Day had broken again and the sun was fully up. Still the steam car had failed to encounter anyone along the long, winding dirt road. That seemed even less likely now since they had entered a new forest long before daybreak, and ever since then had seen nothing other than occasional wildlife. As the steam engine continued to make more laborious noises and the pressure gauge continued its slow descent, they nevertheless pushed it on farther and farther.
Sleep was impossible for almost anyone in the trackless engine, for by now they were so full that only the injured were able to lie down. Most of the people who were standing looked like zombies, after having been awake for at least two days. The cockpit area was no better. Both Double Diamond and Starlight Glimmer were crammed inside, both looking ready to nod off, with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer nearly crushed in over their shoulders.
Starlight looked at the pressure gauge again. She reached out and tapped it a few times, but when it didn’t change she sighed. “I think we have maybe 15 more minutes before we lose pressure all together. We’ve been on red for three hours now.” She turned to Diamond. “Get us in as deep as you can. We want to be off the beaten path as much as possible.”
“Relax,” Sunset answered tiredly. “You don’t think I would have used this road if Trottinghamites knew about it, do you? I rode it for years. It was an easy way in and out of the country.”
Starlight looked up at her briefly, still giving her an uncomfortable stare, before turning back. “Well, not like we have much choice. We certainly weren’t getting out of here going west.”
Twilight, looking uncomfortable herself, nervously looked up to Sunset when she saw her hold a cloth to the side of her face. “Uh…how’s your eye doing?”
Sunset frowned, turning to face Twilight and revealing a black eye with considerable swelling around it. “Not as bad as my eye socket…which I hope isn’t broken…”
“Yeah…sorry about that. I should have told Applejack faster. As bad as she looked, I really didn’t think she had the strength.”
Sunset sighed and looked forward again. “I think I’m just going to have to get used to people punching me in the face at first glance from now on…”
“You know…my brother could probably heal that up.”
“After what I did to him and his parents? I doubt that.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Wait…what?”
Sunset blanched. “…Nothing. Forget it.”
Twilight eyed her a moment more before deciding to drop it. She heard a shifting through the crowd behind her soon after, though, prompting her to turn and look around.
Behind her, all five girls were now gathered. Applejack was the one heading forward, her leg now heavily bandaged but with only a slight limp. The rest of her injuries from when she got the artillery blast had long since been healed by magic. Fluttershy was nearby, still with her own Anima Viri equipped but looking a little winded none the less. Pinkie Pie was on the other side, grinning from ear to ear, as she had been as soon as she realized she was back with the rest of the ladies. Rainbow Dash was already up front, leaning against the side of the cockpit entrance. Finally, Rarity, giving a bit of a “lady-like” yawn herself, joined on the opposite side. Everyone looked to Twilight with a mixture of expressions, but all of them had at least a slight smile.
She smiled back after a moment. “I wasn’t sure if it would ever happen that night in the Castle of the Two Sisters…but we’re finally all back together again.”
“Yeah, all of us Twilight!” Pinkie chirped. “Even Sunset Shimmer!”
This caused the smiles to vanish rather quickly. Rainbow Dash let out a mutter. Applejack cast a glare to the cockpit, her dominant fist tightening for another blow. Fluttershy began to play with her hair and look at the ground. Rarity turned her nose up slightly with a rather critical glance to the front.
As for Twilight, she grimaced slightly but ignored the comment. “I just wish we all could have gotten back together under better circumstances. I was hoping that everything would be over with by now, but it looks like we’re not quite out of the woods yet…”
“I’ll say,” Applejack grunted, “We gotta do something about Trottingham overrunnin’ Greater Everfree.”
Rarity turned to her in puzzlement. “Trottingham? I dare say that Trottingham is nothing compared to what Shining Armor told us about. The Nighttouched have grown a hundred times worse, in my opinion.”
“Forget about Nighttouched for right now,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, “We’ve got bigger fish to fry. Griffonstone figured out how to use Anima Viris too. They’re the biggest bad news out there.”
“Um…” Fluttershy spoke up mildly, “I don’t suppose before that we could do something about that armored person who…um…attacked Rarity and me?”
“Could we maybe wait until after we’re done saving my family, so long as we’re in Trottingham?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight was left staring dumb-founded. She uneasily looked to one side. “I…was going to mention those things in the sea south of Greater Everfree, but it kind of sounds like we got a lot on our plate already…”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it, darling,” Rarity answered with an eye roll. “And just wait until Starlight Glimmer tells you about what she found in the forest north of Manehattan.”
Twilight grimaced, taking a moment to close her eyes, rub the bridge of her nose, and exhale. “Ok…let’s try to sit down and start from the top. It sounds like we got a lot to sort out.”
“Let’s keep an eye on everyone else while we’re at it,” Dash added with a grimace as she looked over the contents of the car. “I don’t know if you noticed yet, but we’ve got quite a few people with Promethian Sigils on their hands in one spot. Last time that happened to us it didn’t go too well…”
Twilight’s pupils shrank a little on the realization, before she slumped and sighed again. “I better keep the Sealing incantation on standby…”
An hour later, the steam car was halted in what seemed to be a fairly desolate and isolated section of forest. The last bit of power was used to take it off road and into the woods to a point where it was as obscured as possible. After that, everyone dismounted from the interior and fanned out in the forest, mostly to stretch, lay down, or find a bit of water to drink. Those who were more able bodied set themselves up as sentries, but with no sign of Trottingham for over a day now they seemed to be in the clear.
Starlight Glimmer was the last to leave, and as soon as she did she headed for the front of the engine. A very dirty and sooty Double Diamond was looking at the open engine compartment and shaking his head. Clouds of smoke were still rising from it in spite of having stopped over twenty minutes ago.
She sighed. “What’s the damage?”
“Every piston is cracked, the boiler is leaking, one axle is snapped in half, another is misaligned, three valves aren’t working, and we’re out of coal.”
A loud clanging sound suddenly rang out from the engine, the result of something large and metal dropping to the ground.
He frowned. “I think that was the journal box.”
“Any chance we can fix it?”
He looked up to her with an aghast expression. “At this point I don’t think we can sell it for parts.” He groaned, running a hand through his hair. “Dad’s going to kill me…”
“Just hang in there. One day, we’ll get used to all this bad stuff constantly happening to us.” She sighed and turned away. “At least, I keep telling myself that…” she added before walking away.
She began to approach one side, where the six ladies had drawn away from the others. They had all taken positions in a circle and were talking to each other about everything they had experienced over the past few months. Standing a bit to one side and leaning against a tree with her arms crossed stood Sunset Shimmer, who for the most part was trying to avoid everyone while sticking close to Twilight in a relative sense.
As she stood there, she saw the radiance of an Anima Viri’s glow fall over her. She looked up at that, and gave a start and recoiled on seeing Shining Armor standing right next to her. His look wasn’t terribly friendly, but it wasn’t hostile either.
He stared at her a moment before he held up a hand in her face. “Here. Twilight showed me a spell on the way here.”
She cringed even more, expecting some sort of attack. However, one didn’t come. He simply closed his eyes and cast a healing incantation. Much to her surprise, in moments the swelling and pain around her eye began to diminish, and her vision cleared. After a few seconds he cut off, but her face was looking far better than before.
Without a word, he turned to walk away. Sunset was left open-mouthed and speechless for a second before she was able to call out.
“Wait.”
He halted, looking back at her.
“Why did you do that? After…after I…”
“You may like seeing people in pain, but I’ve seen enough of that to last a lifetime.” Without another word, he turned and walked off back to the others.
Sunset was left still staring. After a time, her mouth closed. She looked down and was uncomfortable again, but this time it didn’t seem for quite the same reasons. After a few seconds she looked back to the six women.
“…Then she just up and shot away like a bullet,” Applejack finished, frowning at the conclusion. “Right after that, Trottingham attacked. We probably could’ve held ‘em back a bit longer if she hadn’t smashed a hole through the trenches…”
“Let me get this straight…” Rainbow Dash interjected. “You’re saying even you couldn’t knock this person out when you were using your Anima Viri? And they did all that?” She hesitated, looking a bit uncertain, before grinning weakly. “Uh, heh…not bad…but…I’m sure I could pull it off…”
“I don’t think any of us could have pulled that off,” Twilight retorted, looking far more concerned. “Not only was whoever did that incredibly powerful, but obviously she knew something about Promethian Sigils. She wouldn’t have been looking over your hands if she didn’t. The question is…what?”
Dash frowned a little, inclining her head. “Yo Sunset. I don’t suppose whoever was in the armor was just like that tin can who used to run around with you, was she? Another one of your toadies?”
Sunset stiffened on hearing mention of the ‘tin can’ and hesitated. Finally, she frowned and shook her head. “He was the only one who had an advanced set of armor. And this doesn’t sound anything like whatever I came up with.”
“I think she’s right, everyone,” Rarity spoke up. “This person sounds just like the one who attacked Fluttershy and I, and that armor most certainly wasn’t as…shall we say…crude.”
Sunset looked slightly insulted at that, but looked away and said no more.
“You don’t think it was the same person, do you?” Fluttershy ventured.
Rarity touched a hand to her chin. “Well, they did both have symbols all over their armor suits, although some of the details Applejack related seem inconsistent with the one who attacked us. And the weaponry was definitely different… That reminds me, Twilight. The symbols on the suit of armor. They reminded me of some of the Promethian Sigils. I was wondering if you knew what they could mean.”
She shrugged. “Well, I’d be happy to give it a shot, but we don’t have it.”
Rarity smirked as she reached down for a stick. “Oh, pish-posh, darling. I remember it perfectly.” She tipped the end to a patch of ground and began to etch. “Let’s see here…”
“Oh, oh!” Pinkie spoke up excitedly. “And I got a piece of her armor that had a symbol on it too! Hang on…” With that, she began to reach into her own curly hair and fish around inside. As unusual as the gesture was, it was even more unusual a moment later when she produced a scrap of metal. She passed it over to Twilight, who accepted it and immediately began to study it.
After a few more moments, Rarity finished drawing her own symbol and leaned back. “There we are.”
Twilight looked at the emblem in her hands a little longer, then looked down to the ground. After glancing at that a while, she looked back to the metal again, and then back to the symbol on the ground. Her brow gradually began to furrow and she started to look troubled. Sunset gradually leaned her head up again, noticing the reaction, while the others leaned in and stared at her.
“This…this can’t be… Is it a coincidence?”
“Is what a coincidence?” Applejack spoke up.
“It…it doesn’t seem right, but…but these symbols look like the older character script from Headmistress Celestia’s books. The ones in her personal and private collections.”
This got Sunset to straighten up and off the tree again, piquing her curiosity.
“It could just be someone duplicating a similar pattern. I never learned every character, but…but these look very similar…”
After a moment, she looked back to Sunset again. Anticipating the question, she frowned and shook her head. “I didn’t go to any trouble teaching anyone else what few characters I knew. What good would that have done?”
She frowned a little, turning back to the symbols. “This doesn’t make sense… No one else knew about these who wasn’t in Equestria… So how did…?”
Fluttershy looked between the metal and the ground. “They’re definitely different…so maybe that means there was two of them…” she muttered aloud. “Can you make out what they say?”
Twilight only shook her head. “I can read the sounds, but…Celestia only taught me how to read some of the characters. The language they’re in is something else. I only learned a few words of that, and neither of these sounds like anything I remember.”
“What do they say?” Dash asked.
Twilight looked at the metal in her hand a bit longer. “This one reads…what sounds like…Dulcis Machina.” She looked at the one on the ground. “That one…says Malus Pumila.”
“Maybe those were their names?” Rarity suggested.
“If they were, that’s not terribly informative. All this really does is confirm there’s two of them, assuming it’s not one person changing their armor.”
“Nah, I think it’s two, Twilight,” Applejack spoke up darkly. “The one Rarity and Fluttershy talked about seemed like someone in a suit…but the one who came after me an’ Pinkie Pie?” She shook her head. “It was real funny… Like there weren’t nothin’ in there but gears and such. The armor kept openin’ up and all there was inside was more gizmos and doodads. Like it was nothin’ more than a big wind-up doll…”
“Sounds like something I might be able to weigh in on.”
Everyone looked up at that, and spotted Starlight Glimmer finally taking the moment to advance into the group. She inserted herself somewhat hesitantly in the circle, not knowing what else to do and feeling awkward just standing there. However, as soon as she was seated she turned to Twilight.
“I’ve been waiting for a chance to tell you about all of this, and now seems like a good time.”
“Oh yes, Twilight,” Rarity spoke up immediately. “In all the confusion I almost forgot, but I think you’ll find this very interesting.”
“And…maybe just a little spooky…” Fluttershy added quietly.
Her interest clearly stoked, she turned fully to Starlight. Before she had a chance to say anything, however, she was already getting into it.
“Alright, where to start… After the night vanished over Equestria, Manehattan started contracting people to head into the interior to do work on clearing the roads. So I got the idea that the Lunar Discovery Society would, um…well…” She did some hand waving. “Sort of ‘sublet’ itself out as one of those hired companies. I figured it would be the best way to get into Equestria to look for you and more information on what was going on. Not to mention earn some money on the side. So we got to work in the area northeast of Manehattan and started to work our way in that direction toward Canterlot. In the meantime, I brought that book that Sunburst had given me and, using your translation from it, I tried working out if I could decipher any more of it. Learn the symbology, you know? Maybe use it as a cryptographic key?”
She took a deep breath as she began to reach for a stick of her own.
“Well, long story short, for over a month we didn’t really get anywhere except a lot of sore backs and damaged machinery moving underbrush, logs, rocks, and wreckage out of the way. That was until about two weeks ago. Sugar Belle and Party Favor had half of our group doing a branch road while we were working on the main one. They come to us saying that, on a hunch, they took a side branch and followed it all the way to its end, even though it was looking as if it was never a main road to begin with. They ended up finding a barely navigable path through a rocky ravine that ended up in an area with a rock face. And there, they found this.”
Using the stick, she began to etch a symbol of her own on the ground. It took her some time to fully fill it out, but when she was done most of the women looked at it in surprise. By now, they had seen enough of the Equestrian symbology to recognize it when they saw it. However, Twilight’s expression was much different. It was wide-eyed and her mouth loosened a little.
None of them were paying attention to her, but Sunset looked over it as well. When she saw it her face made the same expression.
“It was covering a slab of rock. Looking over it for a while, Party Favor figured out it wasn’t natural. He had Sugar Belle call me over. Once I got there I studied it for three full days before I finally found a special switch on the side. When I hit it, the slab slid aside like it was a door. Now…here’s where things get weird. We tried walking inside, and lights came on. All on their own. They weren’t candles and they weren’t gaslights either. They were just…I don’t know…glass tubes that started radiating light. I looked at one of them and it seemed like small little strips of metal were glowing brightly. I don’t know how or why. All I know is I heard some sort of humming in there. Maybe it was magic or something, but…it only got weirder from there.
“The whole interior was covered with a metal alloy I’ve never seen before. Something very shiny, though. Not dirty or grimy with soot or smoke from a boiler at all. It was some sort of building or structure built into the rock mountain, but it was an architecture I’d never seen before. Air rushed out through these gratings and vents everywhere. More of those lights lit up on their own as we walked through it. There were doors without handles or hinges everywhere, and they just opened up as we got near.
“Then we saw the real weird stuff. There were places at what looked like desks or shelves, only they didn’t have writing tools or paper or books or anything. Instead…and I swear I’m telling the truth…the writing was just hovering there over these special pads. Like they were being drawn with light. It was all more of those symbols and I could only decipher a word here and there, but I think they somehow managed to write down their words with light. That had to be some sort of magic at work. And finally, we made it into the inner chambers.”
She shifted weight, looking even more serious.
“There were machines in there that I can’t even describe. I won’t even pretend to know what they could all do, but it looked like some sort of science lab. The biggest thing, though, was that there were at least a dozen big glass tubes in the room, and I could tell there were even more in the back in other rooms. Most of them were empty, but what was in some of them was pretty freaky. They looked like…well…like animals but only…not.” She sighed. “I don’t know how to explain it. It seemed like some of them were…well…how do I say it… It was like you could tell some of them were trying to be other animals, but they…they were somehow coming up short. There was one thing that really caught my eye, though. It was kind of hard to miss.”
She leaned in closer.
“As soon as we started moving into the room, we saw something jump up and start going wild in one of the tubes. I have no idea how long it’s been in there or what’s keeping it alive, but there was no mistaking it. The darkened fur, the glowing eyes…it was a Nighttouched.”
The area went still. The women stared back at Starlight in wide-eyed amazement for several seconds.
“A Nighttouched?” Applejack echoed.
“Why in the world would there be a Nighttouched in there?” Rarity asked. “Wait…do you mean to tell me that someone actually captured one? And was studying it?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea, but that’s certainly what it looked like,” Starlight answered. “I can’t tell for sure because I really don’t know what those machines were for. But they were highly advanced, and they had marks of the same symbology style all over them that was in my book. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Now I heard you all say that you ran into people with armor that, from my perspective, sounds like extremely advanced technology. I’m guessing it’s the same kind as what I saw. That can’t be a coincidence either.”
Twilight hadn’t changed. Fluttershy turned to her, seeing her still staring at the symbol. “Are…you alright?”
“You recognize that or something, Twilight?” Dash asked.
She was quiet a moment more.
“That’s…the symbol of the inner palace of Canterlot… What Celestia kept on all of the private rooms…”
The group went still again, not exactly sure what that meant—only that it unsettled Twilight and Sunset alike. That much was obvious from the look on her own face. After a time, she finally blinked and swallowed. She looked back up to Starlight afterward. “I’d like to see this place, if you don’t mind. As soon as we can.”
“Yeah, ‘bout that…” Applejack spoke up with a grimace. “Might be a little hard right now, as that’s way over in Equestria on the other side of Greater Everfree and here we are.”
Twilight winced, seeming to remember their current situation. “Er…right. How do we look right now?”
Starlight let out a sigh. “Let’s see… No food, no water, no transportation, we’re stuck behind enemy lines in the home territory of a hostile nation, and seeing as this is a forest we could accidentally run into hiding Nighttouched at any moment. Offhand, I’d say pretty bad. Plus we probably shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.”
Twilight groaned, rubbing her hand along her face. “Right… Ok, first things first. We can’t stay here. We have to find some place where everyone can stay that’s reasonably safe and then take care of everyone’s immediate needs. After that, we can plan our next move.”
“Good luck finding those in Trottingham…” Dash muttered.
“Oh, oh, I know!” Pinkie Pie spoke up, waving her hand excitedly.
Twilight turned to her momentarily, realized she was treating this like it was a “classroom” with her hand up, and then pointed. “Um…yes, Pinkie?”
“My family’s quarry isn’t that far from here! Only about eight miles!”
Both Twilight and Starlight looked up. “Really?”
“Sure! I recognize these woods! I used to go through them all the time when I was younger!”
That caused a round of puzzled expressions from everyone, including Sunset. “Isn’t that…a bit…d-d-dangerous?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“Well yeah,” Pinkie Pie nearly giggled, “but it’s no big deal for me because-” She paused, suddenly cutting herself off. “Oops!” Her voice dropped into a whisper. “That’s a se-cret.”
Twilight thought about that reaction for a second before shrugging. “Alright, well, I don’t have any better ideas. If no one else does either, I’d say we go for it.”
“I think eight miles through forest is a bit of a stretch for some of us,” Starlight answered, “but I think we can make it.”
“Alright then. Let’s get up and get everyone ready to move.”
Pinkie Pie let out an excited squeal before popping up and merrily bouncing off to everyone else, while the rest of the group more slowly picked themselves up and began to follow afterward. As she stood, Rarity’s face looked somewhat unsure and hesitant. Applejack noticed as she rose and glanced back to her.
“Somethin’ wrong, sugarcube?”
“It just occurs to me that considering how Pinkie is, I’m rather puzzled as to what sort of…ahem…fine people make up the rest of her family.”
Applejack’s mouth swished. “Yeah…I reckon we’re in for a right sight.”