Twisted Fate

Chapter Ten – The Kingdom of Asgard

“Watch yourself, little pony.”

“I told you I don’t know anything!” Zephyr was shouting like a broken record, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

“Some random stallion in Asgard wires 20,000 bits to an offshore account in Haven and you didn’t ask for his name?” I yelled back. “You just roll with the whole threaten a gryphons family and take the money?”

“Look,” Zephyr responded, “I was approached by some banker pony in Manehattan, alright. He told me to take a trip up to Pisa. Told me to threaten a pair of gryphons with their own family while he took care of some business; look I don’t have anything personal against gryphons but come on 20k, are you kidding me?”

I pulled a hoof back as I prepared to slug the bastard in the face, “Tell me why I shouldn’t slit your throat then?”

Zephyr’s eyes widened in fear, “Because I’m the only one giving the okay that everything is fine!”

I lowered my hoof ever so slightly so that it was just above the ropes tied around his chest. “Okay, you bought yourself time to explain.”

“This stallion, he had a brown coat, and a black mane,” I tensed up at the description, “He approached me at a bar I like to hang out at after work, offered me a thousand bits just to hear him out. When he told me I get another 19 just to spin a story to a gryphon and stay in town for a week I jumped at it. I mean, I’m sure nothing’s actually wrong, right?”

“Wrong,” I replied. “That stallion, did you catch a cutie mark?”

“No, he was wearing a trench coat and had a black fedora.”

“And what did you mean you’re the only one giving the okay here?” Midnight growled.

“Look, the guy sends a gryphon messenger everyday around 5, and I meet him at a local bar, give him the okay. He flies off to Talos to give the message to another gryphon who takes it to the guy in Asgard. If anything in the chain gets interrupted something bad goes down, he said.”

“Yet, this whole time you thought the thing a bluff?” Faith spoke up, “That there wouldn’t be any actual consequences?”

“Look,” Zephyr tried to defend himself, “I’m just on the Manehattan weather team, alright. I’m not even team leader; I make minimum wage and this offer comes out of the blue I don’t ask many questions.”

“And anyway-” Zephyr tried to speak before I shoved a hoof in his mouth.

“Listen to me,” I snarled, “You’re going to do everything I say, okay?”

“Mmkay,” Zephyr said, being muffled by my hoof.

“We’re going to let you go, and I’m going to follow you to the bar where you meet this gryphon. You’re going to give the okay, and leave. Got it?”

I removed my hoof before he said anything, “I can do that.”

“Good, then once that’s done, you’re going to stay here until the end of the week, and keep giving the okay to the messenger, then you’re going to go back to Manehatten, go to Quick Fix Security downtown, and ask for the owner, Celerity.”

“Destiny,” Faith spoke up, “What are you planning-”

“You’re going to tell her of your encounter with this trench coated pony,” I cut Faith off. “If everything goes well she won’t report you to the guard, you tell her Destiny says that she investigating the trench coat pony, okay?”

“Okay,” Zephyr replied with a slight shiver.

“Lion, do you have the time?” I turned to asked the gryphon in the room.

“3:30, Destiny,” he responded.

“Alright then,” I replied. “Looks like you’re going to wait here for another hour, Zephyr.”

“Oh come on, can’t you let me out now?” He protested.

“Can’t do,” I said back. “I’ve got things to discuss.”

I moved out of the dark room, keeping the bright interrogation lamp on and pointed at Zephyr. I motioned my companions and Lion to follow, Eagle guarding the door. We had been using the back room of Braveheart Transportation, once used as an office but easily converted into a dark terror chamber.

“You’ve got a plan?” Midnight asked once we were finally out of the back room.

“Simple,” I said as if it were plainly that. “We take the fight to Mr. Money Hooves in Asgard.”

“And what about Zephyr?” Faith argued, “We can’t simple leave him and hope that he doesn’t tell the gryphon messenger that one, everything is not okay, and two, to kill their mother.”

“Where does your mother live?” I asked, turning to Lion and completely ignoring Faith’s concern.

“Near the Grand Mead Hall, she works there as a bartender,” Lion replied.

“And her name is?” I continued.

“Aniv,” Lion responded.

I let out a sigh I didn’t realize I was holding, “Well at least it’s not Gilda’s contact, so we can stay out of sight while keeping tabs on her.”

“It still means two subjects,” Midnight pointed out.

“I’m lost,” Faith said.

“Yeah, me too,” Eagle spoke up.

“You want to explain or should I?” Midnight asked as he turned to me. It was obvious to the two of us, both having military training, how to deal with this situation, but to the untrained like Faith, who’s military experience came from history books, and Lion and Eagle, who ran a taxi service throughout the Kingdoms, they had no idea what either of us were formulating in our heads.

“I’ll go,” I offered. “The basic plan is this. We have Zephyr continue giving the okay while Eagle and Lion fly you two overnight into Asgard. We find Envy and Aniv, keeping watch on Aniv to make sure Mr. trench coat doesn’t get any ideas. We establish contact with Envy, get the artifact and get Money Hooves to follow our trail to our next destination. Simple.”

“And our next destination is, where exactly?” Faith asked.

“Working on it,” I responded, earning an annoyed look from Faith. “Let’s just focus on the task at hand, alright?” In truth, I had somewhat of an idea of where to go. Though I had never left the Outer Kingdoms, thanks to textbooks I had recognized the location in my vision as Foal Chi Minh City, located in Ib’Xian, the land of the Ibex.

While commonly mistaken for goats, the ibex contained several key differences, both physical and mental. Ib’Xian had a warrior society, priding itself on over a hundred different unique mixed martial arts. They also had symbols on their flank, similar to cutie marks only fake and tattooed. They had a special meaning in the old ibex language, but I couldn’t read that stuff for the life of me.

“Fine,” Faith sighed, “We should tell Zephyr what to do then.”

“But how are we supposed to convince him to keep his mouth shut if you three are in Asgard?” Lion asked.

“You’re gryphons,” I stated, “Intimidate him.”

“Ow! Watch where you’re going,” Midnight said.

“Sorry I don’t have built in night vision like you,” Faith snapped back.

“Will the two of you shut up and get on the chariot while I take point,” I broke up their argument. I offered to take up the front while Eagle and Lion towed the two bickering unicorns halfway across the Kingdoms. Unlike Manehattan, Pisa did not include a bustling night life, and street lights were not as common, meaning plenty of dark spots for Faith to stumble around in.

I’ll admit it was cute watching her bump into things, and occasionally painful, but with Midnight’s built in night vision, he helped her along onto the roof of Braveheart Transportation so that we could take off.

“Alright, we’re just heading North-North-West until I see a giant mountain city, right?” I asked Lion, who was currently hitching himself  up to the chariot.

“That’s the most accurate description of Asgard I’ve ever heard,” Lion replied sarcastically. “Yeah, you shouldn’t be too far ahead so if you get off course we’ll yell up to you.”

“And you know the way, how?” Faith asked, obviously unsure of the accuracy of midnight transportation.

“We know the stars,” Eagle assured. “We’ve done mid nighttime trips multiple times.”

“How do you even see in this dark though?” Faith was still arguing a moot point.

“We’re half eagle,” Eagle responded. “Don’t worry about it, get some shut eye on the flight over.”

Faith sighed in defeat, “Fine, I trust you two will get us there safely.”

“Trust us,” Lion added, “We need you guys to keep our mother safe.”

“So,” I spoke up. “Any late check in possibilities at the Grand Mead Hall?”

“We’ll be there before 3,” Eagle replied as he flared his wings, ready for takeoff.

“Up we go then,” I said as we ascended into the night.

“There it is,” Lion called from behind as I crested a small mountain. “We can drop you off in a courtyard near the inn, hoof it from there.”

“Sounds good!” I called back, picking up speed in determination. Despite the three hour flight, I had felt more alive and active then I had in a while, the cool mountain air and wind rushing through my mane giving me a spur of energy.

“I realize helping out gryphons is all well and good,” Midnight called from the back of the chariot. “But Faith is passed out; we’re carrying her to the inn and dumping her there. How are you holding up, Destiny?”

“Not too tired,” I replied, slowing a bit of speed to fall back next to the chariot and talk with Midnight as we made our descent towards the central city. “Figure we could grab a drink at the inn?”

“Are you asking me out?” Midnight asked; I could make out a smirk in the starlight.

“You wish,” I huffed back, “Like I’d get caught dead with a colt like you.”

“Ah, stallions aren’t so bad,” Midnight shot back, causing me to chuckle lightly. “Mares, can’t live with ‘em or without ‘em.”

“Let’s just get Faith here to a room,” I said. “I’ll even carry her for you.”

“Pff,” Midnight scoffed, “You just want to hold her.”

“I guess we owe you guys one,” I said to Lion and Eagle as Midnight hopped off the chariot, floating Faith over onto my back.

“Think nothing of it,” Lion replied.

“Just, keep an eye out on our mother, please,” Eagle added.

“Of course,” I replied. “Come on, Midnight.” I motioned Midnight with my hoof to follow, taking in as much of the city as I could for three in the morning. There were noticeably more street lights lining the streets at regular intervals, alleviating the pain of stumbling in a mountain city in the dead of night.

The city was almost how I expected it to be; cold, stone buildings a couple of stories tall lined the various terraces on varied levels of the city, the tallest terrace containing a grand building that I’m guessing housed whoever rules the House of Asgard.

The gryphons had been at war with one another ever since their king had died a few years ago, the three main political factions: Asgard, Talos and Eagleland all vying for power in the gryphon capital Gryphus. As such, over the past few years gryphons became colder and more suspicious then they normally were, adding to the risk of a mission as three ponies in a gryphon capital. It definitely made for some hazardous working conditions.

Lion had pointed out what direction to head to hit the Grand Mead Hall. Being one of the largest bars this side of Eternity’s Crossing, it was located on the third highest terrace in the city, right below the city-states’ leader’s terrace and that of the gryphon nobles. The large courtyard that made up the fourth and central terrace was only two levels below, a short twenty foot trot up a flight of stairs brought us to a main road on the upper terrace.

“I think I see it,” I guessed, squinting in the dark as I strained my eyes to make out the words.

“Yep,” Midnight replied, “That’s it, and I can read it clear as day.”

“You really do have built in night vision don’t you?” I asked.

“Why do you think my name is Midnight?” He chuckled. “Let’s get moving before your back gives out carrying bookworm here.”

“Hey!” I protested, “That’s my cute nickname for her, get your own.”

“Well then what do I call you?” Midnight asked as we walked along the road, our voices being the only sounds in the late night. “Bright eyes?” he asked, making an attempt to ironically name me on my dull eyes.

“Don’t talk about my eyes,” I grumbled.

“Alright,” Midnight said apprehensively, sensing he was walking on thin ice at the moment. “Anything wrong?”

“Just a bad history with them is all,” I replied, hoping to not elaborate.

“Alright, I guess,” Midnight replied, “We’re here,” Midnight announced as we strolled up to the front door, a lantern hanging outside signaling the building was still open.

I pushed the door open with a hoof and took a look inside, various empty tables and about three occupied ones greeted my eyes under low lantern light. I guess this place must’ve been old, or it was hard to get electricity all the way up the mountains for the room to be lit solely on fire.

A gryphon was watching the bar, casually washing it and tossing out drinks to the late night crowd of three tables. The bar had a somewhat low ceiling, due to it being made of rafters with netting in between, holding crates and barrels of foods and liquor. The lanterns hung from the netting such that the entire floor was well lit despite the lack of modern technology.

“What can I do for you?” The male gryphon spoke as I came up to the bar.

“How many rooms do you have free?” I asked, “And how much for a couple of nights?”

“I’ve only got one room with two beds available, cost is 15 bits a night,” the male gryphon’s somewhat raspy voice spoke.

“I’ll take it,” I replied. “Midnight, grab me a drink while I drop off Faith.”

“Got it,” Midnight replied.

“You three have room 15, sleep well,” The gryphon said as he began mixing a few drinks for Midnight. I moved up the stairs with Faith still resting on my back. I could feel her breathing softly as I opened the door and set her down on the far bed, leaving the one closer to the door open for Midnight.

When I turned around to leave, I noticed a card tacked to the door. A greeting guard that simple said ‘Missing you’ with a graphic adorned on the front. I removed it and opened it, unsure of what to find. It turned out to be a message that read:

Got wind you found a mysterious individual in Pisa, thought you might need these. –Frost

Attached to the card was a small bag with a couple of dark blue crystals. I snatched it off the card and tossed the message on the side table, hiding the bag in a small area underneath my primaries as I set my saddlebag down. I trotted back down the stairs, my eyes greeted with the wonderful sight of two mixed drinks, Midnight casually sipping on one.

“Drop off ocean eyes?” Midnight asked.

“Ocean eyes,” I paused, “I like it, fits her. Anyway, yeah I did, and I found a nice message tacked to the door, as well.”

“Let’s talk over there, then,” Midnight motioned with a nod of his head over to a table in the corner of the bar. I followed him and took a seat before he continued. “What kind of message are we talking, Destiny?”

“A greeting card,” I said simple. At Midnight’s confused expression I elaborated on it a bit. “It said ‘missing you,’ and inside was a little hoof written message from Frostbite.”

“What did he say?” Midnight leaned in curiously as I continued.

“He gave me these,” I said as I slid the small baggy out of my feathers and onto the table, raising a chuckle out of him. “What are they?” I asked.

“Permafrost Crystals,” Midnight asked, leaning in to check the crystals closer. “With an arcane infused core, heavy duty, and freshly made.”

“Made?” I asked, not sure what he meant.

“Frost cooks these up himself, but only on special occasions, think our message from Zephyr got through?”

“Must’ve,” I said, taking a swig of my drink. “So, just want to lay low and keep track of Aniv for the time being? We can contact Envy in the meantime tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Midnight replied, gulping down the rest of his drink followed by an audible burp. “We should get some rest then.”

“Sleep sounds amazing right now.”

“Gah!”

“Gah!”

“It’s eight in the morning, shut up already!” Midnight yelled, quickly shutting up Faith and I’s startled awakening.

“Why were you yelling?” I asked Faith.

“I just, wasn’t expecting to wake up next to you is all, it startled me.” I noticed a certain hesitation in her voice, but didn’t have time to dwell on it.

“Great,” Midnight said flatly, “Now that that little event is out of the way, kiss and make up so we can get some work done. Locate Aniv first, establish contact with Gilda’s contact second.”

“I like that plan,” I said, only to be interrupted as my stomach grumbled loudly. “Does it include breakfast, though?”

“Fine,” Midnight sighed, “Breakfast, then Aniv, then Envy.”

The three of us walked down the stairs into the semi crowded bar, an array of gryphons and occasionally a few ponies were seen conducting business at tables. I noticed a gryphon walking between several tables, taking orders and bringing them to another gryphon, this one female, mixing drinks for everyone in the bar.

“Ten bits says the waitress is Aniv and the bar gryphon is Envy,” Midnight whispered to me as we set foot on the main floor. “Plan?”

“Get some food, casually approach Aniv about her current situation,” I replied.

“Do we really want to tell the civilian she may be currently be hunted by a cult of trained killers at the moment?”

“Do you want to tell her she’s being protected by a group of trained killers at the moment?” I shot back.

“Touché,” Midnight said back. We sat at a table and waited patiently as the female gryphon came over to take our orders.

“Hey, hon,” The gryphon spoke with an accent that reminded me of a city I couldn’t quite put a hoof on. “My name’s Aniv, I’ll be you’re server for the day, any drinks to start?”

“Tell the bartender I’ll have a branded bird,” I stated. “What do you guys want?”

“Water,” Midnight replied.

“I’ll have water too,” Faith added.

“Never heard of that drink, miss, but I’ll ask none the less.” Aniv turned and walked away, giving me a good look at her tail feathers as she strolled away. I mean, sure she was a little bit older, and I had a thing for Faith, but it can’t hurt for a mare to keep her options open. I saw her put in the orders to the bar tender, the alcohol dealing gryphon giving an ever so brief glance at our table before going about mixing a drink and filling two glasses with water, placing them all on some paper napkins and sending them back with Aniv.

“You’re in luck miss,” Aniv said as she came back up to the table. “Turns out a branded bird is vodka sour with a cherry twist, I had no idea.” The gryphon waitress dropped off the three drinks and went about taking the orders from other tables.

“That can’t be right,” I said. “Gilda said a branded bird would get Envy’s attention.”

“Check the napkin,” Midnight said, taking a sip of his water. “Common spook trick to write down meeting times and locations on disposable trash like that.”

I flipped over the napkin the drink had been resting on, and sure enough a message was scrawled across the paper, reading plainly:

Out back, 1 PM.

“We’ve got four hours to kill,” I said plainly. “Any ideas on how to pass it?”

“I guess our best bet would to see about supplies,” Midnight said, “We have two hoof blades between us. You have your wing blades, Destiny, and Faith and I have our magic. Plus three Permafrost Crystals-”

“I’m sorry, what?” Faith spoke up.

“Frostbite left us a present,” I replied, getting an eyebrow raise as a response. “They’re Permafrost Crystal; Midnight says they were made with an arcane core which boosts it power, allowing it to freeze anything within a ten yard vicinity.”

“Sounds powerful,” Faith commented, “Do you really think we will need to use something like that here though?”

“I hope not,” I added. “Okay so inventory is complete, and that passed a good ten minutes, anything else?”

“Isn’t there anyway to get a little more information on the old city without talking to Gilda’s contact?” Faith asked, “Like an archive or something?”

“Maybe,” I said, “We’ll ask Aniv when she gets back about a spot like that around town. If there is one, you and Midnight go check it out and I’ll take first shift on watching Aniv.”

“Deal,” Faith said and shook my hoof, obviously eager at getting to spend more time in a library, as if the Manehattan archives weren’t enough.

“Can I get you three anything else?” Aniv spoke as she strolled back up to the table.

“No thank you,” Midnight said, “But we do have one question, is there any place in Asgard that would keep records of its history?”

“The Grand Archives on the top terrace might have the answers you seek, but you must ask for a council with the Jarl.”

“Alright you two,” I spoke up, “Get it done, talk to the Jarl and find out what information we need, I’ll have another round of that special drink the bartender made me.”

“I’ll get her right on it,” Aniv said as she went back to check on a few other tables before talking to Envy working the bar.

“Long range communication spell?” I suggested.

“It should be strong enough to work across the two terraces, but it might strain it,” Midnight replied.

“We could lose you temporarily in the shelves,” Faith added.

“I know I’ll lose you in those books, Faith,” I teased. “I was talking to Midnight more.”

Faith blushed in embarrassment before lighting up her horn, casting the spell with ease on the three of us. I waved goodbye to them as they wandered out the door and I sat back down to enjoy another delicious branded bird.

“Anything?” I asked, having switched from alcohol to water before I became too inebriated to do surveillance.

“You’re not going to like it,” Faith answered.

“No matter how bad the circumstances, we can handle it,” I assured. “Give it to me straight.”

“The golden feather is located in the tomb of Torygg the Great, on the western side of the ruins. It’s under lock and key, armed with several very discouraging traps, and to top it off gryphon bandits love to roam and pillage the ruins,” Midnight listed off the impeding obstacles that sought to stop us from reaching our goal the artifact.

“Not to mention,” Faith spoke up, “That it is likely that the Elemental Hammer has agents in the city already, searching for the feather.”

“This day gets better and better,” I mumbled to myself, the spell allowing Faith and Midnight to hear in on my despair. “It’s one,” I announced, “Going to head out back and talk to Envy, you guys should be able to hear my side of the conversation.”

“We’ll keep an ear open,” Midnight assured.

I stood up from my table and walked towards the back door, slipping out without anypony or gryphon noticing, Envy nowhere to be seen. I walked along a small alley that made the back of the bar, the wall that held the upper terrace on one side, the building on the other. The alley itself was dark and dank, a stark difference between the cold, dry mountain air. I trotted along, almost expecting Envy to pop out of nowhere and do something like hold me at knifepoint to make sure I wasn’t hostile.

“Envy!” I called out, no one outside around to hear my call except the target gryphon laying in hiding. “I’ve just come to talk.”

“Then talk,” a female voice replied, a shadowy gryphon figure striding down the alley in the opposite direction. “I’m really dumb for doing this, but I’ve come unarmed, unlike you.”

“I am not trying to hide my weapons,” I stated, “But my armament isn’t the issue at hoof here, it’s about our mutual friend.”

“Our ‘mutual’ friend as you call it isn’t technically a gryphon citizen anymore, of any of the halls,” Envy argued. “Think about it, what happens if I’m caught helping a friend of a burned spy? Bad things, that’s what.”

“Faith, Midnight,” I said, causing Envy to suddenly turn around, searching for the additional ponies. “Long range communication spell,” I explained. “Can you two give me some background on how you convinced the Jarl to let you into the royal archives?”

“We told him of Gilda, he took a real liking to her apparently,” Midnight replied.

“Ah,” I paused before talking back to Envy, “They told the Jarl, he’s a friend of Gilda, and she told us you were too. We need your help to infiltrate the old city defenses, specifically the gryphon specific ones guarding Torygg’s tomb, like the claw key mechanism.” I recited the information relayed to me in real time as Faith went over step by step of our plan to get the feather.

“I’m supposed to go out on a limb here and believe that you convinced the Jarl to help the friends of a burnt gryphon spy in raiding an ancient tomb in an abandoned city a thousand feet up on the mountain? Good luck with that,” she scoffed.

“Fine,” I rebutted with, “Go ask him yourself, but we need to get this done, and soon. Innocent lives are at stake Envy.”

Envy thought for a long moment before speaking again, “Fine, I’ll look into it and get you your answer tonight. But if this story doesn’t check out, consider my answer to be my talons at your throat.”

“Deal,” I said as I put on my best bluffing smirk, not ready to trust this gryphon if she was the element of honesty.

“So that’s it?” I asked my two friends. “That’s the best plan we’ve got?”

“Roll with it, Destiny,” Midnight responded, “It’s our best bet at the moment. We have to trust the Jarl to support us and for Envy to not stab us in the back.”

“You’re an assassin!” I said exasperated, “Don’t you have some kind of protocol when working with assets?”

“You mean what you and Faith were when you were working the case on Capo?” Midnight rebutted, “We do our research, but when it comes time we just trust that they hold up to our standards.”

“Shut it, night eyes,” I grumbled. The three of us had regrouped inside the bar, Envy’s shift getting over at two just as we ended our conversation. Aniv was still working tables, so we continued to keep watch over the bar goers, checking each one for suspicious individuals.

“You two see anything?” Faith asked, breaking up Midnight and I’s mini argument.

“There might be potential trouble,” Midnight replied. “Over there,” he motioned with a very subtle move of the hoof towards a table where two gryphons were enjoying a tall mug full of mead.

“I don’t see it,” Faith trailed off.

“Oh please,” I huffed, “Drinking local drinks only, one’s always checking the exit, the other always watching between the bar and Aniv, they’re making it so obvious they want to blend in completely. Either they are two lions on the prowl from out of town, or our cultist got tipped off.”

“Well excuse me for not having any special operations training,” Faith moaned.

“You make up for it with that big brain of yours,” Midnight spoke back with a smirk.

“Those flanks don’t hurt either,” I said underneath my breath, just loud enough for Faith to catch it and blush. “They are definitely waiting for it to clear out,” I added.

“Do we wait for them to make a move?” Faith asked, “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, be ready to spring into action before they stick a knife in her gizzard?”

“Midnight,” I said as I slid the necklace from Manehattan across to him. “You’re up, hide in the bar, hop out when ready. Faith,” I continued, turning to the mare at the table, “How long does that invisibility spell you used back in Alexmanedria last?”

“About 30 seconds before it needs refreshing,” Faith said back. “I can’t maintain constant refresh on it for more than a few minutes, though.”

“That leaves out full blown stealth attack,” I sighed, “Plan B?”

“Which is…?” Midnight trailed off.

“Our typical cover story,” I said back flatly, a completely serious look on my face.

“You could at least ask me out first, you know,” Faith complained. “These dates are getting so impersonal, especially when you’ve known me for less than two months.”

“Just a convenient story,” I reasoned, “Maybe once we save the world and have all the world leaders fawning over us for exposing some quasi-governmental force like this we could go anywhere in the world you wanted to, and for free!”

“You’re too optimistic sometimes, Destiny,” Faith replied as she chuckled softly. Midnight slipped into perfect invisibility, not even the minor distortion that accompanied unicorn induced invisibility was visible with the Lunar Pendant. Midnight kept his hoof steps silent as he weaved in between ponies and gryphons walking through and sitting at the tables, knowing immediately his cover was gone if he even brushed someone slightly on his way to his position.

“Now that he’s out of the way,” I reasoned, “And securing Aniv with a defensive spell, ready to stop the gryphons if they make a move, we take the offensive.” Before waiting for a response I slipped the bag of Permafrost Crystals out from under my feathers and squeezed one between my forward most feathers on my wing, ready to fling it out with a quick flick of my right wing if I needed to stop the assailants in their tracks.

I got up out of the seat, mixing into the crowd of ponies and gryphons as I got closer to the two possible hired assassins. I caught tidbits of their conversation as I closed in, most of it being, guess what? Local talk. However, I did catch something on Aniv, a comment on the lines of:

“When everyone leaves, we snatch the waitress and take her out the back, show her what it means to mess with the Hammer.” Okay, not waiting anymore. I casually trotted back and popped open my wing halfway, dropping the crystal onto the ground, the sound being masked by the various conversations happening around the bar.

“Oh, sorry,” I casually waved off myself as I brushed the two gryphons with my half popped wing, making sure I didn’t cut them with the concealed mini wing blade. I walked over to the bar and simply said out loud: “If you want to trigger the crystal, now is the time.”

“Any proof?” A voice responded back.

“Heard them talking about a snatch and grab on Aniv when everypony is gone, they mentioned the Hammer. Can we just get this show on the road?”

“Clear the table next to them, buy mead, stumble over there and spill it,” Midnight stated. I ordered a glass of mead from the bartender, the same male gryphon from late last night and balanced the glass on my wing. Acting drunk wasn’t hard, my body still feeling some of the effects from the surveillance two hours earlier. As I approached the table of a pegasi and a gryphon, I pretended to trip and cause my glass to shatter on the table top.

“Hey!”

“Watch it!”

“Oh, sorry you guish,” I slurred slightly for emphasis, “I guessh I’ve had a little to mush to drink.” The two occupants of the table got up, but the two gryphons simply gawked at the unfolding scene, staying completely in place. I continued to stumble towards the bar until the two gryphons eyes left me, walking over to where Midnight was standing before speaking again.

“Anytime you want to magically detonate that Permafrost Crystal,” I whispered in a hushed tone to the invisible unicorn.

“Yeah, yeah, just hold on to your hooves, these do have Arcano-Accelerant cores.” I paused for a second, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, a burst of cold air made me jump from my position and shut my eyes momentarily. I opened them back up to find that the two gryphons had been completely encased in ice, even the table and drinks becoming encased in a thick blanket of it.

Several gasps and concerned looks from the bar goers broke the silence as they looked to the frozen gryphons. A curious bar goer walked up to the statue-like once living frozen creatures and tapped one with his talon, the ice instantly shattering and falling to the floor, causing even more gasps to rise up from the crowd.

“We should go,” I whispered to Midnight, making my way over to Faith and grabbing her as I dashed out the back door, the invisible Midnight’s hooves sounding behind me.

“That was some trouble you caused, kid,” Envy said. The three of us had met up with the gryphon behind the bar about an hour after the crystal went off, “Freezing two gryphons solid, this has to do with this group Gilda told me about, doesn’t it?”

“We overheard them planning a snatch and grab on Aniv,” Faith spoke up.

“On her? Why? She’s a waitress,” Envy pointed out.

“Her two sons run a taxi service in Pisa and the Hammer wanted to shut down traveling to here to secure the artifact in the old city,” I replied, “And we didn’t exactly let their business stay closed.”

“You used them to get your unicorn friends here and set up a watch on Aniv to see if anyone came looking, clever,” Envy complimented. “So I did a little digging on what I’ve got before my eyes, and I must say when I asked Gilda through magical parchment to send the files over I wasn’t expecting to find what I did.”

“And that was…?” Faith asked.

“A former Archangel from Aurora, one of Frostbite’s finest Assassins and the headmare of the Grand Library of Alexmanedria, you three make quite a team.”

“So are you in?” I went straight to the point.

“Yeah,” Envy said, “I guess I owe G one after she saved my life that one time in Manehattan. Destiny,” Envy paused and turned to me directly and Faith and Midnight made their way out of the alley. “Take this.” Envy shoved a small metal barrel into my hoof, along with a small sack of metal ball bearings. “Saw your hoof blade the last time we met, after I checked out your story I figured I should do something for ya’. So there’s a pistol attachment for your weapon, can be operated with your other hoof, and some free bullets and black powder packets. I’ll help you attach it.”

“Hitch yourself up,” Envy said as she tossed me a saddle, “We’re carrying your unicorn friends up the cliff, right?”

“Yeah,” I replied simple as I began to slip on the chariot saddle and tighten a few belts with my teeth and Faith and Midnight hopped on. The Jarl had loaned us a chariot to use to get to the old city that was closer to the mountain peak. In exchange, the three of us were to ensure that the Hammer left Asgard for good, and as he put it, ‘chasing us with the artifact in hoof.’ Still, it was generous of him, I wasn’t about to ask Envy to carry Midnight up a thousand feet, nor was I in the mood to deal with the awkwardness of spending the better part of the ascent with my hooves wrapped around her core, snuggled up tighter than when we were crammed in the cargo hold of the ship that took us into Manehattan.

“Hop on, you two,” I turned and spoke back to Faith and Midnight. They quickly obliged and stepped onto the platform on the chariot, Envy and I taking off as we ascended into the sky and towards the abandoned city. The chariot was surprisingly light, a magical enchantment making itself and the ponies riding it virtually weightless, the drag feeling like nothing more than a saddlebag filled with a couple of supplies. The ascent went rather quickly, the powerful beating of Envy and my wings creating an ever so subtle roar of wind that buffeted Faith and Midnight’s faces and manes on the steep ascent upwards.

“Well I’ll be,” breathed Faith.

“Eh, I’ve seen better,” commented Midnight.

“It does get better though,” Envy retorted.

The four of us had ended up at the gates to the old city, a steep road that fell off a cliff lay behind us, and the rotting two foot thick wooden doors lay in front of us. Faith and Midnight used their magic to open up the doors, revealing an open courtyard of crumbling stone buildings and petrified and frozen wood.

“Old,” I commented plainly.

“This city has been abandoned for over a thousand years, and even before that has existed for three K,” Envy replied, “Of course it looks old.”

“Are you familiar with the old city?” Asked Faith, unsure of how to proceed.

“Somewhat,” Envy responded, “I did a few fly-by’s back in the day with G, we actually camped out near here at the entrance to the city when we had to stage an assassination on some diplomat selling secrets.”

“So you know where the tomb of Torygg is then?” I inquired.

“I think,” Envy paused, “I think, it’s this way.” Envy pointed a talon in a direction that led down one of the pathways and into a deeper section of the city. We followed in suit as we passed building after building that looked ready to turn into dust if any of us were to so much blow on them.

“So Envy,” I spoke up as we strolled down the road, “Is it cool if I pick your brain a bit?”

“Depends on what, but go ahead if you want to get to know the girl behind the talons.”

“Gilda told me how you met,” I started, “But why keep her as a friend after she was ousted?”

“You know before the ol’ King bit it, the gryphons ran ops in Equestria to keep tabs on the inner workings of Celestia and her top generals. We had a job to do back in Manehattan monitoring the Equestrian ambassador who was about to meet with an unnamed contact from Prance, Gilda and I got assigned to watch and track who the new ambassador was and who she was meeting with.”

“And what happened?” Midnight spoke up, eager to learn a bit more about spook ops between his home country and a nearby neighbor.

“It was Celerity,” Envy said flatly, judging our reactions, “Yeah, that Celerity. Frost had the mission put out to drop spies from any other countries, and even drop Equestria’s own during the no espionage ruling that he put out, we had three assassins chasing us.”

“And she saved your life?” I continued, egging the gryphon onward.

“I got clipped in the wing running off the Celestine Empire State Building,” Envy replied, “I would been bird splatter on the ground below if Gilda hadn’t carried me over a half mile out of the city with some angry ponies in tow.”

“So Gilda almost got killed by Frost and she still works for him now?” Faith said suspiciously.

“Don’t know why, but she does. Still holds quite the grudge with Celerity though, I hear.”

Our conversation was cut short as we approached a large, ornate looking building at the end of the road that rivaled some of the more modern buildings in Manehattan in stature. Though not nearly as tall, the clean looking building displayed colorful depictions of old gryphon tales and legends. On the front door, a set of four holes, three on top and one on the bottom of a seal in the center, just far enough to fit into the talons of the average gryphon.

“The tomb of Jarl Torygg,” Envy breathed, “Never seen it up close, but the lock looks easy enough to open, shall we?”

“Do they just let any gryphon open that seal?” Faith questioned, “That doesn’t seem very secure for a former Jarl of Asgard.”

“It was just meant to keep any non-gryphon raiders out; the designers hadn’t considered that the ever proud gryphons might turn to banditry one day,” Envy pointed out.

“True,” I commented, “So let’s pop open this tomb and grab the artifact before any Hammer show up.”

As if on cue, a shot rang out from a distant building on one of the upper terraces, the round rifle shot skimming the side of Faith and dropping her to the ground, the only sound elicited from her as she fainted being a rather quiet outburst of sound.

“Faith!” I screamed as I bent down to check the immediate damage, not calming down any as I noticed the superficial and short. “Midnight, get a shield up now!” I was done messing around as I subconsciously took on the leader role I was so reluctant to take on earlier as we left Manehattan. “Envy, door, now! I’ll cover us,” I said before I grabbed Faith by her mane and began dragging her closer to the door as more gunshots rained down upon us from the gryphon cultists perch on the distant building.

Midnight’s shield was wide enough for me to knock over a crumbling stone pillar and create a makeshift bunker just outside the shield so I could fire out as I took aim with my new hoof pistol and fired a shot down range, noting its lack of accuracy at such an audacious distance, but the loud noise had the same suppression effect none the less.

“Where did you get that?” Midnight yelled as he worked to examine Faith’s wound.

“A present from Envy,” I yelled back over a couple of more shots. I ducked as one came right over my head and embedded itself into the paved road right behind me. “Speaking of which,” I paused to fire off another shot after reloading, “How’s that seal coming, Envy?”

“Working on it,” Envy replied, fiddling with her talons as she adjusted them to fit perfectly in the holes of the seal, turning it until a soft click was heard over the occasional ringing shot.

“Destiny,” Midnight called out as he readied to grab Faith again and drag her inside the tomb, “Let’s move!”

I fired another shot off without even aiming it, hoping the sound would be enough suppression as I grabbed the bag of now only a few bullets and black powder packets and dashed to my hooves as I followed Envy and Midnight into the tomb, the dark coated unicorn shutting the door with his magic and moving some debris inside to block entrance.

“Cultists?” He asked between breaths, a little exhausted at maintaining a shield against a pounding assault from a gryphon sharpshooter.

“No bandit carries such a long range rifle like that and is that good a shot to hit at that distance, he’s had training,” Envy commented, “That was a Bloodwing Sniper, hard to come by, I think our guy has got deep pockets.”

“Or good connections,” I reasoned, “Midnight, status report on Faith?”

“Wound is scabbed up, I cleaned it with what little supplies we had and bandaged it, but we’re in no position to move her.”

“Any farther in the tomb is flight only,” Envy said, “Once we get the artifact we’ll come back for you two.”

“See what you can do to wake her so we can move once we have the feather, guard the door,” I commanded before turning back to Envy, “You’re my guide here, let’s get moving.”

“Right then,” Envy walked off down the dimly torch lit hallway without another word, causing me to follow as I took one final look back at Midnight propped up Faith against the wall and began attempting to wake her.

I picked up the pace a little bit to catch up with Envy as she moved down the main hall of the tomb and down a small ramp, bringing us just below ground level.

“Hey what gives?” I asked as I caught up, “What’s with just walking off? Faith is injured you know.”

I was shocked by the outburst of Envy as she turned around, yellow eagle eyes glaring at me, “You know Destiny,” she started, “When I was shot in the wing back in Manehattan, it came out of nowhere like Faith; there was nothing I could do, and if it we didn’t get out of there I was going to bleed out so bad from that wing that I’d never fly again. So yeah, I’m in a bit of a hurry to get her out of here. It may be scabbed up now but this tomb is no place for the injured, so if you would cut the questions so we can get to the artifact, it would be much appreciated.”

“Alright,” I said blankly, unsure of how to respond to the reply I received. Envy and I came up to a gap in the floor not that long after, a sharp drop into a black pit lay below us, and even the walls on the side of the hall had been extended a couple feet out to the side to prevent somepony from climbing the wall, meaning the only way across was to fly. “They seem to really want to keep the flightless out,” I commented.

“This artifact must be pretty important then,” Envy said before flaring her wings out and taking off in a swift glide across the large gap. I followed slowly after her and touched my hooved down on the other end, noticing quickly a pressure plate I had accidently stepped on, ducking in instinct as I waited for something to shoot out. As I ducked, however, nothing responded to my hoof stepping on the pad. I cautiously raised my head and stepped off the pad, my mind half expecting the trap to trigger on it coming up. I kept moving along the trapped hallway, listening intently for any more sounds of gunfire from outside. Either we were too far away underground from the shots to hear them anymore, or our gryphon sniper friend was attempting to find another way into the tomb.

I mentally facehoofed when I realized I forgot to ask Midnight for the long range communication spell to keep in touch with Faith’s predicament. I knew that Faith wasn’t some combat hardened spec-ops pony, it was no wonder just a grazing shot caused her to faint. Maybe she was squeamish around blood, I thought. I was interrupted from my thoughts when I bumped into the tail feathers of Envy, who had stopped walking to tell me we had found the main chamber room.

A secondary talon seal blocked entrance to the tomb of Jarl Torygg, easily defeated by Envy as she inserted her claws into the seal and twisting it until the click that signaled that the door was open was heard. I pushed open the stone door with my hoof and gazed upon the room, the area lit with the same magically enchanted crystals, this time shining in a deep blue hue, that was present at the underground library, forever ensuring the room would be well lit without the use of torches.

Unsurprisingly, the tomb contained a rather grandiose sculpture of a phoenix flaring its wings, forever guarding the mummified remains of the long gone Jarl. The sculpture was made of pure marble, a stunning contrast to the plain stone that made up the majority of the city, but a part of it stuck out to the eye, a rather golden piece lodged within the wing of the statue showed to me the artifact that was in the statue itself. I silently motioned to Envy with my hoof towards the lodged feather located high on the wing underneath what would be the pinions should this phoenix be alive.

Since I had seen a statue turn into a bird before, I wasn’t going to take any chances when I pulled the feather. I had no idea what this artifact did, all of our information regarding the location of the artifacts having been lost in the ship crash near Hoovegorod, but decided that anything shaped in a feather would have something to do with flight.

I quickly plucked the feather and waited something to occur, my fears becoming assuaged as no rumbling sound or noise that signaled a trap greeted me ears.

“That was a bit anti-climactic,” I noted.

“I’ll say,” Envy replied, “Let’s get back to your friends so we can plan our escape.”

I followed Envy, the golden feather held safely in my mouth as we quickly found the bottomless gap once again. I took flight again, attempting to notice any differences but not feeling any with the artifact in my mouth. I then remembered that only a pony of the prophecy or one of the descendants could utilize the effects of the power magical items. I landed deftly on my hooves and continued running after Envy, desperately wanting to check on how Faith was holding up after the bullet grazing her side.

It didn’t take long for us to come up upon the entrance again, my eyes immediately being drawn to the now standing mare, her beige coat being covered in a bandage wrap around her midsection.

“Glad you’re back,” Midnight commented. “I finally got bookworm up.”

“Hey!” Faith protested, “Sorry I’m not used to getting shot.” She paused briefly before speaking to me again, “Glad to see you two made it out alive, and I see you got the feather.”

“Less talking,” I mumbled through a mouthful of precious metal, “You need to rest, we still have to escape, and that sniper is likely still out there.”

“So then do we have a plan?” Faith asked, attempting to catch up as much as she could for being out for the better part of an hour.

“Well,” I started, “Midnight can move the debris and open the door, popping open the shield as we make headway on the field.”

“That’s the best we’ve got?” Envy spoke up, “A plan to get us out there but not a single idea how to break out of being pinned down by gunfire right after that?”

We were cut off as a blast rocketed through the doorway, throwing all four of us back down the hallway as the loud explosion sounded through the tomb. The halls began to rock violently as a hoarse voice came over the clearing dust.

“Find the ponies! We need them alive; kill the gryphon on sight!” That didn’t sound like good news. I forced myself up to my hooves, noticing the feather had slid across the small amounts of rubble that had found its way this deep into the tomb and had landed near the head of Faith, who had somehow remained conscious though dazed from the loud bang. I grabbed Faith by the hooves and forced her to her hooves, Midnight recovering rather quickly with Envy already making her way down the hallway and towards the wide open gap.

“Do we have an idea?” I asked as I caught up to Envy, Faith and Midnight running behind us.

“Get over the gap, make a final stand,” Envy stated, “How many bullets do you have left?”

“Six,” I replied, “You?”

“Eight,” Envy responded, “Fourteen shots should be enough to make a final stand. Wait,” Envy paused, “Do you have any more of those crystals you used back in the bar?”

I instantly felt around with a couple of feathers searching for the small plastic bag that held the assortment of deadly and rapidly expanding freezing crystals, but it was to no avail. “The explosion must’ve knocked the bag out of my wing, it’s gone.”

“Damn it,” Envy replied, “Grab Faith, I’ll take Midnight across the gap.” The two of us took off as we came up to the gap, we fell back to pick up Faith and Midnight, the former of the two currently holding the magical golden feather in her magical aura. We grabbed them around the waist and carried them across the gap.

“Midnight, toss up a shield with a couple of small holes,” I ordered.

“I can do it,” Midnight said back as we landed on the other side of the bottomless pit, “Just give me a minute to form it.”

“We don’t have more than a few seconds,” Envy said, “We need it now!”

Midnight’s horn glowed, Faith setting down the feather and lending her own weakening magic to the shield, her energy still low from her earlier gunshot wound. Sure enough, a glowing shield dotted by two small opening that allowed bullets to fly in and out formed across the hallway, protecting the four of us on the other side of the shield from any assailants looking to pick us off with ranged weapons.

A gryphon and a unicorn walked through the clearing smoke, each wielding a flintlock pistol, and each reloading a shot with a packet of black powder.

“You can’t hide behind there forever!” The dry, raspy voice of the gun wielding gryphon spoke, “Blast ‘em to bits!” The gryphon aimed a shot at the shield, pulling the trigger as his unicorn companion followed suit soon after.

The shots rang out as they impacted the shield, making a noise similar to as if it had collided with solid metal. I stuck my hoof pistol through one of the holes and fired, the shot narrowly missing the unicorn who was desperately trying to fill his pistol with another packet of black powder to fire another shot.

“Think you’re so clever, eh?” The unicorn smirked as he finished loading his gun with the explosive powder, “Then try this on for size!” He slipped out a small plastic baggy with his magic, loading its contents that I immediately recognized as the powerful freezing crystals.

“Get back!” I yelled as I dashed for cover, Envy and Midnight quickly following suit. Faith’s reaction had been a little slower, turning around with a confused look on her face, her horn still glowing as she struggled to maintain the shield alone now in her weakened state.

The gun went off, the blue crystal launching out of the barrel and impacting the shield at high velocity, instantly exploding in a flurry of pure ice magic and cold air. The shield has dissipated, but through the fog I could make out that Faith had survived the initial blast, but was now standing on a platform of pure ice that was once solid stone. I looked across the gap to notice the two cultists had been hit by the back blast of the crystal, turning completely into ice as well. As Faith moved to get off the now pure ice ledge, it began to crumble beneath her hooves. I launched into the air in a desperate attempt to save her, my grasping hooves just barely missing her as she and the artifact fell into the abyss. I clearly hear the last words I would ever heard from her again.

“Destiny!”

Author's Note: I did zero proof reading on this chapter in an attempt to pump out words before midnight on Friday when the writing event ends, hopefully a decent chunk of chapter 11 will be available then. Stay tuned for a partial sneak peek at Chapter 11 - Shadows of Tramlpevania