//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three - The Wyvern's Tail 
// Story: Fairlight - The Fortress of the Four Winds 
// by Bluespectre 
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CHAPTER THREE
THE WYVERN'S TAIL


Morning came all too early, with bright sunshine and the now obligatory blue sky warming the sleepy town of Ponyville, as well as the equally sleepy occupants of the guest bedroom at Carousel Boutique. Dear Luna, what time was it? Seven? Oh, gods no… I pulled the sheets back over my head and buried my muzzle into the pillow. Nopony should have to get up this early, it wasn’t civilised! I certainly didn’t want to get out of bed for at least another hour at least, but Tingles soon saw to that, flicking water on me until I managed to tackle the vase from her grip. By that time though I was wide awake, sort of, and the pegasus mare’s strategy had been a resounding success. Dressed, yet still decidedly groggy, I plodded down the stairs after her into the dining room. Rarity as always was the consummate host, and provided us with a magnificent breakfast fit for royalty. Thankfully she never mentioned last night’s incident with the pink menace, nor was there any mention of being awoken by Tingles and my antics either. For that alone, I was grateful. I actually felt a pang of regret when it was time to leave, my tangerine partner and I waving our goodbyes as we set off to collect our chariot. It was right where we’d left it too, safe and sound – quite a shock considering what would have happened had this been Manehattan.

Suddenly, Tingles let out a cry of horror. “Oh my Celestia! What the hell are all these boxes?”

“Whoops.”

“Whoops?” She stared at me incredulously. “Just how much chocolate did you buy, Fairlight?!”

I huffed. “Says the mare buried under bags and boxes of treats...”

She stood there staring at me and then face hoofed. “We’re going to get fat aren’t we?”

Raising an eyebrow, I grinned. “We’ll just have to fly it off, the both of us.”

Hiding a sly grin, Tingles shrugged and we repacked the carriage’s cargo compartment to fit everything in. Ho-boy, all those delicious treats! I wish I could have one now, but I could wait. ‘All good things come to ponies who wait’, apparently. We were getting set up when a shout from across the street made us both turn to see Twilight Sparkle rushing towards us.

“Wait! Please…!” The poor little unicorn was quite out of breath when she pulled up in an excited and panting state. “I’m so glad I didn’t miss you, Mister Fairlight. Here…” She handed me what looked like a hoof drawn map tied up with a neat red ribbon. Upon closer examination, Twilight’s incredibly neat and tidy writing suggested it had been written with the aid of magic. I marvelled at the amount of detailed work that had gone into this in so short a time. “I found it last night while I was studying maps of ancient Equestria. It’s-” She gasped, staring at Tingles in horror as her hooves flew to her mouth. “Oh, no!”

“It’s alright, Tingles knows all about me,” I assured her. Just as well really! I waved a hoof, encouraging her to continue.

Relieved, Twilight visibly relaxed. “I wasn’t sure at first because the official maps were revised after the great war and make no mention of it, and pre-war maps were usually produced locally so very few survived to this day. Much of the information on them was only relevant to the needs of the recipient anyway – trade routes, water ways, and so on. But then I found a reference to a Llamalian merchant who supplied goods to a buyer ‘in the mountain stronghold of Elysium’! The description matches the route the local caravanners used at that time, and although the name doesn’t fit, everything else does. In short, I believe it’s the location of your missing fortress!”

“You found it!” I exclaimed giving Tingles a wide eyed smile. She seemed just as surprised as I was.

“I don’t know how accurate it is though,” Twilight explained. “It’s roughly drawn so it’s could be only an approximate location, maybe even completely wrong. So much of the land has changed since the map was made; mostly towns and villages, river courses and so forth. But this…” She tapped the depiction of the river through the Everfree, “I know this exists, I know the mountains exist, and there’s remnants of an ancient paved road in the forest too. Whether there is anything left of your fortress however, I wish I knew. Oooh, I wish I could go and see it with you!” She gave a little dance and gave us both a beaming smile.

I nodded to Tingles. “Do you want to go and see?”

She flexed her wings. “We’re low on equipment, don’t know what to expect out there, could be dangerous too. Mountains, the Everfree...” Tingles smiled. “What’s not to like?”

“We could always leave the carriage here,” I suggested. “Have a quick look and come back, save you all the flight time?”

Tingles took the map and studied it for a while. “We’ll need proper flight gear for a trip into the mountains, and you’re not an experienced flier either… yet.” She smiled wryly at my hurt look. “I think we should get back to the facility and drop off my, erm, ‘our’ cargo first. What do you think?”

Clopping Tingles on the shoulder, I smiled at Twilight. “Agent Tingles is right, Twilight, we’ll need to get properly geared up before we go. No sense risking ourselves out there.”

I whispered in Tingles ear, “What would I do without you?”

“Eat too much chocolate,” she whispered back to me, patting my backside playfully.

Twilight eyed us curiously, her big purple eyes taking everything in. “Well, I’d better go then. Quality study waits for nopony! Good luck, and don’t forget our promise!”

We gave her a hug goodbye and before long the two of us were heading up into the azure blue sky on course for Manehattan, leaving the gentle world of the ponies of Ponyville behind us.

Tingles called back on her TED. “Go on then, what’s this promise? You’ve peaked my nosiness now, Mister.”

“She wants me to tell her what the fortress is like,” I called back. “She’s like a sponge for knowledge that one. I mean, who lives inside a library for goodness sake?”

“The princess’s favourite student of course!” Tingles laughed. Suddenly her tone became serious. “Fairlight… Are you sure you should have told her what you did? Can we really trust her?”

She had a point, but then Twilight had been able to work out who I was so fast there’d been absolutely no chance of denying what I was. Glowing blue eyes and weird cutie marks were a dead giveaway to anypony who knew what they were looking at. The way I looked at it, it was definitely better to have her on side than not. “I hope so, Tingles,” I said honestly. “After all, she’s the only one who worked out who, and what, I am. If she’d wanted, she could have told Celestia about me at any time. At least this way I get the information I want and so does she. I’ll just need to keep her sweet.”

There was a pause. “Okay, I trust you on this Fairlight, but how are we going to get past Brandy? He’ll be expecting us back sooner rather than later.”

“Now that’s the easy part,” I grinned. “I’m owed a stack of leave, and so are you. A trip to the country is all we need to recharge our batteries, wouldn’t you say?”

“Worth a try!” she chuckled.

Our trip home didn’t seem to take very long at all. With no youngsters to worry about, Tingles flew a lot higher than she had on the way to Ponyville and the sun was still high in the sky by the time we began our descent. Before I knew it we were back at the facility, in all its stone and concrete glory – quite the change from chocolate box cottages and fancy clothing shops. Still, it was home of sorts, even if it was a bit spartan. We quickly stowed our ill gotten gains and I trotted off to the boss’s office to report in. Speaking of which, Agent Brandy was busy reading reports when I arrived and was to my surprise in the best mood I’d seen him in for ages. I gave him my report on the operation at the human facility and he just sat quietly and nodded, taking it all in. There were a few questions here and there, but nothing special. He seemed a bit surprised by the fact that breezies were being ground up to make drugs, but merely noted it in his record book. In his eyes I suppose the matter had been dealt with, and that was that. The breezies had already been returned home and measures taken to protect their home and migration routes in the future, so case closed as far I was concerned. The best part of it though was that Brandy was actually surprisingly amenable to my request for Tingles and I to go off on leave, and at short notice too. My successful mission, along with the destruction of the human facility and rescue of the ponies had no doubt gained me some valuable brownie points on that score. Before I was about to leave however, he beckoned me to stay and poured us both a large glass of some very fine brandy. Now this was a surprise! Mind you, it could be a bit awkward in conversation, couldn’t it - “Pass the brandy, Brandy!” Can you imagine working in a tavern with that name? Thank goodness nopony had ever asked for tall glass of Fairlight! Stranger things have happened I suppose, like being offered a drink by your boss...

The black and silver stallion stood up with a huge smile on his face as he passed me the aromatic spirit. “I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you yet, Nox. You did a damned good job over there, and if it was up to me I’d give you a medal. Sadly, that’s not the world we live in, so I’ll just do this…” He reached forward and shook my hoof. “Thank you. What you did was something Equestria could never thank you enough for, so if you want some leave with your partner, then of course you can. And please, take whatever you need from the stores - within reason of course.”

“Thanks Brandy, this means a lot,” I replied happily. “It really does.”

He clopped me on the shoulder and sat back in his chair. There was something about his demeanour, a happy air I hadn’t seen since I’d met him, that piqued my curiousity.

“Sir?”

“Hmm?”

I sipped my brandy and smiled broadly. “You’re back with Carnation aren’t you?”

“How did you-?!” He cleared his throat, settling back again with a contented grin. “Well, yes. Yes I am. Who told you?”

“Oh, nopony,” I replied honestly. “It’s written all over your face.”

“Ha! You’re right too, I haven’t felt like this in ages.” Brandy stared into his drink, watching the golden spirit swirl round in the large glass. “Carnation came to see me not long after you brought her here. We’ve decided to give things another go.”

I smiled broadly. “I’m really happy for you boss. I wish both of you all the best happiness in the world together.” I meant it too. If anypony deserved some good fortune it was this guy.

Brandy chuckled, slugging back the last of his drink. “Cheers, Nox. Now…” He pointed to the door, “get out of here and enjoy that leave!” And with that, I knocked back my brandy, and set off to give Tingles the good news.

Back in my room, which had ostensibly become ‘our’ room recently, I found the tangerine mare packing our things already.

“Bit pre-emptive there,” I offered, closing the door. “He could have ‘no’, you know.”

Tingles just shrugged. “I don’t think so, not after everything you’ve done recently. Besides, don’t forget we’ve got friends in high places that we could call on if we needed to ‘have a word’.”

“Luna?” I trotted over to the bed and checked my things. “I s’pose so.”

Tingles rolled her eyes. “Here we go again with the negativity.”

“I’m not being negative at all!” I protested. “It’s just that… Well, I still haven’t heard anything about Shadow, and sometimes I wonder if she’s-”

“Using you?” Tingles finished for me. She looked up from her packing. “I know what you mean, but I don’t think she’d do that.  The princess put her own life at risk to save yours, Fairlight, and I can’t see her doing that just to use you like some sort of disposable asset.”

“I hoped you’re right,” I replied, putting my sponge-bag into the case. “I’m rather attached to being alive right now.”

“I’m glad to hear it!” The pegasus mare slipped up to me and kissed me on the cheek before giving me a light nuzzle. “Look, stop worrying so much. If Luna said she’ll do her best to find Shadow, then she will. None of us know the other worlds better than the princess of the night, and if there’s anypony who can do this, it’s her. I trust her, Fairlight. I really do.”

I paused, staring down at the suitcase lying on the bed. Was I really so mistrusting of ponies? And was it any wonder after everything that had happened of late? No… No, not really. I trusted Tingles of course, and Brandy too for that matter. But the princess? I wasn’t so sure. Tingles clearly believed in her, but then there were a hell of a lot of ponies out there who were so starstruck by royalty that the royal duo could have burned their house to the ground, murdered the kids, and still have the locals bowing and scraping to them with simpering smiles on their faces. The nobility were well known for betrayals, deception, and bumping one another off at a rate of knots. Even if it didn’t happen so much these days, I wouldn’t anything past them. Nope, I was not a fan of princesses, even if I did have a passing attraction to the… wait… did I? Oh, gods! Did I really find Luna attractive? I mean, she was certainly cute and a lot more down to earth than her older and infinitely more genocidal sibling, but… I closed my eyes and sighed. Hormones were a real pain in the arse.

“Fairlight?”

“Huh? Oh!” I gave myself a shake, picking back up on the conversation. “You’re right, love.”

A raised eyebrow suggested she wasn’t convinced. “Hmm, well, I do try to be. But please, Fairlight, at least try to have a little faith in other ponies? I know it’s hard for you, but you can’t go through life being so distrustful of others all the time, it’s not good for you.”

Maybe not, but it had helped keep me alive. Unfortunately ponies had a habit of treating kindness and respectful behaviour as a kind of weakness or naivety that they could exploit if they felt so inclined. It had been one of the reasons I’d schooled myself in avoiding opening up to others, and if that made me appear antisocial or ‘untrusting’, then that was their problem, not mine. After all, trust was earned, not given out like sweets. Tingles could probably see right through me, she was good like that, but I wasn’t in the mood for an argument, especially when we were going off on a trip to who-knew-where. I lifted up my flight suit and nodded to myself in satisfaction. It was a bit strange having something that was meant for another race, not to mention the fact that I’d had to have it altered to fit too. Pegasi don’t usually have horns. By the looks of the stitching this had been adapted from a pegasi flight suit, but the main thing was that it was comfortable and capable of keeping the wind at bay. The goggles were a nice touch, as well as the insulation layer that would keep me nice and toasty. I lifted up the muzzle cover, turning it round in my magic.

“It’s designed to keep the wind from blasting straight up you nose,” Tingles clarified, noticing me examining the odd looking thing. “High altitude or mountain air can damage your lungs if you fly through it at speed. This redirects the air flow so it’s more tolerable.”

“Damage your lungs?” I put the device down and rubbed my muzzle subconsciously. “I didn’t realise flying was so dangerous.”

“Not usually,” Tingles replied. “But get hit in the eye by a bee when your flying at full belt and you’ll know about it. Even rain can hurt if you fly fast enough into a storm. Then there’s lightning, bird strikes, wind sheer, wing cramps, and low oxygen to contend with.”

“Yeah… You know, maybe we should walk instead, eh?” I suggested.

“Wimp!” Tingles shook out her wings and settled them back down by her sides. “You want to live forever?”

I snorted loudly, checking all my flasks were filled up and stowed properly. “Well I don’t know about you, love, but personally I’m not that good with plummeting.” I gave her one of my sardonic smiles. “Usually I try to avoid things like drowning, falling, claustrophobic environments, being impaled, crushed, falling from a thousand feet and ending up as a puddle. You know, that sort of thing.”

“You’re hopeless...” Tingles clucked her tongue as she walked over and draped a wing over me. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you right. Okay?”

I knew she was teasing me, but my body shivered at the lightness of her touch all the same. Those feathers were so soft, so deliciously exotic against my fur, that it was all I could do to keep my focus on the task at hoof. “Thanks, love,” I said, planting a kiss on her cheek. “I know you will.”

“Ha! I have to, what with your duff old wash-leather wings.” She danced away, but not before whacking me on the backside and making me jump. Bloody pest!

We continued to pack until at last we had everything we needed. At least, I hoped we had. Tingles went through the check list one last time muttering under her breath as she mentally ticked everything off. Personally I was beginning to wonder just how long this trip was going to be. With all the provisions, camping gear and enough sundries to sink a ship it would be a wonder if we got off the ground in the first place, let alone fly across the Everfree and into the mountains.

“That’s everything,” Tingles said eventually. She pocketed the list and peered at me curiously. “You okay?”

“Me?” I looked at her in surprise. “Of course, why?”

“Because you look a lot less enthusiastic about getting away than I thought you would,” she replied.  The tangerine mare cocked her head to one side, giving me one of her ‘searching’ looks that made me feel like a naughty school foal. “Well?”

“Well what?” I said a little testily. “What do you want me to say?”

Tingles groaned expansively. “I want you to tell me if you really do want us to go off into the mountains to find this mysterious fortress of yours, or if you’d rather do something else entirely. Honestly, Fairlight, this isn’t going to be the easiest of flights you know. If you’re having second thoughts or getting cold hooves over it, I’d rather know now instead of when we’re freezing our wings off over the mountains!”

“Oh, for goodness sake...” I flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. “I didn’t say I didn’t want to go, did I?”

“You didn’t have to,” Tingles huffed. “It’s written all over your face.”

“Hey! You’re the one having the prophetic dreams, Miss Tingles, I thought you wanted to go!” I reasoned.

“Me?!” Green eyes flared in the lamplight. “You’re the one who said you wanted to go there in the first bloody place! Don’t try and pass the buck onto me, buddy. I’ve been running around like a blue arsed fly trying to get all our stuff ready and now you’re moping around the place like a foal who’s going to his grandma’s for a week!”

“I am not!” I snapped. “It’s just… That is, I...” I groaned, grabbed a pillow and pulled it over my eyes. “I’m worried about what we’ll find there, that’s all. It could be dangerous, Tingles. Really dangerous. And what’s it for anyway? Idle curiosity because of some vague ancestry of mine? Some weird dream you had? Bloody hell, this is like one of those half-cocked mountaineering trips you hear about where they toddle off into the wastes to a big fanfare in the papers, and are never heard from again. All this ‘Lord of the four winds’ bollocks sounds more and more like a fools errand.”

For a while she said nothing, and then to my surprise, flopped onto the bed right beside me. “Yeah… Maybe it is.” She sighed and reached out with her hoof which I gently took in mine. “You know, we don’t have to go there at all. We can always go off and stay somewhere else, or...” She held up a small rectangular pamphlet. “We could stay nearby enjoying a nice, peaceful country retreat. And you know, if you did fancy popping into the mountains for a quick peek, we would be able to get there and back in no time. That way we wouldn’t miss out on our hols, and we’d satisfy our curiosity too.”

I’m glad she said ‘Our curiosity’ rather than just mine! If our trip turned out to be one huge cock-up, I didn’t want her laying all the blame at my hooves, and as much as I loved her, I wouldn’t put it past her to do just that. But what was this though? I stared at the brochure. ‘Smiling Borders’, eh? Never heard of it. But the photograph of smiling ponies standing in front of an idyllic scene of trees, quaint cottages and what looked like… hot springs? Oh, hell yes! I’d always wanted to try those! I also noticed the words ‘Real ale’ too, which was definitely tempting. I wasn’t much of a drinker of course, but I still liked the odd little tipple. Good brandy and locally brewed craft ales were a couple of those little vices I had, like fine cigars and pipeful of quality tobacco. They were all the bad things, and all the things that brought a touch of sunshine into an otherwise grey day.

“If there’s nothing there we’re going straight back, right?” I said, levelly.

“Of course.”

“And if there is something there, we’re not going to put ourselves at risk either.” I passed her the brochure. “We have a look, maybe snap a photo or two, and that’s it. Agreed?”

Tingles smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing my eyes. “Sounds good...” A yawn escaped my lips, reminding me about just how little sleep I’d had recently. “Mmm… good grief, I’m… so tired...”

“Mmm.” Tingles snuggled into me, shoving the cases aside to make room. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Oh… shush…” I gave her a peck on the nose and smiled like a foal at Hearthswarming as I drifted off into a warm and cuddly slumber. I barely even noticed the envelope being pushed under the door.

It could wait until morning.


********************


The sun was barely up when we packed the last of our equipment into the sky carriage. Despite my concerns that there wouldn’t be any room for me, I was pleasantly supplied to find we more than enough space to get everything in as well as my old bones. Since some may be a touch concerned by wendigo flying over Equestria in broad daylight, or at all for that matter, Tingles and I decided to wait until we reached Smiling Borders before I even thought about taking flight under my own steam. Of course, I was more than happy to sit back and let Tingles do all the wing-work, but she seemed to prefer it that way. And who was I to argue? I’d seen the wendigo swooping down like blazing comets in my dream-memories, but my own pathetic attempts at taking to the skies were more akin to a drunken butterfly flapping its wings desperately to stay aloft, bumping into everything on the way. I kept telling myself I just needed practice, but I was far from what you’d call a ‘natural flier’. Perhaps I’d get a chance to improve when I got to Smiling Borders? Yeah… If I didn’t freak out the locals and end up with a lynch mob coming after me. Perhaps I really would just spend the time soaking in the hot springs after all. I mean, who wouldn’t want to do that? Box of chocolates, a find brandy, a pipe of good tobacco and a good book. I’m sure Tingles fitted into the picture too somewhere, but this was my self-indulgent fantasy, thank you very much. A few hours of peace and quiet would do me the world of good.

With a slight lurch of the carriage harness, we had bid goodbye to the agency facility and were soaring high into skies over Equestria on the first leg of our journey to find the enigmatic ‘Fortress of the four winds’. Or a bunch of frozen, snow covered ruins in the middle of nowhere of course. I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t exactly going to be the most romantic of trips, and at the back of my mind was the nagging reminder that I still hadn’t heard anything from Luna about Shadow yet either. How long was this going to… hang on, I was forgetting something wasn’t I? Flasks? No, I’d filled them all, there plenty for at least a week or so. Note books, camera, what about- Hell fire! That was it! The letter! Buck me, I’d been so pre-occupied I’d forgotten the damned thing completely. I’d have to read it as soon as I returned. Maybe it was from Luna with some good news for me? Dear goddesses, I hoped so. What a wonderful end to the holiday that would be – to discover that my beloved Shadow would be with us soon, and with that, all would be well with the world once more. At the back of my mind I kept expecting her to simply appear one day out of thin air like magic, or for her to knock on my bedroom door with the princess in tow looking smug. But… a dark part of me, the guilty part, whispered my shame in hushed tones that were like tiny daggers in my heart. I had fallen in love with Tingles, I had forgotten Shadow, I had betrayed my beloved Meadow. How could I be so supremely arrogant as to believe that there was enough love left in my tainted soul to share myself with three mares? I was the lowest being in the land, I had left my Shadow alone and in dire peril in the Wither World having taken what I wanted from her.

Betrayer… Liar…

A deep sense of self loathing spread over me like a death shroud. I didn’t deserve them, any of them. I should have done more, I should have tried everything I could have to save Shadow myself, not just buggering off and leaving Luna to sort through the wreckage I’d left behind in my wake. But how? I couldn’t just wave a magic wand and appear in the Withers all guns blazing, could I? What was I going to do, force Star Beard to send her through a portal to Equestria at gun point? And even if he could, how would she feel about Tingles anyway? And what about Meadow for that matter? How was I going to explain to Sparrow that daddy hadn’t been content with mummy and had begun collecting mares like flaming mantelpiece ornaments? I felt like burying my head and hiding away… What the hell was wrong with me?!

“Fairlight? What’s wrong?”

The carriage smoothly rode along on the air currents, silent and free. Soon, I prayed we would have answers and I would be re-united with…

“Fairlight? Are you okay? I’ve been shouting you for ages!”

“What?!” I sat up with a start. “Oh, Tingles...” I rubbed my eyes. “I’m sorry love, my mind was wandering a bit there. Over-thinking things again as usual.”

“Well don’t do that!” she snapped. “Here we are off on an exciting adventure and you’re moping in the back for some reason. Cheer up!”

Ah, Tingles; she was a beacon of light in my ocean of emotional distress. She was right about one thing though - I had to get myself together. If for nopony else, then for her. I gave myself a hard shake. Why was I getting to be so melancholic lately? I’d done some wonderful work for the agency lately. I’d saved not only a number of mares from a fate that was beyond horror, rescued a sack full of breezies, and to top it all off I had a mare who loved me. Three mares to be precise. I had so much to be happy about, I had to try to focus on the positives instead of the negatives all the time. Of course Shadow would come back, Tingles would be with us when she did too, and together we’d live happily together as… what? My own herd? Pfff! It seemed ridiculously far fetched in some respects, but hell, why not? It had been quite common once when stallions kept going off to war and didn’t return. History books, films and romantic novels were full of the stuff. Mares would herd with stallions for mutual protection and support, and before you knew it the population was back to where it was before our ancestors had decided to start killing each other in droves. Of course, sometimes herding had been the actual cause of the fighting in the first place, but it was best not to dwell too much on that particularly salient point!

Hours of flight passed high above the clouds before I noticed how, far below us, the familiar green hills and grasslands had begun to change to thick dark woodland, and then to even denser black forests, deep and foreboding. Slowly we began a wide spiralling descent, sweeping down through the cloud cover towards a small hamlet on the outskirts of the forest, nestled as it was near the banks of a winding river which sparkled enchantingly in the sunlight. It reminded me of Aunt Pewter’s home in a way, if a little smaller in scale. It was certainly no Ponyville though, with the overall theme being whitewashed walls and simple little gardens that looked more practical than ornate. But I could live with that. The modest thatched cottages lined a meandering cobbled road with a single large building that was most likely the local tavern we were planning on staying at. So far so good! But where were the- As if in answer to my unfinished question, my nose began to twitch as the hint of what was quite clearly sulphur tickled my senses. I peered over the other side of the carriage for a better look. And there they were – lazily drifting clouds of steam rising from what was almost certainly the ‘famous’ hot springs. I have to say that overall it looked exactly like it did in the brochure, which was a relief to say the least. I settled back and felt a wave of anticipation flood through me. I could imagine myself sinking into one of them already, soaking away all my stress and worry as I let the world pass me by without a care in the world. It was more than could be said for some of the disastrous holiday breaks I’d been on in the past with Meadow, or even my parents for that matter. So many of these self-proclaimed ‘peaceful holiday destinations’ all too often bore no more than a passing resemblance to the inviting pictures in the posters and holiday magazines, and I’d become very cynical towards their more vacuous promises. Tourism meant crowds, crowds meant bigger buildings, noisy foals, drunken adults singing at all hours, crowded facilities, and before you knew it the word ‘peaceful’ had taken on a whole knew meaning – specifically that you needed to bring ear-plugs to get any sleep at night.

We touch down and rolled to a gentle halt with one of Tingles’ trademark perfect landings. We’d made good time too by the looks of things, and it can’t have been any later than midday by my reckoning. I clicked the lid shut on my pocket watch and took stock of our surroundings. It was certainly quiet alright. Other than for the occasional cry of a bird the place looked absolutely deserted, and the covered carriage barn held only one other conveyance that clearly hadn’t moved in a very long time. I trotted over for a closer look whilst Tingles stretched her legs. It was like a picture from a history book – a rickety old lump of a thing, covered in cobwebs and moss with a distinctly musty aroma that suggested any attempt to move it would likely result in the sudden appearance of a large amount of firewood. The tangerine mare eyed me inquisitively while we parked our own carriage.

“What do you think?” Tingles asked looking around, smirking at the rustic scene before us.

What could I say? The hamlet was exactly what it appeared to be: a small affair of cottages, a tavern, and some outlying work huts. Hardly the cutting edge of Equestrian civilisation. It was perfect! “Quaint,” I replied, flicking a cobweb off my ear. “Spooky quaint. You sure ponies still live here? The place looks deserted.”

“It’s in the ‘where to’ guide I picked up from the tourist office in Manehattan a few months ago, so I would say it’s inhabited alright,” Tingles reasoned.

“By ghosts maybe!” I teased. “Woooo!”

“Stop!” She gave me a playful shove.

I began to laugh, more so than I had in ages. Maybe Smiling Borders was working its magic on me already after all? “Sorry, love, I couldn’t resist.” I reached up and wiped the tears of mirth from eyes. “There must be somepony about though. What’s the brochure say?”

She shook out the leaflet and read aloud, “Welcome to Smiling Borders, the village that likes to welcome everpony with a cheerful smile. Experience life the traditional way, while our friendly craftsponies show you how life really was in the past.”

“In the past?” I quipped. “Bloody hell, I think it still is!” I cast my gaze around at the ramshackle cottages that looked more like hovels now that we could see them better. “This place hasn’t moved on for the last millennia.”

Tingles ploughed on regardless. “‘Guests are always welcome at the popular tavern, ‘The Wyvern’s Tail’, famous for its locally brewed ales and ciders. Home made food is always available from the friendly staff including their world famous ‘chocolate melting-middle cake’. Nanny and Drew have run their family owned establishment for the last decade and The Wyvern’s Tail has been in the Good Grub Guide for six years running.’”

“Oh, good goddesses,” I breathed, taking in the star attraction of Smiling Borders.

The name seemed oddly appropriate alright, the rotten place looked like it had been attacked by Wyvern’s, never mind being a ‘popular tavern’. Popular with whom, anyway? Woodworm? Apart from the noticeable fact that the bloody doors were half hanging off along with the crudely constructed window shutters, there was a nice cultivation of moss and grasses poking up through the boarding outside the mouldering old dump giving it the feeling of being long abandoned. I lifted  my hoof then put it down quickly, the image of it crashing through mouldering timbers flashing through my mind in vivid detail. Gods almighty, we were off to a right roaring start!

Her muzzle stuck in the brochure, Tingles kept reading as she walked. “Fully en suite facilities are standard in all rooms. Nanny and Drew invite you to enjoy their hot spring baths which are open all year round for a modest- Ouch! Warn me when you’re going to stop like that!” She clopped me on the rump.

I ignored her. Something had moved behind one of the windows and I touched the grip of my sword for reassurance. “There’s somepony, some thing, in there. I don’t like this… not one bit.”

Tingles rolled her eyes. “You’re being silly, Fairlight. This is a popular holiday destination for goodness sake.”

“Who for? The undead?”

Tingles stomped a hoof. “You’re annoying me now, mister. Come on, we need to get booked in. I’m not leaving our cases out here all day.” She trotted up to the door and pushed on it, the thing creaking open with a loud ominous squeal. “And put that away!” She pulled my travel cloak over my sword, hiding it from view before walking confidently inside.

The inside of the tavern was almost in complete darkness except for a few flickering yellow lanterns and a barely glowing fire - the first signs of life we’d seen since we’d arrived. It wasn’t comforting. Warily I following the intrepid Tingles inside, checking my PDW was ready to hoof, my ears swivelling, trying to detect any potential threat. Our hoofsteps sounded unnaturally loud in the large empty room, and like outside, it was as silent as the grave. Which, on reflection, probably wasn’t the best analogy I could have had. Good grief, this place had my hackles going up like never before! A loud ‘ding’ from the desk bell Tingles rang nearly had me in conniptions. Goddesses, I was a bag of nerves!

“You rang?” A huge griffin materialised like magic from under the counter, fixing me with its round avian eyes.

“Gah! Bloody hell!” I shouted, stumbling backwards in shock.

Tingles tutted at me then turned to face our ‘host’ with an irritatingly warm smile. “Hello, a room for two please.”

“Are you married?” the creature asked.

“No, I mean, yes… recently. Mr and Mrs Salt,” she replied not-so-convincingly. “We’ve just flown in from the big city to sample the delights of your quaint little town.”

“I see,” he intoned heavily. “Mr and Mrs... ‘Salt’. Sign here please.” The griffin dropped a large leather bound ledger on the counter with a bang, dust billowing out from its mouldy pages. By the looks of the other entries, nopony had been here in a very long time. I wonder if they’d ever left?

“Is food available?” I asked hopefully.

“No.”

Tingles looked up from the ledger. “I’m sorry? But the brochure says, ‘Home made food is always available’.”

The griffin stared at her and opened its beak to speak.

“‘From the ‘friendly staff,’” I chipped in, treating the avian creature to a broad grin.

The thing fixed me with a hard stare. “There’s a store in town which should still be open if you’re hungry. We don’t have anything here.”

“This is the ‘Wyverns Tail’ isn’t it?” I asked curiously. “Run by Nanny and Drew?”

I should have guessed the answer. “Yes to your first question, and no, Nanny and Drew are…not here any more,” the griffin explained curtly.

“That’s a shame, isn’t it ‘darling’?” Tingles smiled at me. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes though. I think she was thinking the same as me.

“Do you have any drinks?” I asked.

“What do you want?” came the reply.

“Two wheat beers please.”

“Wheat beers off.”

I shared a look with Tingles. “Um… Okay, two ciders then.”

“Ciders off.”

“Riiight…” Gods give me strength! “Well, what do you have?” I asked.

“Everfree Brandy.”

I clopped my forehooves together. Now this was what I’d really wanted! “Great! We’ll have two of them, please.”

The charming fellow wandered off into the back of the tavern without another word and I looked at Tingles’ bemused face. “Good Grub Guide, eh?”

She scratched her head with her hoof. “I don’t understand it, the brochure’s not that old.”

A loud crash and the sound of various unidentified ‘things’ falling onto the floor emanated from what I presumed was the kitchen, making us both cringe with every ominous bang and creak. There was a pause, and then a cacophony of breaking glass, creaking, and what sounded like hammering that finally stopped when the griffin re-emerged to retake his position behind the counter once more.

He looked at us sternly.

“The brandies?” I asked hopefully.

“Brandies off.”

“Oh, for-!”

Tingles’ glare cut me off. “Thank you, Sir, we’ll take our bags up to our room now if that’s alright.”

The griffin nodded and walked off to leave us struggling with the bags on our own.

“‘Friendly staff’,” I grumbled, heaving the saddle bags and packs up the creaking stairs. So much for customer service!

I should have guessed that the tavern would be just as bad upstairs as it was down. Everywhere stank of mouldering wood and decay up here too, the worn wooden floors covered in at least a decades worth of dust and only the gods knew what else. It obviously hadn’t been cleaned in... well, forever by the looks of it. Gods, what a toilet! I dreaded to think what our room was going to be like. Unfortunately we were about to find out too. I watched with a sinking heart as Tingles turned the key in the lock to room one. I presume it was room ‘one’ as the number had fallen off and never been replaced, a faint outline and screw holes the only reminder of the long since vanished door number. Suddenly sleeping in the tent sounded a hell of a lot more appealing that this gradually unfolding nightmare. Surely it couldn’t get any worse, right? In answer a lump of undefined filth dropped off the door frame, landing right onto my muzzle making me step back in alarm. Damn it all! I don’t know about a soak in the hot springs, but I was sure as hell going to need a wash when I left this dump! Oh, well, we were here now so I may as well try to make the best of a bad job. Taking a deep breath, I stepped through into… Huh! It wasn’t a filth strewn midden after all. In fact, the room really wasn’t all that bad. I suppose when your expectations are rock bottom, even mediocrity is a step up. Tingles was opening the window whilst I took the opportunity to put our luggage down and have a look round what would be our home for the next few days. As you would expect, the bed took up most of the floor space in the modest room, and was a four poster too which was a nice touch. Even more surprising was that the sheets were clean and the furniture surprisingly well made, in fact I’d even go as far as to say, ‘elegant’? Well, maybe not. Let’s say ‘Shabby chic’ instead. I heaved the bags onto the table by the door to give us a bit more room and checked out the closet and under the bed.

“What are you looking for?” Tingles asked curiously.

“Nanny and Drew…” I replied semi-seriously.

Tingles laughed, but caught herself. “Fairlight, you… you don’t think something’s a bit, you know, ‘off’ about this place, do you?”

“Other than the drinks?” I asked. “Noooo, of course not! It just needs a bit of a dust and brush up, that’s all. Maybe a bulldozer too for good measure. At least there’s no bodies under the bed or in the closet to worry about, they probably keep those in the cellar with the empty bottles and beer kegs.”

Tingles gave me a doubtful look, peering over her shoulder with a wary eye. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else we can go now...”

Normally full of confidence, I could see a glint in the corner of her eye. She was upset, if not a little frightened too. All of a sudden my sarcastic sense of humour didn’t seem so funny. “It’s alright, love, don’t worry,” I smiled, reaching over and massaging her shoulders. “Look, just ignore me, I shouldn’t be teasing you. It’s a bit rustic here, that’s all. Sure it’s a bit on the basic side, but we’re out in the country here and they’re a very different breed to us city dwellers. It kinda reminds me of Pewter’s hamlet, and that lot were a bunch of oddballs. Anyway, it could be a lot worse, my aunt’s sense of décor did tend to lean towards the ‘bone’ side of the spectrum. Besides, I don’t think the brochure said it was ‘five shoes’, right?”

She smiled and nodded. “You’re right. I guess I’m just being silly. It’s just… this is our first proper trip away together, and I wanted it to be, you know, special.”

Tingles groaned softly as I rubbed her shoulders. “You’re here, so that is special to me,” I said gently. I guided her onto the bed where I could work on those wing muscles properly. It was easiest to do when she was lying down, but at least this would help get some of the tension out.

She gave me a happy smile that made her eyes sparkle in the sunlight filtering through the net curtain. “My Fairlight,” she hummed. “I love you so much.” She leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. I was only the faintest brush, but it made my heart sing.

“I love you too, ‘Mrs Salt’.” I gave her a cheeky wink and fished out a box of chocolates from my pack. “Emergency rations?”

Tingles giggled and I popped one of the treats from Sugarcube Corner in her mouth. Moments later she pulled a face which nearly had me rolling on the floor in hysterics. “Argh! Fairlight! What in Luna’s moon is this?!” She swallowed the remainder and rushed over to the saddle bags to take a long drink of water from her canteen.

“Chocolates,” I said innocently. “For stallions.”

“And you can keep them too!” She swished the water around in her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. “What the hell’s in them? Salt? Celestia’s ears, they’re disgusting! You rotten bugger, I’ll get you back for that, you’ll see!”

Who’d have thought nearly poisoning your marefriend with chocolates could lift the atmosphere? I’d have to remember that one. But now in good spirits we laid out our kit for the next leg of our journey, if for no other reason than the fact that it distracted us from the peculiar surroundings. They were all there and in good order: ice shoes, ropes, cold weather gear… We were all set by the looks of things. Food could be a bit of an issue though if we couldn’t get anything here. I mean, what did that griffin eat? Oh gods! Ponies?!

“Tingles…” I swallowed, my eyes drifting towards my sword. “Aren’t griffins, you know, carnivores?” I asked in a near whisper.

She gave me a funny look “Well, yes they... are… Oh, bollocks.”

And there’s another bad habit she’s picked up from me – swearing. “Don’t worry love, I’ll be keeping my PDW close to hoof.” I wasn’t so sure I was joking either.

Tingles however, was determined not to let my concerns ruin the mood. “I think I will too, but I’m not ‘that’ worried.” She nuzzled me as we locked the door behind us and headed back down the stairs, “my lord of the four winds.”

“For Luna’s sake, don’t call me that here!” I shushed her. “You know what these yokels can be-”

A crash of glass from below was followed by a rush of feet and what sounded like urgent shouting. Something was going on, and I didn’t like the sound of it at all. Not one bit. If I wasn’t already on edge before, I sure as hell was on full alert now. I checked my PDW was free in its holster and flipped off the safety. If I was going to have any chance of a restful nights sleep I was going to have to find out what was happening here, even if it was nothing more than a drunken farmer tripping over his own hooves. We rounded the corner, the last few steps taking us to ground level. In the gloomy common room of the tavern, glass was strewn across the wooden floor next to an upturned serving tray. More worrying however was the huge minotaur standing next to it, staring at us with its beady bullish eyes. The enormous creature had pale yellow fur and rather short horns for such a hulking great beast, and the memories of the last time I’d faced one of them made me reach for my sword on reflex. But something was wrong. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it, but there wasn’t the sense of imminent danger from the spirit that I would have expected, and it may have had something to do with the fact that the minotaur was wearing… a red and white pinafore and a small white hat. We stared at each other in silence, neither of us moving a muscle. Seconds later the griffin re-appeared from the back with a dust pan and brush held his beak. He looked flustered, and almost comical with his feathers sticking out all over the place.

“Oh, I’m most terribly sorry!” He said, noticing us. “Please, Heather is new here and she’s a bit clumsy… Er, is there something I can help you with?”

“No. No, it’s fine, sir, thank you.” Tingles glided past me, bobbing her head to the minotaur as if pinny wearing monsters were the kind of thing you bumped into every day of the week in Manehattan. “We’re just popping out to get something to eat and drink.”

The griffin’s eyes went wide in horror. “Oh, no! Please, let us, you’re our guests!”

He, well I presume it was a ‘he’, I hadn’t met that many griffins even in the city, waved his claws at the minotaur. “Heather, go and sort out two hot meals for our esteemed guests, would you? Move it, girl!”

‘Girl’! Ha! If it hadn’t been so bizarre I may have burst of laughing. ‘Heather’ as the hulking beast was called, rushed off out the front door and the griffin motioned Tingles and I to a couple of seats by the fire, bowing and smiling all the while. Now thiswas seriously starting to worry me. What had brought about this sudden change in the griffin? And how come the minotaur rushed out of the front door and not into the kitchen? I could almost feel the pistol burning through my tunic pocket. As for the spirit, the damned thing was keeping as quiet as it had been since before we’d set off for Smiling Borders. Whether there was something wrong with it, I couldn’t say, but it was bloody typical that it kept a low profile whenever I needed the temperamental entity. The griffin re-appeared a few moments later with a bucket of coal perched on his back. One vigorous poking later, he had the fire roaring like a blacksmith’s forge. I edged my chair back. It was a touch too warm for my liking, but at least it lit the place up a lot better than it had been earlier, adding an almost cosy air to the place. Opening the window shutters would have helped of course, but I had the feeling that may have been a step too far for our peculiar host.

Tingles put a hoof on my hind leg before addressing the griffin. “May I ask you name, sir?”

“Sir?” The griffin looked horrified. “Oh, no! Please, my lady, call me Grimble. I am at your service for the duration of your stay.” To my amazement he actually attempted a bow. “I sincerely apologise for the terrible state of the place. I fear we don’t receive guests as often as we once did in our humble village.”

This was the same griffin wasn’t it? I watched the creature carefully, but I couldn’t quite size him up. Was he hiding something? Was he keeping us here whilst his lovely assistant gathered up the local mob to come back and lynch us? I’d heard some strange tales about the more remote country villages and their folk, in particular their propensity for ‘keeping it in the family’, if you know what I mean. But overall the stories had always seemed far fetched, and I’d dismissed them as nothing more than fantasy or the ignorance of country ways. Now that I was here however, I wasn’t so sure they were only fantasy. And so I did something I probably shouldn’t have done in hindsight – I removed my sunglasses to gauge his reaction. He looked up into my face, his pupils going wide as his beak hung open with a strangled gasp.

“I’m sorry, Grimble, I have an unusual eye colour don’t I?” I laughed it off as nothing of any real note. “Hope I didn’t startle you, my friend.”

“NO!” he squeaked. “No, my lord. My goodness, no. Forgive me…” He hung his head as though ashamed of his reaction to my appearance. Meanwhile Tingles was staring at the griffin with as much scrutiny as I’d given the poor creature.

“Grimble? Will you join us?” I asked politely, trying to break the awkward atmosphere.

He looked like he was going to throw up. “My lord! I couldn’t, I’m not-”

“I’m not ‘my lord’, Grimble, the name’s…” My brain froze as I desperately tried to think of something believable. “Um… ‘Rock’. Yes. My name’s ‘Rock’. Now, please…” I extended a hoof to the chair opposite us at the table. He looked a little ruffled but complied. I’d have to watch this didn’t turn into a watch style interrogation, I was supposed to be on leave after all, but something was really strange here at Smiling Borders, and I was determined to find out what it was. “Grimble, where are the other people in the village? This place is like a ghost town.”

The griffin looked down at table sadly before replying, “It’s the Everfree.” His voice dropped an octave, his eyes gazing into the fire. “The forest becomes... ‘restless’ every now and again, the creatures that live deep within its depths venturing out into areas they would normally avoid.”

“Something happened, didn’t it?” Tingles prompted gently.

Grimble nodded without looking up. “Timberwolves attacked Smiling Borders a few months ago. Nopony was hurt thank goodness, but it scared folk, and soon most everypony left. Now there’s only Heather and me, plus a few others who found their homes here in the abandoned cottages.”

Others. Couldn’t wait to meet them…

He continued, “We’re quite close to the mountains too, and the mountain is… changing. The mist which used to only stay in the forest, now comes into the town. It frightened off what folk had stayed behind, and I can’t blame them. With the fog came more timber wolves, and if it wasn’t for Heather and her kin, I might have ended up dinner for those things.”

“There’s other minotaurs here?” I asked.

Grimble nodded. “Why, yes my... erm, ‘Rock’. Her kind find it hard to fit in around ponies you see; they frighten easily. No offence to your good lady of course.”

Hmm, no offence to Tingles then. Interesting. Suddenly the kitchen door crashed open and the snorting minotaur in the pinnie barrelled in, thundering towards us. In a flash I was up, my magic flowing. It all happened like lightning: the flick of my travelling cloak exposing my sword, the two plates loaded with food thumping down on the table... I stood dumbfounded. Ignoring me completely, the huge creature nearly smashed the table in half laying the plates in front of us with her enormous claws, and almost gored the hapless Grimble as she tried the clumsiest curtsy I’d ever witnessed. Steam rose from the plates, the delicious aroma dragging my attention around like a foal’s spinning top. There was no braying mob. There was no threat to our lives. What there was… was hot food, and… polite company. I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh.

Far from being as alarmed by the situation as I’d been, Tingles tittered behind her hoof, leaving me to sit back down feeling like an absolute fool. “Grimble,” she asked, thankfully pulling the focus of attention away from me. “Have you ever heard of the fortress of the four winds?”

Oh, for the goddess’s sake! Nice one, Tingles, way to give away what we’re here for! These folk were like cats on a hot tin roof already: under attack from weird fog concealing timber wolves, not to mention the ever dwindling population, and now she goes dredging up mention of legends from the past to add to the mix. Goddess almighty, this trip just kept getting better and better. I couldn’t wait to send Brandy a ‘Wish you were here!’ card.

Grimble waved Heather out of the room, waiting before the kitchen door closed behind her before replying. “Yes, the fortress,” he said quietly. “You intend to find it?”

“We do,” Tingles replied pleasantly.

“Why?”

The tangerine mare smiled disarmingly. Whether it actually had any effect on the curious griffin remained to be seen, but Tingles had a way of putting you at ease that was as remarkable as it was effortless for her. “My husband and I are explorers, Grimble,” she explained. “We’d like to explore the ruins and maybe document them if we can for future generations. Anything you can tell us about them would be of great help in our quest.” I loved the way she casually threw in the word ‘Quest’.

The griffin leaned back and blinked a few times in thought, no doubt considering Tingles’ words. Now that I could see him up close he wasn’t quite as young as I’d originally believed. In fact he looked as old as the tavern around us, and just as crusty. “The fortress,” he said quietly, staring into the fire once more. “Yes, it’s there. What’s left of it. Local legends say that many have tried to find it over the years, but few ever returned. Those that did found little more than frostbite, rocks, and an overwhelming urge to leave as quickly as possible. Year after year the numbers of explorers and treasure hunters gradually fell until hardly anypony even remembered it had ever existed at all. Some of our people believe it was one of the reasons the numbers of visitors to our village dwindled, and that the fog and timberwolves only exacerbated an already inevitable decline.”

“It’s certainly a spin on the old ‘Many have tried, but none have ever returned’ line,” I said a touch more flippantly than I meant. Tingles gave me a quick kick under the table, shooting me one of ‘those’ looks. It was true though, Equestria was brim full of local stories about mysterious places where explorers vanished without trace. Some were all too genuine of course, but it was usually something far less supernatural like poor planning, large carnivores, or blundering into high magical radiation areas that brought things to an abrupt and messy end. Ha! I was waiting for a reference to ‘curses’ next. Come to think of it, did they exist? Perhaps I shouldn’t be so quick to judge considering I was practically a walking mythical beast myself. Gods, what a thought!

Tingles cleared her throat, pulling Grimble’s attention back to her. “So you said that some of the explorers came back, right?”

The old griffin shrugged. “Indeed they did, my lady, but they never found anything of any real interest so far as I know. The wind is different up there you see, the cloud are incredibly thick and cold. Bitterly cold in fact. I’ve known a few, griffins mostly, who tried to find it but even they had to turn back.” He shook his head slowly, flexing his wings on impulse. “A horrible place to fly.”

“What about its location though?” I asked. “The mountains cover a vast area, and we don’t have all that much to go on.”

He nodded sagely, steepling his claws. “Our people used to say that the ghosts of ancient warriors would fly up river through the forest before rising high up into the space between the mountains, back to their home in the fortress of the four winds. They believe the place is cursed and no longer venture there as they once did.”

Ha! Nailed it! I beamed at Tingles who gave me a long suffering look whilst chewing on her food. It actually smelt edible too, and the way she was tucking into it with such relish was making my stomach grumble in response.

“Do you believe the fortress is cursed, Grimble?” I asked, picking up a radish.

The griffin shook his head just as his hulking colleague brought over a bottle and three glasses. “Forgive me, ‘Rock’, it would appear Heather has found the elusive brandy. Would you care to join me for a glass?”

“Of course,” I replied genially.

It was music to my ears! I swallowed the radish, watching the minotaur poor three generous measures. Tingles nodded her thanks, but I noticed she didn’t touch it. She was more of wheat beer girl anyway. I took my first sip of the fine spirit, feeling its warmth spreading throughout my body and helping my mind and muscles to relax. The food was good too, and looked like an excellent accompaniment to this excellent vintage. I motioned to my meal and Grimble held out his claw nodding.

“Please, enjoy your food while it’s hot,” he invited me. “In answer to your question however, I’m afraid I don’t put much stock in superstitious tales. My father, and his father before him, passed down many stories of the fortress and of the great battles between the forces of night and day that consumed the land in those dark days. I expect that being ponies you already know the legends of the princesses?” I nodded as Grimble continued. “The fortress was slighted by the Celestians during the last battle of the war, and although I believe that there is something still there to this day, it is most certainly not some elusive ‘treasure’ as some may have you believe. My personal belief is that is most likely an ancient magic that protects the place - a magic that keeps ‘explorers’ away. In every legend there is at least some grain of truth, my lord, but how much of it is legend and how much is truth, is the real question.”

Tingles finished her meal and leaned back, rubbing her full tummy. “Grimble, that was amazing! Would you thank Heather for us, please?”

He smiled and nodded, “I will my lady. Thank you.”

My companion giggled like a school foal and helped herself to another brandy. Good grief, I hadn’t even noticed the first one disappear! Tingles really was full of surprises. Our host didn’t seem to mind though, and refilled mine and his glass as well. “Rock,” he said quietly. “If you are going to try and find the fortress, I beg you… be careful.”

That struck me as a funny thing to say, but it was more the way he’d said it that really troubled me. Grimble seemed a bit overly familiar for a fellow I’d only just met, and it was especially odd how he’d switched from being a grumpy unfriendly landlord to this open and helpful version in the blink of an eye. I mean, what was with all this ‘My lord’ stuff anyway? I knew he wasn’t being rude of course, well, not now anyway, but there was an edge to his tone that had grabbed the wendigo spirit’s attention, as well as having the hair standing up along my back. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it right now, but there was some sort of undercurrent here in Smiling Borders that I wasn’t altogether happy with. I’d be locking and barricading our door tonight, that was for certain. Still, the cordial Grimble was a damned sight better than the miserable one, so I’d enjoy it while it lasted.

The three of us relaxed and chatted about inconsequential matters for a while, talking about life in the country, the hectic pace of city life, and the sort of small talk that was as inoffensive as it gets. Grimble was, I have to say, a most excellent host, and we finished our meals feeling content and at peace. Brandy flowed as all three of us stretched out by the fire. Even Heather joined us for a chat, albeit exclusively I might add, but I was delighted to see she’d brought something I’d secretly hoped would appear at some point - cigars. Funnily enough, Tingles didn’t seem to mind either. Hell, I wasn’t going to complain about that! And so the hours passed, with little more to do than watch the logs in the fire slowly burn down, empty the bottle of brandy, and enjoy some most excellent company.

As the sun set, Grimble took me to one side away from the girls. “May I speak to you privately?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

Heather and Tingles were deep in conversation, the gravelly voice of the minotaur was like having my ear scrubbed with rocks and I was glad to get away to be honest. They seemed to be enjoying each others company anyway and I didn’t want to smoke near them either. Tingles hadn’t said anything, but after I started into my second one she developed that ‘disapproving look’ that I was keen to avoid. Time to vanish I think...

Two chairs had mysteriously appeared on the porch outside, and they were just the ticket. Old they may be, but by the gods they were comfortable. I was pleased to note that Grimble seemed to be quite impressed by my fire making trick too, and smiled happily as he drew on his cigar. It was a beautiful evening, the fragrant smoke drifting up lazily into the evening sky as the sun started to sink below the forested mountainside.

“Rock,” Grimble began, “this may sound strange, and forgive me if it does, but, do you ever have…dreams... of this place?”

He was right, it did sound strange. Very strange. “The village?” I asked curiously.

The griffin shook his head. “No, not exactly.” He lifted his claw, pointing off into the distance. “The fortress, these mountains, the forests…”

I frowned in thought, considering his words. I didn’t want to ruin the wonderful evening we’d been enjoying so far by blurting out everything about my tentative family link to a bunch of rocks in the mountains, and most definitely not about Tingles’ recent dream where the self-same fortress featured front and centre. Only the gods knew how that little revelation would end. I had to keep reminding myself that I knew nothing about this peculiar creature, nor why he was asking such a strange question. I felt a chill run down my spine.

“I’m not sure where you’re coming from with this, Grimble,” I replied as politely as I could. I felt like I was walking into some sort of verbal ambush here, but I confess I was intrigued to see where this would take us.

Grimble nodded sadly. “I’m sorry, it’s just a legend amongst our people.” He sighed, tapping some of the ash from his cigar. “Silly, really… A child’s tale, no more.”

“A child’s tale?” I asked. “What about?”

“Mmm,” he took a pull on his cigar as he continued. “A story about a warrior with eyes as blue as the oceans, and as pure as the mountain sky. One day it is said he would return to the fortress and reclaim it for his people.”

I couldn’t suppress the chuckle escaping my lips and lifted a hoof apologetically. “I’m sorry, Grimble, I didn’t mean to be rude. There’s plenty of ponies out there with blue eyes. I’m not unique in that respect. And I’m certainly no warrior either, let alone ‘Pure as the mountain sky’!” Tingles would certainly agree with that one! I’d have to tell her later, she’d enjoy a good giggle. “No, I’m just a unicorn. Nothing more, nothing less.” A faint peel of laughter ghosted from the tavern as if pouring scorn on my words.

The old fellow nodded, but even so I had the distinct feeling he hadn’t quite accepted everything I’d just told him. “Like I said, a child’s tale,” he replied with a shrug. “’tis nothing more than a story.”

A story… The world was full of stories. Each village, every town and city, were replete with tales of unsolved mysteries, hidden treasures, heroes, ghosts and the like. This was, as Grimble said, no more than that – a mere story. I rolled the smoke around in my mouth from the cigar, letting the question float away into the evening sky along with the smoke. Sitting there with a fine brandy next to me and a gentle breeze tousling my mane, there was nothing that could ruin the sheer raw perfection of this moment of absolute peace. Sod the herd, this was the true heaven, right here in Smiling Borders. I decided to change the subject, but my host beat me to it.

“Its getting cold out here, Rock, and we’re losing the light. We’d best get inside.” He shouted over to the girls. “Heather? Could you help me secure the shutters please?” Oh, well, so much for my moment of peace!

Tingles sniffed at me when I trotted up to her by the fire. “Poo! You stink of smoke. I hope you’re going to brush your teeth when we get upstairs, ‘Rock’.”

I sniffed my coat. Smelled fine to me, but then to a non-smoker I probably stank like an old ashtray. I’d have a freshen up before I went to bed. Finishing our drinks we rose to go to our room when Grimble called over to us.

“Rock? Mrs Salt?” He looked concerned. “Please, both of you, don’t go outside until the morning. Just in case. Timberwolves often roam the edge of the forest at night.”

Oh wonderful, what a comforting thought! It was almost a relief when we reached our room and closed the door behind us with a click. Tingles bumped me with her rump and whispered in my ear, “Hey, you okay there, ‘Rock Salt’? Pffff!” She launched herself onto the bed and started to laugh raucously, half sozzled with the bloody brandy I imagined. I don’t think she was used to alcohol stronger than wheat beer, but who cared? This was meant to be a holiday for both of us after all. “Oooh, Rock! Why don’t you come over here and give your wife a little taste of your ‘salt lick’? Ha, ha, ha!”

I tutted at her good naturedly as I locked the bedroom door, wedging a chair beneath it for good measure. A bit of overkill maybe, but I’d heard too many stories about timberwolves to take any chances. Although I’ll admit I’d never actually seen one myself, I knew that at least some of those stories were a damned sight more real than mere quaint folksy legends would have you believe. Those things killed ponies. They’d been responsible for some of the disappearances in the village where I’d been brought up, and as an officer in the local watch, dad had been involved in clearing them out of the local forest. Dear goddesses, I could still remember the night he’d come back too - his uniform had ripped to shreds, and his mane was full of twigs and bits of bramble. But it was the look on his face that had struck me the hardest. He just… sat there, his eyes staring off into some unseen distance, and never said a word. Mum had been absolutely livid of course, but I think she was more relieved to have him home safe than to be angry with him for long. I never found out exactly what had happened, but the disappearances stopped that very night. Even so, parents always made sure their little ones were back before dark. Fear, it seems, is a remarkably efficient teacher.

Tingles was too busy rolling about on the bed covers to notice my ‘precautions’ however, and was singing quietly to herself by the time I’d finished washing up for the evening. I flopped onto the bed with a contented groan, too tired to be bothered with getting under the sheets. Good old brandy, I’d sleep well tonight in its fragrant alcoholic embrace. But no sooner had my head hit the pillow, when a certain tangerine pegasus rolled over next to me and interrupted my plans for an early snooze. Green eyes gazed up at me.

“You okay, love?” she asked.

That caught me off guard. “Uh, yeah. Yes, I’m fine, love.” I gave her a peck on the nose. “This place is bit weird though, don’t you think? I dunno, but I’ve got a feeling there’s more to Smiling Borders than meets the eye. Gotta hoof it to Grimble though, he sure knows how to make a pony feel at home.”

Tingles shrugged. “True, but that’s not what I’m asking.”

“Hmm?”

She pushed her muzzle into me, closing her eyes. “In the carriage… Something’s bothering you, and I think I know what it is.”

Oh, Luna! I didn’t want to be having an in depth discussion about feelings and stuff now, I’d been enjoying myself tonight and really couldn’t be bothered with it. Tomorrow maybe, but not now. “Tingles, look, it’s nothing. I’m just-”

“Worrying about Shadow, right?” she cut in. “I’ll add to that - you’re worried about how Meadow and I fit into the picture too aren’t you? Or, more specifically, me.” I didn’t know what to say, so I just lay there listening to her. “I chose you, because you’re special,” she explained. “Not in a weird, ‘wendigo’ way, but just you being you…” Tingles sighed, rubbing her forehead. “It’s hard to explain. I didn’t want to fall in love, sure, and I knew about Meadow and Shadow too of course, but I’d known you from my first days in the watch, and I guess I knew then, deep down, that you were the one for me. Does that make sense?”

I nodded. “Of course, love.”

“Shadow and Meadow…” Tingles stared up at the canopy of the four poster bed. “Somehow, Fairlight, I feel this... ‘connection’ to them. I dream of them, of you, the fortress, a place of endless black sand and a moon that never sets. It frightens me sometimes, but I think to myself: this is your world, this is the world of which, I want to be a part. Maybe I’m dreaming it all. Maybe my mind’s completely messed up and I just don’t realize it. I don’t know, I’m not a psychiatrist, but I know my own heart, and deep down in my soul I know Meadow and Shadow are a part of me, and a part of your world too.” She sighed and lay her head on the pillow next to me. “I told you before, I’m selfish, ‘Rock Salt’.” Tingles paused.

“You’re not the only one,” I whispered. I mussed her mane and leaned over, giving the base of her tail a nip.

“Ow! That’s twice now you cheeky beggar. Right, you asked for it!” She threw herself over me and bit down on my cutie mark - hard.

“OUCH!” I nearly shot out of the bed in shock. “Bloody hell, Tingles!” Gods above, she’d really got me too!

She stuck her tongue out me and sniffed. “There! That’ll teach you. Now, I haven’t forgotten you still owe me one, ‘Rock Salt’. So...” Green eyes loomed over me, and then, slowly, slid down my chest. “Let’s see just how much of a licking... you can take...”

I have to say it’s amazing how being properly motivated can give your energy levels a boost when you think you’re running on empty, and Tingles was an absolute master at getting it out of you too. Quite literally as it turned out. The two of us lay there, exhausted but happy on top of the bed covers. I was hot and sweaty after our antics, but not uncomfortably so. I mean, how could I be? I had a wonderfully soft tangerine pillow beneath my head, and the most luxuriously downy feathers for a quilt that beat anything you could buy in even the most exclusive shops in Canterlot itself. I let out a soft sigh, setting my mind adrift. It was so quiet out here: No clatter of traffic, no shouting of merrymakers coming home from a night on the tiles, nor even the distant hum of music from the many nightclubs and bars so typical of life in Manehattan. Here, there was absolute peace. My dad’s old pocket watch ticked away quietly in my waistcoat, draped over the back of the chair patiently waiting for morning as it had done back when he’d carried it. What stories it could tell… I yawned and smacked my lips. I didn’t know what time it was, nor did I particularly care either. I was, for want of a more descriptive word, happy.

Outside moon was high in sky and I’d left the curtains open to allow its baleful light in to flood the room. Tingles was sound asleep now, breathing gently and so peaceful, I lay there for a while simply watching her. She was so beautiful it made my heart sing. Mind you, my throat was so dry I wouldn’t be doing much singing for a while unless I got a drink. Carefully, I slid out from under my pegasus bedding and moved to the window so as not to make any sound and wake her. It was still open a crack, the shutters on the upper levels only being closed during foul weather. I was glad of it too; I could smell the forest: alive, fresh, and full of an earthly power that called to me on some level that was probably instinctual. We were animals after all, with needs, desires and imagination for sure, but there was still that basic animalistic drive that remained within all of us. The Everfree was a frightening place, yes, but it called to all of us, to the wild ponies of Equestria that we had once been. It was almost legendary within Equestria, and its weather patterns defied all explanation, their unpredictable behaviour a danger to any unwary flier entering it. Yet enter we must…tomorrow.

I leaned my head on the windowsill. These dreams of Tingles’ were troubling. Harmless, but troubling nonetheless. What they meant exactly, and how she came to have them, was beyond me, but their message was clear enough. Goddesses, I hoped Tingles was right and Meadow and Shadow would approve of her. Herding wasn’t unheard of of course, it was even actively encouraged in some places, but it still ran contrary to the way I had been brought up: one stallion to one mare, and that’s the way it is. At least, that was the way it was supposed to be wasn’t it? Mares had their own ways, and as a stallion my traditional role was to protect and to provide. A stallion or a mare could take on any role they pleased in Equestrian society, true, but deep down inside myself there was still that instinctual desire to protect that would probably be with me until my dying day. It had always been strong in my family, the females too for that matter. Mum had faced down a manticore that had wandered into our farm once, and the huge beast would have had Fairlight for breakfast if she hadn’t kicked the thing into next week. I was too young to remember much of the incident, but it was probably just as well now that I come to think of it! As for dad... he’d cried when he’d found out what had happened. Not of fear, but tears of joy that we were safe, and also... anger. Not so much at the manticore as it turned out, but at himself. He hadn’t been there to protect us and never forgave himself for that. Mum had told him she was quite capable of protecting the home of course, but he was who he was the stallion. The protector. I remembered when he came home with a crossbow one day for ‘home defence’. I’d been upstairs alone when I found it. Being the inquisitive little fellow that I was, I accidentally knocked the release lever and shot a bolt right through the window. Unfortunately for me it had been closed at the time and I’d been showed with broken glass. Mum had raced upstairs and spanked my arse raw for that little escapade, all the time crying until she hugged me within an inch of my life. At the time it made no sense to me, but now, years later… yeah… I know now.

I looked over at Tingles; she was still sound asleep, her feathered wings stretched out where I’d been sleeping only a few moments ago. It had always amazed me how slim pegasi appeared compared to earth ponies, and even unicorns for that matter. But I’d quickly found out that looks could be deceiving. The tangerine mare may appear delicate at first glance, but she was more than capable of protecting herself when need arose. And anyway, whether she liked it or not I still wanted to protect her. It felt right too, and in my own way I suppose it was an expression of my love for her. Still, Tingles had her own way of looking at things though, and over time I would come to understand her better as couples do, and we would fit into each others world like two peas in a pod. Like everypony else we’d argue, we’d fall out, we’d make up, but understanding and being able to compromise was always the answer. That, and the greatest problem solver of all - communication. I had vowed I would never hide things from her. She was my rock in stormy waters, my moon in the sky to light my way, the… hmm, speaking of the moon, there was an awful lot of low cloud tonight. Suddenly a piercing scream from somewhere in the village rang out, followed by a loud howling of something… unnatural. I’d heard wolves before, but they were nothing like this. Whatever it was, the cry had a strange rasping edge to it, and one I didn’t like at all.

Tingles shot up out of bed in a heartbeat and grabbed her PDW. “Fairlight? What the hell was that?!”

Lifting the window to take a better look, I peered out into the night. Damn it, I couldn’t see jack shi- No… There! Something running into the forest, a dog like thing, several of them in fact. Hell fire, they were huge…

Something charged up the stairs and began hammering on my door. “Sir! Are you alright? I heard a scream!”

I dragged back the chair and unlocked the door, my pistol floating in the glow of my magic. To my relief it was our griffin host. “Grimble? Yes, we’re fine, I heard it too.” I turned to face the window. “There’s something out there.”

A loud banging on the front door was accompanied by more agitated shouting. From downstairs, Heather called up to us in her deep, sonorous voice. “Father, it’s Heavy Hoof. Should I let him in?”

“Yes! Please, Heather.” Grimble nodded to me. “Sir, stay inside and lock your door. This is village business.”

To hell with that! Tingles nudged me, reading my mind like an open book. “Getting your gear?”

My sword belt slipped over me like a second skin. “You wanted adventure, love, here’s your chance.” I checked my PDW, flipping down the lid. It was fully loaded. “I’d like to ask you to stay here and keep safe, but-”

“-but I’d say no.” Tingles’ smiled wryly. “And I do say no. You’re not vanishing off into the night to fight monsters without me there to get you out of trouble, ‘Mister Salt’.” She was never, never going to forget this, was she?

On the landing I could here raised voices drifting up from outside, and something else… somepony crying? Whatever had happened tonight it hadn’t ended well for some poor sod, and now it sounded like the whole village was up in arms. Still, there was no way in hell I was going to stay in my room and hide when somepony needed help. Besides, I couldn’t really sleep anyway. I leaped down the stairs, Tingles floating down behind me, her keen eyes watching for anything that might be a threat. The front door was wide open when we reached the lounge, the comforting warmth from the fire we’d been enjoying earlier had been replaced by a chill blast of frigid air. Beyond the doorway I could see lamps moving this way and that amidst a myriad of hulking shadows. Normally a pony would have balked at even the very notion of approaching such a sight, but this was different. Somepony had been hurt, or worse, and what sort of stallion would abandon others to suffer, especially one who had taken an oath to protect his people. Outside, the edge of the forest was wreathed in a dense white mist that swirled and eddied as if alive, whilst high up above us the sky was crystal clear, the moon and stars bathing the village in a hauntingly pale light. Dear goddesses… It was like a scene straight out of a monster hunting novel. Everywhere I looked there were the hulking figures of minotaurs, griffins, ponies, weird furry ‘things’ (no idea what they were) and of course, the obligatory burning torches and lanterns. I half expected pitch forks, until one of the minotaurs stomped past carrying an axe almost as big as me. By comparison he made Heather looks small and cute.

Grimble was busy talking with one of the largest of the creatures when he saw us and rushed over in a fluster. “My lord! Please, go back to your rooms, there’s nothing you can do here.”

Tingles pulled back her overcoat, showing her PDW. “I think there is, Mr. Grimble. Besides...” She jerked her head over her shoulder. “Wings, see?” Now I don’t know much about griffin customs, but there was something in his mannerism that showed a distinct discomfort about being contradicted. Was it because Tingles was a female? Or was it simply because we were, as he said, guests? In any case, Tingles ignored him and immediately took charge of the situation.

“Who can speak on behalf of these people?” she asked in a booming authoritative tone.

A large black minotaur, almost invisible in the darkness, peered down at her. “I am. Who are you… ‘pony’?”

Grimble rushed over and reached up to whisper hurriedly in the massive creature’s ear. Whatever he said it worked like a charm; the minotaur’s attitude changed instantly. “Timberwolves have taken my children: Violet and Buttercup,” the huge beast rumbled. “We must find them before it is too late.”

Luna’s ears! He certainly had some vocal cords on him, I could feel the ground vibrating with every one of those slow, heavily resonating syllables.

Completely unphased by the big fellow, Tingles smiled up at him kindly. “We’ll do our best to find them. What’s your name, sir?”

“Silver Moss,” the thundering reply came.

His eyes took in Tingles, then swung to me, staring at me a little longer than I felt comfortable with. Almost unconsciously I reached up and felt around my ears, and my heart sank. I’d left my sunglasses upstairs, hadn’t I. Anyway, we didn’t have time for that now. I clopped Grimble on the shoulder.

“I’ll go with Silver Moss and his team,” I said firmly. “Tingles, you take your fliers and keep your eyes open for anything. Keep your TED open at all times.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Tingles snapped off a salute and quickly began gathering up the winged denizens of the village.

I nodded to the Silver Moss. “You’re with me, big boy.”

Before long we had our unruly mob properly organised into armed and equipped search teams, with the griffins flying top cover to try and locate the wolves. Fortunately, Brandy had allowed us to take whatever we’d wanted from the agency stores and I’d indulged myself in a small selection of their finest gadgetry. Breathing a sigh of relief that I’d had the foresight to bring them along, I fit the TED over my head, nodding to Tingles who quickly took to the air in the direction we’d seen the timberwolves heading.

“Fairlight? You reading me okay?”

I nodded, adjusting the headset for a snug fit. “You’re coming in loud and clear. Keep me posted if you see anything.”

“Understood.”

We were off. The search teams headed into the forest spread out in a long line, shouting to one another to make sure they kept in contact as they moved forward. I could hear their voices, loud at first, but gradually becoming more and more muffled the more we progressed. Cohesion was rapidly becoming impossible due to the dense undergrowth, but there was no turning back now. I could only hope my guides knew the area well enough to navigate us back when we were finally able to get out of here. Like most ponies with more than two braincells to rub together, I’d never been in the Everfree before, and it was no wonder. We’d all heard about the ones who’d succumbed to the temptation to wander into its mysterious depths. Perhaps it was to wonder at the strange plant life, or to collect and document new and interesting herbs. Maybe it was nothing more than idle curiosity. But whatever their reasons, it didn’t make the blindest bit of difference to the Everfree. Many had simply never been seen again. Those who did come back spoke of monsters, strange ruins, and poisonous plants that could drive you mad or kill you in an instant. It certainly did little to encourage the rest of the equine populace to pick up their saddle packs so they could quench their own curiosity. ‘Curiosity’, as Pewter liked to remind me, ‘killed the cat’. Considering her home was wall to wall with the things, who was I to argue? Mind you, the looks on the faces of the villagers when they saw my eyes was priceless. It was easy to forget how much they glowed, and in the dark the effect was even more pronounced. I missed their brown colouring though, it was more ‘me’ I suppose, and besides, it didn’t attract all the inquisitive staring either. Sometimes being a ‘boring’ colour didn’t seem so bad.

My ‘team’ now consisted of two minotaurs - a couple of smaller versions of the giant Silver Moss, but big buggers nonetheless. I certainly wouldn’t argue with them. I’d have to watch what I did in the tavern if I ever accidentally spilled their pint too. That could end very quickly, and I quite valued keeping my muzzle in one piece thank you very much. I let them take the lead, they seemed to know what they were doing. We kept pushing our way into the forest’s interior, each step a torturous chore of snagging vines, branches and sticky fronds. Worse however, was that the tracks we’d been following were proving difficult to detect in the near pitch blackness. My enhanced eyesight helped to some degree, but the lanterns carried by the minotaurs offered more shadow than anything else and were actually making it harder for me to see anything. Their sense of smell however was another matter, and they would stop occasionally to snuff the air for scents. Before long though, the inevitable happened - we lost sight of the other search parties. The distant lantern lights were no longer visible in the thick forest, and even their shouts had vanished into the cloying silence. I didn’t like it. This place had a bad reputation, and by the looks of things it was bloody well deserved too. Strange noises, shrieks, barks, and the cracking of what I hoped was only wood, echoed from its unseen depths. The canopy above us was so dense as to nearly block out the moonlight completely, with only brief glimpses of the stars when I looked up from time to time.

We’d been walking for what felt like hours when my TED crackled. “Fairlight? I can barely see you, are you okay?”

It was a like the voice of an angel! “Yes, we’re all okay,” I replied, trying to hide my profound sense of relief. “Still following the tracks, but no sign of the timberwolves yet.”

“Received. Check in every five minutes. I don’t like this place.”

I nodded. “Understood.”

Pushing our way through the dense undergrowth, making any sort of progress was becoming harder and harder by the second, let alone every five minutes. And I hate to say it, but I was starting to question if we’d ever find the children at all – not alive at any rate. Remembering the size of that wolf, I doubted those things took prisoners somehow. My companions weren’t helping with my increasing concerns either. They remained utterly silent, shambling along and sniffing every so often, pointing out tracks and scents I simply couldn’t. As trackers they were surprisingly good, and despite their size, quite nimble through the unforgiving terrain.

The TED came to life. “Fairlight?”

“Here. Find anything?”

There was a pause. A pause that said more than her next words ever could. “They’ve found one of them.” My heart sank. “There’s… not much left. They tore the little thing to pieces. Love, I don’t think we’re going to find the other one…”

I closed my eyes and swallowed. “I know. We’ll keep searching though, until we know for sure.”

A few seconds later, “Received.”

Tingles was right, this was turning into a bloody nightmare. Literally. Branches and thorns were catching on my coat to the point where I felt I simply couldn’t make any headway at all. And what about finding our way back, too? All I could see was a sea of inky blackness stretching out into infinity, with me at the centre of it in a piddling little pool of light cast from a single flame. Still, we trudged on, praying we may find the missing little one. But with each step, every stumble and slip, my breathing became more and more laboured. The humidity in here was deceptively oppressive, and I was finding myself perspiring profusely with all the exertion. Unfortunately it only served to make the already dreadful experience even worse, if that were even possible. Yet with each step we took the more fruitless our task seemed to be. Despite my initial optimism, I had to admit the likelihood of finding the remaining child was seriously in doubt, even more so the chances of finding it still alive. The way thing were looking if we spent much longer out here ourselves, we could be next on the timberwolves’ menu. After all, this was their home, and we were the intruders here. All it would take would for them to creep up in the dark, leap and- A snap! Something dashed past my hind legs making my heart leap into my throat. What the hell was that?! A fox? A bat? I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself calm. Goddesses, this place was terrible, it was even affecting my nerves now. Yet no matter how much I tried to remain focussed, I kept getting the feeling I was being watched, or worse... tracked.I tried to keep myself calm by clearing my mind of everything extraneous, instead concentrating all my senses on hearing, sight, and smell. It was no doubt the claustrophobic atmosphere of the Everfree that was effecting me more than anything really tangible of course, although- Wait...The minotaurs had stopped. One of them was staring off into the darkness while the other scratched itself, looking for ‘things’ in its fur. Bloody hell, I hoped they weren’t fleas! That was the last thing I needed. Only the gods knew what else I had sticking to me from tonight’s adventure as it was. Ponies expected you to bring back nice things from you holidays like chocolates, post cards, photographs, that sort of thing. Unsurprisingly, parasites didn’t feature highly on the list at all. Pausing to catch my breath I took a mouthful of tea from my flask and offered it to my search buddies, who promptly ignored me, carrying on with their respective tasks as if I didn’t exist. Nice. I wasn’t sure whether they were being wilfully ignorant, or if the minotaurs in the village acted like some kind of bullish hive-mind, with the bigger ones like Silver Moss and Heather being the recipients of all the intelligence whilst the rest of the muscly dullards thudded around dragging their knuckles in the dirt. At the moment the one who looked like a male, at least I think it was, was apparently engaged in some sort of staring competition with a tree. This went on for some time until the great two legged beast gave a sudden loud snort that nearly have me a bloody heart attack, before proceeding to pull a hatchet out from its belt. My hackles immediately went up. He’d seen something, out there, hiding in the darkness.

“Tingles, can you see anything overhead?” I called over the TED. “One of the minotaurs has spotted something.”

The other one of the horned duo loped over to its colleague, grunting. Some sort of primitive discourse resulted in it too drawing a weapon, only this one producing a large iron bat and staring in the same direction as the other. Luna buck me ragged, I really didn’t like this, not one little bit.

I tapped the TED again. “Tingles, talk to me please, I’m starting to get a little worried here.”

Her voice came back in an instant, only this time I almost wished it hadn’t. “Fairlight! There’s movement in the forest! It’s all around you… It’s getting closer to the ground search teams!”

My heart did it’s umpteenth back-flip over evening. “Can you see what it is?” I replied.

“No! Movement from every direction, it’s homing in on the lights!”

Oh, shit! This was it! I drew my pistol and sword, trying to reach the spirit and use whatever power I could drag from it. If it frightened the crap out of the minotaurs then tough, it was something I could deal with later. Right now we were all in serious danger. Damn it all, I should have seen this coming a bloody mile off too. Stuck in the depths of the Everfree, deep in the territory where the timberwolves were the apex predators, the hunters had now become the hunted.

I pushed myself forward. “You two, keep together with me, we can watch each others backs. Hey!” One of the minotaurs suddenly bellowed some sort of defiant yell and in a burst of testosterone and broken branches, barrelled off into the darkness. Moments later, snarls and loud roars followed by a blood curdling scream set my mane to itching like crazy. If I wasn’t certain about it before, I sure as hell was now - we were in some seriously deep shit. “You! Keep with me!” I shouted at the remaining minotaur. Gods forgive me, I may as well have been screaming into a hurricane for all the difference it made. Ignoring me completely, the stupid creature began a lumbering charge into the treeline after its fallen companion. The rest played out as predictably as having a fart after eating a sack of rancid beans. A darker shadow detached itself from the murk of the forest, and I watched in helpless horror as it hurtled into the minotaur, growling, ripping, tearing. I loosed off a shot, the brilliant beam of concentrated magic momentarily illuminating a… thing… a snarling, dripping thing full of lethally sharp teeth dripping with glistening red gore beneath a pair of merciless glowing green eyes.

Death stared at me from the silence of the night. And it was hungry.

I closed my eyes and swallowed. My throat had gone as dry as a bone. “Tingles, get out of here… Get back to the tavern and lock yourself in. Don’t open the door for anypony.”

“What the hell are you talking about Fairlight?”

More of the glowing eyes appeared all around me, one eerie pair at a time. A hollow sound of clicking and rattling accompanied them - the sound of dry bones snapping in the darkness. They were getting nearer...

“Tingles, get out of here love. Please,” I breathed.

“Fairlight! For Celestia’s sake, run you idiot!”

“It’s too late,” I said quietly.

I was completely surrounded.

Life just didn’t get better than this, did it. Who’d have thought I’d go from being a holidaying stallion to a menu item for a group of ravenous timberwolves in the blink of an eye, eh? Still, I wasn’t going down with a fight first. If I was lucky, I could at least get a few of them. Probably by choking them to death on my bones. From the number of glowing green eyes there must have been at least ten of the vicious things, but at the moment they were holding their ground, sizing me up. Damn it all, why didn’t they tell us more about these beasts of the forest? I suppose ignorance was bliss, but I’d prefer being alive and dim than happily wandering into their parlour. Being the cynic I am, I’d never believed more fantastical stories about them, dismissing them as flights of fancy from the over active imagination of country folk. Now that I was face to face with them, I was beginning to question that line of thinking. Rushing out here half-cocked in the dead of night was the dumbest thing I could have done regardless of the motivation, and now I was going to pay a price for that impulsive act. What a fool I’d been. The timberwolves had lead us all right into their home, and with an intelligence far beyond what I would have give them credit for they’d turned the tables on us completely. I readied myself, watching my opponents. I’d never seen anything like them before in my life! They were wolf ‘shaped’ all right, but skeletal in appearance. But rather than beings of flesh, blood, muscle and bone, these magical beings were constructed from the very material of the forest itself: wood, leaves, and a healthy dose of animal cunning. In some other place and time I may well have laughed at the very notion of such creatures existing at all, but the batteries of lethally sharp teeth, some dripping with gore and exhibiting scraps of torn flesh from their most recent meal, were all too terrifyingly real. Some called them the guardians of the Everfree, magical creatures created by the forest to protect itself from intruders. Other believed them to be the ancient spirits of warriors killed during the great war, doomed to wander for all eternity and taking the form of the timberwolf to vent the hatred and rage on the world. Whatever the truth of their origins, the end result was a killing machine unlike any other.

Teeth snapped at me, but so far, none of them made a made towards me. I lowered my pistol and sword, but the result was the same. Curious. Would they all rush me at once? Or were they waiting for me to make a move so they could take me down like a wounded prey animal? To hell with them. If it was a fight they wanted, I would give these things such a battle they’d think twice about attacking a defenceless village ever again. Still, I doubted that I’d be walking away from this one though, there were simply too many of them and the spirit I’d expected to come rushing to my aid at the promise of death and destruction, had instead decided to take a back seat for some damnable reason. I could sense it, sitting there, watching through my eyes as though it were sat in the cinema with a bucket of sodding popcorn. Well to hell with it! I shifted my stance, changing my grip on my sword, the PDW floating in the glow of my magic. My breathing was steady now, readying my body for combat whilst images of Meadow, Shadow, Sparrow and Tingles, rushed through my mind in a rapid fire slide show of memories. That was a touch too prophetic for my liking. Nice to see my mind preparing me for the afterlife like that of course, but I had no such plans to move on just yet. No… Not yet.

You do not wish for death? 

The spirit’s distant voice flowed around my mind, probing, questioning my reason. “No,” I whispered. “Not any more.”

Because of the pegasus mare?

“Yes.” I smiled grimly. “I wish to live for her, but also myself.”

There are many.

“There are.”

You may die.

“We may die,” I corrected.

We? The spirit sounded amused. We cannot die!

“Then I suggest you leave while you still can,” I said coldly. “Leave me to fight whilst you flee, spirit. Run. Run back to your world of silence, darkness, and emptiness. I do not need you.”

You need me… the spirit hissed. You always needed me…

“Maybe at first,” I replied honestly. “But you do not own me, spirit, nor I you. I feared you once. I fought you. I wanted to rid myself of you. But now, I see you as a part of me. A part of my soul. I will not stop you from leaving.”

You will die without me.

“Then I will die,” I smiled. “I’ve done it before. And I will do it again, with a smile on my face and the blood of my enemies upon my blade.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling a peculiarly calm sense of focus descending over me. “Go, spirit. Flee to your netherworld and leave me to take my enemy down to hell. Death awaits his feast of souls.”

Foolish creature!

That made me chuckle. “Yes. Yes, I am.” I readied my sword, steadying my aim. “Fortune favours the bold.”

It did. It truly, truly did. Whether it was my acceptance of the inevitable, or little more than the fear of returning to the dark realm of the netherworld, but this time the spirit needed no calling. I could sense its anger with me, its desire for battle, and something else – a feeling of, not quite contentment, that would be strong a word for such a volatile entity. No, it was more and overarching aura of… understanding? Perhaps. This wasn’t the time nor the place to be considering such things in any case. This, was a time for blade, magic, hoof, and teeth. A wave of power shivered through me as one of the creatures, clacking and growling, finally stepped forward. Feeling the magic begin to flow through me, I turned to the thing and shouted the first word that entered my head as loud as I could.

“DOWN!”

Astoundingly it actually worked! If only for a moment. Unsure, the timberwolves backed away, their wooden ears creaking down to their skulls, the leaves on their faces rustling. One or two of them even gave a little whimper, casting glances at the larger ones. Thank Luna, it was all the time I needed. The wendigo spirit seethed through my veins with frightening speed, so much more that it ever had before. It was frightening, yet utterly exhilarating. I felt my teeth grow, my eyes taking on their now familiar fiery blue haze, the strength and cold fire of the wendigo running through my body in a tidal wave of primordial magic from the depths of history. Nothing could stop me. NOTHING!

Mist of my own began to roll from around my hooves as I began to laugh. Dear goddess, dear sweet goddess of the moon, this… this was who I was. This is who I am!

The timberwolves backed away from me once more, several of them whimpering and unsure of what to do next. Their evening meal plans suddenly weren’t so attractive after all, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t suddenly rally and launch themselves at me. I was still heavily outnumbered. Their hesitation worked to my advantage however, allowing me to ready myself for what was to come. Magic began to swirled around me in a blizzard, ready to strike, my wings kept tight by my side. I had seen dogs fighting in the streets, trying to snatch at anything on their prey they could catch hold of to give them purchase on their enemy. I’d seen how thestrals strapped their wings to their sides before battle, and I could see why. I didn’t want these things getting a hold of my wings and pulling me down. If that happened, wendigo or not, they’d rip me to pieces in seconds. Something in their mannerism though seemed to have changed, giving me pause. I don’t know what it was exactly, maybe it was no more than a feeling from somewhere deep down in my subconscious that not all was as it seemed here, but the atmosphere was now so thick it was almost tangible. You could say, it was like an itch I couldn’t scratch. A very big itch.

Standing there the very air itself felt alive, as though I were deep inside the deadly heart of a thunderstorm, the electricity sparking all around me, building, searching for release. The entire forest had gone silent, the ancient spirits of this place watching what transpired here this night. I hoped they were, I would give them a show alright. If I so wished I end this now. I could release a mist that would freeze the timber wolves like statues, allowing me to kill them with ease. So why was I hesitating like this? They weren’t showing any signs of attacking – threatening, certainly - but not one of them seemed to be prepared to make the first move. Well, we’d have to see about that, wouldn’t we? As I watched, the circle of wolves cautiously backed away from the mist forming around me and retreated, slowly making a strange click-clack noise with their mouths. Had I been to much to handle perhaps? There was no doubt easier prey here in the forest, so why risk yourself and your pack attacking something that could fight back? For a moment I began to think they’d simply melt away back into the darkness. And as always, just when you thought it was safe… It well wasn’t.

Several of the creatures sidestepped, lowering their heads to allow the passage of what was, quite obviously, the alpha wolf. The damned thing was enormous too, its eyes blazing like green beacon fires in the gloom. And there, dangling from its sharpened log-like teeth, a bawling… nanny goat? Dear gods, it was! It was wearing a torn shirt and pants, bleating piteously as it struggled to get free. Ho well, at least we’d found one of the ‘kids’ alive. I nearly laughed at the sheer madness of the moment. A goat! All this for a bloody goat! Now I was seriously pissed off. I lowered my head into a fighting stance, facing my opponent. It growled at me menacingly, its sonorous rumble like a miniature thunder storm of concentrated hatred. And then, to my surprise, it tossed the small goat to one of its companions who caught it deftly in its jaws, careful I noticed, not to injure it. Strange…unless it was a case of ‘don’t eat the boss’s dinner’. I’d just have to make sure I wasn’t on the starter menu tonight myself.

The alpha wolf rose to its full height, looking down at me with an expression I could only describe as total disdain, and unleashed a low rumbling laugh - or at least it seemed to. It begged the question: were these beasts actually sentient? They’d displayed that they could work together, that they had an established hierarchy, but was there more to them than I was giving them credit for? Somehow I doubted I’d be sitting down to afternoon tea and having a nice chat with one of them any time soon, but it was an interesting observation. One, I would keep in my pannier for later. Meanwhile the massive wolf turned to its companions who began to click at each other excitedly, observing the proceedings from a safer distance. It was clear that negotiating was not going to be an option with this guy, and his sudden charge didn’t come as a surprise. The beast reared and lunged its head out, vicious jaws snapping at air as I danced away, lashing out with a mist shrouded buck that sent the thing crashing into the trees. A crescendo of clicks, clacks and howls emanated from the others while their boss, quite literally, pulled himself back together. Now this was going to be interesting! He reached up a wooden paw and pushed a stray branch back into position on his neck, giving an irritated grumble as he did so. Then, barking like an enraged hunting hound, the monstrous beast dived at me. I narrowly missed being disemboweled, but its claws still managed to rake my flank sending a flare of pain through my body. Suppressed by the wendigo’s magic it barely registered for more than a second, allowing me a chance to breath a blast of ice and magic at the enraged timberwolf. He tried to dodge, catching some of the lethal mix on his back leg. One of the audience wasn’t so lucky though, taking the full brunt in its face. The creatures head broke off, toppling to the ground before its body fell apart like a jigsaw puzzle. Around me the others howled and growled their displeasure, but didn’t interfere. There was some sort of honour at play here, by looks of things. But whatever it was, I’d do whatever it took to get out of here alive. I just wished there was more room to move in this damned forest. I was very much at a disadvantage not being able to use my wings here, but the timberwolf had its own problems. The sheer size of the creature prevented it from moving as quickly as I could, banging into trees and bushes as it tried to latch onto me with its huge teeth.

Focussing my magic I loosed a pulse of blue fire from my horn, incinerating a path through the trees and singing the frighteningly fast alpha male’s chest just as he snapped his jaws around my hind leg. His massive teeth bit down hard and he shook me like a rag doll before throwing me into a boulder with frightening ease. I cried out in frustration, anger, and no small amount of pain as I crashed into the stone with bone breaking force. Blue blood poured from the torn wound in my side, my leg now dragging uselessly behind me. Wendigo magic could heal me, but not at this rate. If I didn’t do something fast I’d be as lifeless as that damned rock and feeding a family of four with some left over for sunday. The creatures of the forest were sensing victory now too, their leader shaking his head knowingly… the cocky bastard. Through my haze of pain I glimpsed the little goat, bleating in fear while it hung helplessly from the mouth of one of the timberwolves. Sparrow Song was about the same size as that kid. Sure it was a goat, but how would I feel if I was this child’s father? How would I feel if this was my son or daughter? I let out a defiant snort. To hell with honour, this was about winning, about saving a life. Honourable combat was hardly honourable when you were dead and the one you’d set out to rescue was being eaten alive. I released the full power of the wendigo throughout my body, the air around me chilling to blood freezing depths making the huge wolf back off hurriedly. It was the pause I needed. A trickle of magic I redirected to my mangled leg, knitting the muscle and hide whilst the rest sent energy and strength to every part of my damaged body. Slowly, the pain subsided, helping my mind to regain focus. I lifted my head, exhaling a blast of concentrated magic at the forest beast, howling my hatred and contempt at the same time as it lashed out at me with a vicious swipe. I didn’t dodge this time, a shield of crystalline ice materialising between us deflecting the beast’s claw while I removed its hind quarters with a pulse of blue fire. The wolf screamed out into the night air, trying to bite at me as it scrabbled helplessly with its front legs. I stepped back, readying another attack. Down it may be, but I knew the stories, and I’d seen the way these things could pull themselves back together like some bizarre magic puzzle with my own eyes. Sure enough the scattered pieces of the timberwolf began to shake - rattling, rolling and skittering across the forest floor. One by one, piece by piece, they started to move slowly but surely back to the main body of the creature, reforming it and making it whole once again. Dear goddesses, this could go on forever, or at least until I was so weakened from fatigue the thing would simply overpower me.

The fight continued. Again and again we tore at each other with tooth, claw and magic, healing the wounds, and attacking again. At some point during the melee one of my blasts of magic opened up a great rift in the timberwolf’s chest. As it turned away, the pieces hurrying to repair the damage, I caught a tiny glimpse of something strange. It was a red light of some kind, glowing deep within the chest of the impossible creature. It had pulsed with energy, with a kind of magic I had never seen before. It was quickly covered up by the branches and leaves I’d blasted away, but I had definitely seen it. And I knew where it was. Pausing for breath we both surveyed each other, trying to find an opening, to find a way to finish our opponent off once and for all. I made my plans. My horn flared, my breath poured, and the north winds blew through the humid air of the Everfree. In that chaotic mix the wolf watched in fascination as I fashioned an object from memory: a form from the Wither World, a weapon not so much of battle but of agriculture. In the blue and green flickering light of the clearing, the scythe glinted and shone like the stars high above.

It was time to reap the harvest.

The wolf lowered it head and charged me, jaws wide and sparkling with ice where it had already tasted my hide. I leapt and span, the scythe slicing through the wolf’s face and neck, sending shattered fragments of wood and leaves to land on the forest floor. Shrieking in outrage, he came on like a driverless freight train, lashing and gnashing with those enormous teeth. I don’t know whether he was tiring, but his movements had become more and more desperately erratic, whilst mine were deliberate, surgical, removing piece after piece of the thing. With every strike the wood parted more easily, the twigs and branches, already cut and shattered, were having trouble rebinding with each other the more damage the wolf too. It was sheer eroticism. A different kind of friend had come to play with me tonight, and I had been so bored too. I’d never had a pet as a foal, and here was this doggy come to play with me! So sad that the poor thing was rabid and had to be put down of course, but you had to do what you had to do. I couldn’t wait to taste its life essence...

The wolf tried its all to rend me, to kill me even if down to its last twig and branch. It was pathetic. Laughing in the throws of the dance I looked for my prize and… There! Yes, there it was! A buck, a blast of ice, a surgically placed slash, and the timberwolf’s rib cage burst open revealing its glowing red heart. The creature screamed in anger before a glittering hiss of the scythe severed its head from its shoulders. It was still standing. Dear gods, these things were an executioners nightmare. Headless or not though, the damnable beast was already pulling itself together. What a wonderful pet is was! We could play and play and play, and never get bored. But even the best games in the world have come to an end eventually, and even the spirit was starting to flag. I had to end this. Quickly, I hurried over to the stumbling headless creature, kicking its noggin out of the way as I reached out with my forehooves, delving deep into its innards. I tried not to think too much about what I was doing, instead feeling for the raw magical power of the timberwolf’s heart, the way it pulsed, its raw feral anger and fear. With a cry of fury and joy combined, I found what I sought. Wrenching the heart from the beast’s chest I threw it into the air, blasting it to dust with a bolt of brilliant blue magic. And then, standing amidst a rain of leaves, moss and twigs, I found myself standing alone.

It was over.

I wiped my muzzle, taking the opportunity to take in the peculiar essence of the defeated beast of the forest. It was strange, unlike any thing either I or the spirit had ever experienced before. There was an earthiness to it, a tang like ozone, and a timelessness to it that made my fur stand on end. But the power… Dear goddesses, the power! Clicking and huffing noises began to fill the clearing once more, the pack watching the pieces of their great fallen leader, waiting. But of the great alpha wolf of the Everfree, only the silent and still detritus of the forest lay where its sentinel had once stood. The wolves fell silent. Nothing moved, not even the wind. The Everfree was mourning the loss of a great warrior, and perhaps, I was too in my own way. The spirit had run rampant, taking me to the edge of madness and beyond, leading me in the dance of death with this magnificent creature. Construction of magic or flesh and bone, it mattered not. Only victory. I trotted over to the child and picked it up, placing the unresisting creature onto my back. She never made a sound, clinging onto me the same way Sweetie Belle had in that other alien environment. It too had been inhabited by monsters, only here death would come swiftly, rather than the long, slow, torturous end the humans would have had in store. Why was it always children that had to suffer? Why was it always those who were innocent who had to bear the brunt of life’s merciless cruelty? Some damned world we’d given them. I strapped a rope around her middle to keep her from falling off, all the while watching the strangely quiet timberwolves for any sign of movement. But so far, nothing. Nothing at all. My next surprise of the evening came out of that very silence. As one the strange creatures began to bow their heads, their forelegs outstretched towards me. Was this some sort of ritual? I kept my sword close, waiting for something to happen. All I wanted now was to get out of here, and quicker the better.

From amongst their number one of the largest of the timberwolves timidly stepped forward and bobbed its head, whimpered slightly, and sniffed at the remains of their leader. Not that there was much to see of, unless twigs and leaves held some sort of particular significance to them. That little fact must have passed me by. The wolf snuffed the air, then slowly lifting its muzzle, huffed noisily and moved towards me. I can’t say for certain how I knew, but there was a submission in the way it moved, in the way it kept its head down and made noises that to some ponies would probably seem cute. If you like wood saws.  There was no doubt this would be the new alpha of the pack, and judging by the way the rest watched him, the whole deal had already been decided. Well, I had to admit they sure had a faster system of voting new leaders than we had! I reached out a hoof and stroked the things knotty head, scratching him between his ears as though he were a pup I’d met on the street. Why he let me, who could say? Was it because I’d defeated their leader? Maybe. So long as I got out of here alive and un-chewed, I didn’t much care. I was about to back out of the clearing when the wolves lifted their heads up and howled into the night. It was a long, pining sound that sent a shiver down my spine. It felt almost… familiar, putting me in mind of the cry of the thestral when they sent their dead to the other world. It was a song of ending, and of new beginnings for their pack. And, I suppose, the forest itself. I understood their intentions, if not the words, and so I readied myself to leave.

I looked into the green eyes of the large wolf before me and bobbed my head respectfully. “If there is one request I may make of you, it is this - leave the village alone. The forest is yours, but the village is theirs. Respect each other, and live your lives as the goddess intended - wild and free.”

The wolf gave a barking yelp and bobbed its head before turning about and heading off into the darkness of the forest as quickly as they had appeared, closely followed by the rest of the pack. For me, it was time to go back to the village, to Tingles, and a box of salted chocolates. The small goat’s father owed me a brandy too by my reckoning, I intended to collect. I flicked on the TED and Tingles’ panicked voice immediately bellowed down my ear, forcing a rapid volume adjustment.

“Fairlight! Fairlight are you okay?!”

“Receiving,” I replied, letting the wendigo magic drain away. “All in one piece, and with a young child alive and well no less.”

“Oh thank Celestia! You damned fool, what the hell were you thinking? I thought you were dead! And… and then I saw flashes of light, blue light, and I knew it was you, but I couldn’t get near! I-”

I closed my eyes and forced my voice over hers. “Tingles, for the love of Celestia, please!” I waited a moment until I knew I had her attention. “Just grab a lantern and come find me, love, please. I can’t find my way out of this bloody place!”

A lot of trudging and following of Tingles’ lantern like some equine will-o-the-wisp later, the exhausted kid and an even more exhausted Fairlight emerged from the forest’s dark embrace into the uncomfortably massively hairy embrace of a jubilant minotaur.

“Buttercup!” the huge thing bellowed. “My baby! Thank the moon you are safe my daughter!” The enormous hairy male hugged his bleating ‘daughter’ until he finally realised he was crushing the poor thing half to death and put her down. As soon he did, the curious little nanny dashed around him to hide behind his huge legs. Some thanks I get! Well, that’s kids for you. “Silver Moss thanks you… Rock,” Silver Moss said in his unique tone. “You are welcome here in our home. Minotaurs do not forget their debts.”

“There’s no debt, Silver Moss,” I said waving it off. “This was simply the right thing to do. I’m just glad we were able to save young Buttercup here. I’m sorry about your son and your two friends. There was nothing I could do.”

He nodded. “We will mourn them, and sing them to their brothers and sisters.”

And with that the minotaur turned and shambled away, the rest of his clan following him in silence - with the exception of Grimble who was busy pushing me into the tavern where an anxious Tingles waited with hugs and, I’m pleased to say, a bottle of the excellent brandy. It was on the house too no less. Now this was well worth tonight’s exertions! I accepted a glass gratefully, enjoying the delectable spirit far more than I had the first time. Ah, yes, this was certainly going to be a night to remember alright, although probably in my nightmares unfortunately.

“You saved Buttercup, my lord,” Grimble said pleasantly, topping me up. “You have done our people a great service. One that we will never forget.” Good grief, he sounded like Silver Moss!

“And like I told Silver Moss, I did what anypony else would have done, Grimble.” I replied. “Tingles is the one who you really need to thank, she was the one who spotted the timberwolves closing in on us and got young Buttercup and me out in one piece.”

“But of course!” Grimble turned and bowed impressively to Tingles, who turned beet red. “Lady Tingles, you have our undying gratitude.” He passed me a cigar, but I refused politely. I was absolutely knackered and wanted to go back to bed without having Tingles moaning about me smelling ‘like a used litter-tray’ as she’d so eloquently put it.

“Um… One question though, Grimble,” I said with a yawn. “Buttercup… Is she really Silver Moss’s daughter? I don’t mean to sound nosey, but I don’t know about minotaurs. And, er… she seems a little… I don’t know… small?”

Grimble’s eyebrows shot up and for a horrible moment I had the feeling I’d said something horribly inappropriate. But then he suddenly burst out laughing, nearly upsetting his brandy in the process. “Goodness me, no! She’s adopted!”

“Oh!” I swallowed, feeling a wash of relief run through me. Gods, I thought I’d put my hoof right in it then. “Guess you learn something new every day, eh?”

“Mmm!” Grimble swallowed a mouthful of his brandy. “Yes. She Heavy Hoof’s wife.”

“She’s…! Eh?!” I lifted my hoof, forestalling him. “Never mind!” Good gods, country folk really did have some strange habits. Goats for wives, eh? Bloody hell, it was time for bed alright.

Back in our room, an agitated Tingles examined me from top to bottom before clutching tight hold of my neck. She stayed like that for a while, saying nothing as I simply stroked her mane and enjoyed her warmth against me. I could have stayed like that for hours. I was tired, battered and bruised, but alive. A good result to the day, I’d say. Or I would have until a damp sensation creeping through my fur made me pull away from her in concern.

“Tingles?”

Her eyes were puffy and red with tears, the shining droplets falling like rain onto the old wooden floor. She reached out and kissed me on the muzzle before slowly walking to the wash basin and wiping her face. Slowly the mare leaned her head back and sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Fairlight…” She smiled sadly. “Are we a team? You and I?”

I was quite taken aback. “Of course we are!” I replied quickly. ”You know that, love, why are you even asking me such a silly question?”

“Because...” She choked back another sob, wiping the flannel across her face again before continuing. “Because you told me to leave you there. You told me to... to run away.” She stared me square in the eyes. “Damn it all, you told me let you die!”

I stood silently looking into those big green eyes. Her distress and pain were all too evident. “There was nothing you could do for me, Tingles,” I sighed, trotting to the window and looking out at the dark forest. “You couldn’t have fought those things, there were just too many of them. They took down two minotaurs like they were nothing, and that super-sized wolf nearly had me for afters too.”

She choked back a sob. “That’s what I’m talking about! I could have done something! I could have at least tried if you’d let me! You don’t trust me, is that it?”

Damn it, I was walking right into a minefield here. “No!” I blurted. “Yes! I mean… Oh, for Celestia’s sake, Tingles, of course I trust you! I love you, and I’d trust you with my life.”

“Would you have left me there Fairlight? Would you have left me to die?” she asked.

“Goddesses, Tingles!” I turned round and faced her head on. “Of course not, you’re everything to me! How could I leave the mare I love to die in that evil place, eh? What sort of stallion would I be then?”

“And yet you expected me to leave you, didn’t you?” Tingles’ voice cut me like a knife.

I hung my head. I just didn’t know what to say. She was right, but what the hell could I have done? There was no way through that thick canopy to the forest floor, and even if she’d managed somehow, they would have torn her to pieces. I went to put a hoof around her, but Tingles pushed it away and took a step back.

“Tingles?” I asked in confusion.

She took a deep breath and turned away, unable to look me in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Fairlight, I’m angry and upset with you right now. I don’t know what to think…”

My world felt like a crack had just appeared across its surface, ready to collapse at any moment, plunging both me and my dreams into the void beneath. My heart heavy in my chest, I turned to the door. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I did what I thought was best to keep you safe. If that was wrong of me, then yes, it is my fault. But, Tingles,” I glanced back at her before walking through the door and onto the landing, “if you’d been there you would have died, and that would have killed me as surely as if the monsters of the forest had torn out my heart.” I closed the door behind me. “Goodnight, love.”