As you waited patiently for a 15-minute bus ride back to Las Pegasus after three straight nights of partying alternated with being a stagehand, you couldn’t help but wonder what this ‘Gathering of Embers’ event being advertised at the truck stop was all about. On your way out, however, you wound up bumping into a mysterious pegasus that called herself “Blast Furnace”. She recognized you from over the weekend, and was all but interested in explaining what this Gathering thing was about. Her enthusiasm over this event you’ve never heard of was no surprise, given that her extended family has direct involvement in it. As if your career as a lighting technician hasn’t dragged you into interesting subcultures already.

All the stuff she was talking about was intriguing; camping out in a temporary city in the middle of a desert near Reino that disappears entirely when it’s all done, weird experimental art, campsites hosting DJs you’ve never heard of before, everyone dressing up like they’re an extra in that Project Horizons movie (everypony loved it, although the critics thought it was a bit too long), and a gigantic bonfire involving some form of ‘wicker mare’ that represented a mythical being of evil that has long been banished to a different realm. She even offered to provide you with orientation to deal with the “finer points” of the event, although the mere fact that there are finer points alone are a tad odd.

One thing you do know for sure, is that this may be a good way to get your mind off a certain pony that clearly has a grudge on you for trying to reveal something that not even you are quite sure about. But If this Gathering were such an obscure event, surely Obscurus wouldn’t even even try to seek you out in the middle of nowhere, right? You’d think…