Introduction

They had been leading me all around these snowy wastes, up mountains, through canyons, over frozen lakes anywhere that was passable. But now my captors have stopped. The three large behemoths stop in the middle of a frozen river. One of the things stoops down to look me in the eyes. At first all I see are sockets, embedded in a large obsidian boulder, until with a hiss two fiery yellow orbs burn through the sockets.

The thing is almost indescribable, its torso looks like a child had put bunches of black, misshapen rocks on top of each other and somehow kept them together with glue. At the bottom of the torso two long limbs made of equally black rock float, suspended close to the torso but somehow attached. And two other limbs float at the top sides of the thing, one on the left, and another on the right.

My ears nearly split at the sound of rock cracking against rock. When I look around I realize that the thing is opening its mouth to speak, “Where…is…she?” He chokes out from his mouth. The effort seems tremendous, because soon after the thing begins to cough.

I shake my head, “She’s long gone. You and your cronies are never going to find her.” I say with a smug grin.

The thing says nothing at my remark, its stone body staying perfectly composed. For a while there is no exchange of words, just it staring at me and vice versa. Behind the monster its two associates rummage through the snow, pulling up roots and large plant life with it.

I giggle a bit, there’s no way they could find her. She’s probably at the Peak by now. The ear splitting noise starts again notifying me that the thing was preparing to speak again, “Just tell us…where…she is. I promise no harm…will come…to you or Ponyville…once the…Stone is in our…possession.” The thing sputters out in a low monotone, every word creating a strange clicking sound from its stone lips.

I scoff, “And what? Kill off everypony else? You’re not going to find her or the Stone.” I say, inching closer towards its face.

The thing stays quiet, probably knowing that what I say is true. We stand around for a while more. The snow begins to pick up a bit more, flakes of snow finding their way onto my purple coat. After a while longer a large FWUMP sound fills the air. Behind the thing, one of its assistants holds a large, clear crystal.

The thing that was questioning me, grins and makes its way to its associate, its joints clicking with every step. The thing that holds the crystal grumbles in anger, stomping on the ground, causing a flurry of snow and ice to shoot up from underneath him.

I quietly cross my hooves, a triumphant grin finding its way onto my face. There’s no way they can turn on the Recording Crystal. The bucking thing only responded to hooves anyway and even if they did force me to turn it on what good is it? Are they going to take pictures to add to their collage or something?

One of the things thrusts its arm in my direction, “Pony…come…” The thing says in a raspy voice. With a smug grin I trot over to the trio, “Hoof…here…” The thing says, motioning to the Recording Crystal.

“Sure thing.” I say. Knowing that these idiots are just wasting their time I slam my hoof onto the center of the crystal. With a beep, the crystal molds itself into a compact, platter like shape. With a click the crystal whirs on. The welcome screen appears depicting Princess Celestia and Luna standing side by side, proud symbols of Equestria.

“Welcome Twilight Sparkle.” The crystal says in a bored monotone. With another click a small menu appears. Out of instinct I scroll through the options. Ever since Recording Crystals became available to all of Equestria I never left home without mine.

I flinch as one of the things grabs my hoof and forces me to scroll to the “Recent Videos.” Option, “That…click…that.” The thing rasps, pointing to a video.

And that’s when I hesitate. Because the thumbnail of the video is of a panic stricken Rainbow Dash clutching the Stone in her hooves,
“But, but, wouldn’t you want to see something else?” I say, hoping they’re stupid enough to say yes.

The largest of the things coughs and says, “Click…now.”

Intimidated, I click on the video and it plays. On the little hoof-held screen Rainbow Dash adjusts the camera, showing the Stone and herself, “Hey Twi! Twi!” Rainbow shouts in a panicked frenzy, “If you can see this then that hopefully means you got away from those eggheads.” She snickers at her own bad joke. But her smile is soon replaced by a worried look, like that of a hunted animal, “A…anyways I’ve got the thingy right here, and Scoots is here with me.” She moves the camera to show a waving Scootaloo. She adjusts the camera back to herself, “So anyway we’re just about to head to the Peak right now, if you want to catch up just head north from the river!” The camera shudders as the ground around Rainbow quakes and the screen goes black.

I collapse to the ground, defeated and horrified by Rainbows fatal mistake. This one blunder might just have cost us our lives. One of the things stoops down to look me in the eyes again, its own fiery eyes looking deep into mine, “Your friend…has failed…the Stone…will…be ours.” The thing coughs out. And with a gesture to its allies one of the things grabs me by my horn and throws me onto its shoulder. Small rock tendrils make their way through the creature's back, each tendril intertwining with one another until a small rock cage forms over me leaving me helplessly trapped.

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