Chapter 15
On the snowy path up the mountains that eventually led to Yakyakistan - the land of the big and proud yaks - three ponies trudged along. Above them flew the two pegasi sisters. It had been several hours since the group left the Crystal Empire after receiving both advice and more supplies, mostly in the form of warm clothing to combat against the cold.
Starlight envied the pegasi for being able to avoid going through the snow, though that wasn’t the main reason the two were up there. Shining Armor had warned them that the path towards Yakyakistan could be dangerous, so the sisters were their main lookout for spotting any trouble.
They had spent the night in the Crystal Empire since they had arrived late in the evening. It was also to give Starlight a chance to recover a little. When she woke up the next morning, the unicorn felt a bit better and even dropped the bandage. The bump was mostly hidden by her mane anyway and her head wasn’t bleeding.
Sunburst recovered a map of the northern region for them from the library. He also gave Starlight some written research he had himself made on King Sombra. She had been half-tempted to ask her oldest friend to come along, but he had to keep an eye on Flurry Heart since Shining Armor was too busy running the Crystal Empire in Cadance’s absence.
“How far is it again?” Foxy lowered down a little, looking at the three ponies on the path.
“Let’s see now,” Starlight grabbed the map out of her saddle-bag. She struggled a little to use her magic to levitate it, but wasn’t having nearly as much trouble as yesterday. While she examined it, Dew watched her like a hawk.
“It’s still pretty far, but we are more than halfway there,” she told the maroon pony and put the map back in the bag.
“Pinkie told me once there were yeti living around the path to Yakyakistan,” Maud spoke up. Barbell and Starlight looked at her.
“Huh? Is it dangerous?” the unicorn wondered. She had never seen a yeti before. Then again, she had never been this far north.
“We’re about to find out,” Maud simply said. Just at that moment there was a loud roar.
Starlight blinked and realized why Maud had so suddenly brought up the fact about the yeti. Sure enough, the pegasi landed next to them and pointed further up the path. Both looked terrified.
“There is something up there. Something large,” Foxy shouted. She and Dew hadn’t heard Maud’s remark.
The ponies all stopped in their tracks. From behind a bend on the road came a large white, ape-like creature. The yeti roared threateningly at them and blocked their path further. Starlight fired up her horn on instinct, but cringed when feeling that using even this little magic still hurt her head.
“Get behind me! Maybe I can scare it off,” the unicorn said and stepped forward, ignoring the rising headache.
The yeti roared again and started towards them. Starlight immediately fired off a beam of magic, aiming at the ground right in front of the creature. The yeti jumped back a little, but this only seemed to annoy it even further. Snarling and baring its teeth, it began approaching again.
“Don’t make me…” Starlight stomped a hoof, but then felt lightheaded and her magic fizzled out. She stumbled, but was caught by Foxy and Dew.
“I have an idea,” Maud said - the only one who looked unfazed by what was happening. Starlight was at this point groaning and trying to remain standing, propped up by the sisters who were eyeing the approaching creature worriedly.
“Care to share?” Barbell asked. She looked about ready to just charge.
“We need to get behind it,” Maud said and before anyone could protest, she was already running straight for the yeti.
“Maud!” Starlight groaned instead of crying as she had intended to do.
“What is she doing?” Dew asked in shock. Foxy’s only respond was her jaw dropping.
Barbell, to her credit had only momentarily hesitated when hearing what Maud said, before immediately racing after her. The two earth ponies dashed towards the creature, who looked briefly stunned that they were initiating the attack. Then it roared again and raised one of its hands and attempted to swipe at the charging ponies.
The mares ducked and dodged the yeti as it swung its fists at them. They narrowly managed to get behind it from the sides, since the great bulk of the creature took up most of the path. The yeti snarled in frustration and immediately began turning around.
“Barbell, kick down, NOW!” Maud said and did actually raise her voice with a slight hint of urgency. Both earth ponies raised both their hind legs and kicked down at the path just as the yeti loomed over them, raising both its hands.
The ground shook, the snow and rock underneath the yeti began giving way and sliding down the cliff edge. The creature barely managed to register that it was in fact now sliding down with the mini-avalanche the ponies had created. It started clawing wildly in all directions, trying to get any kind of hold, but was too late and falling too fast. The yeti went down with the loose snow and rock, screaming.
“Woah! That’s one way to do it.” Barbell pumped one leg into the air.
“Maud, Barbell,” Starlight called as she was carried over by both Dew Doe and Foxy. She had recovered a little. She sighed in relief to see that both mares looked all right. She was put safely down on the other side of the large dent that was now on the path.
“Uh, is it gone?” Foxy peeked over the cliff edge and so did the rest of the five ponies. They saw falling snow and rocks, but just barely made out the yeti as it had managed to grab onto the mountainside much further down.
“It can’t climb up again, can it?” Dew asked worriedly.
The yeti wasn’t making any attempts to climb, it clung to the hold it had and seemed to be waiting for the debris to go past it. Once that had happened, it glanced around and appeared to be considering its options. Then it started to slide down the cliff wall towards the ground.
“Doesn’t look like it will bother. Probably safer to go down than try going up,” Barbell remarked.
“Right. So how about we continue before it decides to find a way up and come at us again,” Dew Doe suggested. She gave Starlight a light poke. “And you, no advanced magic.”
“Yes nurse,” Starlight chuckled. She looked at the earth ponies. “Good job you two.”
“Yeah, Maud has a good head on her. I was just going to try to kick the damn thing instead of the ground. How did you know that would work?” Barbell looked at Maud.
“The path was thick with snow and ice,” Maud simply responded. She didn’t need to add that with the shared earth pony strength, they had also loosened some of the rocks underneath.
“And I think we see the results with the application of the right amount of force.” Starlight glanced at the dent in the path.
Barbell shrugged, satisfied with the explanation and the mares resumed their journey. They eventually left the mountain path and were now climbing up snow-covered hills. Only Foxy was now in the air as Dew insisted on walking beside Starlight. The unicorn had a sneaking suspicion the blue pegasus wanted to ensure she didn’t strain herself with magic again.
There had been no signs of the yeti again, so the mares figured it was safe to say that it hadn’t made any attempt to follow them. It was probably still at the bottom of the cliff where they had left it.
“You alright?” Starlight glanced at Dew, who had begun to grumble a bit. She really had to restrain herself from giggling. The snow on their path was deeper now and the pegasus was half buried in it. The unicorn and the earth ponies were tall enough so the snow only reached their undersides, but it was even more evident now that Dew was the smallest in the group.
“Peachy,” Dew grunted and finally used her wings to take to the air, giving up walking in the deep snow. She didn’t ascend very high, hovering just above the ground.
“I saw something in the distance.” Foxy landed in front of the group. She was tall enough that the snow only reached above her knees.
“What did you see?” Starlight wondered, worrying for a moment that it was something dangerous. The yeti was still fresh on her, mind even if it had happened hours ago by now.
“Looked like two big, wooden yaks,” the maroon pegasus reported.
“Oh thank, Celestia. That’s Yakyakistan. The gates have two big wooden statues of yaks carved on them.” The unicorn felt relieved hearing that. This meant one part of their journey was almost over.
The mares continued to either trudge or fly onwards. Soon even those on the ground could see the distant silhouettes of two large statues, then the walls of Yakyakistan and the gate became visible. Foxy landed to walk with the rest. She tired more easily flying than most pegasi due to her size. Dew also landed to walk when seeing that the snow was not as deep as they got closer.
Starlight was grateful that the journey so far had been mostly uneventful, aside from the brief yeti encounter. Barbell had been mostly civil, as she had promised. Foxy continued to ignore her and so far there had been no problems in the group.
Of course they hadn’t had that much of a chance to fully interact. In the Crystal Empire, they had been busy just getting prepared for the long trek to Yakyakistan. The unicorn hoped it would remain that way..
As the ponies got closer to the gate, they saw a large yak milling about close it. Judging from the piles of wood next to her, the yak was bringing it to the village and was unloading. She turned from her work when spotting the ponies.
“Small ponies. Welcome to Yakyakistan. What bring ponies here?” she addressed them.
“Hello, I’m Starlight Glimmer. We need to speak with Prince Rutherford, if it’s possible. We have a situation down south in Equestria and he might be the only one right now that can help,” Starlight addressed the yak.
“Ponies come to yaks for help?” the yak sounded surprised, but then shrugged and pointed towards the gate which was slightly ajar. “Prince in village, Lana sure Prince can help ponies.”
“Thank you,” Starlight said. Foxy and Barbell, being the biggest ponies, went straight for the gate to open it more so everybody could get in. The mares did glare at each other, before Foxy simply backed off and let the earth pony open the gate.
Oh boy. This brief interaction hadn’t escaped Starlight. Thankfully, no words were exchanged. She glanced at Dew who just smiled sympathetically.
“I’ll try and keep Foxy under control,” the blue pegasus whispered to her.
“But who will keep Barbell under control?” Starlight wondered. Barbell was the only one who had no connection to anyone in the group, even if she had worked well with Maud while facing the Yeti.
Barbell finished opening the gate and the ponies trotted into the village. Yaks all around them turned to look at them, some with indifference, others with mild surprise. It was clear that ponies coming to visit was unusual. They didn’t need to look for Prince Rutherford, though. The yak prince was already out and about and when spotting the ponies, immediately went over to them.
“Ponies, welcome to Yakyakistan,” he greeted them in a loud bellowing voice. “What bring you here!?”
“Prince Rutherford, My name is Starlight Glimmer. I’m a friend of Pinkie Pie, and this is her sister, Maud,” Starlight Glimmer greeted the prince. She also introduced Barbell and the pegasi sisters. “We are having some problems down in Equestria and we need your help.”
Rutherford lifted the hairy bangs covering his eyes a bit to look more closely at the unicorn and the rest, as if he was unsure if what he heard her right.
“Me listening. Explain trouble,” he then said. Other yaks were gathering around them, curious about what was going on.
Starlight took a deep breath and then started telling the prince everything; Sombra’s attack and how he had cursed the castle, trapping Twilight and the others in it. When she finished, the ponies realized they had drawn a really large crowd of yaks, all eagerly listening.
“Honorary yak in trouble?” Prince Rutherford snorted, clearly angered that his friend, Pinkie Pie, had been attacked.
“Yes. I understand that you rescued some mountain goats who were driven mad with fear. These goats might be our only lead to where King Sombra is,” Starlight told him.
“Yes, we rescue goats who were wandering the snow. Almost eaten by yeti. Mad with fear. Unlike yaks who are not afraid of anything. Spoke of Mountains of Fear,” Rutherford told them and started to turn around. “You come.”
The mares glanced at each other, but then followed the prince. The other yaks stepped aside to make way for them. Rutherford took them further into the village towards a hut. Starlight frowned in concern, she could hear muffled bleating.
When the ponies entered the hut, they cringed at what they saw. On three straw beds lay three short and sturdy looking goats with spiraling horns. They were bleating and screaming, pure terror was in their eyes. A yak was tending to them, but there wasn’t much she could do except try to make them comfortable.
“These goats we rescue. We send word to mountain goat territory, but mountain goats more reclusive than even yaks,” Prince Rutherford explained as he again turned to the ponies.
“Oh those poor things.” Dew flew over to one of the beds and started to try and talk calmly to the goat on it. Foxy went to another bed and tried to do the same thing as her sister.
“Mountains of Fear...do you know what that is, Prince Rutherford?” Starlight peeled her eyes away from the sight and looked at the yak prince.
“No, never heard of it. Silly name. How can mountains fear?” The prince shrugged.
“These goats are seriously messed up,” Barbell muttered. She and Maud stayed at the entrance. It was clear they couldn’t do much right now.
Starlight frowned. This was not how she had hoped it would go. The goats spoke of a place the yaks hadn’t heard of and were right now incapable of giving directions. It was then she realized the bleating had quieted down. She looked over. Dew was still calmly talking with one goat, gently caressing him on the head. Foxy had gone to the next bed and was in the process of calming down the goat on that one. The first one she had gone to was now no longer screaming, but still looked fearful.
“Oh right…” Starlight realized the two sisters had simply dropped into a work routine. This was clearly something they had worked with before. She was amazed how quickly they had managed to calm them down. Then again the yaks probably didn’t know how.
“Wow, winged ponies good.” This hadn’t escaped Rutherford either as he glanced around the hut. The nurse yak was also looking impressed.
“We are both therapists.” Dew turned away from the bed, smiling at the prince. “I have managed to calm Rock Hard here down a little, but he will still need time to fully get his thoughts together.”
“Mine are doing better now as well, but they have a ways to go still,” Foxy said. She was about to go back to the others, but the goat grabbed for her wing.
“P-please, nice pony no go… not want fear again…” the goat stammered and was shaking badly.
“No, no, it’s alright. I won’t go.” Foxy immediately turned back to the bed. When her wing was free, she used it to drape it around the frightened goat.
“Perhaps we should step outside and let Dew and Foxy work their therapist magic on the goats,” Starlight suggested. Prince Rutherford glanced at the nurse yak who nodded sharply.
“Me agree. Maybe goats soon able to talk,” he said and headed out of the hut followed by the unicorn and the earth ponies.
“Ponies free to walk around village. If need to stay the night, we will prepare bed. Me need to go and attend yak matters,” the prince said as soon as he and the three mares were outside the hut.
“Thank you, Prince Rutherford,” Starlight acknowledged. She turned to Maud and Barbell when the yak leader walked away.
“Hopefully Dew and Foxy can get something from the goats. We’re lucky the other mountain goats haven’t come to collect them yet,” she said and pulled out the map and started to scrutinize it. “Nothing here about Mountains of Fear.”
“They are certainly eager to help those goats,” Barbell muttered, glancing disdainfully towards the hut.
Starlight held her tongue, this was not the time to argue. Barbell was at least not showing outright hostility. She glanced at Maud who offered no comment.
“Maud, are you familiar with these mountains?” Starlight asked her friend and showed her the map. She pointed at a mountain range that was clearly marked as the southern borders of mountain goat territory.
“No,” Maud simply responded.
The unicorn sighed, it was a longshot. Her friend had travelled far when studying rocks, so she had wondered if the earth mare had gone this far north. She glanced at the hut when seeing that Dew was emerging from it.
“Well the good news is, we’ve managed to calm the goats down to more manageable levels,” the pegasus reported and shook her sadly. “But they have far to go before they are fully recovered. However, Rock Hard has agreed to talk with us after resting more for a bit.”
“Well that’s good. Hopefully he can tell us about these Mountains of Fear,” Starlight said, then she noticed they were still a pegasus short. “Where is Foxy?”
“Aw, the poor kid. I’m afraid Pebble is the worst off. She’s clinging to Foxy like a security blanket. I don’t think we’ll be prying her off anytime soon,” Dew glanced back at the hut.
“Well we’ll leave you and Foxy to it then. Let us know when we can talk to them,” Starlight said. Dew Doe nodded and returned inside the hut.
“Looks like all we can do now is wait. I need to rest anyway. I’m still feeling a little dizzy after the encounter with the yeti.” The unicorn turned back to the earth ponies. Barbell shrugged, Maud tilted her head but otherwise said nothing. The three mares headed into the village to look for a place to rest.
Inside the medical hut, Dew Doe and Foxy were busy tending to the goats along with the nurse yak. Rock Hard had finally managed to go to sleep. He was the oldest of the goats, his thick fur appeared to have been snow white in his youth, but was turning grayish in parts. Pebble was the youngest and still curled up close to Foxy who had laid down in the bed, holding one wing protectively over her. Although her horns were almost in a spiral, the maroon pegasus had found out the goat was actually in her late teens.
Dew Doe was now assisting the first goat Foxy had attended to. Her name was Granite.Like Pebble, her fur was brownish-colored. Through gentle coaxing Granite revealed she was Pebble’s mother and Rock Hard was her father and thus the kid’s grandfather.
The pegasi didn’t bother asking what had happened. Though finally calm, the goats were still clearly unstable and dragging up those memories was far too painful for them, so the sisters just concentrated on keeping them calm.
“I have a little filly myself. Her name is Coal. She’s my precious little mischief,” Foxy told Pebble who was listening attentively.
“This is a song I used to sing for her when she was feeling a little scared,” she said and started to sing softly a tune:
Sweet little filly, do not cry.
Momma’s gonna sing you a lullaby.
Do not fear the scary noise.
Focus instead on my voice.
Outside soon the sun will shine.
Celestia will make things all fine.
Luna, she will guard your dreams.
Protect you with her mighty beams.
Soon you will fall fast asleep.
After you counted all the sheep.
And when you wake up the next day.
You will see that you are all okay.
When Foxy stopped singing, she noticed that Pebble had fallen fast asleep. The pony smiled, carefully unwrapped her wing and climbed out of the bed. She then draped a blanket carefully over the kid.
The pegasus turned around and saw that both Dew and Granite were looking at her. The goat looked grateful, while her sister had a knowing smile on her muzzle.
“You and children. I still have no idea how you do it,” Dew chuckled softly.
“Just the usual Foxy charm.” Foxy grinned and walked over to the bed. “So how is our patient here doing?”
“Much better. Thank you for helping my daughter. I was unable to do anything…” Granite said but then seemed to be on verge of another panic. Dew immediately spoke gently to her and helped her calm down again.
“Think nothing of it. You don’t need to say anything more.” Foxy also stepped in to calm the goat down. When Granite was breathing normally again, she nodded and just tried to relax. “Why don’t you try and get some sleep, like Pebble. I have a feeling you really need it.”
The mares stuck by goat until she finally drifted off to sleep. The sisters then turned their attention to the nurse yak who was approaching them, having been staying at Rock Hard’s bed.
“Ponies, old goat wishes to speak with you,” the nurse said and gestured to him.
The sister’s looked at each other unsure, but then walked over to the bed with the old goat. He was awake again, looked calm outwardly, except there was a tinge of fear in his eyes.
“I can see that the kindness of ponies is not just a tall tale,” Rock Hard said when he saw the mares arrive at his side. “I apologize if I sound curt. We mountain goats have not had much dealing with your kind. We have never felt we needed to know you.”
“It’s alright, I’m just glad we could help. You should rest, these can’t have been pleasant times for you,” Dew told him gently.
“No… I must speak before it is too late… I can feel it. I’m weak… I am just lucky you… brought me to my senses… before my heart finally gave away… I’m old,” Rock Hard sighed, then shuddered when a painful memory came to him. “Much too old for this…”
Dew looked at Foxy concerned. Then, since she really didn’t have any proper equipment, the blue pegasus gently laid her ear on Rock Hard’s chest floor to listen to his heartbeat. The pegasus gasped and raised her head again.
“His heartbeat is really weak. We probably arrived here in the nick of time,” she whispered to Foxy whose eyes bulged out in shock.
“Are my daughter and granddaughter asleep?” Rock Hard whispered weakly.
“Yes, they are,” Foxy responded and just to confirm it, glanced the other two beds.
“Then let me tell you of the demon we saw. Not even the mountain ponies of Artica were as cruel as he was.” The old goat raised his head a little. “Never before… have I seen such cruel eyes, red and green… evil smoke pouring out of them… We were sent to check on an old mountain base we had not finished construction of and had to abandon. There our group found the demon… in the Mountains of Fear. My granddaughter, only a cadet for the mountain guard. We thought it was only going to be routine check.”
Dew frowned, she was tempted to ask the old goat to relax and that he didn’t need to say any more or work himself up, but Rock Hard seemed determined to tell his tale, despite his weakened state and painful memories.
“The three of us escaped with our lives, but barely our sanity… the demon feasted on our fears… tossed us around like ragdolls. I heard the others scream as they plummeted to their deaths. We were lucky to escape… and soon only two will have truly survived the demon…” Rock Hard rested his head on the pillow again and stared vacantly up to the ceiling.
“Our once proud… Tall Mountains… now corrupted… now they are Mountains of Fear… for there fear dwells, the demon who drinks fear dwells there…” the old goat closed his eyes. “What he eats… I dare not think…”
Rock Hard fell silent. Dew, Foxy and the nurse yak who had come over to listen as well, continued to watch him as the old goat seemed to drift into sleep, but it wasn’t. Slowly his breathing stopped and he became completely still.
Dew choked and held a hoof to her mouth. Foxy wrapped a wing around her sister, her eyes were tearing up. The nurse yak took down her cap and held it to her chest.
“Old Goat, now at peace,” she said solemnly.
End chapter 15