Chapter 4
Perspective

Finally, everyone had gathered in the tent, more or less awake. Terra had brewed coffee for that exact reason, and everypony knows nopony makes stronger coffee than her. She had passed out cups to everypony, and as they sipped, started to shift towards the table that lay in the center of the tent; where Herbal had been focusing her attention to almost the entire time.

She was gazing at the map intently, as if to examine even every speck of dust that resided upon it. The Tomb, after sipping at the coffee for a little while, turned their attention to her; growing silent they waited. Herbal noticed this silence, and snapped herself out of her world. She looked up at everypony and smiled. “Alright, ready to hear the plan?” She asked, sounding dignified and almost proud of what she was about to present. The ponies all nodded.

Herbal nodded, paying her attention back down to the map on the table, and motioned for the others to gather around. “We’re here.” She said, hoofing at a spot on the map. “Our objective is here.” She said, hoofing at another spot on the map, much further away. “This means a lot of trekking through the small paths, and snowy woods around the area. The closer we get to here, the more troops we will encounter.” She explained, again moving her hoof to another point on the map. “That means Scout, Assassin, and Archer are to take point, creating a perimeter around the team. Terra, you’re going to lead by a few meters. Angelica and Shuriken, you two are going to be on either sides of the Tomb, looking to the forest around you. I will be boosting you all with mana potions and spells every now and again, but the extra rest should be enough until we clear these woods.” She continued. “Once we cross the border out of the void and into the Empire territory, the climate will have changed. Meaning it will be quite a bit hotter as we get closer to the objective, and which means we won’t have as dense forest to cover us. Understood?”

The tomb nodded. “Infinity, I want you leading the rest of the Tomb. That means me and Brax are in the back. Infinity, I want you to help me boost the teams mana if you have enough of your own. Secondly, you’re in front, so that if a long range attack comes for us, there won’t be a problem. You’re magic should be able to reach far enough to create the offense and defense that you can.” She said, looking up to Infinity, who nodded. “Lastly, Brax, if an attack triggers from the front or side guards, than you will be charging in that direction depending on what kind of threat we are dealing with. The others will get to work with the least threatening, and I will be behind Infinity the entire time, casting shields, buffs, and healing spells to all of you.” She finished her plans. She looked back up to the Tomb, making sure they got all of their parts down.

“You all got that?” She asked. The Tomb nodded, and standing at attention, saluted. “Yes ma’am!” They shouted in respect.

“Good. No matter the attack, we maintain this formation at all times.” She smiled. “All in.” She said enthusiastically. At once all of the ponies threw their hooves into a circle. At an instance, Herbal shouted “Whiteout!” and they all threw their hooves in the air, and cheered.

Once they had all exited the war tent, the Tomb members began to gather their small personal items to take with them. Herbal stood in the middle of the campsite, and waited for the others to emerge from their tents. Once they did, she summoned a glow to her horn that made the entire camp glow, and in an instance, the tents began to shrink, and dissolve into glowing specks in the air. The camp was gone; sent back to their places in the capitol, Moongleam city. “Alright Whiteout, let’s get to work!” Herbal Remedy shouted, and they began to head out.

They fell into the position that had been decided earlier. Terra charged forward, and sunk into the shadows, somehow and miraculously almost disappearing. Shuriken and Angelica both climbed into trees on opposing sides of each other. Infinity took a steady lead in front of Brax and Herbal. No words were said for the first few kilometers that were traveled. Terra was separate, Angelica and Shuriken snuck through the trees, creeping and keeping watch for those that were hiding, and the others stayed as silent as they could. It was hard to maintain complete silence when you had a literal heavy on the Tomb. Stepped hard, armor would always creek, and the breath would be a dead giveaway to the trained ear. But they still tried nonetheless.

No one expected trouble, until Terra Nova suddenly came rushing back, out of the shadows. She was still silent about herself, and Herbal whistled out, stopping the movement of the Tomb. “A platoon is coming. Doesn’t look like a Tomb. There are four, maybe five members. A few random Warriors, one Chainer, and I suspect there is a Scout somewhere in the midst.” She said calmly. “They’re about a half a kilometer out.”

“The Chainer, what creature is he bearing?” Herbal asked. Terra paused a minute, thinking. “I think it was a Hell Hound… Sorry, I couldn’t see it all that well. Chainer’s creatures often are able to sniff out stealthed ponies. But yes, I think it was a Hell Hound, I’m sure of it.” She said, nodding in reassurance. “Alright. We can take them. No use in trying to avoid them… They’re far enough out that there isn’t suspicion if they don’t report back in for a while; Long enough for us to get to the objective. Besides, we couldn’t hope to get past that Hell Hound with heavy hooves.” Herbal said, indirectly pointing to Brax. “Agreed on this?” Herbal asked. Everypony nodded.

“Alright then. Infinity, I need Earthen Shield around us. The rest, go back to where you were. Stay stealthed and take them from behind. Brax will get the Chainer. Keep tabs on your six; there is a possible sneaker in the shadows.” Herbal commanded.

The ponies went back to their originating positions, staying stationary. Infinity Shift summoned a spell to her horn that in turn caused the small blue orbs on her wooden staff to pulse. She slammed the staff to the ground, taking a strong stance and shouting “Earthia Sentry!”

The ground shook, and only a mere few seconds went by before boulders in rocky oval shapes erupted from the ground, creating a large shield that halfway surrounded the three. A loud howl could be heard from the distance. Herbal and Brax ducked under the shield, as infinity stood before the small dirt path from which the howl came from. She summoned a small arcane circle in front of her, whispering “Rebeutal,” and looked back to Herbal. Herbal pointed her hoof to the ground below her, and Infinity smiled.

Infinity cast a second spell, and looked back on the path. There were a few moments of silence before a vicious growl, followed by the charge of a figure came hurling towards Infinity. She smirked at the Hell Hound. It got a few feet from the small circle, before the ground in front of the shield cracked, and out the rubble burst Brax. Slamming his hoof upon the Hell Hounds underbelly, it was flung out of the direction of the shield, and landed about a meter away from Brax. The Hound whimpered, gaining its footing, then growled again. It charged again, flaring the flames that covered it’s feet, eyes, spine and tale. It opened it’s mouth, and gave way to a giant wave of fire in Brax’s direction. Brax was caught in the flame, engulfed. But as the flames settled, the Hound paused looking upon it, and a yell suddenly came from within the flame. Out came Brax, his weapon above him, he slammed his hammer down onto the Hell Hound.

Herbal Remedy peaked up from the shield, and over at Brax, where she smiled. Her flame resist and healing spell had worked. Suddenly, a bolt flew towards Herbals head. She flinched waiting for the pain to hit. But within a second, the bolt had rebounded to the path before the shield, and Infinity put her hoof back to the ground. She had moved the rebound spell to Herbal in the instance the arrow came hurdling towards her.

The other three Warriors had appeared on the path. The Chainer appeared as well, and became enraged, since his hound wasn’t in good shape. He shot another bolt, towards Brax this time. The bolt made contact with Brax’s armor, merely denting it. Brax looked over to the Chainer, and gave a smirk within his helmet. Meanwhile the Hound charged him, but he blocked it with the shaft of his hammer.

The three Warriors charged, and Herbal seeing this, whistled. All at once, Terra, Angelica, and Shuriken appeared, and charged the three targets. Terra took the middle target, stabbing his lower neck region with her blade. Angelica had socked her target with her bow, and cast a boosting spell below her, rebounding to the air, and letting an arrow fly down upon him. Shuriken had come down spinning with her fan-blades and shredding her target and their armor. The targets had recovered rather quickly. The middle target, although bleeding, lifted his blade, and let it fly, barely making it to Terra and cutting her lightly. The second target had broken the arrow off, having the head imbedded in his front shoulder, and threw a few knives at Angelica, one clipped her neck. The third had gotten a few deep cuts on the exposed coat from the armor, and charged Shuriken with a dagger, which she dodged.

Seeing that her tomb was injured, Herbal cast streams of healing to her Tomb mates, and started healing their cuts. Meanwhile, Infinity was busy with the Chainer. She casted small bursts of spells at the pony, whom was incredibly agile, and was able to dodge them better. She cast a few more small rebound spells on the exposed areas of Brax’s body, assuring he would not get hit past his armor. The Chainer continued to fire, dodging most of the spells and rebounding bolts, and started to shoot not only at Brax, but at Infinity Shift as well. She was able to keep herself shielded through the Earth, but she flung around to cast a lightning spell on the Chainer, when one of his bolts clipped her ear good. It started to bleed, and she broke her spells focus, and missed her shot at the pony. She shrunk back under the shield, and summoned a powerful glow to her horn, that shook some of the back part of the shield and gathered them up, creating a golem. Herbal got on to her wound, healing it, and buffing Infinity with a mana spell. The golem started to attack the Chainer, which again, he was able to dodge.

The Hound was still giving Brax a problem. He missed his slower hammer attacks, and was outmatched by the Hound’s speed. The Hound circled around Brax, and jumped on his back, attacking him. Brax thought of a plan; he held his hammer as far back as he could, and flung it forward, letting it fly as hard it could into the ground. The inertia was enough to flip Brax over, flinging the Hound off of his back and into a tree. Brax meanwhile had landed on his feet, and taking a new hold on the hammer, used all of his might to swing the hammer from his hind legs with an under grip, and smashed the Hound against the tree. The Hound went limp, and when the hammer released, it slumped down to the snowy ground, dead.

The three Warriors were still battling with the others, and were just narrowly missing them. Angelica popped her target in the snout with her bow, incapacitating him, and taking a flip back, she smirked. The Warrior looked confused, and Angelica summoned a circle in front of her hoof. “My arrows are branded.” She simply stated, before the Warrior screamed in pain, and his shoulder ripped open in a burst of golden light. Terra kept her agile dodges up, putting small, precise cuts on her target. Suddenly, the Warrior leg swept her, and she tripped. She flinched, waiting for the strike, but looking up on her target, noticed he was frozen. She took a deep breath, and got up. “Hmm… Interesting. I suppose that plant nectar I put on my blade was poisonous. Paralysis is a good use.” She said. She frowned a moment. Looking away, she put the blade the throat of the Warrior, and ended him. Shuriken dropped a smoke bomb, charging her target, and sticking him with the tips of her blade. She tripped him, and nailed two kunais into his shoulders. “Guess you weren’t fast enough…” She mumbled, killing him.

Lastly the Chainer was left. The golem deactivated, and rained rocks down upon the Chainer. Finally something he could not dodge. His leg became stuck under one of the rocks, most likely broken. He struggled, trying to release the grip of the boulder, but couldn’t manage before Infinity had cast another spell. “Lumious Glacia!” She shouted, summoning a strong blue glow. The ground below the Chainer turned to ice, and in an instant, shot up with spikes, stabbing through him several times at once, and ending his life.

The Tomb stopped a minute, taking a breather. The Earthen Shield collapsed, back into the ground, as did most of the team. Herbal started dealing out healing spells and tossing potions to the tomb, as they tried to recover.

“-Nice… Fight…” Infinity said breathlessly, sweat running down her brow. “Formation worked. Not too bad there on the planning, Herbal.” Shuriken stated simply to Herbal, who gave a quick smirk. “Yeah…” She said.

“Die Lunar scum!” A voice yelled out, as a figure appeared behind Herbal, and a blade moved quickly, but was met at a stop. Infinity had her hoof out, casting a shield spell behind Herbal, who turned quickly to face the attacker. On instinct she pulled her blade, slicing the throat of the pony, who dropped to the ground, now lifeless. “That the sneaker you were talking about?” Herbal asked, turning somewhat shocked back to Terra Nova and the rest. She looked morbidly tranced by the attack, and had a few splatters of blood on her cheek. She was able to snap herself out of it however.

She turned back into the hard captain they all knew. “Let’s get going ponies, you all get five minutes for the potions and spells to kick in. Then we trot out.” She said, sitting again, and popping out a small bag, containing what looked like leaves of some sort; she took a few of them, and started to eat them. Taking deep calming breaths, she was able to recover from the attack as quickly as it happened. The leaves helped calm her down and get rid of the extra unnecessary adrenaline.

The rest of the Tomb had regained their energy and their strength. They stood; a tad slow to fall back into formation. “Alright everypony, let’s keep on.” Herbal said calmly. They took back their positions, and continued. Not an ounce of emotion was expressed through their stern faces now. They had rearranged their minds, and tried to expel their feelings about the fight.

The Tomb continued on, making their way down the path, until it came to a split. The Tomb stopped, and the three outfielders came back to the base unit. “What now?” Terra asked. “Terra… I’m going to ask you to scout ahead a ways, just enough to know which direction each on leads in. Meanwhile I’ll reassert my map, and we’ll set up a small camp.” Herbal Remedy answered. Terra nodded.

She took a minute to go over to Brax, who had removed his helmet, and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll be back.” She said, reassuring him. He frowned. “Nova…” He said solemnly. “Are you sure? I mean, you don’t like killing, but that Warrior. You…” He was interrupted by Terra. “I’m fine Brax. Really… I know it’s necessary. I can get over it… It’s time I did.” She said. He nodded, still saddened. She gave him another peck and ran off, through the forest that split the two paths.

A while later, Terra had returned; breathing heavily and had cuts everywhere on her coat; she keeled over. The tomb ran over to her, and helped her on her hooves. Herbal examined her wounds, and took things from her saddlebag, prepping first aid.
“What happened?” Brax asked, panicked as he ran to her side. She was breathless, but was able to speak somewhat. She smiled, weirdly. “Oh nothing… Just don’t go down the right pathway.” She said, laughing a bit. “The left leads to where we want to go, most definitely… Herbal if you would label the right pathway on your map as the ‘Volatile Wilds’, than that would be great, thank you.” She said, laughing a bit. Brax was a bit taken back at her cheeriness. “Wh-what happened to you?” Brax asked, terrified of her answer. “Oh, nothing. I was just having fun with the plants in the wilds… Everything was trying to kill me. It was a truly fascinating area…” She smiled and laughed again. “I’ll have to go back and get a few samples!”
Brax hugged Terra tightly. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” He expresses. She hugs him back, calming herself. Herbal approached her as well, giving her a friendly hug, and tending to her remaining wounds. “Mind if I ask if you saw any troops along the left path?” She asked gently, wrapping a few bandages around some of her lighter cuts; no use wasting mana. Herbal was less concerned. She always knew that whenever Terra saw a new sort of plant, or basically any rare one at that, it acts as a sort of a golden acorn would to an easily distracted squirrel. She simply must examine them, even if it cost a few cuts and bruises. If somepony were to tell her to retrieve a certain plant or flora of sorts, she would walk through the bowels of Tartarus with a glad and brave attitude, just because she seeked the knowledge of such things.
Recovering now, it seemed as if they could continue. Terra seemed to still somewhat be day dreaming over the ‘Volatile Wilds’. Every so often she would take out her journal and write just a little something down, so as not to attract the attention of her captain; ultimately failing. She only stopped when Herbal had threatened to take the thing away from her. She disapproved, but solemnly obliged, returning the focus she could to her mission, and sinking into the shadows to disappear again.
The pathway was clear, and no alarms were tripped in regards to the Tombs trespassing, otherwise an army would be here. Terra was not to be seen; which was good, and meant that there was no one to be on guard about. But the climate began to change a bit. The biting cold no longer chilled you to the very bone, and instead nipped at your coat, unable to make you shiver. As they continued on, the snow stopped falling, and on the grass and trees and dirt around them, the white powder was merely spotting. The voided sky seemed to glow a small colorful tint, as if the aurora lights had awakened, and began to greet the land. The evergreen trees began to change, into those that were deciduous. In fact, the trees looked different… They seemed to be a strange color than usual. Trees of orange, yellow and brown hints surrounded the area around them. Leaves drifted across the slight breeze running through them. Whispering out, and echoing about. The smell of something inexplicable and amazing, like sweetness and smoke at the same time. Almost as if the nip in the air had a scent. Beautiful to their senses.
Terra approached one of the trees, coming out of the shadows, and marveling at it’s colors. “Oh my! It’s a shrub! And quite a specimen too! What a lovely looking Quercus!” She said, examining a leaf. She looked to the others, whom gave her a silly smile, and a somewhat confused look. “A Quercus is a genus that defines over 6oo different specimens of- You know what… This is an Oak.” She explained, glancing from the top of her glasses, trying not to ramble on. “Over here are some other deciduous trees! An Acer! That’s a Maple! How lovely!” She said, wide eyed, and excited. “Oh goodness and an Ulmus! What a lovely shade of yellow this Elm has!”

The rest of the tomb marveled at the colors as well. But the question finally came over one of them. “I’ve never seen such colors on trees before… I mean I remember them from when I was a foal, but I only remember them at a certain time. Where are we?” Even Terra hadn’t known the answer, and was in fact enthralled to know the answer to such an inquiry. They all turned to the one person that might know. The former Priestess; Angelica. “You’ve known this division better than any of us. What creates such a wondrous phenomena?” Terra asked excited, joining the semi-circle that had now formed around the archer. She smiled and sat, sighing at having to think back about her days in the Empire; thankful that her friends only spoke of the good she had done, and that they forgave her.

“This land is called the Everfall. A cousin to the Everfree Forest… This phenomenon is created because of the lack of the reach from the sun. Ponies often misconstrued the Empire for keeping the sun in one place at all times, but Celestia doesn’t. She knows the land needs rest. So, in order to create that rest, she positions the sun farther our, bringing it’s reach here. Giving the trees life again. When she situates it back towards Canterlot, the trees go back to the state of Autumn it is usually in.” Angelica explains. She looks around, enjoying the feeling of the Everfall again. “This was one of my favorite places to be in the Empire.” She smiled and breathed in the calming air around her. The rest of the tomb did the same, and they fell silent to the echos of the whispering trees. “You know, although there is no moon, Celestia still pushes the sun away from us every length of a day. We sleep under beautiful sunrises.” Angelica states softly. “It truly was something… But then… The war happened, and Celestia just… Changed.” She frowned and looked back to her tomb mates. They all looked a bit saddened. They all took a minute to consider the war. The position they were in, how grim it all was; how contorted the world had become.

Herbal looked back up, giving a peaceful looking smile. “Just know, whatever happens, we’re friends. Someday, the war will be over, and we’ll be able to see the world in it’s beauty again. When you are facing danger and fear, remember the beautiful things; like this. The Everfall, the Snowy Mountains, Glimmering Hollow. Just remember, that what we do, whether better or worse, we still pushed this world to move on, and keep towards something that we know will be better someday. Know that you have loved, hated, and that you have seen war and peace. But that no matter what happens, we are friends. That alone, is beautiful. That in a world so violent, beauty and friendship can exist and flourish.” A tear slipped from one of her eyes, and she gave a giant smile. “And that I love you guys.” She pulled the group together for a hug.

After the sentiments were over, it seemed like all the stress and pain had gone, and they were back on the stroll, not anxious, not truly happy, and not angry; just at peace. The trees started to take on a more green tint, and finally, they were in a fully green forest, no longer even cold.

Finally, after days, nearly weeks; they had made it. Their final destination. A depression in the forest had been reached, and in the center of such, there lay a beautifully constructed hellenic well, made of limestone. A bar of ivory wood was across the top of it, as it gave off a slight blue glow. Small orbs of blue and white light floated around the well, and some of them let of a very light ethereal essence of a pony. It was here that was their goal to reach. It was the Well of Lingering Souls.

Author's Note

Quite a nice chapter if i do say so myself! Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to join me on Deviantart to make your own character!