//------------------------------// // "You thought I'd let you have all the fun, huh?" // Story: The Winds of Change: Fog of War // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// "You thought I'd let you have all the fun, huh?" Jason stared up at the smoldering ceiling beam for a moment, trying to figure out if he was just in an extension of his dream. The relative silence that he heard was suddenly replaced by yelling outside. He slugged Dash's shoulder, not wishing to risk her safety in return for gentility. She just shifted, recoiling slightly after he'd punched her. "Dash, wake the fuck up! The tent's on fire!" She hardly even stirred. He started to roll her over to the side of the bed to pull her over his back. CRACK Jason looked up in time to see the ceiling beam fall away, straight towards the two of them. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was on top of Dash, realizing that she had finally opened her eyes. They went wide as saucers as she figured out what had happened, and watch the beam as it fell, he assumed. He felt the beam hit him, luckily splintering instead of holding firm, but breaking completely. It started to burn as he stood back up, levitating it onto the floor beside the bed. He grabbed Dash with his magic and threw her outside, not wanting to take any chances. He jumped off the bed and grabbed their saddlebags, not wanting to lose his only connection to Scoots either. He started to gallop over to the door, in just enough time for the rest of the tent to come down on him. That was about when his mind went into overdrive. He dodged out of the way of a falling beam before the burning fabric came down against him. He was flattened under the tent, feeling the air become humid as the cloud bed vaporized the rest of the way. He could feel his chitin burning, pain radiating from the side of his body. Not like this, he thought, not now. He flared up his chitin, running through several transformations into himself as he did so. The burning sensation began to lift as fabric burned away, and he was able to stand up in the wreck. He picked up his belongings and lifted off, flying to the front of the tent. He landed and set down the mostly burnt saddlebags, looking around for Dash. A heavy blow hit him in the cheek, and he stumbled backwards. "What were you thinking?!?!" She yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Why didn't you just leave after me?" "I had to get the pad of paper, I didn't want to lose communications with Scoots, and there'd be no way to tell her what happened. Plus, it was on my way out." He went rigid as he felt a pair of hooves wrap over his shoulders, before sinking into the hug. "Don't ever do something like that again! Do you have any idea how scary it is to watch a burning tent fall down when you're inside?" Her hoof slid across his burnt chitin, sending a jolt of pain through his body. "Ah! Dash, the fact that I got out doesn't mean I didn't get a little cooked. Now let's just get this stupid battle over with." He turned to look at the damage, inadvertently giving Dash a full view of his burns, and started galloping off towards the trenches. A griffin stepped out from behind a tent and Jason drove an elbow into his jaw, jerking his head to the side. He kicked the same griffin as he fell over, knocking another blow into his head. Dash caught up and stared at the griffin for a moment before they started off again. The first thing Jason noticed was that there really weren't that many griffins around. So how did they set his tent on fire? A bottle broke nearby, and Jason shouldered Dash out of the way before retreating himself. Fire spread out from the broken bottle, simmering out as the fuel expired. "What was that?!" Dash yelled, jumping a little further from the bottle in case it decided to flare up again. "That was a bottle with high proof alcohol inside, I assume. I'm not really sure." He turned in time to watch a griffin hop out from behind one of the tents and lunge. Jason ducked, watching as Dash's hoof impacted the griffin's face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Jason pulled up the griffin, pulling a hoof around his neck to try to suffocate him. Dash fought off another griffin while Jason was working, and after the struggling stopped from the griffin he waited a few more seconds before letting him go. That was a lot better than trying to kill him with punches. They broke into a run again, finally making their way to the trenches and joining the rest of the ponies there. A griffin glided over towards the trench as an arrow planted itself in his chest, probably from Eravel, wherever he was. The griffin landed with a heavy thump, rolling slightly on the ground. Jason looked over the side of the trench, coming face to face with a griffin that had impaled himself through the eye on a spike. So these traps were useful, that was always good. He had figured they wouldn't be particularly useful during the day, although griffins weren't known for airborne fighting. And at night, flying and avoiding other griffins would probably be tough for them, considering their terrible night vision. A griffin came running down the trench, throwing a spear that whistled past Jason's shoulder and impacted the side of a pony behind him. Jason hit the griffin upside the jaw, watching him compact the side of the trench and go limp. He really needed a weapon. He turned to the pony with the spear in his side and grabbed it, swiftly wrenching it out among the pony's screams. Quickly flaring up his horn, he fixed up the wound, and left the wigged out soldier behind after he checked that the bleeding had stopped. He grabbed another discarded spear and tossed it back to Dash, who had apparently been a ways back from the griffin's thrown spear, much to his gratitude. The pair moved into one of the ramshackle boxes, finding a few of the injured that had been dragged inside. They didn't look dangerously injured, so Jason motioned to Dash to continue and exited out the other side. Things were looking much better on the other side, only a few griffins left in the scrum, as far as he could see. He ran over to one and shouldered it over, allowing the pony that had been fighting to finish the job. An officer fan up, throwing a brief solute. "Sir, we gotta get some ponies over towards the south side, we're being--" Jason heard a spear whistling behind him and shifted to the side, getting a full view of the officer with a spear through the officer's eye. Jason moved forward to grab the body, pulling it backwards to one of the boxes as he heard Dash kill the griffin behind him. He set the pony down, carefully pulling the spear back out. There was nothing he could do about the dead, not that he'd want to, though. He didn't want power without limits; he didn't need that kind of responsibility. Jason turned and sighed, breaking into a brisk trot as he exited back out. He cleared his throat. "HEY!!" The ponies looked at him, no longer preoccupied with griffins. "Half of you, come with me, we're moving to re-enforce some other troops to the south!" Jason pushed through the crowd with Dash in tow accumulating a few ponies as he moved through. He broke into a gallop, hearing the hooves of the others pounding on the ground behind him. They passed through another box, and then another, almost passing into a different world as the fighting suddenly intensified. Jason shoved his spear through a griffin's back, ducking as Dash gored another one over his back. The ponies that they had accumulated ran past, and the battle visibly turned tide. Jason's spear was knocked out of his hoof as a griffin smacked it away and started to move forward until a spear hit him through the neck. "You thought I'd let you have all the fun, huh?" Jason looked up from the trench and caught a glint of Shining's armor. "By all means, have some fun." Jason replied, catching a spear Shining threw over. They shared a brief chuckle before a withering glance from Dash cut them off. She vaulted a charging griffin off her shoulders toward Jason, and he simply raised his spear and ran the griffin through. He liked knives better, they got the job done faster, in his opinion. Sure, this griffin wasn't getting up, but that didn't mean he liked watching them bleed out slowly, as they did with a spear wound like this. He was jarred out of his thoughts as a griffin came tumbling down into the trench, already dead by the looks of things. An arrow impacted another as Eravel joined them in the trench, quickly loading his bow up with another arrow. Dash ripped out the old arrow and handed it back, disarming and killing another griffin as his spear raked across her side, leaving a long cut. She recoiled in pain, turning her head to look at the cut. She waved Jason off, apparently it wasn't worth the risk of healing in her opinion. Eravel let another arrow fly, a muffled cry the only notification Jason needed that he'd taken someone out. There were a few far off yells, and the battle seemed to grind to a halt as whatever griffins were present met the same fate as the others. Apparently they had retreated, something that Jason realized hadn't happened yet in any of the fighting so far. He pulled a pony back that had jumped out to pursue, making sure no one else had left. "Jason, Dash." Shining started. "Grab some ponies and report to my tent." He turned, pulling out a rag to wipe part of his armor clean. Jason pointed to a few ponies and fluttered out of the trench after Dash. He healed the cut on her side, and she nodded gratefully, returning to her normal position leaning against him. The rag tag group quickly reached Shining's tent, and Jason pushed aside the slightly singed fabric. "So, does this throw a wrench in your plans, Shining?" "At this point, I'm not really sure. We have to find the number of casualties, figure out what that was they were throwing over here, and then rebuild with the ponies we still have before we can even think about large scale troop movements." "They're called molotov cocktails." Jason said. "What?" "The things they were throwing. All they are is a glass bottle with some sort of highly flammable substance and a rag out the neck. So simple, and yet so deadly." He stroked his chin. "We'll need to be more diligent to avoid those. But if you want to put an order to Celestia, she may be able to come up with something we can use." "Yeah, I thought about that. It's like what you said though, it's only a matter of time before your edge in war deteriorates." Shining replied. There was a brief silence, before Shining spoke back up. "So, you have any other bright ideas like you did with steel?" "Steam power, I guess." "Yeah, we have that for trains." He grabbed a pitcher of water from under a table, pouring out a few glasses and taking a sip. "Well you're going to need oil next, so that needs to be refined. But I really don't know how." He sighed. "I'll try to think of something." "Yeah, okay. It's no big deal if you don't, but anything'll help." "So, rebuild in the meantime?" Shining shrugged. "I guess, your tent was burned, right?" "Yeah, and my side." He turned to look, and immediately felt some bile come to his mouth. Most of the wound was only in the chitin layer, and that would grow back. But on his shoulder the fabric or logs had burnt through, leaving a small patch of angry blistered flesh. "Ick. It didn't look that bad outside the tent." Dash said, sticking out her tongue in disgust. "Doesn't that hurt?" "Like a bitch, now that I'm not distracted or hyped up on adrenaline or anything." He sighed, flinching as a light breeze wafted in. "Let's just go fix this crap so I can sleep." _______________________________________________________ Dash tapped one of the smoldering wooden supports with her leg, turning away from the wreck of a tent to Jason. "So, does this mean no victory sex?" She asked. Jason let out a laugh, choking on the water he was drinking. "You really *cough cough* have no *splutter* shame, do you." "I was kinda serious about that." She said, smirking. "It seems like a fitting celebration." "We 'celebrate' like every other day." He replied, and she giggled before returning her gaze to the 'tent'. "So, you're moving these things, I assume?" She asked, tapping a cinder to see if it was still hot. "Sure, see if you can get a hold of Scoots." Dash sighed, turning and wrapping Jason in a hug. "I'm sorry about punching you earlier, I'm just glad you're alright." She kissed his cheek before breaking off the hug and trotting over to the burnt saddlebags, still basically where they had left them. Jason rubbed his cheek, a smile braking out on his face. "No problem, it was kinda stupid anyway." The sun was starting to rise above the horizon, shedding a yellow light across the top of the hill. Dash shivered slightly as the cold finally started to make it's way into her body, after all the fighting they'd done. Jason walked over and grabbed a blanket out of one of the saddlebags, draping it around her shoulders. She smiled, her shivering lessening slightly as Jason walked back to the tent. A few ponies walked by carrying a couple dozen spears, headed towards the southern trenches, he assumed. He couldn't help but feel that that attack wasn't anything big, like they weren't actually trying to take the camp. More than that it seemed that they were just testing the water, figuring out if their camp could hold up under pressure. And at this point, most people would say that the defenses had been proven, but there weren't that many griffins here, they just showed up at the same time. Fifty tops. And from what the captured griffin had said, there were probably a lot more than that. "This couldn't possibly take that long, right?" Dash asked, looking up from the pad of paper and pulling the blanket tighter around herself. "That kinda sounds rude, but I can still help if you want me to." "When I get the frame up, I'll need you to tie it together and help me drape over the fabric anyway." "Okay, whatever you want." He heard scratching from behind as Dash returned to her work. Jason sighed and levitated the cinders away, finding a couple small shreds of blanket that had somehow survived. He walked over to one of the woodpiles, counting his lucky stars that a few pegasi had grabbed some clouds to put out any fires before it spread. The ground wasn't muddy tough, just a little damp. Maybe they had some old weather team ponies that knew what they were doing? He noticed a pile of supplies labeled 'tent', and after he made the amazingly risky assumption that it was for building a tent, he levitated over the pile and started separating the logs and planks from the fabric and rope. The logs all had notches at the end that he assumed were for easier tying, and the old holes that held the corner pieces were still there, so at least he wouldn't have to start from scratch. After a few false starts of putting the pieces in the wrong places, he finally got a tent shape up, and gestured to Dash that he was ready. She grabbed the rope in her mouth and took off, pulling each length out as she needed to tie the specific intersections. Dash gave a nod after tying on the last rope, and Jason let go of the logs with his magic. He waited a few seconds at the tent creaked, getting used to its weight, before stopping its movement. Jason grabbed the cloth and started to unfold it, floating the opposite corner over to Dash who dropped to the ground and fastened the corner before moving on to another one. They got the process done in a few seconds and landed out front to admire their work. "You wanna go get that buggy that has all our stuff inside, cuz I don't want to get attacked and not have those knives. Well, I guess we had them the whole time in the saddlebags, so that was stupid." "They would've taken too long to get on anyway. And yeah, let's go." They trotted off, looking around at the rest of the camp as they passed through. They were getting further from the griffin attack point, and fewer tents were burnt down. "Agh..." Jason looked around, his concentration suddenly shifting. "Did you hear that?" He asked Dash. "Yeah, where'd it come from?" "I dunno." She went silent, taking off and hovering a ways above the ground. "Over there!" She yelled, swooping down behind a tent nearby. Jason galloped after, coming around the corner more quickly than he should have in the moist ground. He looked around for the source of the noise, and once he found it immediately wished he hadn't. A pony had dragged himself a ways away from a tent that was now in cinders, most of his coat either black or gone entirely. If he were left here, there was no way he'd survive. The pony looked up from the ground, the angry skin on his arm giving a twitch as he stared, begging for Jason to do something. He didn't hesitate, with his shoulder hurting the way it did, he couldn't even begin to imagine a pony that had dragged himself through dirt with wounds like that. He'd never healed burns before, within reason. Dash had burnt herself a couple times when he was trying to teach her how to cook some simple dishes, and that'd been easy enough. But this was different, he didn't know what to focus on, everything looked damaged to the same degree, and he knew it wasn't. He went out on a limb and went for the body and neck before moving on to the head and face. The hooves were harder, especially the one Jason assumed the pony had dragged himself out with. Burnt to a crisp was an understatement, two of them were even broken. Although he could do a lot more than anyone else, some stuff was just burnt away. He could regenerate tissue, but only to a degree. He couldn't make limbs grow back, at least not without risking a serious loss of energy or death. Jason made a quick effort to ease the scarring of the pony's face before he let the energy run out, and looked down at his patient, who let his head collapse back to the ground as he breathed a sigh of relief. He felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, the likes of which he hadn't experienced since he'd healed Dash on day one. Maybe even worse. The ground moved over to the side and rammed into his head, and he quickly lost consciousness. _______________________________________________________________ Jason opened his eyes what felt like seconds later, becoming disoriented for a moment as he looked around inside a tent that looked shockingly like theirs back near Windforge. All the stuff was there, armor, instruments... "I see you finally woke up." Dash said. He slowly rolled over on the cloud bed and was met by her lips as she kissed him. "What." He said, realizing he forgot to word it like a question. Dash seemed to get what he meant. "I took the pony to the infirmary and brought you back to our tent. So I grabbed the buggy and unloaded all of our stuff while you were sleeping, and then I got some shuteye of my own. You were out for a while, by the way." She sighed. "I know you wanted to save that pony, but you didn't have to go to such an extent. You look really tired right now." "Yeah, I definitely feel pretty tired." He held a hoof to his head, feeling a slight crack where he'd fallen over. "How's my shoulder?" "It looks better, but I think it's going to take a while longer than the rest of your normal injuries to heal, burn and all." "Yeah." He caught some movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see Shining Armor walk in. In the back of his mind, Jason realized it was a good thing Dash was on the other side of the blanket from him, or this could get kinda strange. "I see he's awake...sorta." Shining said, pulling a chair through the door behind himself. For some reason, Jason found that hilarious, and his chuckle quickly turned into a laugh, which slowly rose in volume until he was just a silent quivering mass on the bed. "Jason, what's so funny?!" Dash asked, shaking his shoulders around. "The chair, hahahaha *snore*."\ "Sorry about him, he only gets like this when he's really tired." "No problem, from what you said he fixed about that pony, he's got a right to be wiped out like that." "So you're here with casualty numbers, I assume?" "Yup, just like I normally am. Fifteen deaths and twenty three injured, a few in bad condition. Most sustained beore the fighting really began or from burns. I guess there just isn't enough of Jason to go around. They seem stable though, so chances are they'll survive, as long as their wounds don't get infected." "And how many griffins were there?" "We only found forty four corpses. So either there were a lot of injured that were dragged away or there weren't many griffins to begin with. We need a better alarm system, or at the very least more guards on duty. We're receiving twenty reinforcements tomorrow, so we'll have to get ready for those as well. I sent out a couple of scouting parties earlier today interspersed with members of Team Green Bean, but they didn't find anypony. Of course, they were only sent out a little ways." "So they disappeared without a trace." Dash confirmed. Shining nodded. "Oh god, they're doing that shit?" Jason asked from the bed, his eyes drooping heavily. "What, guerrilla tactics?" Shining asked. "Yeah, it just makes things harder, but mostly it makes them longer. Can you *yawn* get some teams together with two members of the team to each, and then I'll figure out a plan. Try to get team members that work well together, like those two officers." He yawned again, and his leg twitched. "I've never been this tired before. What time is it?" "Eleven thirty or so." Dash replied. "Can you wake me up at three?" She nodded, watching him appear to pass out before turning back to Shining. "So you were saying?" "Well that's about it, really, I mean there isn't that much to say, besides be glad it wasn't worse." "Yeah, Jason said something about watch towers a while ago, but I really don't know how logical of a thing that would be to build." "I could look into it, we had a screw up with building supplies and got a whole lot extra. We're using some of them to reenforce the trenches, but it was a really big screw up." "That would explain it." "Yeah. Well, I'll leave you to it. If he's up to it later today I was thinking about moving up some of the scouting, doing some brief stuff before it gets dark." "With him like this, I guess we'll have to see." He nodded and left, coming back a few moments later for his chair. Dash shifted herself on the bed, resting her back comfortably against the bulge in the blanket that Jason made. She immediately felt the heat radiating from his form. She knew that she sounded trite whenever she mentioned it at this point, but his warmth was overwhelmingly nice, like some sort of blanket heated to just the right temperature. And it always seemed to make her tired, at least when she wasn't trying to act all raunchy. Jason shifted, muttering some indistinguishable words. She snuggled up closer, before making the decision to abandon her position and move under the covers. It took her a few minutes to actually start to move out of her comfortable position, but she was glad she had after she wrapped her legs around his chest, enjoying the feeling of his smooth chitin on her chest. She accidentally tapped her head into his burnt shoulder and flinched at his subconscious shifting before placing her head above his on the pillow. She sighed, pulling him tighter against herself. This was love, she assumed, the tightness she had in her chest whenever they were like this, or even near each other. She couldn't quite classify it, but it was a feeling that only seemed to make her hunger for more. This must be how Jason feels, she mused. Except probably ten times better. And she only felt better knowing it was her providing him with that love. Her thoughts started to become more scattered and frazzled as she quickly lost conscious, succumbing to her own fatigue.