Night's Lament

Never had she ever seen such unusual sights... Especially so many in one singular location. The brightly colored tents were all set up in an immaculate display, long flags flapped in the light breeze as the sun beat down on them. They had travelled for at least two hours before setting up camp and ponies seemed to flock to the camp site at an alarming rate. There were few clouds and those that were there were small and floating calmly by as the loud and blasting music played on. A congregation of musicians had gotten together and were all trotting through the circus grounds, bobbing to their tune as they played for the guests around them, seeing all the strange sights that they could. A fairly small stallion had a sousaphone wrapped around his body while a large dragon played the triangle in the centre, provoking many laughs and smiles all round.

It was unusual for Starlight as her dull purple eyes scanned the band and the circus as it ran on, her electric blue mane swinging by as she walked in time with the almost cliche music. Of course she wasn't walking around for all to see, her body was concealed by a black cloak that covered her iconic wings and had a hood if she wished to hide completely, though she enjoyed it when ponies looked at her tuffed ears and dull eyes before commenting or merely staring in confusion... It was an unusual feeling, having traits that others found odd... Living under a mountain can make things exceptionally boring… To her they were all the odd ones.

Starlight kept moving along, her eyes darting around at the many colored ponies around her, all to see the circus. Her heart was thumping gently but definitely noticeable... Her first experience with normal ponies didn't go so well and a slight fear filled her. "They can't see your wings... They won't hurt you." She kept telling herself to keep calm.

Performers were literally everywhere Starlight looked, walking the beaten path that was made for the traveling groups, the tents surrounding them in an odd fashion. "Go look around for a bit." Arden had told her when they had woken. "Get a feel for the place before coming to the large tent at the far end of the circus." She had taken his advice and taken a walk around, the large tent easily in sight, striped a neat gold and red and towering towards the sky. She trotted past jugglers juggling balls, rocks, everyday items and sometimes even knives, flipping them through their hooves and their tails, drawing small crowds around them. A magician had a small table outside a blue tent, a crowd gathering round him as he shuffled cards, yelling "Pick a card!" A lone statue stood in the centre of the path, a mare with a solid grey coat, holding a spear in hoof and looking proudly to the clouds in the distance. A stallion approached and cocked his head at it before the statue jumped and yelled out a mighty war cry before aiming the spear at him and freezing once more. The stallion yelped and fell back onto his flanks before those passing by laughed and gave a few thumps of appreciation into the ground.

Starlight soon felt a smile growing on her face as she watched the performers work happily, seeing a Zebra serving a light pink fluff on a stick to small children passing by.

Starlight approached with a bewildered expression on her face, staring up at the Zebra in confusion before looking to the cotton candy. The Zebra smiled down at her, his mane long and colored a black and white. "Hello there." He smiled, grabbing a stick and swirling it within a large bucket and pulling out a large clump of the pink fluff. "Would you like some?" He asked, leaning down to her level, staring at her with bright green eyes.

Starlight took a step back in confusion, looking the Zebra up and down. "It can talk?" She thought before speaking up. "What is it?" She asked, trying to seem calm and natural.

He raised a brow and laughed. "You've never had cotton candy?" He asked before offering it to her. "Here, try." He said kindly.

Starlight peered at the fluffy substance before reaching out a tearing a sticky clump off before eating it, feeling it melt and disappear in her mouth, leaving nothing but a sweet tang on her tongue. "Huh?" She asked in confusion, her eyes going wide as she took another clump and popped it in her mouth. "It's... It's like eating clouds!" She exclaimed in amazement, looking up to the Zebra who was grinning ear to ear.

"Take it... Free of charge." He smiled, handing her the stick.

Starlight smiled wide and took it happily. "Thank you Mr Stripes." She grinned.

"Your welcome fluffy ears." He laughed back, ruffling her blue mane before getting back to work.

Starlight continued on her way, eating the cotton candy in amazement. "I have to find out how to make this." She smiled to herself, before passing a long tables of weapons, swords, spears, arrows, armor and the likes. Large burly stallions sat behind them with grizzled looks, one sat by a grindstone and sharpened a large claymore as he waited for a collector of sorts to come by.

The large tent had gotten closer and closer over time and Starlight could clearly hear some form of announcement behind her as she eyed the sharp weapons curiously. Her gaze was soon averted to a small crowd gathering around some form of ring, circular in form and made of wood entirely. "Who dares take on a Gryphon prince, exiled from his lands for his ferocity in combat and ferocity in bed." A stallion in a small waist coat announced, a few laughs rumbling through the crowds as she approached, spotting a fully armored Gryphon within the ring, full leather armour with his head showing easily. He had no helmet and the feathers on his head had been groomed precisely, giving him a regal stature as he walked with his beak raised, looking at the crowd as if they were mere plebs. A large sword lay across his back still in its scabbard.

"Who has the stones to go against this tough fighter... Every bit you put in gets trippled if you win!" He said happily, a few mumbles came through the crowd as Starlight stared at the announcer who spotted her before glancing back to Arden. "It's easy! You!" He said, pointing out to Starlight. She stopped in her tracks and all turned to face her as she looked behind her in confusion.

"Me?"

"Yes you girl... Come show these ladies how to fight." He grinned, the stallions in the crowd glaring back up to him.

"I Uhh... I can't fight." She said softly, stepping away slowly.

"Rubbish." He whined before trotting over to her and patting her on the back. "Here... If you go and fight I'll give you Ten bits right now... Win and you get Thirty on top." He said with a smile. "Either way you get some coin."

Starlight bit her lip and looked up to him before looking to the crowd who all snickered on the dirt they stood on. Arden smiled and saw her, giving her a short nod and a wink. "A-alright." She said before swallowing her fears. "I'll do it."

He grinned and held up her hoof. "We have a contender!" He announced to a few stallions cheering and laughing about the clearly unfair fight. "Now." He said, pulling her along and into the ring. "Your weapon of choice?" He asked before gesturing to a small set of weapons, leaning against the wooden barrier of the ring. A mighty war axe, a long spear, a sword and shield, a dagger and a long wooden pole.

Starlight gulped and brushed her electric mane back before trotting to the sword and shield and picking them up with a grunt, the sword dragging along the ground as she struggled to lift it, laughs boomed around her as they watched her struggle with the weapons. She whimpered and dropped them with a thunk before looking back. The dagger looked far too sharp... She didn't want to hurt Arden. With a gulp she trotted over and picked up the wooden pole and turned to face him, holding the pole close to her body. They all laughed and snickered at her choice, knowing that she'd be beaten easily.

The announcer chuckled and picked up a small steel helmet and slipped it over her head before tapping it lightly, letting it thunk and ring lightly.. "Whenever you're ready." He smiled before giving Arden a nod.

With a steady claw he grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it out slowly, the rich ringing of metal on metal sung through the air before he rested the two handed sword onto the ground, a claw on the pommel. He gave her a small smile before giving a sly wink before lifting the sword up and slowly advancing towards the filly who gulped and began moving slowly back, her hooves dragging against the ground. She grabbed the pole in her mouth and held it up as he approached.

He cocked his head to the side and winked again. "Huh? What's he doing?" She though before he lunged with a grunt, swinging the long sword over head. Starlight gulped and flung herself out the way, avoiding the swords narrowly as it thunked against the dirt. "Oh gods... Oh gods he's trying to kill me!" She thought before scrambling back to her feet, Arden approaching quickly.

"Duck." He whispered before he swung the sword for the steel helmet she wore.

Starlights eyes grew wide and she ducked just in time, a sharp ring caused her to grit her teeth as the sword just skimmed the top of the helmet. At that point he was off balance, the sword hitting into the dirt once more. "Do it!" She thought before wincing and closing her eyes shut before swinging the wooden pole and hitting him across the beak.

She gulped as she felt the impact and opened her eyes to see Arden stumbling, exaggerating the hit just a bit. "Did... Did I do that?" She thought as he growled and he cocked his head to the left before swinging. "Dodge to the left." She thought, figuring out his system to let her win before moving out the way, letting the sword slap the ground once more, his head by hers. Without thinking She butted her head against his, the helmet pushing him back and causing a groan. His movements were yet again exaggerated but perfectly, letting the crowd still believe that the filly was strong enough to send him back.

She panted and grinned, the anxious fear that once filled her being was soon replaced with an exhilarated thrill as she gripped the pole with enlightened vigor before charging at him with a girlish yell.

Arden looked shocked for a moment as she began swinging and running at him before grinning and dodging out of the way and rolling through the dirt and using the momentum to get him back to his claws. Arden charged at the filly and swung over her head once more, Starlight ducking underneath instinctively and jabbing his chest with the pole.

The crowd stared on in interest and a few started hollering for each fighter, many wanting to see Starlight win as she ducked and rolled around the leather Gryphon.

Starlight laughed as she danced around him, jabbing him with the pole in between the plating in his armor. "I thought Prince's could fight!" She laughed cockily as she went for another swing.

Arden’s smile faded and he swung down at the pole and cracked it clean in two before swinging up for her neck and stopping just in time to graze it and hold it there. "You were saying?" He asked, the crowd silent. Arden let his sword fall before sheathing it once more. Starlight stood there in shock, gulping and panting softly before looking down to the broken pole, the crowd consumed in an eerie silence before all clapping and cheering for the Gryphon and the Filly. The announcer trotted over and took the steel helmet off and ruffled her mane.

"And she nearly won!" He laughed, the crowd nodding and nudging one another to see who'll fight next. "10 bits for our special guest." He smiled before giving her a small bag of bits.

Starlight was still stuck frozen. "He... He nearly killed me." She thought quietly to herself. The announcer gave her another pat on the back to urge her on. She swallowed and grabbed the bag before looking back to Arden.

The coy smile he had during the fight had gone and was replaced with a saddened frown. He looked to Starlight before offering a small smile asking for some sort of forgiveness as the next competitor entered the ring. Starlight offered a meager nod and shuffled away, brushing some dirt off of her black cloak, the brown dust flying easily into the summer air.

She moved away from the crowd slowly with her bag of small bits, feeling hooves pat her on the back on her work of hitting a big fluffy bird. "He... He wouldn't have hurt me... He was just playing." She told herself with a gulp. "But what if he hadn't stopped?"

"What's this?" Night Watch asked, looking down to the felt bound book that lay in front of her. It was black and the pages were a light brown, at least several hundred were there. She lay a hoof on it and felt the cover gently with her hoof. "It's so soft." She mumbled before dragging it closer to her, the chains around her hooves scraping softly against the cold damp floor.

"I thought you might want something to do while you're down here." Savant mumbled, sitting in front of her, watching her open the book slowly to reveal the many blank pages within. She looked at it with a raised brow and opened her mouth to speak before Savant cut her off. "Blaze won't let me bring proper books down here... But he has nothing against blank ones." He smiled.

"What do I do with an empty book?" She asked, flipping through the pages hoping for some form of story. "It's boring if there aren't any words." She stated, looking back up to him with a sad gleam in her eyes.

"You can put words in you know." He said, pushing a small quill over to her. "Write your own stories... You could use it as a diary." Savant tried to encourage her, opening to the front page. "Start with your name." He said, tapping the top left corner of the inside cover.

She glanced to the quill and then the book before picking the quill up between her teeth. "Whatsh thish tupposed to do?" She asked with a struggle, her teeth holding the quill within her mouth while she spoke.

"So you don't forget who you are." Savant said with a sigh, frowning gently at his own words. "Write your feelings... Your thoughts... It'll help you." He urged, tapping the front cover again. "Try it for me." He pleaded quietly.

Night looked around momentarily in thought and reluctantly moved forward and began to dip her quill in the ink pot before scraping off the excess. She moved forward and put the sharp blackened point to the paper and began to scrawl her name, some of the ink pooling on the 'i' in her name. She finished off the last letter with a shaky underline of her name, attempting calligraphy but simply drawing a snail trail of a line to the end of the page. She frowned and set it down before looking up at Savants hazel eyes.

He was smiling happily down at her before looking down to the poorly written name, chuckling to himself. "We should work on your hoof writing." He said, Night pouting and scooting backwards.

"I don't wanna write anymore." She announced, looking away from the book.

Savant cocked his head and frowned. "Aww c'mon Night, I'm not good at writing either." He said before taking the quill up and flipping to the back of the book and writing his name there. It was just as bad as Nights, the 'a' curling off to no where and his 'n' looked like some form of 'h'. He showed it to her with a smile. "Look, I'm horrible!" He exclaimed, trying to prove that it was alright.

"Yours looks like mine though..." She states with another frown.

Savant gulped and began searching for some sort of answer "Shit... I insulted her instead." He thought. "Why thank you." He said after a few moments. "I had no idea I had improved."

Night rolled her eyes and sighed, Savant scooted closer and tapped the book. "C'mon, lets help each other out... Maybe we can both get better at this." He chuckled softly.

Night sighed and looked up at him in disapproval. "Alright... Just a few times..."

"Great!" He smiled before taking the quill and offering it to Night. The silver necklace still hung proudly around her neck, still shining bright even in the dark room. "Why don't you write about your necklace?" He asked, pointing to it.

Night raised a brow in confusion and looked down to the silver. "My necklace? Why?" She asked, offering him a confused gaze.

"Because I want to know about it." He said with a smirk. "Is that so hard to believe?"

She bit her tongue lightly and looked back down to the page, grabbing the quill once more and began to write slowly, word by word. Savant watched, smiling softly as she began to work.

"Savant?" Blaze called out, knocking against the metal door. "A word?" He asked, looking in with a glare. Night had stopped and ducked down, scooting back into the dark shadows of the room, the cold blue glare of Blaze was enough to chill her bones.

Savant nodded before smiling at Night. "I'll be gone for a few moments... Keep writing for me." He said before getting up and moving towards the cold metal door, Blaze waiting expectantly, looking at the filly with a silent contempt.

"What is it?" Savant asked in a hushed growl, Blaze pulling him through and closing the door behind him before gesturing up the stairs.

"How is she?" Blaze asked.

Savant raised a brow as they climbed the rickety staircase. "Why would you care?"

"She's a child, I have to care for her safety." He explained as they both trotted into the sickeningly fairytale like kitchen… It was far too perfect for a mad pony.

Savant just looked at him in disgust, eyeing the stallion as if the dark antagonist of some violent story. He could never trust Blaze… He was far too irrational… Unpredictable and often mad…

“The again she is the last of her colony.” He said with a nostalgic sigh, watching Boulder, a coiled leather whip in hoof, shining as if recently oiled. “And she is probably the last to know of another colony.” Blaze grinned, Savants heart dropping as he saw Boulder enter the basement behind them.

“What are you doing?” Savant asked as he gestured to Boulder.

“Speeding up the process of… Interrogation.” He smiled slowly, his teeth baring like mad white tombstones.

“Wait no!” He cried out before Blaze had tackled him to the wall, a rusty knife pressing into the skin of his throat, a wild grin upon the mad stallions face. “I'm doing this for you… You need to hear all of this.” He said, Savant locking up and not daring to move. “I know you care for the little shit.” Blaze cursed under his breath. “So I'm offering you an incentive to do your work.”

Savant growled as he heard the scampering of hooves and the dragging of chains. He gulped and clenched his teeth as the worried cries came fourth before the whirring sound of spinning leather filled the room. “Fuck you!” He yelled before the first whip cracked against soft flesh, a frenzied scream soon emanated from the basement, only what Savant could assume was Night. The leather span again and cracked again, the scream was louder as Boulder began dishing out punishment.

“You'll kill her!” He yelled to Blaze who grinned wider.

“Please… It's just whipping.”

Savant squirmed desperate to kill Boulder with the very whip he used. “A young mind can only take so much pain before it breaks and she becomes useless!” He retorted.

Blaze winked at him. “And that's your job… How much pain can she take?”

“If she has anymore she'll be scarred forever!” He grunted, feeling the knife press even harder into his neck.

With a sigh Blaze glanced towards the door. “Give her two more! Courtesy of Savant!” He yelled down, the Filly begging and whimpering for the pain to stop. Blaze listened to the final two cracks, shuddering in pleasure as Night screamed and croaked in pain.

Blaze merely smiled as Boulder came trotting up the stair case, the whip dripping gently with blood, his coat splattered with small droplets. “Did you get a few good ones in?” Blaze asked curiously.

“One or two real good ones boss.” Boulder grinned back. “She squirms too much though.”

Savant gave off a growl, Boulder merely scowling him before trotting away once more. “Now…” Blaze began. “You have one week to find out where another colony is… If not we whip her again and open all those wounds we just made… If I don't get a location soon I might have to do something drastic… Are we clear?” He asked with a raised brow, scraping his neck gently with the rusted knife.

Savant glared and grunted his agreement, Blaze taking the knife away and beginning to trot towards the stairs leading to the second story. “Good… Play nice!” He called back but Savant had already bolted downstairs to see Night.

Savants loud exclamation of “Oh fuck!” Set a small smile across Blazes face as he trotted back up the stairs.

“Kids… What trouble…”

The day seemed to drag on forever, more and more ponies coming to see the large coloured tents and performers all work and con their way to small riches.

Starlight had watched how they did it, the fights looked easy but were rigged from the start, the wheel of fortune was stopped when the Presenter needed it to by using magic, concealed by a large top hat and the fortune teller was just very vague… When Starlight confronted her about it she seemed to get angry and she had no clue why.

She had seen almost everything their… Nearly. She ducked through legs and under ponies, weaving to the front of the crowd to see large bales of hay with targets painted on them, large wooden palisades surrounded the whole area to protect those watching as Cross grinned as he stood next to a enormous crossbow… It was practically the same size as him and much larger than Starlight.

“He’ll never be able to lift that thing.” Somepony muttered. The crowd all whispered about him, all eyes on Cross, the large crossbow and another separate one lying on the ground next to him.

“Can anyone take on the young Prince of the Gryphon empires?” An announcer asked, circling the palisade with a grin. “Best archer in all of Equestria? His height might deceive you… Fifty bits for anyone that can beat our young champion here, only five bits entry.” He grinned… And at that point several raised their hooves with snickers and one stallion approached the spare crossbow with a smile, lifting it up unsteadily, looking at the curved arms of the crossbow curiously. “Just squeeze the trigger when you're ready.”

The stallion smiled and aimed at the target, about Twenty five metres away before pulling the hoof trigger. With a thwack it fired off and hit the target with a solid thud, sitting comfortably in the third ring of the target. A few applause went up and he smiled, waving them off as he aimed again. Cross waited patiently as the stallion fired the five bolts he was given, seeing them all hit the target and one just inches from the red bullseye, prompting loud cheering.

Starlight was far too interested now, peering over the palisade at Cross who got up and walked around the large cross bow, snickers and whispers swirling around him… Yet he kept smiling. Starlight stared as he soon moved his head to the base of the Crossbow before running under and letting the weapon slide up and onto his back, dust colouring the feathers atop his head.

A silence soon enveloped them as he scooped up the bolts in one wing while the other sat by the trigger. With a quick flap he slid a bolt in while the other pulled back the trigger and sent one bolt flying, everyone's eyes followed it as it sunk straight into the centre of the target and before they could look back to see him load another, he had already fired off another two, his wings working like clock work as each arrow flew with a light whistle slicing through the hay.

With one bolt left he slid it in, firing the last shot with relative and pleasurable ease. Everypony was silent as it flew and split straight down the centre of another bolt, leaving the two perfect halves spinning peacefully to the ground. Silence had consumed the crowd, shocked stares sat on their faces while Starlight grinned like mad.

The crowd soon erupted in loud cheers and heavy bellows as Cross bowed and grinned before the crowd, the stallion challenging him looked on, still in shock at the display.

Starlight continued grinning at cross, cheering him on and jumping just over the edge of the palisade with an excited stature.

A slow silence soon filled the crowd as she jumped up and down, her cheering becoming less and less as she noticed all eyes resting on her. “Why are they all looking?” She thought, Cross’s eyes were wide with worry and it soon dawned on her what had happened, looking down to her hooves. The black cloak that covered her body lay crumpled in the dirt, she felt her stomach flip and her heart beginning to pump even faster, a tingly anxious feeling covering her body. Her black leather wings were clear on display, like an abstract artwork that everyone ponders about… Her fangs became more apparent as she tried opening her mouth to speak.

Mumbles of “What is it?” and “Look at her wings” surfaced almost instantly and curiosity soon built. Cross had disappeared, Starlight looking around for him as she began walking around, the crowd forming a circle around her, all trying to get a good view. She panted and felt as if the world was spinning faster and faster.

Starlight saw Cross through the crowd, speaking to the announcer who looked over in concern before approaching, pushing ponies out the way.

“Ahh!” He yelled, looking down at Starlight. “It is… Uhh.. Corio Alis! The circus demon!” He announced, gulping at the impromptu show.

“Wait… Circus demon?” Starlight thought in confusion as a chorus of ‘ooo’s’ and ‘ahh’s’ slipped through the crowd.

“Ten bits and get to touch her wings!”

“Now bite hard on this.” The doctor said, putting a wooden stick in Nights mouth as she lay on a cold metal table, her wings stretched out and tied down. “This is going to hurt.” He said with a grimace, staring at the watering golden eyes of the filly, sniffles and cries of pain still escaped her tired lips as she bit down hard onto the wood, her small fangs digging in comfortably.

The doctor nodded to Savant who stood by her side, stroking her mane. “Shhhh… It'll be alright.” He whispered as the doctor covered a large piece of cotton in a clear liquid, only what Savant could assume was ethanol to clean the wounds. He took it to her side and began dabbing and covering her torn sides in the liquid. Blood stained her once brown coat and thick lines that gauged into her body remained, the fur was ripped out.

Instantly she began thrashing and screaming out, her hooves tied down so she couldn't flail around too much. Savant kept a sure hoof on her mane, tying to comfort her as much as possible as the doctor cleaned the bloody wounds.

Both sides had received at least four lashings each, randomly scattered, a few leaving nothing but red marks but the majority had torn and splintered her flesh, blood still seeping out slowly.

The doctor worked quickly to spare the filly some pain, the burning sting of alcohol less than pleasant for her, he had already finished with one side before working on the next.

With eyes clenched shut she sobbed and whimpered, the energy to scream and thrash around becoming less and less prominent. “You couldn't have given her an anaesthetic?” Savant asked in anger.

“When Blaze said that someone hurt themselves I was not expecting to find a whipped filly in a basement.” He growled back, finishing up on her other side, dabbing the deepest wound a few times just to be careful. The room fell silent moments later and Savant and the doctor both looked to Night, her eyes shut not in pain but lazily, her hooves limp on the table.

“Night?” Savant asked in fear, shaking her gently.

“Shush… She passed out.” The doctor said, moving back to the small bag that lay on the floor, pulling out a long roll of bandages. “It makes things easier… But she was in too much pain for my liking.” He mumbled before beginning to unbind Night, keeping her wings tied down. “Lift her up.” He ordered, Savant following with no question, raising her lightly as he began wrapping her torso up in the ragged white bandages.

“You're not going to stand for this are you?” Savant questioned, looking down to the limp unconscious body of Night.

“There's not much I can do… You know he's got us by the balls and if we do anything we lose everything.”

Savant nodded with a sigh, stroking her purple mane lightly before pressing his face to her head. “She has no one.” He whispered, hugging her gently.

"Then be there for her.” The doctor replied, pinning the bandages back with a safety pin.

“Blaze will have my tail if he finds out that I'm genuine.”

“Then don't let him find out… For the love of all things good in this world, don't let him find out.”