//------------------------------// // Everhoof // Story: The Sword of Harmony // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// If it wasn't for the enchanted and hooded cloak she now wore, Twilight didn't want to think about how cold she'd be. They hadn't even reached the E.U.P. post yet and already she could see her breath through the scarf she had wrapped around her muzzle. They were on the second day of their journey, and the tundra had given way to forests, and finally the ascent had begun. With the chest plate that the Elements had been reforged to form, Twilight had felt her magic return to what it had been when she had first moved to Ponyville. That meant that if there were any problems of a magical nature, she would need Starlight's sheer ability, and Sunburst's incredible retention of information. In fact, until they were able to actually retrieve this bell, she couldn't see herself being of much use. Around the next bend, they spotted a rustic stone and log cabin. Smoke was currently coming from the chimney. Off to the left, the path became much steeper and rockier. "Who goes there?" Came a voice as soon as the door to the cabin opened. An E.U.P. honor guard unicorn in winter gear walked out into the snow. He got his question answered without a word as Twilight lowered her hood and scarf. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, your highness." He said, bowing for a moment. "What are you doing all the way up here?" He asked. Twilight reached into her pack, and came out with a medallion wrapped in cloth. "By royal decree, my companions and I must pass and get to the top." The guard carefully unwrapped the cloth, and inspected the crest, and deemed it to be genuine. "I trust you know what's up there?" The guard asked, returning the crest to the cloth and then to the princess, who nodded. "Do you know anything about getting into the cave at the top?" Starlight asked. "Just that it's some of the oldest magic on the continent. I can't guarantee your safety if you pass, either. The cave is only inspected once a year by some of the most experienced EU.P. expeditionary teams when a new guard is assigned. But as far as I know, this barrier was never meant to be penetrated. The relic is extremely dangerous." "Sir, I'm afraid we've got a crisis down there that is just as dangerous, if not moreso. It's understandable that an assignment like this doesn't get you the most expedient updates, so I need you to listen very carefully; if we don't come back down, you have my expressed permission to abandon your post, and head down to the Crystal Empire, because it's likely your post won't be resupplied." "U... Understood, Your Highness. The only piece of advice I can give you is, don't leave the ground. The wind is so frigid that you'll be thrown off balance before you know what hit you." With the crest safely tucked away, she turned to Starlight and Sunburst. "Ready?" She asked, and got nods from both of them. With a farewell bow from the guard, they began into the much deeper snow on the continued ascent. "Ponies of Bostrot!" The raspy voice shouted out through the loudspeaker of the airship, one of four maintaining position over Bostrot Harbor, their broadside cannons brought to bear on the cityscape. "Since you have refused our generous taxation on your city, and opted to dump the contents of your treasury into the harbor, the Storm King has taken your actions as blatant resistance. Your mayor has one hour to formally surrender himself into the custody of the Storm Corps... Or things become difficult." With that, Grubber stepped away from the loudspeaker and looked down at the coastal city on Equestria's east side. A few moments passed, and they heard thwaps and thwangs; taught ropes being released from their tension, and saw blazing bottles being hurled towards their airships; crude homemade fire bombs. "Prohibere!" Shouted a voice behind him. The armored unicorn mare's aetherium horn lit up to a brilliant purple, and all the burning bottles slowed and froze in place. She slowly walked to the edge of the ship's deck, and glanced at the catapults that had been set up on the rooftops of many of the tallest buildings, even making eye contact with some of the ponies surrounding them. "I was hoping you'd choose 'difficult...' She said with a smile. "Trajectorium contrarium!" As if they had hit elastic nets, the bottles' arcs were suddenly reversed, and returned exactly to their launchers, sending the resisting ponies on the rooftops scrambling for cover as flames burst out from their impact points, with one unfortunate soul rolling off the roof, screaming and falling to the street hundreds of feet below in his desperation to not be set ablaze. "Tsk tsk tsk. Well if that's how they're going to use their tallest structures, I think they have to lose them." Tempest said. "Orders, Commander?" Grubber asked. "Fire at will. Nothing over five stories left standing." Sunburst, Starlight, and Twilight stood at a chasm that separated them and the final 100 ascent to the summit. "What do you think? A conjured bridge, or teleporting over there?" Twilight asked the two unicorns next to her. "Teleporting three ponies would be safer, but it would take more energy, and we may need to save it for the cave." Starlight replied. The trio did their best to judge the length of the gap, and looked at each other. "Bridge it is. We'll cross as fast as we can." Twilight said, and her companions nodded in agreement. Starlight's horn lit up, and after a few moments of concentration, a bridge of hard light started on their end of the chasm and traversed the gap to the other side, complete with railings. At once, they began at a trot, but had to slow down and grip the railings for support, as the wind across the chasm was the strongest they had faced so far. Once all three of them were across, Starlight stopped casting, and took a deep breath. "Great job, Starlight." Sunburst said, as Twilight looked up at how much farther they had to go. It looked to be only another 20 feet higher, with hardened, frozen snow on the navigable path. Helping each other keep their footing, they walked up the last hill, and laid eyes on a cave that bored into the peak of Mount Everhoof. On either side were boulders with glowing blue-white patterns. Sunburst cautiously approached one, as Starlight tossed a pebble at the entrance to the cave, witnessing it bounce off against a magical barrier. "By the moon..." Sunburst began, amazement filling his voice. "This is aetherium... Raw, unrefined aetherium! How did they...? I mean, if they found a way to power this barrier with the purest aetherial energy... Why, these boulders could power this barrier forever!" "So, can we just move them?" Starlight asked, stepping up to her friend. "I wouldn't recommend it. Raw aetherium is highly unstable. If those are even nudged in the wrong way, we could be knocked off the edge. No..." Sunburst said, studying the runes that ran the length of the boulders. "It's an incantation. That's what's using the boulders to power the barrier. We need another incantation to nullify it." Sunburst told her. Starlight took on a look of nervousness. "I've done only one incantation in my life, and that was to power the cutie mark vault." "And I'm sure you've gotten stronger since then." Sunburst reassured her. "You don't understand. I had to try that incantation three times before I got it right, and that was a cave wall of malachite that just gave me a headache for each failure. This is raw aetherium. If I don't get it right the first time... Guys, we could be blown off the mountain... You know, 'boom'? And that's if there any pieces left to be blown off." Starlight warned worriedly. "Starlight..." Twilight said, coming up to her. "If we don't get that bell, and stop what's happening down there, I think being blown to smithereens or plummeting thousands of feet isn't the worst way to go." "She's right, Starlight. We've come this far." Sunburst agreed. Taking their encouraging looks to heart, Starlight took a deep breath, knowing that this one shot was going to have to come from where her strongest magic always did; her inner feelings and emotions. She set her pack down on the ground, and lowered her hood as she sat in front of the barrier and began to meditate, gently reminding herself that Twilight had not been the only one to lose friends in Canterlot. After a minute, her horn began to glow, and she spoke. "Aeternum vos emineo ut servo id reliquia. Quod adflictio id queo finis. Aperio quod via Sic quod mundud esset vivet." As purple glowing motes of light began to float out of Starlight's horn towards the barrier, Sunburst was impressed; she must have started doing some serious reading up on her Old Ponish since his last visit to Ponyville. What she had essentially said to the barrier was 'Forever you stand to protect this relic; it can stop the suffering down below. Open the way, so the world might live.' Poetic, and yet, explained their situation quite literally. When the last mote of light made contact with the barrier, Starlight fell back into the snow, the completed incantation leaving her a bit winded. Twilight and Sunburst came up to her, and all three pairs of eyes watched the barrier. Either the incantation would fail entirely and nothing would happen, the barrier would diminish, or the raw aetherium would react and most likely atomize the peak and everything on it. They held their breath, and waited. After what felt like minutes, the shimmering barrier blocking the front of the cave melted away into the snow, and the patterns on the boulders faded away. Starlight let out a breath of relief as she dropped her head to the ground, and Twilight ran into the cave. By the time Starlight had caught her breath and got to her hooves, Twilight came out of the cave, with the ancient bell in her grasp. "We did it..." Starlight said, managing a small smile. "Not yet we didn't." Twilight replied, looking out to the horizon, which was now more than 200 miles away. The Crystal Castle was a speck on the landscape below. "So what now? To Canterlot?" Sunburst asked. "No, not yet." Twilight said. "Twilight, we aren't exactly long on time." Starlight argued. "I know, but at the same time, we only have one shot at this. We need an edge. And I think I know who can help."