Friendship is Survival

by rlogic1994

Ch 8: Allies and Enemies

Friendship is Survival Ch 8: Allies
By Rlogic1994
(Visit the tumblr for Frigid: ask-frigiddrift.tumblr.com!)

[NOTE: sorry for the long wait. I’ve been real busy lately with work and I also do digital art, so that took time. Anyway I think I’m gonna try and finish this up soon because I only got a couple chapters left. ONWARDS!!]

Frigid woke with a start the chill of the air nudging her from her deep sleep. Scootaloo wasn’t next to her and wasn’t in visible distance. The white pegasus got up groggily and squinted her eyes to the bright sunlight flooding the cave. The clouds had cleared up but in mountainous landscapes like this, it rarely got warmer. She walked to the back of the cave, searching for her friend, but Scootaloo was nowhere to be found. Frigid started to panic and shuffled out of the cave into the cold forest outside of it.

“Scootaloo! Scoot-Scootaloo! Where are you?!”

“Right here. Jeez, why are you yelling so loud?”

“Where were you just now?”

“I was down by the river, trying to figure out which way to go next.”

“We already decided to just follow the river!”

“Well I kept seeing griffin convoys fly over us and more than before. So I thought maybe we’re going the wrong way.”

“Wait what did they look like?”

“Well you know…big feathery things.”

“You don’t say?! I mean were they holding anything?”

“Well for one thing they looked like fresh recruits and there were a lot of them to each group. What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know but we better get the hell into Pony territory before we find out.”

They started again, talking less and listening more for sounds of the enemy. But no matter how hard they listened, it was dead quiet, as if every living thing, every bird, every small rodent, had evacuated the area. Every now and then they would here an ominous rumble from ahead, each one getting louder as they approached Crystal Tooth pass.

“What do you think that is?”

“I don’t know but I think it’s getting louder. It kinda sounds like thunder but more—well more precise, like at intervals. Actually it sort of sounds like-”

“Mortar shells.”

“What?”

“Mortar shells! I remember visiting my dad back when he cared for me and let me come with him to work. They were testing out mortar shells on the range and it sounded exactly like this!”

“Wait a damn second, so we’re marching straight into active combat?”

“Look either way, we have to find some ponies before the griffins find us. Our best bet is a battlefield because I doubt those mortar shells are being fired at the local wild life.”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna die just because there might be ponies on the other side of the pass!”

“Well we have to try! We have to get back!”

“Why?! I mean what’s the worst that could happen? We could just go around to the Everest’s Pass and get through to Equestrian territory.”

“That’s equivalent to deserting. And I’m no deserter.”

“So what if you desert? What’s so bad? Huh? I mean who’s gonna miss us sooo much that we’ll matter? I mean do you really think that any of those other ponies will even miss-”

Scootaloo didn’t expect the blow to her face, especially not from someone like Frigid. She looked up to the shaking white mare with eyes full of surprise, fear, and betrayal.

“How dare you talk about them like that? How dare you talk about me like that? You don’t know me. You can’t possibly begin to comprehend with your simple mind what I have been through in my life,” she almost yelled, tears flowing from her eyes now, “how I loved my father and then he just left me and my mom and never came back. How when he finally did visit he was like a statue; he wasn’t moved at seeing me for the first time in years! How when I started going to Cloudsdale High, I had to take all name calling and jeering and beatings from both students and teachers. I had to endure through such shit in my life that I don’t have that much left. And you think you can try and take away one of the last things I still have left? My dignity and my honor? You have another bucking thing coming!”

Scootaloo didn’t act angry or retort or yell. She simply looked into the teary blue eyes with a look of both sympathy and surprisingly, understanding. She slowly walked up to the white mare and hugged her, as if she was like Scootaloo’s sister.

“Trust me. I understand. I really do. When I was in school I got beat up all the time because I wasn’t that much of a strong flier. My wings hadn’t grown in yet, so people would always call me horrible names. I don’t remember a day in those years of my life when I hadn’t cried to myself when I was alone,” said the orange pegasus softly, “my dad left me when I was barely a foal and he was found 5 years later face down in a pool of blood outside of Hoofington. And then when my brother left home for extended storm chasing my mom turned into a nervous wreck. She already tried to end her life twice, but stopped short when she thought of me. She loves me so much and I really don’t know why. I mean why would she love someone who’s useless and can’t do anything right? I don’t know.”

For a moment they just stood there, trying to avoid each other’s gaze and suddenly very interested in the ground. Finally Frigid broke the awkward silence.

“You’re not useless. No one’s useless. That much I can be sure of. I mean just because you’re not good at what you should be doesn’t mean you’re not good at anything. I mean I hated my job with the winter wrap up team. I hated weather control, and all that stuff. I mean with my physical stamina to the cold and wind, you’d think I love it. But somehow it didn’t click with me.”

“I know that feel. My mom tried to sign me up for cloud kicking duty, but honestly that was the most boring job ever. I’m not surprised Rainbow Dash slacked off so much. But I guess you’re right, I shouldn’t give up. But it’s so damn hard seeing myself not even close to measuring up to the stallion that my brother was. I mean it was like he had a rocket strapped to his back. And it wasn’t even his fault, that’s just how he was. He would always try to help me and tell me how to do things. He would even do chores and say I did them just so my parents would notice.”

“My parents never really paid much attention to me either until I was out of school. Then they just compared me to all the other great mares out there who did great things. I could never compete…”

“Yeah. And it got worse when—when my brother died on storm duty. He got shot right out of the sky by a nasty bolt. But he saved the other pegasi from being destroyed by it. He took a hit for the team and my mom glorified him for it. And he deserves it, but after a while she stopped criticizing and comparing me and did something so much worse. She pitied me. I could tell that she looked at me like an injured animal, the limping runt of the family.”

“Oh I got that too. My mom would always look at me like I couldn’t help myself, like I was still a little filly who didn’t know how to get herself dressed. But even then, I never blamed my parents or got angry. If I ever got nervous or angry I would just walk around Cloudsdale for as long as I needed, sometimes hours. My mom worried at first, but she figured that it was a better system then a shouting match.”

“Sometimes I just fly around when I get that way and I try to just get away from all of it. I just fly far away to some field or clearing.”

They were both quiet now. For a moment blue eyes met purple, and there was an unspoken apology there, along with gratefulness and hope. “Maybe she’s not so bad after all,” thought Frigid.

“Listen. I think you’re right. I mean as much as I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be the pony who got scared and ran away. Let’s just try and keep low.”

“Finally! No talking from here on out.”

They got low to the ground and crawled through the bushes, trying as hard as possible to stay unseen. There were a couple close calls with patrols that came uncomfortably close, but nothing other than that. Soon ahead of them a small town became visible, and they trotted as fast as they could inside a building for cover. They sat there for a few minutes planning in whispers.

“Did you see that?”

“What?”

“All those shells! In that greenish building next to this one. I tried to see if there were any griffins, but there was no one. I think we should move NOW.”

“Well you should have thought about leaving before you trespassed!” a voice shouted from behind them.

They looked up at a grey angry face looking down at them from under a green helmet. A few pairs of hoofs appeared in the window and dragged the two mares onto the ground outside. Frigid started to speak, but was silenced by the feeling of the cold metal barrel on her neck.

“Before you say a goddamn word, riddle me this: who are you with. Tell us now, because we will find out, and if we find out you lied…I’ll break you.”

“W-we’re on the Equestrian s-side.”

“Oh really? That sounds like something a spy would say! Then if you are where are your saddlebags? All I can see on you is some nice looking armor.”

“Why would we help griffins! They’ve killed so many pon-”

“Which is the exact reason I will not have spies in my outfit! If you can prove you are in the Equestrian forces than we’ll see what to do with you.”

“We’ve been to the north base! It has a bunch of tents all grey and blue on clouds and there’s this magical mist to cloak everything!”

“…looks like we got a couple of deserters. You know what we-”

“That’s it! We were with a special op mission and we were ambushed. We’ve been through hell for the last few days, so if you’re gonna give us a rough time I’ll make sure you get one in return!”

The outburst from Scootaloo surprised everyone, but the grey stallion recovered quickly.

“Well well well, looks like we got a couple of tough girls here eh? Well I’ll show you what we do to tough-”

“What in the hell are you doing corporal?”

A blue unicorn trotted onto the scene, glaring at the grey stallion, who froze in place. When he mumbled an answer she swiped him off his feet with one telekinetic slap. He groaned and got up, glaring right back at the blue mare.

“If you got something to say corporal, spit it the buck out!”

“Nothing to say, ma’am.”

“That’s what I thought. Now get outta my sight!”

He stormed away and left the 2 captured mares with the feisty unicorn.

“Sorry about that. I’m Staff Sergeant Flash at your service. Now I know that armor, so I’m guessing you’re spec ops. But I wasn’t told about anything going on down here…that is unless it’s too classified or some shit.”

“No, we got ambushed on an op and both of us got blown into the river. We woke up way into enemy territory and we’ve been trying to find pony territory for days. Thank Celestia we found you!”

“Heh. Yeah, thank Celestia. Listen, you may not be thanking us for long. We’re short out on the front so you may have to get down and dirty in the trenches. Wait you aren’t hurt are you?”

“Well sort of, we-”

“Good enough! Go to the medic and get fixed up if you need to. Then report back here, alright? Alright.”

As she was leaving, Frigid got a good look at her. She had an ocean blue coat with smudges of mud scattered across her entire body. Her unkempt lighter mane was tied up tight. She had a long scar running down her back leg and several more littered around her torso. All in all she looked and acted like a total badass. But whether there was more to her than her “trophies” of war was yet to be seen by Frigid and Scootaloo, who now made their way to a green tent emblazoned with a messy red cross.

They shuddered at the blood curdling moans emanating from the tent. They glanced at each other and pushed open the flap to enter. They immediately regretted doing so. Not only was it a horrific scene visually but it smelled like a slaughterhouse. There was no need for description. Frigid and Scootaloo just stood and stared, tears slowly coming to both their eyes. They were brought out of their reverie by the medic’s voice.

“So you girls are firsties on the front huh? Doesn’t really look like the poster huh? Well buck all that. No matter how you paint it, this place is hell; either you’re being shot at, losing blood, fatigued and exhausted or as most of us are, all of the above. So what can I do for you, my dears? Maybe a massage or—damnit Crystal, why do you keep moving around, your bandage came off again! Sorry about that, now what do you want?”

“Um well we have a couple burns and-”

“Mmhmm, I can see that. They’re pretty much healed up, but moving around in the dirt and mud will make the skin crack and that’ll be real bucking painful. Sooooo take this ointment and take some of those bandages and put the ointment on the burns and bandage. Now get out!”

He shooed them out of the tent and into the town’s courtyard outside.

“Well it probably won’t hurt.”

They were so wrong. The second the ointment touched their skin it was like boiling oil. But they still applied it regardless of the pain; if they were going to be in the trenches they couldn’t spare themselves any injuries or slip ups. As she grunted and groaned while rubbing the ointment on, Frigid stopped and thought to herself at how weird it was that only a few months ago an unpredicted storm shook her up and now she was going through all this pain and turmoil without freaking out like before. Maybe this was meant to happen to her. Maybe this was the only way she would ever come out of her shell. Either way, she continued to rub on the ointment until all her wounds were covered.

“You good, Frigid?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

They trotted back to the small clearing where they had talked to Staff Sergeant Flash. She was waiting for them when they arrived.

“You sure love to take your time don’t you? Looks like we got a fresh batch of meat for the front and you don’t have to go out…yet. Just stick around here; we could use a couple of ponies with spec ops training.”

“Yeah sure. Hey is there a radio service or something so we can contact our outfit?”

“Fourth tent to the right straight ahead, wait for your number in line to be called.”

They were led to a small courtyard where they sat and waited to be called out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So then what happened?” a small blue unicorn asked.

“Well I got kept running until I thought I was safe. But little did I know that what I had stolen was not a simple ruby, but a royal dragon blood diamond. There are only 7 in the entire world. The excorts for the gem had thought if they disguised it as an average gem then no one would steal it. But I was stupid enough to try and succeed, so I got caught a little later that night. A couple of the guards cornered me and gave me quite a blow to the head. I woke up in front of a table where 9 old ponies were seated.”

“Now these ponies were not normal ponies. They were the Council of Justice. They decided what punishment fit the crime. Now as I was still a child I didn’t know who they were. And I was quite rude to them, if I recall I said something about them being “dusty old swine”. That didn’t really help me either. I was basically homeless, had quite a record of small misdemeanors already, and had stolen an artifact worth more than the entire city that I lived in. I was in very deep trouble. The Council finally decided
death was a bit too harsh, so they chose public magical torture for the punishment.”

“That’s horrible!”

“Hmm? Oh yes you ponies wouldn’t know would you. Ponies these days are so soft! Anyway, let us get on with my story. They had everything set up and I was tied to a post in one of the main squares in the city. The punisher was getting ready for the magical pain he was about to inflict upon me. Now before I tell you the next part, you must know something. Praetorians have quite a bit of magical ability. Usually we learn how to use it gradually, but for me, my enlightenment to my magical potential was quite…sudden.”

“The punisher’s horn glowed lightly as he started the punishment. At first it didn’t feel all that bad, but when his horn suddenly grew bright, it was like I was being torn apart. But then my eyes started to glow and my entire body started to glow. I glowed brighter and brighter, blinding the crowd that had gathered. I kept getting brighter until suddenly the glow was gone, replaced with a bubble of white energy. Everypony seemed quite mesmerized and amazed by the bubble. That is until it suddenly expanded, knocking every pony and building in the area to the ground.”

“What did you do?”

“What do you think? Being a child I ran as fast as my hoofs could take me. I ran out of that city and out of the whole damned country. I kept running until I collapsed in a small town now known, I believe, as Ponyville.”

“ There, Celestia found me when she had been checking on some local farmers. She took me into her care and nurtured me back to health. But soon news of my little incident reached her ears and she called me to her throne room. She asked if it was true and I could not lie to the mare who saved my life. Surprisingly enough she smiled at me, even after all I had done. She asked me if I would like to be part of a special order of ponies. It was called The Council of Seven. They were supposed to be the seven most powerful, resourceful, and kind ponies in the land. Now it wasn’t called that yet, but when Celestia found the right candidates she started to train us in magic. Soon we were almost as powerful as her. And our race had spread over the many years.”

“But not all that is good lasts; when we came out to society with our powers and differences expecting only some uncertainty, we were condemned. People called us unnatural and thought we were pure evil. Soon a radical sect of this hate planted a virus in our midst that killed or weakened most of us. We were slowly picked off by others and soon I was the last one left. Celestia was kind enough to change my name and looks. But from that point on I cut my ties with this world. If the world’s a stage and everyone is in the play, then I am one of the spectators. The reason I won’t help ponies isn’t only because if I do the future will be altered, it is also because I am incredibly hesitant to trust them ever again.”

“So you don’t trust us?”

“I trust you just as much as you trust me.”

They walked quietly for a moment before Twilight spoke up again.

“S-so you were part of the C-council of S-seven? I w-wonder what it was like.”

He stopped walking.

“My my, you have quite an acute sense of observation indeed. You have already figured out my real name and who I was and wish to see if I really am who you think I am by making me recall my past which is written in so many books, most of which I expect you’ve read. So why don’t you tell me my name?”

“…”

“No? Pity. I am the Maker of Secrets, the Traveler of White, the Angel of Death, I am Umbra Lux.”

They all stood there stunned, some by confusion over who Umbra Lux was, and others over shear amazement that one of the most powerful unicorns in history who had been proclaimed dead stood before them.

“I know you are wondering about my “death”. When Celestia changed me, she created a duplicate dummy from one of the corpses at a hanging. She had the dummy killed in my place and allowed me to live in the palace. That is until I ran away and never came back.”

“Where did you go?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Everywhere. I went East, West, North, and South. I went up and down and left and right. I have seen quite a large amount of amazing things in this world and being dead makes things a lot easier. But the irony is that I was never truly alive…”

Twilight slowed down to let Applejack catch up to her.

“Is it just me or is it every time tha’ we ask that feller somethin’ he jus’ speaks all fancy-like?”

“Yeah I agree. Since he’s been alive since the Council, he must know a lot, but honestly I think he knows too much. He talks about his life like it’s some kind of cruel joke. I really don’t understand why being alive would make him so-”

“Strange? Mysterious? There are a variety of not so positive adjectives that can describe me, but the truth of why I wish to be mortal and live my life out to its death is something I would have thought you would have figured out by now. Or do you truly see me as that heartless. I too wish to have friends and companions to talk to. But a problem arises when I barely age, while my companions are born and die right in front of me. I cannot take the pain of having to befriend some pony or griffin or dragon and then watch him or her waste away to nothing. That is the reason I consider my life a cruel joke.”

After that everyone became quiet. Even the younger recruits stopped chatting and looked around awkwardly. They had been climbing up the side of a hill for at least an hour now and they were nearing the summit. From the top they could see miles around. They could see the billowing mist of the mountains they had come from to the grassier areas where they were apparently headed to the south. Left and right of them were seemingly endless expanses of forest that tapered off into a gray cloudy horizon in the distance. The white unicorn pointed to something in the distance.

“See those small green tufts that look out of place? Those are camouflaged outposts. I’m sure that whatever is has very big guns and is watching us right now, and waiting for us to give it an excuse to pull the trigger. So don’t do anything stupid.”

As they kept marching along they heard a whoosh from the distance. Then one of the earth ponies suddenly fell over, a sharp javelin looking object protruding from his chest. Everypony jumped behind a tree for cover, except the white unicorn who simply leaned against a tree and sighed.

“What the buck was that?”

“I don’t know! I should have sensed something with my magic wards, but it went right through them. Wait a minute. That javelin is enchanted. Which means…oh dear Celestia they have Griffin magic.”

All 3 war mares looked at each other, knowing what they were going to have to do. Rainbow and Applejack stepped aside, pushing the younger recruits back in a retreat as Twilight, eyes and horn glowing blindingly purple, trotted off in the opposite direction.

“May Celestia have mercy on their souls,” whispered Rainbow Dash under her breath.

Twilight was usually inclined to deal with problems without fighting, but when there was no other alternative, she was something else. Her magical power is unheard of in a unicorn as young as she is and rare even in older and more experienced magic users. When she fought, she completely wrecked the enemy side. As she was doing now, a bright purple flash emanating every now and then down the path. And the white unicorn just stood still and sighed again. They waited a few minutes before Twilight returned, wiping her face with a rag that was soaked in blood that didn’t look like it belonged to her. She had something strapped to her back that looked like a black lunch box.

“Do you have the radio code for the main front?”

“Uh huh. It’s umm…here let me type it in.”

After a few beeps and one of higher pitch, Twilight spent a few minutes trying to hail the front, but to no avail. The transmitter was damaged, so it could receive but not output signals. She stuck the earpiece in her ear and signaled for them to keep walking. Slowly they realized that in the time they had started, the front had shifted and they were behind enemy lines now in a rocky corridor that has been responsible for some of the most devastatingly bloody parts of the war so far. They had to find the main front pony base and fast; a flurry of beating wings could be heard in the air near them. And they didn’t sound like pegasi.