Inner workings - Galsthan's stories

by HyperRandomness

Chapter 6: Well, so much for finding each other.

Wednesday, April 15th 2012.

1:05 P.M.

Everfree Forest.

Yet again, Galsthan had been searching for hours. This time, however, he didn’t have any hunger or thirst issues. Along the way, Galsthan had found a few edible plants and a freshwater stream, so those two things were out of the way for now.
There were two yet-unresolved issues. Quick Fix had not been found, and he was now lost in the Everfree Forest.

The most dangerous forest around, and he had absolutely no idea where he was. He pushed this thought from his mind, though, similarly ignoring the pain as his body ached for rest. “There’ll be time for rest later.” he said to himself aloud, “Right now, I’ve got a missing Mare to find.”

As he trudged on, he realized he had seemed to come to an edge of the forest. He almost excitedly made his way to the edge of the trees, moving from a densely wooded area into…

a sheer rock face.

Galsthan looked up, seeing that the massive stone seemed to stretch right up to the sky.

It probably did.

“Whatever it takes.” Galsthan stated flatly, walking up to the rock wall. After looking up and judging how difficult it would be to climb the wall, he shortly found enough hoof holds to start climbing, and having no previous rock-climbing experience didn’t deter him from the mission at hand.
“Whatever it takes!” Galsthan reminded himself loudly, hurrying up the stony face.

"Oh jeez!" he shouted, his body quickly having a reunion with the ground. "Oof!" he shouted, attempting to shrug off the pain as he stood again. He swiftly began to scale the cliff once again, now determined to make his way up.

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“He WHAT?!”

Quick Fix could not believe her ears. The Princess herself had said it, but she could not believe it. Apparently, without her knowing, Galsthan had actually turned back to look for her, for a reason undisclosed by the Princess, but Quick Fix knew it must’ve been important.

She immediately turned tail for Canterlot’s train station, ready to head back to Ponyville to find Galsthan, who’d apparently gone looking for her in the first place. She felt awful, making him look all over Ponyville for a Mare that wasn’t even in the city.

“I hope he didn’t leave.” she stated aloud, not to anyone in particular.

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As Galsthan climbed the rock, three things became apparent. One, he had never been more determined to do anything in his entire life. Two, he was very tired. Three, he had lost his mind.

He found himself climbing an entire cliff, just praying that Quick Fix might be somewhere in-between himself and wherever his mission took him next.

As Galsthan thought over his choices, one of his hooves slipped and he nearly plummeted over a hundred feet. He quickly regained his composure and grip before realizing…

How did I know that was a hundred feet?

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Quick Fix impatiently boarded the next train to Ponyville, which was surprisingly empty.

Well, empty enough, anyway. There was only one other pony onboard, who was dressed in a dark cloak. Dark hooves and unusual eyes showed from underneath the unusual attire, but that was all. Quick Fix sat a distance away from the strange pony, noticing that it would occasionally glance in her direction.

She paid no mind to this stranger as she waited silently for her arrival in Ponyville, where she would seek out Galsthan.

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Shoving all distracting thoughts from his mind, Galsthan continued up the rock, making his best efforts to remain on the wall and not plummeting to the ground below. He continually kept his mind focused on the one thing that mattered to him right now, and that was finding Quick Fix.

“Whatever it takes.” he said, as he nearly slipped again.

“Whatever it takes!” he exclaimed, suddenly propelling himself several feet up the cliff, then latching back to it.

“I’M COMING FOR YOU, QUICK FIX!!!” he screamed as he practically galloped up the straight face of rock, shooting up it like an earth pony across a flat land.

"..oh shoot." he stated blankly, losing his grip on the cliff for the thousandth time. "OH SHOOT!" he yelled as gravity took its hold, accelerating his fall. WHAM! was the sound as he impacted with an outcropping below him, thankfully catching him and saving him from what would have been a lethal fall.

It didn't, however, save him from the pain. He gritted his teeth as he was sure he heard some sort of cracking, then sharp pains shot through his body.

This didn't stop him, however, seeing as he had practically lost his mind on his quest. Grinning and bearing it, he stood to climb again. Painful jabs bolted up through his spine and legs, but he managed to retain consciousness and began scaling the cliff once more. Had it been any other pony, they would have died. He would have wondered how he survived, but all thoughts were clouded by Quick Fix.

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As the train neared Ponyville, Quick Fix became uneasy. The shrouded stranger had shifted seats several times, scooting closer to her each time. This was supposedly the only available passenger car they had, but Quick Fix was willing enough to see if she could sit elsewhere if this mysterious pony kept coming closer.

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Upon reaching another small outcropping in the rock, Galsthan came to an immediate halt, panting heavily for air and wincing in pain. The air was becoming thinner as he went, making it more and more difficult to climb, but this did not stop him. After a moment’s rest, he resumed climbing, launching himself up the cliff at a slightly slower pace, but fast nonetheless.

He nearly lost his hoofing again, but managed to latch back onto the cliffside. He stayed on that section of cliff for a moment to make sure he was stable, then began climbing again.

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The cloaked stranger had again shifted towards Quick Fix, so she stood to walk by him and to the other end of the passenger car. As she walked though, the shifty stranger shot out a hoof to trip her. She fell flat on her face, and then shot a look up to the stranger with both fear and anger in her eyes.

Or at least, where he once was.

She stood quickly and scanned around the passenger car, seeing that the shrouded pony had just vanished. The stood ready in the middle of the aisle, looking around cautiously, expecting a surprise attack. It was the first time she had been in this sort of situation, so it set her on nerve to no limit.

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Galsthan had been roaring up the mountain like a rocket. If he had been wearing red, someone might have mistaken him for one anyway. He almost slipped and fell to his death several times, but it never happened. Galsthan’s sinew for fear of losing Quick Fix propelled him upward.

He came to a small peak, and eagerly clambered on top of it, looking up, down and around, hoping that by some streak of luck that Quick Fix would be near. This high cliff proved void of anything and everything Quick Fix, so he sighed heavily and collected whatever thoughts remained.

He decided that ascending further would probably be bad for him. The air was thin enough, and he didn’t want to risk asphyxiation. He trotted over to the opposing cliff, taking in the view.

He could see a body of water in the distance, which was likely a lake, along with what seemed to be a small settlement near the bottom of the mountains. It was still a huge distance, but much closer than a lot of things. He briefly wondered how he had traversed so far and so fast, but attributed it to the royal genes.

He then set off down the Cliffside, hoping to reach the settlement before nightfall. The sun was low, however, so it wasn’t likely.

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For the rest of the train ride, Quick Fix stood in the middle of the empty passenger car. When the train arrived in Ponyville, she bolted off of it, almost forgetting why she had come back in the first place.

She charged off to the first place she thought to look, which was Galsthan’s shop.

When she got there, she didn’t see a single pony inside. The next thing she could think to do was search around the town for him, which she assumed he would also be doing by now.

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As Galsthan scrambled down the cliff, it grew dark, which made it much more difficult to clamber down the mountain. He lost his hoof holds for a moment, before sticking back to the cliff, breathing heavily. He had nearly fallen, so he would be slightly more careful from that point onward.

Too bad that didn’t last long.

A ledge beneath his hind left hoof crumbled, which let him fall off of the rocky face of the mountain. He could almost see Quick Fix before his eyes, looking sadly at him. That tore it. It wasn’t time to die. Not yet.

Galsthan turned to face the ground, before realizing that it wasn’t the ground at all.

WHAM!! echoed the noise as Galsthan impacted with the outcropping. Sharp pains tore through his body, shooting lightning up and down everything. He grimaced in the pain, but found himself quickly standing again. He had come too far to fail now so he set back climbing down the mountain, ignoring any pain that lingered.

A couple of spills later, and Galsthan had made it down the cliff, having fallen down the remainder of the cliff and survived somehow. As he turned away from the rocky cliff, he met with an awestruck face, which was watching him.

“How did you SURVIVE that?!” it shouted the question, its voice clearly defining that it was a stallion. Galsthan didn’t have time to dawdle, so he pushed the stallion aside and trudged forward. The yet unnamed stallion quickly raced about in front of Galsthan again, stopping him in his tracks.

“Who ARE you, and how did you survive those falls?” the brave stallion demanded answers, trying to puff up his chest to look tough.

“I don’t have time for this!” Galsthan shouted at the Stallion, knocking him aside and galloping off at a speed that the stallion would surely not be able to compete with.

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Quick Fix had searched a large portion of the town, and had stopped for dinner, but it soon became dark and she had not yet seen Galsthan.

She decided that he likely wouldn’t leave town, so she trotted back to her own home and tried to get some rest for the night.
She opened her door and closed it behind her as she entered, clicking on her lights. She walked through her living room and to her bedroom, where she climbed into bed and clicked off the lights.

She was yet unaware of a familiar hooded figure waiting right outside her window.

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Thursday, April 16th 2012.

6:23 A.M.

Unknown Settlement.

The last thing Galsthan remembered was charging away from a pushy stallion as he pressed onward to locate Quick Fix.
Now, he woke up in an unknown bed in an unknown building in an unknown location.
Okay, this happens WAY too much, he thought to himself in annoyance.

He took a moment to survey his surroundings, seeing that he was in a simple wood hut with very few furnishings. The most notable were a few shelves stocked with strange ingredients, and the bed he was laying on. It was very well constructed, and was very comfortable.

A familiar stallion.. no, Zebra, entered the hut from an entrance in the side, and walked up to Galsthan. “So, do you have time to answer my questions now?” he asked with a grin and a chuckle, adjusting his wide-brimmed hat.

Galsthan hadn’t seen that this familiar stranger was a Zebra when they first encountered each other, as it was dark. Now, however, it was clear to see the stripes along the Zebra’s mane and legs. Galsthan stepped off of the bed and turned to face this Zebra, saying, “No, not really, unless you’ve seen Quick Fix anywhere around here. I doubt you know who that is, so I need to get going.”

His tone was harsher than intended, but all this searching with fruitless results got Galsthan in a bad mood. He pushed past the Zebra and walked outside of the hut into the settlement, where other Zebras were going about their business. He made his way away from the area, and left without being stopped.

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(Sorry that the chapter’s short. More coming soon!)