Mending Light

by Kiromancer

69 - Rising Anxiety

Fiancée.

It was a word I’d never considered before. A word I certainly never thought I’d be able to call somepony else. Nor that I could be engaged as somepony’s fiancé myself.

My fiancée. I flew alongside Dusky over the hills as we departed Lunar Lake, heading to a town called Crystalside, with several stopovers planned along the way. The first was Las Pegasus, a city whose name I recognized more from reputation than from any real experience. It would certainly be interesting to see, even if we weren’t spending more than a single night there.

The travel out of Lunar Lake was easy, and my spirits were high. I felt reckless, wanting to fly up and beyond anything rational and shout to the world just how much I loved Dusky Down. I wanted everypony to know how much she meant to me, and if that seemed unreasonable, who could judge me? The mare of my dreams had just agreed to take my hoof in marriage

As we got closer to the city, Dusky waved us down to ground level, and I grinned, sensing the pattern here. Sure enough, she guided me to the rather impressive Las Pegasus highway. It was all tightly packed cobblestone, so well managed as to be nearly completely smooth which meandered its way through the hills. It seemed less convenient than flying, certainly, but Dusky wanted me to experience the view.

“What do you think?” She waved a hoof down over the side of the path at one particularly sharp dropoff. Here, the road overlooked a massive field of tall grass, each blade capped with a long fluffy head that swayed in the wind. It dominated almost everything in my sight, with only the hint of a river and small patches of trees hiding along the edges.

“It’s beautiful.” I drank in the sight of it all, but knew it paled in comparison. “Almost as beautiful as you.”

Dusky giggled, shaking her head. “Never would have guessed you’d say that.”

I blushed, feeling just a bit predictable, but I didn’t really care. “Well, it’s true.”

She leaned in close to share the view. “Flatterer.”

We continued to follow the path along the hills, the treeline that had only been hiding in the corners of the field coming closer. It wasn’t quite a forest, but the trees were soon thick enough to border off the hills.

It wasn’t long before something a bit unexpected crept up on me. It was almost a familiar smell, reminding me of the scent of ash from the fireplace in the Lusty Seapony back in Ponyville. There, the scent was welcoming, pleasant. This scent, however, replaced all the pleasantness with an acrid stench that was not welcoming in the least.

I glanced at Dusky. “Is something… burning?”

“Possibly. We should have a quick look. If a fire gets out of control here, this entire hillside is going to go up in smoke.” She started forward, but stopped herself. “Carefully, though. The source might not be friendly.”

Nodding quietly, I began to move forward with her, trying to go as quickly as I could without making a noise.

The smell grew only a little stronger, but there was no noise, no inferno in the trees ahead of us. Instead, we found a bit of wooden debris, splinters broken along the highway, with wagon tracks breaking off the side of the road and leading down into the trees.

Making only a few quick gestures, Dusky signaled caution, and quiet. She glanced around the highway for a second, then like a shadow she slipped down the hill. As she reached the treeline, she glanced back at me as I did my best to stay with her. She waved forward, and followed the trail.

It was all so quiet, I could hear every step we took through the underbrush, following the wagon tracks further into the trees. There was no sound of fire, no voices or cries for help, just us moving through the forest as carefully as we could. Dusky must have spotted something first, as she made a sudden motion to duck behind a tree for cover. I followed as best I could.

Ahead was the end of the tracks, a small clearing amidst the trees, and filling the clearing where three wagons. One was wrent in half, having crashed into a tree that now rested on top of it. The second had flipped onto its side, spilling its contents into the clearing and generally making most of the mess. The third still sat upright, but plenty of damage to the side showed that it had not crashed, but been forced open.

At first glancing around for any sign of injured ponies, I caught Dusky’s eye. She turned to look at me, drawing a circle with her hoof in the air, then pointing down at her wing. I paused, then nodded and followed her around the perimeter.

We made a slow loop around the clearing, with Dusky stopping at points to examine the tracks, or glance back at the wagons, until at least she had determined that whatever we were looking for was inside the wagons. She stopped, waiting only a fraction of a second before stepping into the clearing and heading towards the wagon on its side.

She began slowly, making a loop around the wagon just as she’d done the clearing. Slowly, methodically, she ducked to get as good a look inside as she could afford, given all the debris around it.

I kept an eye out as Dusky explored the wreckage, feeling that same sense of dread I’d felt in Ostfriesen when we’d crept through the city of Olymponis. She walked to one of the crates, carefully examining one which had split open in the crash. It looked to be filled with gaudy-looking tourist shirts and fliers.

She continued to explore the wreckage, clearing out the wagon crushed by the tree, and examining the shirts more carefully. At last, she eyed the third wagon. Moving up to it slowly, she approached it almost in a combat stance, ready to pounce or dodge if something were amiss. When she at last let out a sigh of relief, I let go of the breath I didn’t realize I was holding as well.

Dusky pushed through the opened door, bending down to lift up some papers as I came up behind her. Whatever she saw clearly turned her stomach, her face going pale as she read the pages.

Ears dropping back in concern, I leaned in to whisper. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s them.” Her voice was hoarse, not quite afraid, but… “This is one of their shipments.”

I felt a chill run down my spine, already afraid of what the answer was going to be. I glanced back at the crates, hoping I was wrong. “Shirts?”

“That’s how they’re transporting it. Like the ice in Fetlock. Look.” She pointed towards the logo that was stamped on the crates. “The pattern surrounding the letter looks pretty nonsensical in a fancy way, right? Well, see the bottom-right corner?”

“It’s a… leaf.” No. No! It was the worst thing I could image finding, not just for what it was, a drug shipment, but because of what that might me for Dusky. For us.

She nodded. “They need a way to communicate to their people inside, but they can’t just go announcing it any old way.”

I couldn’t keep the disgust off my face. “Um, okay. Right.”

“It’s a trick the Guard told me years ago,” She laughed bitterly, staring down at the logo. “I suppose the Cartel's got a few things that keep coming back to haunt them, too.”

I grit my teeth, feeling… angry. Angrier than I liked feeling. Letting out a sigh, I did the only thing that I could. I moved closer to Dusky, and nuzzled against her neck. There was no one to fight here, nothing that I could do, save to give her my support.

She nuzzled back for a moment, then turned back to the wreckage. “Of course, something isn’t quite right. Whoever attacked had to have known what they were doing. The guards wouldn’t have gone down easily. They had to know there was a prize, so why is the product all untouched? There must be thousands upon thousands of bits lying out there in the dirt.”

I glanced around at all the hoof prints in the dirt. There had been a struggle here. “Maybe something scared them off?”

“Perhaps. But it’d have to be something really crazy to keep them away. The greedy ones would inevitably be back with this kind of money on the line.” She went deeper into the back of the wagon.

It was a bit cramped, but I came in alongside her. She was looking down into an open crate, inside of which was a metal vault practically built into the box. It was empty.

“Or maybe they found something more valuable?”

“Maybe. But the question is wha—” She shuddered, something striking her to her core.

“Dusky?”

“We need to head for Las Pegasus as quickly as possible. The Guard needs to know about this.” She turned to exit, stopping only to give me a dark look. “Rumor was that the Leaf sisters were the only two who know the refining process for the product. Without that, their whole endeavor is lost. But I seriously doubt they would want to take the knowledge entirely to the grave. No, they’d probably have something secreted away for either a descendant or apprentice. I think someone found out—and they aim to be the next leader.”

---

With the caravan incident reported, I wanted to do everything possible to get Dusky’s mind off of the lingering thoughts of the Cartel’s continued existence. Though she seemed outwardly collected, there were still signs that it was eating away at her, and I knew it would only serve to raise her guard. I had no intention of making her lower her guard… but I wanted to at least make sure she could still move forward. That she knew we could always move forward, together.

It was the Leaf sisters who’d wanted her dead. The Leaf sisters and White Riot. They were all dead now. No one else in the Cartel should care about her, I hoped. I prayed.

That was why when she proposed we spend the rest of the day touring the Las Pegasus strip, I eagerly agreed. The quickest way to bring a smile back to her face was to continue our tour, and to let her show me all the beautiful things she loved in this world. Las Pegasus, however, was not something I was entirely prepared for.

Our hurried flight in and careful trip to the nearest Guard outpost hadn’t quite given me time to really take in the scope of the city. It was… overwhelming.

The whole city was a massive cloudscape similar to Cloudsdale, the heritage of a city founded, and named for, the pegasi who founded it. The first difference between Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus was the large islands of stone that sat atop the clouds, with long bridges straddling the gap between them. Balloons and Airships brought in Earth pony and Unicorn tourists from all over Equestria, and the mixture of cloud architecture with stone and wood gave them plenty of space to walk.

The geography of the whole place was intriguing, but was swiftly drowned out by the other differences, the crowds, and the lights. The strip’ as Dusky had called it, was a long avenue crowded with ponies of all types, all talking, shouting, taking photos, and rushing about. Trying to get down the strip was like trying to navigate a river, everypony flowing in one direction, and just hoping you could get in and out of the flow of traffic to your destination.

Unlike Lunar Lake, this was not a place ponies came to admire the beauty. At least, I couldn’t imagine that was the reason any pony would want to come here. Everything was overly garish, every building trying its best to be more ridiculous than the last, all lit by lights that flashed too brightly even in the broad daylight, rainbows and flashed with neon lightning, sights pointing and buzzing every direction, and ponies with flyers pushed their way through the crowds trying to pull ponies into whichever building they stood in front of.

All of it together had quite the opposite effect from what I’d been hoping. I’d wanted to make Dusky smile, instead, I was completely overwhelmed by the sounds and sights, and felt like I was the one on edge, my anxieties and fears all bubbling up. I stopped trying to take in the sights and instead just tried to keep my sight on Dusky, fighting off a nagging fear of losing her in the crowd.

Seeing right through, she leaned over to offer a sympathetic smile. “We can stop to rest if you want.”

I met her eyes and nodded meekly, feeling awful for stopping our walk. “It’s just… so much. Maybe… just a short break.”

She pointed a hoof off the path, towards a small alcove of benches. She cut through the crowd quickly and I pushed myself to keep up.

The benches were surprisingly unoccupied, no ponies stopping to take the time to sit down in the midst of Las Pegasus. I sat down with a sigh, taking a deep breath to center myself. “It’s just… so many ponies. All the lights, and the noise… it’s almost… oppressive. Not even Canterlot is like this.”

She nuzzled at my neck to comfort me. “I understand. This city’s so busy, it’s a rarity when someone doesn’t feel that way the first time they come here. Just take your time.”

“It all feels like it should be amazing to me… but, it’s just so alien…” My ears dipped back as I looked at Dusky. Part of me felt like I was letting her down, not giving the city a chance. “S-sorry. I’m still not that comfortable with big cities, or, um, crowds.”

“It’s okay, really.” She smiled. “It’s not for everyone. You don’t need to apologize.”

Taking another deep breath, I gathered my courage as best I could and smiled back. “I… alright. I… I really do want to enjoy it, if I can. And… I know I can, so long as I’m here with you. Are… you ready to continue?”

Dusky’s smile creeped up into a grin. “As long as you feel up to it.”

“Yeah… yeah. I’m better now. I just needed space to breathe for a minute.”

She took my hoof to help me up and motioned with a wing. “Let’s go.”

We kept walking at what felt like a crawl, working through the traffic. Everything was still so bright and loud, but after we’d walked another ten minutes or so, I raised my eyebrow at a large neon sign outside an ornate building, like a giant dining hall. I tilted my head. “Quick Change’s Lightning Fast Weddings?”

Dusky stopped and looked up at the sign with a giggle. “There’s more than a few ‘minute wedding’ chapels in Las Pegasus. They basically rush the whole process. You get in, you say your ‘I do’s, and you sign some papers, and that’s it.”

“And that’s it?” I frowned, and looked at Dusky. “Doesn’t sound… I don’t know, romantic.”

She shook her head. “Las Pegasus isn’t exactly about ‘romance’. It’s more about being too impulsive.”

Looking at all the flashing lights, the ponies shouting out casino names over the crowd and tossing flyers to passing tourists, that all seemed to make sense. “Seems like this whole city is preying on ponies being too impulsive. Maybe that’s why I don’t like it…”

Turning to step closer, Dusky nuzzled against me. “If it makes you feel any better, I’d much rather wait and have a proper wedding with our friends and family there.”

Feeling my cheeks warm at the thought of the wedding, I nuzzled back. “It does… I want to be married, but not impulsively… err, not anymore impulsively than I’ve already asked, that is.”

Dusky giggled. “Well, the timing felt perfect to me.”

Giving the sign for Fast Weddings one last glance, I shook my head. “So… is there anything we can do around here that’s, um, not impulsive?”

Looking back down the strip, Dusky grinned. “Maybe we can find someplace good for dinner. So long as we avoid the casinos and the buffets.”

I grinned. “Well, you have impeccable tastes, so… lead the way.”

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

I’m the same way as Night with that kind of crowd- I do enjoy the scenery sometimes, but then I just want to get out.

At least they know the Cartel can be Somepony Else’s Problem (whether or not it remains so).

[Kiromancer]

8878800
It's a trait he inherited from the author. I'm not much for crowds either.

And one might say that Dusky's biggest flaw is a tendency to take other ponies problems onto herself, but this is one issue she'd surely prefer to move beyond.