Deer Me: Black Snow

by The Psychopath

Time for hunting

Times had been surprisingly rough for Stelimus since he became six. The wendigo teacher started to force new techniques and spells onto him more so than on the rest of the students. However, two of the students that had presented themselves to Stelimus, specifically Radivus and Tenyom, were unusually close to Stelimus and even selected by one of the captains to become special 'bodyguards' for Stelimus, something that disturbed him. Needless to say, Tenyom had a tendency to terrify with her immense size and unexpected strength. She even accidentally ripped one the palace entry doors off its hinges by tugging 'lightly'.

Stelimus ended up visiting Copper Blossom more often than he would have liked, and the usual problems still arose between ponies and deer during the encounters. Grimliss had only accompanied his nephew once to the Crystal Kingdom since their first trek, but it was unnecessary as the giant never did reappear since the day it attacked the young stag on their first trip through the tundra. Copper Blossom's mood had been improving after each subsequent visit, and Stelimus thanked his years as a father for his success in helping her get over her trauma.

Anglacite wasn't very nice when it came to personally teach his son, which he actually did. They ranged from basic melee combat to physical techniques to using frost magic and spiritual essence. The king wasn't very good when it came to holding back, even against his own son. One thing did bother Stelimus, though: What exactly happened to his sister? He hadn't seen her for over nine years since she went to Effervescence. Did that 'god' kill her too? Granted, Stelimus only knew his 'sister' for the few, overly predictable and obvious actions she performed straight out of a comic book, but still. She was his sister and she didn't deserve to die.

But, these thoughts weren't important today, for today, on his fifteenth birthday, he was on a hunting trip in the tundra with Manimin Orimus, the ONE guard who had a nasty tendency to appear wherever Stelimus was. The coincidences were nearly akin to a level of stalking. The hunting trip was to happen in the tundra, where Stelimus would learn how to blend into his environment and avoid any potential threats that were to occur. The rise in kobold populations would also put his learned melee talents to the test were they ever encountered.

"I'm already hating this," Stelimus complained.

The other guards were slathering each other in white paint for better camoflauging, and getting to become one with the pavement. It wasn't easy to remove from the fur once it dried, which was one of the reasons for the complaints. The others were the smell and gross, gooey consistency of the paint.

"What are you complaining about?" One of them said. "You aren't even being covered in paint. You're already white!"

Stelimus chuckled in his head. "Heheheh. Unintentional implied racism by Earth standards. So what exactly are we supposed to do here?"

Manimin stepped up from over the snowy wall the group was using to hide in the tundra and spoke up. "We're going to hunt a few Broken Wanderers sighted around here and chase them off. The damned things disturb the spirits of the tundra with their incessant, spiritual torture, and I am loathe to leave a creature like that to roam indefinitely across the plains in such a condition.

"Broken...Wanderer?"

"Yes. Horrifying beasts, if only because they look like they were just brought forth from the Abyss and are still suffering eternal torment on the physical plain. They have a variety of appearances but generally just look like grayed stones with sanding coming out every facial orifice they have."

"Legends tell that they came from the lost city of Atlantis after angering the inhabitants. Thee prisoners and criminals were forever cursed and forced to roam the world for all eternity as those things or until they are killed...which is nigh impossible," a guard added.

"I see. And it's a liberty to set them free?" Stelimus wondered.

"It's a wonder if you even manage to. They're practically indestructible," the same guard mocked.

After a few minutes of kindergarten finger painting, the group was ready to go out into the wild. Manimin stepped atop the snow dune, his body and armor slathered in white and his crossbow hoisted onto his right shoulder. Now, an equine-shaped creature would be incapable of using weapons normally used for hands, such as crossbows, which is why their weapons are adapted to their physiology. While still retaining the general shape of a crossbow, the weapon's bolt holster was contained in a cylinder put 'atop' the weapon and underneath its right arm. The firing mechanism was triggered by a pulley hooked onto the armor which the soldier would disconnect and then pull down to activate the firing mechanism and let a new bolt just plop down into the semi-enclosed chamber. It still bothered Gregary who was obviously used to the human version, but the weapon still acted like it was supposed to.

"Alrighty then. Let's go out. Don't make a noise, or if you do, make sure the blizzard is screaming louder than you when you do," the commander joked.

The stags all rolled their eyes and groaned. Aside from the now familiar landscape, nothing out of the ordinary could be noticed. Half-an-hour had passed and not a single weird creature had appeared, then one of the guards called everyone's attention.

"What is it?" Manimin asked.

The guard passed his hoof through the material on the snow. "It's a pile of dust and what appears to be sand."

"Then we must be getting closer. Over this ledge here. There should be a large amount of flat surface afterwards. Let's go."

Stelimus was already exhausted. He might have gone through training to improve his endurance, but he never had much as a human. He never expected it to translate into his 'reborn' body.

"Having trouble, 'prince'," one of the guards teased. "I thought the God-King's lineage had higher-than-average endurance."

"I guess I must've been the discount purchase," Stelimus joked.

"There's more dust and sand here, and it's all over the place," one of the guards noted on the other side of the snow ledge.

All over the tundra one could see several piles of sand covering the snow. It was almost like a beach, really.

"Wait, I can hear something," Stelimus noted.

"Where?" Manimin asked.

"...Over there," Stelimus pointed forward.

When the group reached the source of the noise, they got to see a fight between an unknown pony and what looked like a dried, stone minotaur. As mentioned before, it had sand pouring out of its nose, ears, eyes, and mouth, and was haphazardly flailing its arms towards the pony in front of it. Upon closer inspection, the pony was very large and about the same height as Tenyom. His fur was brown and e had a mark on his flank that represented a spear with a blue shaft over a shield with blue outlines. He wore gray armor lined with blue on its outer edges. These covered most of his body but left his legs, flanks, and most of his lower stomach bare. His gray helmet covered his neck and extended down it to the point of appearing connected to the armor. His helmet covered his eyes ad the bridge of his muzzle and had two horns, akin to the flawed imaginings of what viking helmets looked like. His mane, ice-blue in appearance, when through a long, vertical slit in his helmet, giving it the appearance of a mohawk. His tail was tied up at its base and at the end, where it ended in a small, metal ball.

The stallion dodge around a strike of the minotaur and used the moment of exposure to smack the wander in its face with his tail, creating an audible crack and causing the creature to fall down. The stallion stepped over it and huffed.

"A creature like you has suffered long enough. Be gone from this place!"

The stallion raised a spear in the air then impaled the wandered. A blue light started emitting from the facial orifices and quickly through cracks forming along its body until it eventually collapsed into dust. Manimin gestured everyone to follow him and confront the stallion. The pony noticed their approach but did not raise his spear towards them.

"Who are you?" the commander asked.

"I am Clyde of Dale, a warrior pony who wanders the lands in hopes of performing great deeds."

"You're capable of actually killing Broken Wanderers?"

"Yes." Clyde raised his spear and showed its shaft to the group. It was completely covered in blue, glowing, intricate runes of an unknown langage. "With this magic spear, I can kill even a ghost and send them back to the after life. It is a boon to have found it during my travels here as I had a bit of a run-in with a being who had a skull for a face some time ago and was asked by a village of ponies to remove the threat. Unfortunately...I was unable to do it and went out in search for a weapon suitable for banishing and releasing spirits trapped on the physical plane."

Stelimus put his hoof to his chin and started to think."This guy could be a threat to the good spirits in the tundra we'll have to maintain a watchful eye on him."

"But, I shan't trouble you much longer. I will continue on my journey."

"Wait!" Stelimus shouted. "We need your help in 'liberating' these statue things. They're...disturbing the magic in the tundra."

"Then I will help you on the condition that I receive nourishment, beverage, and shelter in exchange before I continue on my way."

Stelimus nodded. "Sure. I can provide that."

"But, my prince--!" Manimin tried to protest.

"KOBOLDS!" one of the guards shouted.

Author's Note:

Broke Wanderers belong to Lore

Clyde of Dale belongs to Stag Princess. I apologize for adding in an enchanted spear, but I couldn't leave him without one considering his cutie mark.

Don't worry. He's still being used.

Comments

[Seeking Dusk]

So, did Stelimus apply some lovely paint to his blue hooves? I recall him being annoyed when they first started changing colour since they reminded him of painting nails.

[The Psychopath]

6824152

[Mix-up]

It's great to see an other chapter, but I have a little trouble understanding how much tome have passed sense the last chapter? and how old is Stelimus now?

[HIEfan]

A pony warrior with a magic spear? Sounds neat.

[The Psychopath]

6824821 Dang. I knew I was forgetting something but couldn't remember what it was. He's fifteen now.

[Cookie_Girl]

Huzzah!

[The Psychopath]

6849764 Did I use him right?

[Cookie_Girl]

6850179 looks good to me.

[The Psychopath]

6889600 And the more you know, the less you care!

[Greatazuredragon]

6889600 Really? Learn something new everyday.

[Twilight_the_spy]

Times had been surprisingly rough for Stelimus since he became six. The wendigo teacher started to force new techniques and spells onto him more so than on the rest of the students. However, two of the students that had presented themselves to Stelimus, specifically Radivus and Tenyom, were unusually close to Stelimus and even selected by one of the captains to become special 'bodyguards' for Stelimus, something that disturbed him. Needless to say, Tenyom had a tendency to terrify with her immense size and unexpected strength. She even accidentally ripped one the palace entry doors off its hinges by tugging 'lightly'. ...

...Anglacite wasn't very nice when it came to personally teach his on, which he actually did. They ranged from basic melee combat to physical techniques to using frost magic and spiritual essence. The king wasn't very good when it came to holding back, even against his own son. One thing did bother Stelimus, though: What exactly happened to is sister? He hadn't seen her for over nine years since she went to Effervescence.

The highlighted statements contradict each other.

...

Oh, never mind. After reading through some more of the chapter I've realized you were skipping through time. My bad.

[mad haxz]

6890202 oh snackerdoodle

[Tide Hunter]

Manimin stepped up from over the snowy wall the group was using to hide in the tundra and spoke up. "We're going to hunt a few Broken Wanderers sighted around here and chase them off. The damned things disturb the spirits of the tundra with their incessant, spiritual torture, and I am loathe to leave a creature like that to roam indefinitely across the plains in such a condition.

"Tortured...Wanderer?"

Are they Broken, Tortured, or Broken and Tortured?

While still retaining the general shape of a crossbow, the weapon's bolt holster was contained in a cylinder put 'atop' the weapon and underneath its right arm. The firing mechanism was triggered by a pulley hooked onto the armor which the soldier would disconnect and then pull down to activate the firing mechanism and let a new bolt just plop down into the semi-enclosed chamber.

Have you heard of the Zhuge (jew-gu) Nu, a crossbow made by the ancient Chinese military tactician Zhuge Liang, which was an automatic repeating crossbow, which had a box on top holding the bolts?

[Black--Soul]

Anglacite wasn't very nice when it came to personally teach his son, which he actually did. They ranged from basic melee combat to physical techniques to using frost magic and spiritual essence. The king wasn't very good when it came to holding back, even against his own son. One thing did bother Stelimus, though: What exactly happened to is sister? He hadn't seen her for over nine years since she went to Effervescence. Did that 'god' kill her too? Granted, Stelimus only knew his 'sister' for the few, overly predictable and obvious actions she performed straight out of a comic book, but still. She was his sister and she didn't deserve to die.

his

[Black--Soul]

The Prince acts like a good King should. Progress!