“The piggies were not to be disturbed-”
― Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead
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The North East Outskirts of Appleloosa
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Over the course of the night it was explained that a set of bandits had taken over Appleloosa as well as the neighboring tribes of buffalo. They were supposedly lead by a strange creature that none of them had ever seen before, and they had enough power in numbers and strength to subdue the poorly armed citizens of the town as well as meet the leaders of several tribes in combat and had taken their various leaders as hostage.
Equestria as a whole didn't know this operation, because while there were still several tribes of buffalo free, none of them had a mailing system to alert another town other than the one that was being occupied. The next nearest town was weeks of traveling away and by the time the reinforcements got back, several folks would be dead. That, however, was a minor problem in comparison to the other problem of restless spirits that they had. Apparently the intruders had been trampling sacred burial grounds as well, and that was causing massive unrest among the dead community, causing shamans to freak out at a coming catastrophic wave of unrest that only the communicators with the dead as well as a few selective warriors of the tribes could see.
Soul was effectively the solution with both problems, it seemed. With his unnatural combat style as well as assigned job that came with his form, if Arceus had ordered so, he had naught more to do but follow to the best of his abilities. His resolution towards the pokemon Deity was what had kept him going towards the pony filled town afterwards, despite his own reservations about approaching the town. Should word of his sighting leave this place, provided that he succeeded, he would have to make haste towards another sector of Equestria before the guards and other innocents came hunting for him. Behind him, Enda floated about, easily visible to him in his gaze, but otherwise invisible to the untrained in the rising light of the sun.
"Almost there, a bit father and we should see the town any moment now." the ridge they were climbing was a bit steep, but if Enda's predictions we're true, they should be arriving in town about a half hour before noon...
"Indeed and with them, a number of other things, no?" Soul replied, with a tone of slight depression, he would rather not approach a pony settlement if he could help it, especially since his kind of 'magic' was typically what ended up getting him hunted in the first place back in his region of reaping of departed souls, he really didn't want to think overly much about it though.
"Ahah, there it is!" Enda shouted from above, and Soul redoubled his pace, going from a walking pace to a jog, and eventually becoming a full on charge.
He'd rather not deny the inevitable, and lose the temporary notion of surprise. What with being a large flaming chandelier of purple fire and all. Just what had caused this amount of turmoil that his boss had called him anyway...?
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Equestrian Palace, Anti-Magic Ward 03.
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"It can understand us, correct?" The tall mare towered over the nearby stallion, aside from him was a massive pile of parchment that was scattered regarding the strange creature across a window length, which was peacefully polishing its mask occasionally casting a furtive glance towards the mirror, as if it had been on both sides of such things on more than one occasion.
"Indeed, though he, or it, as we can't really tell its gender from lady Sparkles notes, isn't really able to talk that much back. Nor does he have the capability to write, as we asked and only got a body shake of a general no, before it repeated its own name... again." The guard assigned to watch the cell was none other than lieutenant Grounding, a promising officer who showed potential of replacing Shining Armor should the later be somehow end up preoccupied. Celestia noted the page he was on, already three quarters done with the packet mere hours after having handed it to him. He was another unicorn, not out of preference but because of a number of reasons including the sheer amount of paperwork he'd eventually go through as with this occasion.
Celestia's gaze took back towards the creatures mask, that it refused to be parted with, for very good reason. As her guard reminded her, "Gotta admit, your highness, this creature is among the more disturbing variety that I've read about in my studies, a soul of a deceased human being, praytell what those are, turned into a being with all its memories yet none of its voice, and carrying away from their deceased transformation a mask of their likeness."
"Truly a gruesome fate, Lieutenant. Though have magic been devised for two way communications rather than just one way?" Celestia asked again, calmly replacing the focus on her original intent, "I'd very much like to have pleasantries exchanged before I'm wisked away to deal with the matters of the court till the night falls."
"Research is being studied as we speak your highness," The Grounding affirmed, "There is a number of spells that promoted early day speaking between various species of sentient races, we've been at work converting them to allow an enchantment to happen upon this... Pokemon. Its a wonder that any of them can speak at all, let alone two that we've witnessed so far speaking. The dex entries says that they aren't known for... vocabulary."
"Keep me updated then lieutenant." Celestia nodded to the smaller stallion, and turned to trot off, sighing as she thought over the various intricacies of the world around her, too much work to do. Plans for her student, insufferable nobles, the signs of greater trials ahead, and the general chaos of everyday life was getting to her. Maybe she could just grab a bit of cloud cake before heading back to the throne room...