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                 Snow, Sleet, And Secrets                  
                   -by Wolke Eisensturm-                   
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                         Chapter I                         
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Chapter I
The wind howled as I flew through the storm, all the while small bullets of ice and snow buffeted me. While my silver armor did protect my body from most of the abuse, my wings were left to fend for themselves. Every few seconds, a particularly painful pellet of hail would strike me, forcing me to lower my altitude. My feathers were completely ruffled from the weather, and my coat and tail wasn't fairing any better. At least my mane was hidden beneath my helmet. I shrugged off the irritation and beat my wings harder, trying to get to my so-called destination. As a Scout of the Crystal Empire, it's my job to venture out into the vast snowplains and gather information. The things I do for this empire.
The Captain, Shining Armor, husband of the Princess of Love Mi Amore Cadenza, had called in the Scouts to brief us on our next assignment. For being a very important squad among the Crystal Guard, we Scouts are few in number. I am the third Scout recruited since our banding, and our total is ten. Normally, Captain Shining Armor would dispatch us to investigate Changeling activity, as he wasn't too caring towards the insectiod ponies. Nopony could blame him for his dislike of the bugs; their queen did impersonate his wife before their wedding in an attempt to conquer all of Equestria. After finding little loyalty from his personal guards, he held tryouts for the bravest ponies he could find, and the Scout were formed. But we are not the most popular among the public; despite what the Changelings had done, the public found our hunting to be a bit... animalistic and cruel.
Regardless, I joined up and earned my place as the top female Scout after bringing in a nest of rogue Changelings. Five nasty little buggers hiding out in a cave far beyond the Crystal Empire's safety dome. All the Changelings we capture are interrogated (if they can speak, anyways, since some are just mindless drones) and sent to a holding facility somewhere between Cantorlot and Manehatten. We are still hunting their queen, Chrysalis, but she's gone into hiding and hasn't been seen, or even heard from, since her failed invasion of Cantorlot just over four years ago.
Where was I? Oh, yes. Our Captain, Shining Armor, had called us into his quarters to brief us on our next assignment. He had sent the six unicorn Scouts down south to investigate Neighagra Falls, a large scenic waterfall about a hundred miles from the Empire with tons of spacious caves just ripe for hiding. Apparently a tourist from the Griffon Kingdom had seen, and I quote, "a few chittering ponies with shiny black coats flying near the falls for a short time before disappearing into the mist," so our Captain immediately acted on this information. The three earth pony Scouts were dispatched to the Galloping Gorge in the west for similar sightings. And that left me.
After everypony else had left, Shining Armor and I were left alone in his quarters. I eagerly awaited his next command; anything to further boost my rank. I was out of my silver armor then, having just been woken by his summons. My light purple coat was messy and unbrushed, and my multihued fiery mane was not fairing any better. Still, I stood at attention as I awaited my Captain to give me an order. My smile began to fade as he spoke.
"Lavender Comet," he began strongly, "As the only pegasus in the Scouts, I need your speed to complete this mission." He waved me over as he began walking over to his small table in the corner of the room. I bounced over and caught sight of what was laying on the tabletop. It was a crudely-drawn map. Nothing was proportioned correctly, but it still served it's purpose of telling the land. Shining Armor tapped it with his hoof.
"I need you to venture northeast to the base of the Crystal Mountains. Our residents have been reporting sights of pony-like figures roaming the outskirts of the Empire. I need you to confirm whether or not these are straggling Changelings, and if they are, bring them here." Shining Armor stood tall and looked down at me, seeing as how I'm just a few inches shorter than him. "Do you understand your mission?" he asked.
I put a hoof to my chest in salute. "Sir, yes Sir!" I barked out.
"Dismissed."
At his word, I bolted from his chambers and rushed back to my barracks to grab my armor. I set off soon after that, but luck was not with me. Soon after I had left the protective barrier of the Crystal Empire, a storm had begun. It started small, then grew as I flew further out. Now I was in a full-blown blizzard, but that mattered not. As a pony of the Crystal Empire, I was more equipped for colder weather; thicker feathers and stronger wing muscles helped me pull through the painful cold.
The weather did not relent. If anything, it's ferocity grew as I flew further from the Empire. A particularly large lump of hail struck me in my back, right next to my wings, causing me to cry out. I flew down in a gentle manner and touched down in the thick snow. It nearly touched the bottom of my barrel. I reached inside my armor and pulled out a small copy of the map Shining Armor had shown me. With the wind howling around me and biting at my face, it was tough to read it, but I managed see my position.
Like many things in the Crystal Empire, the map was enchanted with a locator spell. My map showed mainly the northern part of Equestria, and a small blue dot blinked on the paper a few centimeters from the Empire's mark. I was about twelve miles out into the wilderness, and had around fifty more to go until I got to the base of the mountains. No problem, that was just a simple hour flight or so. I tucked the map back into my chest compartment and jumped into the air.
I pumped my wings to try and fly as fast as I could, not wanting to spend much more time out in this weather. The hail soon grew to the size of plums, forcing me to take shelter under an Evergrew tree. These trees are extremely hard to kill, and while they dot the snowplains every few miles apart, they still attract a lot of attention, like the young Artic Timberwolf laying beside me in the snow. These white-wooded variants of their ill-mannered forest-dwelling cousins are quite mild-tempered, and a few of ponies in the Crystal Empire have a few pups as pets. The Artic Timberwolf seemed content to let me share its tree with it, so I waited a short while before taking flight again when the sleet began to let up a bit.
The blizzard didn't seem to know which way it wanted to blow; I would be thrown left and right by different wind currents as I tried to steady myself from the last impact of wind. Stupid weather ponies. If even one stray cloud gets loose around any of the factories in the north, it can take on a life of its own and blow way out of proportion. My guess is that quite a few clouds got left alone.
Another strong gust of wind blew under my wings, forcing my upward and sending wet snow under my armor. I shivered as I began to touch down again. With a swift tug, I opened my chest compartment and took out my map. It showed that I had actually gone northwest. I was twenty-four miles away from the Empire, but I was over forty from where I needed to go in the first place!
"Stupid blizzard!" I shouted at the wind. "This Changeling sighting better be real, or I swear by Celestia's name..."
I turned a stiff ninety degrees and flared my wings while I stuffed the map into my armor again. I crouched low to take off, but a small form tackled me at that instant. I tumbled with it in the snow for a few seconds before I could figure out what it was. A pile of white wood, no, an Artic Timberwolf, and a young one at that. It was barely my size, and it didn't even have it's fangs yet. I didn't get much more info on the Timberwolf, as it used me like a launch pad and took off in the opposite direction.
"What in Tartarus was that about?" I looked in the direct the Timberwolf had come from just in time to see a black form come speeding towards me. I had no time to brace for impact, and when it hit, it hit hard. The force of whatever hit me sent me and my attacker plowing through the snow. My training reflexes kicked in, and with the next roll I kicked outward, sending my attacker spiraling off me and further ahead into the snow. I swiftly rose to my hooves, but my assailant was already gone.
Even with the wind bellowing in my ears, I could make out the faint clacking of what I was searching for. A changeling had found me, and it intended to take me down, just as usual. Seeing as how its attack was somewhat clumsy, I figured the changeling to be a drone. Drones are fast-witted, but have the intelligence of a foal when it comes to anything that isn't fighting. They can't speak anything other than their normal chittering, so only other drones and soldiers can understand them. While soldier Changelings can speak, they are often unwilling. There's no real way to tell the difference between a drone and a soldier, so I was just assuming.
I readied myself for another attack just in time to catch the creature. The Changeling hissed as my forearms wrapped around its back and crushed its bug-like wings. Like all the others I had brought in, this smaller drone carried the default look; black exoskeleton, wide solid teal eyes, a mouth filled with sharp teeth with protruding fangs, legs filled with holes, and webbed frills instead of a mane and tail.
I cleared my throat and began the customary beginnings I was instructed to do.
"I am Lavender Comet of the Crystal Scouts. By the order of Prince Shining Armor, I am to take you into custody. Will you accompany me of free will or by force?"
The Changeling in my grasp just hissed at me and tried to shake itself loose. I held down tighter as the bug bit into my armor in an attempt to shake free.
"By force, it is." I lifted a hoof and brought it down heavily on the Changelings head, right behind its horn. The bug screeched and let go of my armor, and I smacked it in the base of its throat with my free hoof. A gurgle escaped from the Changeling's mouth, but it quickly cut itself short as the bug latched onto my armor again, right next to my wing slots.
"Don't you know how to do anything other than bite!?" I yelled out as I finished the sentence with another strike to its head.
"Yes, little pony," came a voice right next to my ear. I didn't even get a chance to acknowledge the voice's owner before something hard struck me in the side of my neck. My head whipped to the side and came down on the Changeling's horn, and red-hot pain flared through my face as it sunk deep into my cheek. The bug tore loose from me at that point, leaving me dazed in the snow.
"We know how to kick as well." I shook my head and looked up at the four forms silhouetted by the blowing snow around me. The shapes condensed into two solid pony-like figures, one being the Changeling I almost had and the other being a larger Changeling. This newcomer shared it's outward appearance with it's smaller cousin, but held nearly ten inches on the thing. It was almost as tall as I was.
"So..." I said softly. "...A soldier and a drone. I'm gonna get paid good today."
The soldier Changeling scooted closer to its injured comrade. "You will not, winged grub. We do nothing wrong," it spat at me. "Why little ponies have to chase us?"
I snap to my hooves and crouch low. "Because your queen tried to take over the continent!"
The soldier copied my stance. "Because we were hungry!" And then it dashed at me. I quickly rolled to the side and avoided the collision, but the soldier spun on its hooves and charged me again. "We always hungry!" it screamed as it slammed into my side and took me into a roll. "Not enough love at home!"
"Then eat something else!" I yelled up at the thing as I pried its hooves off of my armor.
"What you think we doing?" The soldier Changeling asked me with a smirk. I felt the smaller drone sit in the snow above my head. "Changelings like emotions. But we can eat other things too," the soldier said triumphantly. The drone took its chance and dove forward onto my body and sunk its teeth into my armor once again.
"Bucking bugs! Get off of me!" I shuffled under their combined weight, but it was too much for me to push off. And being stuck in deep snow didn't help. The Changelings and I exchanged blows for a few seconds, each one I landed would earn the bugs a thin fracture in their shells, and each they landed granted me a bruise. The soldier struck me in the throat like I did to its ally, and it caused me to momentarily cease fighting as I tried to open my airway again.
"Changelings are adapting species," said the soldier as it leaned closer to my face. "We do what needed." With a small smirk, the soldier leaned even closer and dragged its long teal forked tongue across my slashed cheek. I hissed as the organ wetted my fur and licked up what it could. But the Changeling's head snapped up. "Eghh, bad taste."
"Then don't do it again!" I hoarsely yelled up at the bugs. The drone seemed content to chew through my armor, and it was succeeding. The solider just looked down at me with a fire in its eyes.
"The ones to be begging cannot choose. Take what can get. And now, you are easy prey." The solider leaned down with its toothy maw open once more, and the dragon-like appendage lulled out over its sharp teeth. It closed in, inching its way closer to my wounded face to take another taste. Just when it was about to touch down, I did the only thing I thought could be effective.
I turned my head and caught the Changeling in a forceful kiss.
With the unexpected turn of the situation, the Changeling's tongue continued on its course and slithered over my own. For a moment, the Changeling didn't know what to do except advance. I forced down the urge to gag and mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do. With a mind of steel, I flexed the muscles in my jaw and forced my teeth to clack together, severing the foreign organ from its owner.
The soldier Changeling whirled back off of me, a soul-rending screech escaping from its bloody lips. I took advantage of this and slammed both of my hooves into the back of the drone right where its wings connected. The drones exoskeleton cracked and the bug let off a high-pitched scream just like its comrade and let go of my armor. I knocked it off of my barrel and got to my hooves, spitting the nasty piece of flesh from my mouth and wiping my face. I sneered at the green plasma that came off on my foreleg.
"You filthy bug!" I chanted while preparing myself to battle again. "What makes you think that I would ever become easy prey!?"
The soldier Changeling, covering its mouth with a hole-filled hoof, glared at me. The drone clicked a couple of times. The soldier returned the clicks with a few of its own and topped it off with a fluttering of its wings. As soon as its wings settled on its body again, the drone took off like a dart.
I ducked as the drone passed overhead, and I threw up my left wing right as it did to strike its belly. It had no effect, though I was just testing to see how stable it was, and by the reaction I got, the drone still had plenty of fight left in it. While I was preoccupied with the Changeling zipping over my head, I failed to notice the soldier charging at me until it was right in front of me. The bigger bug caught me in another full body embrace, and using its newfound leverage, it happily gained some more by sinking its teeth into the armor between my forelegs. I bashed at the Changeling's skull numerous times, but the soldier's will held strong. With a toss of my weight, we tumbled in the snow until I was on top, but it still held fast to my armor.
A loud buzz filled my ears as the drone slammed down on top of my back. I looked over my shoulder to see the drone wrap itself around my right wing and flex its own. The drone jumped upward with my wing still in its grasp, and I let out a guttural scream of agony as I felt something in my back tear. The drone swiveled in the air with my wing, clicking and chittering away. On one rotation, it swung too close to my front, which was just what I needed. I caught the Changeling's own wing between my teeth and whipped my head forward. The force of my attack not only got the drone to let go, but tore the thin membrane of its wing and left me with strips hanging from my jaws.
The drone silently tumbled into the snow and disappeared from sight, and I turned my attention back to the soldier just in time to see it tear open the front of my armor, exposing my chest.
"No!" I screamed as I pushed against the soldier's head. I threw another hoof and it connected with a loud crack! against the soldier's jaw. With the Changeling dazed, I slid my hind legs underneath its barrel and pushed outward, sending it flying. It, however, regained its wits in midair and hovered above me. With a menacing hiss, the soldier charged me again.
I readied myself for the attack from above, but nothing could have prepared me from the attack from below. The drone popped into existence right below me, and its curved horn sliced right through my chest. I coughed and cringed at the pain of having the drone's horn hilted in my chest cavity, and my concentration broke away from the soldier above me. The larger bug plowed into my right side from behind, straining my already injured wing and pushing me forward onto the smaller drone. A loud snap echoed in my head as the Changelings tumbled with me
The soldier grabbed my head and jerked me to one side. The drone crawled out from under me and latched onto my forelegs. I saw with horrid disbelief that it's horn was missing; snapped off right at the base and the putrid green ooze of raw magic dripped down its face. The drone clicked a single time before it head-butted me in the snout. My head whipped back and struck the soldier's nose in return.
The larger Changeling shrieked and brought its face to the right side my neck. A sharp piercing cry of sheer agony ripped its way from my throat as I felt the razor-sharp teeth shred my flesh to ribbons. The feeling lanced down my spine and reverberated through my limbs, and a similarly excruciating pain lanced up my left foreleg as the drone copied its superior by sinking its own teeth into my leg.
A loud noise, somewhere between a bark and a gasp, split through my own gasps of pain. Snow crunched, winds blew, and the Changelings hissed which only added more pain to my wounds as their hot breath flowed over my exposed nerves. A very loud crack! occurred right next to my ear, and I felt something wet splash over my back. Suddenly, the soldier Changeling flew from my side with a great deal of force. Then the drone disappeared from my view. I took the time I had to get to my feet. Slowly, I reached up with my injured leg, crossed my chest with it, and pressed down on the bleeding wound on my neck. When I moved, I could feel the drone's horn still embedded in my barrel, and I let out a groan as my vision flashed black. My hooves trembled under my own weight and I ended up back on my stomach in the snow.
The drone zipped past me, its tail tucked between its legs as it tried to fly with a torn wing. I turned and looked back to see two fuzzy silhouettes against the snowy background. One was straddling the other, and the one on top looked like it was winning. Its hooves came down again and again and again as it beat the other form senseless. I squinted and my vision improved slightly within the short distance separating the two fighters and myself. I could see the Changeling soldier pressed into the snow, its black color in contrast with the white surroundings. The other pony was hard to see with its pristine white coat.
The pony reached down and grabbed the Changeling by the neck and brought its face close. "Tell your queen to withdraw her forces from this quadrant. The next time I see you or any others like you, I will be the last thing you see." The viciousness in the stallion's voice caused me to whimper, and his head snapped over to my direction. He took one last look at the Changeling below him before getting off of its chest and giving the bug a swift kick in the leg. "Go on, go!" he yelled. The Changeling righted itself and took off past me.
I turned my head slightly and watched the Changeling disappear into the snowscape like the drone had done. The silence after a brawl is always deafening, and with nothing but the wind to make noise, this was no different. My wounds throbbed as chilled air passed over them, and I let out a small squeak as I imagined the blood running down my neck starting to freeze. I knew that wouldn't happen, but I was hurting.
A form pressed up against my left side and pushed against me. The white stallion slid his head under my left foreleg and lifted upward, bringing me with him. "Come on," he said, and with those two words, we began walking in a hurried pace.
The snow gradually thinned out to mid-leg high, but it was still enough to make me stumble now and then. The stallion holding me up didn't seem bothered by the cold much, but he was incredibly warm. I could feel his heartbeat through his side, and it was going at it from the adrenaline-fueled fight he had so quickly won. I lost my grip on him and fell to the snow when we stumbled again, but he was there before I could pick myself up.
"Careful. We're almost there," he said loudly.
We tugged through the snow blowing at us at a steady pace. We must have walked for just a few more seconds when my hooves hit something hard. A dark-colored fence, just a few posts long, stuck out of the snow. A few yards ahead of it I could make out the shape of a house.
As the stallion basically dragged me up to his door, I croaked out, "You... live out here?"
"I like my privacy," was his answer. The white stallion kicked open the door and hurried me inside. I stumbled forward and looked around as I heard the door close behind me.
The room was small, barely eight by twelve, and had two doorways in the back-left corner. In the middle of the room sat a wide couch with bedding strewn over its back, and a recliner was placed right next to it. A large cobblestone fireplace rested in the middle of the far wall, a small fire going in its maw. Other than a rug between the couch and the fireplace, there were no decorations. The wooden floor was dusty to the point I could see where the white stallion had scrambled out the door a few minutes ago. The green wallpaper was torn and faded, the single picture frame on the right wall was empty, and the window near the front door was boarded up and nailed closed.
The stallion pushed me from behind and forced me to get closer to the fireplace. I sat down in the middle of the large rug while he took a seat next to me and examined my left foreleg. Now that he was in the light, I could get a better view of him.
He was tall. Not as tall as some ponies, but he easily had five inches on me. His alabaster fur had specks of my blood on his neck and back, and his front was spotted with the green of the Changelings' blood. His mane was so long it nearly reached the bottom of his barrel, and his tail was equally as long. The weird thing about him was that his mane and coat were the same shade of eerily clean whiteness, so I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. My eyes roamed downward and caught sight of his cutie mark; a light gray snowflake, almost invisible against his coat. While I was, uh, examining his form, I also noted the fact that he was extremely lean, almost to the point of being ghostly thin. His ribs were noticeable, and the rest of him was layered with firm-looking muscle. He was obviously built for speed. Despite the situation, I couldn't help but think... that he was really handsome.
Bright burning orange eyes locked onto my own for a second. "They tore you up pretty badly," he said softly. "Keep pressure on your neck," he instructed me as he pressed my left leg onto the spot. "I'll be back."
I watched him get up and hurry to the first door nearest the fireplace. When he opened it and went inside, he left the door open. I could see cracking green linoleum and worn counters. That must be the kitchen. He exited with a small bottle of yellow liquid in his mouth and went over to the second door a few feet away. The stallion opened up a way into the bathroom, were the tiled floor was in much better shape than the rest of the house. I could see a cast-iron tub in the far back, but the stallion came back out and closed the door behind him before I could see any more.
He sat back down in front of me and deposited the items on the rug near his side. A white box with a red cross, a bottle of liquor, and a small knife. The stallion looked me over again, then walked behind me.
"Your wing is dislocated." I turned my head and looked back at him just as the rest of my armor fell off onto the rug below. With a flick of his tail, my chest piece was sent skittering across the room and into the far corner. A second later, he removed my helmet, letting my fiery mane fall over my face. When I brushed it aside, I looked back and saw the stallion was already reaching up to grab my wing. "Prepare yourself; this is going to hurt."
I gave him a curt nod and turned away. I was a Scout of the Crystal Empire. I trained on a near-daily basis. I fought with Changelings and my bunkmates all the time, the later a lot more though. I was used to pain, but real injuries still hurt. And by Tartarus did this one hurt.
The stallion wrenched my wing backwards, and I stopped myself from yelling out. He tugged backwards once more, then outward, and we both heard the loud pop! that came from my back. I let out the breath I was holding as my helper pushed me onto the rug, forcing me to lay down on my left side. He placed a hoof on my face and stretched the skin on my neck taught as he examined the wound.
"...It's not as deep as I thought it was," he breathed. "But it's still bad." I felt him poke the injury, and I let out a hiss of pain. The stallion walked in front of me and pushed something against my snout. I looked closer and saw it was just a chunk of wood, most likely a broken windowsill or something. My eyes darted up to the stallion's face.
"Bite down on this," he instructed.
As soon as I took the wood in my mouth, he opened up the first-aid kit and brought out several items; a spool of thick black thread and a long dangerous-looking needle, a small bag filled with cotton, a roll of gauze, and some white bottle. Once everything was out, he picked up the knife.
"I need to make sure none of the Changeling's teeth are still in there," he said as he leaned closer.
I let him examine my neck, gasping every time he needed to pull at the wound. Only once did he prick me with the knife, and that was to get a very small tooth shard out. Once he was done, the stallion reached over and took the bottle of liquor in his hooves. He uncorked the top with minimal effort and tilted the bottle over my body.
I nearly bit the hunk of wood in my mouth in two when the alcohol hit my neck, and I couldn't help myself from crying out. The stream of liquid fire ceased, and I felt him press the tip of the needle into my shredded flesh. He made quick work with the suturing, and after a few minutes I felt him press a wad of cotton against the new stitches. I lifted my heavy head to aid him as he wrapped my neck with the fuzzy gauze.
"Almost there," he cooed when set my head down. "Just your leg and your barrel." He repeated the painful art with my left foreleg, but with much quicker results. He quickly wrapped it up and flipped me on my back, being careful of my injured wing.
The stallion scooted closer to me as he picked up the knife again. "Are you ready?" I think it was the blood loss, but I was just simply amazed at how the handle of the knife just stuck to the pad of his hoof. I shook my head to clear my mind, then corrected myself by giving him a quick nod and closed my eyes. I felt the cool blade touch my flesh right below where the drone's horn was. A light pressure and mild discomfort filled my chest as I was too tired to comprehend true pain anymore. "Almost there, you're doing great," the stallion said to me as he made another incision. I felt him tug at the horn once, twice, three times until it came up with his hoof. "Shit, that's deep," he muttered, and I felt a warm wetness flow down my chest and sides.
"Hold on, almost... got it."
More pricks. I felt the thread speed through my skin to join the two ends together. More fluffiness covered the wound, and I think I lost a few minutes. I opened my eyes to see the stallion holding me up and wrapping my chest. He was also tying down my bad wing as he did this. I closed my eyes for a split second and when I reopened them, I was greeted by the feeling of something pressing on my face. The stallion had already sewn up the gouge on my cheek and was pressing a medical square over the wound. He messed up on one edge and had to peel the sticky tape-like paper off to correct it.
"There... All better," he sighed.
I was too tired to really do anything. The stallion helped me to my feet and guided me to the couch. I slid onto the cushions and he wrapped a blanket around me. I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't form any words.
The stallion shook his head. "Don't. Just rest."
I'm pretty sure I blacked out at that time.

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                        Chapter II                         
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Chapter II
I don't know how long I was out for, but when I was able to open my eyes, the room was dark. The only light came from the fireplace in front of me thanks to the very small fire burning away, barely more than a kindling flame. I slowly moved my eyes to scan the room and the memories came flooding back. The Changelings, the fight, my loss, the stallion. The stallion!
I raised my head to look around, but then my sense of feeling came back. It felt like my whole body had been run over by a chariot, and then backed over with said chariot when the drivers thought they may have lost some luggage and backtracked. Very slowly, I reached up with my uninjured foreleg and felt the left side of my face. The medical square was still there, and so was the tenderness of my new stitches. My neck didn't fare any better as I tried to look back at myself. My chest hurt too, very badly. A fire was beginning to burn whenever I inhaled, and even though it would falter with my exhales, it continued to grow now that I was awake. I let out a soft groan as I settled back into the cushion of the couch.
"Bet you feel pretty terrible," said a calm voice.  I managed to hang my head off the edge of the couch and look over at the recliner. The white pony from before sat there, gently rocking back and forth with a book in one hoof and a glass of liquor in the other. He idly sipped from his glass, and I heard the clink of ice cubes.
I groaned at him again for an answer to his question.
The stallion waited a long time to speak again.
"Would you like something for the pain?"
I gave a swift nod in response. The stallion set his glass down on the arm of the chair, reached over the side, and returned with the bottle of brandy he had used to clean my wounds. He held it out to me. "I know it's not much, but I don't have any real medicine in the house."
I reached out for it with my right foreleg, grimacing as I did; the action caused me to stretch my back, which really hurt. But I took the bottle from him and partook of a small sip.
"Thanks," I croaked out, the action of talking making my whole face hurt. The stallion didn't reply. I took another sip of the drink, and the cold liquid burned its way down my gullet. The stallion did the same with his own drink.
I licked my lips. "...What's you name?" I asked through my teeth.
"Pardon?" he asks, moving the book aside and looking directly at me.
"Your name," I repeated. "What's your name?"
The white stallion stared at me for a few seconds, and then those seconds dragged on into a minute. He opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again. A hissing wheeze comes out, and he clears his throat.
"Ahm, sorry. It's been a few years since anypony asked me that."
"A few years?" I asked him. "How long have you been out here?"
The stallion looks up at the ceiling. "...About six now? I think. It was real tough for the first part, but since the Crystal Empire reappeared, I can go in and trade things when I really need to." He nodded to himself. "...My name is Clandestine. If it's a bit too wordy for you, you can call me Clad."
I nodded at him. "Clandestine. I'm Lavender Comet. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but it's still nice to meet you." Clad didn't answer, but he did turn back to his book. I adjusted my position so I wasn't putting too much weight on my leg, but doing so sparked the fire in my chest. "So, why are you out here, all alone?"
"I don't talk about that," he stated curtly. "With anypony," he added.
"Is it because you are out here with nopony to talk to?" I asked him.
Clandestine sighed, then slightly turned his head to acknowledge me. "I'm out here all alone because I don't like interacting with others. I like being alone."
I cock my head at him. "For somepony who likes being alone, you sure know a lot."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you knew just what to do when you found me," I said. He huffed and returned to his book. "What were you doing out in a blizzard, anyway?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Comet," he replied. "I was out foraging for food."
"Food?" I repeated. "What kind of food can you find out here?"
"Rock candy, Evergrew roots, the occasional ice truffle." Clad rolls a hoof in the air. "I scrounge what I can get. Evergrew roots are pretty good, and they grow in huge bunches right beneath the dirt. Harvesting them doesn't hurt the tree and they regrow in about six weeks, so If I keep tabs on five trees at the minimum, I won't starve."
"How much do you eat?" I asked offhoofedly.
"I get by with four roots a day, with the rare treat of finding an ice truffle or hunk of rock candy," Clad answered. He reached over the edge of his recliner and brought up a small object. "This is as big as I can find them, but I find a lot." he said as he tossed me the root.
I reached up and caught it, hissing as I did. The root was so puny, almost five inches long and barely an inch thick. This would barely be three mouthfuls, and he lived on four of these a day? No wonder he was so thin.
"Go ahead and eat it," he said, bringing my thoughts back to myself. "I have a few extra saved up, so you should be able to stay fed until the blizzard passes." With that, he turned a page and sipped from his drink, emptying the glass.
I was about to say something, but my stomach rumbled just then. Not making an actual noise, but I felt it. I thanked him accordingly and looked back at the root in my hooves. Mentally shrugging, I raised it to my mouth and took a small bite.
The blandness of the root caught me off-guard; I was somewhat expecting it to taste like mint or something, but no. It was just a very tasteless chewy piece of stringy plant fibers that held a bit of a spicy aftertaste so faint you couldn't even tell it was there. Thinking about it, How would rock candy taste? Or one of those ice truffles? If it was anything like this root, then it must have been a very long time since Clandestine had eaten anything with real flavor. There really wasn't anything out in the snowplains to cook with, or to do really. Just survive, I suppose.
My mind drifted back to the Changelings. I cleared my throat as soon as I finished my mouthful to get Clad's attention.
"Hey Clandestine, can I ask you something?"
"What?" he answered, not looking up from his book.
"When you fought with those Changelings, it seemed like... Well, it seemed like they were scared. I've never seen a Changeling scared of anything." Clandestine took in a breath and shifted in his seat. "Were they scared of you?" I asked.
"Of course they were scared of me," he said. "And they still should be. This isn't the first time I've dealt with them."
"Say what now?" I straightened up, ignoring the pain. If Clandestine had tangled with the bugs before, he could help us. "You've fought them before?"
"It's rare, but every once in a while a few Changelings cross paths with me," he said, still reading. "The Changelings know where I live, and try to stay away, but there are always those few that don't get the message."
"And what message would that be?" I questioned.
Clandestine read a few more sentences in his book before looking over at me. "The message I have clearly presented to them is that in this section of snowy wonderland, I am the alpha. I will fight to defend what's mine, and I don't give a damn who I fight. Their so-called queen already knows this, and she's not happy."
"You have Chrysalis after you!?" I nearly yelled.
"Faust no," he replied, his ears twitching in irritation. "As if she's really going to make an appearance for a little nuisance like me."
"You never know," I said.
"Yeah, well..." Clandestine returned to his book. "Buck her, and buck the rest of them."
"If the Changelings bug you so much, have you ever..." I rolled my hoof, "considered moving to the Empire?"
"No," he said sternly.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Drop it Comet," he replied. "I don't talk about my past."
"I wasn't asking about your past."
"You were leading up to it."
I shook my head. "I was just asking why you haven't moved into the city."
Clandestine grinds his teeth for a second before looking over at me. "I go into the city every once in a while to trade what little treasure I find out here for a bottle of liquor or two. I don't have any interest in moving because out here, this house is mine, and mine alone. This life here is mine, and even though there isn't much more to it than eat, sleep, and find more things to eat, it's still a life worth living. I will not abandon what I have made of myself!"
When his voice rose, I felt a shiver run up my spine. It was almost like I wasn't talking to a pony, but rather I was listening to a terrifying force. And that force was something to be reckoned with.
Clandestine Huffed a few times before closing his eyes. "...I apologize for that. I do not like to talk about myself. I don't like to talk much in general."