Gentle Repose - 9th of Chillfrost 16 EoHGentle Repose - 9th of Chillfrost 16 EoH
Kaluga Mountains - Griffon Kingdoms
A fresh jolt of pain washed across my back, the only sign I received of the third hit I’d taken in the last three minutes.
The sizzle the enchanted bolt made as it melted into acid went unheard over the clatter of hooves on loose stone. More bolts whizzed past Fell and I, striking the surface of the shale hillside we had been forced onto.
The Scouts had finally snapped. They had enough waiting. Seven pegasi, heavily armed, low on ammo, filled with rage. They circled overhead, repeating crossbows shattering the thin stone below us, and occasionally burying themselves into flesh.
The gray stone ahead of us exploded, the crackling boom of a full power lightning bolt reaching my ears only after the blast jolted the hillside, as it sent tiny bits of red hot rock chips spraying everywhere like shrapnel. The chips crackled and sparked, striking my crumbling hole filled shield spell as a second bolt slammed into the ground, this one nearly striking Fell in the center of his back.
They knew their bolts couldn’t hurt him. Their best chance to get through his armor was with their lightning. I’d hoped they would keep trying bolts for just another minute. We were almost there, almost to the safety of the cave. Just another hundred meters!
We couldn’t see the hill above the shale covered slope anymore, but it had been there. If we could just get aerial cover we had a chance! Fell could take them down. He drove off a Mohrg, he was back in shape.
If I only had the strength to stand and fight! A litch’s mana doesn't like to replenish when they are constantly highly active. I had the brittle crumbling glass-like shield, that was it. I should have used the energy to kill one of them instead.
More bolts rained down, this time in a coordinated volley, blasting the slope just in front of us. The white flash blinding me for several seconds. I felt hot needles stab me in the left eye. It stayed dark as my vision faded back in.
I had fallen. Fell Stood above me, holding out a hoof to help me up. No! To take my watch, he thought I’d died. How badly was I hit?
I stood back up, sound coming back to the world with a loud pop and three wet crunches as a trio of bolts sliced into my right flank.
I winced. Fell sighed in relief.
“Come on!” Fell shouted encouragingly, turning and resuming our blind sprint up the hill.
Another coordinated blast of lightning plunged into the ground, blasting a deep hole where Fell had just been a second ago. He lept backwards. The scouts knew about our plot now.
I looked up, seeing a gold furred mare just in time to leap aside as she fired another burst of acid tipped bolts.
The seven pegasi were now hovering in a semicircle, with ‘gold fur’ keeping us pinned. They wanted us to move towards her, away from the cave. Damn their superior maneuverability to Tartarus! We were doomed the moment we left the forest.
If we charged up the hill, they were in position to take us down with whatever lightning they could manage to produce. No pegasi can throw lightning all day, but I expect proper Prench soldiers to manage fifty, they had power to spare for certain. If we turn and and ran down the hill, we would loose our chance at cover and definitely be shot in the back.
My life’s work for a proper army! I was trained to command hundreds who had proper supplies, not a battlemage group of two. Curse my failure to lean small unit tactics! There isn’t much maneuvering two ponies can employ!
A crossbow twanged, my shield exploded into chunks of red hardlight, dissolving into a mist as it shattered, unable to hold up any more.
“Fire!” A pegasi roared from above.
Maybe my watch would survive, fall between some rocks and they wouldn’t find-
White flash! Hideous cackling! Low pitched reverberating humm!
A green and blue aurora-like nimbus rolled and flared around me like a dome made from rolling waves. Was I dead? Yes. I had to be. This was what you saw as your consciousness burnt out.
“You could have used that earlier!” Fell exclaimed angrily.
I spun around, taking in the horrifying sight of the foam-like, blackened, still molten remains of Fell’s helmet oozing down his charred chitinous head.
“I’m sorry we died,” I apologised, saddened yet glad to know he had join-
My ears clamped flat as the sky split, torn asunder by an unnatural shriek terminating in an explosion. The scout's lightning sounded like confetti poppers compared to the rolling boom that shattered the sky. Then the most terrifying display of telekinetic control anypony had ever seen crested the hillside, striding into view with an eager smile.
I honestly didn’t notice the pony. I only saw the forest of whips she wielded. Eight cat-o-nine tails, each multi-tailed whip’s individual strands moving as if they were just another of her limbs, each tipped with a blued steel dart-like knife blade, the glass dust embedded in the leather shining in the sun as brightly as the emerald green aura which animated the terrifying display of arcane might.
“There’s a shield dome over us too!” A pegasi called urgently.
“What!?” Another demanded.
“Yup!” The whip-wielding mare shouted loudly. “An if I get into the center, there ain’t spot in here I can’t reach, ya wankers. Might wana try stopping me before I get there.”
She cracked her brace of whips in unison, the terrible screeching reached a blood boiling volume inside the shield as sound bounced off the interior, merging with the simultaneous cracks to sound like several bombs exploded one after the other.
“FIRE AT WILL!” A stallion shrieked.
Lightning flashed and crackled outside the inner shield bubble which protected us. Our rescuer nimbly and gracefully dodged each bolt, seeming to hanging the air longer than a unicorn should. Each of her leaps and bounds brought her closer and closer to us, the dull yellow mare moving as if she were dancing.
Lightning rained down, the scouts giving their all to kill the red maned warrior. The shale exploded. Craters glowed a dull red. Shards of stone bounced off the inner and outer shield. She didn’t care.
Confused as I was, I couldn’t help but notice that her dodges and leaps did more than merely move her towards her target. Her whips trailed behind her, twisting and turning with each of her movements, forming an odd pattern, like a snake coiling in preparation to strike.
Bending her knees beneath her, our rescuer jumped, clearing the two meters to the top of the inner shield far too easily. The jump screamed ‘magic’. A unicorn should not have made that.
Her hooves thumped against the shield covering. She turned to give the grouped pegasi a confident sneer, and was blown off the shield dome by the gold furred pegasi’s lightning bolt.
Relieved cries of joy filled the air as the pegasi celebrated.
“Fire you fools! The shield’s up! She’s alive!” The same stallion from before yelled urgently, throwing another blast of lightning, this one a feeble sparking yellow bolt. He was running dry… Interesting.
“Oi! That smarts!” The mare exclaimed.
I turned to look as I heard shale scrape. The mystery mare stood up and looked down at her barrel, a fresh scar a hoof wide burnt across her barrel, over her belly and up across her left flank.
“Awww, thank’s, mate!” She said with an honest happy smile. “The one looks lovely. I’ll be sure to remember ya for it.”
Her whips snapped back up into an attack position. She smiled, sincerely happy to have been hurt. As if she were one of the borderline psychotic warriors from the legendary battles of the ancient world.
Two of the Pegasi screamed and turned to fly away, running face first into the shield.
She charged forwards, sidestepping three lightning bolts as the pegasi threw them. Leaping to the top of the shield covering Fell and I once more, the mare lashed out with her whips mid-air.
Five separate strikes, one after the other. Each hitting home and scraping off a ribbon of skin, fur and muscle. My jaw dropped in awe and my knees trembled in honest terror as I watched the scouts fall like targets on a range. Individual whips seized pegasi by their limbs, pulling them into a vulnerable pose before another whip’s blade would plunge into a vital spot for a brief, artful instant, before the fresh corpse was tossed aside without care.
I missed most of the carnage. Thank the Emperor. The four seconds of incessant whip cracks and screams were ones I wished to forget.
“No! Please no!” The last living Pegasi babbled in terror, shuffling back across the ground to get away from what could possibly be death itself made manifest.
The mare popped her neck, horn’s aura dimming slightly, allowing her whips to coil back into a readied posture.
“Don’t worry there mate, I always leave one to tell the tale. Gotta build up a reputation,” she said in a casual happy tone while walking towards the burgundy furred stallion purposefully. “They call me Queen Bladestorm the Awesome, an’ that’s the old meaning of awesome. Not the new one. Incase you were wonder’n.
“Ere’s what happens now, I lower my shield, and fling you down the hill. You walk back up, you join your friends as worm food. You’re gonna crawl back home to your Steward an’ tell him that I won't take any of his shit stains trespass’n on my future lands, and this is his one warn’n. Understand?”
“Yes, Ma’am!” The stallion yelped.
Queen Bladestorm nodded in satisfaction. “Good. One last thing though, see, ya told your soldiers to attack me, and ya tried to kill those two blokes. A certain friend of mine asked me to escort them back to my place safe and sound. I can’t let you go unpunished, that’s bad for my reputation, and well, if you don’t walk away with a scar you won't learn from your mistake, now will ya?”
A single whip cracked, the stallion screamed then dropped limp, passing out from pain.
“Oh hush,” the Queen muttered. “It’s just a gelding. There’s a potion to fix that in every adult toy shop on the planet cuz some of you guys do it as a fetish. I used to date one, an- Oh, ya passed out. Wimp.”
“I will do absolutely anything you want without question! Please don't kill me!” Fell yelped in blind terror.
The mare turned around, looking at Fell with a surprised look on her face. “That melted hat clog’n your ears, mate? I’m being paid to keep your plots in one piece. I ain't gonna hurtcha. In fact, I got dinner and booze at my camp just up the hill. Hungry?”
“What exactly is going on?” I squeaked.
The mare coiled her whips and stored them in her saddlebags, then dismissed the shields with a flash of emerald green.
“Well, short version, good ol’ Steward wanted to kill your undead plot six ways to sunday because he reckoned you could build something to heal ‘Ol Empy Prance,” she said in a serious voice.
I staggered backwards, more than a little confused. “What!?” I exclaimed in shock. “Somepony thought it would actually work?!”
Queen Bladestorm tilted her head to one side, her left eye widening slightly. “You worked on a project you didn’t think would work?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed, babbling in shock at the fact that I had been targeted for death for this invention. “The Resonant Cascade Projector’s means of creating a stable spell matrix is solid but the entire means of creating identical self correcting and overlapping bubbles of arcane effect is so far into Theoretical Thaumaturgics that I had to invent an entire subfield of arcane quanta dynamics just to-”
“Equish, please!” Fell and the Queen asked together.
“What?” I asked with a frown.
But, but the shield and the whips and the ungodly telek-
“How do you not understand what I’m talking about?” I asked, dumbfounded.
I mean, Fell not getting it I understood but-
“I’m not Twilight!” Queen Bladestorm exclaimed. “Ponyfeathers, I’m not even Sunset! I can use some pretty good spells, but I mostly deal in scrolls so I can do all the bloody work ahead of time with textbooks to reference. I honestly don’t know what you mean with that advanced spellcraft.”
Fell and I shared a glance. The thick Outbuck accent of hers had vanished for that last exclamation of hers. Then again, as a bandit she likely wouldn’t want to speak in a way that might let her voice be recognised. I doubted that ‘Bladestorm’ was even her real name. Honestly, who names their filly that?
“Uh… I based the entire project off a hypothesis and have no idea if it would actually work and was in the process of testing it in small scale,” I summarized. “How the flying buck did the Steward find out what I was doing with my free time but not even know I wasn’t even sure if the damn thing would work and create a self perpetuating spell? Tartarus I didn’t even know what to do for the powersource yet, it would take an incredible amount of power to even-”
“He had spies stationed across from you as residents in yer apartment,” the Queen explained, interrupting rudely. “They would search your place every time nopony was home. I honestly can’t blame them though, no pony I know of has had good experiences with liches before.”
Spies eh? That figured… They never seemed happy to see me. And had been awfully nosey.
The way she said liches struck me as odd. It was personal, and darkly bitter. Did she have a problem with me?
“I apologize for any actions my predecessors may have inflicted upon you or those you care for,” I declared. “You have nothing to fear from me. I solved the insanity issue before making the transition.”
“Yeah, well, the big daddy of your kin almost killed my best mate an ‘er better half. Pardon me for being cautious around the super powered undead wizard who I can’t kill with my whips,” the Queen muttered. “I really should invest in a baby dragon…”
Wanting to make peace with the terrifying butcher so she didn’t decide to whip me into paste, I cleared my throat. “Actually, you could easily kill me with those whips. I’m carrying my phylactery and it certainly would be damaged by a magic weapon striking it. That would kill me immediately.”
“Yer what?” the mare asked suspiciously.
“Phylactery, uh, soul jar. Litches just regenerate if injured, and grow a new body eventually if destroyed. We put our consciousnesses into an object, allowing us to last as long as the object does,” I elaborated.
The Queen’s eyes widened. “So, Sombra survived that then, bucking tartarus…”
“Who?” I asked with a confused frown. “At any rate, if your friend is having litch troubles, I could help track down his phylactery for her. If you spare my life.”
Please take that deal!
“Oye! I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to kill things that try to kill you!” The Queen’s horn pulsed as she threw the scattered bodies down the hillside with a strong pulse of telekinesis.
The two of us just stood there in terrified silence, watching the bodies tumble down the slope.
The Queen rolled her eyes in irritation. “Yeah, yeah, I’m scary to watch fight. That’s why they named me ‘the Awesome’. Scarier thing is I use the whips because anyth’n else takes the fun out of it. Come on, you two blokes are fine! If I wanted you dead you’d be rolling down the hill with that lot.”
I cleared my throat. “F-fell. She has a good point there.”
Fell nodded slowly. “She does… Since we’re not about to be eviscerated, will somepony please take this crap off my head?”
Bladestorm nodded, and gently peeled the melted remnants from Fell’s exoskeleton, grimacing all the while. “The hay kind of armor melts like this? Ya take a direct hit there, mate?” She asked as the destroyed piece came off in four pieces.
Fell nodded. “I did… I didn’t think they could break it… Heirloom armor.”
I frowned and walked over to Give Fell a quick hug. “I’m sorry. I know it must have meant a lot to you. Perhaps a new helmet can be constructed?”
“One probably can,” the Queen pointed out. “How about we get back to my camp? I got another escortee up there tending to the barbie.”
“Who?” Fell asked suspiciously.
“One of their mates deserted when she found out the ‘op was illegal,” the Queen replied, nodding down the hillside. “Figured I’d get her someplace safe too since I was here. Hope you don’t mind.”
I frowned deeply, thinking for a few minutes. “I suppose I’ll know after talking to her. What if there will be problems?”
“She’s a Felin, she can just fly on ahead,” the Queen grunted. “Primary mission is you two blokes. If that sheila causes problems she can fend for herself.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A Felin? I’m impressed they let her into the Air Guard.”
“You’re not going to be an ass because of her blood, are ya? Cuz if you are, I can make this into one painful march,” the Queen warned aggressively.
I quickly waved my hooves in a warding gesture. “No! Of course not. I’m merely remarking on the dishonorable state of the average Prench citizen of the modern era. I’m five centuries old, ma’am. I had to commit the Codex of Honor to memory.”
The Queen nodded. “Good… And five hundred eh? Not bad. Is there anything else or can we get back to camp? I’d just cracked open a coldie when I heard your little scuffle here. It’s gonna get flat and warm at this rate.”
“No, no, let’s go, anything you want,” Fell said quickly, his cheeks glowing a light blue as he did his best to not stare at our…
Well I suppose she was our guardian. Interesting notion.
Was he blushing? Why was he blushing?
“Um, one quick last question, if I may,” I asked politely.
The Queen nodded. “Sure, but just the one.”
“Why did the Steward send troops after us instead of just killing us in our sleep?” I asked, needing to know the answer to fully trust the dangerous mare.
“Oh! Right, rest of the bloody story, hang on,” the Queen said closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, and then launching into a rapid fire summer of what I assumed was an ever greater story.
“The yabbo you got on the throne right now I suppose didn’t know how easy you would be to kill. I wasn’t told ot much, it’s not that important to know. But best I can figure the plan was to get you to do something illegal so you could be executed publicly. Then there would be nothing to cover up. Apparently they chose ‘kick your roommate into mulch’ as a means to provoke you.
“When you managed to actually get away with your changebug friend here, getting exiled instead of ordered to be shot, the bastard sent this brute squad after ya. But my old friend Cadence happened to be listen’n to your Emperor ramble on about some old story or another when he found out you weren't actually trying to smuggle necro lore out of the country to do evil shit with.
“He got pissed, and Cadence wound up asking me to make sure you guys wind up safe and sound back at ‘er place so you can finish up the arcanobabble you were working on that started this whole mess. Come on, we rest up, you two get a good night’s sleep and then I’ll start walk’n ya back to my place.”
Fell and I shared one more look, doing our best to silently communicate with facial expressions. Did he trust her? I did. Her story seemed plausible, and she absolutely could have easily destroyed us if she wanted to.
I nodded. Fell paused, then nodded.
“That all settled?” She asked, turning and nodding up the hill.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“Good, c’mon,” she instructed, starting to walk back up the slope.
Shale crunched underhoof as we silently marched our way up the next few dozen yards of hillside. I still felt my heart pumping extra fast from our attack, and couldn’t help looking up and behind me, checking for anything which might be ready to pounce.
Not that I didn’t trust our new ‘friend’. However, a Mohrg which was more than a mere remotely controlled killing machine had vowed revenge, and a necromancer had to have created it. I suspected we didn’t just finish off all of the troops sent after us. There had to be at least one unicorn near here.
Unless that monster was just a leftover from some ancient war, running on old programmed in instructions because some damn fool decided to make one that could operate on its own. By the Empero,r why did the Guild ever think it was a good idea to allow multi-corpse war machines!?
“Um, so, er…” Fell suddenly stammered as I looked off to the east.
“What?” Bladestorm asked.
“Not to be rude,” Fell said apprehensively, “but you are like, this massive glowing ball of love, and I’m really hungry, would you mind if-”
“Heh, of course, mate! Nibble away. You couldn’t drain it all if you tried,” she replied with a laugh.
“Thanks! But um, I meant, how the hay can you just radiate that much at once?” Fell asked in awe.
“Grew up in one of your kin’s hive,” she replied casually. “Ninth generation livestock pony. It was a good life, but well, the Oatbuck is part of Zebrica an’ they did their whole ‘you guys can live openly with us’ deal, so they didn’t need me anymore. That was alright though, I’d always wanted to explore the world.”
“Oh! Well, damn. What hive? They did a damn fine job with your family line,” Fell exclaimed clearly impressed.
“Excuse me, but you bred ponies!?” I exclaimed in shock.
“Of course they do. But not like how you’re thinking, corpsie,” the Queen chuckled. “They eat love, it was our job to make their food. They picked out ‘kitchen teams’ if you catch my drift. Honestly, I miss it… I‘m sort of monogamous at the moment. Best stallion I’ve ever known, nice an hot, playfull, kindest motherbucker this side of space, and also a huge dork. I agreed to be just his for as long as we're together.
“Er, bunny trail aside, yeah, our friends picked out who we would have foals with, but we were free to love anypony or ling we wanted to. Just you know, there was love make’n for work, and also for fun. No big, just a job.”
I shook my head slowly. “Your people are weird, Fell,” I said with a good natured but honest sigh.
“You’re are weird to us too,” he replied with a laugh. “Did I ever tell you I spent three years trying to work out how your hives worked because of how many colors you have?”
“I think so,” I said as we crested the hill.
The moment we breached the lip of the hill, I saw the camp. Cunningly hidden from the base of the hill by a two pony deep downslope, and hidden from above by a piece of mimic canvas suspended over the large campsite which provided an illusion of the exact shale pile beneath the camp as a disguise.
No wonder the pegasi had not spotted it. I wondered why the Queen hadn’t come to our aid sooner, she would have to have heard the fight since the base of the hill side at minimum.
She must have been assessing the enemy. It would explain how she so readily dodged their attacks. She had known what to expect.
The camp itself was rather impressive. Four thick bedrolls, a nice camp stove grilling up a pile of vegetables, a small chest which seemed to have cooling enchantments on it which I presumed was full of drinks, a weapon rack stocked with crossbows and a pair of mage rods I couldn’t Identify… A proper military camp.
It was even attended by a camp cook. Or at least, the aforementioned Felin was cooking.
The first thing I noticed about her was the fact she had cut the Prench flag off of her armor, but not her rank patches. That interested me. If she was proud of her rank but not her country, perhaps like me she had come to despise the current regime.
Oh… Wow. I hadn’t quite absorbed that information before now. I had hated my homeland for two centuries. What else was I keeping hidden deep down inside and refusing to admit to myself?
Not wanting to fall into an introspective hole, I decided to quickly inspect the Felin mare incase she had any sinister motives.
Her sandy furred body was in peak shape. In fact, her muscles were a bit more defined and toned then a mare’s should be, like she had been compressed slightly. It didn’t look bad, but it was noticeable. She had more muscle density that should be possible. She also had to be a no nonsense type of pony, she left her mane loose and long, the teal locks left to fall where they may, which gave her that messy look of someone who prefered to do things of importance over cultivating their image.
That all lined up well with her background as a member of the Air Guard. She was only a Soldier, meaning she likely spent most of her life patrolling behind the Iron line. Not socializing with the nobility.
I also rather liked her wings. They were in proportion to her body, unlike the normal pegasi wing. They looked very good, and her feathers had a nice red tailed hawk pattern which matched her coat in color.
Her wings made me want a pair… If I found a dead griffon I should totally remove the wings and graft them on. It would take decades to learn to fly if they even worked but still, it would look great!
As we got within a dozen meters, I frowned, as her natural aura entered my sensory range. “Is she using any potions or enchanted items?” I asked looking over to Bladestorm in concern.
“I noticed as well, she seems fine but refused to talk about it,” the Queen muttered before turning to face the camp. “Hey! Light, look who that ruckus turned out to be!”
Light turned her head, looking up from the oven enough for me to see a large chunk of meat also roasting on the fire. How had I not smelled that? Did the camp’s covering also contain odors? My word that was some fancy enchantments!
“I told you we would run into them if we went north and waited. Everypony on the ground has to use the pass ahead,” Light replied before awkwardly turning away.
“Right you three,” Bladestorm sighed. “Kiss and make up so I’m not leading the awkward silence convoy.”
Fell nodded and cleared his throat, asking loudly, “Still planning on killing us?”
Light shook her head, sighed and turned back around, awkwardly running a hoof through her mane. “N-no… I’m sorry. I thought our orders were legal and you were planning on hurting the Empire. I-I’ve deserted, Article 8a 72.”
8a 72? Which one was that? I quickly sorted through the military laws I had memorised, eventually settling on, “Ah! Moral objections to orders.”
She nodded. “Yes. Um… You’re not going to kill me are you? Cuz I shot you once…”
I rolled my intact eye. “It’s just flesh. It grows back. I’m not a violent pony. In fact, I’m almost a pacifist. I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me.”
“Almost?” She asked uneasily.
“Well, apparently, if you try and hurt my friend I’ll outright kill you without thought. I can’t call myself a pacifist in light of this fact,” I explained. “I had a very good record of not hurting anypony before those constables tried to kill Felling Axe here.”
“Ah…” She said slowly. “Um, one last thing. Felling, you killed my best friend. I’m not going to make you apologize. It was battle. I just- He…”
Fell frowned, ears drooping. “I’m sorry. I honestly did not intend to shoot to kill. I wanted to cripple him. This Combo axe pulls just a bit up and to the right. I didn’t know until then.”
Light frowned. “You didn’t want to kill him? But you’re a changeling soldier, don’t you instinctively want to kill anything attacking you?”
Fell nodded. “Yes. I do. But in that situation, crippling one of your comrades would have been tactically better than killing them. Because you can ignore a corpse, but you can’t ignore a friend who is bleeding and crying for help. I wanted to slow you down. I-I know that doesn't help much. But I am honestly sorry I killed your friend.”
By the Emperor, this was the most awkward conversation ever…
“Ah come on, you guys can get along!” Bladestorm exclaimed as she sat down next to the fire and picked up a large pewter beer stein from behind the chest with one hoof. “You’re not fight’n anymore, you lost a friend, they lost their home. It’s all square. Have some chow, talk about each other, you can be friends if ya try.”
Something about the mare’s words hit home with me. We could be friends. For one good reason.
“She’s right,” I said firmly. “Light, I can’t blame you for following orders you believed were for the greater good. I forgive you.”
Fell nodded too. “I agree. I’m happy you refused to follow those orders when you learned the truth behind them. You can’t ask for more out of a soldier… Ponyfeathers, I did the same myself. I um, well you can see my eyes. You know what my hive has done. I deserted my army on moral grounds as well.”
Light raised one eyebrow. “Changeling colors tell you what hive you’re from?”
“Yeah. We’re not like ponies. Our unique appearance traits only show up if you can see into the UV spectrum. I um… There’s maybe only three or four dozen ‘faces’ per caste in a given hive. You can't see it but I have patterns on my exoskeleton which mark me as me. My favorite bit is that I have a heart shaped spot right over my second heart on my barrel,” Fell explained with a smile.
“Like tatoos?” Light and I asked together.
Fell nodded, and I resolved to cast a black light spell to make him ‘phores as soon as I had enough mana to do so. I wanted to see that.
“Cool! I wanted to get one myself but apparently my fur is more griffon than pony and won't take permanent dye. It falls out and regrows. Winter coats and stuff…” Light sighed sadly.
“You could do scars, they look pretty if you treat them like I do,” Bladestorm said through a mouthful of her drink.
Light laughed. “Well, you do look pretty. During the day. Night though, completely different story.”
“Eh, these ones will heal up in a few months and I’ll have to get fresh ones. They only look scary if they are actual battle wounds and not body art,” the Queen replied.
The three of us turned to stare at the warrior mare in shock.
“What? It’s just body art. Zebera’s have a whole tradition behind scars. It’s a language of sorts. You wear your deeds on your skin for all to see,” she explained. “I heal way to bloody well though. So I gotta put mine back on every few weeks.”
That didn’t change the creepiness factor behind her words at all…
“That sounds like it really hurts,” Light said for the three of us.
Bladestorm rolled her eyes. “Magic… I paint them on with transformation magic.”
“Ohhhh! That is way less psychotic!” I said out loud by pure accident.
Bladestorm snickered, then laughed, almost spilling her drink. “I’m not a psycho, mate! I just like a good scrap. I’m a warrior at heart. I love everyone too much to sit around and let good people get hurt. It’s why I’m help’n my thestral and griffon friends out of the jam they are in.
“It’s like the old saying, ‘Two in a hundred warriors shoot to kill. Of those two, one kills for fun, the other for love of their kin.’ I’m the kind who kills because they love their kin more than anything else. I just happen to call everypony I meet who isn’t an asshole ‘my kin’, and I mean it… Yeah, I know I’m weird.”
Clearing my throat, I decided to change the subject. Light’s odd aura had my curiosity piqued.
“Speaking of weird, is that necklace of yours enchanted?” I asked. “If so I don’t think it’s working quite right. I could try to fix it for you. I’d welcome some tinkering after the last two weeks of chaos… I-I’m not a field mage. I’ve always prefered the lab and books to the battlefield and war.”
Light flinched and took a step back from me. “I um… I‘d rather-”
“I understand it might be a sensitive subject, but I don’t judge and if that is a transformation enchantment and it is miscalibrated or malfunctioning, it could kill you in the long term,” I warned.
While true, the odd wavering of her aura didn’t seem too bad. Any enchantment on her was more amateurish than ‘dangerously broken’. Still… I had to know.
“I- Um…” Light gulped.“Well we should try and built trust… Y-you two won’t judge me?”
Fell and Bladestorm shook their heads no.
The Felin took a deep breath and sat down. “Five years ago I went to a party… Crashed it to try and get the opportunity to talk to a few different officers and make a good impression. I got nervous and there was a big bowl of punch, kiwi flavored, my favorite. I um, I kinda drank all of it. Like, the whole six liters.”
“Six liters!?” I exclaimed in shock. “Where did it all go?!”
Light giggled. “I um, I can drink a LOT if I want to. I think it’s a Felin thing. I have three stomachs. Uh, anyways, I sort of did everypony there a favor. Because someone had spiked the punch with a potion concentrate. I guess they wanted to prank everypony by having half the guests or so suddenly grow twice their size for a while. Cuz it was an enlargement potion.
“But um, well, you can’t exactly use a concentrate alone because the dosage gets messed up. I overdosed on the potion, and while I didn’t die, the effects are permanent and my necklace is the only thing letting me be normal sized.”
I winced. While I wasn’t a skilled alchemist by any means, the first page of any alchemy text would have a warning saying to avoid drinking concentrates.
“How large are you without it?” Fell asked curiously.
“Well, I can pick my size actually,” Light explained. “But the smallest I can make myself is three meters hoof to shoulder… And um, it hurts like tartarus when I use the necklace to be normal… And well, um, being that huge is less advantageous than most think. Because nopony makes buildings that size. You can just crush small objects you want to use without meaning too. Also in battle you’re a huge target that nopony makes armor for that all the artillery gunners can clearly see...
“Which is why I appreciate the offer, but the necklace stays on. Um, unless you know for sure it’s killing me.”
The mare’s ears drooped, her face having turned beat red as she explained the problem to us. I felt a bit bad for prying into the matter.
“I could be,” I said honestly. “I’ll need more time observing your aura and an examination of the charm itself before I can say for sure. I apologize for prying, I can tell you are embarrassed.”
“If you don’t mind, how big can you get?” Bladestorm asked curiously. “If three meters is your shortest without assistance, well, that implies-”
“I um… I sort of filled up the great hall the party was being held in…” Light mentioned with an embarrassed kick of her hoof.
“Let’s not embarrass the poor mare further,” I said firmly. “Is that food ready? It smells good.”
“Almost,“ Light said quickly, thankful for the change of subject. “And thank you! I’m usually the squad’s cook. My mom was a chef. So was my dad, just you know, a griffon chef.”
Fell raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like there’s a story there,” he said taking a seat next to the chest of drinks.
Light nodded and smiled. “There is! My mom’s village had been raided in one of the Line Breaches, and she got dragged off to be butchered. While being held in a pantry, mom managed to break loose and kicked the ass of the noble who had bought her.
“Turns out, griffons only enslave or eat those who can’t fight back. She won citizenship from that. Wound up staying in the fiefdom for a while, curious to learn how the enemy lived and all that. She met my dad, and while she you know, really didn’t approve of his career as a chef they wound up having me… Mostly because both of them wanted to try it with a pony slash griffon.
“Turns out they hated it. Mom left, making it back to the Empire, then found out she was pregnant. Had me, and that’s that.”
“You’re not very good at telling stories, are you?” Fell asked sadly.
Light shook her head. “Nope, not my cup of tea. I’m a scout. I like to keep things brief and accurate.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” Fell said happily. “I’m a soldier by caste, a carpenter by passion, and a bard as per orders of my Queen. It’s how we kept mentally sharp while not warring. I can tell a damn good story. Want to hear one?”
“Sure!” Bladestorm and I said together eagerly.
Fell hummed for a moment. “The Lost Battalion’s Ballad is fairly short. I should finish by the time the food is done. Let’s see…”
Fell began to tap his hoof against a piece of shell, changing the tempo and rhythm until he settled on a medium paced beat. Then taking a breath he began to sing in a rather delightful tenor.
“Thirty-three eighty-one the great war rages on! // A battalion is lost in the Argonne. // Under fire there's nothing they can do, // there's no way they can get a message through!”