Reanimated

by SilverMistfim

Ch. 8: The Summit

"This is it." Opal says as we arrive at the door.

We had (with great effort) climbed the mountain, and now we finally stood in front of the great doors.

I gulp nervously. Its not that I'm scared of it, it's just, I'm not good around crowds, especially new crowds.

Opal knocks on the huge wooden door using her magic. Cobalt is standing a few feet away, listening to the rabbits scurrying across the path that previous ponies had created. I can see my breath in front of my face, coming out in drawn out puffs.

The door slowly opens, revealing two muscly guards aiming pistols at us.

"Whoa, calm down!" says Opal, taking a step back.

"Have any of you been bit?" one of the guards asks.

Opal shakes her head.

One of the guards does a quick inspection of all three of us, checking for any bite marks. he falls back to his previous spot and gestures for us to continue walking. Opal trots

ahead into the small cave. wait, small? Shouldn't it be huge? It is a city, after all. Curious, I walk into the cave, Cobalt behind me. Opal is staring at one of the walls. I walk up

to her, and she looks behind her to make sure we're both by her side. she snickers and pulls a lever. The rocky floor cuts off just behind my back hooves, and the end of the

cave where we are standing descends deeper into the mountain. I just managed to see the doors closing before we were completely underground. After a few moments of

falling slowly enough so that we wouldn't bang around the still-rocky end of the cave, the elevator screeches to a halt. a double door opens up behind us.

"This is it!" Opal squeaks.

"You said that already." Cobalt points out.

Opal started to retort but seemed to decide against it as the doors opened.

We step out onto a gravely path and gape at the city. I have to say, the builders did a good job at carving out the inside of this mountain! We were standing on a gravel path

which was bracketed by two buildings, a town hall and a library. The gravel path dipped down in a hill like fashion, and below was a cluster of small but cozy houses. On the

wall of the mountain behind this all, a big, long staircase leads up to a fancy door in the mountain wall, this is obviously princess Cadence's palace. Several separate stairways

surround her palace; leading up to doors in the mountain side which I assume belong to the higher-up ponies here.

"Wow! This is amazing!" I say.

Opal nods. Even though she had been here many times before she was still taken aback by the city's beauty.

"I just wish I could see it…" Cobalt says sadly.

I look over at Cobalt's milky, pale eyes.

"don't worry! when we have time I'll tell you what it looks like." I reassure him. He smiles half-heartedly.

"Alright, we should get going. we have to deliver this message to Cadence!" Opal says as she trots down the dirt path.

As we arrive at Princess Cadence's 'palace', two guards stand on either side of the door. Opal and I show them our messenger badges, and they let me and Opal enter but

hold their spears in an X form when Cobalt tries to follow.

"Only authorized personnel may enter the princess's palace." one of them says.

Cobalt blushed out of embarrassment; he clearly didn't like being singled out.

"Don't worry, just wait outside. We'll be back soon." Opal says soothingly.

Cobalt nods and walks away. I feel bad, but the thought melts away when I see the room.

inside is a big, well decorated (and well lit) room. at the end of it, five steps lead up to a pink throne, and sitting on said throne is Princess Cadence, sipping some tea and

chatting about politics with a guard. when she sees us enter, she places her tea cup delicately on the arm of the chair and signals for us to come forth.

wow, I've never seen her in person before! even though she's sitting down, she's so tall!

Opal steps forward and I follow her close behind. after a few seconds of awkwardly standing in front of her throne, Opal nudges me. oh, right! the letter…

I levitate the envelope out of my saddle bag, and the princess levitates it close to her face, but doesn't open it yet.

"Is this it?" she asks.

"Yes. We were put in a difficult situation, and all the other letters were left behind." Opal reports.

Cadence ponders this, but doesn't say anything. after a few seconds of silence, she speaks.

"I appreciate the work you've done. I have a suite prepared for you, and you will leave in three days."

Opal and I bow walk out of the room.

"That was fast." Cobalt says as we approach him outside the gate.

"Yeah, the meetings usually are." Opal says from experience.

But was it worth coming all this way, nearly dying several times? I wonder.

"So uh, where's the suite?" I ask.

As if on cue, a white colt with a red mane walks up to us. he wears a badge on his armour so we know we can trust him.

"Allow me to escort you to your room." he says politely.

Opal looks at the colt, smiles then nods. As we're following him, I notice he keeps glancing over to Cobalt. I don't say anything though; I don't like drawing attention to

myself. as we're walking up to a long staircase that leads to a door in the mountain, the colt stops.

"Here we are." he says, gesturing to the staircase.

"Thanks." Opal says, starting to walk up the stairs, me following quietly.

Just as Cobalt was about to follow me, the colt stands in his path, blocking him.

"Who are you? I was not informed there would be more then two ponies delivering the messages." he says firmly.

Cobalt looks flustered, not knowing what to say.

"We found him on the way here. you can trust him." Opal says reassuringly.

The guard still looks suspicious, but lets Cobalt pass. Cobalt dips his head out of shame. the awkward feeling suddenly washed away when we reached the door to the suite.

Opal was smiling widely as she opened the big door. we were greeted with a big room. there were two beds next to the wall, and a big window on the end. there were two

desks on opposite sides of the room, most likely for maps and such.

"Isn't the window dangerous?" I ask.

"Nah, the mountains steep enough so its very unlikely that the lurkers could climb up. plus, they spent years modifying this glass. its practically unbreakable." Opal says,

walking over to them and tapping hard on them with her hoof.

I nod and walk around the room, eventually collapsing on the bed closest to the window.

"There are only two beds." Opal says. "I guess they weren't expecting us to have brought another pony with us."

"I can sleep on the floor." Cobalt says nonchalantly.

"no, I should." I say. I look at Opal.

"hey, I'm sleeping on a bed. you two can argue about whoever sleeps on the floor." she says, falling onto the bed closest to the door.

I look at Cobalt, making a puppy dog face.

"In case you're wondering, she's looking at you with big puppy eyes." Opal says to Cobalt.

Cobalt rolls his eyes. "If you really want to."

Obviously I would rather lie in a bed, but I didn't want to have to go through the guilt of making some pony sleep on the floor. I smile. "Yay!"

"I'm gonna go into town and get a mattress for you to sleep on." Opal says.

"I'll come with you." I say, not wanting to be left here with nothing to do.

"I'll stay here." Cobalt says, sitting on a bed.

I nod. "okay. good bye!" I say as Opal and I walk out the door.

The town folk bustle around, going about their daily lives. I notice several ponies staring at me and Opal, but I don't know why. maybe they're curious 'cause they've never

met us? I hope they don't come up to us; I don't like talking to ponies I don't know.

"Alright, which shop do you think sells them?" Opal asks, looking around.

"I'm not sure. They should've given us a map."

"Good idea! We should find some way to get a map..

"There!" she runs over to a small building.

I follow her, looking at the building. the words 'Maps and Compasses. Everything for your navigational needs' is scrawled on its top. A scrawny looking old earth pony sits at

the front desk. Maps, snow globes, posters and such were behind him.

"May I help you?" he asks.

"Yes, we would like one map, please." Opal says.

The colt walks back into the shop and takes a map off the wall, then walks back over to us.

"That'll be five bits." he says.

Opal bites her lip, but still produces five copper coins. "thanks."

We both walk away.

"Why did you make a face?" I inquire.

"I only had ten bits with me, so we only have five now. I didn't think a map would be that expensive. I think mattress can cost up to twenty bits." she says.

"Oh. Well, I have some money, but its evergreen money. Do you think they accept evergreen dollars here?" I say.

"No, I don't think so. I think we can convert it, though." she says. "Let's go to the bank." she pulls out the map and searches for one, and off she trots. as we're walking, a

light brown mare walks up to us.

"Excuse me, are you two messengers?" she asks.

I nod, and Opal says; "yep."

"Do you have a message from Gum Drop?" she asks.

I look at Opal, silently pleading for her to explain for me.

"I'm sorry; we were attacked by lurkers on the way here. We only managed to save the letter for the princess. All the others were… left behind." she says grimly.

the expression on the brown mare saddens, but she doesn't say anything.

"Oh, okay then." she says, walking away sadly.

I feel a strong pang of guilt in my chest. Opal looks sad, too.

"Let's keep moving." she says, beginning to walk towards the bank.

After we convert my evergreen bits into Summit bits, we start to walk to a shop called "beds and comfort". Once we arrive, we are greeted with a slightly bigger shop filled

with mattresses, duvets, pillows and other bedroom novelties. it still baffles me how these ponies can live in such peace with such a hell going on outside this mountain.

After about an hour of awkwardly lugging the mattress, we finally arrived at out room. taking it up the stairs had been a real challenge, and by the time we were in out room I

was extremely sweaty and uncomfortable. we dropped the mattress on the floor and I collapsed on it. We didn't get a bed frame or anything since we were only gonna be

there for a few days.

"Took you long enough." Cobalt said as we arrived. He was sharpening his knife.

"Sorry, it was really awkward to carry through the crowd." I say, still lying on the mattress. "you should explore the city, Cobalt. it's beautiful." I regretted the words almost as

soon as they left my mouth. "I mean- it's great to listen to."

Opal looks at me with a sarcastic 'good job' look.

"Its fine, you don't need to be sorry for my eyes. I'm used to it." he says.

"Okay. I'm sorry." I say.

Cobalt rolls his blind eyes and smiles.

We spent the rest of the day telling stories and talking.

On the last day of our stay at the summit, we decided to spend it exploring the city. our previous days had been OK, mostly just buying maps of the outside and planning.

"Ok, let's go!" Opal says, walking out the door.

we trot down the steps, me lagging behind. all those years stuck working inside have made me almost incapable of doing physical work.

"Where should we go first?" Opal asks excitedly.

"Let's get ice cream!" I say.

Cobalt shrugs in agreement.

"OK." she says, looking at our map of the summit.

"What flavour should I get?" Opal asks, looking at the extremely limited selection of flavours.

The flavours were vanilla, chocolate, straw berry, mint and wild berry. I decided on wild berry, Cobalt chocolate and eventually, Opal decided on mint. we decided to walk

around for a bit, admiring the architecture and the busy ponies. Suddenly two Pegasus ponies, a mare and a colt, walk up to us. I cringe silently, not wanting to disappoint

anymore ponies. I notice that they must be twins, because they share the same colours, white fur with a green and turquoise mane and blue eyes. The mare spoke first.

"Hey! My brother and I noticed you a few days ago, and we've seen you walking around a lot. We wanted to say hi." The Pegasus mare says.

"Oh, well, hi!" Opal says.

Cobalt and I aren't very intrigued by the new comers. I smile awkwardly.

"I'm Sea spray and this is Starry sky." she smiles politely.

"I'm Opal. This is Compass rose," she gestures to me. "And this is Cobalt." she gestures to Cobalt.

Sea spray seemed to blush a little when Opal gestured to Cobalt. I could tell they were a lot younger than us.

Opal looks like she's about to ask them to hang out, and I pleadingly look at her, silently begging her to not ask them.

"Wanna walk with us?" Opal asks despite my silent plead.

I whimper inwardly, but try not to show it on my face.

"Sure!" Sea spray says.

Starry sky nods.

"okay." she says.

Opal starts walking, the twins walking to our sides. Sea spray walks next to Cobalt. I could tell Cobalt was feeling awkward. I ponder saying something to him to break the

awkwardness, but I don't want the twins talking to me. nothing personal, I just don't like talking to ponies.

"Soo.. how old are you two?" Opal asks. I could tell she had noticed that they were younger that us.

"Sixteen." Sea spray says.

"Oh." Opal says. "I'm twenty."

I didn't know that.

"But you know what they say, age is just a number. ammiright?" Opal says.

"Who says that?" Starry sky asks. it was the first time he had spoken since we met.

"o-oh, just- ponies." Opal says, laughing awkwardly.

"Oh, okay." Starry sky says.

After about an hour of walking around and talking awkwardly, the twins left. I sigh exasperatedly.

"That was interesting." says Opal. I can't tell if she's being sarcastic or not.

"Yeah. They're… different." I say, not wanting to be rude.

"We're leaving soon. a few hours, I think." Cobalt says.

Right. This had been our last day.

"Okay. I think I'm gonna have a nap. I stayed up late last night reading." I say.

"Alright. I'm gonna keep walking around. Cobalt, you wanna join me?" Opal asks.

He shrugs. "Sure."

I head back to our room, collapse on the mattress and fall asleep

I awake to Opal pressing her hoof against my face.

"It's time to go." she says.

I groan but get up. "Okay."

I start packing up my stuff. Mostly stuff we had gotten while here, though. since, you know, we had lost most our other stuff.

"Ready." I say.

"Me too!" Opal says.

Cobalt nods.

"What should we do with the mattress?" I ask, looking at where I had been sleeping.

"I heard there were some homeless foals nearby. From what I've been told all they have are blankets. We should give it to them." Cobalt says starting to levitate the mattress.

I smile at him. how sweet!

"How sweet of you!" Opal says, echoing my thoughts.

"What? Isn't that what most people would do?" he asks, legitimately confused.

Opal sighs. "Unfortunately, most people wouldn't have thought of that."

Cobalt still looks confused, but he goes back to lifting the mattress. I go to help him.

Once we get down the stairs, we see the two foals, sitting against a shop wall. they looked scrawny and tattered, wearing dishevelled blankets. a small cup that read 'change'

sat in front of them. my heart swarms with pity as we see them. we lay the mattress in front of them and they look up at us, knowingly.

"Thank you, miss." one of them says to me.

I blush. it was hardly anything. a small mattress was barely enough to comfort two homeless foals, yet it was all we could do at the moment.

"I'm sorry I can't help more." I say.

They shake their head and move towards the mattress.

We continue on to the gate.

"Here we are." Opal says.

We stood outside the doors, the doors that lead back into hell. we nervously walked back into the stone elevator (after checking in with two guards) and went back up to the

small cave. the guards open the door, and I can see one of them eyeing our group suspiciously. I shrug it off and continue to walk. I stop a step before the door, take a deep

breath and step onto the mountainside.

"Good luck" one of the guards says, and the doors close with a slam.

We were back.

I hear giggling next to me, and it didn't belong to Opal. I turn around quickly. the slightly small form of Sea spray stands there (Starry sky next to her), giggling like a maniac.

"SEA SPRAY?!" Opal booms. "Why are you here?!"

"We snuck out with you!" she says.

Opal sighs angrily. "Why?"

"Because you made it sound so fun and… we just wanted a journey of our own." Starry sky says, ashamed.

I saw myself in them but they didn't have the training that I did.

"Being out here isn't much fun at all. It's dangerous. You two should go back inside."

"Even if we wanted to, we couldn't" Sea Spray retorts with a hint of annoyance. She obviously hadn't expected to be turned away.

"Why is that?" Cobalt asks. I notice that he didn't seem to be for or against the new arrivals.

"It's against the law to leave the city without proper certification." Starry Sky put in.

"Ok so you can't go back in. But what makes you think you can come with us?" Opal says taking a step toward the white Pegasus colt.

"Because" Sea spray says stepping between Opal and her brother "You're not the type of people to leave two ponies stranded, right?" She turned to look at Cobalt on the last word.

"I have no objections to them coming along." Cobalt says his cheeks turning a slight red. Wait was he blushing?

I didn't have time to think about it since the Pegasus Mare turned to me next. "Well?"

As much as I hated it I just couldn't see myself leaving them behind. "I'm fine with it." I say reluctantly.

Sea spray turns back to Opal, a look of victory on her face.

"Ugh. Fine, but don't expect to be babysat. If we get into a mess, you're getting yourselves out, got it."

"Got it" Sea Spray responds.

"With that, we head off, away from the safety of the city and into the godforsaken forest once again.

Author's Note:

not a very eventful chapter, but we decided to get all the Summit stuff out in one chapter. more action-y stuff coming soon!
~Teal Mist