Magehold Nights

Guiding Bolt awoke to the familiar scent of incense and much to her surprise, a working body. The earth pony beside her looked equally well off, which was immediately a cause of celebration for the two.

“I’m Poppy Field, by the way” The earth pony added, smiling towards Guiding Bolt.

“Guiding Bolt, it's nice to know your name, am I going to have to carry your stuff around now?” She asked, a slight relieved humor present on her face now that they were in relative safety.

Poppy responded by lightly punching the Unicorn’s shoulder “don’t worry about it, if anything what went down was better for your argument than mine”

They laughed together, what had happened was horrifying but the joy of relative stability overwhelmed that, and, as was normal for those living under the former Dread League, surviving an encounter with a member of the superior caste was more than enough for celebration.

Their laughter and shared mirth slowed as a skeletal pony came into view, half out of training, and half out of the supernatural sway a seasoned member of the Society of Bones held over lesser undead, the two ghouls quickly stood at attention.

“At ease, at ease, I’m not your master,” The lich responded. The green tartarian flames which filled its eye holes paired with the almost uncontrolled changing of posture in the two lead to uneasy smiles and shaking legs. The creature remained silent for a time, its featureless visage providing neither condemnation nor comfort.

Once the two ghouls managed to calm down enough to divert their gaze from the Skeleton’s eyes, they noted its uniform which consisted of a typical Arcturian tunic alongside a black and purple armband indicative of membership in the newly formed Knightly Ebon Banners under Rosa Maledicta.

“Now, I’d like to ask you about what happened last night,” The creature spoke softly, trying to express as little dominance as it could, which was still far too much for conversation to approach anything casual with sapient undead. “Did you notice any shifts in temperature, and if so, at what time?”

The two paused, thinking. It wasn’t really something they were focused on, but after some deliberation they managed to give a decent enough recollection of the sudden cold and wind when things escalated, but, as witness testimony goes they weren’t really sure if it was snowing before, or after the conflict began.

The lich nodded, taking in the information, “Now, if you could, a description of the vampire would be appreciated as well.” The soft flames that rested in its eye holes flared slightly at the mention of a vampire, old rivalries apparently dying hard.

Guiding Bolt spoke up, getting back into the more formal stance “She was a pegasus pony, with a yellow coat and red eyes like, like, most vampires have, sir. I didn’t get a good look at her cutie mark, but she was with three ghouls and Poppy managed to break one of their jaws, you might be able to track them from that.” She smiled uncomfortably, wishing she had more to add as her eyes drifted over towards Poppy.

“I didn’t get a look at her cutie mark either, but the ghouls were male and female light blue pegasi, and a brown male earth pony. I broke the blue guy’s jaw.” Poppy added, a bit of pride breaking through the discomfort of the situation.

The lich nodded, its burning gaze focusing upon the two mares before bowing its head, “Thank you for your time, I wish you each safe travels and good fortunes.” With that, the creature left and the two let out a sigh of relief.

Shortly after, the Griffon priest came by wearing an unnerved but relieved expression, “Did you folks see that skeleton with fire for eyes on the way in?” He asked nervously..

“No,” Poppy replied, “might have slipped my mind seeing a lich, you know, a creature that ripped out and hid away their Maar-given soul, a creature whose very presence drives the restless dead to act, and the intelligent ones to serve without question, probably just passed my by.” She stared towards the griffon with mild annoyance at the question.

The priest listened, tapping his claws against the ground nervously. His idealistic plans for a mission trip continued to have the rug torn out beneath them, like some kind of sadistic treadmill. “Right, well, uhh, I’d like to invite both of you to dinner, if you hadn’t intervened I’d be dead and it's the only thing I could think of on such short notice”

“Right, I’d be happy to go with you, are you sure you’ll be comfortable going to a place ponies like us tend to go to, well, eat,” Bolt added, smiling uncomfortably.

Poppy spoke up, “No, no he wants to take us to dinner, I know a good place,” the earth pony added, clearly enjoying the prospect of further unnerving the priest.

The priest, out of obligation and vestigial naivety agreed to take them to the restaurant, safe in the knowledge that it’d be asinine for his rescuers to murder him or do anything particularly terrible. That, and the ideals of fraternity his faith espoused required him to put trust into them regardless of the fears in the back of his mind.