Chapters The smoke of incense drifted through the basement of the munitions storage turned chapel as Guiding Bolt descended towards the priest waiting for her. The unicorn's steps were hesitant as she looked around for some kind of excuse to turn back. Finding none, the brown unicorn paused, taking a deep breath and tapping into a reserve of courage before trotting downstairs.
As she made it to the bottom she was met with an older griffon, bearing a welcoming expression alongside two armor clad knights eying her with suspicion. The Unicorn’s focus fell on the symbols of Arcturius worn by the three griffons, then down on her own. She forced a smile and bowed her head towards the senior priest who was sitting at a table in front of her.
“Please, take a seat dear.” The venerable griffon said, his voice was deep and hoarse with an underlying current of compassion.
Bolt sat down, looking at the holy symbol on the priest’s neck. She’d bring a hoof up to her own, mentally preparing herself to meet the priest’s gaze.
“It takes real courage to face somecreature who some two years ago you were made to try to annihilate, and even more so to do so from a position of relative weakness.” He extended a claw, giving the pony a pat on the shoulder, offering a smile. “The strength given to you by Lord Arcturius shows in this, we only wish to ask you a few questions, and, if possible help you find peace.”
The unicorn tensed at the priest’s touch. Still, she continued forcing a smile, looking up briefly only for her focus to drift back towards the symbol on the griffon’s neck.
“May I ask your name?” the priest asked.
The unicorn replied, speaking quietly, “Guiding Bolt.” Her focus went from the symbol on the priest towards one of the knights; the cold preparedness in his sallet-covered face prompted her to return her focus back to the priest’s neck.
A twinkle of happiness manifested on the griffon’s face, glad to see a ghoul in this cursed city talking, “It’s good to meet you Miss Bolt, you can call me Father Fordwing, or just Father, if you’d like.”
“I am,” the unicorn paused for a moment, tightening her grip on her holy symbol, searching for the right words to say, “I am pleased to meet you, Father Fordwing, I hope that I may be of service.”
“Do you live here in town?”
“Yes, though, I’ve only lived here for the past two years”
“Is there any reason you chose to return to Magehold instead of one of the cities off the peninsula?” the griffon asked, maintaining a calm tone.
“I just figured,” the unicorn released the holy symbol from her grip, looking at the ceiling and tapping her hooves against the table, “I figured that as a ghoul I’d just make everycreature uncomfortable on the mainland.”
Father Fordwing nodded, moving a claw towards his beak and tapping it softly in thought “Arcturius is a god of sacrifice, those who fell during the war honored this. I cannot speak for everygriff, but as a servant of the light, I welcome and embrace chances to overcome discomfort and honor the gift of strength given to us by our lord. The presence of those like yourself in the mainland give us that opportunity and such things should be welcomed, not shunned”
The unicorn looked towards the priest, smiling genuinely this time. “Thank you, father.”
“You’re very welcome dear, how has your time in Magehold been, have you made or reunited with any friends?”
The ghoul’s vision shifted to the details of the table. She squeezed the holy symbol on her neck. Like most creatures, she was uncomfortable to talk about loss. “No, everypony seems preoccupied with holding on to the vestiges of power they had in this city, and most knights only seem interested in keeping me away from scholars.” She sighed “I,” another pause, her gaze darted towards one of the guard’s fierce sallets before returning to the priest, “I never really had many friends, and the one’s I had didn’t make it to the end of the war.” Bolt paused, staring at the table, her voice cracking slightly, “I guess that’s one of the perks about having been an artillerypony.”
The priest nodded, giving the unicorn a moment to compose herself and add anything else. Seeing as she remained quiet, he began to speak, his inflection a tad bit softer than before. “I’m sorry to hear that.” The unicorn looked up towards him with a pained expression, remaining silent. The griffon, noting her silence continued on to the next question. “I understand this is an uncomfortable subject, but, have you eaten recently?”
The unicorn’s sad expression shifted to discomfort as she tapped her hooves on the table again, taking a moment to inspect the ceiling before looking back to the priest. “I, I, eat,” She spoke quietly, her focus shifted towards the armored knights and lingered there.
The priest remained silent, using the lack of a response to prompt elaboration from the unicorn..
“I haven’t eaten for a while. It’s just that I feel guilty,” She paused, rubbing her mane uncomfortably, ”and I’ve heard rumors that rationing is going to be far more stringent on account of,” the unicorn grimaced, “on account of our diet.”
The griffon nodded slowly “I understand, still, for the sake of clarity I’d appreciate it if you’d eat something for the sake of having a clear head tomorrow. We can talk more then. Thank you for your time Miss Bolt.”
The unicorn stood up nodding “Right, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” She’d bow her head and go up the stairs, leaving the chapel before heading out to the streets of Magehold.
The streets were as bleak and dreary as always, a light snow fell from above as griffons clad in knightly raiment patrolled the streets. Tired Griffons in scholarly vestments moved from building to building carrying books, alchemical supplies, and the odd ominous relic.
Bolt continued walking home, the city itself was mostly unharmed by the war, seeing as only a hundred desperate knights had made it there, and they were too preoccupied with securing the Shield of Hope to engage in less mission-dictated looting. Still, the presence of occupation was unmissable. The occasional gunshot echoed through the streets as a reminder of where power lied.
It was for this reason that Guiding Bolt stuck to the main roads where things at least felt more safe. Her lodgings, however, were a bit off from the main path; this always made for a stressful jaunt. It wasn’t uncommon to have to make a detour to avoid a fight and a detour in Magehold only tended to invite further conflict.
Thankfully, the trip was uneventful and she made it home. The dormitory she lived in was essentially the same as always, red and black calligraphy detailing dark rituals covered the otherwise gray walls. The beds were old, bloodstained, and occasionally menacing with escaped springs. Several ghouls and the occasional vampire spoke amongst each other. They were clustered around a recently imported radio, looking at the vampire and asking a bunch of questions about life outside of the League. The radio was playing a new-ish Lake City tune, something which the vampire proudly bragged about having heard in person.
Bolt sat down on her bed, taking a moment to rub her temples before pulling a key from a particularly open hole in her bed before opening her footlocker. Inside she’d withdraw a wax-covered disk that was about half the size of her hoof. Placing it in front of her, she’d bow her head and close her eyes, trying to civilize her actions a little. “Lord Arcturius, Giver of Strength, Lord of War, Master of the Forge, Guide of Martyrs, I ask that you recognize and honor the sacrifice of the one before me, allow their death, and this meal to work into your providence, and let it aid in the blessed triumvirate’s continued conflict against Maar and his minions.” She looked towards the wax-lined package briefly before her focus drifted towards an earth pony wearing a sardonic expression.
“You don’t really believe in that do you?” The pony quipped, “I don’t blame you, though, you were one of those suckers they put on ‘reform labor’ right?”
Bolt jumped, looking around “It was for my own good, helping the Griffons whose land we ravaged was a step towards redemption,” the unicorn's eyes scanned the area nervously, praying that the earth pony was alone in harassing her. Her response was regurgitated from what the priests had said at the camps, but she still believed it.
The other mare rolled her eyes, placing a hoof on the wax-covered disk, rolling it back and forth “Arcturius didn’t make you this, and if it's up him we’re going to run out sooner, rather than later.” Flipping it over for effect, the earth pony lowered her head and focused her gaze on the Brain Market sigil indented into the wax paper. “They’re using up the surplus we worked to get and the surplus that we earned before they cravenly abandoned the prospect of a real fight on a creature-to-creature basis. Instead they used the,” the earth pony lightened her voice at this point, putting on a mocking tone “Friendship Shield,” the earth pony rolled her eyes before returning to a more hostile tone “to brainwash one of the greatest minds on Griffonia, if not the world, denying them their deserved victory..”
“Just let me eat, please,” the unicorn replied in a quiet, uncomfortable tone. On some level, she knew that the other pony had a point, the population of ghouls was high, and their consumption needs were comparable to the death rate of the Order, so, even in the most idyllic circumstance where every creature sacrificed their bodies to care for the creatures who, not two years ago, were slaughtering them wholesale, tight rationing would still need to be imposed.
“Just let you eat? I’m pointing out that if you continue to kowtow to the church, creatures like us are going to starve and be wiped out.” the earth pony responded, whatever humor in her tone replaced with indignation. “Creatures like you are why we lost, you’re weak willed and don’t see the writing on the wall, the Griffon’s aren’t going to change their mind on us being monsters, the reformers are just opting for a more polite culling and even they don’t try too hard to police what knights do off the patrolled parts of this city!”
“You’re overexaggerating, I haven’t heard about any of us being killed in cold blood, and instances of violence against us has been reprimanded.” The unicorn replied half-heartedly, she was no stranger to the glares from knights, and the sound of violence but as far as she knew internal controls of the order were just.
“I don’t think I am, how about this, you take a walk off the main paths with me, and if nothing terrible happens, I’ll say you’re right and leave you alone, but when inevitable happens, you’ll admit I was right, and, I don’t know, carry my bags around for a week or something.” The earth pony replied, the lack of determination in the unicorn’s reply cooling her temper back to the cold protective layer of irreverence.
Guiding Bolt sighed, doubting she’d manage any sleep if she didn’t comply with the request, quickly she’d levitate the waxen vessel, open it and devour its contents in a mixture of discomfort and savage animalistic hunger. A few other of the dead turned their heads over to the scent once the seal was broken, seeing as the source was quickly scarfed down they resumed normal activities as the duo left to the dark streets of Magehold.
The night itself wasn’t particularly cold to the relief of most of the scribes running around and the chagrin of those who could still find joy in the simple pleasure of exhaling and pretending to be a dragon. Still, the wind swept away ambient body heat, making the night sufficiently uncomfortable; enough to be appropriate for the locale.
The earth pony gestured towards the ever present slum-like dwellings, “Before the order came, we had a union that was working to get rid of this kind of thing.”
“A union which was almost immediately subverted to the will of the two actual factions in the league, yeah. I didn’t hear any objections when they called in that monster to execute ponies not showing enough enthusiasm in the conflict, nor did I hear any complaint when rationing was enforced when we still had the ‘more than enough’ that we earned ” The unicorn replied, rolling her eyes as she maneuvered over debris that had fallen off from the seriously outdated buildings.
“Be that as it may, there was still a martial glory to everything back then, it felt like we were fighting and unified, a force against those who would inevitably seek to destroy us.” The other pony replied, beaming at some nostalgic moment from her history. “I was in the southern front you know, pushing against the lines of forts set to safeguard The End. There was something magical in getting to fight the volunteers from Hellquill after our first major break through when the Knights fell back to protect the Rock.”
Guiding Bolt nodded along, she was on the more northern front where William Steelbeak fought. This was new information to her as she rarely initiated conversation with the other ghouls in the labor camp.
“Anyways, the griffons from Hellquill belonged to some ‘Reformisten’ faction and presumably got news there was a chance ‘defend griffonkind’ or ‘kill ponies’ or something like that, and, when Whitemane’s forces fell back, if the story my superiors told me was accurate, they accused her of ‘typical pony cowardice’ and remained defiantly at The End,” The earth pony chuckled at this as the sound of a bottle breaking came from a ways to their right. “Well, my battalion’s commander was a bonafide blood mage, not one of the newer posers we started recruiting prior to the war. She carried around this scythe and was scary as all Tartarus, typical vampire stuff. So, a decent amount of the griffons were entrenched in a town outside of The End, and they were dug in enough that cannon barrages weren’t really doing much.”
The unicorn continued to nod along, looking around as they both exited from the protection afforded by illuminated streetlamps. As they moved deeper into the unwatched parts of the city the crack of a rifle going off in the distance was audible, and while still distant, was certainly a bit more intimidating given the low visibility afforded by darkness.
The earth pony waved a hoof “See? My guess is some poor ghoul just got executed for hurting somegriff’s feelings.”
Bolt sighed, “I dou-”
“Alright, back to the story,” the other ghoul said, cutting the unicorn off, “Where was I? Right, the griffons were dug in and my battalion commander got to work her magic. We had a lot of thralls, so, naturally she gives a few the axe to get the magic flowing, and then she casts this huge illusion. Not the stereotypical big astral bear either, It looked like it started raining blood over the town, and a bunch of fleshy pustules started growing out of everything. This was mostly an illusion, mind you, but it scared the griffons something fierce. When the wave of zombies and skeletons came in, they blew most of their traps on account of being terrified, wasted a whole lot of ammunition and gave us a pretty easy path to clear the distance. Once in, with little ammunition and even worse cohesion, they fell pretty quickly. Honestly, there’s hardly anything better than seeing some griffons go from ‘ponies can’t amount to anything’ to ‘Boreas help me, they’re eating my legs, oh no, oh gods!’” The earth pony snickered to herself, turning towards Bolt “Anyways, do you have any stories? Even though you’re a quiet weirdo, I don’t take you for a factory ghoul.”
“Nothing really worth talking about, I worked with the cannons in the back away from the really graphic bits of fighting.” Bolt said, looking at the ground and narrowly stepping over someponies discarded femur.
“Come on, it was a pretty intense war, you must have managed to do at least something interesting,” the other mare taunted.
“I’d really prefer not to talk about it,” Guiding Bolt replied, in a quiet, uncomfortable tone, her focus firmly planted on the ground.
“Fine, way to be a buzzkill, the three pairs of ribs we passed enough to get you to carry my stuff?” the earth pony asked, her tone more relaxed, but still dripping with protective smugness..
“I’ve seen less sets of bones on the streets than I did on my visits here when either the Coven or Society were involved” Bolt replied, raising her voice slightly..
“Whatever, it's only a matter of time before we find some poor charred pony laying splayed out and covered in claw marks, then you’ll regret raising your standards.”
Bolt grimaced, like most ghouls she was conditioned to not really freak out too much at the idea of a corpse, but it was far too easy to project oneself into that image.
With time, and the continued pointing out of typical local horrors, the duo finally happened across the fearful cries of somecreature in the distance “Please, don’t, I can help you!” This was met with the cracks of gunshots, and the screams of three separate voices which shortly became only one. The earth pony, eager to convince her fellow ghoul of the monstrous nature of their Arcturian occupiers rushed towards the noise.
“Wait, you can’t b-,” Bolt tried to plead before having her forelimb grabbed, getting dragged along. The excitement in the earth ponies face at this was far greater than Bolt was comfortable with, but the unicorn was too surprised by the earth ponies rushing towards gunfire to voice further protests.
As they drew near enough to make out more accurate details, an audible and familiar sound of crunching ribs and sobbing became apparent. The earth pony put a hoof, on Bolt’s shoulder “Fine you win, lets go..” There was a good amount of pain in the ghoul’s voice, not happy to be overhearing the telltale sign of their kin holding the momentum in a conflict.
Guiding Bolt paused for a moment, looking down at the symbol of Arcturius on her neck. Taking a deep breath she galloped around the corner coming face to face with a smug looking, red eyed yellow pegasus pony, two blue pegasi and a brown earth pony. The two blue pegasi and earth pony were currently gorging themselves on the exposed underbellies of two fallen knights, suggesting they were probably ghouls. Behind the bodies, a Griffon in a habit was backed into a corner, holding his claws up desperately swinging between sobs to try and deter attack. He looked too young to be a scribe from the order, and the symbol of Eyr around his neck confirmed he was likely here on a more friendly kind of mission.
The red eyed pegasus looked up, smiling. “Oh, goodie, we were just showing these griffons what happens when you mess with the Coven of Blood, now, be a good ghoul and kill that priest for me, my other pets are, well, they’re preoccupied.” She gestured towards the ghouls, smirking at the carnage.
Looking back towards the priest who justifiably flinched at her gaze and then towards the vampire and the two fallen griffons, Bolt did her best to rapidly get her bearings. Spotting a service pistol, holstered on the fallen knight’s side, she decided to act. Thinking more in her heart than with her head she’d ignite her horn, rip the pistol from its holster and fire a warning shot to the group of undead before her. This was immediately met with a firm blow to the side of her face, knocking her off of her hooves and dislocating her jaw, totally breaking the concentration necessary to levitate and use a gun. The vampire followed this unnaturally fast blow with a soft tsking, looking down to the would-be hero.
“It's a pity to see ghouls that don’t know their place,” the pegasus reinforced her position with a firm kick towards the unicorn’s ribs, breaking several of them in the process, “Oh well, I’ll get over it.”
Bolt, to her credit, did her best to stand up, only to be once again interrupted by a swift blow to the side of her head by the pegasus. This time, the pegasus hit with full force, knocking her down again and causing her to roll some two yards away on the cobbled pavement. Encouraged by the vampires' solid rhetoric, Bolt opted to stay down. Ultimately, the utility from such a decision was rendered null as the vampire whistled, calling the trio of her underlings to descend upon the unicorn, kicking her, spouting insults, and all kinds of other unpleasantries.
The sky, seemingly uncomfortable with the brutality of it all covered itself with clouds and, with the clouds came snowfall. The wind picked up, whistling through broken glass and the odd crack, creating a tune to accompany this otherwise silent period of violence.
This went on for a solid minute, though, to Bolt it felt more like hours. What was once a rather average looking mare now resembled a whimpering, blood-soaked fur bag with the odd bone jutting out. Still, being a zombie had its perks, or drawbacks in this case as where a normal pony would have passed out due to shock, Guiding Bolt had the privilege of laying there on the ground, helpless to do anything while still being aware of every blow.
Inevitably, the vampire grew tired of the Bolt’s continued existence, and as a result she’d give the orders for the ghouls to go ahead and cave in her skull and be done with it. With gleeful eagerness one of them raised a hoof to do just that, only to be intercepted by the earth pony who had led the unicorn to this predicament in the first place.
Grace was an aspect mostly seen in pegasi, magic was the privilege of the unicorn, but simple force, that most definitely belonged to the earth ponies. Aided by the momentum of her sudden attack, and the raw force in her blows she’d manage to render the first ghoul unable to continue fighting, breaking one of his legs and fracturing a cheekbone. Leaping up and entering the low stance, she faced the other two ghouls with a reckless confidence, silently assessing them.
The vampire sat down looking interested at the sudden display of bravery, opting to let her two underlings prove their worth. The two other ghouls, aggravated by the sudden assault on their comrade sought to deliver a back-kick and a more direct series of frontal strikes to the Earth Pony. Her low stance and preparedness for combat allowed her to avoid the more powerful back-kick, however the rapid-fire frontal hits battered her shoulders and face. Still, she remained in her stance well enough, taking the hits with a constitution that did her tribe justice.
Stepping back and waiting for the forward-attack focused ghoul to move up to attack again she would rotate quickly to deliver a quick but powerful back-kick towards its face. Sadly, this attack was interrupted by a firm blow to her side from the other who’d moved up with similar intents. The sound of ribs cracking added to the whistling choir of wind, whimpering and pained breathing. The earth pony, determined not to have her friend get executed stumbled back from the hit but remained standing nonetheless.
The earth pony coughed up blood and a fragment of bone that would have surely killed her if she still had to worry about breathing. Still, her aggressive nature was punished and the pain made it harder for her to get the nerve up to launch another attack against the two. A period of circling followed as neither party was too keen on getting a direct .
Finally, one of the vampire’s ghouls moved forward, going for a quick punch to the Earth Ponies already damaged side. The earth pony, focused on avoiding attacks, and due to being mercifully granted a single opponent to deal with at a time dodged and reciprocated with a quick jab to the other ghoul’s face, causing them to stumble back.
The vampire’s ears perked up and she frowned, walking over to the pistol before placing four well aimed shots into the hind legs of the Earth Pony “Enough playing, grab Artois and let's get out of here.” The two ghouls complied as the vampire walked over to the earth pony who was now in a less-than-stellar fighting capability. Smirking, she’d drag the pony over and jam her head into the open abdomen of the griffon, rubbing her around for a moment before tossing her next to Bolt’s broken body. “We’ll see how well your new friends treat you when they see a Griffon’s guts on your face,” and with that, the vampire and her cadre ran off, leaving the two broken ponies and the griffon to their own purpose.
Coincidentally, the weather began to clear as well, with the rapid onset of snowfall and wind departing as rapidly as it had appeared.
The earth pony, wounded and incapable of running off simply crawled over to Bolt and nuzzled up against her, resting her head on a part of her that wasn’t too broken. Still, the unicorn winced as contact was made. This caused the earth pony to pull back a bit, only to be urged to maintain contact as the unicorn leaned against her.
The griffon surveyed the scene, his gaze scanning over the fallen knights, then the crippled ponies that saved him, taking a deep breath, he’d retch, swallowing painfully as the smell of death began to enter his perception, the mask of adrenaline losing its potency. Hesitantly, he approached the two ponies laying beside each other. “You have my deepest gratitude, I’d be dead if it weren’t for you, I, I know that isn’t much and I’m sorry. I’ll go get help.”
“No,” the earth pony stated firmly “Stay here, they’ll kill us.”
He nodded, “Right, right,” there was a hint of panic still on his voice as he responded, sitting near the two, waiting for the patrol of knights to arrive.
Inevitably, the sound of armoured claws on pavement became audible, and a moment later, a squad of five Arcturian knights arrived most of them had rifles, however, one carried a fuel tank and large flamethrower. “Arcturius above, not again.” The knight with the flamethrower approached, turning towards the priest before pointing his flamethrower towards the two ghouls. “Are they with you?” The priest nodded, prompting the knight to direct his weapon of sacred flame elsewhere.
The knights looked everything over, their gaze lingering on the earth ponies muzzle a moment before relenting. “Right, we’ll just take them back to be questioned. We’d appreciate it if you came along as well.” The priest nodded as the two knights helped move the injured ponies as gently as they could manage. This did little to prevent protest from the earth pony, and pained yelps from the Unicorn for the majority of the trip. The Eyrite did his best to minimize the pain experienced by Bolt and the earth pony but, it was really hard to do anything without it being agonizing given their current situation.
Finally, as they approached the more frequently patrolled areas Bolt and the Earth Pony were placed on stretchers making the latter half of the journey less horrible, and, mercifully, letting the duo pass out.
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.
As the group left, they spoke with each other about a range of topics, sharing names and odd inoffensive anecdotes. The weather outside was mercifully clear, sunlight illuminated the dark cobbles of the main street.
The mood was warm as they entered a near-abandoned café, a sign hung at the entrance which read Joe’s Coffee-n. As the trio entered they were met with décor one would honestly expect to find at a Dread League eatery, black tablecloths paired with spider-web decals that were cliché back when they were introduced. Light from the outside was blocked by repurposed tablecloths, the source of illumination within the building consisting of three odd candles. Needless to say, it wasn’t very bright within the building.
“Anything that you’d recommend, miss Poppy?” Walter, the priest, inquired.
“Nothing you’d like, the salad or cupcakes might be safe for your palate, but you really ought to ask the server” She responded.
Nervously, Bolt asked “Aren’t the cupcakes, you know,” The unicorn paused, looking around.
“Huh? No, you’re thinking of the pies, why would you bake somepony into a cupcake?” The earth pony questioned.
“I don’t know, savory cupcakes exist, it's just, I don’t know, when I was setting up power lines around The Rock one of the villages had a little Aquileian shop that had something called Cake Salé. That was a savory cake, and cupcakes are just, teeny cakes you know?”
The priest opted to inspect the tacky spider-web patterns as the two ghouls argued the semantics of what constituted a cake. Poppy, being less exposed to the rest of the world, insisted that cake, and its tiny companion were defined by being soft and sugary. Bolt, having a greater deal of confidence in herself due to feeling like she had friends for the first time in her recent memory continued to argue. Regardless, context clues relating to the discussion and why exactly savory cupcakes would be eaten at such a locale eradicated what crumbs of an appetite the Griffon could muster.
Eventually, an older unicorn who was, to the priest’s surprise, alive approached the group. He was your typical necromancer-looking unicorn, gray fur and a somewhat darker mane with a white stripe going down the middle. “You want menus or do you already know what you want?” He smiled at Poppy, before looking at the other two.
“Could I get a menu please, it's my first time here,” Bolt said, smiling at the aged Unicorn who responded with a disinterested nod.
“I’ll just have a coffee,” The griffon said, forcing a friendly expression.
“That’s probably a good choice for you,” The gray unicorn said in a flat tone before looking back to Poppy and smiling, “I take it you’ll be having the usual?”
“You know me so well Joe, quick question, cakes are always sweet right?” The earth pony asked, shooting an immature glance to Bolt, sticking her tongue out. The unicorn not wanting to take a challenge flatly responded with the same gesture.
The older unicorn paused, thinking “I mean, connotatively yeah, but I guess if you’re some kind of weirdo you could make an argument on what constitutes a cake” He shrugged, “Not really in the mood to discuss the epistemological nature of cake, so, I’ll just say you’re right because you’re a repeat customer. I’ll be back with your menu and drinks in a bit.” The unicorn added as he walked off to a back room.
Poppy, considering this an apparent sign of victory focused her gaze on Bolt, a smug expression plastered on her face “See, only weirdo ponies pretend savory cakes exist.”
“I can’t really argue with that.” The unicorn smirked, more relaxed than she had been for a long while.
“It’s alright Bolt, not everypony can be as smart as me,” the earth pony teased.
“I was going to say because it's impossible to win an argument when the other pony falls back on ad hominem, but I’m glad you got a confidence boost out of this one.” The unicorn added, before the two of them giggled softly at the insignificance of the topic.
Walter mainly listened, not having much to add, he was happier than he was upon entering, the warmth the two shared in arguing about such a simple thing gave him hope that his evangelical journey wouldn’t be entirely without success and that with effort some of the other wayward undead may be given a second chance to find fellowship in the guidance of Eyr.
Eventually, the aging unicorn returned, levitating a tray with two cups of coffee, one plain and the other topped in a layer of cream. He’d place the fancy looking one in front of Poppy and the plain one in front of the Griffon. He’d levitate a menu over to Bolt and give her a chance to choose something to drink. Thinking quickly she’d avoid the awkward silence that comes from looking at a menu with an expectant person and just ask for what Poppy got.
Joe nodded, heading off to prepare another one of the coffees. “So, what is the usual anyways Poppy?” Bolt asked.
“A ‘Bug Coffee’, it's got whiskey, sugar and cream. It originated on that one changeling island.” The earth pony responded proudly, clearly a fan of the concoction.
“That does sound good, actually, I’m starting to regret not coming here earlier all things considered.”
“Tell me about it, you know back in the day before the war, the menu was a lot more varied, and the place was more, well, I don’t want to say alive but, more packed, you know?”
“Mhm,” Bolt responded, shifting her focus to the menu “When they put, savory they mea-”
“Yeah, that’s what it means, it's really not that subtle.” Poppy said, interrupting.
Bolt nodded “Right, right.”
Inevitably the owner returned, placing a pie in front of Poppy and a Bug Coffee in front of Bolt, maintaining his focus on her, he asked “Have you decided on what you want?”
The unicorn nodded, “Could I get one of the, uhh, Savory pies?” She smiled uncomfortably, the relaxed environment helping her disassociate from what she was ordering.
“Chicken or Rabbit?” Joe asked, the apparent subtext clearly not bothering him.
Guiding Bolt looked over towards Walter, then back to Joe, “The uhh, the Rabbit.” She said, a twinge of discomfort materializing.
“Good choice, you sure you don’t want some kind of weirdo cake? You weirdo.” Poppy teased, poking bolt with her hoof.
Bolt smiled, once again distracted from the grisly activities that she was cursed to deal with. “Yeah, I’m sure. Jerk, it's not weirdo-cake, it's Aquileian.” The unicorn responded before taking a drink from her coffee.
Poppy shrugged “Whatever lets you sleep at night,” Yawning, she’d turn towards the priest “So, Altarchick, where are you from anyways? It’d be a bit awkward if you were from Aquileia.”
Walter chuckled, “Brodfeld, actually. The majority of recovery efforts fell into the claws of Evites, and, seeing as I’d recently passed the rites to join the cloth, my parish suggested I do some missionary work abroad before getting comfortable at home, I was told about a conflict in the North and considered it a good place to try and help creatures find fellowship..”
Poppy nodded, “Right, Brodfeld’s the one with Prime Minister Violinaldori or something right?”
He nodded, “All things considered, the story of how he wound up in that position exemplifies the peace which comes from following the Guidance of Eyr. It was the bonds of family that allowed the prince to sway his father away from an abyss of revanchism.”
The earth pony squinted at him, clearly missing some of the finer points “...and this led to the violin guy being in charge how?”
The griffon paused to think “The prince managed to calm king Kloseau’s anger, and, as a result he recognized his own failings and shifted towards a less absolute form of governance, allowing a prime minister to be elected and they happened to support him”
“Right, right” The earth pony nodded, taking a bite from her pie, “I heard they’re planning to do something like that here, well, not here but in the Arcturian Order proper. I don’t get it myself, seeing as Steelbeak won the war. I suppose a couple hundred thousand dead and a newfound rich factory-owning population wanting to throw their weight around prompt such things.”
The older unicorn returned, placing a pie in front of Bolt. She looked at him and smiled “Thank you.” The older Unicorn nodded, heading back to the kitchen. Bolt turned her attention back to the conversation. “Well, the Griffonian Republic is right to the west of the Order, and they sent a lot of guns and griffons to help which could be a factor. Though, it seems like Headmaster Steelbeak just genuinely cares for the average creature, and wants to see them represented in government..”
Poppy shrugged “I guess,” The earth pony yawned, taking a drink of her coffee and changing the subject “Can you believe what Hellquill did to the Riverlands? They released some kind of plague on them a few weeks back. We did some terrible stuff, but, like, the worst thing I remember doing took minutes, or hours to finish the job, not, well, months.”
Bolt perked up, looking towards Poppy “I’ve heard that the Order is planning on sending some volunteers under Rosa to provide relief to the River Ponies, I’d like to go, but I’m hesitant to go alone. I’d like it if you’d come along.” She smiled at Poppy, with the discomfort that comes with asking someone if they want to go on a crazy adventure to a brutal warzone.
Poppy sighed, pausing for a bit before shrugging “Yeah, sure, whatever. It beats waiting to get shot by a knight or stabbed to death by some random wannabee necrolord.”
The unicorn beamed, “I’m happy to hear that, one more thing, I’m going to visit the local chapel tonight to talk about the war. They said it was a matter of state security and I’d really appreciate it if you’d come with me.”
The earth pony rolled her eyes “Yeah, I agreed to go to some weird foreign locale with you so I’ll sit through a sermon. If a griffon tries to dunk me in water I’m going to beat him up though.”
Bolt smirked “I’ll keep that in mind if one approaches you.”
Poppy grinned, nodding “You better, priestly types freak me out,” She turned towards the Eyrite, “No offense”
The griffon laughed, still nervous due to the locale, “none taken.”
The meal continued on in relative silence with the two ghouls focused on their meat pies, and the griffon doing his best to focus on the coffee. Once they’d finished eating the priest paid for the meal as promised and the two ghouls headed off towards the chapel.
The trip to the chapel was relatively uneventful as it conveniently fell upon one of the well patrolled roads in the city. They entered at the tail end of one of the sermons to the masses of scholars and clerics who worked to understand, copy, and purify the litany of horrific arts practiced within the former holdings of the Dread League. The sermon itself covered diligence and safety in hostile lands, preaching perseverance and advising finding comfort in the faith in times of struggle.
A few creatures turned their heads to observe the two coming in, Bolt bowed her head, sitting down in one of the rear pews with Poppy. The unicorn sat down, smiling towards her friend as the sermon continued. Bolt turned to the priest, invested in the message despite it obviously not being directed towards her.
“You like this kind of stuff? He’s just telling the griffons to be at peace in their duty, our commanders said the same things without moral filler.” Poppy whispered, frowning towards Bolt. She was not enjoying listening to a Griffon dictate a theology.
Bolt frowned, shrugging, “There is a sense of community that comes from being here. It makes me feel more like, I don’t know, that I’m part of something good instead of just being a blight on the world.”
Poppy smiled awkwardly, placing a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. She’d sit in relative silence for the rest of the sermon, hesitant to nitpick the minutia of it all when her friend seemed genuinely moved by the message.
Eventually, the sermon concluded and the majority of the griffons returned to their duties. Bolt stood up and gestured for Poppy to follow. The two went down the stairs towards the basement level and were met with the familiar scent of incense.
The Father Fordwing raised a claw in greeting towards the duo, “Ah, hello again miss Bolt, I see you’ve brought a friend.” He looked over towards Poppy, “May I have the pleasure of knowing your name miss?”
“Poppy Field.” The earth pony responded, her focus resting momentarily on the venerable priest, before quickly shifting to his two guards. She sighed before sitting down next to Bolt.
“I heard about what you both did for that priest last night, It was a brave deed and honorable in the eyes of Arcturius.” He approvingly patted the unicorn’s shoulder before turning towards Poppy, “Your expression towards my guards, and your annoyance throughout service suggests you’re not one of the faith, but my gratitude to you is great as well. If the approval of heavens doesn't provide you satisfaction, know that two good creatures are alive due to your initiative.”
Poppy looked down, smiling, she wasn’t used to compliments, nor was she used to being told she was a decent creature. “Right, I couldn’t just let Bolt get killed. Someponies gotta make sure that idealistic dummies can keep on being idealistic.” She lightly punched the unicorns shoulder before looking up, wearing a warm enough expression, her attention successfully purchased through a small kindness.
The priest looked towards Bolt, his gaze lacking the hostile judgement common amongst the occupying force “I hope you took the time to eat, your memory on this event is very important, and, I’m glad you found a companion to accompany you as the topic is sadly not a comfortable one. That is, from your record you were present at the village of Hearthglen, north of The Tarpian Rock on the fourteenth of November, 1013? Is this correct?” His voice was serious, but calm. The two knights to his side tensed up slightly at the mentioning of the name.
Bolt’s face paled and the confidence acquired from the time spent the prior day faded away and she once again found herself the nervous filly that wanted to turn tail and run away the night prior. Poppy looked over, her expression was confused though sympathetic, "Everything alright Bolt?”
“Y-yeah, I’m, I just need a moment.” the unicorn forced a smile, looking towards Poppy. Bolt’s eyes screamed out for some kind of relief as she grasped the symbol of Arcturius, the metal edge dug into the side of her forelimb as she turned back towards the priest. “I, Yes, I was there, Sir.”
The priest nodded, “Good, I know this is difficult, just as a smith can turn a murderer’s blade into a plowshare, so too can you turn what happened into something to bring the world closer to harmony. It is important that I hear your account of that day.”
The unicorn took a deep breath, tightening her grip on the symbol further, it dug deeper into her hide but proved ineffective at staving off the panic attacking her mind. The unicorn’s gaze darted between the two knights before resting on her hooves. Poppy placed a hoof on Guiding Bolt’s shoulder “Hey, it's alright, just, calm down. I don’t think he’s mad at you for whatever you did, and if he is I’ll beat him up for calling you down here just to get your hopes up with the whole you’re a good po-”
Bolt hugged the earth pony, squeezing her tightly, finding a degree of comfort that the symbol alone failed to deliver. “I’m a bad pony,” She murmured. Poppy returned the hug, taking a bit of silent relief in the fact that her lung capacity was a matter of comfort more than continued survival.
“You’re alright, it’s alright.” The earth pony stared at the griffon, a confused and wide eyed expression present on her face, her pupils pointed towards him, then back down to the unicorn repeatedly.
This went on for three very uncomfortable minutes as the priest patiently looked somewhere away from the scene, giving them time to work it out.. Sniffling, the Unicorn returned to the sitting position. “We’d just broken through the fort line north of the Rock. My Executor had just gotten news of her sister falling to a knight on the southern front,” The unicorn took a breath through her nose, focusing on her hooves, “General Skellinore tended to try and keep executions quick and painless, but, most of us hadn’t slept in three days, and,” The unicorn paused, looking down and away. Poppy scooted closer to the unicorn, wrapping a forelimb around her back, she smiled towards Bolt before looking back to the priest.
“...And most of us had lost friends, the anger was infectious and it multiplied as stories continued to amass. I hated the enemy with the same passion as everypony else. We did some terrible things to the garrison forces who didn’t manage to fall back or kill themselves. I usually stayed in the back but a ghoul led me to a griffon who’d hid in a closet with a grenade, it was a dud and when I got there he was already being beaten by a mob. Everypony encouraged me to join in and I did. I should have killed him quickly, but,” She sighed, looking down and taking a deep breath, wrapping a forelimb around her symbol. “I didn’t, we ended up breaking most of his bones before eating him”
The priest nodded, looking at her with a warm but distant expression, tapping a claw to his beak he’d speak up “Do you recall the weather or any kinds of sound that came off as peculiar?” He’d wave his claw and look at one of the guards who walked off towards a back room, before returning his attention to the unicorn.
“It was frigid, snowing heavily, I can’t remember if there was any sound but everything felt a bit more dreamlike than usual. Though, again that might have been the sleep deprivation.” Bolt added, finding a bit of relief in talking about the weather.
The griffon nodded, “Right, this happened at the fort line, and not the village, correct?” Bolt nodded as the priest spoke, “please continue.”
“We were under direct orders to keep moving and eventually came to Hearthglen. Visibility was low due to heavy snowfall and it was just starting to get dark when we arrived. We sent in mindless undead for the initial wave to test the defenses as usual, and, as expected the town was filled with explosives and armed townsfolk fortified in buildings.” She looked down, leaning her head against Poppy for a moment before continuing. “As the zombies fell I was ordered to fire upon the buildings where gunshots were coming from. I’d gotten my howitzer aimed when my Executor approached me and the other artilleryponies, she passed out swords, spears and other old weapons we’d pretty much only trained with prior to the war. She put us amongst the mindless undead and sent us in with them, telling us the garrison was small and we deserved a chance at bloodshed too. I felt energized, we all did, a bloody melee was what we were told was coming when we were recruited, and we were finally going to get one.” The unicorn tightened her grip on the symbol before continuing, “They put up a fight but we had the numbers advantage. After a while, the mindless forces managed to drag the thirty odd surviving griffons into the town square and tie them up, we uhh…” The unicorn paused, shifting her weight forward against the table, she’d tap her hooves uncomfortably, hoping that the noise would somehow justify the pause.
Conveniently, Guiding Bolt’s anxiety-spurred drum solo bought time for the knight ro make his way back. He pushed a phonograph into the room, leaving it beside the elderly cleric. The priest, noting the pause began to speak “Please tell me if you recognize this sound from Hearthglen.”
Bolt nodded, prepared to answer the question which prompted one of the knights to begin turning the crank. An eerie song came from the machine, the overall tune was consonant, something that anycreature might feel prompted to hum along to nostalgically. Yet, underneath the piece was a fierce dissonance, a wrathful underkey that appealed to the harshness of cannonfire intermingling with war drums and the cries of the defeated.
The unicorn blinked, pausing for a second as the music called her more intimately back to her time there, anxiety gave way to recollection as she continued. “Yeah, I recall that, when we’d captured the creatures we formed a big circle around them. It was like a dance as the mindless undead were shuffled away to create a perimeter.” Nodding her head along to the enchanting piece of hate given sound she continued, “We started far away at first, circling the bound captives, then moving a bit closer. Every step I found myself caring less about their fearful expressions, and more about the pain I’d suffered during the war. Every step closer, my thoughts on what I was going to do to these griffons grew more malicious, and I assume it was the same for everypony else. Once we closed to hooves reach we ripped off feathers and wings, taking pieces off of the captives one by one, so their comrades would know what was coming for them, I don’t know how long it took exactly but the sun was up by the time we finished.” She sighed, finishing her story in line with the end of the piece.
The older Griffon nodded along as she spoke, letting her finish and waiting for a moment before he began to speak. “You said you were in the back, do you recall if this kind of execution was typical in other areas?”
Poppy spoke up, shaking her head “We ate creatures live, but we didn’t tend to ritualize it like that.”
Bolt nodded, “No, no this wasn’t normal. General Skellinore tended to punish that kind of thing, once the marshal shut down her attempts to have prisoner exchanges, she had us try and execute those we captured painlessly.” With the music gone her expression returned to melancholy. Poppy, notting this put a forelimb back on the sad war criminal’s back, patting it lightly.
The priest made a few notes before looking up at the group. “Thank you, while it may not seem like much, the information you provided will go a long way to ensuring prosperity in the future. Speaking of the future, have you considered signing up under one of Rosa’s new knightly banners?”
The unicorn nodded, glad to have taken a turn off of memory lane. “Mhm, Poppy and I were planning to sign up soon.” The earth pony nodded to the statement, albeit with less enthusiasm than the young Arcturian.
A slight look of relief spread over the griffon’s face at them mentioning this. He’d pull out a piece of parchment and write out a letter permitting the passage of two to The End where the Banners were training. He’d hand it to them, “I see the potential for a great deal of good in you two, and urge you to seek passage as soon as possible, show this to one of the soldiers at the docks and they’ll let you ship out on the next return trip..”
Poppy blinked, squinting at the priest “Any reason for the rush?”
The old griffon smiled with a pained expression, looking over the two ghouls the pain shifted towards a resigned peace. He smiled towards them, “Nothing for us to fear so long as we walk in the Light.” His tone, paired with the prior set of expressions was indicative enough that he wanted to disclose more, but couldn’t due to regulation.
Bolt bowed her head, “Thank you, Father.”
The earth pony waved, grateful to have gotten an out for whatever calamitous event was being foreshadowed, “Thanks for the ticket out of here,” she paused for a moment, hesitating in finishing her sentence, “Father.”
The priest nodded his head as the two ponies departed for the more legitimate holdings of the Order. As they left, he bowed his head in prayer, steeling himself for the rapidly approaching conflict with the demons who orchestrated the horrors of this bleak peninsula. The place he knew would be his grave.