Beneath the Surface (Adventure, slight Gore)

"I suppose I won't..." Griff grins and starts walking towards the exit of the camp.

"Stay safe out there!" Ician calls out one final time, before allowing his head to drift back onto the ground. He stares at the sky, allowing his eyelids to fall back down slowly and bring a few more minutes of rest.

"I knew there was a chance that this would happen. But I came anyway." He said pushing the flaps open with his injured hoof. "I have to see what I did. I chose to come on a mission where every life could be the difference between success and failure. Not only that but I chose to fight an enemy that has the ability to sense emotions and maybe alter them. Then I chose to enter into battle, during which I am able to focus less on my emotions where I have to get angry and hate just to survive." He said as he stepped out of the tent into the half light of dawn. "I made those choices. I must be the one responsible for the consequences." Storm strode forth, heading for the site of the most recent battle.

Eclipse hurries after him. "You wanted to help. We make bad choices sometimes, but it's the intentions behind them that matter." He gulps. "And really, I don't think you need to go out there. I mean, it's... fine..." He trails off.

The battlefield is strewn with corpses not yet cleaned up. At least a third of the still bodies of Equestrian knights on the ground are charred, some beyond recognition.

"I'll try to!" Griff yells back at Ician before strolling out into the desert.

The sun shines brightly down on the desert. It is completely deserted*, save for a few desert creatures running around. It is quiet, too; nothing seems out of place but the dark forest nearby.




((*pun not intended. Oh who am I kidding, it was absolutely intended.))

After a few moments, Griff returns back to the camp. He goes to the tent with supplies and gets himself some water, which he happily drinks.

"So many dead." He says as he looks around. "So many ponies will never see their loved ones again." He walks over to one of the bodies "So many may never know." he reaches down an touches the charred flesh that once was a ponies skull. The heat one of his attacks had melted the helmet and the molten steel had congealed around his neck. "Who is worse the monsters who killed a squad of these soldiers or the one that did this in an attempt to help?" He asked of no one in particular. "I'm sorry for this brave knight. May you find peace in the next life."

"He died fighting for Equestria." Eclipse draws up alongside Storm. "It was the way he would want to go. He is happy in Paradise... whatever Paradise there might be." He sighs. "We soldiers are all monsters, Storm, in our own way. But the important part is why we become the monsters we are." He looks at Storm. "Listen to yourself. You wanted to help. It may not have gone right, but you wanted to help. Not them." He points out towards the forest. "They only wanted to kill. No, Storm, you are far less of a monster than they are." He pauses. "... Or I am, arguably. I can't help but feel that somewhere out there, somepony is mourning the changeling dead."

Griff sits down in one of the empty tents since that was the only shadow and started waiting for anyone to need him for anything.

"I'm not a soldier." Storm says quietly. "I'm a blacksmith. I make weapons. If a pony uses a knife to kill another does that make it the knife's fault? No the knife had no say in the matter it just did what it was told to do by the one wielding it. It could just as easily have been used to craft a beautiful meal or protect a soldier, instead it was used to kill. In the same way I am responsible for everything my flames burn whether it was by my choice or not." He argued, quietly moving on to another charred body and paying his respects.

"What would you have done, then?" Eclipse challenges. "Hid away in the supplies tent? We needed you out there, sir. You could do a lot. If you made mistakes you can't grieve about them forever. No, you have to go out and right the wrongs that came to pass." He jabs a hoof at the forest. "Your place is not here. The dead will be mourned. Your place, sir, is out there. Doing what must be done. Or else... I don't know." He looks at Storm earnestly. "We needed you out there before, and we need you out there again. That forest needs to be burned down."

"You didn't need me. I did far more harm than good. Righting my wrongs would take more than one life time. And if you need me that desperately then I am truly sorry, for the only reason that anyone would think to call me after seeing this would mean all hope is lost." Storm moved on to yet another body. turning away from Eclipse as he paid his respects.

"I can't go out there anyway I have no weapons or armour anymore, they burned and melted away when I lost control. I barely have the energy to stand let alone fight. In my present condition I am useless. I'm too strong to give in, but I'm too weak to continue fighting. I exist to be despised and hated."

"You're wrong!" Eclipse snaps. "We have more weapons. We have more armour. And we have more time. For you to rest and recuperate. And then we fight." Eclipse jabs a hoof at the corpses. "Look at everypony you killed. Look at them! So many, but you survived. If you truly think that you can't redeem yourself... go." He turns to the forest. "Go in there and kill every last changeling. At least, you can claim that you died with honour. But you must know..." He sighs. "Some fear you. But no one despises or hates you. Least of all me." He looks Storm in the eye. "I am your friend... Storm."

"You think I can't see them? You think I can see anything but them? This is what happens when I fight I cannot control myself. I hate fighting, I hate killing every dead soldier leaves a thousand broken hearts behind him. I didn't survive because so many gave their lives here. So many had to die here because I survived." He began to limp in the direction of the forest. "Don't tell me they don't hate me, no one understands the links between fear and hatred better than me." He says quietly. As he walks away his tail begins to smoulder.

Eclipse opens his mouth, wanting to say something but saying nothing instead. He watches Storm's retreating form silently. With an angry, frustrated growl, he returns to the supply tent.

Griff notices Eclipse pass him on his way to supply tent. "...Everything okay?" he asks silently.

Eclipse eyes Griff as he trudges past. "... No, sir." He looks away. "Storm's having a breakdown over last night. I can't talk him out of it."

Griff shrugs. "I was like that for my first kill aswell. On the second note, you don't have to call me 'sir'. I am not a knight or anything, just a simple mercenary."

"Sorry, sir... I mean, Griff." Eclipse exhales noisily. "It's just proper procedure. Technically you outrank me for the duration of this mission, as accepted agents of the Guard and Commander Ician." He looks back at Storm. "... Will he be alright?"

"Most likely. What's the worst that can happen?" Griff says, looking at the limping Storm. "He probably just needs some time alone to calm down and accept everything that happened."

"I... hope so." Eclipse casts one last look at Storm, then trudges back to the supply tent.

Griff sighs as he continues looking at Storm and then at Eclipse, wondering what will he need from supply tent.

Divine stirred, standing up slowly. "Ugh... I wish I hadn't woken up... I was having such a good dream... " she kissed Ician and Ruby gently, before trotting out into the desert, a water bottle on her hip.

"Mm." Ician stirs and notices Divine heading out. "Divine... where are you going?"