Sulfur. The air smelled of sulfur. Meadow's vision was hazy and dark and she couldn't hear anything except for the ringing of her own ears. Her face was wet. Why was her face wet? She attempted to bring her hoof up to her muzzle, but couldn't, finding only that it would not obey her commands. She tried the other. It came no problem, making contact with her face and absorbing the liquid that adorned it. Red. Then movement, just a little ways out. It was blurry but it was there. Where was she? What had happened?

A voice reached her ears, muffled by the ringing and some other sounds that resembled gunfire, possibly a grenade or two. Then the world got a little brighter as light hit her face. Warm rays. Whatever had been blocking her vision was slowly removed and she found it was now obstructed by dark moving shapes just out of her reach. She tried to grasp at them with no avail until one of them grabbed her back and stayed there for a moment.

The voice came again.

What?

Again, the voice called something out to her.

I... cant... I cant understand you.

She was suddenly thrust upward onto her own four hooves, her balance not initially coming to her and she was forced to use the blurry shape of a pony for support. That same blur spoke to her again suddenly. "Hang in there," it said.

"Nightfall?" she asked, having recognized the voice that now met her ears. Slowly, yet surely, the world came into focus, but her ears still rang like sirens assaulting her brain. One moment, she had been alone and facing her death, but now the familiar form of Nightfall stood before her, his rifle in hoof as he walked her to where both Bastion and Paper were taking cover from sporadic fire.

"Can you walk?" Bastion asked her suddenly, barely giving Meadow the time to recompose herself.

She answered regardless of the fact that she was not ready. "I think so," she muttered, still leaning against Nightfall's side for support. Her hooves wobbled beneath her and she felt as if they would give out on her at any second. Still she stood, defying her weak limbs and pushing herself to keep going.

"Hey, we're getting too hot over here!" Paper cried, popping up and firing three bursts in rapid succession before ducking back down. "We gotta move, quick!"

"Working on it," Foxtrot replied, sending his own rounds down range at the mercenaries they were currently engaged with, before moving behind their firing line and taking up the position furthest to the right. "Popping smoke. Get ready to move," he said, pulling the pin on a smoke grenade and rolling it out into the open space between them and their enemy.

Round after round came at them and slowly whittled away at their cover, the origin of the fire becoming less and less visible as the smoke filled the room.

"Get her out, now!" Bastion yelled, signaling for Nightfall to make a run for the exit, a hole in the wall with charred edges where Paper had burned straight through with a spell, with Meadow Spring in tow. "Cover!" Bastion continued, spraying fire into the smoke alongside his squad mates as they backed up and out of the building.

Meadow suddenly felt herself removed from the ground altogether and found herself lying across Nightfall's back as he carried her off as quickly as he could manage, electing to drop his rifle and leave the extra weight behind.

Suddenly, another explosion rocked the already exploded building, a shipping container jumping from the ground seemingly by its own strength, the sound of twisting metal screeching as the top separated from the rest of itself and slammed down hard on the blackened ground below.

"Hit the deck!" Paper cried, diving to the ground and just narrowly avoiding being hit with the shipping container, which crashed to the ground, tumbling several times before coming to rest in front of their exit, cutting them off from the outside.

"Right, right, right!" Bastion yelled, directing the group to move to the next suitable piece of cover as more fire was thrown in their direction from beyond the smoke.

Settling down behind the rubble, the dust of the torn apart concrete still fresh in the air with hot rebar exposed at awkward angles, Foxtrot fired several rounds into the smoke, dropping each silhouette that appeared within as quickly as he could. Just out in front of them, a grenade exploded in mid air, showering them with more hot dust and dirt.

"We're cornered here!" Bastion declared, pointing out the fact that they now had nowhere left to go. Just as he did, several short bursts ripped through the rubble, more dirt flying up. "Spread out!"

Foxtrot and Nightfall both made a run for it, diving into cover further down and attempting to spread out their line to prevent themselves from getting surrounded by the bodies that were quickly becoming visible through the smoke. Several long, adrenaline filled minutes passed, flooded with the noise and rhythms of the firefight. A grenade here, a spell there, and sporadic gunfire throughout.

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped, and the team was left only with the silence of the now still battlefield.

"Do they think we're dead?" Paper whispered, his head pressed down on the rubble pile, the only thing currently between him and certain death. He didn't dare attempt to sneak a peak.

Another shipping container suddenly launched itself. This one flew through the air much like the one before, with the exception of a magical aura that engulfed one end, hurling it through the air before dead dropping it onto the heads of the rangers below. CLANK!!! The sound of the container hitting the ground echoed through the building and above the gunfire that now started up again, kicking up dust, before falling sideways and echoing once more.

Foxtrot barely managed to avoid being squashed before looking up and seeing another container already on its way. Then another came, and another right after.

CLANG!!! CLASH!!! BOOM!!!

One by one, the shipping containers rained down from the sky, sending the rangers scurrying in a frenzied panic, diving out of the way the best they could while avoiding the hail of bullets also coming their way. Nightfall barely managed to get to his hooves as the third container came crashing down.

And then silence came once again. This time it remained for much longer. Not even the sound of hooves on concrete could be heard and at that moment, everyone, both the rangers and the mercenaries, were all aware of the fact that nobody was going to attempt to move anytime soon.

"Nightfall," a voice suddenly called out from the other end of the room, just beyond the haze of gun smoke and dust that now sat in the air like a thick fog. "I know it's you out there," the voice continued. "Tell your soldiers to lay down their weapons and come out so we can resolve this peacefully."

Nightfall, his back now pressed firmly into cover, looked to his right. Foxtrot just barely peered out across the way, while Paper looked at him, intently awaiting some kind of order. Bastion just shook his head. To his left, Meadow was lying on the ground with her eyes closed, somewhere between unconsciousness and uneasy awareness. Her expression was contorted into one of sickness as she held her abdomen in pain.

"No, I think we're good where we are," Nightfall called back to the voice that now seemed oddly familiar to him. "Why don't you send one of your guys up to us? Nice and slow like, yeah?"

"I'm not trying to negotiate with you," the voice called back immediately, not seeming to have needed any time to think things over. "I'm giving you one chance to save yourselves. If you refuse, I cant do anything to help you. Surrender now or else."

A thousand thoughts went through Nightfall's head. Surrender? No, never. After all the messed up things they had seen in the last day alone, the thought never even crossed his mind. He'd take a chance at survival, of winning, no matter how slim it may have been, over a bullet in the back of the head any day. He was going to fight and if his words alone weren't enough to make that clear, then the grenade he was cooking would have to be.

With that single explosion, the firefight was back on, led flying back and forth and the temperature gauges on their displays ticking upward a few degrees, before suddenly plummeting to zero as the familiar and chilling howl of the windigos met their ears, causing a break in the action as everyone suddenly became distracted by the spectral creatures that flooded in.

They came through the roof, the twisted and torn metal doing nothing to impede their progress as they flew in, the initial explosion having given them unrestricted access to the building. The gunfire was shifted upwards as one by one the windigos came in, freezing who they could as they whipped up a storm inside. The wind picked up and every surface, even the still hot brass casings that littered the ground, began to accumulate a thick layer of ice.

"Back, back, back!" Bastion shouted, firing several flares into the air as he backpedaled to the wall, further away from the chaos that was building.

Nightfall grabbed hold of Meadow, only to realize there was no exit for them, but stacked up with the rest of his team regardless. They were stuck. The only way out was still through the mercenaries and the windigos now only made the situation more difficult. More flares were popped off into the air, a few of them striking their targets and causing the creatures to burst in a shower of sparks and yet they still continued to flood in through the roof until the indoor whirlwind had, in mere seconds, grown to a full blown blizzard, blocking everything from sight other than the pure white of the snow.

Nowhere to go. There was nowhere for them to go and in a final move of desperation, they ran as fast as their hooves could take them into the nearest shipping container and shutting the door behind them, now fully enveloped in darkness.

A spark came next and then a blinding light as a beam shot forward from Paper Cut's horn, melting the two doors together at the middle. "That should keep them from getting insides," he said as the bright orange metal cooled. "At least for a little while."

Outside, they could still here the sporadic gunfire and the howls. It lasted for what seemed like hours, each member of the party not saying a word as they just simply listened in the pitch black darkness. They didnt dare speak, not even allowing a whisper to escape, lest they attract the attention of the windigos that still lingered outside, even after the noise dyed down, and they were left only with the sound of their own breathing.

But the silence could not last forever, eventually, someone did say something. Foxtrot was the culprit. "Well, now what?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"I dont know," Nightfall said simply, a great cloud that only he could see escaping his mouth, having elected to remove his helmet and place it on Meadow Springs exposed head. She was out cold it seemed, but alive, and right now, that's all that mattered to him.

Nightfall sat impatiently on the third floor up from the snow of the building that he and Bastion currently occupied. He nervously looked through a small set of binoculars that he trained solely on the target building that he had just sent the best friend he ever had into. His body trembled slightly as adrenaline pumped its way through his system.

"It's not easy, is it?" Bastion asked from the next window over, sitting on the ground just below what was left of the sill. "I cant imagine how I would feel if it was Scarlett in there."

"Yeah," Nightfall said simply, before sighing and taking the binoculars from his eyes. "It's not easy at all, but... well, I trust her. Doesn't mean I'm not nervous about it all or that I dont hate the idea entirely, but..." He didnt finish. If anything, the silence said more than he ever could.

"Well, hey, trust is good," Bastion replied. "She's gonna do fine in there. Then, when she comes back and all this is finally over with, you're gonna marry her. That much I know for certain."

"Assuming we survive this," Nightfall said, somewhat darkly, not taking his eyes off the building in the distance.

"We will," Bastion assured him. "We have to. You and Meadow got a wedding coming up and I'm gonna be a dad. Paper's gonna write one hell of an article about all this and Foxtrot's gonna... well, he's gonna do whatever it is he does. You get what I'm saying. Dont ever feel like you're alone in this. We got your back just like always."

Nightfall sighed, looking away from the building for the first time since they had taken up their position. "Thanks," he said.

"Of course," Bastion replied.

They had only allowed their eyes to drift away for a single second, but in that single second, all hell had broken loose. The explosion sent ripples across the ground, kicking up snow and creating a cloud that extended up into the sky as large sections of the roof shot off into the sky, before plummeting back down and hitting the ice with loud thuds that could be heard for miles onward.

At that moment, the coldest of chills had run down Nightfall's spine, shaking him to his very core, more than anything ever had before. He wanted to yell. He wanted to cry out in agony, but his throat ran dry and coarse, his vocal cords seizing up as all color drained from his face. The world was ending. That was the only explanation. And until the moment that he was able to pull Meadow from the rubble and see for himself that she was still alive, something inside him had died and remained that way. Nothing else mattered.

That was how it had gone down. A dead sprint to the building. A hole burned through the side. And then a room erupting in the sounds of a full on firefight. Now they found themselves alone once more. Surrounded by darkness between a rock and a hard place.

"Well, now what?" Foxtrot asked in a hushed tone, not entirely certain about anything at this point.

"I dont know," Nightfall answered, covering his ears with a hat and wrapping a scarf around his neck. With the presence of the windigos just outside the doors, the inside of the container was absolutely freezing, though frostbite was the least of his concerns at the moment.

"Grace should still be on the outside," Bastion pointed out. "Maybe try and raise her?"

"Worth a shot," Nightfall said, pulling out his external radio, given he no longer had his helmet. "Alright, breaking radio silence," he said, before pressing the talk button on the radio. "Grace, this is Nightfall. You reading me?" There was no reply and the radio remained silent. "Grace. It's Nightfall," he tried again. "You out there."

"I'm here," Grace's voice suddenly sounded as the radio buzzed to life. "Holy shit. Are you guys alright? What the hell happened?"

"We're still trying to figure that part out," Nightfall answered. "You still got eyes on the building?"

"Affirmative," Grace answered, not sounding too confident, "but, uh, you guys might want to get out of there. The place just turned into freaking windigo nest. Is Striker there?"

In the light provided by Paper's horn, everyone just looked at each other. It was the first break they had gotten since bullets started flying and just now were they getting the chance to realize that Striker was not among them. Where he was was anyone's guess, but given the circumstances, it didnt look good.

Nightfall hesitated, but answered. "Negative," he said. "We managed to hole up in a shipping container, but he's not with us."

The radio was silent again for a few seconds, before Grace finally responded. "I'm coming to you."

"Negative. Negative," Nightfall responded. "Dont come to us. You'll just draw attention."

Again, Grace grew quiet. There was no response and for a moment Nightfall feared that she was already on her way. "He's my best friend," she suddenly said.

"I... I understand," Nightfall replied. "But listen, I need you to stay on overwatch. Those mercenaries are bound to come back for us. You're the only means of warning we have if that happens. We need you to do this, Grace." There was no reply, though he could swear that he could hear some kind of activity on the other end. "Look, once the windigos disperse, we'll be able to get out of this container, and then I promise we'll look for him. Okay?"

"Okay," Grace finally answered. Her voice sounded strained, as if she had a bad case of strep. "I... uh, I didnt see any mercenaries run out of the building after the shit hit the fan, so they probably escaped back into those tunnels you mentioned. I'll... um..." She sniffed, coughing a few times before continuing. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Nightfall said. And with that, the call was over. He pressed his back into the nearest wall and slid down onto his rear, letting the radio fall to the ground as he did. "Goddammit," he muttered, his head falling into his hooves. Why? Why did good ponies have to die like this? He was so tired of death.

"She didnt sound too good," Bastion noted, taking a seat next to Nightfall, who had repositioned so that Meadow was now resting on him, still somewhere between wakefulness and unconsciousness.

"It's out of our hooves now," Nightfall said, leaning his head back on the wall behind him and closing his eyes. "All we can do now is wait and hope that she gets to us before those mercenaries do."

"Assuming they do decide to come back," Bastion pointed out. "For all they know, we could be frozen in windigo ice right now."

"Speaking of whom," Foxtrot began, not having taken his eyes off the door since they sealed themselves inside, "who was that guy we were talking to? He sounded familiar somehow."

"Probably our traitor," Nightfall said with a sigh. "It doesn't seem too far fetched to think that we've heard his voice somewhere before, probably around base somewhere."

"He kinda spoke like he was in charge of things," Paper Cut pointed out, now dutifully scribbling away in his journal by the light of his horn, the only source of light that they currently had. "You think maybe he's running this whole show?"

"It's possible," Nightfall said. "Now that you mention it, it does seem like these guys have been acting on orders from someone in the Initiative rather than someone just feeding them information."

"So what does that say about what we saw back at the coliseum?" Paper asked. "Red Fern said someone took over and that anyone who objected was executed. We saw the bodies; we know he was telling the truth."

Nightfall sighed. "I dont even know at this point." He looked down at Meadow. Through her visor, he could now see that her eyes were open and she was breathing steadily. "I just want to take these guys down and go home."

Meadow sat up as the room went quiet and everyone just thought for a little. She removed the helmet that she now found on her head, placing it on the ground as the cold reached her face, the chill sending a rush through her system that woke her from her tiredness.

"You alright?" Nightfall asked, looking at her with great interest.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Meadow answered in her own hushed voice, fully aware of the windigos present just outside the walls. She rubbed her temples. "I'm probably going to have this head ache for a while." She looked down at her wrist display, only to realize that she was not in her Initiative issued snowsuit. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour and a half," Nightfall answered.

"So... not too long then..." Meadow muttered. She was hurting, not just in her head. The headache would pass. Rather, her heart hurt. She almost died. Then her friends and family had to come save her, putting themselves at risk. She would have never forgiven herself if something had happened to one of them. Slowly, she found herself leaning forward, wrapping her hooves around Nightfall and bringing him into a hug, which he was quick to return. Her hoof then stretched out further, bringing Bastion over into the hug, which grew as Paper joined in as well.

Foxtrot just rolled his eyes and kept watch at the door.

Suddenly, they were all knocked off balance as the entire room moved, the shipping container they were in suddenly leaving the ground as the temperature fell again. Then it moved again and gravity shifted, causing them to all tumble down to the far end of the container.

"Oh shit!" Foxtrot cried, trying to grab hold of his rifle that hung loosely from a sling on his chest, only for it to whip back and smack him in the face as gravity shifted once more.

"Grace, you read me?!" Nightfall cried over the coms as he managed to set his helmet back on his head, before tumbling backwards as the container left the ground and tumbled haphazard through the air.

"Oh my god!" Grace could be heard over the radio. "The windigos just lifted a shipping container out of the roof! Is that you guys!?!"

"Yep," Bastion answered as he managed to find his balance, only to slide forward with the rest of his comrades as gravity changed directions once more. "It's us! Oof!" The wind was knocked from his lungs as Foxtrot collided with him.

"Hang on! I'm on my way!"

"Take your time. We're having all the fun in the world," Paper joked, only to find a pair of hooves in his face as he was thrown to the bottom of the pile.

The container stopped suddenly and the world shook with a loud resounding crash, casting each of them down to the hard surface of the floor that had been the ceiling only moments earlier. They made to stand up, only to find themselves in the air once more, coming down again to whatever was below them at full force. This repeated several times, the container holding fast against whatever it was being thrown into, until finally a small bit of light began to shine through the doors and the sound of something cracking and breaking met their ears.

They were cast into the air once more, but upon coming down that final time, they did not meet a hard surface.

"Guys!?!" the voice of a panicked Grace shouted over the radio as water began to leak into the container.

"What the hell?!" Paper cried as more and more bone chilling water began to flood in at an alarming rate. "Oh my god! We were right next to the ocean! They dumbed us in the freaking ocean!"

"No, no, no!" Bastion yelled back, as he scrambled around in a panic. "The ice should be at least a few meters thick! There's no way they should have been able to get through it!"

"Tell that to them!" Foxtrot cried, rushing to the doors and attempting to push them open against the massive pressure of the water that was now spewing in, having risen past their knees and nearly to their chests.

Nightfall, Bastion, and Meadow all joined Foxtrot at the door, pushing with all their might as the water continued to rise. It was no good though. Despite the damage, the doors were still welded shut. Their little safe haven had turned into a steel trap, a watery sarcophagus that would be their grave. Still, they pressed on. Second by second, they could feel the cold sapping the energy from their bodies, chilling them down to their bones as the lights on their helmets flashed red, warning them that temperatures had passed what their suits were able to handle.

Then the water made it above their heads, carrying their hooves from the floor as the container filled up, dragging them all deeper and deeper into the darkened depths of the ocean. In a single move of desperation, Paper's horn sparked to life, a blinding light jumping from it to the weld on the door as he attempted to cut through, a storm of bubbles shooting out in all directions. Grace's voice still hollered over the coms, but no one was able to answer.

Each member got one last breath in and then the water filled the container entirely. Their lungs burned and their bodies felt as if they would fade away at any moment, the darkness tugging at the edges of their vision as their systems cried out for air. One by one, their lips parted, no longer being able to hold their breaths. The last thing that any of them saw before the world went black, was the light of Paper's horn going out and his body floating down further into the depths below.

Suddenly, a breath came as Nightfall inhaled loudly, his lungs crying in sweet relief as they were filled with the precious air. This was only followed by a violent fit of coughs and the bitter taste of salt water. Waterproof, my ass, he thought as he threw his helmet from his head, water spilling from it as the lower jaw plate was unhooked.

He was so cold that his tongue had gone numb and his body shook uncontrollably. Where was he? What had happened after the world went black? Where were the others? For only a moment, the pure feeling of panic that rushed through his body was able to stave off the cold, a desperate fire flowing through his veins as he realized that he was alone. Then the cold returned.

Was he dead? Is this what happened when someone died? This was purgatory and it was dark. Below him, the dry cobblestone floor was quickly being covered in a puddle of sea water that dripped from his body. All around him was darkness. It was unlike any other he had ever experienced before though. Try as he might, he could not see through it, even with his thestral eyes. Instead, he was left only with the black of a seemingly infinite void.

"M-Meadow!" he called out into the black, his breath producing a great deal of white fog. "B-Bastion!" His voice returned to him, the words echoing on and on... and on, as if there was no end to the chamber he found himself in. He opened his mouth to call out yet another name, but felt his voice die in his throat. He rubbed his hooves against his shoulders, so cold that he could barely steady himself. Adrenaline. Righteous fury. They were absent as he sat there in the dark. Only fear remained. Fear and the chill of the air that shook him to his very core.

Suddenly, a new voice was present. "Warm yourself." With those words, a fire was sparked in front of the lone thestral, though it did little to tear away the darkness, the void remaining despite the new illumination within it.

As if on instinct, Nightfall scurried forward as fast as he could manage, throwing himself before the fire in an attempt to warm up and get dry. Piece by piece, his weapons and armor were dropped to the floor, the fire providing just enough heat to keep him alive. "Where am I?"

"Below," the deep voice answered.

"Below where?"

"Everything." The mysterious voice began. It must have sensed Nightfall's terror and confusion, because it continued with a single reassurance. "You are not dead yet."

A small feeling of relief rose in Nightfall's body, but it was short lived. He looked around the void for a moment. Other than the voice, he was still alone. "Where is my team?" he ask cautiously, not too sure he was going to like the answer.

"Here," the voice replied. "Alive and well."

The darkness around Nightfall was like a wall, preventing him from seeing anything beyond it, but suddenly that wall expanded outward and the world became just a little bit bigger. All in a row, sat his team. Meadow and Paper to his left; Foxtrot and Bastion to his right, each only being a few feet from each other. They were all in various states of undress, each attempting to get warm at their own personal fires. The flames suddenly converged on each other forming a single bonfire in the center and drawing each of the pony's' attention to each other.

"Nightfall!" Meadow cried, sprinting forward from her place. She was quick to rap the thestral in a tight hug, which he returned without any hesitation, stroking her back as he just held her. Then she threw up all over the ground behind him, the effects of the earlier shockwave still lingering as her body went limp and her full weight collapsed over him. "Worst day of my life," she muttered.

Nightfall didnt say anything, instead remaining silent as he simply held her. She's alive. It's okay. She's alive and she's okay. She's alive. His mind raced, completely dominated by the fear of losing her. His grip on her tightened.

"What the hell is going on?" Foxtrot asked, not entirely sure who he was talking.

"You have been saved," the voice stated simply.

"I see that," Foxtrot replied. "Why, though? What do you want?"

"You are wise to ask such things," the voice returned, this time sounding more grounded, as if it came from a single source in the dark rather than booming from all around. "You have a very important role to play and have been chosen for that very purpose."

"I dont think I like where this is going," Paper whispered over to Bastion who only replied with an affirming hum.

"That's pretty vague," Nightfall suddenly said, still sitting in his spot with Meadow now sitting at his side with her hoof held firmly in his, looking only marginally better than she had moments earlier. "Before we go making deals, why dont you tell us who you are first. I dont much like the idea of bargaining with shadows."

On cue, a single pony stepped forward out of the void, his ashen gray coat and dark black mane becoming visible only inch by inch as he approached. His eyes were a pale gray and yet the seemed so full of determination and resolve. "Very well," the unicorn began. "In my time I was a great king, but since then I have gone by many names. The one you are undoubtedly aware of, is Warden."

The room grew still and deathly quiet as the group simply sat and stared at the pony before them. Warden was indeed a name they were aware of, one they had been warned against dealing with, though it would have been adequate to say that they now had many doubts about the truth of what they had been told.

"Warden," Nightfall repeated, thinking the name over. "We were told not to trust you."

"I'm aware that you were told many things," Warden replied, casually pacing as he spoke. "I'm also aware that you have been betrayed from within. Senior Mage Stone Etcher caused quite a stir amongst the mercenaries when he decided to stage his little coup, but his betrayal is not what brought your order to ruin."

"You mean the Initiative?" Nightfall inquired. "What do you mean?"

"The mercenaries in this city are not a result of Etcher's own plotting," Warden explained. "Not directly at least. He simply repurposed them, using them for his own gains."

"Wait! Etcher?!" Paper interjected. "You mean the guy from the MSAD who briefed us on this mission, is the one who's running the whole show? That Etcher? No way."

"It kind of makes sense," Foxtrot said. "After the MSAD was kidnapped, he would've had free reign to do whatever he wanted. My question is why."

"And how do you know all this?" Nightfall added.

"It is all very simple," Warden answered. "I have simply been watching for a very long time. As to his motivations, I havent the slightest idea. Not even I can see beyond my own eyes. Who is ultimately responsible though, or even why it was done, is of little consequence. Stopping him is the only thing that matters now."

"I see," Nightfall said. "You sure picked a hell of a way of leading us to you."

"I do apologize for any distress that I may have caused you in bringing you here. Perhaps manipulation of the windigos was not the best of methods, but the situation has become quite dire and I am in need of ponies that I can trust to act on my behalf."

"Now hold on one second here," Nightfall interrupted. "We dont even know if we can trust you, let alone who you are. I'd say you have some explaining to do before we agree to anything."

Warden simply sighed the way a normal pony would, despite the fact that it had become quite clear to them that this was no ordinary unicorn that they were dealing with. "Time is of the essence, but I suppose an explanation is in order. Do you know why it is that I have been given this name, Warden?" It was a simple question, but not one that anyone of them could give an answer to. When there was no response, he continued. "It is more than just a name. It is a title. You see, I am the Warden. Warden of this city. No creature that enters here, windigo or otherwise, has ever been allowed to leave. Ponies enjoy safe passage, but all others are my prisoners. It is a pact forged in blood upon the ice, a pact that Etcher has defiled with his treacherous actions. Despite what those mages may have been fooled into believing, I am not Equestria's enemy. That role belongs solely to Etcher and his minions."

"A pact?" Nightfall questioned, unsure of exactly what Warden was referring to. "What kind of pact?"

"It was an arrangement struck many hundreds of years ago, you understand," Warden explained. "Your old government, before the reforms of the last century sought a solution to the windigo question. One of only a few means that were ever enacted was me. I would remain here, ensnaring whatever wondered into my frozen concrete kingdom."

"And in return?" Nightfall asked.

"I got them," Warden answered. "The windigos, the ice wolves, and the dark creatures that your kind calls wraiths, they are all mine to do as I please with. Equestria shaves down the population of potential threats and I get my toys. Though it may seem strange to those who are not as adept at the old magics as I am, I have always found it to be an honorable position. But that mage, that serpent tongue and his coconspirators within the Equestrian government have smeared my name in an attempt to keep me from being of assistance to you. It would seem that the ones who played a part in my undoing are among the few who even know of my existence."

"Oh my god," Nightfall muttered, not quite able to believe what he was hearing. He was right. In his desperate, panicked, and quite frankly rushed attempts to understand what was happening around him, he had figured it out and now it was being confirmed. "I was right," he said. "This all goes deeper than Etcher."

"Indeed it does," Warden answered. "The plan that is currently unraveling was put into effect long before your arrival in this city."

"So then," Nightfall asked. "What is it that you want us to do?"

"By now I am sure you are aware that Etcher and his mercenaries are working towards some ends, but it is not the alicorns that they are after, nor would they be able to get to them even if they tried. I can assure you, that the dear princess of the night is safe and sound at this moment."

"Princess Luna?" Paper said, a bit of excitement rising in his voice. "Where is she? With you?"

"I see you are excited," Warden said, not being able to smile himself. "The elation that I felt upon her discovery, I confess, very much mirrored your own. As much as I wish it was though, I'm afraid now is not a good time to attempt to rescue her, not until the task at hoof has been dealt with."

"May we see her?" Meadow asked humbly, wanting nothing more than to see the alicorn in question. A real live alicorn. Ever since learning of Celestia, it was something that she had secretly had a burning desire to witness. Before the question was even fully out though, the room almost seemed to shift somehow, a sudden feeling of slight motion coming to her body and out of nowhere Princess Luna was standing before them, tall, beautiful, and made of stone, a detail that confused her to no end.

The Warden looked sad as he began to explain. "She was rather frightened when I discovered her wandering aimlessly through the wastes. She did not understand a great many things. After explaining her situation, we concluded it would be best for her to go back into stone, seeing as I lack the means to provide for her needs, until such a time that she could be recovered."

Nightfall eyed Luna curiously. She was much like her sister. She was tall with a slender frame, though perhaps just a bit shorter than her counterpart. Unlike her sister, her pose was different. Celestia had looked like she was shielding herself, but Luna simply sat in place, her eyes closed as if she had accepted her stony fate.

"I suppose we have some work to do then?" Nightfall said, knowing how this likely would work.

"Yes," Warden answered. "What I need from you, are the crystal fragments that both your Initiative and Etcher so desperately desire. Your Initiative is corrupted to its very core and Etcher's own plans are likely no better. And so, they are forfeit. I shall take them and lock them away where that power will never be allowed to be abused. I shall fulfill my role as warden of this city and in return, I shall give Luna to you, but only once her safe passage out of this city is assured."

"You said you could manipulate the windigos. That's how you got us here, right?" Paper spoke up. "Cant you use them or do something to help us?"

"I'm afraid my control over the hoards is quite limited and I have even less power outside this city," Warden responded. "But," he continued in a tone that had grown substantially more optimistic. "There is one thing I can do for you though. I shall grant you my mark. While within the bounds of this city, you shall walk these streets as lions among sheep. No creature of the ice will dare bring harm to you. This I promise you."

"Will it... hurt?" Paper asked hesitantly. The idea sounded awesome, but these kinds of things always had some tradeoff.

"No," Warden answered simply. "I doubt you will even feel a thing."

"Hell yeah!" Paper exclaimed. "Let's do this!"

"We have a deal then, I presume?"

Nightfall looked around to his squad mates. They all just stood around, looking at him and waiting for him to make the call. Of course, the decision did fall on him. Didnt it? He was the leader. All that pressure, all that responsibility now found its way onto his shoulders. He suddenly felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"Hey, we got this," Bastion reassured, seeing how heavily this all weighed on his thestral companion.

"We're behind you," Foxtrot echoed the sentiments.

Both Paper and Meadow also seemed to be on board.

Nightfall sighed. "I guess we have a deal, Warden."

"Very good," Warden said. "Upon the completion of your task, return to the ice plains. I shall meet you personally to make the exchange."

"Just... dont try to drown us this time, okay?" Paper joked.

This comment coaxed a smile from Warden, he chuckled a bit at the idea. "I will be sure to keep that in mind. Good luck, rangers. For Equestria's sake, I do pray that you are successful."

"So, what now?" Nightfall asked, noticing that they were still very much surrounded by a black void, presumably at the bottom of the ocean or underground somewhere.

"Now," Warden said simply. "It is time for you to rise."

Warden suddenly disappeared and the world seemed to fall away all at once, the sound of air rushing past them as they felt their bodies hurdled upwards. Every color imaginable met their eyes and their brains felt as if they would melt as they struggled to make sense of what they were seeing. The experience was over in a millisecond though and with an audible popping sound, they found themselves back in the snow, their once soaked gear now dry and back on their bodies, with all their weapons intact.

They were back in the city. A quick look around was enough to tell them that, and by the looks of it, they were right in the center, surrounded by the dead skyscrapers and howling of the wind.

Nightfall brought himself to his hooves, having landed face first in the snow. He removed his helmet and rubbed at his eyes. "Oh god. I dont think I'd ever be able to get used to that."

Author's Notes:

I've had that little scene with Warden written up and mostly ready to go ever since like chapter 6. It feels really good to finally get to that part. It required quite a bit of adjusting, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. I've got a few other scenes like this that are pretty much done. I just have to get to that point in the story. There will probably be a double post after a few more chapters.