//------------------------------// // 7 - Snowfall // Story: Exile’s Journey // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Gentle Repose - 4th of Chillfrost, 16 EoH Pokinutyy Tsitadel' ruins - Griffon Kingdoms Staring into the rapidly approaching gray-white wall of ice and snow bearing down on us with such weight and terror as to remind me of the memory images of Neighponese tsunami, I gained an immediate love for pegasi. I had loved them before, but now that I saw natural weather rage grinding across the grasslands, eagerly sprinting across the vast distance to smash me aside like mere rubbish atop a desk... I could feel nothing but empathy for those who had not grown up in controlled weather systems. “Keep moving,” Fell called urgently. “We can make it to those ruins before the storm hits!” His urgent words snapped my attention away from the approaching storm, drawing them to the rough spot where Fell was galloping full force towards the crumbling walled fortress in the distance. As it had gotten colder over the last few days, Fell had complained he didn't’ want to drain the crystals which powered his rather robustly enchanted armor on simple warmth spells. I had offered to cast one on him myself but we agreed it was best for me to reserve all of my magic for when we absolutely needed it. Then I reminded him he had been given a Knight’s cloak, and he had swiftly put it on. Which made it damn near impossible to spot him. Fell had activated the cloak’s chameleon spell, hoping to hide from griffons to make them focus on me. While that was a wise tactical move which allowed us a counter ambush, the enchantment’s effects made it almost impossible to want to look at the odd rippled distortion around the cloak. Even if you know where Fell was, your brain just didn’t want to let your eyes point at him. “Are you sure we can make it?” I called fearfully. “What are you afraid of? I’m the one who will freeze to death,” Fell pointed out. “While magically protected,” I began, “it is possible for ice to form within my phylactery, damaging it, possibly destroying it, but at the minimum interfering with you know, my soul, basically.” “Ah… Good point,” Fell said apologetically pausing for a moment. “We can make the gate house for sure. Maybe the keep itself.” I squinted off into the distance, trying to make out as much of the details about the approach to the ruin as I could. The fortress sat atop a square mound of earth which had been created via clever landscaping to provide the fortress with an elevated position above the grasslands surrounding them. The walls had crumbled away quite a bit, showing the structure to be clearly abandoned, but also hiding much of the fort’s designs. The gatehouse itself was in far better shape and appeared to have been hexagonal at one point in time but now was a few walls and maybe one intact roof perched at the end of a dry moat, with one rotting but safe enough looking log and plank bridge leading to the gates themselves. I supposed the griffons needed the gate for cargo, rather than personnel as the bridge and the space the gates would have been were more than wide enough for two carts to come and go at once. That meant there would be a place to store and inspect carts inside. Which meant there probably was some form of shelter in the gatehouse. Or at the very least… “If we don’t find shelter before the storm hits, we should set up the tent and use one of the walls as a wind block!” I called. “Good plan, I was going to suggest that myself. Keep moving!” Fell insisted. The two of us put as much speed into our hooves as we could, the storm inching ever closer. We had about twenty minutes if I was judging distance correctly. Would that be enough? High King’s Forest - Griffon Kingdoms 4th of Chillfrost, 16 EoH Twenty kilometers due south by southwest, the same storm bore down on a second group of ponies. Eleven pegasi and one unicorn huddled inside a shallow cave in an earthen hillside. The dark space held enough room for everypony to lay down, and for a fire to be lit within the center of the cave. Finding the old animal den had been a stroke of luck on the part of these Prench soldiers. The pegasi all wore identical uniforms, the dark olive green, white trimmed, hardened leather armor of the Prench Air Guard protected only the most vital places. A flexible cuirass, marked with the prench flag on the back and each individual's name and rank on the barrel, a padded cap more for warmth than protection, goggles, and a full set of grieves along with tough boots and nothing more. These pegasi were scouts, meant to fly long distances quickly, cover all manner of terrain, and locate anything the Empire wanted to find. They did not need more protection than their hardened leather provided. No aerial warrior enjoys being weighed down more than they must be, and each scout had quite the arsenal to carry with them already. Each scout was equipped with a bandoleer, festooned with various arcane grenades, several air to ground bombs, an arcane lightning rod with which to better guide a bolt of lightning, two rapid fire miniature crossbows attached to each bracer, and an entrenching tool. All of that and their field kits, a blanket, canteen, survival pack, and any mission specific gear they had requested. Not a one of them wished for more armor. Who wants to stand and fight anyways? It’s best to fly past your enemy and leave behind a wall of flames. The group’s leader, Sous-Lieutenant Blitzwing, walked between his troops, inspecting their makeshift camp as it was built. “Corporal, dig the chimney at a shallower angle, the wind will blow right down something that vertical,” he chastised. “Sergeant, get that rear wall dug out further. We may be here for some time. It’s unlikely they have gotten any further than this on hoof and this will make a good base of operations to search the area from. “You, Patches, string a tarp up over the cave entrance.” Sunlit’s mismatched ears fell flat, lips pulling back in a snarl as he was addressed by the nickname the two squads had forced upon him. “That’s not my name!” He growled. Blitzwing rolled his eyes and called, “Does anypony present give a flying buck about his opinion?” “Sir, no sir!” The near-dozen pegasi called in unison. Sunlit’s empty eye twitched in rage behind his eye patch, concealing the anger from the Sous-Lieutenant, and likely sparing him a verbal beat down. “You’re in the army now, Patches,” Blitzwing shouted, switching into the classic officer’s command voice. “You hear an order, you follow it, or Steward so help me, your secondhoof plot will be feeding the grass! If I do not see you putting a tarp up over the entrance in the next fifteen seconds, you’re going to be walking tomorrow, and the day after that. I’ll bet that will make whoever's scheduled to carry your fat plot around real happy. Now move it!” Sunlit sneered angrily at Blitzwing. Blitzwing scowled back with the full force of a seasoned officer who was many years past taking even a modicum of shit. After several moments, Sunlit’s head tipped down, defeated. “Yes, sir,” he grumbled, starting for the cave’s entrance as ordered. As the patchwork stallion awkwardly limped his way to the entrance, the team’s final member swooped into the cave’s mouth, landing on her four hooves so gracefully that her squadmates couldn’t help but to give her a jealous glare. The newcomer wasn’t a pony, or rather, not completely a pony. She was a Felin, a kind of hippogriff born from a pegasus mother. Nopony quite knew the reason but hippogriffs with pegasus blood always seemed to inherit their father's lion half rather than their avian half, producing what amounted to a pegasi with a griffon’s large powerful wings, a body that while pony in shape moved with catlike grace, along with a lion’s tail, eyes, fangs, and taste for meat. Like all pony-griffon hybrids living in Prance, Light Step was something of a social outcast. Half of her blood belonged to ‘the enemy’, and as no Prench mare would willingly copulate with a griffon, her very existence was a reminder of the raids carried out on their people. Which is why she always got stuck with the duty assignments nopony wanted. “Bucking great… She’s back,” Sun muttered to himself. “Sir! I’ve found them,” Light reported eagerly, snapping a salute. “I recommend we attack immediately.” “Settle down, Soldier,” Blitzwing ordered. “Unless you’ve seen the storm decide to turn around and go home. We are staying in this cave until it passes at the very least. Now report. Where were they?” Light frowned, shaking some of the snow off her sandy coat. “I picked up an aura which matched what we were told the litch’s would be like fifteen kilometers north, then followed it to a ruined griffon fortress some seven kilometers from there. “It’s very clear that they wish to hole up in the old fortress to weather the storm, sir. But we have a problem. They definitely know they are being pursued because the changeling has an active camouflage spell up and running, and the fortress appears to have spent its last days as a munitions factory. They might be hoping to fortify their position with any weapons the griffons missed when abandoning the possession. “If we attack now we can get them before they have time to dig in. There are only thirteen of us, sir. Two can definitely hold out in a fortified position against our number.” Blitzwing frowned, weighing his options. He had never much liked Light Step, but he knew she was a good scout, and fully put her heart into her soldiering. He trusted her. She was also more seasoned than her rank would suggest, having ‘mysteriously’ never been considered for promotion or decoration. But on the other hoof… “A good suggestion, but our weather magic will not buy us enough time in the storm to fight any extended engagement. Tomorrow, you will lead three others to map the fortress and see if they are digging in. If they are, we’ll come up with a proper plan of at-” “No, she’s right you need to go now!” Sunlit interrupted. “What did I tell you about interrupting, Patches?!” Blitzwing snapped angrily. “I don't give a buck what you said. She’s right. Repose is a necromancer, and that's an old ruined keep. If you give him an hour, it won't be thirteen on two, it will be thirteen on fifty. By morning, it will be thirteen against several hundred.” Light Step winced. “That’s a fair argument, sir. There will be plenty of bones to work with around any keep. We both know how well an undead blitz works.” Blitzwing grimaced as his mind flashed back six years to the rebellion of a Master Necromancer who had publicly refused to follow the Steward’s orders. Three battalions died that day, and the only living pony on the other side had been the Necromancer. He’d had only six hours to prepare. Inside of Prance’s largest catacomb. Blitz doubted their target could raise as many useable minions as quickly as that Master had. But he knew Repose was old, powerful, and habitually collected unusual spells and arcane lore. If he could even work a hundredth as fast... “Scouts!” Blitz called. “It’s showtime! War gear only. We go in hot and fast. Light Step, you’re marking our target. Everypony else, when she spots them, move in and carpet bomb the area. Zephyr, drop Patches off so he can provide artillery support from the ground. If the bombing is ineffective, stick to strafing runs. If the storm gets bad, hole up inside the keep. We will regroup there after the engagement is over. Move!” Gentle Repose - 4th of Chillfrost, 16 EoH Pokinutyy Tsitadel' ruins - Griffon Kingdoms The first wave of snow fell in a near-blinding curtain that plunged the early afternoon into darkness and was accompanied by howling winds that pushed at my left side, seeking to topple me over. The terrifying part is the storm was not yet fully upon us, this was merely the dregs which blew at the front of the storm. My hooves thumped against the wooden bridge, run slowed to a jog to avoid being blown over by the incredibly strong winds. Like, insanely incredibly strong winds. I’d tried to put up a shield, but the sheer amount of ice crystals hitting it had ablated the shield away within minutes. It would take far to much energy to keep one up long enough to reach safety, let alone weather the storm. The two of us had just passed the halfway point, and could now see the gatehouse had half of the lower roof intact. It would shelter us well enough from the blizzard. Was this a blizzard? I wasn’t sure. I’d never seen one before. Pegasi never let winter storms get that bad. “Come on! We’re almost there,” Fell urged. I grit my teeth and kept pressing onwards. The cold bit annoyingly deep into my flesh, combining with the wind’s push to make for a stressful gauntlet to slog through. Each step harder than the last as more and more snow and ice crystals covered the bridge. The wind’s river-like crushing force growing ever stronger as the seconds flew by. The bridge began to creak and sway. The weight of the snow and the wind’s unrelenting force pushing it side to side. The aged timbers creaking and groaning like a beast in pain. “Run!” I shouted, voice nearly lost in the wind. The two of us took off as quickly as the wind would permit. The bridge swaying like a ship at sea, threatening to throw us off. The end of the bridge seemed to grow further away from us as we ran until at last, my hooves touched solid ground once more. By the time we reached the gatehouse six steps later, the winds crushing force gave one great heave and a sharp crack from deep within the bridge managed to pierce the howling winds before the bridge groaned, leaned violently with the wind, slid down slightly, and then stopped, leaning at a sixty-degree angle. I turned to Fell, giving him a relieved look. “Thank goodness we weren't thrown into th-” I stopped dead, eyes widening in terror. The second hand on my watch was moving erratically. “What’s wrong?” Fell asked urgently. Not wanting to interfere with any magical process which might be malfunctioning I fumbled with my cloak’s collar with my hooves, pulling the watch out as gingerly but swiftly as I could manage before popping the lid open. The second hand twitched, jumping five seconds back from the spot it should have been in an odd rhythmic pattern. Please don’t be broken! It’s not too cold yet, nothing should have seeped into the mechanism, the environmental warding I put into it couldn’t possibly be this poo- Wait a damn second, the pattern of twitches looked familiar. Short, long, long, short, long… This was code! Morse code. So many questions flashed through my mind. Who could be powerful enough to breach the arcane tampering defenses on my phylactery? How did they know where I was right now? What motive did they have to use this means of communication rather than teleport and deliver it in per- The buck am I doing!? This has to be important, I should be decoding the damn thing. Squinting at the second hand I did my best to decipher its movements having unfortunately missed some of the message. I-N-G-A-R-T-I-L-L-R-Y-S-T-R-I-K-E-R-U-N I frowned slightly, trying to separate the words from the jumble of letter- OH BUCK! “Run!” I screamed, putting all the speed I could into a headlong sprint towards the keep. “What why?” Fell asked, confusion and panic mixing in his voice as I sprinted away. “Incoming barrage!” I yelled over my shoulder at the blurry patch of air. How in the blazes of Tartarus did the knights coordinate when using those things!? I needed to know! The blurry patch suddenly took off like a rocket, catching up to me in a matter of moments. I felt Fell’s arm grab my back and start to lift me up, arm becoming visible as it left the cloak’s bubble. Then the gatehouse exploded. A fiery blue cloud erupted from the ruined stonework, pulsating and growing as the flames filled the crumbling structure. The heavy snow rushed away from the thunderous roar, making the shockwave visible for the split second before it slammed into us, throwing Fell and I several meters. Then the second hit. The third. Fourth, fifth… An uncountablely rapid series of explosions reduced the gatehouse to a pile of broken stones within less than a second. Ears ringing, I slowly stood back up, reflexively casting a mending spell to restore my blown eardrums. What in Tartarus had shelled us? I tilted my head back, looking up in the vain hope of piercing the white sheets of snow that had turned midday into midnight. Eyes straining, I spotted three shapes moving in the skies above. Griffons? It had to be. “Get up,” I shouted over the winds, pulling Fell to his hooves. “It’s griffons! They are still here.” Fell popped back up like the explosion had thrown him to his hooves. “Move into the keep! Break their line of sight. They can’t have enough ordinance to level the entire place!” He shouted, turning and sprinting for one of the keep’s boarded up windows. “Uh, Fell that’s boarded-” Fell put on a burst of speed, then jumped, twisting to hit the old wood shoulder first. The boards exploded into splinters, the rotten wood not even considering the concept of withstanding the impact, allowing Fell to sail cleanly through the arched window and into the keep. Just before I could be impressed, a loud metallic clang rang out from the room accompanied by an “OW!” from Fell. Not wanting to be caught in the bombing griffon’s next pass, I ran up to the window, grabbed the icy ledge and pulled myself through. The room I found myself in seemed to be a large forage. While I didn’t have time to thoroughly inspect the large room’s contents, I did see Fell bent over an anvil, having landed belly first on the steel brick. “Ooooo!” I hissed in sympathy pain. The ground just outside the room exploded. The stone wall flew inwards, throwing Fell and I with it in a shower of shrapnel and rubble. I felt my back slam into the opposite wall before I slid down into a crumpled heap. I immediately jumped up, pulling my watch out to verify it was intact, pure terror washing my mind aside as I realized just how easily I could die here. It wasn’t until I held the watch in my hooves that I realized I was moving, so it had to be intact. Completely distracted by this miracle, I let out a relieved manic laugh. Fell suddenly pulled me to my left, making me almost drop my watch. “Get inside!” He bellowed. “We are!” I dumbly retorted. “We were, this is outside now. Move!” He shot back, pulling me into the keep’s dark and empty hallway. Fell continued to half pull half drag me for another few moments until the shock wore off and I pulled free of his grip, falling into step behind him. “What if they collapse this place on top of us?” I asked worriedly, a series of explosions and collapsing rock structures punctuating my fearful question. “We didn’t exactly have time for a better plan!” Fell snapped. “Look, we broke their line of sight. We pick a random direction and leave, then just run and hope they don’t spot us.” “Maybe we can take a few down if we find an exterior window,” I mused, not wanting to just run for the hills and hope we weren't spotted. “No offense, but I don't like our odds.” “Neither do I! I don't have any weapons designed for anti-air! All I got is this single shot heavy weapon,” He grumbled. “Don’t you know how to fire a spell bolt, or cast a ray spell?” I asked in shock. “No! I don’t. I know three spells, none of them are offensive,” he hissed. Wishing I could see even his body language under the cloak I asked, “Why are you whispering?” “Because I think I hear hoof steps down the hall,” he warned. “But that’s ridiculous, we’re being attacked by griff-” “Doesn't mean they don't have a few hippogriffs,” Fell interrupted. Oh. Yes, that was a very good point. Not wanting to cast any of the combat spells I could remember indoors, I tried to think of anything I could use as a weapon besides the scintillating ray spell I knew. While a potent weapon, it wasn’t exactly something to use in close quarters. Of course! The Mage Rods I’d taken from the constable who attacked Fell! I stopped running long enough to reach into my cloak’s pocket and retrieve the bracer with its attached rods. I should probably have been wearing it this entire time, but it’s remarkably hard to casually bear arms when you haven’t done so in three centuries. “What are you doing?” Fell hissed urgently, his blurred out shape suggesting he had turned around to look at me. “Arming myself,” I replied, buckling the bracer into place with my telekinesis and drawing the concussion rod. “Oh, good plan. You should keep those ready from now on,” Fell urged. I nodded. “I kn-” With a chemical hiss, the hallway erupted into flickering red light. I had a half second to take in the sight of a flare bouncing off the wall next to me before Fell tackled me to the ground. The metallic ping of a crossbow rang out just above my ear, a loud hiss and sulphuric stench coming from the wall as the bolt’s head dissolved into an acidic compound, eating a hole in the stone wall. I rolled out from under Fell as he sprang up, and fired a concussive blast from my rod down the hall to strike- An Air Guard Scout? What?! The Scout took the blast squarely in the barrel and collapsed in a heap dazed but not stunned. Fell leveled the combo axe and pulled the tiller. The axe’s head split open, the blades swinging out forming a vertical crossbow head which disappeared behind a shimmering blue aura for a split second as the weapon fired, the sharp metallic sound of a sledgehammer striking iron echoing deafeningly in the hallway. The flare’s red light shimmered off the half meter long iron spike lodged in the wall behind the scout. Just as I thought Fell missed, the Scout flopped over. “Medic!” Somepony shouted. “Target has heavy ordnance!” Another called. “Horse apples! Run!” Fell barked. Buck that! They carried grenades! Reaching upwards with my magic I gripped as much of the hallway’s ceiling as I could and ripped it down. The aged and decaying stonework gave way with a thunderous shower of rubble. A second mighty heave forced the rubble to form a plug in what remained of the hallway, blocking their path. “We need to get out of here!” I said despite the complete and total obviousness of that fact. “No! We should make a summer home here,” Fell called sarcastically as he raced down the hallway. I turned and followed him, progressing through the crumbling gray stone tunnel of a hallway as quickly as the dim light would allow. The howl of the wind outside grew louder and louder as we ran, until we, at last, came upon a crumbled section of wall leading outside. A nearly solid wall of blowing ice crystals making up for the lack of stonework. “Do you still have the energy for that spell to keep us warm?” Fell asked hesitantly. “Yes, it should buy us twenty minutes before I’m dry,” I replied seriously. “That’s it?” He asked in shock. “I thought you were supposed to be super powerful?” “I am. And so is this storm. I’m giving you the best guess for how long my spell meant to keep you warm on a normal winter's day will last if I push it with brute force in this weather!” I exclaimed, the stress of the situation having gotten deeper under my skin than I thought. “I never exactly learned a warmth spell meant for negative fifty and winds this strong!” I added. “I’ll have to change things on the fly, waste a lot of mana, and-” “I understand, just do it. We need to get to the old moat. I’ll dig out a spot for us to stay in there,” Fell promised. With a nod, I reached for my magic and focused as best I could casting Feltpen’s Thaumaturgic Coat. By the Emperor, I needed to learn more survival spells the next chance I got… Assuming I got another chance. The cold keep suddenly felt… Slightly less cold. The spell was not exactly coping well with the environment. But, “Okay, this should buy us a few minutes. It doesn't want to make us any warmer than this.” “So long as we don't freeze in the next ten minutes it will be fine. There’s no way they can track us in this blizzard. Come on!” Fell called grabbing my hoof and running out into the blinding snow. The winds almost immediately blew us over, the stiff gust felt like being body slammed by a massive pony. I slammed into Fell’s side, the only thing that kept me from blowing away. Running wasn’t an option. The best we could manage was to shuffle slowly towards the keep’s exterior wall, which was rapidly vanishing beneath the thick piles of snow. It seemed ludicrous that snow could stick around with these kinds of winds, and yet, there it was. Forming up in mounds and clumps in bold defiance of the winds that could toss a full grown pony. Time became impossible to track as we staggered forwards. Everything became white, windy, and cold. The only significant marker of our progress was when we found the edge of the moat, even then we only barely recognised even that, as sometime in the past, this side of the moat had collapsed. A mound of earth running down and filling most of the moat up to the point of there being a landbridge. Unfortunately for our plans, the storm had plastered a sheet of ice over the section of the moat we were on. The ramped section was not exactly easy to dig in ether, and both of us were certain snow would slide down the slope the second it started to thaw. Not wanting to be buried alive, we decided to get as much distance between us and the keep as we could. After boosting each other up to the ledge on the opposite side of the moat, we kept walking in what was hopefully was straight line. I could feel the cold sinking into my bones despite the spell’s feeble attempts to keep the cold at bay even with me pouring all the energy into it I could. If I was this cold, how cold was Fell? “I can’t keep walking,” Fell shouted over the winds, appearing in a few sparks and shimmers as he turned off his cloak’s enchantments. “Help me set up the tent.” I nodded and used my magic to remove his pack. The poles came out of the pack rather easily, allowing me to put the small tent frame together in but a few moments before Fell’s cry of “Buck me!” caught my attention. “What?” I called. “The bucking tent ties onto the frame! It will be bloody Tartarus getting it up in this wind!” He called back. I spent a few seconds thinking about the problem, then remembering Fell’s earlier plan I came up with an idea. “What if you dig a hole down a meter or so and we stick the tent inside it as a roof?” I asked. “That might help with the wind, but it will still be tricky,” Fell said thoughtfully. Then with a shrug he started to rip into the ground with his hooves. He made far more progress than I expected, managing to dig a half meter deep pit in only a few minutes. “You’re good at that,” I remarked reflexively. “Changeling,” he grunted back. “Let's get the tent up, I’m starting to freeze.” The tent frame went into the ground easily enough, but the moment we began to tie on the thick triple canvas skin, the frame gained a sail. Every single cord in each and every row became a battle. Pony and bug versus wind and tent. The canvas flapped and pulled and jumped dragging us across the ground several times. Each time we dug the hole a bit deeper and tried again. Finally, with the tent floor secured to one of the bottom sections of frame, Fell lay belly down on the canvas to help hold it down. Leaving only me to secure our shelter. By the time I had managed to finally get the canvas wrapped around the frame and secured enough where we didn’t have to worry about it being ripped off by the wind, I had nothing left. I was exhausted. Me. A pony who shouldn’t actually be able to be fatigued. “How am I tired?” I groaned, flopping down onto the tent’s floor, feeling limp. “I’m sorry…” Fell apologized. “I needed to keep warm. Felt myself dying. Fed on you a bit more than I meant to.” “Oh. Okay,” I said, too tired to object. “Pull the blanket over us?” Fell pleaded. “Sure,” I said, spying the blanket from the corner of my eye and dragging it over the two of us, using the last of my energy to lay alongside the admittedly ice cold bug. Poor guy. Hopefully, I’d help warm him a little. And at least the howling winds could only just push in one side of the tent like it was trying to punch us now. Though to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was trying to punch us. It certainly felt like it had. “Thanks,” Fell mumbled happily. “We'll move along as soon as the storm lets up.” “Okay,” I agreed, doing my best to hold him in such a way as to contact the most parts of his body to provide the most warmth. After a few minutes of silent pleading with physics, the tent began to warm up. Fell included. The warmth coming back was a welcome relief. Was this what cuddling felt like to nonasexual people all the time? No wonder they liked it so much. I could get into the feeling of not freezing to death. It was really quite pleasant. Not that I ever wanted to do it again. I decided to think back on what I could remember about how Feltpen’s Thaumaturgic Coat had reacted to the extreme cold. Might as well use the time spent warming Fell up to prevent this problem in the first place. I definitely could improve on the spell with a little work and time. It seemed like a better thing to focus on than why the bucking Air Guard was trying to kill us all the way out here... Pokinutyy Tsitadel' ruins - Griffon Kingdoms 4th of Chillfrost, 16 EoH The arctic blizzard which decided to come early this year bought Repose and Fell all the time they needed because there was no way Sous-Lieutenant Blitzwing was going to order is troops to try and fly in winds strong enough to topple a stone tower. Besides, they would need to dig free of the rubble the towers collapse had created in order to leave the small section of the keep they were currently trapped inside. Sunlit had wandered away from the rest of the assassination squad. Not only because he’d venomously argued with Blitzwing over chasing them out into the storm and just blasting a hole through the unstable ruins to get out immediately, but also because he wanted nopony to bother him while he worked. After all, why waste a perfectly good body? Corporal Zephyr’s body lay on the stone floor next to a hole Sunlit had managed to dig through the floor, in which he was currently working. The necromancer's detection spells had shown him the ground below had once been a graveyard, likely for the keep’s chapel before the building was expanded at some point in the distant past. Regardless, the rage and fury he felt at Repose’s escape needed an outlet. There were bones below and a corpse above. Everything needed to make a certain kind of creature Sunlit had always wanted to construct, but the Guild prohibited. Of course, the Necromancer's Guild wasn’t exactly watching him anymore. Sunlit wiped some sweat off his brow, then pushed deeper into the ground with his borrowed entrenching tool. He wanted to conserve his magic for the actual construction and animation, so digging the hole by hoof was his only real option. His shovel had bit into the ground when suddenly a mare’s voice addressed him. “Thank you,” Light Step said sincerely. “I didn’t think you cared about anypony enough to bury them.” “Oh, you misunderstand,” Sunlit replied without looking back. “I’m not putting bodies in, I’m taking them out. I need some spare parts. I have a weapon to build.” Light’s face twisted in confusion for a few seconds before her teal eyes narrowed in angry realization. “Like hay you are,” Light objected. “Zephyr is on record as having religious objections to being reanimated! It’s illegal to use his remains in any way. He opted out of the program!” Sunlit rolled his eye, turning around to hold one hoof up as if weighing something. “One stallion’s personal wishes… Orders from the Steward… Hmmm... So hard to see which one is actually worth something!” He spat. Light’s eye twitched. Sun’s irreverent, hateful, and selfish nature had been one thing. Him being a general jerk had been another. But completely disrespecting the last wishes of her best friend was simply too far. Light bared her teeth, the predator's fangs in her mouth making Sunlit just a little nervous as the mare growled. “Okay, that’s it! Buck you, scumbag!” Sunlit had half second to wonder what she meant before the mare leaped into the pit, grabbing Sunlit but his shoulders and delivering a headbutt that sent the stallion reeling backward, stars exploding in his eyes. Light reared up, throwing three savage crosses’, knocking a tooth free of Sunlit’s jaw before Blitz’s roar stopped her cold. “What the buck is going on here, Soldier?” The officer demanded, running over to the hole and pulling Light off of Sunlit with one mighty heave. “He’s going to perform necromancy on Zephyr!” Light accused, fangs still bared in rage. Blitz’s eyes narrowed as he turned to Sunlit. “Is that true?” Sun nodded, groaning, spitting a line of blood into the dirt. “Yeah. But I seem to recall our orders being to ‘do whatever is necessary’ to kill that abomination. You guys were sitting on your plots so I’m doing what I can to further the mission, sir,” Sunlit said, being admittedly more honest than he normally was. “Corporal Zephyr was a follower of the Old Gods, Patches. He did his paperwork. His remains are not to be used,” Blitz said in an iron voice. “Yeah yeah yeah, it’s a crime,” Sun countered. “But I’m pretty damn sure that the order of ‘Do whatever is necessary’ supersedes that crime. We can’t go out there right now, but I can make something which can, and every second we stay here he gets further away!” Blitz let go of Light. The mare smiled happily, confident that her commanding officer would do the right thing. “While you make a good point, It’s still-” “A fact that they're getting away but can’t have gotten far! I can create and raise an undead creature which will be unhindered by the cold and can just kill them both right now using the corpse I have at hoof?” Sunlit countered. Blitz sighed, face pulling in irritation. He knew that Sunlit was right, he could solve their current problem. But at the same time… “We need to honor the wishes of-” “Look, sir, I need a whole corpse and some bones to do this. If we can’t use his body, can we execute the junkie? She bucking attacked me for no reason!” Sunlit snapped. “No bucking reason!?” Light exclaimed angrily. “You-” “Quiet!” Blitz snapped. “Patches, what in Tartarus do you mean by junkie?” Light winced. “Um, sir I can explain-” “I want him to explain, Soldier!” Blitz snapped, ears laying flat as the seriousness of the accusation against of of his better soldiers boiled behind his eyes. Sunlit’s lone eye widened in honest surprise. “Wait, you don’t know? Her aura is jagged. You’d see it every time she cast a spell if she were a unicorn. It’s a sure sign of having used a ton of arcane based potions. You know, the addict level. And her necklace, the etchings on it indicate they are there to suppress a potion effect. Obviously, it's there to suppress withdrawal symptoms or some side effects. It’s so obvious, how did you not have any unicorn ever bring this up?” “The Air Guard are all pegasi…” Blitz muttered in answer before turning to Light. “Light, is this true?” “Y-yes, sort of,” she stammered awkwardly. “It was an accident, and I haven't used anything in-” Blitz bit his lip, genuinely heartbroken that one of his trusted soldiers had held a secret from him. “Light, punishment detail. For concealing information from your superior officer that might affect a mission. You will be cleaning every squad member's gear tonight, and every night we make camp, in addition to cooking all meals. When we get back to Prance, there will be a formal investigation to see if you are still fit to serve,” Blitz sighed sadly. “Patches, carry on.” Light’s ears fell in despair. “B-but sir!” “I don’t care about this anymore, Soldier! I thought I could trust you. I obviously can’t. Get to cleaning,” he ordered, starting to walk off. Sunlit coughed into a hoof. “So um, I can just use this pile of meat then, right?” “I said carry on didn’t I?” Blitz barked, storming off. “You didn’t have to tell him! I used to live with a unicorn. I know how your arcane scene works. I know you can see that I’ve been clean for years!” Light sniffled, trying to hold back a complete emotional breakdown. “No, but you hit me. So I’m going to destroy your life as completely as I can. Because now I hate you instead of just dislike you. You should get to cleaning before I have free time and decide to make things dirty again,” Sunlit said as he turned around and went back to his digging. Light grit her teeth, tempted to attack the necromancer again, but realizing she was on the thinnest possible ice as it was, she turned around, slinking off into the hallway, wondering how the Prench armed forces came to this.