//------------------------------//
// Unfortunates 
// Story: Deer Me: Adwanee Sands 
// by The Psychopath 
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Grimliss sat in the old chair his brother once sat in during meetings in the small, circular room. The shields with various family crests still adorned the wall, and deer sat along the edges of the round table. They all glared at Grimliss with contempt and frustration that they could not harm him, and to this, he smiled smugly. He put his hooves together and crossed his toes.

"So, we finally get to do things in a civilized manner," Grimilss said.

"Yes..." the others responded.

"Then what is it you wanted to discuss?"

The first of five slammed his metal hoof on the table. He had lost a foreleg and an eye in the fight against the Black Snow, and it showed. A face of brown and gray fur grizzled by war, death, and loss. He only had one antler that remained as the other would no longer grow, something he tried hiding with a piece of red cloth wrapped around that part of his head. He also wore an old trench coat of the same red over his back. The trims of the sleeves and inner sections of the clothing were colored golden and additionally decorated with fleece, and, unlike the others, his badges were on the back of his coat

"You've made it clear that you don't want us rebelling or killing your nephew," he spoke in raspy voice. "And since you won't leave us nor our subordinates alone, we might as well come to a more peaceful conclusion."

Grimliss' smile widened. "You wouldn't rather continue trying to trick one who has seen the tricks and even creates his own? Not even for my own amusement?" The old soldier frowned. "Fine." Grimliss took on a more serious tone. "What is it you want?"

A doe rose up. Much like the rest, here years were numerous, but she still had many pillars of achievements built up thanks to hard work to hold the floor she stood upon. Her antlers had been shaved down to give them a rounder, shorter, perhaps even 'cuter' appearance. Her coat of bright tan was hidden by formal wear of a blue-gray. 

"We want you to take Stelimus away. We do not care for his rule."

Grimliss raised an 'eye'. "Do not care? Your attempts at his life and to create secret organizations to overthrow him when he returned say otherwise. Why, they don't even 'speak'. They scream at the top of their lungs in the most reverberate room that could ever exist."

The doe widened her eyes angrily. "WE only did what we thought was best for our people."

"Pfff. You only did what you thought was best because you hate his relationship with the pony-song, something my brother infested in your minds like a virus." He stood up briefly. "You can't even think for yourselves! You need the 'big words' from 'daddy' to tell you when to do your homework, and you STILL won't do them correctly!"

"What?"

Before Grimliss could continue, another Doe cut into the conversation. She had no antlers and was much younger than the rest, but that wasn't saying much. Her yellow coat was artificially colored, and her turquoise eyes were just as modified, most likely from a spirit. She had a ghostly aura emanating from her, something that would scare and chill a lesser deer, but Grimliss' connection was on another plane entirely.

"What are you talking about? Some of the reindeer did perform things of their own volition, but it had nothing to do with us!"

"You sure about that?" Grimliss pulled some things out of his body and threw them on the table. "All these pieces of wood, metal, and so on, bear your symbols. All those I discovered and, ahem, 'interrogated' did not have the means nor the intelligence to procure so many things." Grimliss noticed a movement in all five's bodies and raised a hoof to stop them. "Don't even try it. I have no qualms with killing you all and obtaining absolute supremacy in this little ice cream 'paradise'." The five reluctantly sat back down. And by personal research, I learned that you fools never gave my nephew a chance."

"He's tied to the pony song!" the war veteran complained. "He wouldn't have the capacity to deal with anything that reindeer need. They've corrupted him!"

Grimliss snorted. "I recall you lot already stating such things as 'facts' back when he was just born, when you learned what my brother was planning to do."

"That doesn't matter," the first doe interjected. "I know--"

"I don't care what you think you know, Meyda. The fact of the matter being that you lot decided to judge my nephew solely based on his purported purpose. Yet, when you were threatened, he still went to battle with the ponysong."

"But he stayed behind. He didn't do anything!" the war veteran bellowed. "He sat on the hill while we fought!"

"Because he had no true experience in war."

"But--"

"You can't build a wall out of mud, Grundyl. You need support frames, holding materials, and so forth. The mud won't do anything on its own, and when confronted with rain, it will melt. His father told him to stay behind and learn from the experience."

"Your colorful metaphors are all well and dandy, but it doesn't excuse his poor and unworthy position due to lack of experience."

The one who spoke was a smug deer with a blue-gray coat, a monocle over his empty left eye-socket, and a cap on his head. It clipped around his black, velvety antlers. His left eye was actually a ghostly rendition created by the monocle in question, although it didn't seem particularly in his control, much how his tail had the same problem of, for lack of a better term, being 'physically absent'.

Grimliss cocked an eyebrow. "What do you you mean, Fyovyor?"

"He has neither the maturity nor the knowledge to sustain a city of well over several million reindeer."

"He has much more knowledge, experience, and wisdom than you could ever hope to have. Who says this?" Grimliss looked around, curious. "You?"

"We all do. His father did not tea--"

"His father was immortal and did not expect to be killed--"

"By your hoof," Fyvyor interrupted.

"He did not expect to be killed, and he was going to banish Stelimus as soon as the colossus was killed."

The five started mumbling to each other.

"Then why is he still here?" Grundyl asked. "Why didn't he just banish him once the fight was over? I mean, I know the god-kings--"

"And queen," the antler-less doe corrected.

Fyovyor facehoofed. "We've talked about this, Kuj. The terms are gender neutral regardless of the title."

"CAN I CONTINUE?!" The others silenced themselves right away. "Thank you. As I was saying, I know the god-kings were wounded, but we've known King Anglacite for so long. I don't see why he wouldn't do it right then and there."

"Then perhaps he had a change of heart in the end. I don't know. I killed him and prevented the black snow from continuing." He expelled more mist from his mouth. "This doesn't excuse the fact that you, as the king's assistants, did not aid him."

"And what of you? Weren't you supposed to be his advisor?"

The last stag was the oldest of the five. He was, quite literally, as Grimliss would put it, at Death's door. His cripple and disheveled physique was only compounded upon by his colorless fur and antler stumps. Unlike most reindeer of the north, he wore a thick, fur coat of white to keep himself warm.

"I have my own kingdom to run. I was more of a guidance counselor than an advisor for long term. You five were supposed to help him for this precise reason, yet you put ll the blame on him." Grimliss cracked his jaw. "You reindeer disgust me. Millennia of poison dripped in your ears rotted away your minds, and now you put all blame on anything that isn't your now former king."

"That is not true."

Grimliss smiled evily. "Are you certain, Anfertyr? We've already established multiple times that what you did here was try to kill my nephew because he was married to a pony-song and that, due to your inadequacies, he's incapable of properly ruling his own people. I was only a councilor, not a full-on advisor, as is YOUR jobs! If you want him to keep an open mind about his own people and let him guide you as you WANT him to, then let him do so, but inch him in the proper directions. You did so with the father, so why not the son?"

Grundyl bared his teeth and narrowed his eye. "Because he is not open to such things," he grumbled.

"Not open? He's not open because you all openly hate him and he can sense that. I can sense that!"

The five looked at the god-king silently. Grimliss sighed and rubbed his forehead in annoyance. "Look. Your god-king is dead. The two that remain will NOT take care of you, and I've learned enough here to know that you all grew overly dependent of my brother. My nephew has a mind of another world, so-to-speak, and he knows full well how to do what he needs, but without guidance, you will never grow as a people. Your discoveries have already dried up as is, not to mention your advancements in technology have been appallingly slow. Introductions to new mindsets and ways of thinking would bring in a fresh breath of air to both you and the people, and the Tundran Reindeer will prosper as they did when we Five first founded this city up here." They continued to stare at him with wide eyes full of hatred and confusion. "I'm not telling you to submit. If you want your people to grow, then you must guide him."

"Say we still refuse?" Fyovyor hypothesized. "What then?"

"Then I would prevent the group that went with Stelimus from ever returning to the Tundra here and would take him in," a female voice answered.

The deer turned around and paled when they saw who it was.

"C-Celestia of the pony-song?! Luna as well?!" Kuj stuttered. She turned back to face Grimliss and was about to bellow at him, but she saw that he was looking at her with disinterested eyes.

"And," Grimliss continued. "Seeing as you five only have personal interests and continue your game of 'pretend' to reach the eventual conclusion of this 'rebellion', this would leave a massive gap of power to which you would all jump at, and then you would end up destroying each other in a five-way civil war." The god-king chuckled. "Honestly, I would like to see that," he added enthusiastically.

"Grimliss!" Celestia scolded.

The god-king laughed heartedly at Celestia's reaction and his 'eyes' glowed aggressively at the deer sitting before him.