[Blazing's Entry]
Oh dear, Heavy and I are back in the Final Sanctuary, and I have a lot of writing to do.
After returning from Pine Hills, (feeling that my time was up, saying goodbyes, and the disappearing into thin air) I am cautiously optimistic. I tested my body a ton with this trip, and actually managed to do better than I could have ever expected. That kind of worries me, and I'm waiting for the inevitable meteor strike.
Anyway, while Heavy is busy making a spiritual dinner, my eyes are closing as I write, but I should note all that happened down so that I don't forget some important detail later.
Crimson Heart's stunt with Guiding conveyed our intentions more to the future villagers rather than to Guiding herself who was hanging around me, accompanied by the two remaining dreamlings. Still, good intentions weren't enough to feed the fifty-ish ponies in Heart's expedition, and as soon as Pine Hills ruins opened to them, some earthponies ran off to find still structurally sound cellars and map the town remains. Heart explained that they had with them the seeds(?) of the nutritious mushrooms Ponyville enclave used to survive on for the century before Nightshade's rise. He said it would keep the ponies from starving until it's possible to clear out a small stretch of the forest and grow something with flavour. It was there and then when I realized mushrooms outsmarted us all and are already taking over and making us dependant on them as sustenance. They got to Heart first, and now they are going after everypony else!
I'm watching you, Toadstool Heart...
Ehm... got a bit carried away there. After all, I'm mostly a mushroom now myself.
Bleh.
Well, let's continue. Crimson Heart wanted to use the catacombs Guiding's dreamlings dug over the years to grow the shrooms, but Guiding was anxious about her home being invaded and kept hissing and growling at whoever attempted to enter. Besides me, I mean. That's why Heart chose the cellars. During the three days I spent there, the ponies managed to use the planks, some bricks and worked stone, to construct a more permanent camp and even rebuild a single house which was immediately used to host the wounded and the young. I was curious about Heart's future plan, and was left speechless at how that guy managed to plan everything out.
With the shrooms in place and a working well, one of several Pine Hills used to use during my time, starvation could be fought off for a month or two. The villagers will have to work hard to construct more barriers and shelter against the elements, but as long as Guiding keeps Corrupted away the place will survive. Mere survival, though, was not the goal at all. The ponies (and even some griffons) came here to build a better life, and sleeping on thin bedrolls inside a tent in the middle of nowhere wasn't it. What Heart needed to eventually secure was a way to communicate with Ponyville and trade with the city. He explained that Ponyville has some logging issues because ponies transformed the land back to the farmer's paradise Ponyville used to be, and they couldn't get more raw wood for houses and repairs. Nightshade's patrols only went so far, and the lands further away were as dangerous as any wildland in Equestria. With Guiding's help, Heart's plan was to make Pine Hills a frontier logging village, and a possible outpost for expeditions south to the Badlands. He was sure Badlands would be a tempting spot for explorers due to diamond dog mines being around, old changeling hives, and some legendary vaults of old technology. I considered the last part a joke until I recalled Bucket's rumors about Desert Shade's unusual equipment, and that she'd been working as an explorer paid by griffons for a veeeery long time.
Of course, his plan was to send an expedition to contact Ponyville, explain things to princess Twilight Sparkle, and ask for temporary assistance from both her and Nightshade's hive at securing the route.
Mine was better. When I eventually came up with it, I mean, after walking around Pine Hills with Guiding and mentioning the last time I was there.
You see, the amazons wanted to check Ponyville out after my visit, and if there were ponies able to help us secure a route and hold it, the huge mares were them. All we needed from them was to help us make about day's worth of travel through the Everfree safe.
Guiding was unhappy with me having to leave, but I explained everything and promised to come back soon. I doubt she understood me, but on some level she knew I couldn't stay for too long. Anyway, she had her own troubles with Crimson Heart attempting to give her a sponge bath. Well, his second attempt. He threw up during the first one and I had to finish it. Even now it makes my stomach turn as well. Guiding was in abysmal shape, and the dreamlings weren't much better. Torn sinews, scars reaching to the bone, chitinous plating broken into festering shards cutting deep into their body with each movement, organs sometimes visible through the unhealed barrel wounds... all that had to be cleaned and patched up. It made me sick too, but I couldn't... I just couldn't leave to take breath of fresh air away from the makeshift infirmary, not after reminding myself that these guys waited for me... ME.
Well, when Crimson Heart finished his puking trip, he came back and helped. The villagers were uncomfortable with Guiding, even the medic, so it was up to us to deal with the mess until the others got used to my daughter and her kind.
I'm making it sound worse than it really was, honestly. After seeing Guiding bandaged and looking like a changeling again, the fear factor dropped and ponies stopped avoiding her in wide circles. Same went for the two dreamlings too, and the second night's watch consisted of one of the more combat oriented ponies Heart brought with him patrolling side by side with a silent dreamling.
So, yeah, back to the amazons. They ambushed me when I approached the castle of two sisters. Well, ambushed is a strong word for one mare presenting herself to me as a mate while the other one tried to stab me from behind with a spear. Thanks to Heavy's warning and, you know, ears, I defused the situation without anyone being wounded. I had to listen to a lot of "a cursed one, and he talks!" on the way inside the castle, but eventually I was allowed to talk to Bloodrage.
I had to remind her of putting me on display and having her way with me while the other amazons watched, and like with everyone else I've met after changing forms to a Corrupted, she eventually got the idea. So, I asked why the big mares were still in the crumbling castle rather than somewhere in Ponyville. As it turns out, the amazons didn't sit too well with the citizens of Ponyville. While Twilight was more than welcoming, Nightshade was much less so. The amazons wanted to keep their tradition of hunting Corrupted and wildly mating with them under the effect of their secret potion alive, and were not allowed to do so in Ponyville for obvious reasons. The "little ones", as Bloodrage called ponies, were scared of them as well and while not unfriendly or outright hostile, they tended to avoid them. So the amazons returned back "home". I couldn't really pry too many details out of Bloodrage, so I'm not sure if Twilight knows about me or not. It's not like the amazon was lying to me, but their lifestyle simplified their minds and damaged their memory somewhat, as I discovered during my first visit.
However, Bloodrage was rather excited about the prospect of a good fight while protecting Pine Hills caravans, and agreed to give "the little ones" another chance by coming to Pine Hills personally. "The place of death" in their culture was something to avoid for them, but the amazon party coming with me quickly got interested, and a promise of company and the freedom to keep their lifestyle interested them. When Bloodrage met Guiding and I explained the situation, I got the feeling that the amazon leader felt deep respect to Guiding's guard duty over the years, and right before I knew I would have to return back to Final Sanctuary, I saw Crimson Heart and Bloodrage negotiating the noble's first trip to Ponyville using amazon escort.
Nothing good lasts forever, as everypony knows, and when my soul failed me, I said my goodbyes and returned back here, content with the foundations I built. I tried using the soul map to create a teleporter back to Guiding, and I was successful although I didn't take it. I'd drop from exhaustion instantly anyway and be back here again.
I could come back to Pine Hills soon, but I'm not much of a builder, and Guiding is in good hooves. It's important for her to get accustomed to more ponies than me as well.
I guess I'll go check on Desert Shade to catch up on what's happened since I left her and Nicolai hiding in the abandoner GIL outpost. But that's for tomorrow. Goodnight, journal.
And goodnight from Heavy too.
[End Entry]
Hey, as it turns out, the more time Heavy spends making the spirit food instead of just making it appear, the better it gets... somehow. The sandwich he actually made from stuff he originally summoned was far better than anything he just conjured into existence.
Whatever...
With the glowing portal next to the floating spiritual form of Desert Shade in front of me, I take a deep breath.
"Should I do a flip, Heavy?"
"Should I kick you through?"
"Later then."
Did I ever say how much I hated teleportation? It's not as bad as flying, but close.
Damn it, did I interrupt some bondage orgy?
Square room, steel table in the middle, grey walls made of worked stone, one female hippogriff with her forelegs chained to the table, some weird buzzing device with wires leading up to the cuffs on Desert Shade's forelegs...
"What the-"
FACEPUNCH! That'll teach you to wear a helmet inside next time.
"-uungh!"
I was describing the area, you rude catbird. Don't interrupt me.
...one momentarily stunned griffon wearing what looks like a GIL suit of armor.
Des gives me a smoldering look. Not metaphorically, literally. The poor hippogriff is looking a little charred, exhausted, and with faint smoke coming out of her. The scent of ozone makes it abundantly clear what the wired machine is for.
So... a torture chamber.
Wait, more business at hoof.
The stunned griffon recovers only to feel the tentacles on my foreleg wrap around his head as I-
"Hmm... barbecue."
-slam his face into the wiring connecting the machine to Des' bonds. I kick the twisting and gurgling griffon away from the broken wires before the electricity fries him. I'm not a killer, at least I try to avoid it whenever I can.
As the griffon stops moving, I turn back to Desert Shade opening her mouth.
"Shocked to see me?"
Her mouth closes, then soundlessly opens, then closes again. She sighs.
“You have an amazing talent at making ponies wish either you or they were dead, and don't really care which in the end,” she says dryly.
The metal door behind me clicks.
"Who in Tartarus are-?"
A quick buck into the incoming griffon's left foreleg, a spin and a grab of his other foreleg, and a less than gentle moment of me guiding his controlled fall onto the machine later, our griffon cooking show continues.
Unfortunately, bad things come in pairs, and the second entering guard isn't as easily surprised and reaches for a pistol on his belt. That leaves him with only one foreleg on the ground which I immediately pull at with a spawned tentacle, making him keel over.
The shocking machine lets out a small explosion followed by a puff of smoke as the final griffon lands on it. Needless to say, the steel chainmail doesn't help him much in this situation. Desert Shade sniffs the air and comments:
"Mhmmm, twelve herbs and spices."
With the shock machine quite clearly broken, I examine the three griffons, take their keyrings, and let out a breath of relief after discovering they are all still alive. That might change in few minutes, but I'm not going to deliberately kill someone when I'm in a completely unknown situation. Who knows, maybe Des was being held for tax evasion by proper authorities and I'm now helping a criminal escape.
Well, yeah... that's suuuuurely the case.
Anyway, I'm finally happy to see somepony to whom I don't have to explain who the hay I am.
"She saw you when you transformed completely and almost corrupted her as well. I doubt she'll forget that any time soon."
Good point.
With the guard keys, I free Des from the table and toss her a spare keyring.
"So... I'd like to know where I am, why I've just had to knock three Griffon Imperial Legion soldiers out, and generally what's going on."
Des' eye twitches.
"You think you need answers?" she strips few bits of the griffon armors which catch her eye off of the guards and takes a belt with a sword and a two pistols, "No time to reload."
Ah damn it!
"Realizing just now that all your things were left behind in Pine Hills?"
Yep. Inconvenient to say the least.
I'm one for the non-lethal solutions anyway.
"Tell that to the twitching lumps of charcoal on the floor."
Shut up! They're still alive... I think. I'm not a medic.
"Well," I say as Des finishes her looting, "I guess we should be going... somewhere. There's a limit to how many griffons I can take out by surprise and shove in this room."
"Lyam and the rest are locked down in the dungeons," Des nods, "and your old Black Ops buddy Nicolai is here too with few agents and the cheeky girl that was with you last time."
"Flora?"
"Yeah."
"I really need to be filled in on what the hay is going on."
"Captured. Inside Griffon Legion fortress. Tortured. Must get out. Need more?"
"That's enough for me," I shrug, carefully open the door again, and peek out into the empty hallway, "Clear. Weird, these places are usually crawling with griffons."
"It's weekend, and this isn't any special holding facility. I'm pretty sure someone high up must be on the way for us, though, so we need to get out while we still can."
Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves after being put straight back into action out of nowhere, I perk up my ears and walk into the hallway. The GIL fortress layout hasn't changed for centuries, only with new technologies like electric lights being added.
“I never thought I’d get into a position where I’ll know these damn buildings by heart,” I sigh.
***
"There's a single griffon guard by the dungeon entrance."
I wave my foreleg at Des sneaking behind me, stopping her. Heavy has been peeking behind corners whenever we approached, giving me invaluable information. Thanks to him, we've managed to pass through the fortress mostly unnoticed. I had to spawn tentacles to slam a window open twice to distract an incoming patrol, but nothing major blocked our way onto the ground floor of the fortress.
Kind of really makes me miss Mistake. Perhaps I could make him again when I have some spare time? There might be a way, but messing with my own head without experience or guidance doesn't sound like a smart idea.
"One griffon in GIL armor on watch right by the door," I whisper.
"Damn, that's useful. A Corrupted thing?" Des asks.
"The soul of my long dead friend who had his heart ripped out by my father possessed by Harmony is floating around and warning me of dangers ahead."
Des gives me a deadpan stare which grows into disbelief.
"You're not kidding, are you?"
"Yeah," I nod.
There will be time for talking later, though. Now we need to get everyone else out before whoever is coming to get Des and Nicolai arrives.
"What now, then? Another distraction?"
See anything to occupy the griffon while we sneak past, Heavy?
"A window, but I doubt the guy will walk from his station in the middle of the hall all the way there. We'd need a storm to at least get some rain through to make something happen."
Alright then, time to go full Corrupted.
Leaning from behind the corner to get a good guess about the distance, I get ready to twitch back and flee, but the griffon is firmly staring at the wall ahead, still as a statue. Now that I remembered how good it was when Mistake shared my senses and did this for me while invisible, I can only sigh. Good old days when my insanity and schizophrenia worked side by side to help me.
Furrowing my brows in concentration, I watch black tentacles grow from the wall behind the guard.
"Let's go!" I whisper and walk into the hall.
The griffon turns his head towards us. The tentacles whip out, swarming around his neck and squeezing. As he opens his mouth to scream or gasp for breath, the tentacles burrow deep into his beak. Before we get to him, he's just a limp pile hanging choked out by the black mess coming from the wall behind him.
The tentacles retract, and I stop the griffon from falling in full armor on the floor and drawing attention by catching him and leading him slowly down. Putting my ear to his beak, I feel that his breathing is shallow and irregular, but it's there.
Des pulls her sword out and puts it to the griffon's neck.
"What are you doing?" I hiss at her.
"We locked the other guards in the interrogation room, but where do you want to shove this one? He'll wake up soon and call for help."
"I'm not letting you kill him."
"He would slit your throat without a thought."
"I'm not him."
She grits her teeth and opens the door leading down to the main dungeon. I sling the unconscious griffon over my back. Thankfully, this body is strong enough to carry a muscular griffon wearing a chainmail wihout any real trouble.
"You're too soft."
"Sadly, that's what mares keep telling me."
The door opens to the good old long hallway with doors on both sides, just like every fortress built using the same ancient Legion blueprint.
"Let's stash the guard there," I nod towards the first door to the left.
Des nods, and after fumbling with the keyring for a moment, unlocks the cell and we get inside...
...where a skinny male griffon lies with a ball on a chain around his hind leg and is about to scream.
"Open your mouth and I'll shoot you," says Des with deathly calm, drawing her pistol with trained speed and aiming the barrel at the prisoner.
"Mhmm..." the griffon whimpers, barely acknowledging Des and staring wide-eyed at me, "Please don't eat me. Please... please..."
Dropping the guard on the floor, I walk over to the prisoner who hugs his head with his forelegs, quietly begging for mercy.
"Now what do YOU think you're doing?" asks Des.
"Letting this guy go?"
The terrified griffon peeks at me through the gap between his forelegs.
"Don't, unless you want him dead," she says.
"What?"
"What do you think the guards are going to think after they find an unconscious soldier in the cell of an escaped criminal. My guess is that they'll just dispense with the first half of 'Stay still or I will shoot!'."
Damn, she's right.
"What do you think?" I ask the prisoner.
"M- me?"
"See any other chained guy around?"
"I- I- I'd rather stay like this, please. The half-pony lady is right. If the Legion griffons think I did this I'm going to hang. I just stole some fruit which fell from the stall anyway. This way they'll just beat me up to make me tell them who did it. I PROMISE I'LL SAY NOTHING!" he tries to look as small as possible.
"Alright," I nod, "Des, take the other griffon's keys so that he can't get out easily. You," I shove my foreleg tentacle under the griffon's chin to make him look up at me, "You can tell the soldiers what you want so that they don't hurt you too much, just try to be as vague as possible."
"I will, I will, I will. Thank you, thank you," he crawls under a thin blanket and I hear scared sobbing.
Well, that didn't go as planned, but at least nopony got hurt... yet.
When we're out of the cell, Des rushes towards a door no different from any other, silently counting under her breath. She flicks between the dungeon guard's keys until she finds a suitable one which slips into the lock.
“Let me go in first. If they are staging some kind of escape plan, it’s less likely they’ll bop me over the head.”
“Or if they’re too slow to realize it’s you, they’ll smack the brain out of your skull with a loose brick,” I object.
Our moment to think about the next step is interrupted by a voice coming from inside the cell:
"I might have a swollen eye and cracked beak, but my ears work just fine. Des, is that you?"
That joking and friendly voice is without a doubt Lyam.
Desert Shade doesn't wait a second more before unlocking the door and barging in.
Lyam, Rolled Scroll, and Strong Back are chained to the back wall of the cell and all in a sorry state. The big griffon's feathers are all out of place, as if a cow chewed him up. The muscular earthpony mare's face is caked in old blood and her ears torn. And the poor unicorn wizard is simply hanging on the chains on the wall, giving me and Des a dizzy stare followed by a soft smile.
They all must have been tortured, but aside from Rolled Scroll being undisputedly in the worst shape, there are no obvious crippling injuries.
"Rolly, can you stand?" Lyam helps the battered unicorn on her shaky legs while unscrewing the magic suppressing ring from the spiral on her horn.
Des tosses her stolen sword to Lyam who catches it mid-air, then follows it with a pistol thrown to Scroll. She keeps the second pistol for herself.
Lyam walks over to me, staring without shame.
"Am I crazy, or is this you, Blazing?"
"In the flesh... or in whatever mushroomy goop Corruptors are made of," I give him an overly courteous nod, "And I'll be happy when we get out and somepony tells me where the hay I am and what's going on."
"What do you mean? How did you get here then?"
"Long story, Lyam," I chuckle, "But at least we'll have something to talk about later."
"Alright, enough with chitchat!" Des orders, "We need to get Nicolai and his guys out, but for that we need our equipment. Lyam, you have some experience with the Imperial Legion. Where do you think our stuff is?"
Before he can think of an answer, I recall my old days of working as janitor in the Griffon Foreign Legion fortress.
"Confiscated stuff is usually in the repository next to the main guardhouse, I mean guard room. Unless things have changed drastically in the past two hundred years. That's up on the ground floor."
Lyam shrugs.
"I don't have a better guess, so yeah..."
Des nods.
"That's not a fun territory. Hmmm..." she hums to herself, then snaps her talons, "Ah hah! Lyam, we have knocked some griffons out on the way here, so how about we pay them one more visit, grab their armor, and make you pretend you're taking us for interrogation one by one?"
"Will that work for Blazing?" he asks.
"Damn it!" Des clicks her teeth, annoyed, "It won't."
Welp, I knew this has been a bit too easy. Time to do what I do best.
"Which is?"
Something really, really dumb.
"I can create a distraction for you, guys," I offer, "There's no way a Corrupted just running around won't prompt a fortress-wide alarm. Which area do you need cleared?"
Des gives me surprised look.
"Nicolai should be either deeper inside the dungeon or under 'house arrest' in the guest rooms on the first floor. I doubt the guard keys will open either. We could use some corrosives, but that brings us back to the need for our stuff."
I nod.
"Alright, I'll run around and try to lure as many griffons as possible to the upper floors. There can't be that many griffons around today, right?"
"Thirty at most, maybe? If we count only soldiers. We had one of the Black Ops beam weapons with as well as some ammo, so when we get to our things we should be fine against any solitary patrol. That might work if most of them are on your ass."
"Bucket said you guys are known to possess some impressive technology."
Des just smiles.
"Crawling through the darkest holes of Equestria has its rewards and perks. And it's pretty easy to make a friend out of a truly curious scientist when you show them some unknown tech."
"Alright. Five minutes then?" I ask, gathering courage and planning the route in my head.
"Wait! If we get out, let's meet in the public restroom behind Golden Standard bank," she catches my worried glance and adds, "Just like any small or medium griffon city, the center is for banks and corporations. It's northwest from here, and the bank building has a huge logo of a gold bar with its name under it on its side. You can't really miss it. Behind it is a public restroom which is rarely used because managers think it's beneath them."
"Alright," I turn to leave, and am once again stopped by a taloned foreleg.
"I'm really sorry for the desert and I hate to use you like a distraction again," says Des in complete seriousness.
I shake my head.
"Don't be. It was my choice then, and it's my choice now. I just hope this time we get to meet up again without me dying."
"Good luck, Blazing."
"You too. Say hello to Flora and Nicolai from me."
"Will do."
So... ready, Heavy?
"You and your heroic sacrifice complex..."
You think running around and screaming is heroic? The bar got pretty low while I was dead.
"Oh shut up, you idiot."
Just watch my back.
"I always am."