Dark Souls: Story of the Blanks

Chapter Three

Thieves in The Night

The sun was beginning to fall upon the town of Sunnytown as Alma and Mitta darted from house to house. Making their way to Grey Hoof’s house as they kept quiet to make sure to not be noticed by anypony in town. As they did, Alma took notice of how quiet the town was as she looked around at their surroundings. To her surprise, there wasn’t anyone outside walking about their daily lives.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Alma said as she and Mitta quickly ran over to the house across from them.

“What do you mean?” Mitta asked as she quickly looked around the house they were at to see if anyone was walking around or out in the open.

“Don’t you think that it’s a bit too quiet out here? Aren’t there supposed to be peo...ponies outside or something?” She asked as Mitta looked over at her for a moment before her eyes widened at the realization.

“That’s….not good….not good at all,” Mitta said as she took the lead and bolted down the street. Alma blinked at this as she followed after the earth pony while taking notice of their surroundings starting to change slowly from the once colorful town to an old, decayed, and burnt-down town the more the sun fell. “We need to hurry before night falls.”

“Is it that bad of a place when it gets dark?” The bat pony asked as Mitta looked at her with a deadpan expression on her face.

“Are you that hard at listening to what I said happens during the night?”

“No, but you’re making it sound a bit overly dramatic. This wouldn’t be the first time I have to deal with something involving cursed towns or something similar to that matter.”

“And where did you come from that has a cursed town in it?”

“.....I refuse to answer that question for personal reasons,” Alma said before looking off at the sky to see the sun going down even more to the point where it vanishes from her sight. “And there goes the sun. Guess that means it’s going to be-” Upon looking back at Mitta, she blinked in an unfazed manner at the earth pony’s rotten decay-like clothes and body. “Oh…..I see what you mean about the whole curse thing.”

“I take it you’re scared of this town now?” Mitta asked as the bat pony turned back in the direction of the street.

“Not really. Like I said I’ve seen worse. Now please take me to where Grey Hoof’s house is located.” She asked as she jerked a thumb over in the other direction.

“....Does anything phase you?” The mare asked before continuing to lead Alma through town. As they continued to make their way to Grey Hoof’s home, the duo quickly stopped when they saw one of the villagers on the path they were walking on. “Oh horse feathers….”

“Mitta…... I thought we made it clear that you can’t stop us from saving every pony that comes to our little town.” The mare said as she cripply walked towards Mitta and Alma.

“L-Look, I’m just here to show Alma here around town. Nothing more, nothing less. So why don’t you just go back to what you were doing, Three Leaf, and you won’t hear from me after that.” Mitta said as Alma noticed a scared expression on her face and her backing up a bit from the mare that was Three Leaf.

“That’s what you said last time, but you made us almost lose a friend. And now you’re planning on taking Alma away from us. This cannot stand any longer Mitta. You must be punished for trying to-” Before Three Leaf could finish, she was cut off by feeling something pierce her chest. Looking down, she saw what looked to be an arrow made of lightning sticking out of her chest. She looked up to see Alma with a bow made of lightning in her hand as she stared in disbelief. “W….What?”

“The hay!?” Mitta finished as she looked over at Alma in shock and surprise at what she was seeing.

“Not gonna lie…..but I am more surprised that I’m able to use magic like this.” Alma said before aiming for Three Leaf with another arrow. “But right now we don’t have time to deal with this. Three Leaf, was it? Care to explain what you were doing following us, or was that someone else following us?”

“You...hit me? But….But I thought we were friends?” Three Leaf said as she extended a hand towards Alma, only for it to be shot off by another lightning arrow. The decaying pony’s eyes widened as she drew her now stub of a hand back and looked it over.

“Mitta told me the gist of what’s going on in this town. You expect me to be friends with someone like you who thinks the mark on my….um….flank right?” Alma asked as Mitta nodded slowly.

“Yeah, you think I’ll be friends with someone who thinks that the mark on my flank is a curse and have you turned me into a walking corpse like you and the rest of these ponies in Sunnytown?”

“But….the mark on your flank is evil. Don’t you know that it will kill you if you don’t let us save you?”

“And how would you know that it would kill somepony? Have you ever seen it happen to somepony?”

“Mitta’s friend died from it. We had no choice but to put her out of her misery because she was suffering from it.”

“You lying bitch! You and this entire bucking town killed her with your own hands!” Mitta yelled as tears made out of blood rolled down her face. “You monsters killed her after she found her special talent….my one and only friend….Oh, Faust, if only I could’ve done something to save her.”

“Listen Alma. Whatever she’s been telling you are lies. We want to be your friend and save you from an awful fate that happened to Ruby.” Three Leaf said as she extended her other hand towards the bat pony as a means to offer her hand in friendship. “Come, let us save you and you can live with us in Sunnytown forever-” Before she could finish her offer, the bat pony shot another lightning arrow into Three Leaf’s shoulder and she was sent flying backward onto the ground. The decaying mare tried to pull the arrow out of her shoulder, only for her hand to be pinned down to the ground by another arrow from Alma.

“I don’t have time for this.” Alma aimed at Three Leaf as she fired more arrows at her so she would be pinned to the ground. “Just stay there and try not to be an annoyance.” She said before motioning Mitta to lead the way again. Mitta shook her head before going back to leading Alma to Grey Hoof’s house. As the duo continue to make their way through the decaying town of Sunnytown, Mitta quickly grabs the bat pony by the collar as she lets out a yelp, and swings over to the side into a bush.

“We’re here,” Mitta said as she made a gesture for her to be quiet and pointed over to the house across from them. Looking over at the house that the earth pony pointed to, the bat pony took notice of a pony exiting the house. He began to adjust himself a bit before walking down the street with a sickly smile on his face.

“I assume it was Grey Hoof that exited out of that house?”

“Yes. He’s the only pony with a smile that would make your stomach turn if you lived long enough to hate him.”

“Mental note, try to figure out who is who when the sun comes out.” Alma thought as she watched Grey Hoof walk off. Once he was out of their view, they quickly bolted over to the leader’s house. Mitta opened the door and slammed it behind them once Alma followed in after her.

“Get your stuff so we can leave. I prefer not to stay here any longer than I have to be.”

“I’ll leave, but you’re coming with me so we can either think of a plan or get help with this problem,” Alma said as she began to search around the house for her gear along with some stuff that she might be able to eat or make.

“You're planning on killing them aren't you?”

“It’s not like I can leave them alone now that they’re going to be doing this to other p...ponies.”

“Do you have speech problems when it comes to saying certain words?”

“I suffer from a few head injuries so sorry if my speech is a bit...off,” Alma said as she made her way over to the hallway which had four doors on each side of the wall. “Hey, which one is Grey Hoof’s room?”

“It’s the one on the end of the hallway with the silver doorknob,” Mitta said as the bat pony headed down the hallway to the door with the silver knob. Once there, she quickly turned the knob and opened the door to see nothing but a dark room filled with darkness.

“Do you have any source of light or something Mitta?”

“There might be a candle in his room, but you’ll have to look around in there to find it,” Mitta replied as the ashen one rolled her eyes and summoned up her bow to use as a means of light. As the bat pony walked through the dark room, she took notice of the stuff inside of it being old, covered in dust, mold, and rot. Well all but a picture in a frame of himself and some ponies next to him smiling. The mare could tell who three of them were, but the rest she couldn’t.
“Might as well take this with me so I can ask Mitta the whole story about this in more detail later.” She thought before taking the picture out of the frame and putting it in her pocket as she continued to look around the room. As she took a couple of steps forward, her foot hit something hard and gave off a metal clink sound. Moving the light from her bow downwards, she smiles upon seeing her gear there next to the closet door. “Found my stuff!”

“Where was it!?” Mitta yelled as she heard some scuffling coming from Grey Hoof’s room.

“Next to what I can guess is his closet! You think he would put it in there and cover it up instead of laying it in plain sight to some degree!”

“....He wasn’t the brightest pony out of the little village. Nice, but not bright.” Mitta said as she looked out the window to keep an eye out for anyone in the area. “Mind hurrying up!? I prefer not to stay here any longer than I need to be!” She asked as she turned towards the hallway and was startled by seeing Alma wearing her armor and her gear. “Oh, that was quick.”

“Yeah...This armor feels weird. Not the bad kind of weird, but the kind of weird that says that it’s been cleaned and repaired for the most part.” Alma said as she tapped the metal part of her boots. “Did you see them do anything while I was passed out for….wait how long have I been knocked out?”

“About three days later, seeing how I overheard somepony in town finding you in the forest somewhere. I’m gonna guess and say that they were planning on giving you your stuff back once you join our community.” Mitta said as she performed air quotes.

“....You know it’s hard to not hate these ponies for doing this, but having them with information like this gives me all the more reason to not care about their kindness,” Alma said as she looked into her bag to see if she had everything she needed or was missing. “So far I have everything that I had on me...except for my throwing knives and bombs.”

“Are they important?”

“No, but I mostly use them as means to knock a pony’s guard down or stagger them long enough so I can deliver a counterattack. But I’ll manage with just my magic and swords for the time being.”

“Alright, now the only thing left to do is leave this place and think of a plan to-” Just as Mitta opened the door to Grey Hoof’s house, she paused as her eyes widened in fear upon seeing what was in front of her. Alma took notice of the earth pony pausing mid-sentence as she popped her head over from the side she saw Grey Hoof and a group of at least twelve ponies standing behind him with menacing red glowing eyes and blood dripping from their open wounds on their bodies.

“Wow...not gonna lie. They’re pretty good at sneaking around without making a sound.”

“Not helping Alma,” Mitta whispered before looking back at the angry mob of dead ponies. “How the hay did you find us so quickly Grey Hoof?”

“Three Leaf told us about what happened. Not to mention what Alma did to her.” He said looking over at the bat pony with a casual smile on his face. “I take it Mitta told you about our fair happy town?”

“The term happy town is an understatement. It’s more of a beautifully cruel town based on a bunch of lies, bodies, and idiots thinking they’d be safe from having a cutie mark that only shows what you’re good at.” The bat pony said casually as Grey Hoof sighed in disappointment.

“As I feared, she twisted your mind on how Sunnytown is. Alma, that mare is lying to you. The mark on your flank is a curse. A sign that will kill you if we do not save you from it as soon as possible and spread to the rest of the world.”

“And how would you know that? Have you seen it kill anypony before?”

“We don’t need proof to know that the mark is evil. It must be purged from Equestria before it will cause the end of all things that we know.” Grey Hoof said as he offered a hand toward the bat pony. “Look, I get why you attacked Three Leaf. You were scared and didn’t want Mitta to think you turned on her, but you don’t have to worry about that anymore. We’re willing to forgive you if you just come with us.” There was a moment of silence between Alma and Grey Hoof as Mitta looked at the bat pony with a mix of worry and anxiety on her face. The Earth pony was about to say something, but stopped once she saw Alma rush over to her and grabbed her by the waist. The earth pony lets out a yelp from feeling herself being picked up and placed underneath Alma’s arm.

“Nope, not in the mood to deal with this!” She yelled before slamming the door in front of Grey Hoof’s face who let out a loud yell of pain from the door hitting his nose.

“....I was not expecting you to do that, to be honest,” Mitta said as she felt Alma release her and placed her back on her feet. “Now what do we do Ms. Knight in rusty armor?”

“Well given the fact that the front door is blocked by undead ponies.” Alma reached for her staff strapped to the holster on her back. “We’ll be going out the back door.”

“And you don’t think they wouldn’t think we'd be going out the backway?”

“Maybe, but for now.” The bat pony aimed her staff towards the backdoor of Grey Hoof’s house as she saw a couple of shadows of the ponies of Sunnytown in the backyard. “Get ready to run.”

“What do you mean by-” Mitta was cut off as she saw arcane magic swelling around the tip part of the staff for a moment before vanishing. The champion of ash blinked for a moment before feeling a surge of magic bursting wildly from her staff before firing off a colossal beam of magic as she held onto her weapon with more strength than needed. The moment the beam slowly shimmers down, the earth pony's eyes widen upon the aftermath of the destructive force behind Alma's attack. From what she could tell, about a good five to ten houses that were behind Gray Hoof's home and parts of the forest were burned to a crisp. Both the bat pony and earth pony looked at each other, then at the staff, then back at each other. “....Are you sure you’re a bat pony...because there’s no way a bat pony can perform magic like that!”

“I’ll explain later. Right now, let’s go!” The bat pony said as she grabbed Mitta’s hand and quickly bolted out of Grey Hoof’s house and off into the forest. While the two made their getaway from the crazy mob of undead ponies, the folks of Sunnytown stared in disbelief and shock at what just happened to Grey Hoof’s house.

“Grey Hoof...are you okay?” Three Leaf asked as she looked over at the mayor’s face and saw a slight manic frown on his face.

“For once….I am not. This mare is even more troubled than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“That curse mark on her flank is causing her to act like this. Added to the fact that Mitta poisoned her with her lies about this town and how we save ponies. We must find her and save her from this curse before it’s too late.” He said before looking at the group behind him. “Take the ponies that are injured from that blast and heal them with the ritual.” The ponies nod as they begin to pick up the limbs and body parts of their fallen friends and carry them off into the center of town.

“What about Alma and Mitta?” Three Leaf asked as the earth pony looked off into the distance of the forest. “I’ll have one of the unicorns send a message to Roneo and Gladstone to go search for them. Once they find them, they'll set off a signal for us to go and get Alma back from Mitta.”

“And Mitta? What are they going to do with her once they find her.” She asked as Grey Hoof’s eyes glowed brightly as a frown appeared on his face.

“We gave her a chance to repent, but now that she tricked Alma into helping her...it’s time to say goodbye to our old friend.”