Sanguine Souls

Believe what you may, but may you only believe what you prove

A storm...is it a sign?

Soul’s thoughts worried him as he felt droplets over his body. The Wonderbolts had already left, and the rest of the ponies now headed to Twilight’s library for shelter to hopefully await Jay’s return.

After a few minutes of the other ponies quietly conversing while walking, Daring broke the silence between her and Soul “Do you think he’s okay?” She asked, averting her gaze from the ground to him.

Soul simply shrugged in response. He didn’t know whether Jay could prevail, nor what to say about it. That was what troubled him most.

Daring sighed and paused for a minute or so before continuing “He did seem to handle himself well, but...” Daring trailed off as she returned her eyes to the ground.

Soul would have tried to assure Daring that Jay would be fine if he was not at a loss of words himself. Neither of them could be absolutely sure he would return, and Soul could tell it probably bugged Daring as much as it bugged him.

“Oh, did it have to rain?” Rarity complained “And so hard too! My mane is a mess!”

“It wasn’t scheduled to rain today...” Rainbow Dash added, looking around in the sky “I just cleared the skies, like, a day ago too” Upon Rainbow stating her claims, the group fell quiet. Daring seemed to be sharing Soul’s feeling of unease as he turned his attention towards her. She looked cautiously around the town as they walked in silence.

It is quite dark out...Soul thought, looking around and back to the ponies behind him several times Something definitely feels kind of...off He trekked forward, still looking about the town.

As if in response to his suspicions, Soul just barely heard the sounds of someone running to his left over the downpour of rain. He stopped and turned his attention towards the sound, causing the group behind to stop as well. He held out his hoof to signal them to wait.

Again Soul heard the same sound on his right, a bit closer than before. He quickly drew his scythe and stood in a defensive stance. Someone or something was stalking them. The group huddled closer as they noticed the sounds themselves.

“Uhm, did anypony else hear that?” Pinkie asked in a slightly worried tone “Or is it just me?”

“I heard it too, sugarcube” Applejack assured “Somethin’s creepin’ ‘bout out there...”

“Hey! Who’s out there?!” Rainbow yelled out into the distance “Show yourself! This isn’t funny!”

Rainbow’s shouts were met with a blank silence. Nothing could be heard but the sound of the rain falling. Soul stood resolute, sure that whatever was out there was still watching. He could feel the eyes on him.

“Maybe it was just some other ponies running for shelter in this terrible storm” Rarity claimed “I myself certainly don't enjoy being out here, I-”

“No. Something is still out there” Soul cut in, still scanning the area “I can feel it watching us. Everypony stay close and watch the shadows” Soul could tell his orders washed another wave of unease over the group.

It was several moments before the sounds of rushed footsteps could be heard again. As Soul tried to locate the sound, Rarity gasped loudly “Where’s Fluttershy?!” Rarity asked worryingly “She was just here behind me not a minute ago!”

“Soul...” Daring trailed off, looking towards Soul as he met her gaze. Soul nodded, sheathed his scythe, and took off in the direction he thought the footsteps were coming from. Soul increased his speed upon spotting a shady form slip in between two buildings in front of him.

Soul nearly slipped on the muddy ground as he rounded the corner of the building, only to find that an alleyway split into two small dead ends behind the two buildings. He quickly spun around expecting a trap, but all he could hear and see was the pour of the rain from the skies. Suddenly, Soul heard voices back where he had left the group.

“Fluttershy, are you alright darling?” Rarity exclaimed. Although she was loudest of the group’s concern, Soul could still barely make out her words “What happened? Did somepony else do this to you?” (They come for blood! Battle Music!)

Soul tensed up as he then heard yelps and screams quickly muffled from the various ponies. He immediately took off as soon as he heard the following sounds of various blades being unsheathed. As he grew closer, Soul noticed the group struggling with five unicorns using their magic to wield jagged daggers. Soul could already see the familiar crimson color on the robes they wore.

Cultists?! Those humans already have ponies working for them?! Soul yelled inside his head. His urgency caused him to think hastily, and he drew his scythe to bring it’s edges through the first cultists’ head just before he caught Daring with his weapon. The attack had apparently caught the attention of the three other ponies as their comrade fell to the floor in a growing pool of blood. Daring quickly grabbed his weapon with her teeth to defend herself.

“That one” One of the cultists said quietly, nodding his head towards Soul. Suddenly, the four remaining cult ponies charged Soul, the daggers floating above their heads.

As soon as the cultist spoke, Soul was ready for their attack. He quickly took out the first one by spinning around him and catching him in the back of the head with all three blades of his scythe. He tumbled and rolled on the ground from the inertia, and Soul resumed his defensive stance. As two others ran at him, Soul spun his scythe sideways on an angle towards the attackers and stopped them dead in their tracks, with the attack he landed on them both quickly followed by a stream of blood shooting out into the air.

The last cultists noticeably grimaced, and stuck his dagger into the ground. Within a few seconds the same entangling crimson roots that Haimon had used shot out of the ground below Soul, who just barely managed to jump away from their grasp. He continued to jump and dodge about as the abnormal roots followed his every move through the dirt, constantly attempting to grab his hooves.

After a few seconds Soul caught good footing on the ground, and quickly sliced away the roots pursuing him with 3 spinning sweeps from his scythe blades. The small pieces fell apart past Soul and disintegrated before touching the dirt. Taking his timely advantage, Soul dashed forward on his wings toward the last cultist and caught his neck with the staff part of his scythe, pinning him to the ground as he landed.

“Alright, answer time: who are you and what do you want my life for?” Soul demanded as he held the pony against the ground.

The pony grunted and struggled to get free to no avail before speaking “I’ll tell you nothing you need not know” He coldly replied.

“Then you’ll go straight to the underworld!” Soul threatened, pushed harder against the pony’s neck “I’ll give you one more chance: who sent you to kill me and why!? Was it Haimon!?”

The pony softly laughed at Soul’s demand before replying “All I will tell...is that The Hawk is not to be so closely trusted” He stated, the smirk persisting on his face.

“The...Hawk?” Soul asked worryingly “You mean...Jayhawk? What does he-”

Before he could press for more, Daring spoke up suddenly “Soul, the dagger, watch out!” She yelled to him, pointing towards the floating dagger behind Soul. Soul quickly spun around the dagger as he flew toward him, causing it to plunge into the cultists’ stomach rather than Soul.

“Answer me!” Soul hastily demanded as he shook the pony, hoping to press an answer out him “What do you mean, “The Hawk” ?!”

Soul waited for a reply as the life quickly slipped out of the pony, but got no response. He slammed his hoof in the dirt aimlessly in anger and picked up his scythe, shaking the blood of it before standing it up straight. After a few seconds the markings along the staff lit up and a large, swirling green and black portal opened up under the staff. The current of the portal pulled the deceased bodies of the cultists in, and closed just after taking the last one.

“‘The Hawk’...” Twilight stated in a curious tone “I doubt he was talking about anyone else. He said we shouldn’t trust Jay so much...”

“I guess the only way we’re getting answers to that is if Jay makes it back” Daring added “We should get to the Library”

“You’re right, I need to contact Princess Celestia about what’s happened” Twilight piped up in a worried tone “And Spike will no doubt be worried about us”

“Then let’s go” Soul concluded, slung his scythe onto his back and taking the lead towards the Library “Hopefully we’ll find out more soon...”

It was refreshing to Soul, and probably everypony else, to lift the feeling of rain off his body upon entering the safety of the library. The warmth and shelter was comforting, but the reason why they were there deterred it. Soul couldn’t ignore his worry of Jay failing, and the monstrosity he was facing rampaging through the town. He found himself wishing more and more that he had denied Iustit’s command, and stayed to fight. At least if he fought with him and failed, he could know what happened firsthand.

After several minutes of silence, Soul heard Twilight ordering spike to take a letter. He decided to hear out what is was she was sending, and to whom.

“Dear Princess Celestia” Twilight started. Soul wasn’t surprised. “We’ve run into quite a predicament and I’m requesting the use of our Elements of Harmony. Me and my friends were just attacked by ponies from some sort of cult, and another human has appeared with undoubted malicious intent. Soul saved us from the attackers and Jayhawk has taken it upon himself to protect us from the other human, as he somehow turned into a monster upon being defeated a first time. We need to have a way of aiding Jay to make sure he doesn’t fail, and a backup plan in case he does. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle”

Upon jotting down her words, Spike immediately rolled up the letter and expelled his green fire to send it off. The paper quickly disappeared in a small puff of smoke, and everypony waited for the inevitable response.

It was only a little longer than a few minutes before another letter suddenly appeared within Spike's fire in a magic poof. He caught the paper as it landed and unrolled it to read.

“Dear Twilight. I’m afraid I cannot comply with your request at the moment. I have a problem here in Canterlot as well that I fear may be connected to this whole endeavor” Spike reacted with worry in the same as everypony else as he read on “It is currently not safe for me or Luna to leave the castle, as we’ve recently found out that we are being stalked by an unknown threat that has already taken the lives of various guards. The guards are standing on point around the castle and have sealed off all entrances. I cannot help you, no matter how much I want to. Please stay safe, I will contact you as soon as things clear up. Yours, Princess Celestia...”

The room was silent as some ponies exchanged worried looks. Soul’s feelings of worry soon grew. He knew the timing of these events couldn’t have been coincidental.

There has got to be more than one human in on this. They must’ve planned to attack Ponyville and assassinate the Princess at the same time. This isn’t good, Jay can’t be everywhere at once, I have to... Soul stopped his thought trail as he recalled the cultists’ words ”The Hawk” is not to be trusted....dammit, that cultist was right! It’s too inconvenient that Jay is suddenly preoccupied! He’s got to be in on this whole plan! He isn’t fighting that thing, he just needed an excuse to not save the princess!

Soul gritted his teeth in anger as all the events so far came together. Jay had made everything seem pretty convincing, right down to his fight with Haimon. Soul’s rage clouded his judgement of the situation. All he wanted to do now was find Jay, and the answers he wanted. He quickly stood up and headed for the door in a rush.

“Whoa, wait Soul!” Daring shouted. She quickly flew towards the door and landed in front of him “Soul, I know you want to help the Princess, but-”

“I don’t care about the Princess, she’s fine!” Soul snapped loudly “It’s Jay! He’s working with the other humans! Him and Haimon’s fake fight lead us to believe they were enemies, so we would trust Jay when he told us to leave!”

Daring stopped and stared at the floor as she pondered Soul’s accusations. Everything sounded pretty convincing, considering how they didn’t know if Jay would return or not.

“So, you’re saying he’s going to think that we think he lost, and let that monster rampage through town?” Daring asked worryingly.

“Exactly. They planned to attack Ponyville and assassinate Princess Celestia at the same time” Soul calmed down a bit as he confidently spoke “We’re supposed to think he died fighting Haimon, and was therefore unable to return and try to save the Princess. It all fits together, and I won’t let him get away with it!”

“But Soul, attempts on Princess Celestia have happened before” Twilight added “Even if Jay is in co-hoots with the other humans, they won’t get to the princess so easily. I know she’ll be safe”

“Then that means Jay will probably be off to the castle soon to do it himself” Rarity quickly rebutted, taking Soul’s side “You saw what he did to those poor guards. I don’t think they’ll be able to hold off that brute. We must get to Canterlot to lend a hand!”

“Gotta hand it to ya Rarity, ya bring up a good point” Applejack added in, walking up to Soul “If we all don’ get t’ Canterlot soon as we can, Jay might cause a bit o’ trouble, if he is in fact goin’ there”

Soul looked back at Twilight, whose expression seemed to slightly change from confidence to worry. She looked around nervously, then focused on a certain book on a shelf and levitated it open in front of her. She flipped through the pages for a few seconds before stopping at the end and searching the books nearby.

“Whatcha looking for, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, bouncing over to her and idly looking at the books as she did.

“I’m looking for my long distance travel spell” Twilight answered, still searching through various books “It will take some effort, but I may be able to quickly tele-port us to Canterlot. We don’t have time to take the train there”

“You can tele-port all of us to Canterlot?” Daring asked in a curious tone “That sounds like quite a feat”

“It is. I can only do it every so often, and now is definitely a time to use it” Twilight quickly replied as she scoured her bookshelves “Here it is!” she exclaimed, stopping in a certain book’s page and laying it down on her desk.

“But...you can’t just blink us there, can you?” Daring inquired “There’s gotta be a catch, or something”

“Nope. It just takes some time to prepare, and I can only use it once a day” Twilight confidently relayed, still inspecting the book “Although, it also says we need to be outside, and...the skies need to be clear...”

“Well, that’s great” Rainbow added in sarcastically “So we gotta wait until this weird storm lets up?”

“I guess so” Twilight affirmed as she turned her attention out the window. The rain still poured down hard and an onyx blanket covered the skies completely “And who knows when that's going to happen...”

“Then that means I’m going out to search for Jay” Soul concluded, heading back towards the door “If the storm clears up before I find him, I’ll come back. Deal?”

“Fine. Just be careful” Daring replied “And make sure to bring him back with you if you find him”

“I’ll try” Soul said before shoving the door open and returning the cold feeling of the stormy air. While under the door’s shelter, he turned to shut the door when he noticed Daring’s sudden expression. She looked past Soul as if there was a ghost standing behind him “What is it?” He asked, in which Daring replied by simply pointing a hoof behind him.

“There...” Daring managed “Is that?...”

Soul turned back around as most of the other ponies gathered by the door. They all shared the same expression as Daring as they caught eye of what was before them. Soul was even a bit shocked himself.

Out in the rain, about 30 feet from the Library, stood a ragged human form dragging a two-handed sword. The scent of blood was already in the air, and the human’s clothes were apparently torn apart in some places. Even in the rain, Soul could see blood dripping from various wounds, and upon him growing closer, Soul recognized the human to indeed be Jayhawk.

“Jay?” Soul still asked over the rain “Jayhawk, is that you?”

Jay didn’t respond, and continued to walk forward. At this point, Jay was almost a mere 10 feet from the Library and could be seen clearly. His shirt and jeans were both torn on the right side, and several streams of blood ran down his head and along his right arm. His black hair drooped down over his most of face and he walked slowly forward as if he were a zombie, leaving a trail of blood dripping from his right leg as he advanced.

Upon Jay making it to the Library, the ponies silently parted as he trekked almost lifelessly forward. The only part of his body that wasn’t nearly caked in blood was his face, which held a dull and weak expression. As he entered the building, he dropped his sword by the door and took a few steps forward before stopping and looking down at the floor.

“My goodness...” Twilight managed in the silence “Jay? Are you alright?”

Jay was silent for about a minute for he finally spoke, giving Twilight a small, half-eyed smile as he did “Perfectly fine, sunshine” He said in a weak, yet amused tone. As soon as he finished his words, Jay’s body fell limply forward and hit the ground with a hard thump.

“ I guess he won that 'fake fight', huh, Soul?” Daring said, eyeing Soul in a way that embarrassed him.

I guess he did... Soul thought, as he stood and watched the other ponies gather around Jay.