Steel Storm raised an eyebrow at Snow Tail. She wasn’t a real warrior, she was certainly a dangerous opponent, but all the nicecities of warriors oftentimes baffled her. [i]Ah, Joy, one of the few ponies I’ve know who managed to stay reasonably honest and yet play the political game. To think on how our paths have diverged.[/i] She politely declined the offer of Snow’s food, “Thank you for the offer, but no thank you.” She replied in her usual slightly clipped tone. “As far as the bodies, this level of Cult activity will require the direct inspection of the Alicorn currently residing in Stormwing territory. I shall ensure the information reaches her.” Then she looked around the field and sighed, looking for her partner. “And yes, I had a partner. He was the genius who decided to run out at the Cult zombies.” She looked back at Snow Tail, looking noticeably more at ease, “Tell me, how’s Joy been doing lately?” __________________________________________ “Makes it a bit more fair,” Winterjet muttered, slowly starting to circle Armifera, wings half spread in preparation. “Still, I’m not really holding up hopes of winning, but…” she grinned “does it matter?” Small droplets of water materialized around her body, hovering scant few millimetres from her fur, all but invisible. Armifera smirked, “So long as it’s interesting, I suppose.” She shuffled her hooves and ruffled her feathers. She watched idly as Winterjet collected water, and suddenly disappeared in a blur, almost materializing at Winterjet’s left and bringing in the dulled and padded wing blade for a vicious strike to her underbelly and following through with a pure brute force body slam. [i]Fuck sake she’s fast,[/i] Winterjet cursed, jumping back and narrowly avoiding the blow to her underbelly. Time seemed to slow down for her, then, her mind tuning for battle. The body slam came, and she jumped forward to meet it, twisting her body and aiming a strike at the Alicorn’s leg with her own icy wing blades; created in a split second as she dashed forward. Armifera grinned as Winterjet swung at her leg, letting the ice crash against the Astral steel. “Seriously?” She muttered, bringing the same leg up to smash into Winterjet’s jaw and following through with a wingblade slash to her exposed chest. “Well that didn’t work,” the pegasus said, and spat out a small glob of blood. She’d managed to protect her chest with her ice, already having lessened the force of the blow by pushing against the ground. The blow to her jaw, however, not so much. “Your armour’s tough,” she muttered. “I guess I should better get serious.” From one to the next, the air around her misted over; temperature dropping and ice crystals forming in the grass around her. She blinked, and her eyes had turned slitted, teeth already forming into a set of fangs and murderous points. A circle of rime quickly formed on the ground around her, whitening the grass. [i]Rushing in will do nothing. She’s armoured head to tail, and she’s faster than me. Best I can do is counter her attacks.[/i] She started circling the alicorn again, her—now sharper—eyes looking for any opening or tell that might be shown. Armifera watched idly as Winterjet circled, eyes slitted and prominent canines showing. [i]Ah the wonders of Thea’s blessings,[/i] she remarked to herself, [i]certainly an interesting look.[/i]She knew the pegasus was looking for weak spots, she knew that look anywhere. She smirked internally, feeling slightly lenient and swinging one of her legs back and forth, exposing the joints covered in chainmail, rather than solid plate. [i]I ought to show her some personal tricks for an armored opponent,[/i] she mused to herself. The ice however, caught her attention, [i]How curious… let’s see what she can do with this.[/i] [i]The face,[/i] Winterjet noted. [i]Her joints are somewhat exposed, but I don’t think I can cut through it. Stab, perhaps?[/i] She pulled back her lips, snarling like some animal about to attack. [i]Heh, never knew I could make that sound. Must be the Blessing.[/i] She circled the alicorn a few more times, noting what few places where she could get a hit in. Extending her wings, she covered the front of them in ice-like wing blades and took off. She descended a short while before, finally, she turned into a dive and shot towards Armifera. Armifera saw Winterjet take off into the air and dive towards her. Shrugging, she flared her own wings and threw herself backwards into the air. A grin split Winterjet’s fanged muzzle. Of course she jumped back, who wouldn’t? Her original plan had failed, but she still had an ace up her sleeve. When she reached the point where she would have originally acted, she performed an extremely tight forwards roll, creating a solid block of ice at the end of her tail and—hardly a fraction of a second later—sent it flying towards Armifera with all of the force of her own momentum behind her. She didn’t have much time to look at the results, instead pumping her wings to kill her speed, going into a hover above the ground. She looked back at Armifera. Glancing at the ice hurtling towards her, Armifera couldn’t help but appreciate Winterjet’s cleverness. [i]Seems we’re really playing with magic now. Alright.[/i] She summoned her own magic, blasting fire from her own wings as she propelled herself back down at a shallow angle and landing on the ground with a noticeable thud. Fire began to dance along her wings, mane, and tail, and the air around her began to shimmer with heat. The fire did intimidate Winterjet, if only a little. She had, perhaps faultily, believed that the Alicorn would fight her as a pegasus instead of an alicorn. It was a foolish notion, really, given how their magic was as second nature to them as hers was to herself. [i]I may actually be able to use that.[/i] “Woulda thought you’d be brave enough to fight me using only your wings,” she taunted, rising a little higher in the air. “Could it be that my little trick surprised you that much?” [i]I’m trying to piss off a god. Luna’s moon-covered butt, I’m an idiot.[/i] Armifera smirked, “That [i]was[/i] my wings.” The flames dancing along her wings grew larger, and she casually lobbed a ball of fire at Winterjet with her right wing. “Any reasonably powerful pegasus with some basic training could do this.” “Your wings?” The pegasus asked, trying to hide her shock. “Well, shit.” She waved her wing in front of her, sending forth a gust of cold wind to disperse the fireball. She was just happy that it wasn’t a serious attack, as that would have just crashed through her wind and hit her. “Welp, here goes, then.” She charged again, flying in a straight line towards Armifera. Truth be told, she was getting bored with it. The alicorn did nothing but counter, and didn’t even seem to try to attack her. A spar though it may only be, she did want at least some back and forth. Armifera grinned, releasing dual columns of flame towards Winterjet and disappearing in a blur behind them. She loosed another torrent of flame from Winterjet’s front left and then rushed to her rear, wing blade crackling with electricity. Tilting her wings and throwing herself into a spiral, she dodged the twin columns with relatively little effort. The third blast of fire she caught sight of in the corner of her eyes and only just managed to fold her wings at her side, avoiding most of it. The ice she created to shield her back melted almost immediately, too. [i]Yeah, I’m outmatched here. No doubt about that,[/i] she thought, one eye pinched close in pain from the fire. The crackle of electricity from behind her made her turn, coming face to face with Armifera. [i]Well, shit.[/i] She beat her wings as hard as she could, propelling her backwards and, hopefully surprising her opponent, unleashed several razor sharp knives at her; small feathers from her wings covered in ice. She just hoped that her aim was true and at least one grazed her cheek or something. Armifera ducked her head, letting the feathers crash against the armor. Extending her wings, she shot a bolt of electricity with the combined force of both wings, not enough to kill but certainly a rigorous shock. She was certain, now, that winning this fight was out of the question. If the alicorn could move fast enough to effortlessly dodge everything she sent at her, then winning was simply not possible. The lightning didn’t help, either, but she had a way of avoiding that—most of it, anyway. She waited until the last moment before twisting herself so that she was ‘lying’ horizontally in the air. One wing was extended towards the air, and the other down, touching the ground. She pushed her magic to its fullest, then, focusing on creating a clear path through her body. The lightning hit the wing extended upwards, and travelled through her wings, and down into the ground. A grunt followed as she fell to the ground with a thud, sitting up shortly after. “Not doing that again,” she muttered. Looking up, she said. “I think that’s it. My wings are going to be sore for the rest of the day after that, and I’d much rather avoid further beatings.” She chuckled dryly. “Was fun, though. Your armour’s fucking annoying, by the way.” Armifera smirked, “To be fair, it’s even more annoying to be hit and not wearing armor. I haven’t even shown you what it can do when charged with lightning.” She walked over and offered a hoof for Winterjet to pull herself upright, “You’re pretty good, actually. Didn’t try to just hammer at the armor like some do.” “Doesn’t work like that unless you’re a monster like the Juggernauts who has enough strength to dent armour with their hooves,” she said, taking the hoof and standing up. She flapped her wings a few times to get the feeling back in them before folding them back at her side. “I’ve been a soldier for most of my life, I know how to fight armoured opponents. Just didn’t expect yours to be made of solid Mary Sue.” “You mean Astral steel.” “Yeah. That. Solid Mary Sue from Godland. Is it not the same thing?” She returned her teeth to those of a normal pony, as well as her eyes, smacking her lips and clacking her teeth together a few times to get used to the feeling. “Whatever the case, I can usually at least dent armour when I cut it with my blades. Yours didn’t even get a scratch.” She shrugged and turned to look at the horizon. “I should probably go, by the way. I was on my way north when I came by here, and should probably continue. I’ll swing by Cloudsdale to replenish my supplies before I continue, I think. I do think they’d allow me to stay the night, at least… Knowing them, probably not, but I can always hope.” Armifera raised an eyebrow, “I’ve been working on that. They should at least let you stay and replenish your supplies. They might even be downright friendly if you tell them I said you’re okay.” she paused, “Tell them -quietly- that freedom grows where tyrants are planted. Make sure it’s a guard with Summer’s helmet and not the standard one.” “Passwords, ‘eh?” She let out a brief chuckle. “Didn’t peck you for the secretive type, with all manner of intricate hoof signs and word jumbles. Freedom grows where tyrants are planted, then? Contradictory, if you ask me. Granted, a good tyrant is miles better than an idiotic democracy.” Armifera raised an eyebrow again, “Now now, there was never any mention of democracies. But you see, the latent Freedom energy feeds off the decaying corpse of a tyrant and thus freedom wells forth if tended properly.” She smirked as she said the second sentence, hoping Winterjet would pick up on her sarcasm -plenty of mortals were terrible about that- “Anyway yes, ‘Freedom grows where tyrants are planted. And remember, guards with Summer’s helmet only, they’re the only ones who will recognize it and not panic.” Despite the apparent seriousness of the conversation, the snowy pegasus could not help but guffaw at the sarcasm so thickly lacing every word Armifera spoke. “Pfft. Yeah. Freedom Energies, seriously? You sound just like some of those wanna-be tribes ponies who think that being part of the Everfree Tribes is all about nature and tree hugging. So… Silver coloured helmet, and mysterious phrase of ultimate sarcasm. Got it.” She nodded theatrically, trying—and failing—to look serious.