Griffinstone United

The two robed figures traversed the dark halls silently, their hoofsteps unheard. Their cloaks were pulled tight, their faces invisible in the darkness. Dim, flickering torches cast wicked shadows on either wall. They didn't utter a word, not even take a breath, and instead walked as quiet as could be.

Limewolves howled outside, the noise echoing across the cobblestone and marble halls distorted. Peacekeeper Snowdrop looked to his partner, who was also a unicorn. His eyes looked straight ahead, not even regarding Snowdrop and rather staring off to space. He pouted, uncomfortable. It had always been weird, serving with ponies like his current partner as they sneaked through the palace, and he'd never gotten used to it. As far as he knew, there were maybe a hundred other Peacekeepers like him, but that was in her reserves of more than one hundred and fifty of them. That meant that there were about fifty like his partner — foggy-eyed and silent.

He'd served for Queen Lilac ever since she had saved her from those limewolves and timberwolves, where he had used to be a small colt all by his lonesome, an orphan lost in the forest. And now he was her right-hoof pony, and a master at the magic of the north. Times had changed. Immensely. Especially when she struck up that deal. That was when she started to work on what she was calling the 'Age of Ice.'

He couldn't say whether Queen Lilac was right or not. True, these lands did belong to her long ago, but there was a reason that she was sealed away, right?

He shook his head, dismissing the thought. The last thing he wanted was for Queen Lilac to be secretly looking into his mind and find that he was questioning her. He put his mind back on course, and just in time for his partner to hold up a hoof. Snowdrop stopped at the door as well and floated out the dirty sack from his saddlebag, cautious not to get any of the dirt on his robes. Honestly, why couldn't we have at least cleaned this up?

"Y'all think it's ready?" he asked, his blank-faced partner giving a mere nod. Snowdrop sighed, still unsure of whether he wanted to do this. That griffon gal seemed nice enough, suspicious of them, maybe, but Queen Lilac had insisted that he did this, giving no elaboration or reason. Snowdrop wasn't going to be disagreeing with her anytime soon, however. He didn't want to die, much less die and be added to her other Peacekeepers.

The plan was simple enough: rush in, throw the enchanted bag over her head so that she'll go unconscious, and drag her to Queen Lilac. Nothing could go wrong-

His mind was broke once again when his partner was slammed against the wall by seemingly nothing, the noise of multiple ribs cracking sounding afterwards.

What the hell?! He looked around, wide-eyed, and he thought that in the darkness, he could see another unicorn, but she wasn't clad in any robes.

"Woah, wait-!" he yelled out, but he was cut off when he started to raise a foot off the ground, then another, and eventually several more, a purple aura surrounding him. And then he was slammed to the ground, all of his hooves' bones shattering. He yowled in pain, and the edges of his vision were starting to get blurry. He quickly quieted himself as the purple unicorn trotted past his body, raising an eyebrow at him before wrapping his partner in another field of levitation and slamming his skull against the wall three times.

She regarded him with curious eyes, then the sack. She seemed to be considering something. Tears of pain began to form in Snowdrop's eyes, and he raised one broken hoof.

"Please," he begged through ragged gasps, "don't kill me, I can help you, I-"

The last thing he saw was the enchanted sack slowly going over his muzzle before everything went to black.

***   ***   ***

Ellie jerked up at the noise of the creaking door, her weary eyes looking about. She'd been awake all night, restless, and the strange thumps from outside had only stirred her more. She quickly checked to see that her bow and arrows were still beneath the luxurious pillow, along with the axe, which they both were. She let out a held breath when she saw that it was only Amethyst, but concern quickly overwhelmed the relief.

"You are awake," she noted, closing the tall door behind her. Moonlight streamed through the window just above Ellie's grand bed, lighting the room enough so that Ellie could see.

"Amethyst, why are you here?" Ellie asked, slowly getting out from the bed.

"We must leave, this place is dangerous. I sneaked out from the room she had given me and caught them enchanting something, which I recognized the spell as a sort of knock-out spell. That and I caught two of these alleged Peacekeepers chatting, and I caught some interesting conversation. The ponies who planned to knock you out are just outside, and I've already evacuated the guys, who claimed to not remember anything from the previous night, so-"

"Right outside!?" Ellie whispered frantically, snatching her bow, but Amethyst stopped her and put a hoof on her arm.

"Neutralized, Ellie."

"Oh."

"Now gather your things, time is precious. I suspect that all of these Peacekeepers are connected somehow, and I fear that killing just one alerted the rest. Some sort of shared mind, I assume. Now come, I've found a route that will get us out of here."

A shiver went up Ellie's spine at the mention of a 'shared mind' as she grabbed her rucksack. It was all too familiar to her; multiple dead that a single Necromancer have risen will all have the same mind, offering coordination at the price of more concentration.

Oh, this sounds fun, God whispered at the back of her mind.

***   ***   ***

"Anything?" Ellie whispered, to which Amethyst shook her head and waved her forward. It had been silent for the whole time of their sneaking through the palace. Amethyst had explained the route further as they walked, telling her that there was a cave system that ran beneath the castle, and the kitchens were build right above them, with the cave area beneath converted to storage rooms for food, among other things.

Ellie looked back once before shutting the kitchen door, following the purple mare and gazing around the room. The black-and-white tiled floor was covered in food splatters, and multiple knives were stuck in the sleek, wood counter top. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, only a couple of the candles lit. Slabs of meat and various veggies and fruits lied on the counters, though the meat seemed to be rotting. Ellie quickly snatched some carrots, putting them in her pockets.

"So where are we going once we're out of the caves?" Ellie asked as they approached a staircase that led downwards.

"Simple," she began, "the caves open up to the east side of the castle, and from there we can circle around to the south side of the castle and then head back to the tower that we had stayed in last night."

"Wait, where are Benedict and Big Mac if we're leaving this way? Did they already go through here?" Ellie asked, following Amethyst down.

"I used my levitation to float them over the castle wall, though it left me rather exhausted. I was lucky to get to you before those two Peacekeepers, and I'm afraid that it would be too strenuous to try to float myself over the wall, so I thought it best for you and I to go through the caves."

"Oh, thanks for that," Ellie said, realizing she still hadn't thanked her. Amethyst said no response as they reached the end of the stairwell.

The stone floor had been smoothed enough for hundreds of wooden crates to be placed, piled up against the walls that had been cut into to make more room. Most of the jagged rocks that rose from the ground had been cut away, but there were many that hung from the ceiling of the cave.

"Dang, look at all those stalagmites," Ellie said more to herself than Amethyst. She'd never actually seen one before, and these glistened with glowing blue crystals that jutted out from them, along with purple and pink ones.

"Stalactites," Amethyst corrected, earning a frown. Ellie started to stray towards one of the crates, but Amethyst yanked her back with levitation. "No distractions."

They continued in everlasting silence, their steps echoing through the cave. It was very moist, and ice formed around all of the glowing crystals. Ellie wanted to say 'no distractions' back to Amethyst when she slowed to gawk at them, but bit her tongue.

They had walked for about ten minutes before she spoke up. "Why is this place so empty?" Ellie asked. "I mean, why don't they expand through here?"

"To that, I wouldn't-" she stopped, holding up a hoof.

Ellie raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered. Ellie listened closely, but all she heard were the drips of water and the strange, vibrating hums that came from the crystals-

No, wait, she did hear something! Voices!

"Quickly!" Amethyst whispered, galloping towards the side of the cave silently, next to a crystal. Ellie followed, and the Elemantic unicorn took out a ruby, quickly draining it of color before casting a thin wall of ice, thick enough to hide them but thin enough so that they'd hear the passing conversation.

"...they again?" a male voice asked.

There was a feminine chuckle. "I don't know, but Slush reported seeing them going through the kitchen, so they must be coming through these damn caves soon."

Ellie glanced to Amethyst, worried. A trap? her eyes conveyed.

"Damn dead," the male voice began, his voice pessimistic. "Don't have no mind, but the Queen still wants us to serve with 'em. I mean, watch." There was a short silence. "See?! You c'n fuckin' wave in their faces and they won't respond. Damn emotionless, I tell you what."

"Useful, though," the female responded. "They're all coordinated, and are useful in groups by themselves. And they aren't emotionless, they'll scream like they actually feel pain."

"Can't think by themselves."

"Fair point, but they're good to just end into battle ahead of you. They're so replaceable, especially with the coming of the Age of Ice."

"Yeah, I guess that's-" there was a pause and a strange rumble before some a scream sounded.

"Oh sweet Lilac, we've got another rogue one!" the male voice screamed out before there was a loud crash and a strange, throaty roar. "Two more on our flank!"

Amethyst and Ellie met eyes, and they both nodded with the same thought. The wall that Amethyst had created for them shattered upon her magical demand, all of the shards floating around the unicorn as she slid away. Ellie followed and immediately saw what the sudden ruckus was about.

Those strange ice golems that they'd seen, there were three of them! Two of them were ball shaped, with jaws that stuck out and two large, glowing blue eyes each, but the third was one of those tall ones. Much smaller than the biggest that they'd seen back outside, it had long legs and arms, and rather than having spikes of ice, the creature was well cut, with the ice it was made out of being smooth, and there was no stone in it, unlike its shorter counterpart. It was completely made of ice, and two glowing, pink, beady eyes were in its smooth head, which almost scraped the roof of the cave, with the giant's, well, giantness.

Ellie watched in awe as it slammed a foot down on a fleeing Peacekeeper, his insides quickly coming out from his mouth as there was a hissing sound — the sound of a Necromantic minion dying. The two smaller ice-golem-things were also fighting, one snatching a robed mare and squeezing her while the other chased another Peacekeeper, using its long, ice-muscle arms rather than its stubby legs to carry it forwards.

At first Ellie saw this as a good thing. These things were wiping out all the Peacekeepers! Then she saw one turn towards them, two hooves hanging from its jaw from bloody strands of flesh and meat.

She yelped as the thing charged at her, flying up to where it couldn't reach her. A glowing ball shot past her, and she looked back to see that two Peacekeepers were focusing on her. Ellie cursed and, forgetting that Amethyst was there, tapped into her Necromantic powers, constricting both of their throats. She suddenly thanked God, remembering that he had given her the ability to bypass this rule of manipulating other Necromancer's dead's flesh and bone. While this wouldn't work on a decayed corpse or skeleton, their bodies were relatively working from Necromancy, meaning that the loss of breath would at least hinder them.

Sure enough, they reached up for their throats, faces going purple. They would survive the suffocation, but it was a good distraction as she drew and nocked an arrow, looking back down at the ice golem. It was jumping up at her hopelessly, roaring. Unsure of where to hit, she just let it go through its eye.

That was a good guess. Immediately, cracks ran up and down its body before it shattered. Meanwhile, Amethyst had been glancing at the choking ponies for only a moment before sending her whirlwind of levitation and Elemancy at one of the Peacekeepers who shouted in surprise in the same voice as the one who was talking before, every single shard of ice slicing through his robes and body to bring a trail of blood. Once they all shattered into tinier, blood-stained pieces against the wall of the cave, he had turned into a crimson fountain, dropping to the ground.

While Amethyst was spurring up a fireball for the other short ice golem, Ellie noticed that one of the unicorn Peacekeepers had a bow of their own, and they had it aimed directly towards Amethyst from behind. Ellie rushed forward and created a translucent shield right before it could reach her, the arrow snapping from the impact. Amethyst looked up and nodded her thanks before throwing the fireball at the ice golem, which did near to nothing, besides making it drip a little bit.

Ellie looked from one of the glowing crystals to the short ice golem, and something clicked in her head. They're made of the crystals, not ice! Or at least, not entirely. She looked back at the taller ice golem. It definitely was made out of ice when she compared it to the shorter of the two, from her observation.

There were only two Peacekeepers left, besides the two that Ellie was continuing to choke. She finally stopped and they both dropped, chests heaving. Ellie flew over and raised her axe, slamming it down on the first's head, turning her head away to avoid the splatter of blood that came afterwards.

She sliced through the other easily before looking back at Amethyst, who was using her water Elemancy to propel her in different directions, a steady stream coming from each of her hooves as she flew about the cave, avoiding the short ice golem. Ellie flew to her aid, the other two Peacekeepers running from the taller, occasionally shooting a bolt of ice that dinked off from the lumbering giant.

After missing twice, Ellie finally landed a hit through the smaller ice golem's eyes. Unlike the other, it was chasing Amethyst around, making it a hard target with its strange movements. Amethyst's water cut short and she dropped to the ground in a controlled descent. Both looked towards their remaining opponents. One of the Peacekeepers had been smushed, the other galloping away, screaming. Ellie guessed she was the other living Peacekeeper.

The giant turned towards them.

"How do we kill it?" Ellie asked, staring at it.

"Can't you shoot it through the eyes again?"

"Do you see how tiny those things are!?" Ellie shouted. It took a step towards them, sending pebbles falling.

"Throw fire at it!" Ellie screamed, Amethyst frowning and backing away as the thing took another step.

She pointed at the remains of one of the shorter ice golems. "Didn't you see? It did nothing!"

"I think this giant one is made out of ice, though. Those shorter things were made out of those glowing crystals," she reasoned, pointing to a cluster of them jutting out from the ceiling.

"I..." A thoughtful expression came across her face. "I'll try."

It took another step towards them.

It was just a small, glowing orange orb above Amethyst's head, but it grew quickly. First it became the size of a burning marshmallow, next a campfire, and then a raging inferno the size of Amethyst, but it kept growing until it was nearly the size of the goliath that Ellie had encountered earlier. And it kept growing, beads of sweat beginning to form on Amethyst's brow.

The giant stopped, and Ellie thought that he seemed curious. Its long arms ended in frosty claws, each one sharper than a steel blade could ever be. It took another step towards them, but Amethyst wasn't moving anymore. Rather, she was pouring all of her effort into the ball of fire. Soon enough, however, she stopped.

She's out of power, Ellie figured, but Amethyst wouldn't need any more rubies. The raging hell above her was nearly a fifth the size of the giant. Before it could take another step, she tossed it up at him.

As soon as the fireball struck it in the chest, there was a large explosion. The whole cave shook, and stalactites began to fall, Ellie rushing over to Amethyst and casting a dome over them for protection. Griffon-sized chunks of ice that were melting as they hit the ground shattered into even more pieces, each one still melting. The dust had finally settled enough to reveal the giant's torso to be nearly demolished, water streaming down from its neck from the immense heat of the blast.

Eventually, the two thinning — but still very large — pieces of ice that were holding up his neck snapped, the head falling to the ground. It shattered into a million pieces once it reached the floor, sending shards flying everywhere, many bumping harmlessly off of Ellie's dome.

Amethyst was panting once everything had settled, pulling a ruby from her coat and draining it. She looked up at Ellie.

"We must hurry," pant, "and meet up with Big Mac and Benedict."

"Do you need help...?" Ellie asked, concerned. She was horribly exhausted.

"No," she said, pushing away her hand. "We must go, before more come! They expected us here."