Book 1 The Darkness: with the darkest of ponies

by Penelope Anne Ink

Chapter Four

It didn’t take too long before Starry was bored. Edgy had been tramping along in his huff and gruff manner, with the occasional inaudible murmur, and it didn’t take too long before she was nearly going to ram his skull in with her mercury vial.

It was one of the few things she always carried with her. It was small and snug enough to hide under the fur around her neck. It wasn’t too strong when she froze it with her magic, but she felt like she could do a lot of damage with it anyway if she tried.

She snapped that image out of her head. Instead, she brightened up and a few sparks flew from her horn before she skipped directly ahead of where he stood contemplating a tree branch on the ground. He sighed before glancing up at her only to get a huge smile beaming back at him.

“What is it now? Also, I really think you need to get that thing checked out,” Edgy said as he indicated toward her horn.

“Yes, yes, yes. But! guess what I learned before we left?” And she shot up a burst of light toward the nearest tree. Instantly it disappeared and was replaced by a row of hedge ponies, one managing to plop itself right on Edgy’s head before falling on the ground beside him. Each one looked like a happier version of Edgy and the one that had hit him had been the only one not doing a funny pose.

“Ha ha ha! That’s brilliant! Do me next!”

A bright pink pony burst out of the trees and landed on top of Edgy’s back, making the whole pile of ponies and some random knapsacks crash onto the ground.

Starry couldn’t believe her eyes. The pink pony had the curliest short hair she had ever seen, and both the hair and coat were brighter pink than most ponies could dream of. His eyes were the blue of a bluebird’s feathers but she only had a brief chance to see them before he hopped off Edgy’s back and bounced his knapsacks back onto his own back.

“What are you two doing in a forest like this, by the way? Ooh! is there a party?” the pink pony shouted excitedly, pointing his snout in all directions eager to see where the celebration would be. And all of a sudden he threw out from one of his knapsacks a bunch of streamers that managed to fit themselves just so in the surrounding trees.

Before the pink pony could get any further, and he was already pulling out hooffuls of confetti, Edgy placed a hoof on his forehead and cringed.

“Look here, we are not having a party. We are trying to make it through this forest to find an old shelter I know of. We are in a hurry so we don’t have time for this mess.” Edgy started trying to walk off and then tripped over a few pinatas full to bursting with candy. His entire front crashed onto the leafy forest floor and he looked so stunned that Starry couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

The pink pony joined in on her laughter and both were sprawled on the ground as Edgy picked himself back up again.

“Hey, this is SOO much fun. Why don’t you two come over to my place?” the pink pony grinned.

Starry looked over at Edgy and all he did was humph. She turned back to the pony and agreed, and the three of them ended up making their way through the forest together.

“My name is Button Top, by the way,” the pink pony told them.

“I just have so much I want to show you guys! We’re going to play games and throw a celebration! I have loads of cotton candy. Want some?” And he brought out two cotton candy cones for the travelers. A blue one for Starry and a grape one for Edgy. Edgy took one bite and had to spit it out. It wasn’t a regular grape flavor; it was a sour grape.

“Just kidding! Here ya go!” and the pink pony took out another blue cotton candy cone that Edgy proceeded to eat reluctantly. The two hadn’t eaten since that morning and with the long tramps in the forest and the attack from the pony eating star spiders, they really gulped down the cotton candy and the rest of the treats that Button gave them.

It wasn’t long before they reached a massive clearing. There, in the center, was what looked like a circus tent. Carnival music played and they could see a few clown ponies.

“I’m actually a gypsy, but they let me perform part of their show,” Button added when he saw their gaze over the whole scene. “I mean, I miss my old wild days, but we have some wild times here!”

They reached the big tent and saw hay bales stacked along the walls, partly to hold down the tent flaps, partly as a marker for the center ring, and partly to make really bouncy seats. Edgy had been wide eyed the entire time, he couldn’t remember ever seeing anything like this. Starry had seen a few carnivals come through Ponyville, and she was absolutely sure this pony was just like Pinkie Pie, whose parties could be just as over the top. Edgy hadn’t meant to watch a show, but he couldn’t leave without Starry, who had already eagerly sat down on an extra fluffy hay bale.

The clown ponies began the show. First, one leapt onto the top of a pile of five other clown ponies. Now he was soaring on a trapeze, only to land gracefully into a canon that blasted him across the tent.

Soon, there were three ponies gliding around in the ring. They were decked out in ribbon covered dresses that billowed as they danced. Each time they turned past each other, the colors of their dresses changed and even the dress style changed.

The two could see when Button Top came into the ring. He sprang up out of a shower of confetti and began reading the minds of other ponies who had sprung up into the audience during the show. Each pony was amazed and gasped at hearing their darkest secrets being brought up out of the mouth of the gypsy.

Button Top came up to Edgy and Starry. Edgy tensed up as Button looked directly into his eyes. But instead of whispering back his dark secrets to him, Button Top merely looked away and continued on a different pony five seats over.

Edgy wasn’t all that relieved. He wished Button had read his mind. Maybe Button Top would see something about Edgy’s past and who he was, so Edgy would finally know about himself.

The show continued with more astounding wonders, but Edgy and Starry were exhausted from their trip. They both started nodding off in their seats until they had to be woken up by a delighted Button Top after the show had ended and all the other ponies had gone home.

“Wasn’t that an exciting show!” Button Top exclaimed.

“Yeah, it was great,” Starry said, half asleep.

Edgy had secretly enjoyed the show for its grace and mystery, but he was also a bit annoyed. He hadn’t thought about his mysterious past since he and Starry first met up, and now that Button Top made him start thinking about it his head began to ache. Questions about what his name was and why he was here loomed in the front of his brain. And somewhere, deep in the corner, was that word that kept repeating even when he wasn’t conscious of it.

But before he could try to make it out, Button Top had begun dragging both of them to a smaller clearing in the woods. There, in the edges of the clearing, were cages of animals. None of them were familiar to Edgy, although he felt like he should know what they were, but Starry also seemed unfamiliar with half of them.

“Why are they all locked up?” Starry asked Button.

“It wasn’t my idea,” Button looked down at the grass, “the boss likes having them in cages so that they all have their own place to live, though.” He put on a cute grin and started introducing Edgy and Starry to each beast in turn. At each one, the two travelers could tell that the beasts were restless.

“We’ll take them out for a show later and then you guys can see how awesome they are!” Button Top beamed, and he carted them off back toward the main clearing. They made it back into the main tent and saw that there were two scattered piles of hay set aside from the hay bales used for the audience. Edgy and Starry were more than happy to have a spot to rest for the night, and almost immediately as they touched the hay, they fell asleep.

*** *** *** *** *** ***

Sometime during the night, Edgy’s head was throbbing with the thought of that word again. He knew it was the thing guiding them in the direction they had been taking all along. Somehow, they were heading for it, but he just couldn’t make out what the word was or why he felt so strongly about it.

He got up and headed for the door to pace around in the cool night air. After about two laps, he saw Starry coming from one of the other tents.

“So you’re up too? I started feeling hungry again and found the tent where they keep all their food,” her horn sparked a bit and she pulled out a bag of popcorn she clearly meant to save for later.

“You can have some, you’re probably starving too.”

Edgy hadn’t thought about food for a while. His stomach grumbled a little at the thought. He couldn’t figure out why, but he wished he could have something more savory than carnival food. He pictured spaghetti. A plate full of spaghetti. It made his mouth start to water until Starry had to wake him up out of his trance. He walked over to the tent himself to see what else it had. It was mainly what he expected: carnival food. There was popcorn and cotton candy and all sorts of sweets. There were some hot dogs in there, but it wasn’t good enough.

They both snacked a bit more before they heard a loud screech coming from the adjacent clearing. Edgy started running in that direction and Starry followed suit.

Hiding in the bushes near the entrance, they could see a terrible sight. One of the cages had been opened and a large creature that stood on two legs emerged from it. It looked a bit like a monkey, but it was colored orange all over and it was the size of three ponies. It looked surprised at its own escape, but it finally composed itself and ran off into the forest around it. Its fellow prisoners all looked after it and a dejected hush fell over them all.

Starry and Edgy didn’t know what to do about it, so they went back to the main tent and tried to pretend they hadn’t seen it.

*** *** *** *** *** ***

Button Top woke them up in the morning.

“So, we had a bit of an eensy weensy problem this morning,” he began.

Neither of the witnesses wanted to bring up that they saw it escape. Edgy was able to put on his stern face and said nothing. Starry continued her innocent look.

“It looks like we lost one of our side attractions. But it’s okay, I told the boss that we would be able to get a replacement,” Button finished.

Starry and Edgy both continued just looking at Button, unsure of what to say.

“So yeah, I thought it’d be super duper fun if you pretended to be a wild beast for me!” Button giggled, and grabbed Edgy by the scruff of his uniform and began dragging him to the clearing. Edgy tried to struggle free, but Button had a firm grip on the collar. Starry considered it a little quizzically, but then she thought it might actually be fun to see him get mocked for a bit, so she followed along.

The whole time Edgy was getting dragged along on his back he stared up at the treetops and muttered how lovely the weather was this morning.

“Our lovely host has graciously let me witness the spectacular view today. Look, a tree. Fascinating,” his sarcasm only made Starry find it more amusing.

By the time they got to the cage, Edgy had run out of comments to give. Button threw open the door to the first empty cage and stuffed Edgy inside.

But before the door was shut, Button Top turned toward Starry.

“You know what else is super duper awesome? You can join him!” And with that, Starry was unexpectedly tossed in the cage next to Edgy, who seemed a bit smug that she was now in distress as well.

“Not so funny when you’re the one being mistreated, now is it?” he asked.

Starry did have her pride hurt a bit, but she glanced at the bars of the cage. They weren’t metal, but wood. If it was metal, she’d be able to handle it pretty easily, but since it was not she would have to rely on something else. She wasn’t sure how she managed to make those acidic sparks that she had done in the star spider lair. Edgy kicked at the bars a bit listlessly but agreed that they seemed too strong to just kick open. Starry couldn’t quite see the lock on the door they had come through. It was a large lock that wrapped around a latch on the wooden door. Oddly enough, the lock had also been made out of wood, and so was the latch. She knew if it was metal she would be able to melt it easily, but wood she had no control over.

She took out her vial and lifted out some of the mercury into a vague key shape and started feeling around in the wooden lock with it. It was extremely difficult but she thought she could just barely get it to work. The wooden lock was some sort of puzzle on the inside though.

With a sigh, she gave up and returned the mercury to the vial before slipping it back around her neck.

Edgy rested himself on a pile of orange fur in the corner while watching Starry struggle along.

“Well at least now you’re going to be the star of the show. I think that’s what I should call you. If you’re going to call me ‘Edgy,’ I’m going to call you ‘Star.’”

Starry shot a menacing glance back toward him. She was about to snap back when she noticed the pile he was laying on.

“This was the cage the creature that escaped came from, right?” She started looking at the door and the bars again. It didn’t look new, as if the circus ponies had to replace busted open pieces. You could see the weathering and even more orange hairs on them. Starry couldn’t see where they could possibly be forced open, even by a creature of that size and strength. She couldn’t remember if the cage looked broken open last night.

After a few moments of the two of them looking around, they couldn’t see where there could possibly be any other entrance or exit to the cage.

It was almost as if the beast was let out, not just an escapee.

She looked back at Edgy and realized he had the same idea.

“I think somepony hasn’t been honest with us. Seems like we were meant to be the entertainment all along,” he muttered. They both felt the betrayal and while Starry began moping about near the door, Edgy started looking around the rest of the clearing.

He was not going to be imprisoned like this. The other animals already looked broken and defeated. Their eyes showed a dullness that words couldn’t express, like a well that long ran dry.

He was not going out without a fight.

“Star, we’re going to get out of here. Right. Now!” He launched himself as hard as he could toward the bars closer to the forest. They resisted him and he fell back onto the floor with a few new bruises. Still determined, he got right back up and launched himself again. Starry felt annoyed but she decided to join in. They both kept trying to knock on the wooden poles until finally Starry felt a snap.

It wasn’t the poles, and thankfully it wasn’t their bones. But she could see her vial necklace slip onto the grass below and begin to roll away.

“No! Shoot!” She began levitating the vial back toward her.

“Not so fast!” an amused Button Top came up and jerked the vial out of Starry’s magic aura.

“I think I’ll hold onto this. I already have ten gazillion ideas of what to do with it!” Button claimed, and bounced back toward the main clearing.

“We have to get that back. I can’t lose it!” Starry whispered to Edgy, who didn’t seem phased at all by its loss.

“Just get another one when we get out of here.”

“But it won’t be the same one!”

“That’s kind of the point?”

Starry looked exasperated and started ramming the poles harder. Edgy decided to take a step back and reexamine them. There had to be some more weatherworn than the others. After a close inspection, he noticed two near the end were beginning to give way. He told Starry to stand back before he gave them a solid kick. With a loud thwack they both burst away and hit the tree nearest the cage.

Starry and Edgy both leaped out and before Edgy could dash off into the forest, he saw Starry already heading back to the main tent. He put a hoof to his forehead before chasing after her.

By the time he reached the main doors he could already tell something was wrong. He didn’t want to look but he peeped in anyway.

Inside, the audience was in a hushed silence as the gypsy continued his rounds like he did the day before. Several times the audience members would go into squeals of laughter. Maybe today wasn’t for the dark secrets, maybe it was something else? He started wondering how much the gypsy would really know. If maybe the gypsy would be able to tell they had escaped by now.

Edgy saw a blonde plume of hair sitting off in the edge of the audience a few feet away and knew it had to be Starry’s. He edged over to get a better view.

There, Starry sat, unamused at the show this time around. Edgy was about to snap on her for wasting time like this and then he noticed an unusual gleam around Button’s neck. He was wearing the vial around his neck for the show.

Button started bouncing around to a pony a few seats over from Starry when a magic aura pounced around Button’s neck and snapped it off him with a pinch that made him yelp.

Button whirled around to the spot where Starry had been, but she had already made it toward the door where Edgy still stood.

Starry used her magic to snap the chain whole one more time, before resting it around her neck once more.

They didn’t say much to each other until they had gotten far enough away from the tent and the insanity of the circus. The whole time Starry had a look of determination on her face. She didn’t want to admit that it was her fault that they were trapped there. She also didn’t want to think about what would have happened if she was never able to find her vial again. But her embarrassment didn’t last for long before she fell down on the ground and just started cradling it in her hooves.

“So what’s so special about that vial?” Edgy finally managed to ask.

Starry stopped cradling it for a small second before she weakly replied.

“It’s not really all that special, I just, it was the only thing I had connecting me to my past. I lived in an orphanage for so long. When I finally left they gave me this. They told me they had found it on me when I showed up at their door. I really don’t know what it means or why I would have it, but I need it,” Starry said, and she started getting up onto her weak hooves.

“It isn’t just that either,” Starry managed a smile, “When I look at it, I think of how everchanging life is, you know? How the outside world can change its size and shape, but it is so fluid and bright.”

Edgy couldn’t understand why her mood shifted so much. She seemed so calm for the longest time and now just went from crying to wistful in seconds. Some things about ponies he thought he’d never understand.

“Save the philosophy for later. We still have a long journey ahead of us and thanks to your detour we wasted two days,” Edgy remarked, before they began heading off into the unknown again.

[Bestiary’s Note: Some of the creatures in the cages were as follows: zebra, kangaroo, orangutan, gorilla, monkey, deer, antelope, reindeer, and moose. More than half of those creatures are protected under local Equestrian law and are not allowed to be enclosed unless under a signed contract. The circus has been sought out but the authorities have yet to find them, or the one they let escape.]