//------------------------------// // Luck // Story: The Winds of Change: Fog of War // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// Luck (Needed some music, so here's some background stuff.) A griffin's spear hit the ground next to Jason with a slight twang, and he dove behind a bush as he searched for the enemy. Another spear grazed his neck, ripping through the ghillie suit and cutting off a piece of his mane-fin thing. He bit down on a hoof as he tried to keep himself from screaming out in pain, the waxy appendage apparently much more sensitive than he had thought. A leaf floated past his head and Jason looked up, catching a glimpse of the griffin up in a tree, quietly preparing another spear. Jason took a few steps back before sprinting at the tree, running up the side as his hooves stuck fast. The griffin jumped in surprise and started moving through the branches as he threw a spear that bounced off one of the tree limbs harmlessly. He didn't have a chance to defend himself as he took a step back and slipped, hitting the ground below with a heavy thump. Dash was already below, and checked the griffin's pulse, shaking her head up at him. It seemed a little repetitive to check his pulse when his neck was bent as far as it was, but thoroughness was never a crime, he supposed. He dropped down, trying to flutter his wings as quietly as possible, and annoying himself with the buzz that was still created. He sighed as he landed, staring at Dash's raised hoof for a moment before striking his own against hers, creating a rather loud clack that echoed around. Not that it mattered, it wasn't one of those things that sounded like activity anyway, more like a dead branch breaking. Maybe something to be investigated, at most. He shared a brief glance with Dash before taking off again. Jason quietly galloped around a bush, his hooves struggling for purchase on the slippery leaves and loose dirt. Not needing stealth anymore was one thing, but jumping in without at least a slight surprise would only be a wasted opportunity. He slowed his pace, becoming more alert to the surrounding environment. As he moved forward ever more carefully, he couldn't shake the thought that there weren't any griffins to be surrounded. But as soon as that thought exited his head he caught sight of a griffin and charged over, knocking his spear sideways as Dash dove in for the kill. Jason caught the body as it fell, grunting slightly under the weight as he quietly set it on the ground. A few ponies ran past, and Jason dragged the body behind a tree before jumping back up to follow them. He could see light flickering through the trees, lighting up the leaves in an eerie light as his night vision messed with the partial coloration. He turned his head to check that he was still being followed, and caught a glimpse of Dash elegantly jumping over a log. Well, as elegantly as you can jump over a log in the dark while carrying twenty or so pounds of armor and supplies. He chuckled as he checked the rest of the squad, that pony with the slight limp, the two that looked identical and constantly stuck together... Finding the other three wasn't quite as easy because they had spread out to the side, but eventually he took note that they had made it this far. Something to go on, at least. Jason slowed as he neared the lights, waving an arm wildly to get the others' attention. He wondered though, why would they make their position this obvious? It just didn't add up. He peeked through the bush, finding a small group of griffins huddled around a fire, warming their talons as a few others moved supplies around and fiddled with bottles. But this wasn't an army, this was hardly above a couple dozen. He stretched out his hoof, making three obvious taps on his chest. The same number of ponies came over, and Jason turned to whisper to them. "We're going to run in there and take out these guys, but there's no way that those are the entirety of the griffin forces, there's just no way. So spread the word, we'll go on my signal." The ponies saluted and moved away, quietly informing the rest of the small force. "So where do you think the rest of them are?" Dash asked, her head sprouting out of a bush to ask the question. "I wish I knew, but this is all we have to go on. Stay sharp, there's a large possibility that this is a trap." He paused. "Follow me." She extracted herself from the bush, stopping to liberate a caught branch before following him to the edge of the camp. There were at least a few tents, along with the griffins that were out and about. Jason creeped out behind one of the tents, looking around and attempting to figure out if there was actually a trap involved. He quietly cut through the back of the tent, before moving inside and quickly stabbing a griffin that had woken up. There was only one other griffin inside, only to be awoken when Dash slit his throat. Something gasped, and they both turned to see a griffin in the door. He turned to yell just as Jason's tomahawk planted itself in his temple. He ran over to grab the body before it fell, pulling it inside. "I didn't think that would work." Jason breathed, checking the griffin over for Molotovs, although he came up empty. He gripped the tomahawk and pulled, wrenching it out of the griffin's head and splattering himself with blood. "I guess you better hope you have a talent for that thing and that it wasn't just a fluke." "Yeah." He let out a long breath. "You ready to start this shitstorm?" She smirked. "As ready as I'll ever be." "Wouldn't want it any other way." He shared her smirk for a moment before they both turned and ran through the tent exit. It was an interesting first couple seconds, while the griffins around the fire stared for a couple seconds before realizing the danger in the moving bush ponies. Several ponies ran into the clearing as the griffins pulled closer to the fire, forming a protective circle as they began to brandish their spears. A couple of them were cut down as they tried to drop the supplies they were moving and pull up a spear to defend themselves. Jason plowed into the circle, taking out one of the griffins that hadn't pulled up a spear and knocking him into another griffin directly across the circle. Tank stabbed one of the enemies before tossing him aside and moving onto his next target. Morning Rain jumped in behind him, hitting a griffin in the jaw with a hoof before a spear from elsewhere stuck in his back. Jason watched as a mare was hit through the eye just in front of him, and he reached over his back and threw the tomahawk again. It missed and hit another griffin, toppling him as several ponies hacked at his injured body. A griffin hit Jason on the side, knocking him over and tearing a wide swath of his ghillie suit with a talon, scratching the chitin beneath. He got his hooves under the griffin and kicked him off, sending him flying into the fire and watching as the flames started to burn away at his feathers. Another pony put him out of his misery before too long, and Jason let out a sigh. After all this, he still felt a little sorry for the guys, always thrown into these situations without so much as a concern for their health. No wonder Eravel had left. Speaking of the griffin, an arrow whizzed past and embedded itself in another griffin, bringing the small battle to a close. It quickly became quiet as the victorious ponies stood around, looking around at the sticky red dirt and multitude of corpses. Jason sighed and started to drag one of the griffins away into the brush, moving past another pony that had long since bled out. It was funny how he could bring a pony back from mortal injuries, and yet no matter how small the injury, he couldn't bring them back from the grave. Blood and grey matter, the only things he couldn't replace. Actually, that wasn't entirely true, he could fix a brain as far as he knew, but actually getting anything back or waking the pony up, if they were still alive, was another story completely. At least he'd never have to make a decision like that, death had a nice sense of finality, something none of them could really cheat. It was that one thing that people had tried to beat for centuries, with the small gain of re-starting a heart after someone was proclaimed dead. But they weren't really dead at that point, were they? Someone was really still alive until all brain activity stopped, so in reality they had come no closer. For some reason, that made a pressure lift, that he knew he'd never be responsible for that kind of thing. He knew he thought it before, but it always seemed at the forefront of his mind immediately after these fights. "Thinking about the meaning of life again, Jason?" Dash asked as she dragged a body by. "A little, but I guess it's hard not to in this situation." He reached into his suit and pulled out the picture of Scoots and Dash. "Makes me think of home too, really. Just this and then the capitol, hopefully." The officers went by, examining him a little more subtly than usual. "Any reason those guys seem to have the hots for you Jason?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow playfully. "They saw Evening Glory I think, you know, when she was partially in changeling form." Dash put a hoof to her forehead, sighing. "Oh, great. I'm guessing you didn't say anything to them?" "What was I supposed to say? We have the changeling to get information on hive mind communications that I happen to share with the changeling queen that attacked your city?" "Shhh!" She looked around for the officers, who didn't seem to be watching. "Do you want them to hear that? It would just give them more ammunition. Or help their conspiracy theory, as it is." "Fine, I'll figure out a way to get them off our backs." He forced a smile. "Now, let's get this over with." He started to trot back, delving back into his thoughts. Pain lanced up his leg as he took another step, and he toppled over before he could figure out what was going on. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" He yelled, holding his leg and screaming into the dirt. Still not healed after all this time, dammit. "What the fuck did I step on?!?!" "This piece of glass, I think." Dash said, before she gasped. Never a good sign. "Some of it's stuck in your hoof, hold on a sec." She ran off, leaving him on the ground by himself as he tried to recover. A pony came back with Dash, a rather small plus on her shoulder. "He got glass stuck in his hoof," Dash explained, "It's still pretty tender from when it got cut off." The pony gave Dash a weird look. "When you say, cut off, do you mean chipped?" "No, long story, just get it out, okay?" The mare sighed and lit up her horn, sliding the shard out of place without too much additional pain. She looked the wound over and slid a bandage over the hoof, wrapping it into place with some medical tape. She ruffled around in her saddlebag before pulling out a makeshift shoe, widening it to the correct size and sliding it over, tightening it quickly afterwards. Jason sighed and lowered his hoof, placing it gently on the ground as he tested the shoe thing. "It would've been nice to know about these earlier." He started to move back to camp before the mare stopped him. "How did you hurt your hoof?" She asked. "I may need to know for later." "It was a while ago, I'm sure it's fine..." She didn't break her stare. "I don't think you understand that this is important." He sighed. "Fine, this guy cut it off with a bone saw, you happy now?" The mare looked amused, until she turned to Dash and noticed her serious expression. "Wait, that's really what happened?" "Yeah, I mean they tortured me more than that, but--" "That rumor was true?! How long ago was this?!?!" She screamed, flailing one of her hooves around and clearly getting pretty worked up. "I dunno, two and a half weeks... is that bad?" "If it got cut off, you shouldn't have been walking until now at the earliest, and you've been running around for weeks! Do you have some sort of death wish?!?!" "Well I'm getting there..." He replied, suddenly less amused at the situation. "I couldn't just lay around and wait for it to heal, for obvious reasons. And I heal quickly anyway." "Just-- try to stay off of that thing for a few days, okay?" "Yeah, I'll see how it goes." He heard a sigh behind himself as he turned around and started back towards the campfire, the shoe making a slight piff noise. Dash trotted past to a pony that was handing out a few MREs as they regrouped and rested, and grabbed herself something that was probably vegetable related. Tank carried a box over, setting it at Jason's feet. "What's this?" He asked. Tank opened it up, revealing a few more things that had come through. "Hopefully something useful. The ponies've been finding things like this all night." Jason sighed and started leafing through the box. There wasn't much of use, that was for sure. His eyes widened as he pulled out a pair of thermal goggles and set them aside. One of the cooler things that had come through, in his mind. He moved the rest of the junk around, a doorknob, a burnt out light bulb... "This is pretty much trash, Tank. I got this thing here and that's about it." "And that would be..." Morning Rain asked as she walked up to the group. "Uuh, thermal goggles." Jason said, turning them over and looking for the on switch. "They interpret in infrared light, I think. That or ultraviolet. No, I think it was infrared. Anyway, it lets you see heat signatures of things, animals, other ponies, planes, all those things." "What are planes?" Morning Rain asked. "Flying machines, basically. They have these super hot jets, and that's why thermal picks up on them." "Pfft, yeah right," Dash said as she walked back over. "There's no way this lets you see heat." "Oh yeah?" Jason replied, finally finding the on switch. "Try it." She smirked and put it over her head, and looking around as her jaw dropped. "Wow, this thing really works! These things are showing up everywhere!" Silent alarms went off in Jason's head. "Hold on, give me that." She handed over the goggles and he slid them on, his own jaw dropping, not out of awe but out of terror. "They're in the trees, hidden in the forest. That's why there weren't many of them, there's a trap right out there." "How many?" Dash asked, her breathing suddenly faster. "I don't know, probably a lot." He froze and stared. "And I think they know we're onto them." There were a few seconds of silence before the group broke out into a flurry of activity. "Attention!!" Jason yelled, watching as ponies hurriedly lined up in front of him. "There are griffins in the trees, we're on full alert as--" A spear impacted the ground next to Jason's foot, the twanging sound ringing in the air as they dove for cover. The boxes that Tank had stacked earlier became a makeshift cover as ponies retreated into the far side of the camp. A few were caught out in the open part of the camp, illuminated by the firelight. Jason watched as one of them was impaled several times as he peeked around a box, crying out before one hit him in the neck and he went limp. A wave of fear washed over him as he caught sight of Archer making his way across the camp, zig zagging around the spears that had already landed. One hit him in the side and he stumbled for a moment before resuming his forward movement. He looked over his shoulder, a grimace clear on his face as he tried to keep movement to a minimum. Then another spear flew under his neck and Jason let out a sigh, before Archer stumbled and fell a ways away from the boxes, a gash on his throat bleeding profusely. "Archer!" Dash yelled, beginning to run out before Jason grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards. "I'll tow him back, okay Dash?" She didn't respond for a moment. "OKAY?!?!" "Just go then, don't die!" She gave him a little shove, enough to give him the idea but not actually push him into danger. He sprinted towards Archer, keeping his eyes up as he dodged a few spears, his straight path towards the fallen pony turning into a more elaborate pattern as spears continued to land. The process continued for a few more seconds, as Archer was hit with another spear. "Jason! Your magic!" Her words immediately processed and he charged up his horn, teleporting next to Archer and grabbing onto his body as a spear glanced off his back, leaving yet another blemish before he was able to teleport to the area behind the boxes. He laid Archer down and started healing his neck, repairing the artery that had been cut open. Jason applied some heavy pressure to his neck, gesturing silently to Dash and Tank to get ready to pull out the spears. They prepared and he nodded as soon as he was finished, flinching at the sound of tearing flesh. He moved downward on the body, quickly healing up the injuries and watching as they covered over with flesh. Only then did he see how pointless it all was. Archer was nearly passed out on his back, a light smile on his face after the pain had passed. Jason slapped the pony heavily, trying to get him to wake back up. "Archer, this isn't the time! Wake up!" He put his hooves on the pony's shoulders, jiggling him around as his eyes became slits. "Don't fucking go out like this, you're fine, come on!" Jason checked his pulse, feeling it deteriorate quickly. He put a hoof on Archer's chest and started CPR, checking his pulse a few seconds later to find that it had flatlined. He kept trying, not willing to believe that this was the time his healing finally let him down. "Just--you're stronger than this Archer!" He felt tears come to his eyes as Dash pulled him away, before he broke down more than he would've cared to admit. "Jason, calm down!" "How am I supposed to do that, Archer's dead! Why him? He was the one guy that always went into a situation with some sort of enthusiasm, that one of us that never wavered in his devotion to this war!" He hugged Dash tightly, wetting her shoulder as he let out his pent up frustration. She patted at his back, watching Tank carefully put Archer's body over one shoulder, his face damp as well. There was a long silence between the three, even after the spears had ceased to fall. It was finally broken as Jason grabbed Archer from Tank. "It's my fault he's dead, you shouldn't have to carry him around." "Sir--" "Fuck the formalities!" "It's not your fault, you did all you could!" "I could've used my magic sooner, and he would've made it." He reached a hoof up to stroke at the hoof that was hanging over his shoulder. "I said I could do it and I couldn't. Someone else could've done it." "But nopony would! You're probably one of the few ponies that would have even attempted it, let alone come that close to success." He gestured and they ran from the boxes, delving back into the woods to regroup. "Spread out, come on!" He yelled, and several ponies shuffled away. Morning Rain ran over and hugged Tank, hanging on his neck happily before she noticed Archer. "I-is that--" Her eyes started to fog up. "No..." "Yeah. Maybe two minutes ago." Jason said, "He blames himself, for some stupid reason." Tank said, shoving Jason slightly. She wiped her eyes. "Well why? The guy looks healed. That mean's you did all you could!" "That's what I said!" Tank interjected, giving Jason a shove and making him stumble to the side. "Now get him somewhere, we've got to make it through this at least." "Fine." Jason put on the goggles and peered across the camp, jumping at the multitude of lit up targets moving across the woods. He looked around for the surrounding troops, who were still spread out behind the camp. "Spread out around the camp, they're coming right up the middle for us, and we need to get them surrounded!" There was a loud rustling as more than a few ponies moved into position around the area and he caught sight of a few griffins at the edge of the firelight. Great, he'd left his tomahawk embedded into one of the griffins. He could see it sticking up from one of the corpses they hadn't moved, glinting off the flickering light. One of the griffins took out the miniature axe, grinding a talon across the surface before attaching it to his back. A few more griffins appeared, and judging by how they moved they must've thought that the ponies they'd been throwing spears at a moment ago had retreated, and that they were safe. And yet, through the forest he could still hear the noise of battle approaching, his first concrete evidence that things were actually going well for the rest of the army. They had taken ground, at the very least, although they could be in the same situation as he had been moments ago, with spears raining down all over the place. "Dash, pull out your gun." Jason said, keeping his eyes on the fairly large group of griffins, some of which were taking inventory of the items they still had. He heard a click as she turned off the safety and pulled the pistol out of the holster on her hind leg. He reached back and pulled the AUG off his back, crouching behind a log and resting the gun along the top as Dash moved in next to him. "So what's the strategy here?" She asked, nervously handling the firearm. "We're just going to take out the group and move up, probably use the night vision to take out any remaining griffins in the trees." "Okay, so heads and chest, right?" "Yeah, bullets'll go through these tents and stuff too, so..." "Good, you wanna call it?" "Sure, remember that there's recoil." He paused and took a deep breath. "Three, two, one, fire." BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG Several griffins fell as they were hit by the bullets, and the others ran in random directions from the gunfire. One of the enemies ran in front of one of the tents and Jason took a shot at him, leaving a large splatter of blood on the fabric as the griffin collapsed. In only a couple seconds the griffins had all either fled or been killed, and Jason ventured out to inspect the damage. He picked up the night vision goggles from where he had left them and sighed, finding that one of the sides had been broken. He ripped off the second side and grabbed some twine out of the bag slung over his back, wrapping it around the side of the gun. Jason took the extra wiring to the battery and attached them to the underside of the gun after checking that the connections were still intact. "Why're you destroying our only way to see them?!" Dash yelled, only to be shushed by Jason. Her face reddened and she repeated the question more quietly. "I'm not, they stepped on half of it, so I'm just taking the other half and making a sight out of it. Hold on." He trotted over to the now overturned box of junk and rifled through it until he pulled out a felt tip pen. He walked over to Dash and picked up his gun, drawing a careful smiley face in the middle of the lens with thin lines. "Why did you make it a happy face, Jason?" She asked, the question sounded like more of a statement. "Just being creative, I suppose." He set the gun down and kicked it lightly, sighing as recent memories resurfaced. "Let's just get out of this stupid forest." Jason picked the gun back up and released the magazine, replacing it with a full one. He aimed the gun at a log and fiddled with the thermal sight for a few minutes, trying to get the crosshair to line up. After he decided that the aiming system was sufficient he aimed it upwards, glad to see that there weren't many griffins left in the trees. Sounds of sliding metal greeted him as Dash finally reloaded, struggling for a moment to get the extra magazines free. More ponies were out and about by this time, dragging some griffin bodies out of the forest, checking the downed ones for signs of life... Jason shook his head, trying to leave his thoughts behind, and aimed again. BANG!! There was a muffled thunk in the forest as one of the griffins fell, followed by a gasp from the surrounding ponies. Jason grinned, enjoying their awe as he aimed again and shot, knocking another one down. Those were the only ones he knew he could hit, though, the others were through too many tree branches. Some ponies scrambled to the side of the camp as some loud shuffling started to emanate from the forest, followed by a rather long lead up to the eventual unveiling of the culprit as a pony stumbled out. His face lit up as he pulled a thorn from his cheek, and he galloped into the camp. "You're not out of place, are you?" Jason asked the pony. "No sir, right flank of General Shining Armor's fifth army." "I didn't need that many specifics, but okay." He turned to the rest of the troops, grabbing his tomahawk off of one of the griffins' backs as he noticed it. "If he's here," He gestured to the pony, "then this fight is almost over! We've got them in a noose, and it's only a matter of time before they suffocate. Proverbially, of course." He paused, looking the ponies over. "Now let's go!" He tossed the gun over his back and charged into the forest with Dash, the immediate low thunder from behind becoming one of his favorite sounds to hear. It almost seemed to be a victory parade for a while, as what was left of the griffins, in trees or otherwise, was taken out no problem. One there, another here... But pretty soon the fighting left the trees and returned to the ground, as the griffin forces from Shining's side were pushed into what was finally a circle only a couple hundred feet across. Jason cut down one of the griffins as another pony sent him stumbling over, already off balance. They were really coming down to the nitty gritty, Jason thought as he watched a griffin brake a pony's neck, getting an arrow to his own a fraction of a second later. Dash got under the dying griffin, hurling him onto a pair of griffins in front of Jason. He made quick work, kicking one to the ground as he ran his knife through the eye of the downed one, before jumping on top of the other as he tried to crawl away, lifting up the griffin's head and slitting his neck. The lines moved forward a few feet, then some more, and finally it appeared to be an all out retreat, which seemed ridiculous. It's not like they had anywhere to run, right? But as the ponies followed, it was clear there was something they were missing, something that became blatantly clear as Jason slowed to a stop on a hill overlooking a cave. As the griffins streamed inside and disappeared, he put his head in his hooves for a moment before looking up and yelling in annoyance. Dash gave him a pat on the back, twisting his head around with a hoof so that she could kiss him. "We'll get through this, we always do." He smiled and pulled her closer. "Just so long as our luck doesn't run out."