Steadfast Minds

by GardenOfSilver

The Mansion

Trotting up the cobblestone path Bright Eyes reflected on her afternoon. She’d learnt quite a lot about Steadfast and it’s ponies, the layout of the town and important local news. Sadly most of it was worthless when it came to tracking down the mad alchemist so the afternoon had been somewhat of a waste of time. Though now she did have other business to attend to! Hopefully it would be business that’d see her with a few leads. Or any lead.

She had to admit, though, that her enthusiasm was somewhat reserved when it came to the evening at the mansion. In large part because she already felt bloated from her stay at the café. Her initial plan of spending maybe half an hour or so to survey the plaza from the comfort of an conveniently placed seat accompanied by a slice of confectionary hadn’t lasted for long. In the end she’d spent four hours at the café, eaten a muffin, three slices of cake and a pie and washed it all down with half a dozen glasses of grape juice in between.

It had all been scrumptious. To the point that even the constant stream of ponies coming to talk with her, nor the constant magical static had been enough to bother her.

Something big and dark loomed up ahead, breaking her out of her thoughts. It was the mansion. She felt like the word perhaps needed capitalization somewhere within her thoughts for it was indeed the quintessential Mansion, after gothic fashion anyway. Like the town behind her it was built of dark granite and capped with steep, sloping roofs of near-black slate shingles decorated with wrought iron detailing, every corner set with a looming gargoyle. Unlike the tower over the well, the walls of the mansion was downright bare with the exception of the massive, decorative arched windows curtained with thick, heavy drapes.

She had to admit, it looked foreboding.

“Halt! Who goes there?” came a voice from up ahead, snapping her attention up to the great oak double doors. The guards kinda added to the sense of foreboding. Four massive earth pony stallions, all of them weighted down with thick chainmail barding underneath livery caprisons. Somepony rather liked their guards looking all fancy, apparently.

“Gentlestallions, please, she has an invitation. Welcome to the mansion, Miss Eyes. You are early, we expected you for dinner.” The doors swung open, held in a field of midnight blue magic, as he strode through. Bright Eyes had expected Regal Script to meet here, though it certainly wasn’t. Where Regal Scripts voice had been smooth and soothing this unicorns was precise and commanding, which seemed quite fitting. He was tall and his face was surprisingly sharp, the faded sandy brown of his coat standing in stark contrast to the trimmed three-tone grey mane and the sharp dress uniform so dark blue it looked almost black. He stood almost as tall as the guards, though rather less bulky.

“I wasn’t aware it was a dinner invitation. I could always come back later, if you want? I mean, it’s no trouble on my part.”

“You misunderstand me, miss. Your early arrival was not expected, but it is certainly not unwelcome. Would you care to join us, we can put forth some refreshment if you wish?” he asked with a smile as he stepped to the side, a hoof raised invitingly to the door behind him.

“I don’t think it’ll be necessary. I, ah, wound up studying the town square and the well at an café earlier. In lengthy detail. You know, doing my job,” she added hurriedly as she walked up the steps to the door, passing through the granite archway into a sprawling entry hall paneled in dark oak. The floor was carpeted with a warm brown-red carpet and there were more than one example of ancient armoring and weaponry fitted to large ponyquins or mounted on the walls. Towards the back a pair of large staircases swept up to a second floor, flanking a large set of double door even greater in size than the one she had just passed through.

A pair of ponies were descending one of the stairs. One a unfamiliar unicorn in his mid forties by the look of it, his coat a soft grey and his thinning mane a vibrant green with cyan highlights His left foreleg was set in a cast. The other took a moment to place, it was Regal Script. Though a Regal Script that had been thoroughly wrung out if anything, his mane hanging greasily around his face, which seemed more sunken than last time they meet.

“I see. Your dedication to drawing the case to a close is admirable,” the mystery stallion said with a pleased smile and bowed his head. “Perhaps introductions are in order, yes? No doubt you’ve already meet Sir Regal Script, our town administrator and official spokespony. To his right is Silver Cauldron, our resident alchemist and busybody, he can find a solution to almost everything, with few exceptions. My own name is Star Aegis, I serve as the captain of our fine, if relatively small, town guard.”

Bright Eyes shifted on her hooves somewhat nervously. These were fancy ponies. She never was good with fancy ponies! It was like they operated on some other level where a common complement would turn into a deadly insult. “Well, you all know who I am, I guess. Name’s Bright Eyes.”

Her eyes flickered back and forth between the trio of stallions. They all wore flat, neutral expressions. She wasn’t really sure if that was a good thing. Then again, everypony in town had said they were not bad.

“Would it be possible for me to have a look around Fizz’s room?” she asked with a worried chuckle, pressing on. “And possibly where she had her... freak out?”

“I don’t see why not. That is, after all, why we hired you. I have to warn you though, my laboratory does contain some rather sensitive experiments so I hope you won't mind if I come with you. Besides, my acquaintances have work to do.” It was Silver Cauldron, a thin smile on his lips as he descended the stairs, limping ever so slightly. “This way if you don’t mind, Miss Eyes.”

* * * * *

The long corridors of the mansion were, Bright Eyes decided, rather unnerving. She chalked that up to the odd piece of armor or ancient furniture lining the dark oak paneled walls. That and the paintings, several were innocent enough depicting landscape scenes of the town and the surrounding swamps. Amongst them, though, were paintings depicting a trio of stern looking stallions of varying ages, some times with mares at their sides, others without. Still, the resemblance between the stallions of old and those living in the mansion now were striking.

It were the eyes, she figured. Grey, old and knowing eyes.

Her ruminations were caught short when Silver Cauldron coughed, the kind of soft and polite cough of somepony trying to get your attention. Shuffling her hooves embarrassedly on the carpet she turned to find him smiling amusedly before nodding at the door next to him. “My laboratory would be through here, Miss Eyes. I must say that regrettably it is still a bit of a mess, chemicals and glass does not clean up as readily as one would wish.”

With a cobalt flash of his horn the doors thrust open admitting the two unicorns to the room beyond. Apparently oak and plush, red carpets was something of a theme around here. The room stood apart from all the others she’d seen so far by virtue of the half dozen heavy tables spaced across the carpet and so ladened with glassware and alchemical gewgaws that they looked about to collapse under their own weight. Every which way she looked there were something brewing, bubbling of fizzling.

As Bright Eyes walked further into the room more things came into view, over in the corner near an old fireplace stood several bookcases and plush seats. And, if she wasn’t entirely mistaken, a topled bottle of wine, it’s contents spilled on the carpet. It wasn’t the only piece of disturbed glassware she noticed as she took a second look around the room. Right near the back wall broken glass laid strewn across the carpet, a carpet full of gaping holes and charred patches. A distinct chemical smell hung around the room, and if Eyes were to have a guess most of it came from there. One of the windows nearby had been smashed and she noted that while there’s plenty of glass, very little of it was beneath the window. If she were to take a guess, the window had been used to make a hasty escape.

“As you can see, Miss Eyes,” Silver Cauldron continued as he walked in behind her, “we have left the room mostly as it was. We did unfortunately have to scramble to neutralize the chemicals before they ate their way through the stone floor. Some of the things we were working on were somewhat dangerous. And-... Miss, please be careful with that!”

Bright Eyes turned around, startled by the urgency in Cauldron’s voice. The elder stallion shifted uneasily from one hoof to another, looking up at her forehead? Her eyes crossed as she stared up at her horn, which was glowing a sunny yellow. “Excuse me?”

“It... is the experiments, Miss Eyes. A few of them are fairly sensitive to magical energy and could, perhaps, react rather violently at careless use of magic,” he clarified with a worried smile. “Normally it would require a focused effort to disrupt the alchemical concoctions here, but the magical landscape here is a bit lively.”

“Oh sorry,” said Bright Eyes, somewhat sheepishly. “I’ve noticed something’s odd around here, kinda like a...”

“A feeling of static, I suspect,” said Silver Cauldron, nodding. “It have been a magical feature of Steadfast ever since we moved here originally. It can make magic a bit volatile.”

Eyes nodded again. “I understand, Mr.Cauldron. Though I must ask to be allowed to use my magic even so, I’ll make sure to be careful as to not disturb your experiments or produce any other form of unwanted disturbance.”

“Miss Eyes,” he began again after a moment of silence, “might I inquire as to why?”

“It’s what you hired me to do,” she replied in turn, a hoof raised to push her fedora back and tap her horn. “I know several scrying spells, Mr. Cauldron. As long as I can find a connection between here and there, or now and then, I can see it. That’s what lets me gather enough information to solve a case. Or track down a pony.”

Silver Cauldron stood almost stock still, his hooves fidgeting against the floor in uncertainty. Though after several long moments he nodded, if with reluctance. “I... suppose I shall have to bow to your request, Miss Eyes. Though, please do take care.”

The unicorn mare nodded, giving Silver Cauldron her best confident smile. At least it was supposed to be confident, she’d practiced it. She’d never been that good at faking confidence.

Turning around Bright Eyes lit her horn once more and closed her eyes and opened her senses to her magic.

Comments

[totallynotabrony]

Ask and ye shall receive, huh? Thanks for the chapter!

[Ender Roarke]

I'm a little late to the party, but this chapter was intriguing as always. I anxiously await the dropping of the shoe.

[totallynotabrony]

Well, it worked last time...

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