"Yes!" the figure added. "We know it came here and arrived to see just what it had been doing." He looked around and rubbed his muzzle. "Huh. Not what I was expecting. It hasn't spread?"
"We destroyed it," Stelimus explained.
The figure with the ball eye-makeup audibly growled and took a step forward but was stopped by the red one's hand.
"Really now?" he asked. "I'm curious to know how."
Copper stepped in front of the two and interrupted their brief discussion. "Perhaps we should do this back at the castle. I don't think the other deer here are going to take too kindly to what you said."
The creatures looked around to see that the reindeer were glaring at them with wide eyes and shrunk pupils. It almost looked like their eyes were completely wide, and each one of them had visibly started taking some steps forward.
"If you insist," he shrugged.
The three covered their heads back up, disappearing under them once more, and followed the group back to the palace to the throne room. Stelimus was expecting them to actually seem a bit impressed by the architecture and the spirits floating around, but they weren't even fazed when said creatures flew through their bodies. Either they couldn't see them, which was strange in a place like the tundra, or they were as used to these happenings as Grimliss.
"Guards, I need you to exit the throne room and watch the entrances," Stelimus ordered.
The guards complied and left the throne room. They didn't even protest the presence of the three new figures. Luna found they seemed to be practically brainwashed.
"Hey, where's Grimliss" Yolumay wondered.
"Probably back home for the moment," Copper pondered.
"Okay then," Stelimus took a deep breath then turned around to face the three figures. "Firth things first." He clapped two hands he conjured up with his antlers. "Who are you, what are you, and where do you come from?"
"Firth?" Copper repeated quizzically.
"Yes. I am also curious," Celestia said. "I have never seen your kind before, and I have lived a long time."
"You haven't seen us but we've always been here."
"Then why aren't you surprised to see my species?"
"Because you're similar to the Saddle Arabians that live next to the sea. Not the same, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut similar."
"And my questions?" Stelimus reminded them.
"Of course. We are Anyubinites from Niris from across the sea to the east of...the land of ponies," he trailed off.
"Equestria," Luna corrected.
"Equestria?" The red anyubinite looked down, somewhat disappointed. "Not very imaginative," he grumbled.
"And your names?" Luna asked.
"I am Hora, advisor of the king of Niris."
"Advisor? Then why are you here? Should you have sent a diplomat instead?" Stelimus wondered.
"And what about those two?" Radivus added. "No names?"
"Those without positions of importance don't receive names," Hora explained.
"Then how do you know who is whom?"
"We just do," Hora growled. "It's not something that you deer and ponies would understand, considering what you just t--"
Copper walked past Hora who stared at her with the most perplexed expression Stelimus thought imaginable. She looked up at the two wearing golden jewelry and audibly hummed as she worked her imagination. She then pointed to the anyubinite with an open smile.
"I'll call you 'Ball', and I'll call you 'Swirls'," she laughed.
The two jackals looked at each other, completely confused. Both Stelimus and Hora facepalmed and Celestia could only force a sympathetic smile.
"You told us the black snow is part of your culture," Stelimus said. "Do explain."
"That...is not something I'm willing to explain unless you decide to come with us to our own country as 'diplomats' of sorts." He joined his bony hands together. "A sort of 'Tour' of cultures, to let our people come together on account of our shared connection with what you call the 'Black Snow'."
Yolumay stepped down from her perch on the podium. "In-case you didn't notice, we don't exactly have good memories of that stuff, and the other reindeer weren't too joyful about what you said." She pulled a flower bud growing on her antlers off and flicked it in the direction of Hora. "I'm also not very happy to know you have something with the blight on our lands that have both tortured and destroyed our people."
Hora brushed the flower off the cloth. "Yes. I'm sure it was a big threat and that your fear has nothing to do with it."
"What?"
Celestia tried to defuse the tension. "If I might interject, I would also be more than happy to see your country. Perhaps we could establish culture exchange relations?"
Hora put a hand on Celestia's shoulder but didn't look at her directly. "I am sorry, pony, but I have no interest in that right now. We have more pressing things to attend to."
"Why is everypony so aggressive to us?!" Celestia blurted out. She covered her mouth and blushed.
"You misunderstand," Hora explained. "We can establish relations in the future, but I did not come to this continent for you. I came for the reindeer."
"Oh...Ooooooh!" Celestia shied away awkwardly.
"Stop being awkward!" Yolumay shouted.
Luna shot a glare at the doe who was only glad enough to reciprocate it by slowly panning her head and looking down at the alicorn.
An uncomfortable hissing noise filled everyone's ears as a mist flew over the floor. "Back already, nephew? You usually wander the markets for hours on end because of all the stalls."
"Umm..." Stelimus tapped his hooves together. "Hello, Uncle Grimliss. We have guests from a newly encountered people who came to meet us."
"I can see that."
Grimliss casually walked next to the anyubinites and ignored them. All three of them looked at the undead stag and Hora hummed in intrigue. He extended his fingers to touch the stag, but it was a bad idea, but not as everyone was expecting. Grimliss was about to speak when he was touched and stopped dead in his tracks. He was screaming in pain, his voice becoming an echo from cold mountains while the purple mist around him flared up like the contents of a lava lamp and started to dissolve. There were visible variations of light going from bright to dark and Grimliss' soul was starting to separate from his undead body.
While Luna and Celestia were too confused to understand what was happening, Stelimus and Yolumay jumped in. Yolumay's hammer stopped mere inches from the anyubinite's face and Stelimus' antlers were just a hair's width from his neck, not to mention the frost essence that was started to coat the jackal's black fur with a thin sheet of ice. Copper flew over to the stag and pulled him away from the touch of the jackal.
"Ahhhhh. I see." Hora applauded himself internally. "A unique being of extreme connections to the dead but still anchored to this world."
"What did you do to him? Is it the 'black snow' you're so fond of?"
Hora waved his hands from side to side. "Oh no. We simply have a...deep connection with death, shall we say."
"What are you talking about? You almost killed him!" Yolumay growled.
"Wow." Stelimus nodded in approval. "I thought you didn't care about him."
"I don't, but you need him to keep our country alive, so there's not much of an exception I can make regarding his well-being."
The jackals chuckled. "He can't be more dead than he already is," Hora shrugged.
"I'm not sure I can trust you now," Stelimus warned as he backed off.
"Maybe we should just kill them now," Yolumay threatened.
Hora raised an eyebrow. "If you want to battle, then I'd be more than willing to sate you. Why, if I win, you come with us to Niris."
"Deal!"
Yolumay didn't have a second to attack that the cloth over Hora was thrown onto her face, blinding the doe. She couldn't even take it off in time that she was hooked by something and thrown through Stelimus' throne. Hora was standing in a battle position with his legs arched forward and backwards and an arm folded forwards. Behind him was a staff with a blue and gold striped body and a golden hook at its end. The hook itself stopped at three points at its top and ended in a crooked 'beak' pointing inwards. The inner portion was a smooth, semi-circle until reaching the small 'beak' where it broke into a sharp, inward angle. Hora wore a shendyt: A type of kilt worn by ancient Egyptians. The 'belt' area was a pure, deep red topped by a thick, black line. The bottom linked with a scaly, beige-colored cloth that shined white on depending on the provenance of light. On his chest glowed a red tattoo that resembled an Egyptian cross with a broken, top ring and two smaller rings on either end of the arms. The jackal itself was quite bony with canine features. His feet were also very small and lanky like the rest of his body.
Stelimus rushed over to his sister. "Yolumay, are you okay?" he asked her while removing the debris of ice on her.
"Yeah," she groaned. "I'll be fine."
"Now I KNOW I can't trust you!" Stelimus yelled.
"Hey," Hora shrugged. "I was defending myself."
The jackal, despite trying to act 'cool', was visibly already starting to shake violently. Celestia levitated his cloth back to him and he thanked her, and she took this moment to trot over to Stelimus and give some words of advice.
"I know you don't like them, and I don't exactly appreciate what they did to your sister, but I still think you should go with them. They have knowledge on that substance that has been threatening all of us for a long time and destroying your people in the process."
"How can I even trust they'll tell us about the snow? They're not exactly forging a trust bond."
"You can't, but with the knowledge you'll acquire from their country, I could send some spies there to take what they can. We might be able to destroy the snow once and for all. Plus, if I suggested it to you, it would prevent them from thinking you're easy to push around."
"But we aren't allies and they'll think that if they push you around, they can push us around as well."
Celestia stood tall and looked Stelimus straight in the eyes with a bemused expression. "Let me deal with that," she threatened.
The stag calmly backed away and approached Hora again. "My ally has discussed the matter with me and will go to your home country."
"It had nothing to do with the 'deal' I made with that deer?" he asked.
"No. Plus, you attacked her before she could formulate a thought, and she doesn't speak for me unless I say so."
The anyubinite nodded. He was somewhat impressed at the stag's attitude.
"A few things to get straight first. One, stay away from my uncle. Two, don't EVER attack any of us ever again. Three, use any weird magic or 'essence' or whatever on us or my people, and we're either ignoring your request or returning home, depending on when it occurs."
"Why are you so intent on taking us with you, anyways?" Copper asked.
"For the same reason we came here. I already explained my intentions prior, anyways." Hora covered his head with his cloth and visibly shivered. "Now, will you come with us?" He asked.