Carrot Top and Lyra trotted along across the flower-strewn grass of Spring, accompanied to mutual irritation by Kindle and Smoke. What appeared to be two cervid foals bearing wooden spears trotted in front of them, and another two came behind. On either side of the party there stretched forth the mind-twisting landscape of the Court Of Spring. Here what smelled like hot chocolate gushed from the ground like water, there a group of Springfae dressed in strange robes that covered every square inch of their bodies were apparently rendering something that looked like a blob of dark pink pudding with black splotches. Oddly enough, there never seemed to be any obstacles directly in the party’s path.
After a time, the party came to a vast wall of brambles, grown over and under and around each other to form an impenetrable obstacle at least two or three times the height of a pony. The top of the hedge twisted into a kind of braided walkway, smooth and thornless and patrolled by what appeared to be more foals with toy weapons.
One of the champions’ escorts strode forwards and pressed his hoof against a smooth stretch of cane. Immediately, the brambles began to writhe and twist, and shortly had rearranged themselves to form a tunnel through the wall of thorns. On the other side of the thornwall was a stretch of ground. This ground was not grassy or flowered, but neither was it barren or dead. It simply was, seemingly devoid of any qualities other than solidity and dimension.
On the other side of the ground, there rose a more conventional wall of wood, this one made of vast logs carved with images of beasts and trees. Directly opposite the hole in the thorn wall, there was a gate, one which even as the party watched swung open to reveal a vast forest on the other side.
“This is as far as I take you,” said the leader of the Springfae escort. “There is an escort waiting in Summer for you, and they shall take you the rest of the way to Lord Summer.”
The four ponies trotted out onto the ground, which proved to be just as nondescript to the hoof as to the eye, neither warm nor cold nor rough nor smooth. It was a stretch of ground between the two walls, and no more. Carrot Top even noted that where all the ground in Spring felt as though it ought to feel squishy under her hooves, this felt as though she shouldn’t be feeling anything at all. Behind them, the hole in the thornwall twisted shut again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summer, Lyra decided, was a lot less bizarre than Spring. On the other side of the wall, there grew what seemed to be a vast forest, not dissimilar to the Everfree or the wild forests that she and Carrot Top had seen on their way up through Elkheim. Similarly, instead of foals playing soldier, their escort took the form of muscular young bucks, clad in somewhat ornate bronze armor and carrying bronze spears.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” remarked Kindle.
“Shut up,” said Lyra.
“Really, Dame Heartstrings, I-”
“Shut up,” repeated Lyra. “We’re not on the same side, and after what you did to Raindrops, there’s no way we could be friends, or even friendly enemies. I see no reason to pretend I respect you.”
Kindle shut up, though that might have been due to the reek of burning flesh that filled the air. Lyra very carefully averted her eyes as they passed by that clearing. She had all too good an idea as to what was producing that smell, and she had no particular desire to see it.
After a time, they came to a large, rather ovoid clearing. At one end (about a third of the way around the circumference from where they’d entered), Lord Summer sat upon the same carved-wood throne he had been seated in back at the Axis. The rest of the clearing was dotted here and there with Summerfae doing this, that, and the other. Most of the Summerfae were in cervid shape, though there was a pony or two, and a smattering of lions, hounds, and other appropriate beasts. Over a massive fire there hung the burning carcass of… Lyra had no idea what it had been, actually. Between the burning and the massive chunks of carved-away flesh, it was difficult to make out.
“Greetings to you, Dame Toppington, and to you as well, Dame Heartstrings, Voice, Apprentice Smoke,” said Lord Summer, making an idle gesture with one hoof. “I understand that my sister has already fed and refreshed you, so I doubt you wish to have another feast right away. Perhaps we can have one after my trial is over. Shall we begin the trial now?”
“As you said, I am ready to prove Celestia’s worth. Bring it on!” said Kindle.
“I am ready,” said Smoke.
“Me too,” chimed in Carrot Top.
“And I,” said Lyra.
“Very well, then.” Lord Summer rose from his throne and clapped his hooves together. There was a blinding flash of golden light and Lyra felt a brief stab of pain from her temples. When the light cleared, the four ponies were still standing in a largish clearing, with several trails leading out of it, but all the Summerfae and their paraphernalia had vanished. A slightly translucent image of the Lord Of Summer stood before them.
“Do you hear that?” said the image. As if in response, there was the distant sound of horns and the baying of hounds.
“I have called the Wild Hunt, and they have your scent. Your challenge is simple: Stay alive until the time allotted for the Hunt has elapsed. Good luck, you’ll need it.” The image vanished into thin air, and the horns blew again, this time rather closer than before.
The four ponies glanced at each other.
“Split up or go together?” asked Kindle.
“Split up,” said Lyra. “Might confuse them a minute.”
Also, I don’t like you or want to run with you, and I’m hoping that they’ll decide to chase you instead of us, she very carefully did not say.
“Very well,” said Kindle. “We’ll go this way, you go that.” Suiting action to word, he turned and bolted off more or less at right angles to the direction the horns were coming from.
Seeing no reason not to, Lyra and Carrot Top turned and bolted in the opposite direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bon Bon took another sip of vodka, contemplated the tumbler for a moment, and then voiced her considered judgement.
“This isn’t helping.”
“Sorry, but zis is ze strongest stuff ze embassy has,” apologized Spear Fisher. Under the glamour of his armor, he’d proved to be a rather fit unicorn, with a dark brown coat, black mane and eyes, and a dark red spear for a cutie mark. His most distinguishing feature was his horn, which much like Pokey Pierce’s was unusually large in proportion to the rest of him and came to a razor-sharp point.
“I know,” replied Bon Bon. After a minute or two’s silence, the question she’d been wanting to ask for hours finally slipped out.
“Why’d you let them do it, anyway? I thought your job was to keep them safe.”
“Because,” replied Spear Fisher with a sigh, “Zey vere not wrong.”
“You mean they were right?”
“No, I mean zey vere not wrong. Zere’s a difference. Zey may not have been right. Ze Fae might have found zome loophole in zat guarantee of safety. Ze debts zat Corona’s agents, whoever zey are, vere trying to call due might not be big enough to make a difference. But zey might. It just might be zat the safety of all of us rests on your marefriend and… friend friend stopping ze fae from helping Corona. And zo I say zey vere not wrong. And zey are Knights of Ze Realm. It is zere duty to go, just as it iz mine.”
“But why does it always have to be their duty?” asked Bon Bon. “Is it really too much to ask to just be allowed to live in peace with the pony I love?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” replied Spear Fisher, “Zat is ze price of loving somevone like your Dame Lyra. Ze same price my mother had to pay, ze same price Malenkiy Nozh must pay.”
“Who?” asked Bon Bon.
“Malenkiy Nozh,” replied Spear Fisher. “‘Little Knife’ in Equestrian. My wife.”
“Wife… you’re married?” said Bon Bon, astonished.
“Yes, two years ago today.” Spear Fisher’s horn lit up, and he levitated a small carved wooden figurine of a young and rather plump unicorn mare from where it hung around his neck. “Her talent is for woodcarving, zo it is more of a hobby. I make more zan enough money for ze both of us. She made zis for me after ve vere engaged.”
Before the discussion could go any further, there was a commotion and one of the other Guards, Bon Bon thought this one’s name was Quicksilver, poked her head in.
“Miss Bon Bon, Sir, there’s another emissary here from the Fae, and it says it needs to talk to you.”
What walked through the door a moment later looked almost exactly like a filly version of Cheerilee. Same plum-colored coat, same pale mane, same cutie mark. The only difference was the eyes. This had to be the fae emissary, as no pony in the world had one eye half-pink and half-blue (divided horizontally), and the other bright green with a slitted pupil like that of a cat. The fae emissary had two boxes made of some smooth hard substance like nothing Bon Bon had ever seen or heard of. One was bright pink and decorated with Cheerilee’s flower cutie mark, while the other was the same shade as Lyra’s coat and decorated with her cutie mark.
“Ah, Sir Fisher,” said the fae emissary. “I bring you… well, I bring you several things, actually. But first, I bring good news. The first round of the contest is completed, and the victory went to the champions of the Moon. And so, I bring you the spoils of their victory, to be delivered to the Moon Princess upon your return. In this box,” she tapped the pink box with one hoof, “you shall find a dozen black lotus blooms. Upon ingestion, any mortal shall find their magic increased by three average mortals’ worth for as long as the lotus remains in their system, which state generally lasts for about eight hours. And in this box,” she said, tapping the other box, “you shall find three more black lotuses, the product of Her Steadfastness electing to call due her favor from Lady Spring.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Bonbon. “What contest? What favor? What’s going on?”
The fae emissary shrugged. “The Lords and Ladies determined that in order to resolve the question of which pony Princess should benefit from their support, they would have the champions of each Princess compete in a series of four trials. The first trial, that of Spring, was won by the Lunar faction, so Moon receives Spring’s boon. The second trial is underway even now, or at least it was when I left. The Wild Hunt may have caught them by now.”
“ZE VILD…” Spear Fisher seemed to choke on his own words, his horn blazing dark red with magic.
“Oops,” said the fae emissary with a cheeky grin, and dissolved into a cloud of flower petals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Behind them, Carrot Top could hear the blare of horns and the baying of hounds as she splashed downstream. Some of the calls had rapidly faded into the distance, but others were drawing closer. It sounded as though the Hunt had split up, with some following Kindle and Smoke and others following her and Lyra. Some part of her mind noted that the ground retained that odd impression of squishiness under her feet, leading her to suspect that they were still somewhere in the Fae.
“Brr…” shuddered Lyra. “This water is cold!”
“Well what do you expect, we’re in Elkheim,” replied Carrot Top. “Or more likely the Fae, which is much the same thing. Now keep quiet, they might hear us.”
The two Elements fell silent as they padded downstream. Behind them the bellows and horns briefly halted. It seemed as though going into the stream had at least momentarily baffled the Hunt. But within moments, the ruckus broke out again, the Hunt racing downstream. Ahead of the Elements, a breach in the riverbank offered a convenient way out of the stream, one Carrot Top indicated with a nod of her head. Lyra bobbed hers and the two ponies took the exit, breaking into a gallop as they dashed up out of the stream and into the forest, before falling back into a trot as they wove between the trees. Behind them, the Hunt seemed to be moving rapidly down the stream.
And something else was worrying Carrot Top as well. Her life as a farmer had built up her already impressive earth pony stamina. She could probably sustain this trot for hours if she really had too, but Lyra was a unicorn musician. She wasn’t a couch potato by any means, especially not since she’d become an Element and started exercising to get in shape for adventures, but playing music wasn’t the best way to build up your endurance and Lyra lacked the boost that earth magic gave Carrot Top. She was already beginning to breathe heavily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We need to split up again,” panted Smoke.
“Why?” asked Kindle.
“You can fly, I can’t,” said Smoke. “You might be able to get away if you take to the air. Specially since I think they’re sniffing us out.”
They slowed to a halt as they entered a small clearing. Smoke felt her heart twist at the look on Kindle’s face as he considered her for a moment.
“Celestia be with you, Smoke,” he said, and took to the air in a blaze of wind and heat.
Smoke allowed herself one heartbeat to mourn all that would never be, then she drew herself up and prepared to give battle for her love’s life.
Her horn ignited, and thick grayish smoke filled the clearing. Though her senses were unaffected, Smoke knew that no other pony could see through the arcane mist. She quickly glanced around.
Sun blind it, nowhere to hide. I’ll just have to stand out in the middle and hope I can stay away from the Fae.
Belatedly, she realized that she should have suggested Kindle put her up one of the trees. With her shroud masking her location, it might have taken the Fae hours to figure out where she was. Unfortunately, ponies are absolutely horrible at climbing. The limbs simply don’t orient for wrap-and-shimmy, and as for the prying grip which can come from some form of digits... no. Unless you are a pegasus, one of the rare unicorns who can teleport or self-levitate, or insanely flexible, your hooves will stay stuck firmly on the ground. And Smoke was none of the three.
Minutes later, hounds began to charge into the clearing, their fur shining like polished gold. Right on the hounds’ hocks came the true Summerfae, and at their head was Lord Summer himself.
As the Wild Hunt entered the smoke, its various members began to cast about blindly, and Smoke restrained a temptation to cheer. She had not been entirely certain that the arcane smoke would blind the fae hunters, but evidently their senses were similar enough to mortal senses to be affected. Even the hounds’ noses were unable to track her scent through the overlaying fog. Unfortunately, there were enough of them that sooner or later one would stumble across her. Still, every minute she kept them busy was another minute’s lead for her love, another minute that might save his life.
That was why she hadn’t run earlier, why she’d stayed here to buy time. Had she run, the Wild Hunt might have followed her, but it might also have followed Kindle. Or more likely, it would have split in two again and both of them would have been hunted. No, Smoke had no choice but to stay here and occupy the Wild Hunt while Kindle fled. She wondered if Kindle had realized what she was planning to do, or if he thought she was running off in the opposite direction from him.
One of the fae traced a rune on the air in lines of golden light. It flashed and a gust of wind blew through the clearing, but luckily for Smoke her arcane fog didn’t actually have any physical presence, and as such could not be simply blown away. She ducked further away, trying to stay out of the way of the roaming hunters. She made sure to stay within the bounds of her smoke, though. She could see hounds patrolling around the edge of her cloud, just to make sure she didn’t slip out of it.
Suddenly, one of the hounds let out a howl and lunged at her. She leapt out of its way, but that brought her close enough for one of the fae hunters to spot her and strike out with a hoof. Pain erupted from her barrel as she leapt back and away, but a pair of hounds spotted her and leapt at her with howls. She used her telekinesis to slam one of the hounds into the other and leapt back away from a swiping hoof, but that dodge sent her ramming into something else, she didn’t see what, and she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Before she could get to her hooves again, the hounds were on her.
She had just enough time to hope that Kindle would make it out alive before Lord Summer finished her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they entered yet another clearing, Lyra abruptly skidded to a halt. A moment later, Carrot Top followed suit.
“Carrot Top, run!” panted Lyra.
“Not without you!” retorted Carrot Top.
“Can’t keep up. You go, I’ll buy time.” The cries of the Wild Hunt were growing rapidly closer.
“I’m not leaving you to die, Lyra. Loyalty goes both ways.” Carrot Top glanced around speculatively. “Think you could get up one of these trees if I boosted you?”
“What?”
“If you can’t run, we could climb trees and hope they can’t get up after us. I boost you, then you help me up with your horn.”
“You’re crazy. And we’re running out of time. Go!”
“Not without you!” insisted Carrot Top.
“Ergelbarg!” said Lyra definitively, before breaking into a trot once more, having recovered a bit of her wind.
Carrot Top took a moment to upend one of her stench bombs before setting off after Lyra. The horns continued to sound off periodically in their rear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kindle started slightly at a shriek from above him. After a few minutes of hasty flight, he’d descended to earth once more, where he would not so easily be seen. Judging by his ears, it seemed to have worked. The Hunt had been at least temporarily baffled, and with every passing minute his trotting had put more space between them and him.
Unfortunately, it seemed that when the hounds had failed to find him, Lord Summer had switched to sending out falcons. One such now hovered above him, letting out repeated shrieks.
Kindle gritted his teeth and took to the sky once more. The falcon twisted away from him, and he immediately abandoned his plan of trying to catch it. The thing was fast. Instead, he just flew as fast as he could manage. His one hope was that he remembered Lord Summer mentioning that this Hunt had a time limit. He’d managed to put a good deal of distance in between the Hunt and himself. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could stay ahead of them long enough to run out that timer. Of course, on the other wing, he had no idea how long that time limit was, and wasn’t all too sure how much time had already elapsed.
As he continued to race through the air, he glanced behind him to see what he’d both feared and expected. In the distance, dozens of tiny figures had just risen above the forest canopy and were pursuing him through the air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Wild Hunt were right on Carrot Top and Lyra’s hocks now. The bellows of the hounds and the periodic blares of the horns had gotten closer and closer, until now both ponies were galloping as fast as they could without crashing into trees or tripping over anything, and every now and again one of the Fae would get a clear line of sight and send a javelin or a ball of fire hurtling past them. One of those firebolts had been a close enough miss to burn a chunk out of Lyra’s mane, while both ponies were bearing scratches from the javelins.
Carrot Top’s potions had had mixed effects. The glue bombs had been the most effective. When pursuers and pursued are both galloping as fast as they can manage, having one or two bodies suddenly stuck in place is an immediate recipe for a catastrophic pile-up. The sleep bombs should have had a similar effect, but the Fae seemed to be rather oddly resistant to the anesthetic vapors. The stench bombs, on the next hoof, had had far less effect than Lyra or Carrot Top had hoped for. Evidently possessing a better sense of smell did not translate into making the Summerhounds more vulnerable to noxious odors. But all the potions were now exhausted, and Lyra’s legs (and heart and lungs) were screaming at her. Any moment now…
As if on cue (and this was the Fae, so that couldn’t be wholly ruled out), something heavy slammed into Lyra’s hindquarters, and lines of pain slashed up her flank. The fae hound fell away in another moment, but the impact had sent Lyra staggering, and before she could recover her balance another hound slammed into her, knocking her off her hooves and sending her crashing into a tree.
Before she could even get to her hooves, multiple hounds leapt at her, jaws open. Her horn blazed to life and she desperately lashed out with telekinesis as she staggered to her hooves and backed up against the tree. She smashed one of the hounds into another, sending both flying off to the side. Then her horn whipped back the other way, and she pushed away another hound just before it could bite her. Then fangs sank into her leg, and she screamed, kicking out with her other foot to smash the hound in the ribs even as she desperately tried to swat hounds away from her with her magic.
There was a shout, and Carrot Top came charging back into the fray, lashing out with her forehooves. One of the hounds went flying, and another crumpled to the ground in pain.
Stubborn mare, thought Lyra. This is just going to get us both killed. No way I can run on this leg. Still, there are worse ways to die. I wish this wasn’t going to hurt Bon Bon so much, though. Hope she can find somepony else to make her happy.
By now, the Fae themselves had arrived on the scene. Carrot Top had been knocked off her hooves by what appeared to be a lion, and was now pinned beneath the great beast’s bulk, struggling frantically to keep its jaws from her throat. Ironically, though, the lion’s bulk was actually shielding her from the rest of the Fae. Lyra, on the other hand, was surrounded by a half-circle of Fae in cervid forms (two red deer, an elk, three moose, and the Lord of Summer himself). They were taking turns jabbing at her with bronze spears, which she in turn swatted away with her telekinesis. But she couldn’t keep it up forever, and soon enough one of the spears got past her guard. Cold pain shot through her barrel, first in one place and then in half a dozen as the rest of the Hunters took advantage of her broken concentration to spear her.
She crumpled to the ground, and the last thing she saw was Lord Summer swinging a broad-bladed ax down at her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kindle couldn’t imagine what Lord Summer was thinking. To hunt and kill Celestia’s herald in this manner was sure to invite her vengeance. Maybe not immediately, as his Queen’s traitorous sister would have to be dealt with first, but at some point Celestia would bring justice for this outrage.
Not that that helped him much at the moment. The Wild Hunt’s accompanying birds had caught up to him easily enough, as even with his Queen’s blessings Kindle was not the fastest of flyers. Though his armor protected his barrel from their claws, his wings were unarmored, and slashing flybys from the agile falcons had soon grounded him. In the wake of his once more returning to the earth, the birds had followed him down, shifting from falcons to hunting hounds as they hit the mossy ground. In desperation, he had coaxed one last burst from his torn wings, and had managed to get up to a perch in a nearby oak tree.
Rather to his surprise, the hounds had not transformed back into falcons, or into anything that could climb trees, contenting themselves with surrounding the base of the oak and sending up volleys of barks to alert the Hunt to his location. In due course, the Hunt itself arrived, spreading out to surround the base of the tree with spear-bearing cervids and assorted beasts.
Kindle shifted around a bit. He couldn’t move too far without risking losing his balance and falling into the Hunt’s grasp, but on the other hoof he needed to be ready to at least try to get to the next tree if they set this one on fire or something. Not that fire could actually hurt him, thanks to his Queen’s aegis, but it could damage the tree badly enough to drop him onto all those spears, fangs, and claws.
Thankfully, the Hunt didn’t seem to be in a pyromaniacal mood at the moment, contenting themselves with chucking spears at him to fairly little effect, as most of them either hit the tree or were deflected by his armor, while the Lord of Summer scratched at the ground with one hoof.
Scratched at the…
Oh horse apples.
Kindle tried to jump for the next tree, but just then Lord Summer finished the rune he’d been drawing, and the tree’s branches went limp under Kindle. His wings were still far too badly hurt to keep him up, but he was able to turn his fall into a sort of glide, and land a couple of body-lengths away, buying just enough time to put his back to a tree before the Hunt was on him.
His armor was not enough to save his life, but it did ensure that he spent a great deal longer dying.