//------------------------------//
// 12 - Where are We? 
// Story: Tarnished Silver and Clouded Diamonds 
// by David Silver 
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Diamond Tiara waved her dagger at the creature. "Get away, you nasty thing!" The animated corpse cared little for her feeble insult, reaching for her.

Silver sent an arrow into its ribs, striking deep into the decayed flesh. It barely seemed to recognize the injury, groaning with possible frustration as it turned its eyes towards her and began shambling towards her.

"Hey, you don't get to ignore me!" Diamond thrust her dagger powerfully, carving out a portion of its flesh with the mighty strike. That earned its attention, and it swatted her with a dull thump, knocking her back and to the ground, dizzy.

Silver grimaced and quickly nocked another arrow, landing the next in its torso, but it seemed to be having frightfully little effect. "Diamond, wake up! Hit it with your dagger!"

Diamond grunted. "Don't tell me what to do! I was going to do that anyway!" She rolled under the stumbling lunge of the zombie and brought up the dagger, hacking off the thing's tail to flop to the ground limply. "Ew, gross!"

With a discomforting sound of abused flesh, the undead griffon clubbed Diamond Tiara with an arm, and she collapsed in place, going still. Silver Spoon dropped her bow and charged the creature, succeeding in getting its attention as she ran close to it and then away, leading it away from the prone form of her friend. She noticed that it didn't move very quickly and led it out past the door before turning back and slapping the door shut in its face, actually having time to pick the door up and put it back in place before rushing to Diamond Tiara's side.

"Uh, like, so I know I've been kind of asking you for things all day long, and I'm really grateful, but can you help my friend?" She put her hooves on Diamond Tiara and warmth flowed from them into the limp form of her friend, who jerked awake with a yelp.

"What happened?"

Silver smiled. "You were super brave. It, uh, used a dirty trick to knock you out."

Diamond Tiara sat up with a huff. "Figures! I had it under control." She looked around. "Where is it?"

As if to answer the question, a loud banging came from the door Silver had shut, and the old wood giving barely any resistance before it fell apart, allowing the griffon zombie to shamble towards them. Diamond Tiara growled, "You messed up my hair, again!" She charged directly for the creature, to Silver Spoon's dismay.

Diamond met it dagger-edge first and drove it in and upwards, disemboweling the dead thing. It let out one last dry cough before it collapsed, talons feebly trying to pull its viscera back inside before unlife fled it.

Diamond tossed her dusty mane back. "Hmmph, that's what you deserve. She turned back to Silver Spoon. "Let's have a look around."

Silver gave a little nod. "Are you alright, Diamond?"

Diamond moved up beside Silver and bumped her. "As if anything could stand up to the two of us."

That brought a smile to Silver's face, and she began to look around the room. It appeared to have been some kind of office, some unknown time ago. There was a desk and a chair on either side of it, and a dresser. They rooted through it all, finding mostly the faded remnants of things long decayed. Silver poked the re-killed thing lightly, rolling it over and noticing it had something around its neck. She relieved the zombie of its necklace, staring at it. "Hey, Diamond? I think this is special."

Diamond Tiara moved over to have a look at it. She rubbed over its sooty surface and revealed gems hiding beneath the layer of grime. "Now we're talking! We'll walk into that city looking like we're in charge." She slipped the amulet around her own neck and turned left and right, showing off to no one in particular. "How does it look?"

Silver Spoon had seen the magic in it, but had no idea what that really meant, or how to decipher its aura. It was special, and that was enough. She nodded her head. "It looks, like, great on you, DT. I don't think there's anything else in here. We should keep going."

Diamond frowned at the otherwise-empty room. "Yeah, let's get moving." As they walked into the hallway, she swiveled an ear at Silver. "Just so you know, I will learn my own tricks. Don't think you're the only one who's going to come out of this with something new."

Silver Spoon nodded her head. "I'm sure it'll be really fantastic, Diamond Tiara."

Diamond smiled. "Of course it will be." They paused to do their little dance, then forged bravely into the corridor. 

As they went, Silver perked an ear at her companion. "Are you sure coming in here, was, you know, a good idea? What if we can't find our way out."

Diamond shrugged. "We lost our guide. We either show up big, or we may as well give up." She poked at the amulet she wore. "This is big, but we can do better. We're going to crash that scene so hard, they won't have a choice but to recognize us."

Silver glanced back towards the tunnel they entered from before looking ahead and clip-clopping up to a door of stone set in the wall, almost invisible. She poked at it lightly. "Do you think there's something in here?"

Diamond hadn't noticed the door at first, but quickly located the cleverly-concealed handle and threw the door open without delay. Inside, a light without source flickered into being, revealing a room with a clean table on it, and a box sitting in the left and far corner. A voice began to speak from nowhere in particular. "If our defenses have failed this badly, take the weapons we've prepared for you. Let them take no prisoners, and pay dearly for any victory they find this day. For the Sun King." The male voice faded away, leaving the two fillies to wander into the room and start poking around.

Silver frowned a little. "I guess things didn't, like, work out well."

Diamond waved a hoof. "It works out perfectly for us." She approached that delectable looking box and began to poke over it while looking it over critically. It had no latch or keyhole, just an obvious hinge. "Silver Spoon, open this."

Silver came over and peered at the box. "It doesn't look heavy, why didn't you open it?" The response was a glare. "Fine..." She flipped open the chest and a fwoosh of flame greeted her. She shrieked and dived out of the way, rolling on the ground to put out the fire as quickly as she could. Despite minor scorches, she proved alright.

Diamond Tiara advanced on and opened the box, eagerly reaching in and producing a collection of hand axes, three in total, and some little glass vials. "Huh..."

Silver rolled back upright, pouting at her singed mane. "All that for some stupid axes? They're not even very big." She looked them over critically and could feel that odd 'special' feeling again. "The vials and that axe are special." She pointed at the left axe, decorated with a large symbol of the sun. The other two showed crescent moons.

Diamond quickly dropped the two inferior axes and hefted the handaxe with the sun on it, swinging it around through the air before she turned to the table and brought it down with both hooves as powerfully as she could. It bit deep into the wood and left angry scorches along the cut, glimmering with heat. Diamond looked quite pleased with her find and tucked it away and pulled out her dagger, offering it to Silver. "Now we both have a close-up weapon."

Silver tucked the dagger away with a roll of her eyes, though she had no particular desire to be close to any horrible creatures they battled with, so she saw little harm in letting Diamond have the magic axe. She pointed at the vials. "What about these?"

Diamond shrugged. "I don't really know. Let's keep them until we know more." Into a saddlebag they went. "I'm sure they're worth something."





Pinkie Pie raised a glass of wine high, the eyes of the other ponies in the room locked on it. "To a better tomorrow!" she called out, met with cheers and clops of hooves on the ground, stomping in approval." She swigged the dark drink with the others, and the dinner party could continue.

A stallion approached her with a cautious smile. "Madame, I haven't had the chance to tell you that your curious appearance has captivated me. Would you do me the honor of a dance?" He gestured to the ballroom floor, bowing his head.

She slipped to her hooves and nodded in kind, and soon they were moving to the the tune of the song. "Where have you been hiding all my life, exotic temptress of pink?"

Pinkie flashed a bright smile. "Planning parties and keeping my friends happy, mostly. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have seen two little fillies that look kinda like me, have you?"

He shook his head in the negative, and Pinkie sighed, but it was dancing time, not pouting time, so she finished the song with the handsome stallion. Her search would continue.

A window exploded inwards, spraying the ballroom with shards of glass as ponies swung through them and dropped to the ground, swords already held in their maws. "Everyone get on the ground! Take your jewels off nice and slowly, and nobody has to get hurt."

Pinkie scowled at the party crashers. Sure, it hadn't been her party exactly, but seeing any party get interrupted made her blood boil. She'd have to take care of them first.





Diamond moved to leave the small room, but Silver stopped her, putting a leg in the way. "Maybe we should rest here. You're still bruised from that thing from before, and I'm kind of frazzled."

Diamond frowned and poked her head out of the room, looking left and right before closing the concealed door. "Maybe you're right. This room's pretty secure. We can't stay too long.  Unless we find more food, we'll end up starving to death eventually, and I will not go out that way." She huffed and settled down on the ground. "What I wouldn't do for a real bed!"

Silver settled beside  her. "And a real blanket, and maybe a pillow or two."

"Yeah..."

They sighed together in shared missing of their luxuries. Silver dug out a sleeping bag that she had packed away, at least providing some shelter from the hardness of the floor, and they ended up sharing it, practically sleeping on top of one another, and finding some measure of rest despite the unusual setting of their respite.

They awoke to the sounds of some things talking just outside their room. They had company, but who was it? They couldn't know without opening the door and revealing their presence. Silently, they looked at each other, considering their course of action.