’s just like him to lump things together like that.”

Mixed feelings clashed as I held back a frown. Part of me was happy, because this suited my purpose. The other was annoyed that Noble Light had taken such liberties with my situation. But pragmatically speaking, I could think of no better alternative. I smirked. Might as well make the best of it.

“Well, then that’s two-to-one, isn’t it? What do you say?”

Mint Creme shook her head. “I… I’ll definitely have to give it more thought. I don’t think I can give you an answer right now.”

“Fine by me. No one wants to force anyone into anything. That would solve little.”

“I guess you’re right.” She digested her thoughts a moment more. “Well, that’s about the long and short of it. Your turn?”

I nodded. Telling this story was starting to get tiresome, but a deal was a deal. My tale didn’t get much farther than Light Horn’s ultimatum before Mint Creme started asking questions.

“Whoa, what? He threatened you? We don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour.” She tensed up, as though Light Horn had personally offended her. I supposed he had, in a roundabout way, but I wasn’t so sure that that kind of thing was always out of the question. However, in this context, I had to agree that it was highly suspicious.

I nodded. “It definitely did feel off. Yet, he was persuasive, unnaturally so. It wasn’t until I found out about the enchantments that it all made sense. In the end, I decided to take him to an old warehouse where we could talk in private.”

“Enchantments?” Alarm flashed across Mint Creme’s face. I did my best to reiterate what Star had said about their illusionary and charm properties. All the while, Mint Creme’s face dropped into a deeper and deeper scowl. Eventually, that reached a point where it broke away into determination.

She listened carefully as I laid out the ambush and its resulting carnage—there was no reason to hold back on the details this time. In fact, it was probably better if I didn’t leave anything out.

“This has all the earmarks of a Leaf Sister hit, except…” Mint Creme pondered.

“Except what?”

“Disturbing levels of infiltration aside, the part where they demanded that you give up. Once their target is vulnerable, they normally don’t bother with words.”

“That’s probably because they have a particularly big beef with me. Enough that they were ordered to capture me, although that probably got forgotten once their plan really fell apart.”

Mint Creme stared. “A big beef? You?”

I took a deep breath, unsure if I really wanted to get this deep into my past with Mint Creme. “I made… someone important angry. That’s why they hunt me whenever they can. My run-in with them in Fetlock only caused an unfortunate renewal of their efforts.”

“Autumn Leaf…” she mouthed. In retrospect, with insider information, it wouldn’t have been hard to make the connection. At least, I knew that if I were Mint Creme, some nobody winning a life-and-death fight with a Leaf Sister would be the first thing I’d think of.

With a sigh, I nodded. There was no use denying it. “Yeah. They’re not reckless enough to ruin themselves finding me, but since her sister is out to get me, they also won’t pass up an opportunity.”

Mint Creme gave me this look, like my misfortune was somehow her fault. “I’m… sorry. We’ll find a way to root out this infiltration. And we’ll do what we can to protect you. The Guard is already placing a priority on the Cartel, but they’re smart and they’ve got a head start. I promise you, we’ll win this.”

I wanted to believe her. She seemed sincere enough, maybe even more so than the other legitimate Guards I’d met. But she was just one mare against a host of shadows and her allies were an uncertainty.

“I hope so.”

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

Finally, something's turning around for the good guys.

[Aziraphael]

6351875
I'm hoping I'll like him more as the story goes on.

I think part of it is because I play paladins a lot in games and such, and he's pretty much the poster child for why people call a paladin's alignment "lawful stupid". And it's made worse by the fact that he doesn't even have the skills to back it, so he's like that anime character that wants to be a hero, but isn't one, and has to keep getting rescued from himself by the people that actually do have skills.

I want to like him. He hasn't even done anything to really warrant this kind of reaction from me. I can only hope that time will fix whatever it is that's making me dislike him so much.

[KuroiTsubasaTenshi]

6366898
Ah, yeah, if it's hitting a pet peeve, I can definitely see why he'd get to you. I look forward to hearing what you think down the line.

[Jaded Hearts]

YAY! We finally know more about what's going on!