Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Daybreak: Clever and Not So Clever

When the engine started to slow down, everyone on board noticed it, and they immediately got to attention. Not long after, Shining Armor took in a deep breath, stood up, adjusted his own rifle around his torso, and looked at his small “platoon”.

“Alright everyone. We need to move fast, so let’s get the doors open.”

Chipcutter quickly rose to his own feet, adjusted his own rifle, and turned to the others. “Coronet, Can Can, help us with the door. The rest of you, load up on the wagon and get ready to move.”

Two of the privates arose and went over to the door to the train car, beginning to work with Chipcutter and Shining Armor to open it up. As for the rest of the task force, they quickly adjusted their gear and ran out in tandem to the steam wagon. That left Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Spike.

Sunset took in a deep breath and got to her feet. “Guess that’s our cue.”

Twilight nodded and rose from her own spot. “You know, you could stay on the engine and head back. We can handle this without you.”

“Like I said, I’m wanting to see just how far this goes myself. Besides, everyone back at Canterlot knows how to run the Morning Glory. I might as well do something to make myself useful as I’m no good there without an Anima Viri…”

Twilight stared at her. Sunset began to walk to the wagon but, on seeing she wasn’t following, she looked back. “Is something wrong?”

She stared a bit longer before she smirked and began to walk up to her.

“…What?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’ve changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not nearly as timid as you used to be. After you lost your powers, you looked like you were scared of everyone and everything. That’s not all, though. At first you sounded like you just wanted to tag along with us to get a pardon.”

Sunset half-frowned. “Well, yeah. And I still do.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really? Because to me it kind of looks like you’re trying to be helpful.”

Sunset gave a start. A moment later, she pursed her lips and finally looked away. “I’m just used to being the most important person in the room because of my powers. Now that I don’t have them, I don’t want to feel like I’m worthless is all. Once we finally get this sorted out in Manehattan, we’ll go our separate ways.”

She nearly turned to go, only to double back and snatch something off the ground nearby. The same helmet she had gone after back in Trottingham.

“You’re bringing that?”

“It’s my good luck charm. I got out of Trottingham twice now because of it. Besides, it’s good head protection.”

Turning about, she headed for the steam wagon without stalling any longer. By now, the door to the train was open, and with the overgrown outside revealed Twilight saw they were quickly approaching a paved road; albeit a cracked and deformed one. Shining Armor and the others got ready to deploy the ramp as soon as the engine was at a complete stop.

She hesitated before walking up to him. “Are you sure you want to come on this? You don’t have to…”

“I was able to keep Sombra from taking you last time,” Shining Armor firmly responded. “In spite of what Luna says, that tells me I’m valuable. Who knows? Maybe I have some immunity to him. And if the rest of these kids are here, then someone has to take charge of them. Besides, if all goes well, we’ll be in and out in ten hours at the most.”

“What about the others? Do they really need to come?”

Shining Armor paused, frowning a little. “I thought about that myself…but I saw that map you showed me the other day. There’s an abandoned town nearby. With any luck, if it was taken at the Lunar Fall, there’ll still be ammunition or gunpowder there. And we need that if we’re going to be able to defend Canterlot. That means we need manpower to load it up.”

Twilight sighed. “Alright…it’s just I don’t want to put more people at risk then we have to.”

He formed a half smile. “It’s alright. I talked to all of them and they’re all eager to do something to help. We’re all as reckless as you when it comes to this mission.”

She couldn’t help but smile a little at that.

Not five minutes later, the train had stopped and the ramp had deployed. It would be up to those running the engine to retract it, but for now everyone loaded up the steam wagon, fired it up, and soon rolled out onto the road. Fortunately, this wasn’t anything like the train tracks. While it was overgrown and had more than its share of seven years of debris on the road, at least at the onset, it was clear that this road had been cleared out and more well maintained. The woods had been cut back, leaving much of it still intact. What little debris was there was easily pushed aside by the wagon’s “cow catcher” as it began to chug off down the road.

On board, the group pretty much had standing room only aside from begin able to alternate on one old wooden bench attached to the wall, but they were fine with it. There may not have been as much room as Double Diamond’s Steel Lion, but it was also better built and therefore quieter and smoother. Although it was going to be a multi-hour trip, and things had to be handled carefully with all of the guns, they were soon settled in and waiting.

Chipcutter, Shining Armor, and Crackle Pop ran the engine in the front while Twilight, Sunset, Spike, Little Violet, and Stygian kept to the back. It was the quietest place, allowing her to detail the plan.

“Alright, once we get there, we’re going to let Shining Armor take most of the others to start looking for ammunition and supplies. The four of us…well, five including Spike…are going to head straight for the weather station. That map I copied from Celestia was crude but luckily it had the exact coordinates.” Fidgeting around a bit in the cramped confines, she managed to reach into her light jacket and pull out a folded map. She struggled with it but got it open, revealing a closer map of the target area.

“The main city is right here and that’s as far as the road can take us. The station is a bit of a distance away from it, but if we cut across this field right here we can get there pretty fast without having to weave around the rough country so much.”

“What’s in that field?” Stygian asked.

“A cemetery. There’s some old ruins on the edge of town that have some historic significance.” She smiled a little. “As it turns out, this is going to be something to check off my own bucket list.”

Stygian leaned a little closer. “Oh…this town was the home of Clover the Clever, wasn’t it?”

Twilight’s smile turned into a look of surprise. “Huh?”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Well…yeah, that’s right. I’m just a bit surprised you knew about that.”

Little Violet giggled. “That’s our Stygian. He loved reading stories about ancient heroes and the like back at home. He still knows them all by heart.”

He smiled in a touch of embarrassment. “Clover the Clever,” he announced. “One of the big historical figures of the medieval period in Equestria. Never actually had a position of real power and yet shaped the course of the kingdom, its diplomatic relations, and even had a hand in its modern founding. He even personally hunted down a few usurpers.”

He looked on at the map, his smile growing a bit wistful.

“We could certainly use more people like him nowadays…”

Twilight noted the change in his tone but decided not to press it. “We’ll want to be in and out of here fairly quick. If we find something that’s rather ‘complicated’, we’ll make a note of it for a return trip. Then we’ll do our best to secure the area and get out. And remember, everyone…any sign of Sombra and we pull back as fast as we can. We have to be back at these train tracks in ten hours, well…” She reached into her clothes, pulled out a pocketwatch, and checked. “Nine hours, forty-two minutes. They’re only going to wait for us for fifteen minutes until heading back for the evening. Then we won’t get a chance until the next day.”

“Let’s just all keep our fingers crossed we don’t have to leave any earlier than that for any reason…” Sunset muttered.

---

The trip to the township was without incident, but that only figured. The road wasn’t as thickly covered as most of the forested regions of Equestria and it was broad daylight. Combined with the Morning Glory that Sunset had installed and they had little to fear from “standard” Nighttouched, assuming there were still any in the area. Furthermore, there were no signs of Sombra or his controlled legions. Aside from two moments in which they had to dismount to shift tree trunks that had fallen across the road out of the way by cutting them into smaller pieces that the wagon could move, they had no problems on the trip and arrived on schedule.

Much like Canterlot itself, the community was heavily shrouded by old growth trees and forests, and it wasn’t until they were practically in the midst of the township that they were able to make out anything in it. Much like the residential areas around Canterlot, the architecture was almost fairy-tale-esque. The masonry, lanes, stairs, wells, gutters, and lighting systems all seemed to be very similar to the surroundings of the main city if not just a bit simpler and older—the effect of apparently not having as much wealth sunk into them. Also, as it was more embedded in the woods, it had a lot more irregular growth in the wrong places. Tall weeds and bushes grew up in many corners and pathways, making the place far less open and readily habitable.

The town had an old water pump in the city square, so they brought the wagon to a halt there. They couldn’t afford to fully power it down in case they needed to leave in a hurry, so they threw open the relief valve, lowered the boiler heat as much as possible, and then began to dismount. Shining Armor went first, leaving his own Anima Viri off and instead bringing out his rifle, assessing the area before motioning the others to follow. Chipcutter and Boysenberry followed afterward, and the others quickly exited after that.

The place was a ghost town, as expected. No signs of any Nighttouched, although there were more than ample shadows, nooks, crannies, and other hiding places for them to be hidden away in. No sign of Sombra, however.

After a time, Shining Armor moistened his lips and went over to the side of the steam wagon. He raised his weapon, held a moment, and then banged the butt against it—letting out a large metal clang that echoed throughout the square.

The others cringed and watched, listening to the noise slowly reverberate and fade. However, nothing happened. An insect or two, ones that looked “normal”, buzzed around a little loudly, but otherwise silence.

He exhaled and nodded, turning back to Twilight. “I guess that means we’re in the clear for now.” He turned to the others and motioned. “Ok everyone, let’s get going. Let’s start by seeing if there’s a blockhouse or something in this city.”

“Good luck,” she answered, before looking to her own group. They nodded back, and she responded by going into her pocket for a compass. After pulling it out and then holding up the city map, she compared the two for a second before looking forward and motioning. With that, her group went in one direction while the others fell behind Shining Armor and went another.

---

It felt almost like they were on a battlefield. With the city abandoned, broken in places, and overgrown, the group found themselves very slowly moving through weeds, grasses, and around abandoned goods and machines. It didn’t take long to go into the deeper parts of the town to see it had been hit worse than Canterlot. There were broken windows, doorways, and signs of some destruction that were the more typical aftermaths of Nighttouched attacks. As a result, everyone stayed on the flat and open ground as much as possible, staying far from shadows and constantly on the lookout for trouble.

Stygian himself looked totally ill suited to the situation. As scrawny as he was, he seemed to be struggling under his rifle’s weight and size, and his helm constantly loosened and came over his eyes. He also shook more than any of them—clearly the most nervous.

After a time, Twilight saw Little Violet look at him. Soon after, she stepped closed and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Um, Stygian?” She grasped his rifle and adjusted it slightly. “Remember, keep the barrel in the air. You’re kind of waving it over toward Spike.”

“Oh…oh, um…sorry.”

She smiled back at him, then faced forward and kept walking. However, Twilight saw a change had come over him. As he continued to walk forward it was with a more glum and downcast look.

Sunset apparently noticed as well, because it was enough to make her progressively walk over to him. While their footsteps were loud enough in the grass to make it too quiet to hear for most individuals, Twilight was close enough to overhear the both of them.

“Don’t get so bent out of shape. She was just trying to look out for you.”

He sighed. “She’s always looked out for me. The trouble is I haven’t done much in kind… I’m three years her senior, but whether it’s agility trials, strength exercises, gunnery, drills, or anything else. She’s always been better. Everyone was…”

Sunset looked at him for a moment of silence. “Well…from one person to another who always seemed to ‘be behind’…I’ll let you know it doesn’t pay to nurse jealousy. It just seems to end up making things worse…”

“That’s not it. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that I’d one day be a match for most soldiers. That was obvious on the first day of boot camp. I just would have preferred being strong enough to actually make a difference. But it’s clear that if the two of us every got into a tight spot which one of us would have to rescue the other…”

He stared at the ground for a moment, brooding a little, before looking back up.

“Are you scared of the Light Eaters?”

Sunset was a bit puzzled. “Of…of course. I mean, who isn’t?”

“I know. That’s a pretty obvious question. I was never scared of them. Most people don’t believe me, but it’s true. I didn’t feel terror or dread every time the Nighttouched would appear, or knowing what it would mean. I was angry at them. Angry that I was helpless before them. Angry that I couldn’t do anything to stop them. Angry that I just had to watch people I cared about die in front of me and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”

He held up his hand, staring at the Promethian Sigil.

“The moment I heard the rumors that these symbols might hold the power to stop them, I was overjoyed. I thought that meant everything would change. That I’d finally be able to fight back and defend people. But I’m still just as weak as before. And now I’m surrounded by people who have those same symbols and can use them better than me…”

Sunset was quiet a moment, before she held out her own hand to him, showing off the blotched remains of her own Promethian Sigil.

“Well,” she half-smiled, “not quite surrounded.”

Stygian looked at the symbol in a bit of surprise before turning to Sunset, but on seeing her expression he hesitantly smiled back. The two eventually parted and the journey resumed.

As they reached the outskirts of the township, the vegetation in the area began to grow wilder and thicker. Especially the grass. While the path ahead seemed to be void of trees and shrubs, the grass and sedges went up to their waists and into a hilly vale. Nevertheless, Twilight kept leading them onward, only occasionally looking back to the map.

After a time, Sunset crept up to her side. “We’re not walking right into the woods, are we?”

“No, we’re right on path. I wanted to cut us across by the most direct route, and this graveyard is it.”

Sunset blinked. “Did you just say…graveyard?”

“Yes! And it’s one of the oldest in all of Equestria! We’re actually getting a bit of history on this trip…”

Sunset looked around a bit uneasily. Twilight noticed it and gave her a critical stare.

“Don’t tell me after everything the two of us have seen over the past seven years that you’re about to be scared off by ghosts.”

She sighed. “Fair point.”

It wasn’t long after that they began to see signs of it. At first, they thought that they simply came across an odd stone in the field, but a second look at it made it clear it was some sort of columnar rock that, for all its weathering, had not been entire natural but partially hewn. There was another a short distance away, and a third soon after that, until they realized they were arranged in somewhat regular rows. Twilight hunched over the fifth they came to, running her hands along it.

“There’s a small impression here,” she spoke up, “like there was lettering that’s been worn away. This was a grave marker.”

“It’s practically just a rock,” Sunset commented. “All of these are. How old was this cemetery?”

“Close to a thousand years, based on the history books.”

Sunset said no more, but only looked around her with more intrigue as they proceeded. The two soldiers with them did much the same. The grass was rather thick in their path, and there seemed to be a few purely innocuous boulders and stones along the way, but they were able to make out bits and pieces of rows here and there hidden behind small slopes or around larger rocks. As they moved out more into the clearing, more abundant sunshine and a steady breeze helped draw greater significance and solemnity to the area than the rest of the abandoned town.

Twilight, at length, looked forward. “There it is.”

The others turned and looked. At the top of one of the larger mounds, rising high above the grass, was the largest boulder of them all. It had been set on its side, indicating its importance and prominence. This one was the most heavily hewn, albeit roughly and a bit haphazardly compared to more modern tools. At least, it did from the side they initially came in on.

However, as they drew nearer, they slowly rounded the stone and saw that a large part of it had been carved out. As a relief, there was a stone figure standing there. It wasn’t anything from the more artistic periods, but for a medieval sculpture it was quite impressive. It depicted a man from the same period almost completely concealed behind a simple hooded robe tied around with a common length of rope.

Twilight drew in front of it and halted. She looked up at the relief and smiled slightly. Spike plodded up to her side and sat down, following his master’s gaze. Sunset soon walked up and looked at her, then to the rock, and back again.

After a moment, she smirked. “Sorry…I shouldn’t be getting nostalgic now. It’s just I read so much about Clover the Clever back in school. I didn’t think too much about the mythological aspects. I was just amazed at how much he was able to do from such a humble start. The one thing I was never really able to do was tour the countryside’s historical sites. I always wanted to come see his grave. It’s one of the oldest still confirmed to exist, you know.”

“It’s great, Twilight, but…didn’t we have a job to do here?”

She sighed but nodded. “Right, right… Well, I didn’t come here just to sightsee. I’m using his grave marker as a waypoint.” She held up the map again as she fished for her compass. “Just give me a minute. We need to be accurate here and walk in a straight line to get to the site. If we aren’t spot on, something tells me we’ll miss it.”

She nodded. “Right, I’ll just-”

She cut herself off. She had been looking back up to address the two soldiers with them, only to see they weren’t there. She glanced around but saw they weren’t nearby either.

Twilight looked over her map and compass for a moment, but then glanced up at the stone. “Alright, we just need to…hmm? What’s that…?”

Sunset didn’t seem to notice her saying that, and neither did Spike. The dog suddenly turned and perked up his ears, as if he had heard something in spite of their environment being rather quiet. A moment later, Sunset stepped away from the mage; slowly rounding the stone pillar.

As she suspected, by doing so, she soon spotted the two soldiers. Both were standing at a short distance away on the slope of the hill. Little Violet was looking around at their route ahead, but Stygian had gone still and was staring out at one point in particular. Sunset, on seeing them, stepped away from the monument and began to head out toward them.

She had nearly reached Stygian when she heard something behind her. She glanced back around and saw that Spike was staring out at the distance. He stood there quietly for a moment, before Sunset heard it again. This time, she recognized it as a small growl from his throat.

She instantly began to feel uneasy and she tensed on turning back to Stygian and walking the rest of the way toward him. He never turned to her once. As she stopped at his side, she leaned in close.

“Hey…Twilight’s plotting out our route from that grave marker. We should probably head over there.”

“We’re not alone.”

It was spoken quietly, but also without the slightest hint of apprehension or suspicion. It was stated as a concrete fact.

“…Excuse me?”

“We’re being watched. All around us.”

Sunset hesitated. The anxious feeling began to grow a bit stronger. “How can you tell?”

“The grass has been flattened in places closer to the grave marker. Someone was moving around it not long ago.”

“Someone? Not something?”

“Only the grass if flattened. There’s no animal tracks on any of the wet dirt portions.”

Sunset stood there a moment longer, wondering if whoever was out there could already see she was tensing up. Stygian was speaking quietly enough, but it had to be getting obvious that they knew something was the matter. At last, trying to stay as casual as possible, she leaned up and turned around. She meant to get back to Twilight, tell her what was going on, and hopefully get them moving before whoever was there was aware they were on to them. Then they needed to plan a way to get back to the others…

She only got a few steps, however, when Spike let out a single bark.

That clenched it. Immediately, the area around them came alive. From behind stones and hills, from within grass and dips in the valley, rose no less than twenty individuals. Each one of them was wearing a drab, yet earthen, uniform, and each one had a rifle in their hands and took aim at the three of them.

Stygian tensed up, but was unable to do anything. He already knew if he tried he’d be shot before he could. Little Violet, on the other hand, raised her weapon to fire at the nearest.

“Stop right there!” one of the people around them shouted, as she and her companion both trained their weapons on her.

“Violet, lower it!” Stygian immediately added, quickly throwing down his own rifle and putting his hands up.

She frowned in a near indignant pout, but realized she was beat. Ruefully, she threw her own rifle down before putting her own hands up. Spike let out a sharp growl, and began to bark loudly. He started to run toward the soldiers surrounding them, and one quickly pivoted their gun around.

Sunset tensed. “Spike! Stop!”

The dog had little reason to listen to her, especially after how she had treated his master. However, the urgency in her voice in a desperate attempt to get him to heel apparently worked. The dog stopped in his tracks, although he continued to growl. Sunset, on her part, was not only surprised that she had actually gotten him to stop…but was a little surprised she had shouted out in the first place. It wasn’t like protecting that dog bought her anything in terms of favors or freedom.

A moment of silence passed, as those who were nearest rose out from their hiding places, guns still aimed, and began to step forward. Looking at them a bit closer, Sunset soon recognized their details in spite of their uniform colors, which were obviously meant for camouflage.

Griffonstone soldiers.

Not long after, one individual in particular rose up, and on seeing who it was, Sunset immediately felt a wave of anxiety come over her.

Gilda practically sneered at her. “Small world, Fire Witch. And here I thought after you managed to slip by me back in Fillydelphia that I’d never see you again.”

Sunset didn’t answer. There was nothing she could say. Considering what happened the last time they had met, she realized she was fortunate enough that they hadn’t been shot on sight. All she could do was raise her own hands in surrender.

A few of the soldiers came out from the grass and advanced on the two members of their task force. Stygian and Little Violet were quickly checked for more weapons before they were shoved around at rifle point and forced to move back toward Sunset. Spike growled the whole time but, fortunately, didn’t give them any reason to shoot other than that.

“What are you all doing out here?” Stygian asked halfway there, only to get a rather hard shove in the back for doing so.

“We’ll ask the questions. Now keep moving before I put a bullet in your lung.”

Stygian frowned but did as he was told, and soon both he and Little Violet were alongside Sunset, and all of them found themselves surrounded by four people with guns. At that point, Gilda shouldered her own rifle and drew a smaller revolver. She approached the group, keeping it aimed on them and never looking away, before she stopped a short distance away.

“Now who else is around here?”

Sunset mentally debated for a moment whether to play innocent, as they seemed to have not caught sight of Twilight yet, or to be honest. Yet before she could say a word, a flash of light erupted from behind them. Enough to where everyone looked back, including the people from Griffonstone. A voice began to call out.

“Valiant spirit, my household opens its doors to you!”

“I, Clover the Clever, the Pastoral Consul, pledge myself to the House of Twilight Sparkle.”

Sunset let out a gasp at what she was hearing, realizing what Twilight was doing right that second. Gilda’s own face turned to surprise and shock. “Get her!” she yelled. “Don’t let her finish!”

A moment of confusion passed among the soldiers, before those not guarding the group began to leave their posts and run for the monument. At that point, Sunset finally got enough of her wits to try and make a move. However, it was too late. She barely twitched in her position before Gilda’s eyes caught her, and at once she wheeled fully back to her and held her gun up right in her face. Wincing, she quickly froze again.

However, it seemed as if Gilda was too slow as well. The soldiers had only run halfway to the monument when Twilight called out again.

“The binding is done; may our souls be as one!”

Another flash of light went out, brighter this time, and it had already died down again by the time the Griffonstone soldiers finally rounded the monument and aimed their weapons at her.

“Hands up!”

“Don’t say another word or we’ll shoot!”

Sunset couldn’t see Twilight, but she assumed she complied because no gunshots went out. Moments later, once six guns were trained on her, two of the soldiers put their weapons aside long enough to advance on her. She saw no more than that, for at that moment she found herself roughly seized from behind and forced forward with a gun barrel digging into her back. Stygian and Little Violet had the same done to them, and soon all three were being shoved forward and closer to Gilda and the rest of the soldiers; who themselves were quickly coming forward and gathering around them.

A moment later, one of the soldiers seized her wrist and yanked it behind her back. Her other, however, was left exposed and grabbed by a soldier in front of her rather painfully. She yanked it up to her face and examined it. Sunset looked nearby and saw that the same was happening to Stygian and Little Violet. Not long after, however, the one seizing her hand looked confused.

“Major? You should take a look at this.”

Gilda, still looking rather upset at what had just happened, came forward. “What is it?”

“Look at her hand. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s like her Promethian Sigil got ‘blotted out’.”

She none-too-gently twisted her hand and showed it to Gilda. The woman looked over it for a moment but simply scowled. “This is Trottingham’s Fire Witch. There’s no way she doesn’t have a couple souls along with her Promethian Sigil.”

“Well, I’m not seeing any on her now. And look.” With that, she used her other hand to rub furiously against the back of the woman’s hand. It was actually painful and made her wince and twist, but by the end of it the blotch was still there. “She’s not covering it up with anything. It’s gone.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. What about those kids with her?”

“They both got one, but no souls,” a different Griffonstone soldier called back.

“Then just tie their hands. But hold off on gagging that other one. I need her tongue for at least a few more minutes…”

Sunset tried to look behind her, but the moment she did she got such a painful thrust in the back that she nearly stumbled forward, and was left wincing as she slowly turned back around. Moments later, her other hand was forcefully wrenched behind her and tied along with the arm already there. She was forced to stand with the other two as the rest of the soldiers surrounded them, and almost all of them pointed their weapons at them. She heard more shifting behind her, and eventually she was able to see why in her peripheral vision. Twilight was shoved up and alongside her. Her own hands were bound and the soldiers nearby looked ready to gag her in an instant.

In spite of that, Sunset glanced at her hand. Three symbols were now on it.

“Gilda…” Twilight remarked on seeing who was leading the group.

“So you losers remembered my name, huh? I guess Dash isn’t with you this time. If she was, she’d have already tried something stupid… Too bad for you.”

“What are you doing here?”

“The same thing you’re doing, of course. Getting every soul we can while the getting’s good.”

Both Sunset and Twilight looked taken aback. “Wait…what?”

She crossed her arms. “Don’t play dumb with me. Promethian Sigils are nice and all, but new ones aren’t popping up as often as they used to. We’ve just about got all we’re going to get, it looks like. And we both know what really matters is how many souls you get bound to them. One person with one soul can beat a hundred soldiers. Two and they can take a thousand. So that means the country that’s going to be the most in charge is the one that reaps the most souls.”

Sunset looked a little stunned. “Wait…that’s why you’re here?”

“Why else do you think Griffonstone has been trying to get into Equestria so badly, nitwit? You think we like fighting off freakish monsters by the hundreds? This place is a smorgasbord of souls. Not accounting for all the people who got killed with the Lunar Fall, graveyards like this and monuments and historical sites are rife with them. They’ve even got notable people from Griffonstone buried on Equestria land.”

“But how did you find out about the An…I mean, the souls binding to your Promethian Sigil?” Twilight cut in.

“That’s none of your business. Just know that our informant not only told us all about how these things work, but they’ve also been pointing out where to get the biggest and juiciest ones. We’ve also been told about these secret buildings loaded with all kinds of inventions and science decades…even centuries…beyond anything we can make right now. Although the one we ransacked around here not too long ago ended up being a dud, this town was still fertile ground.”

She jabbed a finger at the monument. “That one was supposed to have a really nice soul attached to it. We’ve been trying to get it for a week since we can’t find the Well of Shade anywhere around here. Too bad these damn things don’t just pop out to anyone. They’re picky enough to where they want just the right person. We’ve been holding this position for days while we’ve been sending for everyone else who has a Promethian Sigil to try and get it out…”

She glared at Twilight angrily.

“But then you had to show up and just take it out right from underneath us, didn’t you?” She stared her down for a moment after saying that, but then grinned. “Fortunately, our informant also told us an easy way to make a soul available again if someone else takes it first…”

Her handgun went up again, aiming right in between Twilight’s eyes. The mage immediately paled and began to quiver. With this many weapons trained on her, there was no way for her to bring her Anima Viris to bear before she’d get shot, and she couldn’t even risk performing a spell now.

“I wouldn’t feel too bad about it, though,” Gilda went on, her smile turning into an angry scowl once again. “I’ve been wanting to kill you ever since the fort. We were in the middle of a battle zone. There was no way for us to bind the soldiers you drove crazy to get them out of there. We ended up having to put bullets in their heads to get ourselves out of there. I’ll never forgive you for that.”

Twilight shook a little harder, now staring right down the end of the handgun, but didn’t dare protest. The slightest word would only get her killed faster.

“But before that…” Gilda swiveled her arm around, making Sunset jump as soon as she saw the weapon aimed at her. “Normally I’d love to take you back to grill you, but the higher ups say they got all the info they need from our informant. So instead, answer me this—is there anyone else out here with the four of you?”

“No…no one,” Sunset quickly responded.

Apparently, it was a little too quickly, because Gilda looked even angrier after hearing that. “Well, that’s a damn shame, because if you’re out here by yourselves then there’s no reason to keep you alive as a hostage, and there’s definitely no reason to keep those two,” She gestured to Stygian and Little Violet. “Alive either. So I’ll try asking you again…is there anyone else out here with the four of you?”

Sunset stiffened. She choked for a moment, trying to assess their options. Shining Armor and the others might have heard them and they might not have. They were far enough away for it to be touch and go, depending on which way they had started searching. She could try to stall, but if it failed they were dead, and even if it succeeded she wasn’t sure that they’d figure out what happened. Not to mention the longer she tried to think of something the more she’d realize she was trying to trick her…

“What’s the Well of Shade?”

It was Stygian who had abruptly spoken up, surprising Sunset. She turned to him, but he merely looked back at Gilda. She, in turn, spun to him.

“…Excuse me?”

“You said you were looking for the ‘Well of Shade’. What’s that?”

Gilda sneered. “Do I look like a local tour guide of former Equestria to you? It’s none of your business. Why don’t you keep your mouth shut over there? You’ll live longer.”

Stygian looked uncomfortable and did as he was told, but his question caused Sunset to get an idea. It was a bit of a long shot, but she knew if anyone could possibly make the bluff work it would be Twilight. She swallowed once, suppressing her growing nervousness, before she forced herself to speak.

“That’s too bad, because it seems like you can’t find it on your own.”

Gilda, along with a few of the soldiers, snapped back to her in an instant. Her eyes locked with Sunset’s and immediately began to glare angrily.

“Now you have something to say other than what I asked you to tell me?”

“I’m just saying, if you wanted to find that well, you couldn’t do much better than asking her.” She motioned to Twilight with her head.

The gesture was so surprising that, before she could stop herself, Twilight gaped at her and blurted out: “Me?”

Fortunately, none of the soldiers fired at that, and after a moment Sunset quickly nodded. “She used to be a student in Canterlot before all of this went down. She’s had copies of all the detailed maps of the region, including the smaller points of interest. If anyone could find this well of yours, it would be her.” She turned to her. “Isn’t that right, Twilight?”

The woman was caught for a moment, and was even more put on the spot when both Gilda and several others looked to her. Apparently, they were willing to let her speak for this, although she had to choose her words carefully. Luckily, it seemed to click pretty quick. “Well, um…yes, actually. When I was searching the area for this city, I did a look at the surrounding points of interest, including the historical sites. If you could give me a general area this place is supposed to be in, I’m sure I could find it.”

She paused, but then quickly blurted out more.

“I-I-If…you agree not to kill me or my companions.”

Gilda’s eyes narrowed on her. “Right. How do I know you’re not just bluffing for time? Or waiting to use whatever you used back in Fillydelphia on us?”

“That’s wasn’t us!” Sunset protested. “I don’t know who your ‘informant’ is, but they left out an important detail about the Promethian Sigils! Namely that people who get them are at risk of spontaneously losing their minds!”

“That’s a load of crap,” Gilda spat. “Until we ran into you two and Dash, none of our teammates who ever got Promethian Sigils went ballistic like that!”

Twilight looked at them in surprise.

“…Really? No one?”

“What? Did you think we’d form a whole armed forces branch devoted to them if we thought they’d go crazy and kill themselves any moment? You think we’re idiots over here in Griffonstone?”

Twilight didn’t answer. This new revelation had struck her silent. She stared at the ground and said nothing as she thought this over.

Sunset, however, jumped in again after a moment. “Well, the bottom line is that if anyone on your group does go ballistic, it’s not because we did anything to them. But Twilight is the one who can fix it. She’s the only one who can perform the Binding Seal. If she does that, they’ll calm down. It’s already happened with us multiple times and she’s fixed it each time. We could have done it back in the fort if you hadn’t sprung on us.”

She tactfully decided to omit the part about how it would also ruin the Promethian Sigil and eject the Anima Viris. She didn’t need any more suspicion from Gilda than she had already.

The woman glared at Sunset long and hard. She turned to Twilight, getting her to look back up to her, but showed nothing else. She crossed her arms and stood there thinking for several moments. Finally, she jabbed a thumb in Twilight’s direction. “You currently have three souls on your sigil. That means you’re bigger and better than the rest of us.” She held up her own hand.

A bit to their surprise, she showed off two.

“And you expect us to take the chance that you’ll just sit on that the whole time?”

Twilight swallowed, but shrugged. “Well…I might have three, but my companions don’t. And I can’t defend them all.”

“Good point. On that note, why don’t you just tell us how to get to the Well of Shade right now or we’ll kill these three along with your dog?”

Spike let out a growl at that, while Sunset and the others began to tense up. Twilight didn’t look too comfortable either, but after a moment she firmed up, and even managed a bit of a smirk of her own.

“If we do have more friends nearby, I think the last thing you want to do is start firing off gunshots letting them know you’re here. My first deal stands.”

Gilda looked irritated, but said nothing else. She fumed for a moment longer, thinking this over, but finally spoke up.

“Gretel.”

One of the soldiers looked up to her. “Yeah?”

“How far away is that site by Steel Lion from here?”

“Uh…that’d be about a day’s trip.”

“Alright. You take your group, load up in the Steel Lion, and head back toward Forward Three Outpost. I’ll take the others along with these three and start marching toward it.”

Several members of her group turned to her rather incredulously, stunned at what she just said. “What…?”

“You heard me. Your group will act as the diversion for any of their friends that might be around. Lead them on a nice wild goose chase. The rest of us will make for the Well of Shade.”

“But…but you’re wanting us to do it on foot? In Equestria? At night?”

“Don’t be such a yellow belly. I used to be a Huntsman. I’ve spent overnights under Nighttouched swarms before. Besides, that’ll guarantee they’ll go after your group. They’d think we’d be crazy to try and traverse Equestria on foot.” She began to put her gun in her side holster. “Alright, gag that one. And I want a rifle on her head at all times ready to blow her brains out the moment she tries something.”

One of the soldiers moved to do so, but Twilight looked a bit confused. “Wait…don’t you need me to tell you-”

“Hold your horses,” Gilda cut off right as a soldier tied a specially-made gag over her face rather roughly and harshly. “You’ll tell us what we want when we get there, not before. Unless you think I’m dumb enough to let you have us wander aimlessly for days waiting for any of your pals to catch up.” She glanced back over to Sunset. “Well, congratulations, Fire Witch. You earned yourself another three days of life. I don’t really know why you think that gained you anything in the grand scheme of things as I plan to put bullets in your heads the moment we find the Well of Shade, but enjoy.”

Sunset grimaced, but could say nothing else. She looked at Twilight, but apparently Griffonstone had thought about how to restrain people like her before. This wasn’t a normal gag but something designed to fit inside her mouth as well, keeping her from making any sound at all other than a dull, muted noise. And the fact that the soldier was locking it over the back of her head like a pair of shackles would be only made things worse.

Gilda turned around and motioned. “Let’s get moving. And by the way, I won’t shoot that dog now because I don’t want to alert anyone, but if I hear one bark from it I’ll take my chances.”

Comments

[PixelatedPerson]

Another great chapter. After 4 days I finally caught up, Rollercoaster of emotions and all, I still can't believe celestia died so easily, I know for a fact sunset will get her promethian sigil back, can't wait to see what comes up soon

[Piccolo Sky]

10899227
Well, keep in mind that when Celestia died, she had 0 Anima Viris. Sunset had stolen five of them and Twilight had the sixth.

[PixelatedPerson]

10899426
Thats fair, still feels anticlimactic at the same time, though I do wonder if discord in the previous chapters had 6 anima veris or whats cadance gonna be like