Curse of Coltinado

Chapter Seven: The Late Fetlock Hooves, Part One

By Feather Scratch

Proof Read by Comet Burst, q97randomguy, and mr jerrio

“Wait! At least let me get a shower first.”

“You smell fine. I need to talk to you,” Artemis hissed as he half-dragged Bright Eyes away from the Wagon Wheel, taking care not to glance back over his shoulder. Upon thanking Rough Diamond for her sympathy, he had shooed the Pegasus out the door on the pretence of seeing the sights to take their minds off things.

“What’s your deal?” Bright Eyes pulled her hoof out of Artemis’ grip and took to the air, hovering low around his head. “First you don’t what to come out on a run with me, and now you want me to come with you for a walk? You know, we could have just agreed on a pace before I left and saved a lot of time.”

“We’re not going for a walk. We’re going to the train platform.”

“Wait, what?” Bright Eyes stopped dead and landed with an emphatic thunk. “Artemis, I can’t leave yet, not without Hooves. I thought we were here for the same reason.”

Artemis paused and groaned, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle. “We are. We’re not leaving. I just want to take a look at something. Now come on. I’ll explain as we walk.” The Pegasus frowned, very slowly and deliberately taking to wing as Artemis set off again.

“Tell me, Bright, you saw Hooves body, yes?” Artemis cocked his head up to talk to his hovering companion.

“Yeah.”

“As a former soldier, what would you have said was the cause of death, just to look at him?”

Bright Eyes cocked a brow. “As a former soldier, I never saw a day of real combat. Peaceful times, remember. Things only started getting really interesting after Princess Luna returned, and I’d long since moved on.” She shrugged and gave a weak grin. “I can tell you he had a twisted ankle if that helps.”

Artemis rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Aren’t they supposed to teach the guard at least basic first aid and crime scene investigation?”

“Hey, lay off!” The Pegasus bopped his hat down over his eyes. “I aced ‘First Aid 101.’ You show me any field or sports injury, and I can patch it up in a flash. They just never taught us grunts all that super-sleuth, sciency stuff.”

Artemis removed his hat and slicked his mane back, replacing any strands that may have been knocked loose. “Well, take a guess.”

“I don’t know!” Bright Eyes threw up her forelegs, frustration edging into her voice. “I was too busy trying not to puke at the sight of a dead body to comb over every little scrape and bruise. He looked like he’d gone through a few rounds of patty-cake with a Timber Wolf.”

“Well, I did go over every scrape and bruise.” Artemis replaced his hat and trudged on. “Did you know they pulled an eight-inch shard of glass out of his chest?”

Bright Eyes’ face turned distinctly green and she clutched her stomach. Her wings lost their rhythm for a moment, and she wobbled in the air, catching herself at the last second before hitting the ground. “Urgh, I did not need to know that. Sounds pretty... fatal.”

“It does.” Artemis nodded in agreement. “But, what if I told you that when I looked at the wound, I could have sworn it was done with a knife?”

“Well, they’re basically the same thing, right? I mean, they both cut and, urgh—”she held a hoof over her mouth “—stab.”

“Yes, but the wounds they leave are quite different. Glass wounds are ragged, messy. The cut I saw on Hooves had far too clean an edge. I know it was done with a knife.”

“So what, you think somepony chased him out into the storm, waited for him to get messed up to within an inch of his life, then stabbed him with a knife, and stuck glass in him to make it look like an accident?” She fluttered over his head and gave him an upside-down, deadpan look. “You realize how stupid that sounds, right? The storm seemed to do a good enough job messing him up all by itself. Why would somepony bother to stab him when they could have just waited for the inevitable? Or if they already had a big hunk of glass, why didn’t they just stab him with that and forget the knife?”

Artemis gave a crooked smile and savoured the rising charge he hadn’t felt in decades. “I’m guessing, since you didn’t ask about the cause of death, you didn’t bother to ask about the circumstances either."

“Why bother? He was caught in a freak storm and had an accident. It’s tragic, but these things happen. Why do you need this to be more complicated than it is?”

“Why are you so ready to take things at face value?” Artemis shot back.

“Because I live in the real world.” Bright Eyes flitted in front of him, blocking his path, and held him by the shoulders. “This isn’t some mystery novel. Not everypony has an agenda, and not every little occurrence is tied into some convoluted web of conspiracy.”

Artemis stood still and waited for the Pegasus to let go before continuing in a perfectly level tone. “Dusk Thunder.”

“What?”

“That’s the name of the other pony that died that night. Officially, he was killed in the same freak accident that supposedly killed Hooves.”

Bright Eyes faltered a little. “How do you know that? There wasn’t another body in the morgue when I was there.”

“That’s because Dusk Thunder was a Bat Pony. They have a morgue of their very own Downtown.”

“So... what of it?” Recovering from her momentary surprise, she set her jaw and gestured with a hoof towards an imaginary piece of evidence. “So he wasn’t alone when he died. That doesn’t make it any less an accident. Bat Ponies are tough, but they can fall victim to bad weather, same as anypony else.”

Artemis sat on his haunches and lifted a hoof for reference. “Firstly, I asked around, and apparently, this Bat Pony was following Hooves specifically. Now, he was a member of the Night Watch. If he was just enforcing an area cordon due to the storm, he would have just issued a verbal warning and carried on when Hooves walked away.” He lifted his other forehoof. “Secondly, I saw Dusk Thunder’s body too. If he was a victim of the same accident as Hooves, he should have had similar injuries, but other than the single blow to the head that killed him, he was completely unharmed.”

Uncertainty flashed across Bright Eyes’ features. “Well, it’s a small town. They’re probably more used to taking care of each other on a more personal level. I’m sure Dusk was just doing what any of the guards would have done.

“As for the injuries”—she scratched her chin—“maybe Hooves just bore the brunt of them. If Dusk was a guard, he would have been wearing armour, right?”

Artemis pursed his lips and, after a moment, nodded. “Yes, both perfectly plausible explanations. I’d probably have come to the same conclusion if I hadn’t seen the head wound.”

They had approached the edge of the town, and the train platform was in sight. Gus could be seen through the window of the makeshift office, arranging some loose planks of wood along the wall.

“What was so special about the head wound?” Bright Eyes kept Artemis in her peripheral vision. Her eyes narrowed, but her tone lost some of its sceptical edge.

Closing his eyes, Artemis spoke slowly as though reading from a script. “They said it was an accident, but it couldn’t have been. The point of the ticket belt that killed him landed precisely on the sagittal border between the parietal bones, a weak point that would have caused the skull to split open like a dropped melon. A blow like that could only have been inflicted deliberately by somepony who knew what they were doing.”

Bright Eyes dropped to her hooves, looking distinctly green again. “So... are you saying Hooves... murdered a pony?”

Just as they reached the platform, Artemis stopped and frowned, pawing at the dirt and looking away from his companion. He took a deep breath. “I think that Dusk Thunder chased Hooves onto the platform. They fought, and Dusk stabbed Hooves. But, before he died, Hooves got in one good blow that finished Dusk.

“There are still pieces missing though, which is why we’re here.” Artemis shook his head and they climbed onto the platform. “What was Hooves doing here in the first place? What was his quarrel with Dusk Thunder? Who stuck the glass in Hooves chest? And, most importantly, why do I get the feeling ponies around here know more than they’re letting on?”

As they approached the ticket office, Gus trotted out and gave them an amiable smile and a nod. “Mornin’, folks. Heading back already?”

Artemis switched gears immediately, flashing a bright smile and returning the nod to Gus, touching the brim of his cap. “Morning, Gus. The place is looking well. You’d never even tell there was a spot of bad weather.”

Gus chuckled and hung his forehooves in the lapels of his waistcoat. “Well, it’s a wonder what a coat of paint and a little elbow grease can do. Can’t afford to leave things broke or I’d find myself the same way before long.”

Artemis let out a full belly laugh, patting the station attendant companionably on the shoulder. Bright Eyes just smiled awkwardly, not really getting the joke.

“Oh my.” Artemis wiped away an imaginary tear. “Speaking of things being broke, what happened to all the debris from the office?”

Gus waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, that’s long gone. We don’t waste resources out here. The whole platform was picked over as soon as the guards took those poor fellas away. It’s probably spread out across a dozen houses by now.” Seeing Artemis’ ears droop, he added, “The train that was at the platform that night’s still here, though; the replacement window still hasn’t come in yet, so she’s docked off the main rail, right ahead of yours, actually.”

“Huh.” Artemis remembered seeing the train while he was parking the 221 B, but hadn’t paid it any mind at the time. “Mind if we go take a look?”

“I don’t see why not.” Gus shrugged. “The guards are done with it. Why do you folks want to see it anyhow?”

Artemis gave the biggest, most sincere grin he could manage. “Oh, just curiosity. What happened was a real shock. We just want to make sure we’ve got all the facts straight, right?” He turned he smile to Bright Eyes and nodded sideways towards Gus.

“Oh, uh, yes!” She gave a big, goofy grin and nodded quickly. “We’re just curious.”

“Hmm. Well, alright.” Gus fished a key out of the ring on his belt and hoofed it over to Artemis. “You too be careful, now. There’s nothin’ valuable in there you can break, but the caboose is probably still full of glass.”

Artemis nodded. “Duly noted, thanks.”

~~~

“What exactly are we looking for?”

Artemis and Bright Eyes stood in the ruined caboose, glancing around at the plush, if sparsely upholstered, interior. A board had been fitted over the outside of the broken window and the thick carpet was marred with dark spots of dried blood.

Artemis’ eyes narrowed, slowly panning his gaze from one corner of the carriage to the next. “I’m not sure. Anything. Anything that stands out or looks out of place.”

He trotted over to the broken window and removed the shard of glass from his hat, comparing the shard to the glass still hanging to the frame. “Perfect match.”

“What?” Bright Eyes looked up from the blood stain she was scrutinising.

“I found where the shard of glass came from. Train windows are tough, they couldn’t just break accidentally. This places Hooves in this train car at some point.

“If he came out through the window, then he wasn’t alone.” Artemis replaced the glass shard in his cap and turned to scan the floor. “Look around for hoofprints.”

“What, you think you’d be able to tell them apart just by looking at them?” The Pegasus cocked an incredulous eyebrow.

“Ordinarily, no.” After a moment searching, Artemis grinned and zeroed in on the carpet. “But I can tell the difference between a mare and stallion’s hoofprint.”

Bright Eyes squinted at the print in the carpet and held out her own hoof for comparison. “Huh, good eye. So, what, Dusk Thunder was a mare?”

“Ha, hardly. Dusk was a stallion easily twice my size. No, this means there was a mare here that night.” Using the edge of his hoof, Artemis carefully combed through the fibres of the carpet near the hoofprint.

Bright Eyes’ ears wilted. “Maybe Hooves and Dusk were after the same mare. Love can make ponies do stupid things, right?”

Artemis nodded. “It’s as good a theory as any. I’d never known Hooves to be one for relationships, but even he must have gotten lonely sometimes.” He grimaced as he plucked a long, yellow hair out of the carpet. “And I think I know who the mare was. Come on”—he sequestered the hair under his cap and turned to leave—“we need to get back to the Wagon Wheel.”

~~~

As Artemis and Bright Eyes were thanking Gus for the key, the older stallion perked and ducked into his makeshift office, straightening his waistcoat and standing to attention.

“What’s up?” Bright Eyes cocked a brow and glanced behind herself at the empty platform.

“Train’s coming. Gotta be ready.”

The Pegasus flew a few feet into the air and scanned the horizon. “I don’t see anything.”

Gus Smirked. “Trust me.”

Twenty minutes later, a sleek, sky blue Northern Line Express train pulled up to the platform, and several uniformed ponies set about unloading cargo. As he signed the various chits and wavers, Gus chuckled at the stunned expressions of the two out-of-towners. “Hehe, gets ‘em every time.”

Artemis was the first to snap out of the spell, perking his ears and looking around as chatting voices drifted over through the crowd.

“And that is why fish are pure evil.”

“Wow. I’ll never look at a glacial trout the same way again.”

He trotted forward, gently shouldering his way through the throng of train workers until two cloaked mares, one very familiar, despite the large sun hat she wore, came into view. He smirked. “You know, I’d say it didn’t bother me to see you using another train but, I’d be lying.”

Daring looked up and grinned, jumping forward to give Artemis a hug that nearly knocked him off his hooves. “Artemis! How’d you know to come and meet me?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? Earth Ponies can see the future. Either that or it was a huge coincidence.” He briefly returned the hug before stepping back and frowning. “What are you doing here? I told you I could handle this myself. You’re supposed to be taking care of Fenrir and thinking about your next move.”

Daring waved a hoof dismissively. “Relax. I asked Minerva to look after him. She practically jumped at the chance to help you.”

Artemis’ cheeks took on a distinctly pink tinge, and Daring snorted, clamping her hoof over her mouth to suppress a fit of giggles.

“Did I hear you say ‘Artemis’? As in ‘Artemis Trotson’?” Angel trotted up behind Daring just as Bright Eyes caught up with Artemis. The former glowered and shoved her face into Artemis’, causing him to recoil and nearly trip over the latter. “Have you any idea the week I’ve had thanks to you?! Why were you never where anypony said you’d be?”

“Umm, excuse me?” Artemis squeaked. “Do I know you?”

Daring pulled Angel back so Artemis could stand back up. “Artemis, this is Angel Beats. She’s a local tour guide. Hooves basically hired her to be his personal assistant while he was here.”

“And last week, he sent me on a wild goose chase across half of Equestria looking for you.” Angel jabbed a hoof into Artemis chest. “Did you know Fillydelphia had seven train stations? I didn’t! Everywhere I went, they said I just missed you. It got to the point where I was sure it was all some kind of cruel joke!”

“Wait. Hooves wanted me to come and see him a week ago? Did he say what for?”

Angel snorted. “No. He was acting all edgy and distracted. Just said if I found you and brought you back here, he’d give me a ton of bits.”

“But they never had a written contract, and now that Hooves is dead, Angel’s out of pocket.” Daring gave the Bat Pony a little smile. “I offered to hire her to show me around Transylmaneia, make back some of her loses.”

Artemis cocked his head and smirked. “So, you weren’t following me, then?”

Daring wrapped him in another hug, then pulled away with a soft smile. “I’ll always be here if you need me, Artemis, but no. This is me taking that big step forward and helping a pony who needs it in the process.”

“Well, good for you. It’s nice to know at least one of us has a handle on the situation.”

Daring frowned. “Why? Are they not letting you take Hooves home?”

“No.” Bright Eyes jumped in to the conversation with a harrumph. “We have to wait to hear back from two other ponies before they let us take him.”

“Oh, sorry.” Artemis shook his head and waved a hoof from Bright Eyes to Daring. “Bright Eyes, this is—”

“A.K. Yearling!” Daring’s hoof shot forward so fast she nearly clipped Artemis in the nose. A rictus grin plastered her face as she tried to surreptitiously lower the brim of her hat.

Artemis narrowed his eyes, looking from the suddenly stiff Daring to Bright Eyes, who accepted the hoof bump with no hesitation. “Yeeeah. A.K. is my goddaughter. You know, the one I mentioned yesterday?”

“Oh, yeah.” Bright Eyes’ expression softened. “I heard you’ve been having a hard time recently. Are you okay?”

Daring glared at Artemis, who raised his hooves defensively. “Hey, I didn’t mention any specifics. There was context involved.”

Daring grumbled but sighed then turned back to Bright Eyes. “I’m fine, thanks. Just personal issues with a buck. I’d rather not talk about it if it’s all the same.”

Bright Eyes chuckled a bit and patted Daring on the shoulder. “Heh, say no more. Stallions. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.”

“Heh... yeah.”

“Anyway—” Artemis coughed “—Bright Eyes was called here to pick up Hooves too. So were two other ponies, but they haven’t showed up yet.”

Daring shrugged. “That’s your problem? Don’t worry about it. Think of it as time off to grieve.”

Artemis expression darkened, and he shared a look with Bright Eyes. “That’s not what I was talking about. I—”

“Artemis thinks Hooves death wasn’t an accident.” Bright Eyes rubbed one fetlock with the other, her tone tinged with scepticism.

“What?!” Daring and Angel recoiled in unison.

Angel squared her shoulders and lowered her head. Baring her teeth, she spoke with barely contained outrage. “What, exactly, are you implying?”

Artemis splayed his ears, having the courtesy to look abashed. “Nothing... yet. It’s still just a theory. I need to do some more investigating before I can say for certain.”

Daring sighed, her face a mask of pity. “Artemis... This is why I wanted to go with you in the first place. You just lost your oldest friend. Of course you want there to be some kind of reason behind his death, but... well, do you have any evidence to suspect foul play?”

“Some, but not enough.” Artemis stomped his hoof on the platform and snorted.

“You have a theory and a few loose ends.” Bright Eyes frowned and swished her tail. “I’m still not buying it.”

“There’s enough conjecture to re-examine the case. All I really need is one good, solid piece of evidence, and I can bring it to the Watch.” Artemis brushed the bill of his cap. “And I’m pretty sure I know where to find it.” He turned to Daring. “Bright and I need to head back to the local inn. Are you coming?”

“Actually,” Angel cut in, “I’ve been gone a while, and I’d kinda like to go see my aunt. I was hoping Dar, uh—” she caught her companion’s wide eyes and subtle head shake “—A.K. would come with me. She’s only here because the last pony I worked for didn’t sign a contract. I don’t wanna make the same mistake again.” She flashed Daring a bashful grin. “Not that I’m expecting you to drop dead or anything.”

Daring chuckled and turned to Artemis. “I’ll meet you at the inn later.” She placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Just, please be careful. I know how reckless grief can make a pony.”

Artemis smirked and raised his nose and hoof in a mock-solemn oath. “I promise I won’t do anything stupid, at least, not until you’re there to throw in and make me look like a wussy by comparison.”

The sandy mare snickered and gave Artemis a light punch in the arm. Just before she made to take off towards town with her soon-to-be-official guide, Artemis leaned in close and muttered, “A.K. Yearling?”

Daring briefly glanced at Bright Eyes before muttering back. “I know who that pony you’re with is. If she’s not using her real name, then she doesn’t want to draw attention. Neither do I.” She winked. “No harm in keeping a low profile.”

~~~

Daring felt a strange sense of déjà vu as she and Angel cantered along the uneven, cobbled streets of Transylmaneia. Angel had agreed to take the long way round to the Tourist Board so Daring could have a quick look around, and, as much as she wanted to keep a low profile, the sight of all the strange, centuries-old architecture had her bouncing around like a filly in a toy shop the day before Hearth’s Warming Eve. This must have been how Angel felt when she saw Canterlot.

“Oh, is that?” She ran up to a wall. “It is! Somepony actually turned a sixth century Anglebuck and Brawnsteed settler wagon into a bakery. Look, you can still see the pig iron braces! And there—” she flew to the other side of the street to examine a roof “—these shingles are royal ceramics from the Gryphonian revolution of 812!” She spun in the air, twitching this way and that as though her body was trying to head in several different directions at once. “This place is awesome! It’s like somepony took the contents of a museum and turned it into a town!”

“Well, that’s one way of putting it.” Angel called up from below. “Daring, you really shouldn’t be flying here. It’s not safe for Pegasi.”

Daring’s head continued to dart back and forth, but, eventually, she acquiesced and landed beside the Bat Pony. They carried on for a few minutes, Angel pointing out the occasional building or landmark, trying to make each sound as interesting as she possibly could, until they eventually reached the multi-faceted Transylmaneian Tourist Board.

Angel darted inside, leaving a bemused Daring to follow in her wake. “Aunty Autumn! Aunty Autumn, I’m home, and I brought a guest!”

The middle-aged, cardiganed mare stuck her head out from the back room, and her face split into a wide, warm grin. “Angel, dear!” Both Bat Ponies ran into one another’s embrace, both squeezing with equal fervour. “Sweetheart, I was so worried. You said you’d only be gone a few days.”

“Heh, yeah.” Angel blushed and scratched the back of her neck. “The job kinda... ran away from me. But I’m back now, and I brought somepony else who wants to hire me.” She sat back, and, with a proud grin, pointed at Daring. “Aunty Autumn, meet Da... I mean, A.K. Yearling. She’s big into history and came all the way from Dodge Junction just to see the place.” She wrapped a foreleg around the older mare and gave her a little nuzzle. “A.K. Yearling, meet Autumn Night, head of the Transylmaneian Tourist Board and the single brainiest pony this side of Canterlot. She’s forgotten more about this town that I’ll ever know.”

Autumn Night blushed at her niece’s praise and offered a hoof to Daring. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms Yearling. I hope we can make your stay worth the long trip.”

Daring accepted the bump and smiled, politely. “I look forward to it.”

Grinning from one pony to the other, Angel got up and headed for the back room. “Great! Well, I’m gonna go ditch my stuff and get that contract. You two talk amongst yourselves. I’ll be right back.”

Half an hour later, the contract was signed, cloaks and hats hung in the corner, and all three mares sat around the creaky table enjoying mugs of tea, fruit cake, and a spirited discussion about the history of the town.

Daring leaned forward on her elbows, her eyes glinting and her hooves waving emphatically. “Don’t get me wrong, the resourcefulness of the settlers in the area over the years has been nothing short of remarkable, but don’t you think it’s a shame that so many, potentially priceless, artifacts are being used as nothing more than construction material?”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Autumn Night sipped her tea, her face the picture of utter contentment. “But you must understand, in the days before the railroad, it was next to impossible to get supplies sent up from Equestria proper, and the Wintergreen Woods were simply far too hazardous to farm for lumber. Ponies had to make do with what they had or die from exposure.”

Daring took a big bite of cake and chewed loudly, pointing the cake at the elder Bat Pony. “Fair enough, but what about this ‘Downtown Transylmaneia’ Angel mentioned. Couldn’t the settlers have just moved in there?”

The slightest of frowns crossed Autumn Night’s features, and she sighed. She waved, vaguely, to the bottle wall and the town, just barely visible on the other side. “It would have been the right thing to, wouldn’t it? But after what happened, I’m afraid the Bat Pony Colony was never truly able to open up to and trust the other races again. Believe it or not, this town was was actually a big step forward. In the early days, any non-Bat Pony caught coming within ten miles of the watchtower which we now use as the town hall, would have been driven off at spear point.”

Daring frowned and cocked her head. “Wow, harsh. What happened exactly? Forgive me. It’s kind of embarrassing given my line of work, but I don’t know much about Bat Ponies or their history. Are you talking about some key event in your past?”

“Not just ours.” The elder Bat Pony set aside her tea and folded her hooves on the table. “Tell me, Ms Yearling, have you ever heard of a pony called Rafael Coltinado?”

Daring scratched her chin and leaned back in her chair, staring with unfocused eyes at a spot on the ceiling. “Yeah. He was kind of an obscure figure who apparently rose to power during the reign of Nightmare Moon. According to the few accounts I can recall, he was a powerful sorcerer, along the same lines as King Sombra, who used mind control to bend ponies to his will. He was believed to be one of the reasons Princess Luna went mad in the first place.

“When Nightmare Moon was banished, Coltinado and his followers were run out of Equestria by the good ponies to the... frozen... north. No?!” Daring’s eyes went wide, and she sat bolt upright in her chair. “The Bat Ponies? They were Coltinado’s followers?”

“Pffft, you make that sound like a bad thing.” Angel tossed the remains of her cake down on the table and pouted. “Typical. You pretty much told us the propaganda version of the story, verbatim. Why don’t non-Bat Ponies ever question it? It’s not fair!”

Daring’s ears wilted slightly. “Well, I’m sorry. I’m just going off what I read myself.”

Autumn Night smiled and passed her niece another slice of cake. “It’s alright dear. You’re right. That is the story most ponies know, unfortunately. The truth is it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Daring perked her ears and leaned forward, giving Autumn Night her undivided attention.

“Over a thousand years ago, in the tail end of the pre-Celestian era, Rafael Coltinado was the chief advisor to Princess Luna in all matters arcane and magical. He was, as you said, a very powerful sorcerer, easily the most powerful of his generation. He was not, however, evil, far from it.

“Coltinado was a master of mental magic and worked hoof in hoof with Luna herself to develop several powerful spells, including the ‘want it, need it’ spell, several variations of reform spell, and even the dream walking spell the princess uses to this day.

“Using his mastery of the mental realm, he maintained law, order, and peace in the name of the night princess.

“When Luna began to fall to jealousy and madness, Coltinado refused to leave her side. He was convinced that he could make his sovereign and friend see reason by showing her the loyalty and compassion she craved from her subjects.

“The Bat Ponies, for their part, had sworn an oath of eternal loyalty to Luna and trusted Coltinado’s judgement. But the nightmare Luna was becoming saw only treachery and deceit.

“There came a point when she asked Coltinado to cross a line he never could. She asked him to use his power over the mind to force the ponies of Equestria to love only her and to shun her sister and her sun.

“When he refused, and worse, when her Bat Pony followers agreed with his decision, Luna finally fell. She flew into a rage and banished them from Equestria, to suffer in the frozen wastes of the north, forever. That very night, I hear, Luna confronted her sister and declared herself ‘Nightmare Moon.’”

The elder Bat pony sighed and took a long draft from her mug. “Coltinado, for his part, was heartbroken, both at his failure and the loss of his dearest friend. He was a very old stallion, and such hardships were simply too much for him to bear. He passed away en route, and, out of respect, the first thing the Bat Ponies of the era did upon completing their journey was build a tomb for the great pony who had guided them well for generations and lost his life trying to rescue their princess.

“The central buildings in the town are, so they say, built around Coltinado’s tomb. They were the original settlement long before the caves most Bat Ponies now call home were even discovered.”

Daring’s eyes were bulging to the point where they threatened to pop right out of their sockets. A faint trail of drool fell from her mouth as dreams of new adventure and discovery flashed across her mind. “Wow. I’d really like to see that tomb.” She turned to Angel. “Can we go there first, like, right now?”

Angel rolled her eyes, and Autumn Night chuckled with a sound like tinkling bells. “Oh dear, don’t you think if we knew where the tomb was, the true story of Coltinado would be more widely known? Heavens, it’d probably be one of the biggest tourist attractions in Equestria.”

Daring sagged, knowing from experience that the older mare was right.

The elder Bat Pony reached over and patted her on the hoof. “Don’t worry, dear. You wouldn’t be the first to dream of that tomb. Coltinado was buried with all his worldly possessions, including a considerable fortune, and his personal journal. Can you imagine, a book containing all the secrets of a magic user so great even Luna herself sought his council? Such a treasure would be beyond the greatest dreams of avarice.

“In fact, this was the primary reason the Bat Ponies of the era refused Celestia’s offer to rejoin Equestria when Luna was gone. Oh, they claimed they were simply obeying their sovereign’s last order, but in reality, they were protecting the tomb from those who would plunder it and protecting those who sought plunder from the sorcerer’s curse.”

Daring’s ears perked. “Curse?”

“Yeah, they say the tomb is supposed to be cursed or something.” Angel chipped in, having had her fill of cake. “Apparently Coltinado’s sense of justice and honour lived on, even after he died. Anypony who tries to rob the place gets consumed by their own inner darkness.”

“Huh, sure they do.” Daring rolled her eyes. “No offence, it’s a great story and all, but I’ve seen plenty of tombs in my time. A few of them were booby trapped, but there is no such thing as curses.”

“And that, dear, is largely why the Bat Ponies of the past have had such a hard time opening up to the other races.” Autumn Night’s ears wilted, and she gazed into the contents of her mug. “The curse may or may not be real, but that isn’t the point. Other ponies seem to think that their lack of belief gives them the right to disturb what has been laid to rest.

“Ponies judge things on what they know, what fits into their idealised version of the world. If anything, be it an abstract concept, like a curse, or those who would stand by a figure that was publicly demonized, flies in the face of what they believe, they scoff and scorn and shun them until they go away. They think rules don’t apply to them just because they aren’t their rules.

“The truth is, Ms Yearling, that, had they not been banished, the Bat Ponies would have left Equestria eventually anyway. How could they live side by side with those who feared them for how they looked or hated them for honouring a different princess than everypony else?”

Daring hung her head and stared at her hooves, her entire form visibly wilting. She had always considered herself a very open-minded pony. She did her homework and tried to avoid taking things at face value. Yet she had just disrespected a group of ponies about which she knew nothing two times in as many minutes. What would her parents think?

She sighed. “Sorry.”