Steel Storm grumbled obscenities under her breath, struggling with a bit of debris before giving up, flaring her wings and slashing through the material with the blades concealed beneath them.
She haphazardly flapped into the air, laboriously making her way over to Tail, “I’m not deaf, you know.” she muttered, touching down. “Alright, give me a sitrep. What the hell just happened here? Who are you? Why is there an alicorn right over there?” Storm did her best to keep her breathing under control, but considering the circumstances she was having an extraordinarily difficult time.
_________
Scarlet murmured sleepily from her tree, ear flicking now and then whenever the dried, crusted blood got itchy.
She blinked.
Dried, crusted blood? Tree?
Her eyes shot open to reveal a grisly scene about six meters below, which also explained why she looked considerably more well, her, than she normally did. Scarlet blinked at the eviscerated and exsanguinated corpses of wolves and a bear, “What in прокляие happened last night?” she looked down at herself, retching slightly, “Ew.”
She looked around the forest floor, catching sight of a sturdy looking piece of wood, and levitating it towards herself. Carefully inching her way over, she transferred her weight onto it and lowered the wood, and herself, down to earth. “Hah, who said it was hard to levitate yourself? Just requires a bit of finesse and creativity.”
She looked around, “Just what did happen last night?” she paused, “And better yet, why am I out here?”
Then it all came rushing back to her, “Ah.”
She pulled out her special map, checking her location and glaring off in a certain direction, “Well, ‘Cotton Tail’, the reaper bunny’s hopping down the trail, and it’s lined with bones and screaming Earthborn suspended in cages with crows pecking out their eyes. And little lava rivers, must not forget those. There’s a spot reserved for you and everything.”
She began walking, all she needed was a clear line of sight for teleportation, and she should easily be near Earthborn territory in a few hours. Ah, the joys of a large reserve of magic.
_______________
“I hate everybody.” Scarlet declared, “Это пиздец.” She shook her hooves free of some of the accumulated grime, most of which had been acquired immediately after setting hoof on the ground. How was she to know the blood from the local wildlife wouldn’t have dried on the ground yet?
She sighed, at least she had a decent line of sight to an open area now, though based on her map, it seems she’d have to take a roundabout course to avoid too much walking.
She rolled her eyes, charging up her horn as she set her eyes on the distance- if only she were teleporting somewhere she’d been before. Releasing the spell, she felt the familiar tug of dimensional warping and ripping, before reappearing at her target area.
______
She shook her head to clear it, teleportation was always slightly disorienting. Especially repeated rapid fire teleportation, one after the other. “Проклинать те дерева…” (Damn those trees…) *Wonder how far I still have? Actually- do I even have a plan to take down this “Cotton Tail”? Stabbing him won’t work- damn, I should’ve brought some teleportation flux. I’ll have to see if that stallion with the undead friends could set up a gate for me to use. Which doesn’t help me in the present…*
“Under the authority of House Earthborn I order you to drop your weapons and surrender! Y-” The loudmouthed earth pony stallion choked and gurgled as Scarlet pulled one of her swords out of his throat, the other sword and her axe floating around her.
“I was thinking, му дак(asshole).” She snarled, turning to face the small patrol. “Under different circumstances I’d be inclined to let you all go, but unfortunately that tender mercy is unlikely to be dispensed for you lot, though if you’re helpful I’ll make your deaths qu-” she leapt to the side, sword plunging through the neck armor of a mare. She whirled, axe embedding itself in the skull of another mare and swords cleanly scissoring a head from its body.
“That was rude! I was talking! Didn’t your mothers ever teach you manners?” She mock-scolded the group as she thrust a sword through the eye socket of another pony, before, all weapons circling her head menacingly, rounding on the final member of the group, a mare barely old enough to wear her armor. “Now, cooperate and I’ll make your death quick, help me and I may even let you go. Tell me, is there a pony by the name of ‘Cotton Tail’ in that lovely city over yonder? I think he was…” she paused in mock thought, “An Overseer-Something?”
The mare on the ground looked like she’d just about lost all the blood from her face. She looked to be trying to find words to say, but Scarlet couldn’t quite tell. “Look, if you know where she is just tell me. Your friends over there are only missing blood and body parts because they made the mistake of attacking me. You don’t seem like a fanatical racist, so I’m willing to let you go if you just tell me what I need.”
The mare still looked absolutely terrified, but she seemed capable of speech. “H-he’s the Overseer-Major, second to the Lord-Governer.” she shrank back, somehow seeming even smaller, “Please don’t hurt me…”
Scarlet shook her head, stepping away from the mare. She dug around in her bags, pulling out a sizable waterskin she’d taken off another Inquisitor some time back, a loaf of bread and a block of cheese, and a small bag that made a telltale chinking sound.
“Here. Take this, leave that armor, keep your axe if you feel the need. Run for… anywhere but here. Go to one of the neutral areas. Don’t go and get yourself killed for no reason. And don’t return to Earthborn lands, I’ll know if you do.” she sighed, levitating the items towards the mare, whose eyes widened in shock.
Wordlessly taking the things and hurriedly stripping out of her armor, the mare bolted in the opposite direction of New Ponyville.
Scarlet shook her head, turning back to the bloody mess behind her.
“Hmm…” she muttered, stripping off her own blood caked armor, she’d need to wash it soon. She eyed the armor on the mare whose skull she’d ventilated, and then the conveniently horned helmet on the first stallion of the group. “Hmm…”
__________
Lamellar armor sure was shinier than brigandine, Scarlet concluded. It also meant she stood out like a big shiny beacon in the sunlight. Her actual armor was folded up and stuffed in one of her bags, and her cloak covered most of the shiny metal to more or less conceal the fact that she’d looted it off a dead body.
Ahead lay New Ponyville, and its juicy target.
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