The Chains of Fate

The Writings on The Walls

My earlier comment on rest was only so much true. I got sleep during the nights, yes. But it always felt like the entire city was monitoring my every move. I slept, but hardly soundly. But back to the matter of Ultor. He was to leave the hospital as close to nighttime at he could. If something was after him, he'd at least be in his apparent element. He arrived with little suspicion of being followed and entered the shop. He was greeted by a mare with a warm smile upon her face. He didn't return the smile, but casually asked if he could speak to 'Aunty Berry'. Her face lit up like like the stars in the night sky. She was apparently worried about me, I never could truly sneak something by her, but she let me have my 'victories'. She sat Ultor up on a stool near the counter, she had some questions to be asked, and some stories of her own to tell that night.

Something that you should know about me: I've made mistakes, and I have gotten into trouble for them before. As a street performer, you have luxuries that the stage does not, however, you have a lot of risks too. For example, with a stage if someone rushes you in anger of a jest or by fooling them, you'll have help. On the streets... not so much. It's one of the main reasons I don't try to con people out of their bits, besides keeping my name pure. I've had scuffles, fights, and times where I have had to admittedly run to Berry for help. She doesn't hold the magical powers of a unicorn, nor the flight and agility of a Pegasus. As an Earthpony, she has her inborn strength of her ancestors, and she could throw down with the best of them, has too. No pony breaks a rule in her shop twice, they learn from the start that she's sweeter than an apple pie, and kind and gentle when she wants to be. But if you mess with her family, or get on her bad side one way or the other, your back will be on the floor in seven seconds flat. That's just the way she is, and I wouldn't change a thing.

With all that being said, one of the first things out of her mouth when he ordered his meal, was asking what Chancy had gotten into this time. He laughed at this nickname a little bit, but was cut off by a stare that silenced him quickly. He nervously cleared her throat and told her all that I asked him to. He was to simply tell her that I had gotten into another scuffle from calling out an old card shark that night. The lie was believable considering my past and both of us being rather clueless of who all exactly did this at the time. As we prepare to set off from where we are, the very reason that I write mind you, we still are not sure. We certainly have our ideas, but none quite so confident to put onto paper right now. Berry seemed to believe us at the time, but she likely, and understandably at that time, harbored her own doubts at the time.

Ultor said that he enjoyed the food and brew thoroughly. What he was served was a specialty of her and slightly mine, though I mainly tasted it each go around. It was a mix of coffee beans and cocoa beans blended together, brewed from a pot and mixed with a menagerie of different ingredients. These varied from berries, to vanilla beans, to cream and a few things more that elude me at the time. The food was a fry up of multiple bits of fruits served with a bit of her home made pie, on the house. I had of course given him money to pay for all of this, a single token of thanks of the many to come. They shared conversation and stories while there of the past, friends and such. Ultor couldn't share much, simply said that he was in an accident that separated him from his family to what he could remember and that not much eventful had happened since then.

They shared memories and events of recent and the past right up until the night sky was alight with stars and the light of the moon shone proud. It's not every night you can see many stars in a place like this, most are blocked out by the light of the city. But tonight, the beauty of the heavens above shone true. Ultor paid his bill and politely excused himself. He said that while it was pleasant talking with her, he had a few things to take care of before it truly got late. She nodded and waved him goodbye, but right before he got from his stool to the door, she called out after him. She had a few things to give him and I before he set off. She tossed him a bag of things, saying that they were a few gifts and something that she forgot to give me since I left in such a hurry. She also said there was a bit of something in there for the both of us to share. He thanked her and trotted out the door into the cool night air.

His walk was free of troubles or pursuers, nothing but a quiet trot to my home. He soon arrived under the clear night sky to his destination. As he reached for his key that I had given him earlier, he noticed the door was ever so slightly open. Upon entering the first room as quietly as he could, our worst suspicions were soon confirmed. Quite a sum of the furniture lay broken or battered across the room, gifts shattered or ruined against the ground. Ultor slightly cringed at the sight of this, and maneuvered forwards amongst the broken glass. My study perhaps got the worst of it, pinned up notes torn and books burned or thrashed beyond recovery. Oddly, it seemed only some books who suffered the signs of flames, not the room around it at all. Most everything on the list was missing, save for simple items like clothes, pens and a hidden stash of money that I kept for an emergency. Before he left though, he would spy two interesting sights that neither of us could believe.

One such sight was something written all over one of his final rooms to check. On the ceiling, floors, walls and over some items, were threats written in bleeding black paint. We assumed it was paint though, not knowing for sure what else it could be. It had little scent to it. One of the main messages read: 'By the spade you dug up the forgotten. By the shadows we shall follow. By the flames you shall be purged. By the spade, your ashes shall be buried.' All around this message were threats and warnings, all paired with a seemingly still bleeding spade symbol. There was a single card stuck into the middle of the largest spade. On the back of it was an intricate design of symbols and signs. On the face of the card was a bleeding skull with a dagger stuck through its eye, and a spade behind it. To say the least at this point, we had a general idea of who was after us. He took the card to return to me, and headed on his way outside with a feeling of being watched.

Before he could fully make his way outside, he saw something that caught his eye. From an open window with flowing curtains, there was a book, simply leaning against the windowsill. The insignia on the front caught his eye, it looked slightly like something like the drawings in my journal and notes. He decided to grab it, and quietly exit the house from the front, and closed the door behind him. He casually walked back towards the hospital that night under the blanket of stars, taking in the pleasant sight and the cool night air. He stayed vigilant through his enjoyment of the night, and with this he noticed two ponies far behind him. One of them seemed to have pointed at him and increased in their speed. Ultor quickly ducked into an alleyway and performed quite the feat. He was gone without a trace by the time they glanced by the alley.

That night, Ultor shared with us one of his interesting talents. It would seem that through gifts of the divine or otherwise, that he had abilities of shadows, or something akin to this. This sounds insane and quite odd, and I admit I've never seen something quite this strange in my early street days, but it's apparently true. That night I was awake, gazing at the wonderful night sky and writing in this very journal, when I heard a rather disturbing sound behind me. It wasn't loud, but there was a dead silence in the room, so it was audible enough to hear. It's nearly impossible to describe, but I would put it best by saying that it sounded not unlike a puff of slight smoke combined with the slight sound of grating crystals. I turned around to face the cause of this strange noise and saw Ultor almost collapse to the floor.

Ultor stood there, wisps of shadowy smoke rising from him, seeming very drained. It seems that in addition to having the usual capabilities of a normal unicorn, that being levitating objects and such, that he could meld or make use of shadows. He had not a soul to teach him these powers or how to make apt use of them, so it was quite hard for him to explain how he did these things. One thing was for certain though, it took quite a lot out of him most of the time. He originally learned the action that he performed that night when he was young in an attempt to evade a group of thugs. He uses this skill to escape along the paths of shadows to somewhere safe, where is not always too certain. The more he concentrates, the closer her may get to his goal, but also the more it will take out of him. To say the least, it is hardly for recreational use. He doubted that they knew where he might have gone to, but even if they did, they were safe for now.

Ultor backed himself against the near wall for a second to catch his breath, in which he informed me of the additions to his story. He then delivered the bag bag to me, saying it had what I had asked for, and a few things for him and I from Berry. He chucked slightly and at the end of his explanation muttered 'Chancy' under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear. I paid him little heed as I was currently going through the bag already, and laid out the contents of the bag on the bed. The contents surprised me, there wasn't much that was from the list, but it's these 'gifts' that were given to us. Inside was a note and letter from Berry herself, which also bore the signing of my mother and a strange symbol as well. I saved this for later, as there was much more to see.

Along with the letter, there was a book that he found by the window. This book, its contents elude me. It bores the same symbol under the signature of my mother and aunt. He found the stash of bits undisturbed, he found my additional clothing, but only so much of it. A spare coat, and some formal wear was all that there was to be had. My old city coat was tattered and torn, but still useable. Needless to say however, it would not be the wisest thing to wear in Ponyville, it would attract unneeded attention. I set the clothing aside for the time being, noting to get that old coat patched up when we arrived at our destination. Not just for the sake of clothing, but for memories. It was my fathers old coat at one point. Call me sentimental, but it'd be comforting to have a piece of home in my travels. I rarely performed a show without it.

In the bag was also two decks of cards, both inside the hat that I lost that night. The hat was an old style fedora with a crimson and silver lace around it with a tucked in card. The card was something me and my father made, it was a joker face card,another old nickname I had when we lived outside of Las Pegasus was 'Wild Card'. I haven't heard that in years, but I keep the name alive. one of them being an old one that I had forgotten, and one that she and my mother had worked on at one point. Inside the forgotten deck a slight slip of paper caught my eye. There was one in both of the decks, the forgotten deck read 'The performance was wonderful, but you left in such a hurry that you forgot your cards. Take better care of your things in the future alright dear?' I chucked softly, remembering the occasion that I had to go to, only to be missing my lucky deck. The other note in the other deck confused me, and is left in this journal. Despite her origins, she still had beautiful writings, but what was in the note, I could have never guessed.

In her familiar writing style, I read the note by the lamp light next to me, 'It's a bit early for this to be any holiday present, or a birthday present, but I know what's going on. I'll want you to have a piece of us with you when you head off. Your mother went through the same when she was young, her family hunts for more scraps of that story every generation. She got quite a lot of what you know today, dragged me along with her once too. But we've broke off from our normal hunting, our itch having settled the same way we have. She had you, lil' Roulette and Jacky, and we figured it was time to pass things on to the youths. Things had gotten dangerous for us by the time we quit and we didn't want to get any of you hurt, and Cheaty didn't want to see either of us hurt as well. He always discouraged us, he was a bit of a voice of reason like that. Your father won't like to hear what you've gotten yourself into, so we'll keep it hush hush for you sweets. Remember, if you need anything, you can always come to us. Keep yourself fed now alright? And try to stay safe. With much love, Aunty Berry'

I stared at that note for quite some time, pleasant surprise clearly on my face. I guess nothing could get by that old fox, still sly as ever. I'm glad they could understand, and I hoped that I could contribute as much as my mother, maybe even solve this age old mystery. Things would be tough for me, their heat had cooled down, mine was only just warming up, and it would get hotter still. It was still nice that I didn't have to leave without a goodbye to them, at least they'd be able to stitch my movements together if they wanted to. It slightly unsettled me as well that they knew exactly what I was doing, but perhaps not where I would be going. I questioned if the Spades that might be after me would have this much luck. But, I guessed just as much that there were signs that both sides could see, and that they had years on me with tracking and quieting their footsteps. Mine were likely loud and thunderous with each baby step forward. This would have to change, and quickly.

I didn't look at quite everything that night, I held my gaze on that strange book, that ancient symbol.. The inside of the book seemed to be like a journal, the only things showing this were strange symbols that resembled ancient calenders. But even with this, the dates were out of order and patternless. In addition to all of this, it seemed to be written in another language or code. Ultor described that the book seemed deliberately placed from outside of the window, but that was just a guess. Someone had left this for me, someone knew that I would go back, that I would survive. That night, I lost much sleep simply staring at the pages of the book, waiting to derive some meaning from this gibberish before me. None came, and still none has. Besides the books and clothes, there was the materials needed for notes, though not much. I conserved these and wrote in tiny scribbles, comprehensible likely only by me. That night I fell asleep in the book, and dreamed of darkness. Only a silent and watching void kept me company that night.

Come morning, I was greeted by the two caring pairs of eyes. Ultor and Vita were rather worried about me that night, and woke me up early to check on me. That morning we all went through the contents of the bag, and we found a care package from Aunty Berry. Inside were powdered bits of her various brews and a recipe or two on some of my favorite dishes. A note taped to one of said recipes said 'Just because you're on the go, doesn't mean you have to settle for anything short of the best'. A smile shone across my face, and I shared with them some of the brew, it would be a good day. My legs weren't broken, just rather sore, so that day I decided to get around and stretch. Nothing too serious, just a simple walk around the room and the facility. Normally most Unicorn healers, the few that there truly are due to the strain it places on them, are placed for high priority tasks. Emergency healing, V.I.P jobs, or risky surgeries and bone setting. Very kindly, and very sneakily, Vita grabbed one of her personnel for my wings and my woulds. She didn't want to strain her friend and worker, so I will only recover at an advanced rate. Perhaps a few days. Until then, walking is the best I can manage.

We discussed the legs of the plan to Ponyville, in one day we would transfer and pick up some medications to speed up my recovery further. They've made quite the advancements, but they are quite costly and some don't trust them. Anything that can prepare me further for the hardships to come, was quite welcome at this time. I walked quite a lot, be it simple pacing or a walk inside the building. It was quite nice and the doctors were very friendly to me. Then, later that day, we all sat down and organized our thoughts over the brew and some food that I cooked up for them. Earlier Ultor had gone to a bit of a market, no liking the taste of hospital food, and picked up a few things. I aided Aunty Berry in the kitchen at quite a few points in my youth, so I new a few tricks, but never before had I been presented with the recipe before. It turned out all right, not as good as hers, they still thought it was still nice. That night, I stirred in my sleep, my head filled with a swirl of thoughts shooting to and fro. I lost much sleep over these currents of thoughts and most unfortunately, this would become a frequent occurrence. Tomorrow we set off for the transfer, then a final ride to Ponyville. Things were beginning to warm up, and I was certainly feeling the heat.