A Himaneighan Tale

by MasterFrasca

Premonition

“Twilight, where are you?” I called out through the snow. I didn’t know how I had lost her so easily up in the mountains. The snow wasn’t coming down that hard, and she would be obvious out here, her dark purple coat clashing with the intense white and grey that surrounded me. “Twilight!” I shouted into the sky, turning around and around in the white wasteland, not seeing any sign of her. The snowfall around me suddenly picked up, furling me in a cloud of white as the wind whipped the white stuff into my eyes.

The snow was caking on my glasses again, my spell having worn off a while ago. I attempted to summon the energy to cast it once more, but as I was building up, the wind bellowed into me, pushing me into the snowdrift and threatening to cover me in a blanket of frost. Pushing myself to my hooves, I abandoned my glasses, throwing them into my bags and squinting around, my blurry vision not much worse off than when I had them on.

The snow was fiercely obscuring my vision now. A sudden snowstorm had formed out of nowhere, and I was stuck in the middle of it. I trudged forward, the wind threatening to blow me over every second that I stood, and the hill becoming steeper and steeper as I pushed on.

I tugged at my scarves around me, trying in vain to keep the cold from getting to me. Shivering, I realized all I was accomplishing was making it near impossible to breathe. I summoned a large breath and shouted through the storm again “Twilight, are you there?” The howling wind was the only response I got.

Shaking violently now at the bitter cold, I wondered why we hadn’t gotten supplies back at Yakyakistan. I swore I could see my breath turning instantly to snow after it left my mouth. I could feel small icicles forming in the fur around my mouth, and my lips felt cold enough to fall straight off. I kept going forward, hoping I could find Twilight, or at least some shelter to wait out the storm.

In the distance I thought I saw a figure standing tall, the outline a dark blue shade, but it was too far away to really tell if it was real or something my blurry vision was making up in this cold wasteland. “Hello?” I called to the mysterious figure who seemed to be standing motionless. It looked to be pony-shaped, but it didn’t respond to my call. Soon enough, it shook its head and turned, disappearing into the white haze. “Wait!” I called, following it up the snowy mountain.

I came close to the top of the ridge I had slowly been scaling when her voice came to me. “Moondancer!” I heard Twilight call out from in front of me, a state of panic in her tone. “Moondancer, help!”

My eyes widened as I heard her cries. Leaping forward in the snow, I doubled my pace towards the ridge, the top getting closer and closer as the path became even steeper and slicker. “Hold on Twilight!” I called out, slipping and falling face-first into a snow-drift. Getting back to my hooves, I finished, “I’m coming!” I grabbed the ridge with my forehoof and pulled myself up only to realize why Twilight had been calling out for me.

In front of me was a deep chasm where the ice had split in two. It was just wide enough for a pony to fall down, and the bottom was beyond a threatening blanket of blackness. Twilight was down on a ledge, just managing to keep her body from plummeting further. Her wing was bent at a gruesome angle, probably having been broken in the fall down. Her horn looked frostbitten and more of a reverse icicle, meaning she probably had no way of producing magic.

The rest of her body was a deeper purple than normal, and it looked like she was just barely above the threshold of being a frozen pony. She wasn’t even shaking anymore, the hypothermia already taking a great hold on her. “Moon,” I barely managed to hear her say above the blistering wind, her eyelids drooping dangerously close to closing. If she fell asleep now, there was a good chance she wasn’t going to wake up. Not in this weather with no aid.

“Twilight, stay with me!” I called out to her, looking around for some way of keeping myself from falling in as well. “Don’t close your eyes now Twilight! Stay with me!” I started to panic, not finding any viable way of getting to Twilight. “I’ll get you out of there!” I threw out an empty promise.

“Moon…” Twilight said again, her breathing substantially slower than it should have been. I nervously worked up some energy and focused it to my horn, only to feel an excruciating burning pain shoot back through me. Lifting a hoof up to my horn, I could feel the ice surrounding it. Without finding a way to melt it, magic wasn’t an option. “I…” Twilight managed to say. “I don’t want… Want to die…”

I could feel her lifeforce leaving her. My heart sped up as she slowly blinked a few times. I whipped my head around, not knowing what to do. I vainly reached a hoof out to try and reach her, but I was still more than a body’s worth away from her.

“Grab my hoof, Twilight!” I pleaded, knowing full well it was an impossible task. “Grab my hoof and we’ll make it out.” I watched as Twilight closed her eyes, not opening them up again. “Twilight, open your eyes and take my hoof!” I cried, tears blurring my vision further. Her chest stopped its steady rise and fall. “Twilight, wake up and grab my hoof. Please wake up and grab my hoof.” I shouted, tears streaming down my face and freezing into my fur.

I watched her limp body roll over and fall into the abyss.

“No!” I shouted, jolting up from the laying position I was in. My fur was slick with my own sweat, and my eyes were teared up, but I was still back in Galearis’s house. I took a few short sharp breaths, the image of Twilight’s body falling still replaying in my mind.

The fire sparked up beside me as I saw Galearis’s worried face looking at mine. “Moondancer, are you alright?” she asked as she went over to her cupboards and started pulling out herbs and ingredients. “You were squirming an awful lot in your sleep,” she said, returning to the pot filled with cold hot chocolate from last night, dumping in everything she was carrying as the fire did it’s work to heat up the brew. “And it looks like you’ve been crying.”

“I…” I began, still trying to calm my breathing down, shaking from the surge of adrenaline I had gotten from the imagery. “Nightmare…” I whispered, realizing that that was all it had been. We hadn’t left Yakyakistan yet, and Twilight was still very much alive, just not with me.

“Just take a few deep breaths, Moondancer,” Galearis said, stirring the pot a bit before walking over to grab my mug. “Drink some of this too. It’ll soothe your nerves.” She filled my mug with the brew and gave it a blow to cool down before handing me the result. I took a sip, feeling the grainy herbs mixed with the sweet chocolate. I almost instantly felt my muscles relax and my heart slow it’s beat a bit.

“Thanks,” I said, taking in a deep breath and setting the mug down on the floor. Letting it out, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I looked over at my bag and felt around in it for my glasses with my horn. Feeling the general shape, I pulled them from the bag and placed them gently on my nose. “What time is it?” I asked, looking at the window to see it was still covered in snow. “Sorry if I woke you up in the middle of the night.”

“Don’t worry about it, Moon,” Galearis responded, trotting over to the door with the large kettle now clenched between her teeth. She kicked opened the door with her back hooves to let in the bright rays of light from outside, not to mention pushing all the built up snow away. “The sun’s been up for a bit now,” she said as I shielded my eyes from the blinding light. Galearis dumped the contents of the pot out the doorway before grabbing a fresh chunk of snow and throwing it into the lukewarm receptacle. “I was actually about to cook some stew for breakfast before I noticed you were struggling in your sleep.”

“Alright,” I said, still thinking back to the nightmare. It had felt so real, and I could feel the pain of all of it. It was so cold in the dream too. There’s no way I could have just imagined it. Was there? I started to second guess myself. “I think I’m just nervous about the road ahead,” I half-heartedly explained to Galearis.

I watched as Galearis rummaged through her many cupboards before producing some potatoes, what looked to be onions, a can of broth and some other various spices. Grabbing a plate and assembling all the ingredients, she replied, “Don’t be.” She scooped the plate and all its contents from the counter onto her back and expertly balanced them as she walked over to the kettle. The fresh snow had melted once more into hot water, and the steam from it was beginning to rise from the clear surface. “We’ll have you guys set up with the best equipment Yakyakistan has to offer,” she finished, sliding the plate onto the floor without spilling a single thing.

“Here,” I offered, stretching and getting up from my lumpy bedding as Galearis returned to her cupboard. “Let me help you with the soup.” I levitated the can of broth in front of me before focusing on the top seam of the lid to the sides. Conjuring up a magic can-opener, I placed it on the can and let it work away as the metal slowly cut open. With the seal broken, a strong smell of salt met my nose, and I looked inside to see the heavy yellow-orange color of a typical bone-broth mixture. Levitating it over the pot, I poured the broth in with the water before grabbing a wooden spoon from the utensil rack and stirring it in.

“Thanks for the help, Moondancer,” Galearis said, pulling out can after can after can of preserved vegetables and fruits. “Here’s what I can offer for your trip down to the trading camp.” She grabbed a few cans before walking over and placing them in my saddlebags. “Are you ok carrying this much?”

I picked up the potato before glancing over at Galearis. “Those bags have a spell created by Twilight herself.” I said, turning my attention back to the potato at hoof. “Put as much in as you want. The bag is bottomless and weightless… essentially.” I sent a few quick pulses from my horn and watched as the potato split in half, then into quarters, and finally into chunks as my magic cut cleanly through its interior like a hot knife into butter.

Dumping them into the pot I turned back to Galearis. “Are you sure it’s ok we take this stuff?” I asked, picking up the bits of onion and dicing away with it as I had the potato. Enveloping the wooden spoon in the pot as I did, I stirred it to keep the soup from settling.

“You’re doing this town a big enough favor as it is,” Galearis responded, coming over and putting the rest of the spices in the pot as I kept stirring everything up. “I can afford to give up a few cans of food for the cause. Besides, if you get the trading post open, then I won’t be having to worry about food anyways.”

“Fair enough,” I said, still stirring away. The aroma of the soup was intoxicating as it floated into my nose. I had had potato and onion soup plenty of times before, but never home-cooked like this. Back in Canterlot I only ever had instant noodles, never seeming to find the time to cook anything properly. My studies were always more important than the quality of my meals.

“Smells about ready to me,” Galearis said, taking a deep breath in and drinking in the pleasant aroma the soup had wafting off it. “Let me get some bowls and we can eat before getting back to the Monastery.” Walking over to the cupboards once again, Galearis rummaged around before pulling out two ceramic bowls. They looked homemade and very thick.

I pulled the spoon out from the broth and cast a quick charm on it to dry it off before placing it back on the utensil rack I got it from. Galearis set the bowls down before grabbing a soup ladle in her teeth to dip it in the yellowed broth. Pulling it out, she expertly guided the chunky liquid to the first bowl, letting it fall in, spilling just a few drops in the transfer. Dipping the ladle back into the soup, she repeated the process, this time keeping the floor entirely clean of the liquid.

“Pi’u,” Galearis said with a smile, placing the ladle back on the rack before walking back to the bowls. “That means ‘drink up’ in Yakyakistan’s native tongue,” she explained as I enveloped one of the bowls in my magic, levitating it close to my face.

I watched my glasses steam up as the warmth of the broth tickled my nose. Blowing on the surface of the soup, I tilted the bowl just until the broth reached my lips. I took a quick sip, the contents almost burning my lips. Swallowing the salty broth, I felt the warmth reside in my stomach, completely waking me up from the drowsy state I had been in since I had woken up.

After cooling the soup down with my horn, I took another hearty gulp, grabbing some chunks of potato and onions with it. I licked my lips in satisfaction, watching as some other multicoloured bits strewn about the surface floated about the bowl. Closing my eyes, I felt the warmth of the soup radiate along my stomach. “The soup is delicious, Galearis.”

I watched as she grabbed the edge of her bowl in her mouth, lifting it up to horizontal before using a wing to prop it against her lower lip. She took a swig of the soup before setting her bowl back down on the ground. Wiping her chin with a hoof to clean off the stray soup streaks, she turned back to me.

“Thanks,” she replied, covering her mouth before producing a small burp. “As soon as you’ve had your fill, we can head out.”

“Ok,” I said, taking another hearty gulp of the delicious broth. I realized that the sooner I met back up with Twilight, the more progress we could make, and the quicker I could get home. “I think I might make this a meal to go actually,” I said, finishing off what was in my bowl before wiping my mouth clean and levitating the container to the counter her drawers were under.

Trotting over to my bag, I opened it up and rummaged around inside for my thermos, which was probably filled at this point with cold coffee. Finding it, I pulled it out and walked over to the door. Pushing it slightly ajar, I felt the intense cold of Yakyakistan course over me, the wind just as powerful as it was last night. Quickly unscrewing the cap of my thermos, I threw the brown liquid out the door before hastily retreating back to the warmth of Galearis’ house.

Galearis meanwhile was starting to finish off her soup, slowly going through the process of lifting the bowl up and balancing it in a wing. As she did this, I levitated my thermos over the pot of soup, simultaneously grabbing an indeterminate volume of the broth in a magical aura. Opening the lid, I put the soup in the thermos before releasing it from my magical grasp, placing the lid back on. The thermos was filled almost to the brim, and I was glad I hadn’t grabbed more soup, or I might have accidentally had a mess on my hooves.

I levitated the thermos into my bag before grabbing my sweater from below it, the fabric warm from the fire it was lying beside. Stepping into my sweater, I pushed the turtleneck up to my chin, letting the warmth soak into my fur. Taking a deep breath, I closed the flap on my bag, feeling like the few scarves I had in them wouldn’t do much in the harsh winds that were raging outside. I looked back to see Galearis had finished her bowl of soup and had placed both bowls by the fire.

“Let me grab my coat off the hook,and I’ll guide you back if you don’t remember where to go,” Galearis said, trotting over to her coat and swinging it off the hook and onto her back. Sliding the sleeves in place, she pulled the coat tightly around her before turning around to douse the fire that was still crackling on.

Taking the pot off the fire itself, Galearis reached behind the fireplace and pulled with all her might on something I couldn’t quite see. With a few more tugs, she produced a heavy iron cover for the fireplace. Grabbing my bags from the side of the fireplace, I placed them on my back before turning to Galearis, enveloping the cover in my magical aura. I lifted as hard as I was willing to before a long trek, getting the iron cover a few inches off the ground. Galearis let go as she realized what I was doing.

After a few seconds of concentration, the cover was in place. Turning a knob on the front of it, I locked it in place as the light was completely covered up. At that moment, Galearis opened the door to let the sun outside light the way out. Shivering as the cold wind brushed against me once again, I turned and walked outside to the cloudless day.

The sun was high in the sky, and the reflection off all the snow was nearly blinding. I covered my eyes to let them readjust to the vastly brighter environment. “Watch to make sure you don’t slip down the steps,” Galearis warned me as she pushed her door closed, rummaging through her pocket once more for her house key.

Looking down at the staircase, I noticed just how much snow had really fallen the previous night. The entire staircase looked to be buried under as much snow as I had seen when we entered last night. Not wanting to have to expend as much energy, I dealt with the snow a little differently than I had the night before. Focusing energy into my horn, I sent out a constant beam of light into the snow in front of me, slowly eating away at the cold substance. I stood there letting the beam do it’s job. It took much longer than the show I produced last night, but it took much less energy to produce.

“You know Moon,” I heard Galearis call out from behind me. I stopped what I was doing and went to turn around as I heard a whooshing sound fly by me. A purple and gold blur passed me by, sliding down the staircase until it skidded into a pile of snow at the bottom. I realized the blur had been Galearis faux-skiing down the ramp-like surface the stairs had made. She stood up from the drift and shook off all the snow that stuck to her before turning back to me. “It’s faster that way!” she called out from the bottom, laughing to herself. I stopped heating the minute spot I had been focusing on and looked over to see Galearis’s tracks on the stairs, or rather the long lines she had made during her haphazard descent.

I took a gulp before taking a few steps back. It wasn’t too far down, but I was never known for my balance. Looking behind me, I saw the 2 story drop and shivered. Whether it was from the cold or my slight bout of vertigo I wasn’t sure. “Go ahead Ms. Dancer,” Galearis cheered on from the bottom of the steps. “If you fall, all you’re going to hit is snow. Besides, I’ll catch you when you get here!” Knowing the worst I could face was a slightly colder walk, I took a deep breath in, letting it out and watching the mist from it swirl around me before being blown away by the wind.

Letting it out, I took a few quick steps forward before leaping on the snow pile,my momentum flinging me down the slope. “Augh!” I shouted, barely able to keep my balance as I skidded further and further down the slope, the wind blowing my mane about above me. Luckily I was still wearing my old hair tie which kept my mane out of my eyes. I slipped and readjusted myself a dozen times, Galearis’s figure growing and growing as I slid closer and closer to her. “Look out!” I shouted, realizing the bottom was coming faster than I had expected.

“I gotcha!” Galearis responded, catching me at the end of the ramp and whipping me around in a circle. Galearis fell over in the midst of all of it, and we both sat in the snow, dazed by the small crash. Noticing my glasses already had snow on them, I took them off and wiped them on a dry part of my sweater before readjusting them on my face. “Fun isn’t it?” Galearis said, getting up and brushing herself down once again.

“I don’t know if ‘fun’ is the word I’d use exactly,” I said, shaking half from the snow and half from the massive adrenaline high I had just experienced.

“Well, you look like you enjoyed yourself at the very least,” Galearis replied, beginning to trot back towards the Yakyakistan Monastery. “C’mon, let’s go get you supplied and ready for your trip down to Bullheart’s Bluff.”

I nodded and followed behind her, noticing that the streets were once again barren of any yaks or ponies alike. “Is the place normally this devoid of yaks like it is now?” I asked as we trudged through the snowy street. “We thought it was a bit odd that nopony was around.”

“No,” Galearis started, taking a closer look at her surroundings. “It’s true that there usually aren’t yaks on the streets during the winter seasons, it is odd that none of them are outside helping to clear everything out.” She paused a moment, gathering her surroundings before taking a sharp right. “After a nasty storm like last night, the yaks usually send at least a few workers to go help clear the snow enough to make it easier to walk in.”

Almost as if to set an example, Galearis stepped forward and fell up to her stomach into the snow. I couldn’t help but chuckle before helping her out of her predicament. “What makes you think they didn’t send anyone out here this time?”

“I fear it may have to do with you showing up,” Galearis grimly said, the square we had seen from our initial arrival coming into view. Like everything else, almost a foot of snow was accumulated in the entirety of it. Even the statue was nearly buried in the white powder.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked as we reached the bottom of the steps.

“You saw how well our leaders have been getting along…” She trailed off, leaving me to figure out what she was implying. I caught the gist when I noticed that we were not alone outside. Looking up at the entrance of the Monastery, I saw Twilight, with naught but a scarf standing outside, her bags on her back, and her expression stone-faced. She was waiting for us to arrive.

“Twilight, why are you out here?” Galearis asked, shuffling up the steps a little faster than me. “And why haven’t you gotten any supplies? Come on, I’ll get you to–”

“We’re not getting any,” Twilight cut off Galearis solemnly. “We’re on our own for this trip.”

Author's Note:

Chapter 5 is still being written, but it should be finished and edited by next week.

Read, Comment, Enjoy!
-MasterFrasca99

Comments

[redmar]

I wonder what Twilight exactly means and who the figure in Moon Dancer's nightmare was.