//------------------------------// // Magic and Monsters // Story: In Reflection, The Same // by Faedelaide //------------------------------// Gillian slowly lifted herself from the harsh embrace of the snow below her. It felt like every part of her was on fire and frozen solid at the same time. It was certainly a unique experience. Was this how Twilight had felt for the past week? If there were any more reason to sympathize with her... Gillian could feel countless bent feathers within her undercoat. Sam's doing to be sure. She doubted that brute had ever flown before, much less knew how to manage or control anything that actually could fly. It was going to take forever to wash and preen her feathers until they were back to their former state. What a chore. Around her, the others were stirring. Twilight was helping a groggy Rainbow Dash to her feet. Gaine was explaining something to a very upset Gilda. Gerret and Gelgen were carefully inspecting Sam's body, the older one doing so with a noticeable limp that no one seemed to acknowledge. Well, at least Sam was gone... hopefully. Gillian quietly walked up to Twilight and the griffons. "Did... didja really do it? Is 'e... dead?" "He'd better be. I'm not hauling that thing back to the Griffonstone dungeon," Gilda grumbled. Rainbow shot up with newfound interest. "You have dungeons in Griffonstone?" "Dungeon is a generous way to describe it," Gerret explained. "It's just a bunch of holes bored into the bottom of the mountain. No one's really been sent there in a while, so some griffons just use them as storage rooms." "I found an Arimaspi skull in one of those rooms once," Gaine interrupted. Gilda responded to the brown griffon with a glare. "No way you found an Arimaspi skull down there, and you're still not off the hook for running off into the forest, coward!" "Aw c'mon! If it wasn't for me, all of you would still be hypnotized." Gilda's glare refused to waver. "Mhm, we'll see what the old windbags at the council think when we tell them about your little story." "Well, he was pretty helpful in breaking Sam's spell. I couldn't've done that," Twilight responded. "ha!" Gaine barked a laugh, pointing a feathered talon in Gilda's face. "I just got approval from the princess herself! Let's see you and the council fight against that!" Gilda leaned closer to Twilight. "Princess... I'm saying this with all due respect, and I appreciate what you've done for us, but I will punch you... right in the nose." Gillian giggled. Their talking quieted, however, when Gerret and Gelgen joined their numbers. The old griffon slowly made his way to Twilight. "So what're we gonna do about that 'berg, then?" "Oh..." Twilight's smile faded slowly as the realization came to her. "We, well I spent so much time worrying about Sam that I forgot about the rest of the Wall." Gelgen scoffed. Gerret looked back at Sam with a disgusted expression before turning back to the group. "Well, how much time do you think we have till it... y'know... Boom!" "Not long at all... I predict," A gurgling voice answered him. Gillian snapped to attention, along with the others. From among the sea of black oil, an undulating, crimson mountain rose. "Stay down Sam," Twilight commanded. "I don't want to have to-" "Shut it!" Sam swiped wildly in the direction of Twilight's voice. several gasps escaped the group as his unearthly claws seemed to split the very air in twain. "You don't get to speak a WORD about what you "don't want". If you never wanted this, You would have never done it!" "You gave me no choice, Sam! What was I-" Twilight tried to speak out. But Sam shouted over her again. "Even now you mock me! Is it not enough that you've robbed me of my armies, my magic? My very sight? What sort of vile creature are you!?" "The kind that'll toss you into the bottom of the ocean if you don't stop yammering!" Gilda roared. Terrifyingly, Sam's anger disappeared in a second. A wide, manic smile ran across his face. His long, thin teeth were now polka dotted by splotches of the oily blood that still poured from his eye. He laughed a low, bubbling laugh that could easily have been mistaken for choking. It escalated in volume and speed, until it sounded like Sam might have hocked up his own lungs in a second. "I don't think that would be the best idea..." he hissed. "Pretty soon, it'll be chock full of things that are going to prove much more dangerous than I. And there will be... millions." A voice in Gillian's head screamed for her to do something, say something, but she remained frozen, as if she were still hypnotized. Sam, however, continued all the same, his disturbing grin never leaving his face. "I didn't want to do this so soon. So much planning, so much waiting, and for what? Fifteen thousand years of precise, pinpoint deduction, of deciding the perfect time to break free, of combing the ice's weakpoints down to the very flake. And all of it done for one little princess... to wreck... EVERYTHING!" Sam's roar lifted snow off the grass and the group off their feet. Never had Gillian heard such unfettered fury released on such a massive scale, and in such a miniscule moment. Sam's deep, gurgling breath marked the end of his anger spell. Calmly, he spoke again. "But... if one is to be prepared for the worst, they must be prepared for the unexpected. As such, I took careful consideration in assuring my armies would know when the time was right, despite my connection to them having become more strained with each passing day. It was a failsafe, and an enchantment to add insult to injury, but it seems that this measly little bell might finally be rung after all..." Sam raised his hand ominously into the air, where it remained. It stood like a thin, red tree amongst the grey, cloudy sky. "Behold, Princess. Behold upon the army of Narok, the army... of Sammakött." As the final word left his lips, Sam snapped his fingers. A shockwave rattled the nearby forest and brought every creature to their knees. An explosive plume of snow blossomed forth from the stagnant soil, blinding Gillian. She could vaguely hear the sound of magic being cast, of hooves crunching in the mid-winter snow, and of low, patterned gurgling. In a moment, the snow began to calm. The griffon rubbed her eyes, and as the frost settled, Twilight, Rainbow and the griffons still stood, perplexed and scared and ready to fight as they were. Only one figure was missing. Sammakött was nowhere to be found. The only evidence showing that he had even been there was the black pool and a set of hoofprints, marking the ground like the killing blow on a corpse.