A Rainbow In The Blizzard

The raw Vanhoover winter air slapped against Scarab's face as he slowly treaded up Mt. Icepike. Bits of snow had gradually piled up on his fur jacket to the point where the color of the fur was indistinguishable from the white of the snow. It made the back of his neck ache with a dull cold pain, but it wasn't nearly as painful as the sharp frigid air filling his lungs with every breath, making his throat raw and lowering his inner body temperature. Large puffs of condensation escaped from underneath the black bandanna that covered his mouth and snout. He mentally thanked himself for remembering to pack one before leaving the Badlands. It was perhaps the only thing keeping the inside of his throat from freezing closed. The snow was just barely deep enough to traverse efficiently. He cursed at the fact that using magic to help him hike up the mountain would've drained too much of his energy to make it to the base without passing out from exhaustion. It felt like hours of trotting and digging and climbing, but he could faintly see the distinguishable crack in the rocks in the near distance. Squinting his eyes, he could see the faint glow of a fire from inside it.

"Good, he's already here."

The thought of thawing his freezing body against the fire spurred him to complete the last few steps of his journey. Looking behind him almost instinctually to make sure he wasn't followed, he continued up the steep incline towards his destination. As he approached, he saw the outline of a dark pegasus pony coming to meet him halfway. The pegasus yelled through the stiff wind.

"Its a good thing you came when you did. The snow storm is only a few minutes out."

Scarab was suprised and somewhat relieved by the fact that his leader refrained from scolding him for his tardiness since he was a constant stickler for punctuality. There was no time to apologize for lateness though, he had to get inside and thaw quickly. Following his leader inside, he took off his rucksack and set his spear and other weapons against the cave wall. He took no delay in stripping off his outer layer of clothes and curling up to the fire, his knees cracking and protesting as he kneeled down, stiff and worn from the long hike. He didn't look behind him, but he could feel the ominous presence of the Colonel behind him. Coming around to his front  and sitting on the opposite side of the fire, Scarab was able to fully admire him after not seeing him for nearly a decade. Not one bit of him had changed since then. He had a black mane and a short black tail  with a small sliver of silver that parted it down the middle. His coat was dark as well, but was slightly lighter than the pitch black of his mane. He was still wearing his officers uniform, albeit faded and torn in a few places. However, what Scarab truly admired about the Colonel was his eyes. They had an indistinguishable color, but it was somewhere between green and orange. Just looking into them always gave Scarab the chills, but he enjoyed it. Although he never admitted it to anyone, it reminded him of a sunset over a grassy field. He suddenly realized that his admiration was creating an awkward silence and decided to finally speak up.

"It's good to see you in one piece after so long, sir" Scarab said with a smile, not unsincere.

"How goes things in Fort Murkwater, Lieutenant?"

"Straight to business, I guess." Scarab thought to himself before responding, "Decent, sir. The rations are holding, but Luna's recon teams get closer and more numerous every night. The night raids are relatively easy to hold against, but it won't last that way forever, especially with the recent division of troops." He cunningly left out the fact that the Colonel's choice for him to leave the fort would most likely herald its fall within weeks. No need to stir anything up.

Blackwing thought this over for awhile before getting up and pacing back and forth. Fort Murkwater had been his main base of operations since the Crystal Empire's second purification. He finally came to a halt and closed his eyes with a sigh.

"No matter, we will have no need of Fort Murkwater soon."

"Sir," Scarab said while looking around the dimly lit cave, "Surely this isn't the base you were-" Blackwing cut him off.

"Of course not. The rock under our hooves goes down many many feet. We'll be mining our way down over the next few months in order to make more space."

Scarab almost started to protest, but thought it wise to remain silent. Using so much time and effort to make a base out of a mere cave seemed like too much of an investment. It aggravated him that he left the closest thing to home he had, trusted his Colonel's judgement, only to be presented with a hole in a rock. But then again, what other options were there? They'd be spotted within days if they started from outside. And if that wasn't enough, the cold would eventually kill them. He had to admit, finding a cave like this at the peak of Mt. Icepike was a good find. It would be best to not take it for granted.

"I've already hired miners to start working at zero-five-hundred hours tomorrow. If diligence graces us, we'll be done in just under two months."

"But how were you able to convince them to come all this way just to mine at rock?"

"I still had some leftover bits from the Griffon raid last year. Figured I'd put it to good use. Its funny, really. Griffin bits aren't nearly as valuable as regular bits. But the halfwits could barely tell the difference."

Scarab chuckled a bit before becoming instantly embarassed as a large growl escaped his stomach. He hadn't eaten in over a day, but thinking of it as a display of weakness, he tried to hide it. Blackwing grinned a bit at his Lieutenant and tossed him a large portion of some sort of meat that he had in his rucksack. Scarab caught it quickly with a levitation spell before it hit the cave floor.

"T-thank you sir." Scarab gobbled it up in just a minute or two, not caring what kind of meat it was, while Blackwing trotted to look out the cave and over the mountain. After finishing, Scarab joined him at his side. Trying to see what he was looking so intently at, he squinted in the distance to see a faint sparkle on the horizon.

"Whots that sur?" He asked, his mouth still full of food.

"The Crystal Empire." Blackwing said with a bit of confidence, Scarabs eyes widened as he quickly swallowed, "All our efforts have brought us to this place. With just a little more, we'll finally have what we've sought after for nearly a decade." Scarab tried, but couldn't bring himself to smile.

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?"

"N-no sir!"

"We'll need all the help we can get if we're to make this final push forward. I hope I can count on your support."

"Of course, sir. I'll have your back 'till the end." He said proudly with a salute.

Blackwing smiled, "I know. You've been faithful to our cause for all this time. I know you won't let me down." He said with a subtile threat in his tone. Scarab got the message.

"You've proven yourself to me many times now. So I'm promoting you to Lieutenant first class. Congratulations." Blackwing was never one for ceremonies or elaborate speeches. Scarab's eyes lit up as he gave a proud salute again.

"T-thank you sir!"

Blackwing ignored the respectful gesture and instead turned to face the cave wall, picking up a rock shard with his hoof.

"We're so close...so close to redemption." He continued to etch out letters onto the rock, Scarab lifted an eyebrow at him. "No more will we have to hide in these damn shadows!" He yelled as he threw the rock against the opposite wall shattering it to pieces, startling Scarab a bit.

"This is the last part of our campaign, Scarab. After this, we'll live as kings under him once more."

Scarab watched him cautiously as he went back to the fire and laid down, studying over what looked to be a map of some sort. He looked back up to the wall to see what the Colonel etched.

In scraggly writing it read,

"ALL HAIL KING SOMBRA!"