The Ghost of Coltistrano: Phantom Eulogy

by EthanClark

Chapter 12: “They’re afraid of the storm.”

It drifted defiantly in the air. Ever sailing, ever vigilant, a looming mass of authority against a tapestry of encroaching thunder to the north. Two soldiers stood on the deck to peer across Ponyville by night, muttering to themselves and sharing swigs from flasks. Chuckles masked hoofsteps behind them. The cabin door silently hung open for a shadow to slither through and travel along the ship’s railing. He was careful, focused, wings just barely extended to preserve his balance, and with a tight grip on his prize he fell back off the vessel, watching it shrink in the distance.

Torchlight danced across the face of a bat pony as he silently glided from the stern of the Tornado, speeding across thatch-roofed buildings and the endless rows of blackened windows adorning their sides, with no one left on the street but himself and guards sternly patrolling the shadowed alleyways. He skidded to a halt at the corner of a house to peer out across the open street. Once he was certain he was alone, and hidden by the darkness, he rushed out again clutching to the small package tucked beneath his wing. The faster he ran the more the city showed its scars to him.

Running along practiced routes the bat pony nimbly carved his way through the barren streets of Ponyville and towards a smaller gathering of buildings and canvas tents and flickering candlelight. Here he returned to the refugees from Coltistrano, stranded in the tent city of tarps and torches. Once he came within range he dove into a patch of grass just barely tall enough to hide himself, and crawled across the imaginary line the city guard patrolled around the camp, waiting patiently for his opening to cross. His hooves slammed against the earth on his approach, barreling towards a crowd of small ponies crowded around an aged, chestnut mare he recognized.

“Kindle, my goodness you scared the breath out of me!” Honey Hearts pressed a hoof to her chest, recoiling at the small dust cloud he kicked up.

“Sorry, Ms. Hearts, if I flew any slower they would’ve caught me.”

“Fine, fine, you colts and your stunts. Did you at least get it?”

“You bet I did.” Kindle patted the outline of something beneath his wing before the group of foals began to crowd and gawk, prompting him to lean down to the group, greeting a bright pink filly with a warm smile. “Are you guys okay? Did any of the guards come this way?”

“No way! I’ve read all the Ghost stories, they’d never find me,”she taunted, flipping and twirling a long scrap of black cloth tied around her neck before turning to the others. “I could give you all some lessons, you’re gonna need them.”

Kindle could only laugh at the tenacious filly, but his attention returned to the only one among them immune to her excitement. “Ms. Hearts…”

“Oh, please, don’t worry about me.”

Her graying mane loosened from its bun as she shook her head, and Kindle could make out dark circles below her eyes. Her lips pursed as she took one step away, but Kindle pushed past the group of foals around him and caught up to her, but when she turned to look to him he was almost frozen by her true visage, one with drooping eyelids and a gave that drifted along with her precarious balance on shaking legs. He held tight to her shoulder.

“Ms. Hearts, you need sleep.”

“Is it so obvious? Well, I can’t yet, not until everyone is back and accounted for, and if-”

“No one will blame you for getting some sleep, okay? You do more than you need to as it is, any more and you might keel over.”

“Well… if I do, at least I wouldn’t be alone.”

Her dry words pulled the humor from his face, but Honey managed to summon a smile before heeding his requests, slowly walking away as Kindle’s gaze lingered. Once out of sight he produced the package from beneath his wing. He slowly opened it, flipping through pages of what he recognized as an operations service report, stepping away to scan the document for any information he could use as his slit-shaped eyes carefully read each word in each box filling out the shipping manifest on one of the pages he held. Time stamps and invoice numbers were listed on one side, with scheduled routes to Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and a dozen other cities on the other. Kindle, however, cared little for the contents of the shipments, only their destinations.

His focus was broken by the sound of rattling plate armor. He stashed the scroll under his own wing and slowly creeped around the rows of tents to find two guards, marching across the perimeter, prodigy into the canvas coverings and opening crates. Kindle nearly stepped out, but he was stopped by the silhouette of someone much larger than himself floating to the ground before them.

“Get lost,” Gilda growled.

“A gryphon? Command didn’t say anything about… we’re looking for Miss Rarity. She’s been missing since this morning, despite orders to meet with the sergeant major.”

“And any unicorn your boss sends you to find will do, right? You boys must be spoiled for choice.”

“We’re under orders,” the other guard snapped, pointing his torch to her scowling face.

“Orders to be clowns?” She scoffed. “Last time you deadbeats came here ‘investigating’ you gave that unicorn over there a concussion, and he wasn’t even awake. Take a hike.”

“I’ll have you know obstruction of military investigation is an offense punishable by imprisonment.”

“And who’s gonna cuff me, squirt, you?”

The guard stepped forward, craning his neck to meet Gilda’s sharp beak and eyes. “Are you threatening a soldier, citizen?”

“You don’t threaten dinner.”

Her low, gravelly delivery was more than enough to force the guard back a step, with a following snap of her beak the final push they needed to collect themselves and return, quickly, back the direction they came. It was a small victory, enough to paint a small smile on Gilda’s face.

“How long you gonna hide back there, huh?”

Kindle stepped out from his cover. “You can be really scary when you want to be, you know that? Bet he thought you’d actually eat him.”

“Who’s to say I wouldn’t?” The silence her words conjured summoned a laugh from deep within the gryphon as Gilda slapped Kindle’s shoulder. “See you nabbed it, huh?”

“I think so,” Kindle stated, revealing the scroll. “I want to get it to Rarity first, after we run recon. We can look it over together and make our decision then.”

Gilda nodded, and before long the two launched from the ground and flew high, high enough to be well beyond the eyes of the gunship as they arched up above the thin clouds of night, and once they reached the apex of their practiced curve the two jerked backwards and spun back down towards the world below. Gusts of fierce wind shot around them like a corkscrew of nature’s strength. Heavy fog, wet droplets splashing against his face, these and the thumping of blood through his skull reminded Kindle just how dangerous the stunt was, but his partner never faltered. Large brown wings released powerful flaps to keep her aloft. Feathers laid flat against her toned body to remove any hint of drag as she flew. Her beak, her neck, down to her tail, each and every part of her trained form held straight like a lance of muscle and purpose, tearing through the massive thundercloud. Squinting, he was finally able to catch up to her side.

Gilda hardly acknowledged the bat pony, instead craning her neck downwards with a piercing gaze. The movement cost her speed and pushed her downwards to the very bottom of the rumbling fog enclosing them. It was a thin veil between her and the city below. Ever shifting, omniscient eyes of fierce yellow scanned the rooftops of Ponyville and all its surrounding area as she soared, but after a while her attention began to fade. Every now and then, Gilda would dare to break her form to peer through and around the growing thunderstorm, expectantly. Kindle never noticed. He, instead, spent all of his energy merely keeping pace with the gryphon.

Silently, she waved a claw. This was something Kindle recognized, a signal to form up close and begin their descent, but for the two daredevils in the storm this meant a swift, plummeting fall onto the nearest secluded rooftop. In unison their wings jutted out to save them from a painful fall.

“You… phew, you’re a heck of a flier, Gilda,” Kindle panted, crouching low against the rooftop. “I didn’t know a gryphon could move like that.”

“I get that a lot,” she said, slyly.

Kindle chuckled, raspy and staggered as his breathing was, until he finally caught enough of his breath to speak with some clarity. “O-Okay, well, there’s a lot more guards coming in from the train station, probably for more security, but otherwise… damn, you’re not even tired, are you?”

“Nah, but while you were too busy watching my tail I noticed something weird.”

“I-I wasn’t-... what was it?”

Gilda snorted, slapping Kindle on the shoulder before speaking. “That storm’s coming down from Canterlot, but we were the only ones in it. We’ve seen EUP pegasi stake out inside clouds before, given they can walk on them, but I know pegasi who’d fly through this storm like it’s a sunny day, and none of them are even trained.”

“I don’t get it. When I was Night Guard, our procedure was to use still clouds as lookouts.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got a butt-load of security in this town, already. There’s gotta be at least something up there. Recon, Wonderbolts, something… like they’re scared to go up there. They’re afraid of the storm.” Gilda’s eyes were glued to the dark, foreboding sky, while Kindle, too, snuck a look upwards.

“Why don’t we let Rarity know when we get back,” he suggested with a comforting smile.

Gilda simply grunted in response, eventually joining Kindle in pacing along the row of buildings they landed on. The two scanned the city streets in silence, with the guard patrols and looming airship in the distance the only source of activity for blocks ahead. Kindle shot a glance towards Gilda and found her gaze fixed upon the hovering mass of metal.

“You doing good, Gilda?”

“We’re on recon, remember?”

“I know, just… it’s been a while since we talked about Coltistrano and Silver. Things are looking pretty bad, right now, and if you’re as nervous as I am-”

“I’m fine.”

Kindle’s resolve retreated back down his throat as he clamped his mouth shut. A few more moments of silence, though, brought a long sigh from Gilda.

“Look, it’s… it’s not easy for me to be… open,” she stammered. “Silver was, like… he was my friend, even when I didn’t want him to be. He told dumb jokes and never gave up on me, and with him gone I don’t know… I mean… I feel alone.”

“You got me and Rarity,” Kindle offered.

“But he’s the reason I’m still here. Silver saved me, dude. He saved me from being a washed up, salty gryphon who’s just looking for her next job, and he gave me something more, you know? I had the bakery, and you and Rarity and Ms. Hearts are all my friends, but Silver gave all that to me. He… ah, shit, I’m crying.”

Her wing came down to wipe the errant tear from her feathered cheek. “What I’m saying is he was always there for me, and that’s why I’ve stuck with him through all this. So without him it's like… it’s like I lost a wing.”

Kindle was silent. All he could do was simply reach out to Gilda and place a gentle hoof upon her shoulder. “I wish I knew him better. Sounds like he gave second chances everywhere he went.”

“Yeah, like a dumbass,” she chuckled, pulling Kindle’s extended foreleg along with her to an adjacent rooftop. “But, he never gave up on anyone. Not me, you, or even someone as crazy as the Ragged Mare.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna need the story on that one,” Kindle said with a soft laugh, peering out over the edge of the thatched roof he rested on.

“Ah, shit, you don’t know about Darrox, do you? He was the one who taught Silver how to be the Ghost. He was the first.”

“Wait, like… before Silver? You mean the old stories? They’re real?”

“Pretty crazy, huh? I only knew him for a few months, but even for an old changeling he could kick serious ass. I’ll fill you in if we make it out of this.” With that, Gilda leapt from the final building in the row. Carousel Boutique was within sight, as well as the impromptu landing pad made out on the balcony. Powerful muscles tensed to hold their strained wings in place, landing as silently as they could before entering.

Beyond the threshold of Rarity’s workroom laid the definition of organized chaos. Unraveled bolts of fabric threatened to overtake the carpet, joined by dozens of half completed diagrams and sketches of new outfits, both functional and fashionable. A thin layer of dust, however, betrayed the age of the mess. Gilda paid the piles no mind as she led Kindle through the room and down into the main showroom, converted into a larger living quarters for the three. Rarity shot up from her seat to greet the two.

“Oh, thank goodness you’ve made it.” The signature bounce of her mane was nowhere to be found as she rushed towards them. “Please tell me you found it.”

“Yeah, deliveries by train every twelve hours, there’s a full schedule here.” Kindle leaned over Rarity and flipped to the page in question. “They’re coming from all over, though, and leaving in just as many directions. Are you thinking about hopping a train out of here?”

“What choice do we have? According to what you recovered, there’s a train leaving for Canterlot but… it leaves tonight.”

As Rarity, dutifully read over the documents Kindle shared a look with Gilda. “Could that work? I mean, there has to be something we can do here. We can’t just leave Ms. Hearts and everyone.”

“We can’t waste any time, Kindle,” she stated, harshly. “I don’t know what Shield has planned. I don’t know why the EUP is here and I don’t know what to do next. All I know is the longer we stay here waiting the closer we get to another attack, and I don’t think we can stop it. Canterlot is the only lead we have.”

“But the refugees need us, too. Look, we’ve got to do something about Shield and whatever he’s planning, but the others are desperate. Gilda scared away two more soldiers before we came here.”

“Kindle’s right, Rares,” Gilda said. “I wanna skin Shield as badly as you, but we can’t leave without making sure the city’s safe.”

Rarity huffed and rubbed her temples, pressing deep as she carried the hefty document in a wreath of magic to her seat, falling into her chair and leaning over a table with the papers splayed out before her. Absent eyes vacantly scanned each page with little enthusiasm until they fell upon the black shred of fabric tied to her wrist.

“I can’t believe this,” she huffed. “There’s just too much going on. These soldiers, Silver, and now this. There… there’s just not enough of us, anymore, is there?”

Gilda crossed the floor to join Rarity, placing a claw on her shoulder, anything to bring the unicorn solace from her dark thoughts. Kindle, meanwhile, stood in deep contemplation. Nocturnal eyes shot from side to side, onto the table where the documents laid, to the windows of the boutique painted black with night, and in his ministrations he felt a tingle of relief wash over him as he too joined the others at the table.

“You’re right, we can’t just sit here. If we can’t even figure out what Shield is up to then how are we supposed to protect everyone from it, right? We can take the train, snoop around in Canterlot for a few days, and catch the next one back.”

“They wouldn’t even know we were gone,” Gilda offered, wearing a mischievous grin.

“And we’d at least find some answers, right?” Kindle’s optimism managed to summon a smile on Rarity’s face, who turned to read the pages.

“If we’re fast enough, we could make it onto the train with no one noticing… and it’s the only plan we’ve got.”

“Just don’t cram a week's worth of clothes in your bag and we’ll be fine,” Gilda quipped. “C’mon, let’s hit the lights and get over there.

The rest did as Gilda instructed. Tools, parchment, the report for evidence, only the essentials were packed before Gilda, Rarity, and Kindle slowly crept out of the darkened boutique and carefully made their way around the darker, less traveled parts of Ponyville. Dodging the torchlight was easy enough, even when carried by yawning guards. Passing through one of the alleyways gave the trio a clear shot across Ponyville’s main square. Kindle gazed upwards, squinting to focus, but the threat of encroaching patrols convinced the trio to continue moving instead, using whatever cover they could to cross the square and carefully make their way to the station, plumes of smoke billowing from the train engine. They crouched low along the platform, out of sight of the guards.

“We want one of the back cars. That section there is meant for troop transport, no place for stowaways to hide.” Kindle peered over the top of the platform to follow the guards’ patrols.

“Of course Lighthoof shows up,” Gilda groaned. “Must be out here every night looking for us.”

“It must be why he’s here,” Rarity piped up. “But we can’t worry about that now. Kindle, lead us to the proper car and we’ll follow. Gilda, keep an eye out, especially above us.”

Gilda gave a quick nod and took up the rear, her eyes trained to the heavens for any sign of wings, feathered or otherwise. Kindle scanned each car they passed. Each car was smooth metal with no visible entrances other than thick paned windows, but the sixth down from the smoking engine sat a plain car of wood and bolted steel, and Kindle delicately placed a hoof on the handle and lifted, careful not to rattle the metal lock as he removed the pins and slowly pulled the door open. Within was a series of boxes stacked floor to ceiling on either side with just enough room for them to enter. Kindle helped Rarity up, then offered a second hoof to Gilda. The second she took it was announced by a bolt of magic crackling against the wooden wall beside her.

“Halt!” The unicorn soldier was followed by a dozen more soldiers, clad in plain armor and closing in around the train car. “Make another move and the next one hits.”

More guards began to encircle the scene, led by the auburn-maned Lighthoof, who shouted to them. “Soldiers, check the other cars, make sure there are no more stowaways. I expected this of common rabble, Miss Rarity, but not from you.”

“Lighthoof, you’re being played!” Kindle shouted from the car, drawing the piercing glares of the surrounding soldiers. “You’ve got to know who Shield Wall is. He’s the one behind all this, and if you take us in we won’t be able to stop him.”

“If you have information about that attack or any current threat, you and your friends will be debriefed while in detainment,” Lighthoof stated, dismissively, giving a wave of his hoof for the guards to close in.

“Lighthoof, please,” Rarity begged. “If you know me, then you know I’m no enemy. You have to believe I’m doing this for a reason.”

“I’m under orders, ma’am, and this isn’t a request.”

Soldiers slowly closed around them, glares as sharp as knives forcing them against the walls of the train car. Above the plates of armor glimmering in the moonlight, though, Kindle spied a piercing set of eyes he knew well perched atop the closest building. Golden eyes. He froze in place, and for only a second they shared a glance, prompting Kindle to step back towards the others.

“He’s up there,” he whispered. “Shield… he’s… oh, we’re screwed.”

Sure enough, when Rarity and Gilda craned their sight upwards they were greeted by the vacant, haunting face of Shield Wall against the pale moonlight, following them with a scowl. When they snapped back to the soldiers, however, Rarity caught the barest hint of Lighthoof looking over his shoulder, and a nod from the unicorn above.

“Lighthoof,” Rarity drew out. “If you’re with him, please. Please don’t do this.”

The sergeant major paused for a moment. His troops inched forward in anticipation as he chewed on his tongue, mulling over Rarity’s words, but what frightened her most was his smile. Long, thin, with dagger-like points just barely passing his lips, his eyes shone a quick flash of green and sent Rarity’s last vestiges of hope screaming into the abyss. He waved his hoof forward.

“We’re not gonna be able to take ‘em all,” Gilda growled, leaning over into a fighting stance. “Shit, what would Silver do?”

Rarity took only a moment to scan the scene before her, the marching crowd of guards slowly swallowing her vision, and after a pause in the action she took a deep breath before an ever-growing brilliance swallowed her horn.

“Something stupid.” Rarity’s words released the spell.

“Magic! Magic on the field!”

Lighthoof’s sensitive vision was bombarded by a shrieking blast of pure, white light, blasting forth from the train car. He doubled over onto the ground, felled by the sharp ringing in his ears while his limbs searched for their lost stability as he managed to pull himself up. Craning his head around, his vision slowly returned to reveal the trio had vanished. Scorch marks dotted the frame of the car door and he could even spy trails of disturbed earth crossing over the still languishing soldiers around him. Looking up, the other had vanished, as well.

“Over there!” One of the soldiers pointed away from the platform, at a trio of shadows rushing into the backstreets. “Form up! Cut them off at the main square!”

Rarity rushed as fast as her hooves would carry her, leagues ahead of the floundering guards behind her, but the narrow alleyways slowed her down. Heavy breaths punctuated each step she took. Her winged companions trailed behind, and Gilda’s sharp eyes caught glimpses of pegasi clamoring through the gap between the buildings. With a lunge Gilda pushed herself, Rarity and Kindle through the alley opening and out into a waiting crowd of soldiers. They peeled out to the right, threatening to topple over each other in their haste, all the while a dark flyer loomed overhead. Soldiers shouted after them, with more and more joining the pursuit.

“You’re under arrest! Stop them!” The call summoned a squad of soldiers from the shadows of the city’s homes.

Rarity ran on adrenaline alone. She wouldn’t dare look back. A dozen soldiers chased to catch her as the trio rushed down a long thoroughfare. When they approached the bridge leading out of Ponyville they found a lone pony standing in the moonlight.

Kindle skidded to a halt, trapped in the unicorn’s chilling stare. “You two need to get out of here, I’ll stall him for as long as I can.”

“No way, we’re taking him together!” But Gilda’s resolve melted away when she met his eyes, heavy and pleading. “You can’t ask me to let you get killed.”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

Kindle turned to face Shield Wall, only feeling the powerful beat of Gilda’s wings as she carried Rarity up and away from the city, the shouting of guards behind them. Shield didn’t even follow their trail. Instead, he remained fixed on the pony before him, a walking memory from a cave in the north.

“You took the bait, then?” He asked with a firm voice.

“I guess I did,” Kindle said, taking a timid step forward. “Take it this was your plan? Trap us in Ponyville and get us all at once?”

“In truth, you still hold some use to me, but perhaps I will simply kill you one by one, each a compelling argument to never resist me again. I see, however, Silver’s seditious influence has long outlived him, and you still seek to defy me.”

“We have to try. After what you did to Coltistrano, how could we not?” Kindle found a twitch in Shield’s eye, but continued. “That camp of refugees? They’re all that’s left. I barely know them, but after what happened… after what you did, I can’t abandon them. I won’t.”

“A fitting epitaph for a traitor like yourself,” Shield hissed through clenched teeth. “Killing you will be most satisfying.”

“Stop talking about it and do it,” Kindle chided with a burst of courage. “I don’t have all night.”

Shield’s shock twisted into fury, launching a golden bolt that beat Kindle back against the railing. Shield’s forelegs moved like spears and thrusted outward against the recovered and flowing shape of his enemy. They danced around each other, eyes glimmering like stars and never losing each other’s gaze. Kindle sweeped with a hind leg. Shield’s force field was more than enough to resist the errant limb, but his lungs nearly collapsed when Kindle’s wings beat once and threw his back into Shield’s exposed stomach, only to use his new point of leverage to spread his limbs over Kindle’s back and force him onto the bridge, pinning him.

His strikes were measured and superficial, fishing for a gap in Kindle’s raised guard around his face, and a snagged foreleg would be the price for his caution. Kindle twisted on the ground to shoot both his hind legs upward. They ensnared Shield Wall’s throat as they squeezed, forcing him over as he grimaced at the growing sting in his joints, with each passing second draining the vision from his eyes. Kindle fished for full leverage over the limb, but something whispered in the back of his ears, signaling the glimmering gold wreath he long feared coiling around him as he looked to the seething unicorn on the other end.

He was wrenched from his foreleg. One strike, a second, and third, again and again Kindle collided against the wood of the bridge, forcing him to huddle as best he could to absorb the abuse, not expecting the sudden sting of the railing’s corner in his ribs as Shield flung him aside. Kindle was dazed, woozy, barely able to keep a clear vision of Shield Wall as he stomped towards him. Golden light illuminated his face. Kindle held out a weary hoof, dangling between them both.

“P-Please… not like this, I can’t…”

The blast cared not for his plea, firing at Kindle and sending him rolling over the railing towards the river below. Shield stopped and took a deep breath. Peering over the railing, his eyes shot open to see the water below sat undisturbed. No blood, no body, nothing. With all his frantic searching, Shield reacted too late. Swooping out from underneath the bridge and flying straight for him, Kindle raked his hoof against Shield’s jaw in a thunderous crack that sent him toppling over the railing just as he did, saved only by the thin golden barrier breaking his fall, shooting Kindle a glare that chilled his very heart. Escape was now all he could think of. Volley’s of golden fire chased after Kindle, zig-zagging through the night sky, dodging a hit or two past his legs before rising into the void. Shield Wall, however, took his time with the final shot.

It cut deep. Kindle yelled out at the warm splash of blood along his belly, stumbling in the sky. With hissing resolve Kindle held his momentum forward, eating all the pain his fresh wound gave him as fuel for his weary wings. On the ground, Shield’s eyes followed Kindle until he was little more than another star in the tapestry of night. He stepped away from the river.

Trained eyes surveyed the darkened world around him. A hoof prodded the tough earth at the river bank, ears perking up to the familiar beating of leathery wings. Glint silently landed along the railing of the bridge. They said nothing, and a gentle spell from Shield’s horn scanned the ground as the sounds of armor returned to the city, and Shield kneeled beside the reward for his humiliation.

Blood. A trail of blood.

Comments

[Tattered Rags]

The way Gilda's handling all of this hits just right...

And as expected, recon never is quite just recon!

[EthanClark]

11593814
Thanks! Definitely one of the more delicate moments to get right for her character.