Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Daybreak: Upstanding Youths

“They’re doing what?!”

Twilight’s exclamation was so loud that Sunset dropped her book and looked up in alarm, which was just as well because, by this point, she was nodding off. Shining Armor spun around from his spot in the dormitory study while Starlight grimaced and recoiled.

She turned to Double Diamond a moment later. “Is…it bad news?”

On his part, he had shrunk back in alarm from Twilight’s outburst, especially now that she was beginning to look both angry as well as outraged, but could only shrug helplessly in response. “I have no idea! They just told me to bring that letter when I came back on the return trip!”

“I don’t believe them!” Twilight nearly screamed. “They’re not coming back right now!”

Sunset’s jaw dropped slightly. “What do you mean ‘they’re not coming back right now’? Like…they decided to take a vacation or something?”

“Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are going to be going on this mission to Southern Equestria that’s going to take a whole month, while Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack are taking time out to try and break some human trafficking ring!”

Starlight, Shining Armor, and Sunset all looked equally surprised, before the latter of the three frowned. “Um…did they happen to forget about the whole big evil shadow in Equestria that could come back here any day now to attack again?”

“In all fairness, at the moment, they might not be much help.”

The four looked to the rear entrance to the study hall. The doors had opened again and, as she had several times now, Luna came walking in pushing a cart. She had long since returned to her normal “civilian” attire and the cart itself, a bit to Sunset’s displeasure, only had five books in it, which she slowly wheeled over to the tables that had already been stacked high with them to unload.

Starlight looked puzzled. “Um, I thought you were the one who said it was so important to defend this citadel against King Sombra?”

“It is, but so long as they only have such ineffective Anima Viris with only marginal control, they can’t really do any better than my voice and the Morning Glory,” she answered as she came to a stop and began to unload the books.

“Well, they’re still the most powerful Promethian Sigil bearers among us!” Twilight retorted. “How are we supposed to fight off a bigger attack wave than the last one without them?”

“Unless we discover a method of damaging or weakening King Sombra, it won’t make much difference. I wish to defend this place, yes, but at the moment I am not sure exactly what is the best way to do so against a foe such as him. However, don’t forget that Sombra is only one foe out of five, and the remainder are still unaccounted for. The world is still changing a great deal, and it won’t stop just from us being here. And the last thing we need is more nations foolishly intruding just to run afoul of him.” She set down the final book and began to turn her cart around. “It’s not as if I truly care for anyone else getting the secrets of Canterlot, either.”

Sunset saw the load she had dropped off and frowned at her. “That’s all you brought up this time?”

“I told you before—I’ll let you research from the books that I know are safe. I think you, for one, already did enough damage poking your nose in books you were forbidden from reading.”

The fiery-headed girl actually looked like she would bluster at that for a moment, but instead simply sighed and slumped again. As for Luna, she soon pushed the cart out through the back of the study and vanished.

Shining Armor frowned at her the whole way out before crossing his arms. “I really don’t get her. She seems to hate one thing only to support it again soon after. It would really help if she’d be more forthcoming…”

Starlight shrugged. “Well, so long as we’re only here by her ‘will’ or whatever, I guess we have to play by her house rules. Maybe we can forge another one of those keys or whatever that lets us stay in here…”

Sunset sighed. “Don’t bother. Even I couldn’t sneak that kind of information out of Celestia…or I would have been back in here long ago.” She turned back to Twilight and shrugged. “Well, then I guess we’re stuck for right now. At least we know the railways are clear, which means you can move the civilians out. I’m not sure I really like the idea of soldiers from a nation I was enemies with moving in here, though. For that matter, I don’t think Luna will either…”

“Er, actually, about that,” Double Diamond spoke up. “I know Manehattan is still trying to organize an official supply train to come back north, but…they…kind of gave us something in advance.”

The group turned to him.

He winced. “And I think it would be faster if you all came out and saw for yourselves. We should probably hurry, before it gets any darker.”

---

The group, even Luna, was honestly a little put off at the sight in front of them.

They were gathered right outside the invisible barrier around the complex. Even being that far outside of Canterlot was nerve-wracking for all of them, but over the past few days since the ladies had left they had nevertheless deigned to clean up an old boiler filling station to function as something of an impromptu train platform, as there was no where else where they could let a train stop en route to Canterlot.

The same train they had sent out to Manehattan a few days earlier was now idling there, with its somewhat involuntary engineers constantly looking at their wild and overgrown surroundings and wishing they were back in the citadel. The same couldn’t be said for the line up of twelve individuals standing before them. Each one was dressed in a private’s uniform for the Manehattan military, armed, supplied, and at the ready with their shoulders squared and their heads held high. It was honestly like facing off against a military regiment…or would have been if they weren’t so young. The oldest one of them barely looked to be twenty.

Twilight honestly looked unnerved to even be staring at the group. “This…is a bit awkward.”

“Not exactly the best ‘task force’ in the world. Then again, I made sure to hand-pick my own,” Sunset shrugged.

“Well, seeing as we’re losing more hands rather than gaining them, I’d say beggars can’t be choosers,” Starlight threw in. “And right now, seeing as I don’t think we can talk Celaeno and the rest of the Huntsmen into staying, we could use some people who know how to handle their way around weapons and have some decorum.”

Sunset didn’t look too convinced. “I’m pretty sure we’ve been around things at this point that even most veteran soldiers have never seen. If they haven’t even dealt with Light Eaters, they may not be too much of an improvement.”

Realizing that they couldn’t just stand there gaping at each other forever, Twilight finally swallowed and took the initiative, trying to take a few steps closer.

As soon as she did, however, there was some movement among the group. One of them glanced on either side of himself before coughing and taking a few steps forward as well—making sure to move in normal, tight, military lock step. This prompted Twilight to freeze as he came right up to her and halted. Immediately, he put his feet together and saluted. Taken aback, the mage needed a moment before she did a half-hearted gesture of her own to dismiss him.

“Are you Twilight Sparkle?” he asked.

She blinked. “Um…yes, yes I am.”

“I’m Pri…I mean, Corporal Chipcutter. On behalf of the 207^th Special Manehattan Task Force, I’m honored to make your acquaintance, and would like to proudly introduce you to your new unit.”

She blinked again, standing there silently, staring at him with the others.

A moment later, his decorum broke again as he withered a little. “Did…did that not sound right? Sorry, but…I was just a private until I got on the train. I got a quick field promotion so I could head up the group until we arrived here in Canterlot, at which point we were supposed to transfer command over.”

“Er…over to who, exactly?”

He looked at her in some confusion. “Um…you?”

Twilight again looked caught. “Oh…um, of course. Er…right.”

Again, she stood there silently. It was more awkward this time, and soon it began to make the other soldiers standing at a distance look uncomfortable.

Finally, he coughed. “I-I-I…I just want to add that it is an honor to make your acquaintance, and we’re very grateful for the opportunity to be here to hopefully learn more about our own powers from the best, as we’ve been told.”

Twilight smiled uneasily. “Uh, the best, eh? Heh-heh…great…”

“From this point on, we are fully at your disposal. We stand ready and at attention to handle whatever issue you have for us.”

“Oh…oh, that’s, um…that’s very nice! I mean good! Great!”

Silence again. The soldiers stared at her…almost expectantly.

“So…”

“So what?”

“So, um, I mean…ma’am, what are your orders?”

“…Orders?”

“Yes! In what way can we assist you?”

“Oh…oh, uh…er…to be honest, I don’t really have anything…at the moment… You see, I honestly wasn’t really expecting to suddenly, uh…be in command of a task force. So…for now, how about you all just do what you’d, um, normally do at a time like this?”

This seemed to unsettle the group more than anything yet. A few withered or looked confused and concerned. Chipcutter was among them. He almost went to rub his neck before stopping himself. “Well…to tell the truth, ma’am, most of us are straight out of basic training. I’ve only had two deployments myself so far, and they were both on the western border.” He turned back to the group and gestured. “Boysenberry and Coronet were on fort detail, and those three were in the ROTC.”

Those called out either managed a salute or blanched before giving weaker ones.

Twilight stared a moment, before she finally turned back to the others.

Luna, who had said nothing this entire time, held her head a bit higher before giving a nod. “Well, if nothing else, if they are so young and inexperienced, I see little danger in admitting them into Canterlot so I’ll allow them inside.”

Shining Armor cleared his throat, stepping forward, “I think it might be best if I take charge of them, Twily. I won’t claim I’m any sort of field marshal, but I at least have some experience acting as an officer. I’m sure once we bring them up to speed, they’ll be a big help.”

Twilight was more than grateful. “Thank you, Shining Armor.” She turned back to the group, let out an exhale, and straightened. “Well then! I guess the first order of business is getting everyone situated. Welcome to Canterlot!”

---

Fortunately, Shining Armor managed to take things up pretty well. There was still plenty of room in the dormitory, so he led them into a currently unoccupied hall and began to pair them off into three groups to claim their own places. That allowed everyone else to head back to the study.

Twilight tiredly pulled out a chair and took up a fresh book. “Well…I definitely wasn’t expecting that.”

Starlight shrugged. “It might end up being a help. We could use more people here as defenders, and now we have twelve more with military experience.”

Sunset frowned. “Military experience…right. I think some of Applejack’s family makes me feel safer holding guns than them. Some of them barely look like they graduated the trail scouts… But I suppose beggars can’t be choosers…”

“Well, they have Promethian Sigils. That’s got to count for something, right?”

“Sure…it means they could go crazy again at any time. That’s nothing we haven’t had to deal with already, though. It would help if we had some spare Anima Viris lying around to give them… At any rate, if we want them to be any good, someone’s going to have to take out time to train them.” She looked up and over to Twilight.

She let out a tired moan. “Great…something else to do…”

“You might as well. It’s not like we’re making much headwind around here.” She frowned as she closed the cover on her latest book. “Even when I was sneaking into that library, I never found anything outlining any of these special Anima Viris. Celestia must have really wanted them to stay secret. There might be something in the books I wasn’t able to read, though.”

Twilight sighed. “I thought about making a primer based on that fragmented translation we had, but even if that was possible, Luna hasn’t brought up a single book in those characters.”

“Then I guess we’re just stuck here until something better comes up. You could probably use the practice anyway. Who knows? Even if you can’t learn to use that one, you might get another.”

The mage looked rather uncomfortable when she heard that, glancing back to her hand and touching the top of it. “I’m kind of hoping for the latter of the two. After what I heard about this sigil, I think it might be better if I never figure out how to use it…”

---

The rest of the day went by largely without event. There was a minor unrest closer to the afternoon. By that time, the civilians with children were organizing to load up and move out the next morning, but the Huntsmen were up in arms. Further conversation with them revealed the bad news.

“You mean to say that if we want to get back to civilization, we have to go straight into the main city of Manehattan?” Celaeno had outburst. “Well, that’s just perfect…”

“I…I don’t understand…” Twilight had timidly answered. “I mean, Huntsmen are allowed in Manehattan.”

“Provided they aren’t engaged in illegal activity! We still have a train car full of contraband! Even if they let us off the hook, they’ll confiscate the entire load the moment we set foot there! That’s means we’re stuck here!”

As irate as that made her, Twilight was secretly glad for it. They still needed as many defenders as they could get. Even without any current incidents from Sombra, there were still Nighttouched to worry about…although, granted, neither she nor the others had seen any since Sombra was driven off. Either the Morning Glory was doing its job well or he had exhausted all of the ones in the area. Nevertheless, each night was still a bit unnaturally quiet and, once again, she only slept very light that night.

The next morning, however, she woke up with a shock and alarm when she heard a gunshot out the window. Sunset sprang up even faster, and, while half asleep, had gotten into some sort of martial arts defensive mode. Twilight was too stunned to notice the apparent improvement in her demeanor and bravery, and simply shook her awake, threw on the bare essentials, and then ran out of the building with half of the others while the remaining half took shelter.

They burst out the front doors just in time to hear another gunshot, and this time they saw the source. Across the span of the quad, a few of their new ‘task force’ members had set up what looked like an impromptu target range. A mass of wood and hay was at the far side with a pair of crudely drawn body targets, and they had taken out their rifles and were aiming and firing at them.

However, scarcely had they fired a third shot when they noticed they had a crowd. One of the shooters immediately scrambled up, put the rifle to the side, and saluted. “Good morning, ma’am! Pvt. Coronet, at your service!”

Twilight was left with a dumbfounded expression while several of the others gathered frowned. “Um…Coronet, or…private…can I ask you something?”

“Of course, ma’am!”

“What in the world are you doing firing off gunshots in the middle of the quad at sunrise?!”

The private winced and pulled back, and her companion actually fell on his own rear end. “It’s…it’s just that…we always did target practice back in the fort at sunrise, ma’am… And since we’re in a hostile area, I figured we needed to get in as much as we could…”

Twilight let out a groan and grasped for her nose. Before she could say another word, however, someone moved past her. She looked up and noticed it was Shining Armor. He looked even more upset than her, but managed to keep a level head.

“Private, I understand you’re fairly raw and inexperienced, but since you realize that we’re in a hostile area, I would like you to take a moment to think about what would happen if you were sleeping and you suddenly heard gunshots firing without any warning or prior knowledge. What exactly would you think was going on?”

Coronet paused a moment, the wheels in her head turning, before it clicked. At once, she grimaced and began to cringe.

“Furthermore, while I can appreciate a firing range, this isn’t a fort. It’s a temporary stronghold and you’re in an area full of civilians using a hasty barricade. You didn’t ask anyone whether or not you could erect a firing range, and we really don’t have the bullets to be wasting on practice to begin with, which you also would have known if you had asked someone first.”

Coronet cringed a bit more. Her companion looked away and bowed his head. “Oh…”

“Oh what?”

“Uh, er…I mean…sorry sir!”

He frowned a bit more. “I want this entire place cleaned up in twenty minutes and then I don’t want to see you so much as within five meters of a rifle unless we’re under attack for the duration of your stay here. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir! Sorry, sir!”

She immediately scrambled off to start doing that, while her companion got to his feet and began to follow afterward. In moments, they were already halfway down the field.

Twilight took the moment to step to his side with a small smirk. “You sounded almost like a regular drill sergeant back there.”

He sighed. “Coronet’s one of the ones with experience in a fort… I hate to think what the others might end up doing. Then again…they might end up being too timid to try and do anything independently like this.”

“At least they’ll keep us from resting too easy while in Canterlot…” Sunset muttered as she tiredly turned around to head back for the dorm.

---

“Alright, now…pass me…the…3/4 crowfoot.”

Big Macintosh’s eyes widened in an impressed look before he looked back in the tool box, rummaged around a bit, and then came back with the desired tool. He passed it to the private, a young man named Crackle Pop, who put it to use at once.

“Now the Phillips head again.”

As Big Macintosh found the tool, Crackle finished pulling out the ratchet, grabbed the other tool as soon as it was done, and inserted it into the tight spot on the machinery. After another minute, he pushed himself out from under it and put the tool back in the box.

“That should do it! Try it!”

Red Delicious threw the main valve, letting the boiler begin to feed the chamber. It took a moment or so, but after a few moments the pistons slowly began to turn. Not long after, they stared to pick up speed and let out some chugging noises as the entire assembly came to life.

The group grinned and Crackle Pop himself leaned back and wiped at his brow. “Alright, that should do it! I think we can take this steam wagon for a test run!”

“Great to hear!” Red Delicious chimed in. “Sure beats going up and down the hill all day…and now we won’t be out in the open after dark.”

“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh added.

The sound of walking approached, and a moment later Starlight Glimmer poked her head around the corner. She looked a little amazed at the sight of the group gathered around the now-functional steam wagon. “Wow…you actually got it to work? I thought with as rusted as those bits and pieces were that it’d never get up enough pressure…”

Red Delicious motioned. “Kid here is magic with a steam engine. What more, he says he can get the gaslights for the dormitory working too. That means we’ll be able to light up the whole place in a wink if we need to!”

Crackle blushed a little. “Heh, I don’t know about that… But I think I can get it running without any fire hazards. I’m going to need a lot of soap and warm water, though. Last thing in the world we need is a gas leak in there.”

Starlight fully rounded the corner. “Wow, you really know your stuff, don’t you?”

He shrugged as he helped clean up the tools. “Well, my family owned their own delivery company. We didn’t make a whole lot. We could only ever afford third or fourth-hand equipment and couldn’t hire any engineers. We kind of had to make do with what we had and learn how to fix it. I did a lot of tinkering growing up. Actually built my own steam carriage once with my big sister.”

“That’s pretty neat. So what made you decide to get into the military?”

Crackle paused in the middle of picking up a heavier pipe wrench. His smile and enthusiasm diminished a little before he slowly resumed. “There was a, uh…big Nighttouched attack on my town about a year ago. The delivery company got destroyed and…as for my family…” He grew quieter. “I’m the only one who made it out of the house.”

Starlight’s own inquisitive look quickly blanched. “Oh…um…yeah…probably should have guessed something like that, considering the world we live in. Er, I’m just going to go find a place somewhere to be embarrassed...”

Crackle looked up and shook his head. “Oh, no ma’am…don’t be. I…don’t like thinking about it, but I know they wouldn’t want me to just…sit around and feel bad. A lot of people lost people they love. It’s not like it’s totally hopeless, either. My older sister switched to being a courier for the Manehattan military before the attack. I figured if I enlisted too, I’m bound to run into her eventually. I tried asking my CO, but he didn’t go high up enough in the chain of command, and my letters haven’t gotten any response yet. I haven’t given up, though. I’m sure they would have sent us a letter if anything bad happened to her. I just got to keep hanging on and looking.”

Starlight looked a little concerned. “Not to…try and diminish any optimism or anything, but…hasn’t your sister tried to keep up with you through the post? Wouldn’t she be sending letters of her own?”

He smirked as he got up. “I’m sure she has, but…you have to know my sister. She’s not the best at making sure letters get where they need to go.”

That left her more confused. “But…she worked for a delivery company.”

“I know. Like I said, we didn’t make a whole lot and couldn’t afford better employees.”

---

A few smacks of the hammer rained down. As a result, the two shifts of gleaming hot metal were promptly fastened together against the anvil. By the time they were done, the two pieces were turned into a crude iron cross with dull spikes on either end.

“Alright!” Boysenberry grinned with an enthusiastic look. “That was easy! And now the finishing touch!”

She shifted the cross spike down to the tapered end of the anvil and let the hammer go twice, knocking two of the dull spikes down on one side. She flipped it right over and did the same to the other two in the opposite direction. That done, she seized it with her tongs, dipped it in the water, let it hiss for a moment, and then threw it out onto the ground.

“And there you go! That simple!”

Shining Armor took a moment to look down and over it before smiling. “A caltrop. Heh, and I thought I was by the book.” He looked up to the others who had decided to attend the demonstration. “Everyone think that looks pretty easy, right?”

There were murmurs of ascents and head nods.

“Great. Then maybe we could get a couple people to help the privates make as many of these as they can. They’ll really help even the odds against another assault.”

A few folks began to volunteer, and one of the farmers actually stepped forward ready to try it on his own. As they started to gather around, Shining Armor himself walked over to Boysenberry, who looked perfectly pleased with herself as she wiped her head and stepped back.

“That was pretty clever, private. I don’t even remember half the stuff that was in my original field manual. Anything else you can think up that we can use to defend this place better?”

“Oh, tons!” she happily beamed in response. “This is so exciting! I feel like we’re medieval defenders of a last bastion against a dark horde! This whole place is like a castle!”

“Yeah…” he remarked as he looked up and around. “And if we didn’t have to worry about enemies that could fly over the walls, it’d probably be a swell place to hold our ground. As it is, we only have so many bullets we can spare so we’ll need to get creative.”

“Hey!” she asked excitedly. “Can we built a trebuchet? A real, honest-to-goodness one? You know, those things were what everyone used until cannons got big and powerful enough. Unless we’ve got enough gunpowder for those.”

“Heh…I think we’ll start a bit smaller. We could use some more things that hopefully don’t require people to man. We’ve got to somehow make twenty people seem like two-hundred.”

“No problem!”

---

Twilight half-slumped in her chair, reading her book with a dull expression on her face. Every so often, her eyes would lower and her head would nod, only for her to spring up again as she started reading again from the top. At this point, she had hardly realized that she had read the same page about five times now. Spike had joined her at her side, pawing her leg as if to try and tell her of her mistake, for all the good it did.

Sunset was far less subtle. She let out a muffle snore from her own face buried in her own book, her body twisted into an odd curl over it. Every so often she let out a slight mumble but little more than that. However, her body was gradually sliding down more and more out of the chair, and eventually gravity took full control. When it did, she fell out all together, knocking her knees on the floor and her chin on the table.

The sudden pain caused her to cry out and quickly sit upright again, and the noise, in turn, caused both Twilight and Spike to look up. “Huh? What?”

Sunset winced as she eased back into the chair, rubbing her legs and chin. “Sorry…nodded off for a moment. All these words are running together…”

“Oh…yeah…same here, to be honest…” Twilight sighed as she rubbed her eyes. “We should probably take a break soon. Um…where are we at?”

“Well, we’re through the history books. At least all the ones Luna brought to us. Now we’re looking at the non-fiction for hints.”

“Right…” she responded, a bit glumly and tiredly.

The doors to the study suddenly opened. The two women ignored it for a fraction of a second, before they realized it wasn’t from the back doors, which was where Luna usually came in. Instead they were opening from the side. Spike joined them as they glanced that way.

Moments later two of the privates walked into the chamber. Neither of them looked to be too much the “military type”. One was a young girl who had some muscle and her hair in dark purple braids hanging on either side of her head. The other, however, was a far lankier, scrawnier, and unassuming soldier all together with a bowl cut. He seemed like he would hardly be good enough for target practice, let alone a soldier on the battlefield.

Both of them seemed a little timid as they stepped inside, with neither one initially getting the courage to speak. As a result, it was Twilight who had to address them first.

“May we help you?”

“I don’t mean to intrude,” the boy spoke up after a moment. “We aren’t being of much help in fortifying the citadel and we can’t target practice, so…we were wondering if the two of you could use a hand in whatever you’re researching.”

This caused an amount of puzzlement from both Twilight and Sunset.

“I did most of the bookkeeping back where we were training in ROTC. There wasn’t anyone else qualified for it, so I know my way around places like this,” the girl threw in. “And Stygian here has been a librarian for as long as I can remember.”

“We just want to be useful right now,” he added. “We don’t want to stand around doing nothing.”

Twilight looked back to Sunset. She simply shrugged. She looked back to the two but, after only a moment, realized it couldn’t hurt.

“Sure. We could use a few more eyes. Come on over and I’ll get you started on what we’re looking for.”

---

“I think the old staff building would probably be best. It’s closer to the wall, it’s only one story, and people can get up and down faster. For starters, why don’t…”

Shining Armor trailed off in the middle of directing the privates in the task force. He noticed that people were coming in through the western gate. Starlight Glimmer was in the lead, but she wasn’t the one that he focused on. It was the fact that a mixture of distraught and nervous looking people were behind her. The same ones that had left yesterday. What was worse was that their children were with them, many of them still looking rather miserable.

He frowned before turning briefly to Chipcutter. “Hold on just a second.” Turning about, he quickly jogged over the quad. Starlight saw him coming and, frowning tiredly, she rushed up after him. They met in the middle soon after.

“What’s going on? Why are they all back?”

“They got turned away.”

“What?!”

“Well…” she winced. “More or less. We were supposed to be all set to bring these people in, but then they found out they were Gaitians.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

She leveled a dull look at him. “You didn’t really forget what happened to Cloudsdale, did you?”

He paused for a moment, before moaning and holding a fist to his forehead tiredly.

“The religious types have crawled out of the woodwork and gone a bit nutty back in Manehattan. They actually got groups doing marching rallies about how the shadow disappearing is the sign of some sort of new age in which the world is going to be purified. None of them have turned violent yet, but they’re getting worse every day, and it looks like some of the local authorities are backing them. They’re not going to risk a group of Gaitian refugees being dropped right in the middle of the capitol city now. They said they’d have to move them to a detainment center first.” She grimaced. “Considering the fact that we just busted them all out of a detainment center, you can guess how that went over with them.”

“Great… I had no idea things would get that bad…”

“We had no choice. We had to bring them back here.”

“That means we have people to protect along with the citadel. I was hoping we could at least get the kids safe… If we’re going to hold this area, then we need a lot more than that task force. They didn’t happen to say anything about how long until we get more reinforcements, did they?”

Starlight frowned. “They said they’re still getting things together, but my own sources managed to get a letter to me and they paint a slightly different picture. They’re relocating most of their reclamation efforts to the train track to Manehattan. I already saw them starting to set up new telegraph towers along the track leading into the woods.” She started to look uneasy. “Something tells me when they get here, they expect to pretty much call the shots instead of Luna…”

“I honestly don’t know if that’d be better,” Shining Armor muttered. “We got to keep in mind Manehattan isn’t helping us ‘for free’. And as much as I hate Luna’s secret-keeping, I’m not sure I’m too happy about them getting ahold of it either when the world is so on edge.”

She shrugged. “What can we do?”

“Nothing for now, I guess. Not unless they give us more to work with, or Twily turns up something…”

---

Sunset was nodding yet again. Already she was to the point of propping her head up on both arms at once. She looked nearby at a cup of now-cold beverage, and simply grimaced. She really missed the imported coffee beans of Manehattan, even if the beverage of choice in Trottingham was tea. At least she could get them easily through under-the-table connections.

“Found it.”

The sound of the voice shook her awake. “Huh?”

She found herself looking over at the table where Stygian and Little Violet had set up. The latter had also been jostled alert, and she smiled at once. As for Stygian, he left his place, book in hand, and began to walk over to Sunset.

“I found a reference to King Sombra.”

Sunset blinked. “You’re kidding. I thought we scoured every history book there was. Which one had it?”

“None of them, actually. I looked in a book of nursery rhymes.”

The fiery-headed girl looked truly puzzled. “Nursery rhymes?”

“Yes. Most old nursery rhymes that refer to a person in particular have some sort of historical context to them. I figured as you and Twilight had exhausted the normal volumes, it was worth a shot.”

Little Violet giggled. “That’s Stygian for you. Always thinking of something no one else has.” She began to rise from her own spot. “What does it say?”

“Unfortunately…that’s the troubling thing,” he answered grimly, just as he reached Sunset Shimmer. He proceeded to lay the open book down in front of her to get a look. She leaned up and gazed over it.

There was some text in a strange lettering nearby, but being a children’s book the dominant thing on both pages were large pictures. Sunset didn’t have to look at the one on the left very long to recognize it. A huge, billowing, black cloud with purple miasma and monstrous green and red eyes. Even as a child’s illustration there was no mistaking what it was. What was a bit more curious, however, was what was on the opposite side of the page. It seemed to be something that the cloud was approaching at a distance. A kingdom of some sort; a bright, radiant one shining and gleaming as if it was made of gemstones or even crystal. It looked more radiant and spectacular than any fantasy kingdom Sunset had ever heard about before.

Stygian gestured to the lettering. “This text is some sort of older language I’m not familiar with. It looks like it’s a hybrid between the truly older texts in Canterlot and the more modern speech. Maybe it’s a phonetic spelling of the actual words using our characters, but that doesn’t help much as I still can’t make out what they say. This word…” He gestured to one in block letters. “It’s definitely ‘Sombra’, though. For the life of me I can’t make out much else. Not even roots.”

Little Violet came nearby and leaned up to look over the book. “Wow…you caught that name right there? I never would have looked at the book long enough to even spot it… I don’t suppose you can read it, Ms. Sunset Shimmer?”

She frowned and shook her head. “I’m kind of interested that you actually found a book like this. Normally I can’t read the older characters at all. I’m glad we have one that at least has the words rewritten in contemporary characters but, unfortunately, like you said, if we don’t know what the words mean regardless of how they sound that doesn’t help us.”

Her hand traced over the page, slowly going over to the second image.

“Although…”

Both privates looked up as she trailed off. “What is it?”

She held a bit longer, staring at the picture, before she shook her head. “Nothing…probably nothing.”

“Well, we have little else to go on,” Stygian pointed out. “You might as well share it with us.”

Sunset exhaled and tapped her finger against the picture. “Years back, when I was still in school and just starting to spy on Celestia, I overheard her say something one day to open a chamber in her office. I never went in…by the time I started raiding her things behind her back, something else had my interest…but I remember the word she said: Crystal Imperium. A few months later, I asked her what it meant. And I remember…she looked at me a bit tensely for a moment. Not like she was surprised that I knew the phrase so much as I wanted to know about it. Finally, she told me it was a kingdom made of crystal.”

She shrugged.

“Based on the way she said it, I figured it was some sort of ancient word for Heaven or a phrase that you use to refer to…I dunno…utopia or something. I never knew why she would use it for a password, though. And I remember thinking about it a lot and trying to guess what kind of a place it would be.” She tapped the drawing again. “This…kind of looks like what I had in mind.”

She reached for the leaf and turned the page, but frowned on the other side. Totally different drawings were there, completely unrelated.

Stygian frowned and shook his head. “I already looked. The rhyme must only be on those two pages. It would be a rather fearsome poem if that described the whole event, but if I had to guess this is only from the most striking part of the rhyme. It probably has a resolution, just one we’d have to read to get. It looks to me, however, that the shadow means to take that kingdom.”

“That’s great…we finally find something that refers to Sombra and yet it’s nothing we can use.”

The three sat there, staring at the book a little longer, before Stygian turned to Little Violet. “We’ve been at this for a while. You should probably go get some supper now. Once the sun goes down it’ll be too late.”

She pouted at him. “You haven’t eaten either.”

“I can last a little while longer. I’m used to staying up late studying.”

“Ugh…you’re treating me like I’m a little kid again. I’ve been here as long as you. If I’m overworked, you’re overworked.”

He smiled. “I suppose you might be right… But we’ll be done here soon. Neither of us will be able to keep studying once the sun goes down. I just don’t want you to get stuck here if we get wrapped up in this.”

She hesitated a little longer, but finally sighed and pushed her chair back. “Alright, but you know Chipcutter’s only going to get on your case for missing a meal again. I’ll tell him you found something important so you better figure out something neat to say about this.” She pointed out the last part with a smirk.

He nodded back, still smiling. “I’ll be sure to.”

Little Violet gave him a little wave before turning and heading for the study doors. Stygian watched her go all the way out, even if she wasn’t aware of it. Sunset noticed he didn’t turn back until the doors had shut behind her. Scarcely had he looked back at the book, however, then she looked up slightly. “You two seem closer with each other than most of the others.”

Stygian stared a fraction of a second before looking back at the book; his voice being just a hint quieter. “I suppose so…but it only figures. We’ve been together long enough, and we both enlisted in the military at the same time. Our Promethian Sigils even appeared on the same day.”

“Oh. Is she…related? Or an old friend?”

“…You might say that.”

As quiet as Stygian said that made it clear to Sunset that he didn’t wish to elaborate. She soon looked back to the book herself, deciding to turn a second page and see what was on the next. Seeing nothing there, she turned yet another.

“I’ll assume that means it had something to do with the Lunar Fall.”

“And you’d be right,” Stygian quietly answered, looking at the book himself.

“Well, you’re alive now, and so is your friend. That’s about all any of us can hope for, right?”

Stygian half-frowned, glancing to one side. “True, but some of us were hit worse than others. And some of us could have done more than others…”

Sunset stared on at him, but he didn’t get the chance to elaborate. The opposite door to the study opened up, getting the attention of both people. Twilight was there, a book under her arm, and looking more happy and enthusiastic than she had in a while.

“I think I’ve got something!”

Sunset turned to face her as she approached. “Really?”

“Well, it’s not Sombra directly, but I think it’s still a good clue! And it was right under my nose the whole time!”

“Ok…what is it?”

She began to pull the book out from under her arms. “You remember what Starlight Glimmer said, right? About there being that mysterious building hidden away that had what looked like the symbols from Canterlot in it? Well, while I was researching, it suddenly dawned on me. Luna said that Sombra wanted a new body. Well, with all of those bizarre things that Starlight saw, maybe what Sombra really wants is some sort of technology that can give him a new body? That would explain why he wants to come here. He must know that Equestria had more advanced science and secrets than the rest of the world, and he wants to break into Canterlot to get them.”

She set the book down in front of Sunset and Stygian and began to turn to a page. Glancing over it, the two quickly realized it wasn’t a history book either, but rather some sort of atlas of maps of the Equestria country.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Sunset mused. “But how does that help us?”

Twilight turned around and went to her own area, taking up another book from it. It didn’t take long for Sunset to realize it looked like roughly the same book, give or take an edition. “It means that what Sombra is after might be in a location like the one that Starlight found. It might be a stab in the dark, but if we can’t find anything in Canterlot that has a way to deal with him, then maybe one of these other places does. If nothing else, we have to get there to make sure there’s nothing he can use.”

“But how do we find these places?”

“Like this,” she answered as she set the book down, opening it up wide to reveal an identical map. “Look at these two maps. What do you see is the difference between them?”

Sunset and Stygian both leaned over and glanced over them, studying them for a few moments. The latter spoke up before Sunset could. “Other than those handwritten points here and there on this book, nothing.”

“Right,” Twilight answered with a smile. She quickly looked around the room for a moment, seeming to check if anyone was nearby, and then leaned over and pointed. “That’s because this book is my old copy of the topography of the country of Equestria from when I was still in school, and this other one is a newer revision.”

Sunset frowned. “I still don’t see how that helps us.”

“You know why those handwritten notes are in there? Because I brought this book along with me to one of my afternoon teas with Celestia. She always had newer versions of the books than the other students did and even though she’d always get me the newest copies I couldn’t wait. The last time I had come in I noticed Celestia had her own copy open and it had some new weather stations that were being built around the country. At least…I thought they were weather stations at the time. So I went ahead and brought my own copy and penciled them in.”

Both Sunset and Stygian gave her an odd look.

“…What?”

“Just ‘for fun’, you went around updating your own copies of books?”

“…Didn’t you?”

Sunset didn’t answer that. “Like you were saying…”

“Oh, right! Here’s the thing. When I asked Celestia for an updated copy next time, she said there weren’t any new copies. And sure enough, when we did get a new revision next year, the weather stations weren’t in it. They were only ever in Celestia’s copy of the reference material. And look…”

She leaned over and pointed to one that was rather close to the Manehattan border.

“That one right there. I already checked with Starlight Glimmer. She says that’s the spot where they found that weird science building. To me, that means that the rest of these have to be similar spots.”

Sunset smirked a little. “Not bad…something I might have thought of back in school. Alright, so we know where else Equestria had these secret science studios or labs or whatever. So what do we do with that? Even when I perfected the Morning Glories, I wasn’t crazy enough to go poking around too deep in Equestria.” She pointed at the northernmost one. “That one’s practically above the Arctic Circle.”

“Well, that would be a little far, but this one…” Twilight pointed to another. “Isn’t too bad.”

Stygian looked at it more closely. “That’s near the Griffonstone and Mount Aris borders, although Mount Aris would have to go over the Hyperboreans…”

“And the train track to Manehattan runs this way,” Twilight added, tracing her finger along the map. “The closest it comes is this point. There’s supposed to be another road from there. If we could use that steam wagon that got fixed up, we could make it…so long as the road was clear enough, that is.”

Sunset looked uncertain. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. I mean…it’s an awful risk. If worst came to worst and something blocked the road, that’s a 60 kilometer trip. Even if Sombra isn’t out there waiting for us, we still have to worry about other Nighttouched. A lot of creatures derived from Light Eaters could still be out there…”

“Maybe…but we can’t just sit here forever. We’re not getting anything out of these books or from Luna. And…honestly, I feel like I’ve wasted enough time not doing anything over the past seven years.”

Sunset was quiet at that, bowing her own head and thinking for a few moments.

“Well, I was having the others build another Morning Glory. I suppose we could bring that once it’s done…”

Twilight looked up when she said that. “We?”

Sunset looked back. “Well…yeah. Wasn’t that what you meant when you said ‘we’ just now?”

“I mean…I was referring to the collective ‘we’, but you’re wanting to come along?”

“…Why not? I’m not doing a whole lot of other good here. And…besides, I kind of want to know more about what Celestia was hiding from us. I’ve found out this much. Might as well know the rest, right?”

Twilight was quiet, looking at Sunset with a touch of hesitation. However, Stygian was the one to break in next. “We could always make the trip.”

Both ladies turned to him. “Huh?”

“I mean, we are a task force assigned to you, aren’t we? This is kind of what we were ordered to do.”

Twilight only exchanged a glance with Sunset before looking back at him. “I appreciate the sentiment, but…I think this is something we have to do for ourselves. At any rate,” She began to shut both books. “We should probably run it by the others before we go. Maybe have them weigh in on this and see what they think.”

“And,” Sunset added, “keep it quiet from Luna. If she catches wind of this, so long as she has the only glyphkey, she can banish us whenever she wants.”

Twilight looked a little uncertain on hearing that; definitely uncomfortable about keeping a secret from someone in Canterlot while being forced to reside there. Especially since it was so similar to what Sunset had done before with Celestia. However, after holding for a long while, and realizing the logic behind it, she was compelled to slowly nod in assent.

“Agreed.”