The zebra sat in the corner of the dark tavern, the hood on her cloak drawn low, obscuring her features. She watched the local bat ponies, nursed her flagon of fruit cider, and pondered. Xarame had been drawn to this place, Hollow Shades, by tales of some mysterious evil terrorising the locals, and evading all attempts at capture, or even identification. She had made her way there partially out of curiosity, but also out of a desire to stop whatever evil it was from victimising the innocent. She felt it was something she needed to do; a much needed cause to strive towards... The ponies here were a tight-knit community, and wary of strangers, it seemed, but they had treated her no worse than any pony town she had visited; if anything they were more accepting of her stripes than their day-loving kin. She had been there a couple of days, talked to a few bat ponies, and listened to many more, but was still none the wiser as to the exact nature of the threat facing the town, as each mare and stallion seemed to tell a conflicting story. And so she sat, and watched, and pondered, and tried to think what her next step might be...
Meanwhile, Silver had just arrived. This was one of the places, actually, that he had never been before in his travels. For the most part, the bat ponies were self-sufficient, and did not ask for help, or really interact with the rest of Equestria much at all. However, it was still his job to keep them safe, no matter how isolated they wanted to be. He trotted into town...which was completely dark, of course. It was almost as if it was underground, but no, it was simply that the canopy of the forest allowed no sunlight through. The perfect living place for bat ponies. Not so much for him. He tried to keep the light emanating from his horn as dim as possible, and to avoid tripping over things.
Xarame finished eavesdropping on a story being told by a particularly loud bat pony about how he'd seen the beast materialise out of the very shadows themselves, and how he had bravely ran to safety, then jotted down some notes in her notepad. The one thing all the stories seemed to have in common was that nopony had ever seen the creature clearly. (Apologies for the late reply, I've been having a bit of a creativity drought lately )
Continuing on, he made his way to a building, where there seemed to be a fair bit of activity. Upon closer examination, there also seemed to be a fair bit of alcohol, at which Silver frowned, but ponies were ponies. He trots through the door, his white cloak not helping him blend in much, but then again, he wasn't really trying to. He scanned the tavern once, then twice, looking for visual leads. The dim light of his horn barely revealed the room for him, but some bat ponies could be seen becoming a bit agitated by it.
Xarame studied the new arrival with interest and mild annoyance; she'd been in the town long enough to acclimatise to the darkness somewhat, and like the bat ponies, she found the light from the pony's horn hurt her eyes. Still, this unicorn could only realistically be here for only one reason; the same reason she was. He might prove useful, she thought, or he might be a liability, souring the mood of the locals, and preventing her from acquiring any more information... She decided to watch him for a while, pulling down the hood of her cloak further, partially to shade her eyes, but also to hide her striped face. A pony like him had to have been sent by the Princesses, and she was no friend of the crown; if they were to talk, she would have it be on her own terms, somewhere she would have the upper hoof.
