//------------------------------// // Daybreak: Prologue - The Coming Storm, Part I // Story: Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories // by Piccolo Sky //------------------------------// “Ngh…ggh!” For a very brief moment, there was the cold, hard feeling of reality almost slapping her in the face or, more appropriately, coming crashing down on her entire body. Far different from waking up from most nightmares, where there was a gradual transition to reality, there were just a few moments of seeing fire, darkness, blood, and teeth…and then it was over. And for a moment afterward, all she saw was the dark little chamber she was half-crammed inside. She didn’t have time to comprehend where she was before the pain followed. Her eyes, still wide with fear and panic, slowly enlarged and bulged, and she stiffened as if she was choking before she slowly leaned back, arched her body, and began to cry in misery. Agony radiated through every inch of her, from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes. Even her insides hurt. She swore she could feel each individual organ sore and twisted inside her. She wasn’t sure how long she was left lying back and unable to move. Somehow through her moans and slow writhing she saw she was in somewhere ruined and wrecked. Her tortured mind barely recalled surroundings like this on board airships, only well-lit and not half-ruined and compressed. The only light came from cracks in it walls, allowing daylight to filter in a few thin streaks. She was lying back on something that felt like a mixture of rags, hay, and dead leaves to try and create bedding. Some sort of thick cloth being used as a blanket covered most of her. Eventually, the initial pain subsided. She wasn’t sure if it was her body adjusting or genuinely feeling better, but she was able to relax. Even then, simply lying there hurt and she continued to moan softly. She felt dizzy and her mouth was dry. Most of all, however, was one of her arms. It felt burned… Vague memories began to return. In spite of her agony, her eyes opened a bit wider. Her vision would have been blurry even without the lack of lighting and trying to lean up only hurt more. She was able to lift her arm, however, and slowly held it in front of her face. A bit to her surprise, other than being dressed in rags, a few abrasions and irritations, and covered in ash and filth, she was alright. She realized the reason she could still move in spite of her pain wasn’t that she was traumatically injured in any one part but minorly injured all over. She never counted any of those blessings, however, for her eyes were right on the back of her hand where her Promethean Sigil was supposed to be. Gone. Nothing but bare skin and a pale, splotchy, scar-like outline where it had been. Her pupils shrank into pinpricks. Her moaning terminated with a hollow gasp. Her pain and dehydration no longer mattered. She stared at that hand silently with a look of ever-growing dread. Finally she swallowed. With some effort, she moved her fingers to trace a symbol. Her dry throat croaked a few arcane syllables and she executed. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even drawing the symbol had been nothing more than waving her fingers. She tried again, a simpler spell this time. Nothing. She tried a cantrip. Still nothing. More of her pain subsided in the wake of the adrenaline from her growing fear. She suddenly held her hand into the air. It took even longer for her to get the air and to wet the inside of her mouth, but she managed. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Wondrous Beauty—Mistmane!” Nothing. No aura. No power. Absolutely nothing. Her face paled. She began to breathe heavily. She stammered a little before she held her hand up again. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Bravest of Champions—Flash Magnus!” Still nothing. “N…no… No…no…no-no-no-no…!” She held her hand up again. “Member of my house, I command you! Rockhoof! Somnambula! Mage Meadowbrook! Anyone!” To her horror, absolutely nothing. She pulled her hand back down and looked at the other side. Totally blank. The splotches of a scar for where the Promethian Sigil used to be were clear enough, but there wasn’t even a trace of a rune of the five she once commanded. She began to tremble. Her body slowly began to cringe in on itself. She gazed about almost like a cornered animal. “You’re awake.” She snapped around with such violence that one would have thought she heard a snake hissing or a bear growling, especially as she used whatever strength she had to try and shrink away from the voice. Even when she caught herself she still looked terrified. An “entrance” of a sort, one that could only be crawled into and out of, was on one side of the chamber. A bit of old cloth had been pushed aside and a man crawled in and rose up to kneeling height near her. Only half of his royal armor was still there. Part that was missing included the face guard for his helmet. She couldn’t recall the last time she had seen him without it. One arm, his chest, and one leg were all hastily dressed, but even then he had fairly recent injuries and a great deal of dirt covering him. “F…” she slowly murmured, “F…Flash…” He didn’t say anything but simply came closer and began to raise his arms toward her. At once she recoiled, ignoring her pain to draw her arms closer to herself. It was impossible to misinterpret the look in her eyes: fear and suspicion. He stared back, not changing his own look in the least, before he held up his arm. An old canteen was hanging from a sling in it. “You have to be thirsty.” She didn’t move, but her face showed some puzzlement. Definitely not something she had been expecting. He proceeded to lower it and unscrew the top, then reached out to her. She stiffened and nearly recoiled again, but she was too weak for that. Even then, she winced as if she was expecting pain, but relaxed, again looking puzzled, as he slipped the arm behind her neck and shoulders and lifted her up. He brought the canteen to her lips soon after. She clasped them shut a moment, trembling even harder, as if afraid to drink. However, he kept holding it there, and eventually the feeling of thirst overrode her fear and she sipped. The little bit she had immediately made her gag and cough, but Flash held away long enough for her to get it up and then offered her more. He did so until she had quite a bit. It wasn’t the best tasting water in the world but she was so thirsty she took it anyway. The whole exchange took several minutes of silence. Not once did Flash ever look at her with amusement or satisfaction. When she was finally done, she expected to be almost dumped, but he eased her back down where she lay before he lifted up her blanket. She was fearful again, but he simply looked underneath idly before reaching around and feeling on cloth beneath it. “I didn’t feel any broken bones before. Can you feel any?” She was struck by the question. “B…Broken…?” “I thought you might have had some based on how I found you. Lots of first degree burns. A couple second that I bound up, though I think you’ll be lucky if they don’t get infected. Bumps and bruises. Your side was swollen and purple. Looks like some broken ribs there but I didn’t feel. You were already breathing funny. I didn’t want to make it worse by shoving a broken rib into a lung.” He replaced the cloth. “That arm, though… I think it has nerve damage. It kept twitching while you were out of it.” She took this in silently, still lying there. She looked rather like a sick child awakening in the care of a strange adult and too timid to even move let alone say anything. “No food, I’m afraid. Nothing you’d want to risk eating… Water’s been fine, though. I had to take a drink a week ago to keep from dying from dehydration and I haven’t gotten sick yet.” Finally, she moistened her lips and, with reluctance, forced herself to speak. “Where…are we?” “Still in Equestria.” She hesitated. She looked to the ceiling again. Sure enough, light was still streaming through the cracks. And from the looks of it, it was natural sunlight. “Equestria…? But…but how…? How is the sun…” She trailed off. Her eyes had a look of remembrance within them. A moment later, her fear increased as she remembered other things associated with it. A second later, she winced before falling back again. She instinctively raised her other hand for her head, but she only winced and cried out more from the pain. “You should take it easy, Lady Sunset. You’re not in the best shape right now.” She looked back to the royal guard. She opened her mouth purely on instinct, as this was normally the time she would say something biting or give a snide retort. Nothing came out. The moment passed like a ripple on a pond. Soon her mouth shut again. She even grasped the edge of the cover that acted as her blanket. She hadn’t done that since she was a small child scared of the dark in Canterlot Castle. “How…what…what happened?” Flash looked at her a moment. He then took a deep, tired breath and leaned to one side, propping himself against the wall of the chamber and resting against it. He took a drink from the canteen himself before wiping his forehead. “I don’t remember all of the night myself. I managed to crash land my chariot but I was knocked out by the impact. That probably would have been the end for me if the Rising Sun hadn’t sunk soon after.” He exhaled and wiped his lips; his eyes turning grim. “I think the Nighttouched and the Light Eaters preferred a ship half full of ‘fresh meat’ to one man. I tried to help but by the time I regained my senses and got my armor even partially working, that snake-like one had four heads coiled around it and the entire ship was on fire. I could only try and get myself out of there. I think something had to have been attracting their attention besides the ship because I heard a lot of them screaming in pain before I was able to get the chariot into a small hover, and that took me a couple hours easy.” Sunset looked down at her chest but said nothing. “Taking off was a bad idea, though. I only got maybe half a mile before they were on me. I still had some power so I tried to fight them off and fly through it. Might have gone two whole miles after that before I crashed again. I still remember trying to spear them while they were ripping my armor off bit by bit. They were just starting to get their claws into me when it happened. Some big pillar of moonlight up in the northwest ignited.” He shook his head in disbelief at the memory. “All the Light Eaters…they just up and faded away like they were rain clouds in the wind. All the Nighttouched wanted the light instead of me, so they went that way.” He exhaled again as he leaned back. “Not long after that, a light went out again. This one looked like fire. I don’t know what that meant, but the sun rose soon after. The sun…right here over Equestria. That long night is finally over. I don’t know how or why but it’s done.” He paused here. He looked down at his body, and saw how casually he sat. For once, he broke decorum to let out a small snort. “I don’t know why that doesn’t make me more happy…” He hesitated a moment before continuing. “There was something else that came out of the pillar right before it faded. A flaming ball or streak. Like a meteor. It landed not far from here and I checked it out and I found you lying in the middle of a fire that got started from the landing.” He turned to her. “Were you the one who ended the night, Lady Sunset?” She hesitated. Even being looked at by Flash made her nervous again. Yet after a moment, she grimaced. She looked again at her chest. “No.” It was obvious there was more to it than that, but Flash said nothing. He stared only a moment before looking away. “You were in worse shape than you are now, but I picked you out and extinguished you. Unfortunately, this place is surrounded by forests. I found out the hard way the Nighttouched aren’t gone; just the Light Eaters. Where it gets shady enough, they’re running around during the day. I realized they’d come out again when night fell, so I knew we had to get to shelter somehow. All I could find was what was left of the Rising Sun. So long as the lights are out, we keep quiet, and we’re surrounded by the smell of ash and metal, it looks like the Nighttouched don’t look here.” She swallowed. She tried to speak bolder; recalling how she used to sound when in command. Instead, a timid voice was all that came out. “How…how long have we been here?” “About ten days. I had a couple emergency rations on board my chariot. Those have long since run out. I can’t get around as easily lately…” He grunted as he pushed himself up onto his knees again. “I’ve been trying to find something we can eat out here in between looking for ways to signal for help. The flares were destroyed in the crash so I’m trying to do something for a flagpole. For right now, though, if I can’t find food for us we’ll survive the Nighttouched only to starve to death.” He began to turn around to go for the exit. “W-wait.” He paused, turning back at once. Sunset stared at him for several moments. One of her hands was half-unclutching the blanket to reach for him. However, she wasn’t able to say anything. At last, she let it fall. Her head bowed again. “Nothing.” “I’ll return soon,” he stated simply, before turning and heading out. Soon the cloth was covering the entrance and she was alone again. Sunset leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Even still being very much in pain, her attention was now fully on herself and her state. She looked down to her now-blank hand again and again, and each time trembled and cringed a bit more. She closed her eyes once or twice, trying her best to remember herself as bold, confident, and in control. The sort of person who shamelessly strutted into the regent’s study and propped her boots up on the table and lit up a cigarette. She couldn’t. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t. On top of all that, it only made her crave a smoke on top of everything else. So many thoughts were running through her head that she couldn’t focus on any single one. She was mentally paralyzed and physically immobile. The look on her face of pain, confusion, and even fear never left her. She didn’t know how long she lay there but it couldn’t have been more than a half hour when she heard a whistle through the cracks in the chamber. Wind began to rush through them, and far faster than normal. Her thoughts broke enough to listen above her and hear as it got louder and blew through what had to be trees or plants around them. Soon after, she began to hear the hum of an airship’s engines. With all she had heard, the sound should have surprised and excited her. Instead, her fear became so palpable she almost felt an icy chill about her heart. The noise died down not long after. Several more minutes passed but she heard other noises outside. They too lasted a time before the flap turned. Flash came crawling in again. As soon as he was inside and kneeling, he called to her. “You woke up just in time, my lady. A Trottingham search party just landed. They spotted the wreckage of the Rising Sun and touched down.” Again she should have been comforted. Instead she gave a visible quiver. “Can you stand?” Sunset didn’t answer. She couldn’t, although her mouth opened and closed a few times. Somehow Flash must have interpreted that as a negative for he moved over to her. Soon he was reaching out to pull back the cover. “I’ll help you up.” “N-n-no!” He froze. The sudden force that Sunset had used to make herself finally spit something out surprised her as well. Yet when she turned to Flash she couldn’t say any more as a result. He waited for a few moments before responding. “They’re waiting for us outside. I told them I was just going to pick you up and-” “I…I…I don’t want to go with them!” Again, Flash hesitated. Sunset was screaming at herself mentally now to try and at least pretend to be the persona she was before this incident, but she was too emotionally crippled. She couldn’t even manage enough of a voice to squeeze out what she had discovered about herself, although, in all honesty, she wasn’t sure she wanted to admit that. Finally, he spoke again. “Lady Sunset, you need a doctor. There’s one for field medicine on board until you get back to Trottingham and you can get proper treatment. We can’t stay here.” She continued to shake for half a minute. Finally, she swallowed. It took all of her focus just to make a straight face, but she kept trembling as she finally managed a curt, silent nod. Drawing as much of her dignity as she could, she let the royal guard help her slowly get off her ramshackle mattress. From there, even getting out of the shelter was agonizing. Trying to walk on her knees felt like she was shoving red hot nails into them and her entire body protested and ached with every move. Not to mention the effects of hunger began to be felt as she was dizzy and weak. She had to force herself two steps at a time pausing to compose herself between each set, but slowly she made her way out to the entrance. Flash moved in front of her and pulled back the cloth, then extended his hand. She looked at it only a moment before taking it. With a sharp pull, he brought her both out and up to her feet. Almost too fast for her legs to get underneath her, but fortunately she still had strength yet to stand even if it was painful. She wobbled as soon as she was up, however. Before she could stop herself, the royal guard quickly stepped forward and stood straight and tall, such that she was able to stop herself against him. She grimaced a little as she felt herself do that, but she didn’t focus on it. Instead, she turned her head to her rescuers… Before she could even lay eyes on them, she heard the clicks of a chorus of rifles. By the time she fully turned her head, she saw twenty-five different Trottingham soldiers completely surrounding the bit of wreckage from the Rising Sun with their guns aimed at her looking steely enough to shoot at the slightest provocation. Sunset went rigid. She was so shocked she didn’t even think to look to the royal guard, or she would have seen him looking just as surprised. The airship was landed nearby in the middle of an Equestrian day, but she hardly cared for any of that. Only the fact she was at gunpoint and defenseless. The commanding officer of the group wasted little time. Her own personal firearm was out, but nearby two soldiers were poised at the ready for her command. She motioned them both forward. “Lieutenant,” Flash began to say, “what is-” “Lady Sunset Shimmer,” the officer cut off, “by order of Regent Cinch, you are hereby under arrest for seven counts of misconduct on the battlefield, including reckless endangerment and treason. The executive decision hereby stipulates that, upon your recovery and detainment, you are to be brought to the regent at once.” The two soldiers approached and faced Sunset. She was still propped against Flash, unable to stand, but she looked down and saw what they had brought. Manacles, obviously, but unusual ones. Unlike the standard kind she saw that they were built like rigid, immobile iron gloves. Ones, she quickly realized, she couldn’t move her fingers in. “We have further received the following order: if you speak in any way, shape, or form, even to utter a single syllable, you are to immediately be shot.” Sunset tensed. She began to breathe more intensely as her fear became evident again. Nevertheless, she was helpless to do much as one of the soldiers roughly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away from the royal guard. Soon her hands were roughly seized and being crammed into the tight iron gloves. Flash looked up. “Lieutenant, I-” “I’m sorry, sir,” she cut off, addressing him at last as the guards continued to roughly bind Sunset. “We thought that Lady Sunset might become violent or attempt an escape if we told you the full story. You do not stand accused of any wrongdoing. Please accompany us back to Trottingham for debriefing from the regent.” As Sunset gave a cry from the iron clasps pinching her flesh as the gloves were snapped down and roughly locked, half of the soldiers stowed their guns and began to turn back. The others moved forward, never lowering the barrels for a moment, and flanked her. Soon she felt a sharp shove in the small of her back, forcing her toward the airship. She had no idea how she kept her footing, but she did and now could only be forced forward painfully. To be continued...