Silver was standing on top of the Wall watching the other side of the Everfree forest, also known as the Haunted Forest. He wore the black armor with stars upon them of the Lunar Guardsmen beneath a vast array of furs and a cloak, essentials to bearing the Wall for more than a few minutes. He had a sword at his side and a dagger at his waist. He rubbed his hands together every now and again during his watch. Though it was a beautiful sight, it also was a scary sight, with a height of about 500 feet and a corpse littered ground below, it was no wonder the Griffins had a hard time getting up there. Their wings would freeze and they would plummet to their doom, joining the dead assembly below, presuming one of the guardsmen did not get to them first.

Silver heard something coming towards him from the direction of the barracks behind him and tensed up, unsure for a few moments of the visitor's identity. When Silver turned around, he sighed in relief when he noticed what, or rather who, had come to pay him a visit at the Wall: his lover, Star Storm. "Ohhh. It's you."

Star Storm was purple with a long white mane and very pretty teal eyes. He also wore the Lunar Guard armor. "Silver, you know you that you have to be careful up here. You know that it is slippery up here, and that frostbite is not the only death here on the Wall."

"Well it could get worst you know." Silver had seen some of the worse before, such as griffins and timberwolves. But he had never encountered beings such as these Others; ghastly apparitions of tales often told by wise mares to scare the little foals into behaving, these White Walkers were the stuff of nightmares. They were the worst a guardsman could encounter here at the Wall. They were things that he would never be wise to encounter.

The winds whipped against Star's face; making his exposed face blister and burn from the cold. He had been assigned watch duty atop the wall until further notice, and damned them all for it. It was getting towards nightfall and around this time, anypony would rather strut about bare as a babe through the snow then stand atop this blasted block of ice.

Star leaned against the icy barracks trying to shield himself from the cold tongue of the winds. He looked out towards the valleys far below and the eerie, soulless forest that served as a warning to foolhardy crossers. Beyond that the white-caped Frostfangs rose up towards the settings sun and cast long shadows on these low lying areas. Those mountains were giants teasing the sky among the hell that rested at their bases. He gnawed at a piece of dried leather scrap that he had swiped from the kitchen the morning prior to keep himself somewhat entertained. Better than simply standing there waiting for his balls to freeze off he concluded.

"Star? Is everything alright?" Silver asked with sincere worry. Not that he did not enjoy having his lover as company, but the Wall did not invite the unassigned without purpose. Silver could feel the tension and uneasiness in the cold air around Star. "Have we been found?" Silver was a worried that him and his lover were going to be found out, their love forbidden within the very oath of the Lunar Guard that every guardsmen took. "Not for the lust or bond of a partner." No Brother nor Sister truly followed the oath to the letter, but the consequences for breaking the oath often outweighed the punishment of being sent to the wall in the first place.

Star's breath was heavy, thick blasts of crystallized vapor leaving his mouth and snout. He shook his head. "No." He said looking to Silver, "You know what Luna told me? That she needs you for some kind of Ranger's job. Well, at leasts thats what it seemed like when she told me to come tell you."

So Star had been sent here by Luna, then, to tell Silver of his new assignment."What kind of job does she want me for?" Silver already felt that he knew the answer: he is going to go outside of the Wall as most Rangers do. Luckily for Star he was a Steward, who did not have to be concerned with leaving the relative safety of the Wall for the dangers of the Forest.

"I don't know, you should ask her." Star cuddles with Silver, "I do know that I always want some Silver Lining." Star then brings his hand into Silver's trousers and touches his stallionhood. Silver recoiled and swiftly removed Star's freezing hand from his trousers. Normally he would enjoy Star's touch, but his hand had been near as cold as a frozen solid turd; when trying to keep warm was half the battle at the Wall, that freezing touch could not have been more ill-timed, nor more of a turn-off.

Not wishing to come off as angry or completely disinterested, Silver gently spoke into Star's ear, "No not today. When I come back. Then we could continue where we left off, Prince Fruitcake."

Star kissed his cheek, "I will hold you to that."

Perhaps there had been reason after all for their respective assignments. Duty, however unwelcome, came first, and already Silver had delayed too long in answering the summons. Silver walked into the barracks and took the elevator down to the first floor. Sometimes he wished that he had not been made a ranger. Maybe a Builder or Steward instead, so that he could be with his lover Star Storm. So that they could make love to one another like they had been doing for some time now. The creaking of the elevator and the sound of its pulley wheels turning brought up memories of when he had first met Star Storm.

It was ten years ago, when Silver and some others were being sent to the Wall on a cart pulled by two earth ponies, both wearing that same uniform of black with the moon and stars that he would later become so accustomed to seeing. The others, for the most part, looked fairly glum; among them were criminals of high and low orders, such as thieves, murderers, and rapists. The mildly more cheery few were those who had come of their own free will, either because they lacked a home or a calling of equal or greater worth. Silver recalled the loneliness of being among these individuals for the vast majority of the ride, and could only imagine the misery and anguish that he emitted from being left behind by his so called friends in their escape from selling knock-offs back in Flea Bottom, so much so that his very presence seemed to worsen the mood of all of the others.

That is, except for one.

"You know that Wall is not that bad." Silver looks towards the speaker. At the time, Star looked like a prince, with his long, still curly white mane. Silver thought him beautiful like the queen, maybe even more beautiful. He blushed at these thoughts, for at that time he would have never before seen himself thinking a stallion beautiful or sexy or even worthy of a blush among villains.

Not wanting to appear too soft, Silver asked in a harsh tone, "What, you think I'm terrified of the Wall? Where I come from, freezing near to death atop of stone builds character."

A lie, which would later be exposed during training when he complained of his first 18 hour watch atop of the Wall. It was around this time that the cart began to approach the Wall, where for the first time Silver got a look at its mighty ramparts, its icy bricks and chilling solitude. Saw for the first time the ponies who stood atop the wall with spears in hand and soulless gazes. Saw the dark barracks that stood as the centerpiece of the entire structure.

"Because you're scared of the Wall; only a fool is not." Star sighed and leaned back on the edge of the cart, drawing dreadful attention to his broad shoulders. " I can understand that. I remember my first time coming up here. I was mainly scared of the sheer cold up top and what it would do to me and the legends of the White Walkers. but no one has seen them for 1000 years." Star looked up at the top of the Wall and grinned, giving Silver a none too sly wink. "I was a cook here before becoming a knight, then asked to become a cook again at my old castle. Any job here, even as a cook, has got to be more glorious than a cook at my old castle."

Silver looked at him funny. Having been given a reason to look Star from head to hoof, Silver took in a few moments the idea that he stared at a knight turned cook. "You're a knight? You look like a prince you know."

Star laughed, "Well the Master of Arms, Caballeron, called me Prince Fruitcake. I feel like some of the guards here wanted to fuck me, which now that I'm older I don't mind as much, as long as when I get my turn they don't try to cut my throat like last time."

Some of the rapists of the cart cast gazes at Star. Some were curious, some hungry, some wanting to test Star's statement. Star flexed at his muscles and flexed his fingers, purposely trying to show off some of the physique beneath his coverings. Perhaps they were more focused on the "get my turn" part, as there was no try in the statement: only do.

"So how did you get on the Wall anyways and why are you called Prince Fruitcake anyways?" By this point Silver had lost some his wits, for even though both questions seemed to had already been answered, Silver wanted to be sure. A cook turned knight turned cook again, what a story that had to have been.

"Well I heard my fruitcakes are good-" He added in a wink here as well, "-and that is why I am a cook instead of a ranger. I like being a cook: it is relaxing and it helps me think sometimes."

"What, cooking helps you think?" It was strange this former knight, much less stallion, found cooking relaxing. Silver clicked his tongue, many of the others listening in on this also giving their skeptical looks as well.

Despite the disbelief, Star played along and nodded. "Yeah it's relaxing, even better than trying to swing a sword." Silver had never heard of a knight who would rather sit back and relax rather than work hard at using a sword to protect the ones they love or accumulate fame, fortune, and trophies. "You know my family always supported the dragons. After the siege of my castle by Lord Magnum, the Oaf of the Golden Lands or more properly known as the Warden of the South, I was sentenced here to the Wall because of our support of the dragons. The Wall is bad, but looking at our Brothers and Sisters here day in and day out is going to be almost just as bad."

Silver looks around at the group as a whole: some had missing limbs, some may have taken a Wildling arrow, others have taken burns from sitting too close to the fire. Truth be told, the unscarred were few and far inbetween, with Prince Fruitcake himself standing out as the most good looking of them all. In hindsight, even a half-dead griffin could be easier on the eyes than some of them.

"I guess that there are nasty ponies here. But you are not that nasty are you?" Everyone of course knew what Silver meant when he said "nasty", and though some took it to face value and merely turned away back into distention, others steeled their gazes and balled their fists. Had Silver known the damage he had caused with those words alone he might would have thought twice about speaking them.

Star laughed, in no way unsettled by the increased tensions as the group passed underneath the gates leading to the courtyard. "Well looks can be deceiving you know; I could be a very nasty rapist who can take pie crusts and turn them into cream pies that taste their weight in dragon scales. Ask a few of the guards around here about the one named Star Storm; they will have a tale or two to tell you. I didn't catch your name, by the way."

"It's Silver. My name is, Silver." Silver laughed as well. This could be his first friend on the Wall, he never thought he would meet anyone he could get along with in this place, much less someone he could actually like. Fate's humor showed its colors when the swindler Silver had became a Ranger and the former knight Star had become Steward, and again when after savin.

The jarring sound of the elevator beginning to stop brought Silver back to the present. When the elevator came to a complete stop, he could see Princess Luna in the courtyard with two other rangers.

Princess Luna, the daughter of the Night , and ruler of the Lunar Guards wore the Lunar Guard armor with a larger than usual cloak. On the Wall for a thousand years, Luna had been sent here by her own sister after the Nightmare Moon War. As a punishment for leading the rebellious faction in the war, Luna had been sent to the Wall to live out her many remaining days. She chose who became Lord Commander and who could leave the Wall, but she has not done the latter since her original followers were permitted to leave the Wall nearly a thousand years ago. It has been said that she battled and defeated the legendary, undead White Walkers. They have not been seen for thousand years since that famed encounter.

One of the rangers accompanying her was a young and blue unicorn with a long purple mane. Aptly named blue for his coat color, Blue originated from House Blitz on Tank Island, and had been a knight. He came to the Wall of his own free will, thinking that the Lunar Guards would be a greater calling for him.

The other was an older, maybe in his 40's, red earth pony armed with a shield and a sword and bore a scar from when a griffin attacked him. Aptly named Fire, the pony had been caught hunting on Lord Inguis' lands without his permission, and as punishment had been sentenced to the Wall. Fire should have considered himself lucky not to have been hunting on Lord Sombra's land. The mere rumours of his bastard Shade gave anypony reason not to even walk on the land much less hunt on it without permission.

Luna sighed upon seeing Silver arrive, a touch of remorse present in her voice. "Something is brooding in the Everfree Forest, something that I wish I could never hear well. We sent some rangers out earlier to investigate, but they have not returned, nor have they been seen since going out into the forest. I am sending you three out to find them."

Sliver did not like the sounds of this mission, risking his neck to save some ponies he had little feelings for. Silver never liked any of the other Rangers truth be told; it was during times like these when he wished that he had not been made a ranger, and that and he had instead been assigned Builder or Steward instead, so that he could be with his lover Star Storm more often and less time with the dangers both inside and outside of the Wall.

As the group marched towards the gates that led to the Forest, directly opposite the gates that led back to where they all had once come from, Silver looked up towards the ramparts to see Star. The thought that Star wanted to see him off made Silver feel warm inside, warm enough to more confidently stride forward.

"It's pretty much a scouting mission, since those other Rangers will probably show back up at the gates while they're gone. Nothing more, nothing less," Silver reasoned.

Silver and Star locked eyes for a moment just as the trio of Rangers passed beneath the opened gates. They hardly were clear before the gates rapidly closed behind them, as if leaving them open a second longer would have been so dangerous. The wind from the shutting gates nearly chilled the earlier warmth in his chest, but Silver knew that Star would watch him as far as he could before heading back inside to anxiously await his return.

Seeing the forest from above was eerie at night and the deathly kind of serene in the day. Seeing these woods from the inside, with the griffin corpses, some still fresh enough to have skin and bone on them, and a few pony shaped ones, sent shivers down Silver's spine. Yes, even the filly impaled on a spear, seemingly staring at him with empty sockets, was dead. Dead was dead. It was the living that they needed to be worried about. Already the comfort from his earlier assurance began to fade with the disappearance of the sights and sounds of the Wall.

They had been walking for some time, with Silver watching every dead and possibly dead thing with hawk eyes, his thoughts plaguing him in the macabre silence.

"Do the dead frighten you?" Silver jumped at least a foot in the air and shakily placed a hand to the hilt of his sword, only to see Blue lazily smile at his expense. "Take that as a yes."

Sliver got out his train of thought and looked at the blue and purple stallion with a horrified and angry look. Silver returned his hands to his sides and returned to his lead place in the group. "It's jjjjust that this is so unatural that so many of the these griffons and ponies died and-"

"Do you really think I am scared of the dead? Dead is dead and they are not going to rise up and kill us." Blue did not care what Sliver thought of, and clearly thought less of him for being unhinged. "Remember, it's the living things in this forest that we need to be worried about."

Fire looked into the distance and squinted. After a few moments passed he readied his shield and drew his sword."We got to move on. Something or someone is watching us, and I don't like it."

"Come on there are no Timberwolves or anything this close to the Wall, and if it were griffins we would have heard them squawking their beaks off by now." Though Blue's words suggested that he was unfazed, his tone gave way to some concern.

A harsh wind then blew. It felt like the Winds of Winter had just stuck them hard with a mist that covered everything. Visibility dropped swiftly to a mere few feet in every direction, and priority soon switched to escaping the freak storm over investigation. "Bloody hell where did this storm come from? Winter has not come here yet, it's too soon!" Fire shouted.

Between the frost laden trunks of the great pines the three ponies saw there standing a ghastly figure - physical and spectral - it turned towards the frighten guards ponies Silver saw staring back at him two cold, blue spheres that took the place of eyes. The filly once impaled upon the spear now stood there staring at him as well with those same "eyes".

The winds caused forest debris to rack across the young Guard's bare face. His mind slipped into panic, for clearly the living dropped quickly on the top list of threats. Silver's eyes darted about in futility, trying to find his bearings in the white emptiness around him. Fire and Blue were gone, perhaps having already fled like cowards, leaving him to face the creature alone.

Well, cowards lived to snuggle up to their lovers another day. Needing no further motivation, Silver turned around and fled in the direction he felt was backwards. he had to get back to what he affectionately called Hell, back to the Brothers he could not stand and the lover he could not be without. He resolved that even if he had to be shamed for life, he would not die here in this forest, not like this.

It seemed as if Silver ran several times in a large circle before he heard a scream, which sounded like Fire. He had lived a good life, that Fire, and he did serve the purpose of revealing where the monster hunted. Silver took off now in the opposite direction of the scream, stumbling and nearly falling several times in his flight, his gear beginning to weigh him down considerably. Just as Silver swore he wet himself he ended up running right into Fire. Before he could register the blue eyes that locked onto him Fire had come up to him, grabbed him by the furs with both of his hands, and forced Silver's back into a tree.

If Star's earlier touch had been that of a frozen solid turd, then Fire's touch now had the shock power of a rod of ice shoved up the ass. Flight abandoned for the pursuit of fight, Silver withdrew his sword and ran Fire through the chest. No blood oozed and no cry emitted from the creature before him. As a clear conclusion of what they had encountered crept upon Silver's tongue, he both withdrew the sword and kicked his quarry backwards. When Fire stumbled forward for another grab Silver cleanly sliced off his arms. When the stubborn beast lunged at him with teeth bared, Silver removed his head, the body at last dropping to the snow in defeat.

It was then when Silver saw more blue eyed demons and a pony in black armor that looked different from the others. He stood high, like a king; he came out and drew his ice sword.

Adrenaline pumping and terror stricken at this point, Silver stood his ground and snarled at the creature before him. The White Walker, the likes of which only Luna had before bested.

The only thing standing between him and the Wall. Between him and Star.

"Graaaaah!"

Silver charged forward, throwing up snow in his wake. The demon charged forward, dragging its icy sword as if it had grown heavy since its drawing. When two blades clashed, the mere force of the blow shattering Silver's sword. Stumbling forward with nothing but a freezing over hilt, Silver tossed the blade aside and withdrew his dagger. Catching his step, he turned to face the demon, a haughty laugh taunting him to strike again.

Silver was many things, but foolish he was not. If the sword did not hold, the dagger sure as hell would not do. As the creature charged forward for another swing, Silver did the only thing he could with the weapon in hand. He hurled the dagger, aimed straight for the pony's head, with the intent of striking between the eyes and felling, or at least injuring, the creature.

The dagger hit its mark, but the pony did not stop, not even flinch. As the icy blade once again rose from the snow, Silver flung himself to the side, keeping his head attached to his body by the grace of mere centimeters. A chill on his cheek alerted him to the blade's touch, a numbness beginning to seize that entire side of his face. His hands came upon a cold wood, and upon drawing it from the snow, he uncovered Fire's shield.

Silver scrambled to ready the shield as the creature came for another blow. When he held the shield to meet the sword when it rose, his thoughts wandered to Star. His curly mane, his beefy body, his incredible punches, the Brothers he had kept at bay when Silver still had their enmity.

The shield lasted for only the initial impact before shattering into countless pieces. The force threw Silver from standing up to his laying on his back. The icy blade twirled fancily in the air, as if in some sort of presentation for a captive audience. It was then that Silver thought he heard the faint sounds of shouting. The blade plunged towards the earth, going through Silver's chest like a hot knife through softened butter. Silver gasped as the icy coldness seemed to surge through his veins like a cold brew, his heart seemingly gushing with disgust with the intruder.

"Silver!"

That. That was Star's voice. Breath came in shallow gasps, the demon pony stared at him, and the snowstorm seemed to begin to clear. Looking towards the direction of the sound, Silver thought he could see the Wall, or something oddly wall-shaped looming in the distance. The sword left his body, and whatever warmth seemed to leave with it. He felt a tug on his leg, and the storm concealed what could have been once more as it wrapped about his surroundings like a veil.

Dragged from the muffled cries of the Wall, Silver could do nothing more than close his eyes, an odd peace coming over his carcass while it was ceremoniously dragged through the snow, deeper into the Haunted Forest.