Mending Light

by Kiromancer

76 - Reinforcement

The playful mood didn’t last long. We were in the middle of enemy territory, even if this enemy wasn’t looking for us. Our true enemy was looking, and might already know we were here. Maybe Dusky had only been teasing me to try and lighten the mood, but it couldn’t last forever. Shortly after, her instincts towards safety and survival took over.

Dusky worked quickly, closing the blackout curtains across the windows, blocking out the view, then turned out to look from the corner of the window. Seemingly satisfied, she proceeded to walk a loop through the room, checking the door, then out the window, and back. She proposed we use the same sleeping rotation we’d adapted in the rushed trip to Ivory’s, switching shifts on watch every two hours, and clearly she was going to take first watch.

The biggest problem was, just getting to this room had been an anxiety-ridden experience, and I was unlikely to sleep anytime soon. Dusky’s pacing didn’t help, and I tried to lay down, only to end up watching her.

I wanted to do something to help, even being able to get some sleep might have given some relief in that at least one of us was getting rest. I turned over everything Ivory had told us in my mind, sifting to see if there was anything I could do. But the problem here wasn’t the Banshee, at least not entirely. It was the Cartel. Whatever Summer Leaf could do to Dusky’s dreams wouldn’t matter much if her thugs caught us out in the open again. So if I couldn’t help against the Banshee, then maybe…

I sat up from the bed and looked at Dusky. “I think I have an idea.”

“Hmmm?” Dusky glanced back at me from the corner of the room, where she was just peering through the curtain, out at the street once again. She tilted her head at me, curious. “Idea for what?”

“The trip home, when the ward has worn off.” I stood up from the bed and moved closer. “We can send for help and meet up part way.”

“It’s a good idea, but I don’t know if I have the right contacts to get it delivered in a timely matter. I guess I could ask around a little.”

“You don’t have to. After Fillydelphia, my dad gave me a special address. He said if I ever found myself in trouble, I could send a letter to it through the Guard and it would reach him in a day. I’m not sure it can help us with a banshee. But it might mean some extra protection on the road, at least. If I can give you peace of mind, I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“I appreciate the concern.” She stepped closer to nuzzle against my mane, humming thoughtfully. “Guess it might be time to send out those postcards.”

“Yeah.” Nuzzling Dusky once more before I pulled away, I moved to the massively ornate desk. It took me a moment to even figure out how to sit at it, but I managed to get myself up onto a seat and pick out a postcard leftover from my pack, reading “Crystalside Archaeological Digsite Tour!”. Grabbing one of the quills, I began to write what sounded like a perfectly innocent postcard message.

Hey Dad!
Crystalside was a lot of fun! Beautiful Scenery and an amazing old dig site. It’s no Daring Do, but it’s still neat. The flight out was a bit rough, ran into some trouble with the weather. Just like that time in Myrtail Beach, remember? We took to ground near-

I paused, then looked back at Dusky. “Where can we meet?”

She tilted her head back to consider, spending a long time pondering. “Without knowing how fast he can get people ready to meet us, it’ll need to be someplace that gives them a head start. There’s a number of options, but I think all the best routes will take us near or through Cloudcrest. It’s a bit old and isolated, but your father should know it. That should give him and his people the advantage in reaching it and settling in before any significant Cartel force can arrive.”

“Okay.” I set the quill back down, continuing where I left off.

near Cloudcrest to wait for the weather to pass. We’d hoped for clear flying, but you know what Mom says, Sometimes being a pegasus means getting tossed around like a leaf in a storm. Wish you were here!

-Night and Dusky.

I slipped the postcard into my flight satchel.

Dusky reached out, pulling her own satchel off the desk and sliding it over her back. “Since we can’t sleep, let’s go for a stroll down the strip. Maybe play a round or two of roulette.”

I raised an eyebrow, unsure if I heard any of that right. “I thought you didn’t like gambling?”

“I don’t” Her expression dropped, and she sighed. “But if we go straight to our destination, our hosts may get the wrong idea. We need to act the part. At the same time, I don’t want to bankrupt us. However, these tables tend to get pretty busy. So, I figure we go over, lose a few spins, then find someone on a winning streak and pretend to be in awe. That should let us kill enough time to be safe.”

Again, the reality of this hotel, a Mob front, sank in. Heading straight to the Guard would definitely raise some eyebrows. It all stunk, but I nodded at Dusky’s plan. “If you think it’s necessary.”

Tossing on my own flight satchel, I followed Dusky out of the room and out onto the strip. Thankfully, it was far less crowded than it had been earlier, giving us a little room to breath on our way. It wasn’t empty, though, with plenty of ponies heading into any number of casinos, each trying to outdo the others around it on the basis of bright lights and loud noises.

We wandered about, Dusky keeping a slow pace as we passed casino after casino, until at last she pointed towards a gaudy neon sign reading Rehaa’s Beginner’s Night! The words blinked one after the other in bright yellow, each designed to look like they were made of smoke emerging from a genie’s lamp in some old story. The lamp itself was adorned with an arrow pointing to a wide door cut in the shape of a playing card spade. Without hesitation, Dusky led us into the parlor.

It was like being punched in the gut by lights and sound. I didn’t even know where to look, everywhere around us were ponies cheering, cursing, crying, shouting, all surrounding bright green tables. The staff, at least, were easy enough to find, each dressed in a stereotypical Saddle Arabian garb, complete with turban. The tables were all grouped together by game, with big neon signs announcing games like ‘Blackjack’, ‘Roulette’, or ‘Baccarat’.

I stayed close to Dusky, but she seemed to be taking it all in stride. In fact, she almost seemed to have relaxed, despite the crowded, overly busy environment. Or perhaps because of it. I could definitely see how easy it could be for a pony to disappear into a crowd here, and Dusky wanted to be sure no one would have any reason to question who we were or why we were here.

She led the way to the Roulette tables, only stopping to pull out some bits and exchange them for casino chips. Turning to me, she grinned, not entirely convincingly to me, and pointed a hoof up to the big number board below the roulette table. “All we have to do is guess which section of the wheel the ball will land. What do you think, black or red?”

“Oh, um…” I looked down at the board, glancing around all the various numbers, each also assigned a color, trying to see if any number stood out to me. I didn’t see anything, then glanced down. My eyes fell onto Dusky, her beautiful dark coat giving me the obvious answer. “Black.”

She giggled, taking the chip in her hoof and setting them onto the table. “Okay. Five on black!”

The dealer nodded and took the bet, sliding the chips into a black bar on the table. After a few moments with other ponies adding their own chips to the table, the dealer held up a small metal ball before the crowd, and spun the roulette wheel. The numbers became a blur of gold amidst the blended red and black squares, until at last the dealer dropped the ball into the wheel.

I tried to follow the ball as it bounced about, clattering across the wheel until the wheel slowed down, and the ball found its resting place. “Black twenty-six!”

Dusky nudged me as the dealer began to move chips about. “Hey, good call!”

“Um, thanks?” I forced a smile, trying to sound confident and excited. We were tourists here to gamble, nothing more. Though, in truth, I didn’t see the appeal, even though we won.

“Let’s see if we can double it again. We’ll stick with our lucky colour.” Dusky put our increased chips back on the table, and the dealer set them back on black.

The wheel spun once again, and the ball slowly came to a halt. “Red three!”

“Aw. That didn’t last long.” She kicked a hoof out in the air. “Well, don’t worry. We can win it all back and more. Think we should swap to red?”

I shrugged, flashing her a grin. In truth, I was growing more amused at Dusky’s act than I was at the game. “Yeah, maybe that will be luckier.”

She placed the bet with the remaining chips she’d held back from our initial bet and grinned as the roulette wheel went back into motion.

“Double zero!” The cry was met by groans all around the table.

I looked about, the shifted my eyes back to Dusky. “That doesn’t count as red, does it?”

Dusky stared at the table a moment longer then shook her head. “No. No, it doesn’t. Maaaaybe this is a sign we should take a break. Hey, that guy’s got a lot of chips. Let’s see if we can figure out how he does it!”

---

We spent about an hour going from table to table, watching ponies on winning streaks and cheering them on as they harvested chips. In truth, it was more fun watching somepony else win than I think I would have had trying to win myself. Roulette felt too random, win or lose. I was surprised at the end of it just how much fun I’d had.

Still, once we were back outside in the late night, the town felt just as oppressive. We found the Guard station quickly, and without much preamble, I gave the receptionist the postcard, asking if they could pass it along. She eyed me curiously, almost like I were crazy to suggest the Equestria Guard were some kind of postal service, and then slipped the postcard out of sight with barely a nod.

Back in our room at the Gooseneck Galley, we resumed our attempt at a sleep schedule. I passed in and out of an uneasy sleep, keeping an eye on Dusky and when my shift on watch came up, I watched her more than I watched the street, looking for any sign of a nightmare. She seemed to get some rest at least, and wasn’t struggling against an unseen foe or grimacing in pain. I prayed to Luna that Ivory’s ward held out at least long enough for her to get some rest tonight, knowing that tomorrow would be even harder.

---

The night had passed without incident, either external from any sort of attack, or internal, against Dusky. She said she’d been restless, vague images at the corner of her mind, but nothing she could remember, nothing as extreme as what she’d been suffering.

Thus, we were at least somewhat well rested, enough to set out from Las Pegasus early the next morning. The flight wasn’t quite a straight line, as Dusky wanted to stay high and avoid any major cities, but it all passed by without incident.

We reached Cloudcrest just before dusk set. The sky was a formless gray, streaked with the fading red tendrils of the setting sun, still too bright to reveal the stars, not yet dark enough we couldn't see.

Cloudcrest Hill itself sat in the midst of a large plain of wheat, the one feature sticking out amidst an otherwise level land all around it. The top of the hill reached upwards sharply on all sides, save the northern side where it sloped away, and long paths wound their way up to the summit.

From the sky, the hill was exposed, save for several old stone structures. In the fading daylight, those stones cast long shadows, like a dark hand reaching out eastward, over the plains. An old pegasus waypoint station, long left abandoned as Equestria outgrew it.

We did a high-altitude loop over the top as Dusky kept an eye out for anything that looked suspicious. She paused to settle in on a high cloud and waved me closer, then pointed a hoof down, motioning from stone to stone.

One. Two. Three. Her hoof stopped at the fourth structure, and I saw what she was looking at. Somepony stood in the shadows, leaning against the large stone cairn. I squinted at the figure. "Mint?"

"It looks like. There's no one else that I can see, and she's not exactly hiding." Dusky scrunched her nose as she considered. "But it could also be an impersonator. I can’t really tell from this distance. What do you think?"

I leaned down, peering as close as I could. They weren't wearing anything as bulky as guard armor, but her stance as the pony waited just felt right. "Yeah... almost certain that's her. Want me to go down first, just in case?"

She shook her head. "No. We'll check together. Head down carefully, and keep your eyes open. I'll circle around, and if anything's amiss, get out of there."

With a nod, I slipped off the edge of the cloud and began to glide downward.

The tension didn't last long, as about half way down, the figure in the shadows glanced up. Catching sight of me, Mint stepped out of the shadows into the fading daylight to give out a whistle and a wave.

My glide became a more active dive. There was no other movement on the hilltop, and Mint herself was glancing around carefully. Even still, it all seemed right. I finished my descent to touchdown on the stony hilltop. "Mint?"

She stepped forward, out into the open, her golden mane was tied back into its usual ponytail. But she was disheveled, and her eyes were grim as she practically pounced forward to hug me. "Nighty? You alright? What's happening? Where's Dusky?"

"Here." Dusky set down before I could answer, giving me a quick smile as I hugged Mint back. "I'm glad to see you, Mint. Thanks for flying out with such short notice."

Mint let out a deep sigh of relief, but her voice was still frantic. "Thank Celestia you're okay. We've been hearing reports of Cartel activity all over the place. Some big power struggle after the Mob escalated things and Summer Leaf fell. The Guard's been cleaning up the pieces, but they've suddenly been on the move, organizing fast. Dad's been keeping me up to date... and then we got your postcard this morning."

"It's a lot more complicated than someone winning the power struggle, but that's certainly part of it." Dusky smiled sadly, and I could see the weight of it on her. "We're going to need all the help we can get to put an end to this."

My sister straightened up and saluted. "You have my hooves, Dusky, Night. Is this new Cartel leader targeting you?"

Dusky forced a laugh. "Yes, and no. First, we need to make camp. We can deal with Summer Leaf once we reach Ponyville."

Mint blinked, "Wait, Summer Leaf? Isn't she dead?"

"It's a long story..."

"Right, and we don't have time." Mint glanced eastward and thought. "There's a Guard safe house about an hour northwest of here. We'd get there after dark. You two both able to keep going?"

Dusky's expression hardened, eyes dropping to the ground.

I remembered what she'd told me. The last time she'd been in a guard safe house, the location had been leaked, the Cartel had attacked, and having barely gotten out alive, Dusky had carried the survivor's guilt with her ever since. I can't imagine she relished repeating the situation. "Maybe that's not the best idea, Mint."

Shaking her head, Dusky sighed. "No, it's probably the best option we've got for a good rest. So long as you hadn't planned this ahead of time, Mint. We're in a situation where what we say, and where we are, is compromised, so your safe house won't be safe once we leave."

With a raised eyebrow, Mint nodded. "Right. You really need to fill me in as soon as we're secure."

"We will, Mint... it's... well, complicated and weird." I shrugged and moved closer to Dusky, nuzzling against her neck. "But it's still worth it."

Dusky smiled. "Flatterer."

Mint laughed loudly. "Celestia bless her, Nighty, but your marefriend is nothing but trouble."

I couldn't help but laugh, as I remained lost on Dusky's eyes. "It's worse than that, Mint. Much worse. She's my fiance now."

"Well, I'll be. I win the bet. All the more reason to get this all settled and behind us. Gotta look out for my little brother." She hummed quietly behind me before she added, "And my new sister, too."

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

Cloudcrest reminded me a little of Weathertop. Looks like Night and Dusky won’t have to fight off any monsters there, though.

Gotta look out for my little brother." She hummed quietly behind me before she added, "And my new sister, too."

Aww