Twilight took point, but refused all attempts at communication. The winds were mild, but the snowfall was steady and the woods as thick as ever. It was not long before the enchantress's hut was lost from view. For a long time, they kept passing by her totems, but with each step they grew more scarce until there were no more. Still Twilight walked on, occasionally looking about for some secret sign or waypoint. In the beginning, she moved with great speed and efficiency, but as time passed and the snow thickened, she became increasingly slow and erratic, sometimes doubling back and moving in circles.
After one particularly chaotic spell, which involved several concentric circles and a lot of digging in the snow, she sat down, hid her face in her arms and cried out in frustration. Applejack attempted contact.
"What, uh, seems to be the problem, sugar?"
"I can't find the signs," muttered Twilight. "They're covered in snow. I lost the trail hours ago."
Rainbow moaned audibly.
"Dammit, Twilight. If you're going to get all huffy and not talk to us, you could at least make sure you know what you're doing. I never would've lost that trail."
"I know that, Rainbow Dash," Twilight snarled. "You would also never have gotten the directions in the first place."
"Doesn't matter much now that we're lost."
"I know. But if you're such an expert tracker, why don't you find me the road, hmm? Find me the road through the forest, Rainbow Dash, and I'll eat every word I've said."
Rainbow's packs clattered when they hit the ground, but the girl herself hardly made a sound when she darted off into the falling snow.
Faced with no better options, they made improvised camp where they stood, and when Dash did not return, they set up a fire and slept there.
They awoke to find the huntress standing over them.
"Just a bit up, maybe two, three days travel at your pace there's like an alley through the woods. Maybe three wagons wide and crazy long. Looks like someone sliced the forest with a giant knife. Is that your road, Twilight?"
Twilight didn't look her in the eyes, but the managed to squeak out an answer.
"I think so. Thank you, Rainbow Dash."
"Don't mention it. But, uh, could you please mention what we're going to do after we get there?"
Twilight rose slowly. She spoke to her feet.
"We follow the road towards the heart of the forest. We can't move on it, though, because the Night Mare has many servants, and they'll be travelling on that way. Not too far ahead, there's a pass we'll have to go through, and beyond that, we will have to cross the river and the mountains, and, and..." Twilight paused, unsure of herself. "And it's a really long way."
"Ain't it always," said Applejack, already hoisting her pack onto her back. She checked and double-checked that Bloomberg's scabbard was sitting right, and she drew and sheathed to sword many times before she was satisfied that it would neither get snagged when she pulled it, nor fall out at an inopportune moment.
Rarity sat a little ways out, brushing her hair.
“I don't mean to sound crass, Twilight, darling, but could you be a little more specific?” she said.
Twilight's gaze wandered into the forest, and her mind wandered much farther still. She thought of what Zecora had said while they were preparing to leave, recalling all the waypoints.
“Months.”
“Oh dear.”
“Well then, you better get your snorky little bum moving then!” said Pinkie. Twilight could've sworn she'd been asleep just a second ago. “We're already burning moonlight! Come on, chop chop, there's no time like go time!”
So they set out.
By the third day, they'd gotten within viewing distance of the road, or so Rainbow Dash claimed. None of the others could verify that claim, but they'd learned to trust her eyes. While they were setting up camp for the night, Rainbow Dash came upon the fresh footprints of a hind, and before the fire had burned down, she had felled the beast and brought it back to the camp where she proceeded to butcher it.
They watched the dance of her knife, drooling like hungry dogs, and when Dash offered them some choice bits of raw meat, they ate like dogs as well.
It took Twilight much longer than she cared to admit to notice that Fluttershy wasn't there at all. In fact, as soon as Rainbow had dragged her kill into view, Fluttershy had absconded to the very edge of circle of light, closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the sensations. Even Rarity seemed to have been to entranced by the concept of fresh meat to notice her.
Perhaps Twilight would have liked to think that she acted out of altruism when she wiped the blood from her mouth and went to sit with the timid girl, but the truth is that she was simply a creature of curiosity.
“Hey,” she said, gently tapping Fluttershy's arm. “What's the matter?”
Fluttershy didn't remove her hands from her ears, but heard anyway.
“Oooh, I just can't bear it. She killed the poor thing, and now she's, she's... I can't think about it, please don't make me think about it.”
“Uhm, I don't mean to seem judgemental or anything, but why do you care so much about animals, anyway?”
“How can you not care about animals?” snapped Fluttershy.
Twilight was taken aback by the sudden accusatory tone of her voice. She recoiled, eyes darting to and from as if looking for an escape route.
“Because...” She hesitated. “They're animals?”
“I just don't understand. Why do innocent creatures have to die just because we're hungry?”
Twilight remembered a conversation she'd had with the Queen, when she was still very young. She had asked about the purpose of death, not, as many do, out of righteous indignation, but out of childlike curiosity. The Queen had spoken blasphemy then, as she often did when she told the truth. Blasphemy had its places, but the Queen had also said many clever things, and tonight Twilight felt that tonight, cleverness was in her best interest.
“It is simply how fate works. To weave a tapestry as intricate as the world we live in, threads must be cut.”
Fluttershy nodded, drying tears from her eyes. Then she got a curious look in her eye, and she turned to Twilight.
“Then why do the gods live forever?”
“The gods ch...” Twilight caught herself just before she finished that treacherous sentence. It played out only in her head, unheard by the judgemental ears of her friends.
The gods cheat.
“The gods are the strongest threads of all, the ones that keep the rest of the tapestry in line. If those threads were to be cut, the whole thing would come undone.”
Fluttershy nodded solemnly, apparently convinced by Twilight's platitudes.
“I just don't understand how someone could do that. I could never hurt one of my babies.”
“Your babies?”
“Didn't you see them when you came to my house? All the birds and the bunnies and the-”
Fluttershy broke down again, sobbing uncontrollably into her hands.
“Oh, my poor, poor babies.”
Twilight made the astute judgement that the time for reason was over. She put her arm around Fluttershy.
“Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine.”
Fluttrshy's voice was a whisper, only just barely audible over the wind.
“They're already dead.”
Twilight bit back agreement. She knew very well that the cold would've already killed the creatures in Fluttershy's yard, and if it didn't, the villagers would have come looking for food.
“You don't know that.”
“I do know! My babies are dead, and it's all the Night Mare's fault.”
They sat there for a while, feeling quite foolish, if perhaps a little better than before. Although Twilight once again wished Fluttershy had just decided to stay home.
The hind was small, and it barely lasted them until the following morning, but the meal left the group in a much better mood. Except for Fluttershy, of course, but her specific discontent melded into her generally miserable state and no-one took any particular notice.
They moved parallel to the road for days until the landscape began to twist and heave. The bumpy forest floor turned into full-on hills that in turn became the foot of a flat and overgrown mountain. The path carved into a pass between the mountain and one of its brothers, and if they kept going as they had, to the side of it, they would be forced up the mountain, which seemed to curve in the opposite direction of the path. They stopped beneath an outcropping to shield themselves from the wind and discuss their next move.
“We have to move onto the road,” said Twilight Sparkle. “We can't afford to lose our way.”
“I dunno, Twilight. Didn't you say the Night Mare sends her servants along this path?” said Dash.
“Well, yes, but we haven't seen any, right? Besides, there's no telling where we'd even end up. We might have to walk around the entire mountain! We don't have time for that.”
“We ain't got time to be dead, neither,” said Applejack.
“I would prefer not being dead,” Fluttershy added.
At this, Pinkie Pie blew a terrific raspberry.
“Oh, pish-posh. What's the worst that could happen? Death in glorious combat? Puh-lease, the way I see it, that's an improvement. Besides, weren't you guys super worried about your families and stuff?”
“Pinkie may be a bit... crude, but she does have a point,” interjected Rarity. “We simply cannot allow this to drag on any further than it absolutely must. We all knew we'd have to face danger on this journey, did we not?”
“Maybe,” said Applejack. “But I ain't too fond of no unnecessary risks. The people back home depend on us, y'know. Ain't no sense in getting ourselves killed if it can be helped.”
“We know nothing of these mountains, or the woods around them,” said Twilight. “They could loop around beautifully and we'd be back on track before the next moon, or they could stretch on until the world's end. We don't know. The only choice we have is to trust Zecora, and that means following the path.”
They gave a murmured chorus of agreement, although no-one seemed at all pleased. The issue of planning now taken care of, they decided to make camp and set out onto the path after next they slept to avoid camping on the road if at all possible.
When they woke, they packed together the camp quickly and in silence. Before they left the camp, they each donned their mail shirts. The armour was heavy, uncomfortable and noisy, qualities which prompted protestations from both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Rarity, who had made a great fuzz over making sure the links were unbroken and the padding properly fitted, reprimanded them both quite sternly, and the grew quiet.
Having so prepared themselves, they approached the road with trepidation, as if the ground itself were an enemy. The trail was very wide and cut through the trees in an irregular pattern. It often veered aside to avoid boulders and hills but just as often there were bends and nooks that seemed to fill no purpose. Perhaps the road swayed in deference to obstacles gone for many ages, or perhaps it had been overgrown and reconnected many times. Either way, it gave the impression of being very old.
As the mountains rose up, the path fell down into a valley between them, forming a gash between them in exactly the same way that it split apart the woods.
The cliff walls grew very high and very smooth. Only in a few places were there outcroppings where plants once grew, all but the hardiest now smothered by the snow. The snow muffled their steps, but other sound echoed loudly across, so they spoke only in whispers so as to avoid drawing attention.
The valley started out as wide as the road that led to it and as tall as two men, but it soon grew very narrow and very deep. Soon, it was barely wide enough to allow them to walk abreast and the cliff walls were taller than any hall they had ever seen. When the moon was not directly above, it became dark as well and they had only the distant stars to rely on for light. They ended up following the left wall of the canyon, so as to have common direction. They walked for hours, the passageway growing slowly more narrow until finally Rainbow Dash spotted something.
Further ahead, the passage widened considerably, forming a basin of sorts with trees and vegetation. The moonlight could reach into the wider area, and even the less keen-eyed of the group could see the walls closing in again on the far side of the basin. Still, some freedom of movement would be a welcome change from the cramped passageway they were currently trekking through.
Twilight was just about to say something to that effect when a hideous sound shook the canyon. It was deep and rumbling, like a giant saw at the bottom of a well, but it was coloured with hate and fury, as only the voice of a living thing can be.
They all froze. Fluttershy collapsed onto the ground.
“What in tarnation was that?” Applejack whispered.
“No doubt a beast of some sort,” said Rarity while helping Fluttershy back on her feet. “A rather large one, I would suspect.”
“You guys stay here,” said Rainbow Dash, stringing her bow. “I'm just gonna go have a closer lo- oh shit.”
She'd seen it first, but now they all did. Just a few feet away from the opening a huge body trudged through the snow. The creature was like a lynx, but many times the size; it was almost as big as a bear. Its fur was short and pale except for a great mass of darker hair that surrounded its head. In place of a cat's tail, there was a massive chitinous limb, like the leg of an insect, but it had many, many segments and ended in a wicked barb. The tail was raised high above its head, twitching with anticipation. Its face was contorted into a snarl, and it was making odd grunt noises, and throwing it's head about haphazardly. A thin but constant stream of drool hung out of its mouth. It shivered horribly, the thing fur unable to protect it from the cold.
It twitched and turned its glowing eyes down the canyon. It gave another roar and leapt into the opening.
Spike shrugged off the saddlebags and rose, dragonfire burning hot in his belly. Fluttershy whispered something and gestured at him, but he took no notice. The flame spewed forward over the heads of the women, melting the snow and scorching the rock. The beast disappeared behind a wall of light and heat.
When the fire fell away, images of it still floated in their vision, and they could hardly see at all even in the moonlight. So they waited. Another angry roar shook them, and they saw the points of light that was the creature's eyes, closer now.
Spike hissed, slowly stepping ahead of the humans, eyes focused on the only reference point he had – the creature's eyes. He hoped by all his gods and ancestors that the cat was as blinded as they were, or things would soon end badly.
Applejack saw what he was doing, and didn't approve.
“Whoa nelly! You hold it right there, Spikey-boy. I ain't letting you face that thing by yerself.” she said, stepping forward.
“I really think you shouldn't,” muttered Fluttershy.
“Now, dear” interjected Rarity as she took to Applejack's side, brandishing her own shield. She held her warhammer much too tightly and sweat ran over her knuckles, but her voice was calm. “I couldn't possibly let you face such a ghastly thing on your own.”
“Please, you have to listen,” Fluttershy tried.
“Enough chit-chat!” bellowed Pinkie, banging axe against shield. “Have at!”
They lunged forward, and the beast struck out at them from the darkness.
“STOP!”
Fluttershy's voice carried a weight previously unheard, and her voice might as well have been a well-placed strike, for it took the air out the attackers just as surely. Even the beast recoiled.
“Please, you mustn't fight it,” said Fluttershy in the ensuing silence. “He's sick.”
Rainbow Dash cried in frustration.
“Look, Fluttershy, I've had it up to here with your cowardly ways. If you think you're going to stop me from defending myself from an animal just because it's sick, you're weaker than I thought!”
“No, you don't understand! Look at him! Look at his face! Don't you see it?”
They looked, for their eyes were again slowly becoming accustomed to the moonlight. There was great anger there, yes, but it seemed equally scared and confused. It even looked a little comical with its jaw hanging open and drool pouring into the snow.
Twilight's eyes widened, and her whole body trembled.
“Freya's locks. The water-terror” she whispered hoarsely. The others gave her a queer look, but Fluttershy nodded.
“Yes. You can't fight it, because if you get just a single teeny-weeny itsy-bitsy scratch on you, you could end up like this poor creature; scared, angry and in so much pain. Then your body will just give up. First the limbs and the face and then... and then...” Fluttershy choked. “And then the lungs.”
“Can't you do anything about it?” asked Rainbow Dash, eyeing the great cat suspiciously.
Fluttershy stepped ahead of Applejack and her shield, watching the great cat skulk in the shadows.
“Just one thing,” she said. She had a lump in her throat the size of a war barge. “Can I borrow your knife, Rainbow Dash?”
“What do you want my knife for?”
“Please.”
Rainbow shrugged and unholstered the great knife she kept at her belt. It was very large, with a broad, strong blade and the type of sharply angular tip that earned the type the monicker “broken-back”. It was a gorgeous weapon, but Fluttershy didn't so much as look at it. Rarity, however, stared at it with hateful intensity. Although no-one much noticed that, either.
The timid little girl stepped forward, free hand gloveless and stretched out in front of her. She called out to the creature, much the same way she had when first she met Spike.
“Good boy, nice and easy, be a good boy,” she crooned. The creature stared and twitched, jumping back.
“Oh no, don't be scared. I know it hurts, I know it does, but you're such a good boy, if you just calm down, mama Fluttershy's gonna make it all better.”
It growled half-heartedly, but stopped its retreat.
“Yes, good boy, just a little closer, a little bit closer, don't be scared.”
She was within striking distance of the beast now, and the party cringed, but the beast did not lash out. Not even when Fluttershy touched its mane did it react. She stroked its wet fur with bare hands, allowing herself to cherish the short-grained texture and icy cold of it. There was life there, under the frozen surface. Great muscles trembling in a futile attempt to reduce the cold, a barrel of a chest heaving to and fro like the bellows of a forge. Fluttershy couldn't help but smile at how ridiculous it was for such a mighty creature to be fretting fearfully under her touch. And yet, her smile was tinged by sorrow.
“You're a good kitty, yes you are. You're just a little sick, that's all. Don't you worry, mama Fluttershy is gonna make it all better.”
She scratched it behind the ears and kissed it on the head. Her arms reached around its gargantuan neck, and she held it close, breathing in the strange, wet smell of it. She remained so for ages, holding everything back. Then the beast nuzzled her hair contently, and the mask crumbled. She bawled like a child at her mother's funeral, kissing and hugging the creature furiously.
“I'm so sorry,” she whispered between sobbing breaths, stroking the luxurious fur that encircled the creature's head. Her hands travelled to its neck, scratching it gently. She felt the pulse of life there, just beneath the skin.
Life that had to end.
“I'm so sorry,” she whispered into its ears and kissed it for the last time. “I'm so sorry.”
Her cut was deep and precise. Steam rose into the air as warm blood spilled into the chilly night. The creature threashed about furiously, but even in its dying throes it could not bring itself to harm Fluttershy, who still held its head in her arms, weeping loudly and begging it for forgiveness.
None of the others dared to move a muscle until the thing had stopped, which was long before Fluttershy stopped crying. Twilight stared in amazement.
“But.... but how can... nobody makes a cut that clean on the first try.”
“She's had plenty of practice,” said Rarity through gritted teeth.
“But I thought she loved animals? She got sick just thinking about hurting them!”
“She does, dear. She loves those animals like she would her own children. But sometimes children get sick, and sometimes they'll never get better. She tries, of course. Every time, she tries. And every time she fails, she knows that she must show mercy. Every time, she breaks down in tears.”
“She gets like this every time?”
“Every single time. She's stronger than she looks, Twilight.”
With that, Rarity went to comfort Fluttershy. They sat for a long time together before the beast's remains before Fluttershy's loud bawling receded into quiet sobs and at last stopped entirely.
They made camp in the canyon, just before the opening. Although they could probably have had some use of it, no-one dared touch the carcass of the great beast. In fact, even though they still had some dried meats left in their packs, that night they feasted on crumbling bread and nuts.
No-one had much stomach for dead things.