Late the following evening, the House Snow army had stopped its march to make camp for the night. Hundreds of tents both large and small had been erected for the soldiers to use as shelter from the worsening snowstorm, though a large fire pit had been set up outside to provide food. The food wasn’t particularly appetizing—they had to feed two thousand troops after all—but it served its purpose of keeping everypony warm against the staggering cold, which Rarity had found to be practically unbearable even with her heavy coat.
Rarity had never marched before. From first light in the morning until well after the sun had set—how anypony could tell when the sky was covered in fierce black clouds was beyond her—she had walked, and walked, and walked, and dared not ask an entire army to stop just for her. Traveling with Tick Tock and Sundial on two separate journeys home had taught her how to properly hike, but marching was different. It was exhausting.
For now, that was all behind her, and she could rest her weary hooves and keep herself warm in a cozy tent. What mattered was her present company, which included herself and Sundial as well as Zarya, whose tent they were currently using, and the business at hoof: sharing tales and information of how both parties ended up where they were at this moment.
Sundial had requested that the discussion at large be reduced to the three of them for a few simple, understandable reasons. Obviously, sharing the extent of Rarity’s story would involve revealing a number of pieces of information that were not to be made publicly available—the existence of other worlds, for instance—so Zarya, who technically already knew a few things, was given an exception.
The others not present thus had to busy themselves elsewhere in the camp, which wasn’t really that much of a problem. Bluebolt was eager to catch up with Silver Shine, and Symphony was eager for yet another rematch, not satisfied with any of their earlier draws; Bloom and Flurry were interested in talking with Harvey, having never met a hippogriff from this world before and eager to learn what was different from those at home like Silverstream; Weaver was standing outside the tent, content with making sure the privacy of those inside was not disturbed, and Venture was out there with him having a conversation, though what about Rarity wasn’t sure.
Thus, Rarity, Sundial, and Zarya sat around an enchanted lantern inside of Zarya’s fair-sized tent—which wouldn’t have held all of the group anyway—keeping warm and comfortable. They had plenty of food to keep them company as well, so all-in-all it was rather pleasant.
“—and basically, that’s our long story made as short as I think we can manage it,” Rarity concluded with a breath after detailing her adventure thus far.
“'Tis quite a journey thou hast had,” Zarya said with a nod. “A story not unlike the fantasy tales my father told me when I was young.”
Rarity smiled. “I suppose you must all think it rather silly, really, that my friends and I ended up back here just because of a little lovesickness?”
Zarya shook her head. “Not at all. Though thy journey hath been arduous, 'tis clear to me that thy love for mine uncle is pure and true. It gladdens me to hear that his love for thee after all these years hath been met in kind.”
Sundial rolled her eyes. “Aye, but if that spell really wanted ta help Rarity shack up with your uncle again, it should’ve bloody well dropped her off down here in the first place, shouldn’t it?”
“I like to think that the spell did more than just try to reunite me with Zircon, actually,” Rarity said with a grin. “Think of all the good that’s come from me and my friends being back here. Why, if Flurry hadn’t been present with you, dear, you would have never managed to rescue Weaver from that dreadful Overseer fellow, and other things besides that.”
“Aye, fair point, but still, it still blows my mind that Cadence and Flurry were able ta make all o’ this possible in the first place.”
Zarya nodded. “Thy caution about Princess Heart’s true nature is well-founded, if I might commend thee. Though Harmonia be sacred in these southern lands, the current state of things could lead to unpleasantness. Now, this ‘Weaver’,” she continued, glancing out the tent flap at the earth pony. “The powers that thou hast described belong to those touched by Nihila, the demon alicorn, such as her Wardens. Art thou certain that he is to be trusted?”
Sundial grunted. “Aye, lass, he’s more than trustworthy. He’s saved my life on more than one occasion.”
“Mine as well,” Rarity added. “His past might be rather dark, but he’s come into the light, so to speak. Those powers of his are used for good now, not for evil.”
Zarya took a breath. “If he hath your trust, then he hath mine as well.”
“Thanks, lass, that’ll mean a lot if anything should get messy, aye?” Sundial said with a nod.
“I thank thee for thy tale, Lady Rarity,” Zarya said, looking to Rarity. “My judgement of thy character hath not been misplaced, and I eagerly await the opportunity to reunite thee with mine uncle.”
Rarity smiled and set her hoof on Zarya’s. “I’m looking forward to it as well.”
Sundial gestured at Zarya casually. “Och, that’s all well and good, but now that we’ve told our story, how about ye tell us yers, aye? Ye say that Zeb’ra’den’s been taken by wendigos? How the bloody hell did that happen?”
“As hath been said, 'tis a long tale, but I hath promised to share it with thee,” Zarya said, closing her eyes. “It all started towards the end of the first month of summer…”
*****
The city of Zeb’ra’den, Jewel of the Frozen South, capital city of the zebra kingdom, was situated precisely on Equestria’s southern pole. The city was surrounded by a wall of thick obsidian supported with sturdy stone and wood, the latter two coated with high-quality gold. The buildings within the walls were constructed in much the same fashion: obsidian and gold. They were not particularly tall but were large enough to house anywhere from a few dozen zebras to a few hundred, either serving as homes or businesses.
At the center of the city was the monumental royal palace, home of the zebra king, Zaratite. Unlike the other buildings of the city, it was asymmetrical, using various other materials—iron, silver, gemstones, and more—to give the structure a unique appearance, with each distinct portion arranged in its own fashion and with its own purpose. From the center of the palace, shooting straight up into the sky, was the southern Beacon, a pillar of white metal that faintly glowed with light.
Despite it being the middle of summer, Zeb’ra’den was shrouded by a thick cloud that sprinkled snow over the city and blocked out the midday sun. It was the slow, light snowfall that was typical of a summer snowcloud, for it snowed in the zebra territories all year round. It would be worse come autumn, and even more so come winter, but for now the zebras would enjoy the lighter snowfall while they could.
Zarya walked through the halls of the Blackfire Keep, the headquarters and home for the knights of the Order of the Black Flame, which was a tall blackened-steel building attached to the eastern wing of the royal palace. The halls were kept alight via torches enchanted to give off black flames rather than their natural colors, and yet their glow still illuminated the hallway as if nothing was different.
She wore her armor and cloak, as was customary for the knights to wear when on duty, which was almost all the time as they were tasked with protecting the kingdom at a moment’s notice. She also carried her runic longsword at her side in a sheath.
She knocked briefly on a door at the end of the hall, waited for a grunt of acknowledgement, then opened the door and stood in the doorway but did not enter yet, as was proper etiquette. The room was an office—specifically that of Lord-Commander Zaffir, leader of the Order of the Black Flame—and was small and laden with books, maps, and sparse decorations. The only furniture was a desk, one large chair, two smaller chairs, and a few shelves.
In the large chair, on the opposite side of the desk, sat an older zebra stallion dressed much the same as Zarya but decorated with a brilliant silver medallion on his armor. His mane was shorter and more clean-cut than most zebras, but his tail was still long so that he could wield the large rune-covered lance that rested against the wall behind him.
“Zarya, thou art punctual. Please, come in,” he said, speaking in the meter of his rank. He then gestured at the seats on the opposite side of his desk. “Taketh a seat so that we may begin.”
Zarya approached the seats he’d gestured to, where she noticed that one of them was already taken by Harvey, the hippogriff diplomat and scholar that lived here in Zeb’ra’den in service of the Hippogriff Commonwealth up in Astropolis to the west. Zarya gave him a small smile before taking her seat; they’d been friends for about a year now, but she hadn’t seen him in weeks.
Zaffir then gestured to Harvey, but still addressed and looked at Zarya. “One month ago, Zarya, thou were knighted. Now, thou may hath cause to be excited. I know thou art eager to cut thy teeth, so Sir Harvey hath a task to bequeath.”
Harvey cleared his throat and nodded. “Shall I elucidate the terms of the assignment, or would you prefer to do it yourself, Lord-Commander? I’m afraid I haven’t gone through this procedure in this particular fashion before. Usually I just post up the request and get assigned somezebra, eh? This seems a little much.”
Lord-Commander Zaffir nodded at him politely. “Thou canst present thy terms if that is what thou wishest, Sir Harvey, as 'tis thy task to give. My purpose is merely to mediate the agreement, so to speak.”
Harvey nodded again and turned to Zarya with a small smile. “I am leading a small expedition out into the eastern tundras to investigate some rather odd weather patterns as of late—well, odder weather patterns, considering the last few years, yes? At any rate, I will require a guide and escort with me, naturally.”
Zarya blinked and tilted her head. “Harvey, is this task not similar to the ones thou hadst me assist thee with when I was but a squire?”
Harvey pondered this for a moment, then nodded. “Ah, yes, it is quite similar. In fact, nearly identical! Why, the only difference between the terms I have presented here and how I usually present them is that I am not merely curiously—some would say aimlessly—wandering about the tundras. No no, my friend, this time I have a specific location in mind to investigate, yes indeed I do.”
“But otherwise, 'tis the same?”
“Yes, quite, not just the same, but as said, nearly identical! It should be rather simple, in fact.”
Zarya tilted her head towards Zaffir, eyebrow raised. She was bothered by this, for it seemed beneath her. She spoke to Zaffir in her own personal meter: “Pardon me if I seem confused. Such tasks for a knight feel misused. 'Twould be more fit for a squire. So, why me, might I inquire?”
Zaffir gestured to Harvey with a small grin. “'Tis thee good Sir Harvey hath requested, and so 'tis thy skills that shall be tested.”
Zarya looked to Harvey, more confused than before. “Thou hast requested me specifically, Harvey?”
Harvey smiled and nodded. “That is correct, my good Dame Zarya, for I have faith in your ability to perform the task that I have presented here to the best of your ability. You’re right, I think the other knights would feel this beneath them, but I know that you have done these tasks with me before when you were a squire, so I simply assumed—”
Zaffir cleared his throat and looked at Zarya with narrowed eyes. “Dame Zarya, art thou refusing this task? Why? It seems such a simple thing to ask. For if thou feelest this task beneath thee, with thine opinion, I must disagree. Thou art untested. Thou art a fresh knight. This task shalt be thy chance to prove thy might.”
“I do not refuse it, m’lord,” Zarya said quickly. “I’ll go at once. He’ll have my sword.”
Zaffir nodded. “Good. Thou hast a great fire in thy young heart, but e’ry knight needs their own place to start.” He then turned to Harvey, rose from his seat briefly, then gave a slight bow. “Sir Harvey, thou hast acquired a knight that meets with thy terms and thy special request. She shall assuredly keep thee safe and guide thee well.”
Harvey rose as well and bowed back. “Fantastic! Simply fantastic, Lord-Commander. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity. I do hope I have not caused any, uh, undue disrest within your ranks with this request of mine. I simply wished to embark on a very important expedition, you understand.”
“Not at all. 'Tis but a trifle. Now, if thy business here is done, I must return to mine own duties. Another mining party hath gone missing in the southeastern hills.” He shook his head. “This damnable weather doth make traveling dangerous without a proper guide. Were the Order’s ranks in greater number, I would assign every party with a knight.”
Harvey nodded. “Yes, yes indeed, that was all I was hoping to do. Sorry to hear about that other party, Lord-Commander. My thoughts and best wishes go to their families.” He turned to Zarya, who also rose from her seat and bowed slightly. “We’ll set out in one hour, Dame Zarya. Meet me by the city gates, yes? I know that seems soon, but I’m eager to get started! I’ve been looking forward to this all day!”
“Thy terms are agreeable, and I shall meet them with perfection,” Zarya said, keeping her head bowed. “Good day to you, Sir Harvey.”
“Good day indeed, good day indeed!”
Harvey then waved off the two zebras and left the room, closing the door behind him. Zarya waited a few moments for Harvey’s steps to get further away, then turned briefly to Zaffir, nodded, and said nothing more as she, too, left the room; the Lord-Commander had already started looking over his notes, and she dared not disturb him with further questions.
She walked slowly down the hall at first, then, when she was sure she was out of earshot of the Lord-Commander’s office, she picked up the pace to catch up with Harvey, making her way out of Blackfire Keep to do so. She found him just outside the keep’s gate, a pleasant smile on his face. Zarya was anything but smiles.
“Greetings and salutations again, Zarya. And so soon, ha ha! I was not expecting to meet with you for another hour, and yet, here we are.” Harvey tilted his head when he noticed Zarya’s sour expression. “My goodness, you appear rather upset. What seems to be the trouble, my friend?”
Zarya grunted and nudged his shoulder slightly. “Thou hast made me feel a fool, Harvey. Thy task is not suited for a full-fledged knight, and yet thou hast requested me specifically, despite knowing this to be the case. I hath become a knight now, Harvey. These expeditions that thou art so focused with art beneath my rank. As I hath stated, 'tis more fit for a squire.”
Harvey frowned and set his claw on her hoof. “Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear, I offer my most sincere apologies, truly, I do. I’m quite sorry if I made you appear foolish in front of the Lord-Commander for taking on this task—”
“Not just that, but requesting me specifically. Thou art my friend, Harvey. We hath known each other for a long while, and quite well at that, and I appreciate thee and thy company. But, this sort of thing was appropriate when I was but a squire. As a knight, more is expected of me than such a trifling expedition.” She paused, then sighed. “Forgiveth me, I meant not to disparage thy work.”
“No no, no need to apologize to me. I’m the one who should be sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything of the sort, I assure you.” Harvey nodded and let out a breath. “I had to present my request the way I did so that you would be assigned to me, my friend, I had to. Please, I would not have requested another knight if this was any minor task. This is no simple excursion.”
Now, Zarya was curious. “What dost thou mean?”
“Ah, I am investigating some odd weather patterns in the eastern tundras, yes? That much was absolutely true. In fact, the odd patterns I have noticed are near where we placed one of my markers on one of our last expeditions. I have gotten some most peculiar readings and I simply must investigate.”
“Dost thou think that there is something amiss?”
Harvey looked around to make sure nozebra else was around. “I do not know yet, but I am suspicious that there is something out there on the tundra. Something big, and quite strange or unnatural. I have enough evidence to suggest that there is more at work here than the weather to cause such odd readings. If I had simply made note of that—”
“Then the Lord-Commander might have assigned a different knight to thee and thy task…” Zarya finished. She gave Harvey a small grin and nudged his shoulder again. “Thou hast done this for me, then? Thy hope is that this ‘thing’ thou hast discovered might serve to cut my teeth?”
Harvey grinned back and tapped his claws together. “Indeed it is, indeed it is. Why, if there is something out there worth dealing with, then you might just earn some accolades from the Order, yes? I know you have spoken often of the reputation you wish to live up to, and so I hoped that I could give you that opportunity.”
Zarya pulled Harvey into a brief hug. “Thou art a good friend, Harvey. My apologies if I seemed cross with thee earlier—”
“Pah! It isn’t any trouble, no trouble at all. I only hope that there’s something worth finding, hmm?” Harvey then cracked his neck and adjusted his glasses. “Oh, but I fear we are getting quite ahead of ourselves! I must make the rest of my preparations, yes? Meet me by the front gate in an hour.” He then spread his wings and flew off. “Ta ta!”
“Ta ta!” Zarya waved him off, then took a deep breath and started off for the gate to wait for him.
*****
The eastern tundra beyond the walls of Zeb’ra’den was essentially a wasteland of ice and snow, mostly flat and featureless save for the occasional grouping of hills that sprouted up every few dozen miles. Few zebras dared to tread into the area because it was freezing cold, even in the summer. Not to mention that the ice was notoriously difficult to navigate and could give way at any moment, dropping a zebra into fatally cold waters or into a deep crevasse. Also, the cloud cover was so thick that even the light of the sun and moon could hardly pierce through.
As such, it was dark, cold, treacherous, and empty.
But that didn’t stop Zarya from taking Harvey on his excursion across the frozen wastes. Harvey himself normally would have had an advantage, being able to fly and all, but over the past few years the weather had worsened to the point that the winds were sheer and dangerous even for the hardiest of hippogriffs or pegasi.
Zarya was trained for this sort of thing, of course. She knew how to spot weakness in the ice. She knew where the various markers were that led to shelter that could be used for the many nights they would be out here. Her runic longsword was capable of generating light and heat from its black flames—hence the name of the Order—to protect the pair from the worst of the elements. And, most importantly, she was calm, composed, and patient.
She had been very young when the southern Beacon dimmed due to the actions of Lord Silvertongue, who she’d known until that point as a hero, but who these days was widely known as the single most evil pony to ever walk the world. In the decade or so following the Beacon’s dimming, the zebra lands experienced their first summers in hundreds of years. Now, though, the winters were worse than ever, and the summers had returned to being cold and snowy as they had once been.
It took about a week of constant travel through these harsh conditions to reach the instruments that Harvey had been looking for, which were the easternmost set that he and Zarya had placed nearly a year ago. The marker was up on a small hilltop at the edge of the eastern ice fields that surrounded the ancient Peaks of Ruin, which no zebra had traveled to in hundreds of years and which had been explicitly forbidden. Even a hippogriff like Harvey, loaded with curiosity and intrigue, knew better than to go there.
The instruments Harvey had planted on the hill were magical in nature, utilizing modified versions of zebra runes that the hippogriffs had adapted for their own magic-equivalent purposes, which they called uncials. Each was a small stone pillar no bigger than a canoe’s rowing oar, and each was embedded into the snow and ice atop the hill so that just the thick, uncial-covered portions were exposed. Or at least, that’s how they were supposed to be.
Harvey grumbled as he looked over his instruments, which had been removed from their positions and broken apart. “Terrible. Terrible! Simply awful. Years of work constructing these measuring apparatuses, and something out here just goes and ruins them. I thought the readings I’d been receiving had been odd, but this was not my expectation, not at all.”
Zarya handled one of the less-broken pieces, noting that it was cracked, as though struck by something. “What could have done this, dost thou think? An earthquake?”
“No no, an earthquake strong enough to damage these would have been felt all the way in Zeb’ra’den, I assure you. One of my uncials enhanced the stability of the stone, you see, so that it could be hammered down into the ice without breaking.” Harvey shook his head. “This was something else.”
“A creature, perhaps.” Zarya thought for a moment as she tried to put together a possible culprit based on the damage. “'Twas not frostwolves. Even the largest of them wouldst not possess the strength to breaketh stone.”
“Another zebra, maybe?” Harvey mused. He then shook his head again. “No no, a zebra would have no need to engage in such wanton destruction, and they would recognize uncial markings and know not to touch the instruments. Pah! And another hippogriff is out of the question, as I am the only one who travels out this far east.”
Zarya sighed. “And if 'twas a creature that hath done this, this snow hath made it impossible to track them.”
Harvey then brightened. “Aha! That’s it! Thank you, Zarya, you have reminded me of something important. I almost completely forgot all about it, ha ha.” He snatched the stone that Zarya was examining right out of her hooves, then tapped his claw to his glasses. “One moment, please.”
“What art thou—”
“I developed these uncial markings to track the weather patterns, yes? Well, that includes certain aspects of the storms out this far, such as the wind force, which is usually quite sheer as you can no doubt tell.” He finished adjusting his glasses, and the lenses glowed a dull blue for half an instant. “And there we are! We now have our heading.”
Zarya raised an eyebrow. “Speaketh plainly, my friend. Thou hast lost me in thine excited ramblings.”
Harvey passed his glasses over to Zarya and put them over her eyes. Zarya gasped briefly as her vision adjusted. Besides being blurry—she didn’t need glasses like Harvey did—she saw a faint red glow in the air around her, tracing a path off to the northwest. It started high in the air and moved in a singular sort of motion, but when it met with Harvey’s instrument, a darker glow dominated the others, and this one appeared to move at ground level. The glow did not travel far, however.
“What doth this mean, Harvey?” Zarya asked, tilting her head.
“The red glow distinguishes the winds that were striking this particular marker,” Harvey explained, squinting as he looked at Zarya as he clearly couldn’t see well without his glasses. “That darker glow is very sudden, and clearly struck the marker down before moving on. Thus, the marker is doing its best to predict a heading that the ‘wind’ would be taking. But it’s not wind!”
Zarya scoffed and gave Harvey back his glasses. “Thy hippogriff magics art quite odd, if I might be bold enough to say. Thy claim is that this glow hath given us a means of track our culprit?”
“Of a sort. We only know what direction they were going.” Harvey pointed off to the northwest. “And that would be that way, yes? Ah, I just knew there was something to be had out here.”
Zarya turned her attention in the direction Harvey was indicating, then nodded. “There is a marker two miles in that direction which designates a cave safe for camping. Perhaps our culprit hath hidden there?”
“Ooh, perhaps. Yes, actually, that sounds quite likely. Shall we, then?”
Zarya nodded, and she guided Harvey through the ice and snow in the direction of their heading.
Two miles wasn’t a very long distance, even in this awful weather, and the duo quickly found the cave they were looking for. Zarya kept her sword drawn and at the ready, gesturing for Harvey to stay out of sight just outside while she headed further inside to search.
As a cavern dedicated to the use of zebras out here in the tundra, it was carefully carved into the rock of the hill and spaced so that miners or soldiers could set up camp relatively quickly and easily. There was definitely evidence that it had been recently used, too.
The stone circle in the cavern center, which was designed to safely hold a firepit, still had traces of wood left within it. A quick examination of the wood told Zarya it had finished burning only a few hours ago, sometime in the mid-morning hours. The crumbs of some meals—simple rations used by the common folk—had been left behind, and it was still relatively soft. And, because there was no snow here to cover tracks, Zarya was able to spot the tracks of a dozen—give or take—distinct zebras as they left the cave off into the snow.
However, she also spotted another set of hoofprints in the dust of the cavern, and they were definitely not those of a zebra, or even a pony. Few animals lived out in the tundras except for the frostwolves, which were obviously wolf-like and had paws, not hooves. The few times animals wandered this far south they didn’t leave tracks due to the snow, and they often fled back to warmer lands fairly quickly.
These tracks were larger than any zebra could possibly make, so they were out of the question for ponies as well. Their shape was distinctly different, more angular than rounded at the front and much wider at the back. There was a left and right side of each track as well, as opposed to a singular imprint, with a noticeable division between the two.
Zarya admitted that had no idea what could have made these tracks. They resembled no animal she knew.
So, she turned towards the cavern entrance to call Harvey in. He was smart and well-learned, so perhaps he knew something? “Harvey! Come here, taketh a look upon these tracks!”
Harvey entered into the cavern warily at first until he seemed to realize they were alone, then approached Zarya with his usual enthusiasm. He glanced down at the tracks carefully, adjusting his glasses as he went. “I say, these are quite odd tracks, aren’t they? My oh my.”
“'Twas my thought as well. They resemble no hoofprints I hath ever seen before. Nor are they pawprints, as a frostwolf would leave.”
“Yes yes, and they’re much too big to be any frostwolf I’ve seen before, besides. Let me think for a moment, as they seem somewhat familiar.” He tapped his temple in thought. “Hmm… ah, yes! Aha! These are the tracks of a stag—a male deer, albeit one larger than the average specimen”
Zarya tilted her head. She knew little of the northern animals but recognized what a “deer” was. She’d seen pictures of the rather cute, docile animals before. “What wouldst a deer be doing this far south? This region is not hospitable for such a timid, frail creature.”
Harvey shook his head. “No no, not at all, not at all. In fact I believe this region would downright deadly to the average specimen of the species, probably even for one to travel half as far as Zeb’ra’den from the edge of the snowy territories. It would be especially so due to the worsening cold, yes?”
“So, what is it then?”
“Well, as I have said, they clearly resemble the tracks of a male deer, but that is as far as I can tell with my current evidence, I’m afraid.” He tilted his head. “It is most peculiar, is it not? Based upon the layers of the dust present here, the ‘deer’ came through this area after the zebras left their camp site. So it was not chased off by them, nor is it an odd pet of some sort.”
Zarya adjusted her jaw as she pondered this. “A creature that left tracks so large wouldst be strong enough to breaketh thine instruments, wouldst thou not agree?”
Harvey tapped his chin. “Hmm… yes, that seems reasonable. Ah, perhaps our stag friend confused the instruments for a rival stag’s antlers?”
“Then this creature hath strength, size, and aggression as its qualities,” Zarya grunted, looking off out into the snow. “It might be dangerous. If there are zebra nearby, 'tis my duty to warn them of the danger. We must seeketh our comrades.”
“How do you propose we do that through all of this infernal snow?”
“This region hath great riches, namely ore used for making zebrican runic steel,” Zarya said, flourishing her blade. “Miners typically findeth the ore in the rocky hills, so that is where we will look. Where we findeth the ore, we findeth the zebras that also seeketh it. 'Tis a simple matter.”
Harvey smiled and nodded. “Ah, you certainly are well-learned in these matters, Zarya. I am glad to have you as my friend and escort, yes? Ho ho, I cannot imagine another knight treating me with such camaraderie.”
“And thee as well,” Zarya said with a smile. She then gestured out into the snow. “Come, we mustn’t tarry. Once night falls, we must seeketh shelter for ourselves, and the night will be fast approaching.”
“Ha! Lead the way then, my friend, lead the way.”
And off they went, out into the snow.
*****
After hours of searching through more ice and snow for the zebra miners+, Zarya and Harvey happened upon a small crevasse in the ice. Nearby rocks had been affixed with ropes, and there were some saddlebags nearby clearly meant for transporting ore.
“It would seem as though we have found our zebra friends,” Harvey observed as he looked over the belongings. “But where are they?”
Zarya headed over to the edge of the crevasse and looked down inside. It was not terribly deep, so she could see a solid, rocky floor beneath her some fifty feet down. The ropes trailed all the way down to the bottom. She also spotted the faint flickerings of candlelight down below and could hear the faint clinks of pickaxes echoing through the chasm. If there were any zebras down there, the crevasse walls were blocking them from view.
She gestured down into the crevasse with her hoof. “They hath gone below to mine.” She then looked about in the ice, which was relatively free of snow. “Dost thou see any tracks from that other creature?”
Harvey shook his head. “I see no evidence of it up here, no. Perhaps our quarry did not pursue our zebra friends, hmm? I see no reason why it would. Stags—rather, deer in general—are purely herbivorous, so they would have little reason to pursue zebras for a meal.”
“'Tis a reassuring thought, then.
Harvey paused to stroke his chin. “However, its brazen, unprovoked assault on my markers leads me to believe it is fiercely territorial. Some herbivorous creatures that are also territorial can at times be quite violent. Take a moose, for example. They appear docile from a distance, being large and furry and such, but they are very dangerous in the wild.”
Zarya raised an eyebrow. “Thou art suggesting this ‘deer’ is as aggressive as a moose if threatened?”
“Perhaps. Though it would need to perceive our zebra friends here as a threat. Since we are warning them to stay clear of it if they spot it, hopefully that will not be the case.” He tilted his head. “Though a thought occurs to me.”
“Hmm?”
“If this creature were a deer, especially one of that size, it would need a substantial foodsource to survive. The only plantlife that grows in the zebra territories are the crops within Zeb’ra’den, yes?”
Zarya frowned. “Yes.”
“In which case, perhaps this deer is carnivorous? Like the frostwolves?”
“'Tis not reassuring, then. However, we hath no seen tracks of this creature as of yet—”
“No, but—” He stopped and shook his head. “No, perhaps I am being overly jittery.”
“Speak thy mind, Harvey.”
Harvey scratched his chin. “I have been pondering how it came to follow the zebras into that cave, yes? That cave is well-hidden form the natural elements, and was clearly not a creature’s den of any sort. A possibility, however distant, that must be considered is that our quarry is not merely a predator, but that it is hunting our zebra friends.”
Zarya paused, tilting her head. “'Tis an odd leap in judgement, Harvey.”
Harvey brushed it off with his claw. “Yes, yes of course it is. Aha ha, I am getting ahead of myself. A creature that could not only track zebras through the snow but also lie in ambush would suggest intelligence beyond that of a simple animal.” He did not seem convinced of his own words.
Zarya sighed. “At any rate, I must warneth my comrades below.” She glanced at one of the nearby ropes, grunted, sheathed her sword, then began to descend. Before she got far, she looked to Harvey. “Stay up here, and be mindful of thy surroundings. I shall return shortly.”
Harvey nodded and took to the air to get a good vantage point. “Will do, my friend, will do. Ooh! Don’t take too long, though, as it’s awfully nippy up here, I must say. Brrr!”
Zarya then began a slow descent down the rope, trying her best not to look down. She wasn’t afraid of heights typically, but she was a little worried about climbing like this, noting how the wind was rocking her to and fro—dangerously close to the jagged edges of the crevasse—and how the ground was so far below and how it looked rough and uneven. So she clung tightly to the rope, as best she could, and scaled her way down inch by inch.
On a whim, she decided to look down again to see how far her progress had gone. She’d managed to make it only a few feet, and she clung to the rope again, closing her eyes. “Damnable heights…”
But then, she opened her eyes again and took another look below. Something had caught her eye briefly, a shadowy thing moving down the cliffs of the chasm, descending down towards the miners. She blinked to get a better look, but couldn’t quite make it out too well. Whatever it was, though, it was big. Very big.
“Harvey!” Zarya hissed up as loudly as she could. “Harvey! Down here!”
Harvey seemed to barely hear her. “Huh? Oh! Hey there, you haven’t even gotten very far down into the crevasse yet,” he said as he fluttered down to her height. “My goodness, what’s taking you so long? Is everything alright?”
Zarya gestured briefly towards the shadowy figure as it moved further down. “'Tis the creature!”
Harvey looked to where she was pointing and gasped. “Oh! Goodness gracious, that is quite a sizable beast. Oh dear, and judging from its movements, it is definitely predatory. I fear our comrades below are in grave danger.”
“Yes, but not for long. I cannot jump that far, my friend. Canst thou assist me?”
“Assist you? How do you suggest I do that?”
Zarya carefully drew her blade out with her tail, igniting the flame again. “Throweth me.”
Harvey paused. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Grabeth me and throweth me at the creature!”
“I’m not very strong, I’m afraid, I doubt I’ll—”
Zarya rolled her eyes and leapt off the rope at Harvey.
“Oh dear!” Harvey panicked and reached his claws out to grab her. He barely caught her and twisted his body as best as he likely was able to, using her momentum to give her a boost. “Oh! Okay! That worked!”
Just as the creature was about to leap down into the crevice where the zebras were working, Zarya collided, sword-first, with its ribcage. To her surprise, her blade glanced right off of it, but the sheer force of the impact knocked her and the creature into the crevice itself.
The other zebras all turned to the commotion. Then, they all panicked, screamed, and ran for the ropes leading back up as they saw the creature.
Zarya shook her head to right herself, and that’s when she caught sight of the creature she’d attacked.
It was definitely not a stag.
The creature had the hindlegs and body of a stag, yes, that much was true. It’s forelegs, however, were more like that of a wolf, as was its head and tail. It maw was huge and lined with sharp fangs, as well as a pair of large, curved tusks. It did still have a stag’s antlers atop its head, though, which looked quite sturdy and sharp.
Zarya blinked, baffled at the sight. “What in Wylundr’s name—”
The beast gave a barking roar and lunged straight at Zarya, antlers first. Zarya had little room to maneuver in the crevice, but managed to avoid the charge by ducking under the beast and scrambling back through its hindlegs. The beast impacted the wall behind her, its horns lodged in the rock.
She slashed her sword along its underbelly as she slid below the beast. Again, her sword seemed to just slide along its hide to no effect whatsoever.
As she settled back into another fighting stance, the beast dislodged itself and turned to face her. It settled into an aggressive stance as well, barking at Zarya like a wild wolf and kicking its hindlegs against the floor as if ready to charge again.
“Harvey!” Zarya called up to her companion. “Canst thou tell me what this thing is?”
“Ah… oh dear, well, it’s definitely not a normal animal!” Harvey called back. “It’s a monster of some sort!”
The beast pounced at Zarya again. Again she nimbly leapt aside, this time striking her blade against its neck as she went. Again, it simply slid off its skin harmlessly.
“Yes, 'tis obvious!” she shouted. “Why dost my blade not work?”
“It must have a resistance of some kind to traditional weaponry. At the very least against your runic steel. Er… ah! Here! I shall lend some assistance!”
“What?”
Harvey swooped down briefly on the other side of the crevice, and grabbed one of the zebra miners’ dropped pickaxes, flinging it Zarya’s way.
Zarya dropped her sword for the moment—its black fire went out immediately—and grabbed the pickaxe in her tail. It was difficult to do so, as it was heavy and lacked runic markings to allow her tail to grasp it, but she managed.
Just in time, too, as the beast was lunging at her again. She ducked as swung at once slamming the pickaxe into the side of the beast’s head. Again, nothing really happened, though she’d swung so hard that she lost her grip on the tool and it sailed to the other side of the crevice.
The beast, however, was knocked dizzy for a brief instant, giving Zarya time to grab her sword again and prepare to defend herself. She noted to herself that while the pickaxe’s iron head hadn’t worked, she’d also struck with part of the wooden handle.
“That did not work!” she shouted back to Harvey. “At least not the iron!”
“Drat, perhaps it simply has a universal sort of resistance to metal. We might need to get unconventional here, my friend. Hmm…” Harvey glanced up into the crevasse, then seemed to spot something that caught his interest. “Ah! That might work. Be right back!”
“What? Harvey!” Zarya stared down the creature as it regained its composure, then took a deep breath. “Damnable creature!” she shouted, brandishing her blade more like a torch than a sword. “Hya! Come at me!”
Then, the creature did something unexpected. It reared up on its hindlegs, and seemed perfectly capable of standing on them indefinitely. It had already been bigger than Zarya by a full two heads, but now it absolutely towered over her, growling angrily as it glared down at the much smaller zebra.
“By Wylundr’s beard…” she muttered.
The creature gave another roar, leapt forward, and swept its front paw at Zarya. She barely ducked under the swing then ran under its legs again as fast as she could, not bothering to swing her sword this time, just focusing on gaining some distance.
The beast turned and gave chase, swiping its paws at her again. Zarya swung her sword to bat its paws away before it could grab her. In a desperate attempt to distract it, Zarya tightened her tail’s grip on her sword, bathing the blade in intense black fire.
This time when she struck the beast’s paw with her blade, it reeled back in surprise and gave a pained yowl. The fire hadn’t left a mark that Zarya could see, but the beast clearly didn’t like the heat.
With a newfound approach, Zarya switched to an offensive stance and began swinging her sword to drive the beast back. It shied away from the flaming blade that had hurt it, but seemed ready to strike at any moment, so Zarya was careful not to drop her guard.
Unfortunately, the beast grew more bold with every strike, testing the blade’s flames curiously as Zarya approached. Since the blade itself didn’t hurt, only the fire, the creature must have figured it worth attempting, which to Zarya meant that Harvey was right: this beast had some semblance of intelligence.
And, more unfortunately, the fires might not have actually been hurting it at all, or at least it was developing a quick tolerance to it, because eventually it did not shy away from Zarya’s blade whatsoever.
Zarya gulped as she struck the beast in the chest with the flaming sword and saw that it barely reacted at all. “Harvey! Whatever thou art doing, maketh it quick!”
Harvey, right on cue, landed on the opposite end of the crevice, a few dozen feet behind Zarya. “Here I am, here I am! So sorry, but I am not very strong.”
The beast gave another mighty roar and leaned down to grab Zarya.
Zarya channeled a bit more fire into her blade, enough for it to spew a gout of fire into its face. The light and heat was enough to distract it; the beast pawed at its eyes and nose to get the sparks out.
Zarya rushed over to Harvey while the creature was distracted, and saw that he had brought something with him: a long, sharp piece of ice. “What is this?”
“I know what this beast is, Zarya! I recall reading about it in one of the many books with Zeb’ra’den’s bestiary archive—”
“Focus thyself, Harvey! Will this work?”
“Oh! Yes yes, of course! The creature’s hide resists metallic substances, but not other materials, such as wood or ice. This icicle should be more than capable of injuring it.” He paused, then added: “I hope.”
“Thou hopest?”
“It’s the best chance we have!”
The beast had recovered from Zarya’s distraction now, and let out another roar as it charged towards the pair.
Zarya took a deep breath, then set her sword aside to carefully grip the icicle with her tail. This was very difficult to do, as it wasn’t particularly light, it was slippery, and it was awkwardly shaped.
Then, she waited. And waited. And, when the beast was close, she swung her body around to whip the icicle towards it.
The shard of ice pierced straight through the creature’s shoulder, knocking it off balance. It roared in pain and tumbled to the ground in front of Zarya and Harvey. Zarya lifted her sword up again, ignited the blade, and blasted the beast’s wound with a stream of fire; it roared even louder.
Zarya expected the beast to charge again in a rage, and was preparing herself to thrust her sword into its wound. So, she was surprised when instead, the beast leapt up out of the small crevice at the bottom of the chasm, then leapt up again to begin scaling the crevasse wall.
“Quickly! The beast flees, and we must give chase!” Zarya shouted at Harvey as she sheathed her sword. She gestured to the crevice wall. “Here, helpeth me up.”
“R-right!” Harvey gulped and nodded, then, to the best of his ability, lifted Zarya up onto the lip of the crevice, but not very well. “Oh dear, you are quite heavy, Zarya, forgive me.”
“Blasted beast!” Zarya called as she hoisted herself onto solid ground.
Unfortunately, the beast was moving far too quickly in its retreat, and by the time Zarya even managed to get near one of the ropes leading up, it was out of sight above the ice.
Zarya clicked her tongue. “'Tis a creature that doth not fight like a cornered animal. It hath fled too quickly.”
Harvey flew out of the crevice and landed next to Zarya, out of breath. “It possesses intelligence beyond that of a simple animal as well. Not quite the intelligence of us civilized folk, but it is operating on more than just instinct.”
“Come, we must ensure our comrades are safe.”
Zarya grabbed onto one of the ropes, took a deep breath, then started her long climb up.
Harvey hovered by her side the entire way. “Fear not, my friend, I will not allow harm to befall you. Luckily, these winds are not so rough down here, yes?”
“Thou hath my thanks,” Zarya muttered as she continued her climb, looking up—and only up—until she reached the top.
As Harvey and Zarya ascended out of the crevasse, they saw that the zebra miners had fled entirely. “Ah, drat, it would seem that our comrades did not wait to see how we fared below with the beast,” Harvey noted. “What a shame indeed. I had hoped to ask them about their mining process.”
“I hope that they hath not wandered far,” Zarya muttered. She looked out across the ice, seeing a trail of blood heading off to the north. “Our quarry hath fled in that direction. We must pursue it.”
Harvey raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Must we? What of the miners?”
Zarya shook her head. “They hath experience in the tundra and will be safe out here, so long as that creature doth not find them first. We shalt hunt the beast wherever it hath fled and ensure it bringeth no harm to anyzebra.”
“Ah, yes yes, that does sound appropriate,” Harvey said with a nod. “Luckily it has provided us with a trail to follow this time, eh? Though it does move awfully fast.”
“Thou hast made claim to know what this beast is?” Zarya asked. “Please, friend, telleth me what thou knowest.”
Harvey cleared his throat. “That creature is known as a ‘cynolycus’. As you have clearly seen, it is a stag-like creature with some canid traits—such as the paws and head—and is known to be a vicious, fiercely territorial hunter. Its skin is immune to metallic weaponry such as your sword, even if such a weapon were made of high-quality metals like zebrican runic steel, or even obidium.”
“And yet a simple icicle could pierceth its hide?” Zarya asked, eyebrow raised.
“Oh yes, yes indeed, for that is not steel, see? I suppose wood or stone might also work, but I saw nothing sharp enough of either material in the chasm. Most unfortunate, that.”
Zarya paused for a moment, then grabbed up one of the abandoned pickaxes the miners had dropped. Its handle, like the one she’d used before, was made of sturdy wood. “Then wouldst this suffice?”
Harvey adjusted his glasses and looked over the discarded tool, then nodded. “Indeed it would, yes. Why, if it were sharpened, I have no doubt that it could pierce its hide as well as any sword would do to a frostwolf. Well, maybe not quite as well, but I’m sure you’ll manage it, my friend, with your strength and skill.”
Zaraya shook her head. “A cynolycus. I hath never heard of such a beast before. Thy claim is that thou hast read of this creature in the Zeb’ra’den library? In a bestiary of some fashion?”
“Absolutely! It contained a detailed account of many mythical creatures that the zebras once encountered in these tundras in ancient times, some from long, long before even the civil war. If my memory serves, the last time one of these beasts was seen in these tundras was nearly two thousand years ago. It is quite a find!”
“Yes, 'tis a long time to go unnoticed.” She tilted her head in thought. “Dost thou suppose such a creature’s reappearance is connected with the change in the weather?”
“I was just about to suggest that, actually,” Harvey said with a nod. “Perhaps that specimen was frozen under the ice for thousands of years and was accidentally thawed out? Given that it has become colder in recent years, such a possibility might seem unlikely, but the cold could have affected any number of things that might have freed it.”
Zarya hummed and nodded. “Then we must pursue it and bringeth proof of its existence to Blackfire Keep. The Lord-Commander will want to know what dangers might prowl the tundra.” She gestured for Harvey to follow her. “Come. The beast hath likely made for its lair to lick its wounds. We shall corner it there and strike it down. Such a monster cannot be allowed to roam free.”
*****
It took a little more than a day of tracking before Zarya unfortunately lost the creature’s trail. The cynolycus moved quickly, that much was for certain; she and Harvey had moved a few dozen miles overall, barely taking the time to stop for sleep so that they wouldn’t lose the trail, but that did not prove beneficial whatsoever so now they were slightly tired with little to show for it at the end of a long night.
They lost the trail near a rocky ridge that overlooked a snowfield on the northeastern borders of zebra territory. Because of the constant snowfall—even this far north—they had no tracks to go off of, only the beast’s blood, and the farther north they went the less blood there was to track as the beast’s wound healed. The last patch of red led out into the snowfield itself, but was so small at this point that it was hard to tell a precise direction to follow.
Worse yet, Zarya knew that traveling at night was a bad idea. It was so dark that the only light she and Harvey had to go on was the fire of her sword. The snow and wind had picked up such that it was hard to hear much of anything, and it was very, very cold. She was glad it was still summer. In the winter, she and Harvey would likely freeze to death in the current weather.
“Damnable creature,” Zarya snorted as she looked out over the tundra, hooves over her eyes to keep out snow. “Thine assessment proveth more true by the hour. Our quarry hath a mind beyond any frostwolf I hath ever tracked.”
“That might be so, my friend, but it is still not as intelligent as we are, hmm?” Harvey said, tucking his chin deeper into his scarf. “Even a creature such as this would need to return to its lair, as you said. Well, this ridge here is likely full of caves, caverns, crevices, and clefts of all sorts and sizes that might serve as an effective den for the beast. We merely have to search, yes?”
“Perhaps. But this ridge goeth on for miles,” Zarya said, indicating to the east, where the ridge went far beyond what they could see of the horizon. “Were we to searcheth through every possible den, it could takest us days or more, and the beast couldst certainly leave by then and wouldst have time to recover. There was hope in me that we couldst catch it while its wound was still troublesome for it.”
“Hmm… yes, that does present quite a bothersome conundrum, doesn’t it? Dear oh dear, this is most troubling. I don’t suppose we could return to Zeb’ra’den and request aid from the Order? Surely more bodies seeking this beast out would be of benefit?”
Zarya nodded and sighed, hating to admit that she’d failed. “Yes, 'twould be the wiser decision. Come. Let us—”
Then, Zarya paused, and she squinted as she looked off into the distance. There was a light coming from near one of the larger rock formations jutting out from the ice just north of here, less than a mile away.
She gestured towards the light. “Harvey, dost thou see that?”
Harvey squinted off into the distance as well, then nodded. “Yes yes, a light. A light! Quite bright, actually, if we can see it so clearly from this distance. And it is not flickering, either, so it couldn’t be from anything as simple as a lantern or a candle. It’s not fire light, is what I mean to say. Magical light, then?”
“But not from a runic blade, for 'twould be recognizable to me and wouldst still flicker. A unicorn, perhaps?” Zarya shook her head, as there was no sense in discussing it. “Come, we must investigate. If this light belongeth to a pony then they art in danger, and 'tis my duty to warn them of our quarry.”
“Oh dear, yes. Ah! Perhaps our quarry might even be attracted to the light? It would certainly simplify the hunt,” Harvey suggested. “Perhaps they might unwittingly serve as bait?” He then paused, and tugged his scarf. “Not that I would suggest we use them as such! Merely an observation, heh heh.”
“A morbid consideration, but not entirely untrue. Let us make haste, then, so that our quarry dost not have itself a meal of innocent pony, bait though they might be.”
Zarya then leapt down the rocky steppes with practiced ease—heights didn’t bother her when she had her hooves below her—with Harvey flying right behind her, and they made their way onto the tundra proper before running towards the source of the light as quickly as they could.
As they got closer, the light got brighter still. Zarya adjusted her original theory, because a light this bright could not come from a single unicorn unless they were quite powerful indeed. In addition, they could just make out the sound of voices over the winds, and they did not sound friendly, at least not to one another. There were multiple unicorns present, that was certain.
The duo came up to the edge of the rocky outcropping, which they used for cover at the moment to observe the source of the light and voices. Zarya quirked an eyebrow when she saw that her assessment was correct: there were indeed ponies here in zebra lands.
Actually, there were several ponies out in the tundra at present, each of them wearing suits of metallic armor that some of the noble Houses garbed their guards in, only more suited for military combat. Soldiers then? Six unicorns in the collection wore crude, gold-tinted armor with purple accents, and each of these wielded a simple longsword.
Another wore high-quality, silver-tinted armor decorated with gold stripes. He was a unicorn as well, and he wielded a longsword with his magic. At present he was just a mysterious swordfighter who stood alone against the other gold-garbed ponies, but he seemed so much more than that even at that moment. Zarya would soon learn that this pony was Silver Shine.
The situation had not escalated yet, but it appeared as if it would do so at any moment. The two pony forces—if the lone unicorn could be called a force by himself—occupied a small stretch of ice and snow situated between two formations of rock, one of which Zarya and Harvey now hid behind, the other opposite from them some thirty feet, together forming a sort of half circle.
“What are so many ponies doing so far south in military garb?” Harvey whispered nervously. “They don’t appear to be a diplomatic grouping.”
“I knowest not. 'Tis not a typical sight even this far north of Zeb’ra’den,” Zarya whispered back.
“Hmm… well, it appears as if that single unicorn there,” Harvey said, tilting his head towards Shine, “belongs to House Silver, judging from the coloring of his armor, and based on those stripes he is of quite a high rank or standing. The others all belong to House Golden, I believe. Common soldiers all, with one ranking officer. A sergeant, perhaps?”
Zarya narrowed her eyes as she watched Shine settle into a combat stance. She and Harvey were just close enough that she could hear the ponies speaking clearly now.
“You’ve gone far enough, Shiny boy,” drawled the ranking officer, whose armor bore a red diamond-shaped emblem. “Dere ain’t nowhere left for you to run.”
Shine snorted, keeping his sword up and ready. “That’s quite alright, Sergeant. I think I’m done running anyway. It looks like I’ve got you all right where I want you.”
“You do, do you?” The sergeant glanced at his troops with a grin, then clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Well, if dat’s what you think. Anyways, we was tol’ dat we can bring you in alive for a good cut, but you still good to us if you’re dead. Half the promised bounty is still half a fortune, mon ami.”
“So, why are we wasting time talking?”
“‘Cause we figured you might wanna live, boy, and ‘cause we’d rathah get de whole bounty. So I’m gon’ ax you jus’ dis once: put down dat fancy sword of yours and come along real quiet-like.”
Shine smirked. “Now, why would I do something as stupid as that? I’m as good as dead if you bring me in anyway. You’re just going to have to settle for half, sergeant. Terribly sorry. That is, if you can kill me.”
The sergeant raised an eyebrow. “You not all dere in de head, boy? Lookit, we got you outnumbered six-to-one. Now I know dey say you’re de best swordfighter on de whole continent, but dat don’t mean nuttin’ against dem odds. Ain’t nopony dat good.”
“Funny, I was about to suggest the exact same back to you, sergeant. Only six-to-one? I don’t much like your odds.”
Shine’s eyes were passing along the entire crew of ponies staring him down. Zarya knew he was looking for weak links, of which there were three: two of the soldiers were younger and holding their blades too lax, and a third clearly was suffering from a cold because of the weather.
“So, how about we flip this little ultimatum of yours around?” Shine continued. “You and your men turn around and go home empty-hooved but alive, or you try to take me on and you die. Simple as that.”
The sergeant snorted. “You talk like a big stallion, Shiny boy, but dat dere mouth of yours jus’ got you in a whole heap of trouble.” He gestured to the ponies with him. “Go on den, boys, guess we’re taking him in dead.”
“Damnable ponies,” Zarya grunted as she hoisted herself up to move around the rocks.
“W-wait, Zarya!” Harvey hissed. “What are you doing? This isn’t our fight,, is it?”
“No, but our quarry may believe these ponies easy prey. 'Tis my duty to warn them, regardless of the circumstances.” Zarya then hopped out from behind the rocks—her sword in its sheath—and called out: “Cease thy quarrel at once, ponies!”
The attention of everypony in the clearing was now on her. “What’s dis?” grunted the sergeant. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I should asketh thee the same. These art zebra lands that thou hast trespassed upon, soldier. But thy business is of no importance to me. Thou must cease thy quarrel at once.”
“Cease our what?”
“Thy confrontation, sir. 'Tis not the time nor place to be engaging in such an act. A deadly creature haunts this tundra. My companion and I,” she continued, gesturing to Harvey, who’d come out from behind the rock as well, “art tracking it to prevent it from bringing harm to others. Thou art in danger here.”
“What sort of creature?” asked Shine, lowering his sword briefly.
“It’s called a cynolycus,” said Harvey, adjusting his glasses. “It is a stag-like creature with canid features—such its wolf-like head and front paws—and it is quite large and very dangerous. We’ve been tracking it for almost two days now, I believe. Give or take a few hours. At any rate, we’ve tracked it this far, so it’s likely close by.”
“Indeed,” said Zarya with a nod. “Thou art in danger here. Take thy quarrel elsewhere, ponies.”
“Dis some idea of a joke?” asked the sergeant, rolling his eyes. “Dere ain’t no such thang as this… cyno-whatsit. What is dis, hmm? You two friends of Shiny over dere? Come here to help him outta dis heap of trouble he’s got himself into?”
“I’ve never seen either of these individuals before in my life, sergeant,” Shine grunted, raising his sword back up. “And I certainly don’t require any assistance getting myself out of this ‘heap of trouble’ you seem to think I’m in. You’d best listen to the zebra.”
“Ha! You’d like dat wouldn’t you, Shiny boy? Dis here mare is lying through her teeth, dat’s my thought.”
“Art thou questioning my honor, sir?” Zarya asked, glaring at the sergeant. “Though my words might seem outlandish and hard to believe, I am bound as a Knight of the Black Flame to speaketh truly and keepeth safe those upon zebra lands, which thou art at present. 'Tis my duty to ensure thy safety.”
“You all can quarrel and argue and fight as much as you'd like, actually,” Harvey interjected. “Just don’t do it here. The zebra borders extend about forty miles further north. I’m certain you would all much rather be someplace nice and warm before you do whatever it is you were doing.”
The sergeant laughed, and his soldiers laughed along with him. “Gaw-lee, you folks tink dat dere creature of yours scares us? We’re soldiers of House Golden. We don’t back down from no fights. We ain’t leaving, girl.”
“Then thou art more foolish than I thought,” Zarya snorted.
“I’ll say,” Harvey huffed, adjusting his glasses. “This mare is a knight, sir, and she deserves to be treated and addressed as such. Besides which, she only has your best interests at heart, so a little respect would go a long way.”
The sergeant smirked. “All I hear is a couple of folk tink dey can push us ‘round like dey’re lords or ladies, and I didn’t hear no title like dat now, did I? You’re just trying ta keep ol’ Shiny boy here safe. Ain’t no secret you zebras let House Silver get away with murder in your territory.”
Zarya’s glare intensified. “Still thy tongue, soldier. Thou knowest not of what thou speakest.”
Shine snorted loudly. “You sound like a damned idiot spewing that kind of garbage, sergeant. It’s your Lord Golden Shield that’s gotten away with murder.”
Harvey sighed. “Please, gentlecolts, this is really not the time for this.”
The sergeant chuckled. “You can say all dat you want, but we ain’t leaving dis here spot widout our friend Shiny boy over dere,” he said, gesturing at Shine.
Shine cracked his neck and held his sword up at the ready. “You are welcome to try, sergeant.”
“And if you get in de way, girl,” the sergeant continued, gesturing at Zarya, “House Golden’s gonna come down on you zebras all de same.” He turned to his soldiers again. “Go on den, kill de bastard.”
Zarya sighed and shook her head. “Damnable ponies.” She turned to Harvey and gestured out of clearing. “Come, we shall resume the hunt. I hath done my duty.”
“But Zarya—” Harvey started to say. But Zarya just shook her head, and he didn’t finish his thought, merely nodded and followed.
The unicorn soldiers—except the sergeant—surround Shine as ordered, and took their time looking amongst one another to see which of them would strike first. Shine, in turn, kept focused on the group at large, watching and waiting for the first sign of movement.
The first sign of movement came from just to Shine’s right.
But it was not from a soldier.
The cynolycus leapt out of the shadows of the rocky crag and, with a roar, gored the unicorn soldier at Shine’s three o’clock position, ripping through metal armor like it was paper.
The soldier screamed in pain at first, then stopped when the beast slammed him hard enough against the ground to break his neck. The beast then used its paws to tear the soldier off its tusks and ripped into his throat with its razor-sharp teeth before turning and roaring at the rest of the group.
It lunged next at the soldier that had been at Shine’s twelve o’clock position, who hesitated too long and was frozen in fear. In fact, every pony in the clearing had frozen up at the sight of the monster ripping apart the soldier in the span of a few seconds.
Except for Shine, who swung his blade up into the beast’s neck. He was clearly not expecting his sword to simply slide off the creature’s hide, but he’d swung with so much force that the beast lost its balance briefly, just enough that the soldier wasn’t met with the same fate as his comrade.
“Retreat!” called the sergeant, already running away. “Retreat!”
The other soldiers didn’t need to be told again, and started running after him immediately.
“Idiots! Stand and fight!” Shine called after them. “What happened to not running from a fight?! Cowards!”
They obviously paid him no heed.
The cynolycus turned towards the fleeing soldiers and made to give chase. Zarya—blade drawn the instant the creature had appeared—let loose a gout of fire in its path to distract it.
The beast roared and growled in Zarya’s direction briefly, and its eyes narrowed with genuine anger when it spotted her and her sword. This was no animal anger, that was actual rage and hatred in its eyes.
“That’s right, beast,” Zarya said, brandishing her sword. “Thou art my prey. Come then! Faceth me!”
Shine thrust his sword into the beast’s torso while it was distracted. This, of course, had no effect, not even to really distract the beast.
However, the cynolycus was apparently as intelligent as Zarya believed it was, because it seemed to realize there was no point in fighting here and now. Instead, it leapt back and scooped up the fallen soldier in its jaws, then clamored over the rocks, but not before growling at Zarya in the process.
“Get back here!” Zarya shouted. She rushed at the rocks and chased after the cynolycus, then noticed that Shine, despite not being prompted, was doing the same.
They pair made their way up as fast as they could, but the beast was much faster than they were by far, and was over the top before the zebra and unicorn even made it a third of the way up. By the time they reached the top, the beast was already too far out onto the snowfield to do anything about it.
“Gods forsaken beast!” Zarya spat, pounding her hoof on the rock.
Shine looked between the beast and Zarya as it fled. “That was the creature you were tracking? The… ‘cynolycus’, your companion called it?”
Zarya nodded and sheathed her sword. “Yes, 'tis the beast most foul that my companion and I hunt.”
Speaking of her companion, Harvey flew up to meet them at the top of the rocks, apparently sensing the coast was clear. He glanced out onto the tundra and watched the cynolycus sprinting across the dark ice and snow far away by this point.
“Dear oh dear,” he muttered, shaking his head. “This is certainly quite a troublesome pickle we’re in, isn’t it? It escaped again.”
“For now. But the beast goes to its lair with its meal,” Zarya grunted. She gestured along the rocks at the spilled blood from the fallen soldier. “We shall follow this new trail and corner it there. With nowhere to run, the beast will be at my mercy. It shalt not escape again.”
“How is it that this beast resisted my blade?” Shine asked, eyeing his sword carefully, as if looking for damage. “It slid off of its skin with no effect whatsoever, like soap across a wet countertop. I struck its neck with enough force to cleave through armor.”
Harvey nodded and adjusted his glasses. “The cynolycus’s skin is immune to the effects of any traditional metals, including some of the rarer ones, such as—”
“So then it resists my steel,” Shine interrupted, sheathing his blade. He turned to Zarya and tilted his head towards her sword. “I assume it resists your blade as well, despite it being made of zebrican runic steel?”
“Yes, it does,” Zarya replied, eyebrow raised. “Thou knowest of zebrican ruinc steel?”
“Of course, it’s only the finest steel in the south for blades. A shame you zebras keep it all to yourselves.” Shine shook his head. “But if even that doesn’t work, then what’s your plan for killing the monster?”
“The beast can be wounded by non-metal substances. I hath wounded it before with an icicle. 'Tis how we tracked it this far.” She then pulled the sharpened wooden handle of the pickaxe she’d taken from the miners—the metal bits had been removed to make it lighter—and showed it off. “Wood will also injure the creature.”
Shine eyed the wooden stake, clearly doubtful, but he nodded. “If you say so.”
“Why, it’s just a matter of us getting close enough to do so,” Harvey noted. “But my friend here is quite a skilled knight so she will manage it, of that I am certain. Then the beast will be a threat no longer. Huzzah and hooray!”
“A little too early to be cheering, don’t you think?” Shine looked to Zarya again. “So that’s your plan then? You’re going to track this beast to its lair and stake it through the heart like it’s some sort of vampire?”
“If the comparison eases thine acceptance, then yes, that is my plan,” Zarya huffed. She then turned to Harvey. “Come, we must give chase before it finishes its meal. If the beast is intelligent as it seems thus far, it may expect us to follow, so we must not giveth it time to prepare.”
Harvey frowned and tugged his scarf. “Oh dear, that certainly is a troubling thought, isn’t it? The creature seems to utilize ambushes fairly well and knows when the opportune time to strike is, doesn’t it? Oh dear… oh my oh my, this is quite a pickle. We could be walking into a trap!”
“You’re saying this beast is intelligent?” Shine asked, eyebrow raised.
“Yes, so we mustn’t tarry,” Zarya sid with a nod. “Farewell, good sir.” She then climbed over the rocks and started her way down the other side, Harvey fluttering just behind her.
“Hold on!” Shine called as he followed behind. “You can’t seriously be going to attempt this foolhardy plan of yours with just yourself and a skittish hippogriff.”
“'Tis our plan, yes, and we art quite serious about it. Mine honor as a knight requires me to do my duty without fear or—”
“I understand all of that, truly, but you’re liable to get yourself killed going there with just the two of you. Besides, you don’t look like you’d be nearly as good wielding that stupid hunk of wood as you would be using your sword.” He punctuated this by yanking the wooden stake from her with his magic.
“My blade doth not work against the creature’s hide, sir,” Zarya snorted. “We hath discussed this at length.”
“Yeah, I realize that, but I know all about your Order, the Knights of the Black Flame?” He gestured at her sword. “I know you said that’s what you were, and that blade of yours is proof. I saw the flames you created with it. It could be useful as a distraction.”
“Good sir, this business is mine,” Zarya said, reaching to try and take the stake back from him. “The cynolycus endangers zebra lands, and thus 'tis my duty to slay it. Thou mayest pursue thine own agenda elsewhere. I will not stop thee.”
“What are you doing all the way out here, anyhow?” Harvey asked, adjusting his glasses. “Zebra territory is rather far removed from either House Golden or House Silver’s estates, and for the former to be pursuing anypony from the latter this far south—or at all, really—is quite peculiar.”
Shine paused a moment, clearly in thought, then shook his head. “It’s a long story, but I’m here looking to have an audience with King Zaratite himself. My business is my own and I will speak no further of it in current company, but suffice to say I need to make haste to Zeb’ra’den.”
“Then tarry not, good sir,” Zarya said, gesturing to the southwest. “At a fair pace, thou shouldst arrive in a week at most.”
“That’s all well and good, but I don’t know the exact heading too well—I mean, look at where we are, I came much too far east—but that’s not the point here. Zeb’ra’den can wait. That monster is on the loose here, and for all I know it could decide to come north into pony lands. Besides, you need my help.”
Zarya scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I needst not any help in my duties, good sir—”
“Maybe, but I’m offering it all the same. As a member of House Silver, it is my duty to protect and guide those of the pony lands to the north, so consider this offering as me taking a preliminary strike against a possible threat to ponykind.”
Harvey cleared his throat and turned to Zarya. “Well, we could certainly use his assistance. He makes a valid point that he’d be better suited for using that stake than you would, and your sword’s flames would be useful to keep the cynolycus distracted. I see no reason why not, do you?”
Zarya pondered this for a long moment, then sighed and nodded. “Very well, we wouldst be most grateful for thine assistance, good sir.”
“Good, glad we’re finally seeing eye-to-eye on this issue.” Shine offered Zarya his hoof. “I am Lord Silver Shine of House Silver. You are a Knight of the Black Flame, but I don’t believe you gave a name earlier.”
Zarya took his hoof and gave a slight bow. “I am Dame Zarya.”
Shine then turned to Harvey, who barely waited for Zarya to relinquish Shine’s hoof. “Greetings and salutations, m’lord. My name is Harvey, and I am a scholar and diplomat in service of Astropolis, capital of the Hippogriff Commonwealth. It is a pleasure to meet you! I have so many questions about pony society—”
Shine grunted. “Yes, yes, I’m sure you do, good sir, but this is neither the time nor the place.”
“Ah! Of course not, surely not, no, not at all,” Harvey said, shaking his head. “Why, we have quite a task ahead of us, do we not?”
Zarya nodded. “Yes, that we do.” She gestured off in the direction that the cynolycus had fled. “Come, let us proceed then, before the trail goes cold.” She paused briefly, then bowed slightly to Shine. “If thou wouldst, m’lord.”
Shine smirked. “Well, at least the two of you have some manners. Go on then, lead the way. You seem to be the better tracker here.”
Zarya nodded, then made her way through the ice and snow, Shine and Harvey right behind her, thinking about how odd her current company was.
*****
Finding the cynolycus’s cavernous lair had proven rather simple, thankfully. The trail of blood left by its earlier kill was easy enough to track on its own, as were the few pieces of armor that had been dropped along the way. The cavern was situated midway up a cliff a few miles southeast from the clearing where the beast had last been spotted, and the climb was so far the easiest part of the hunt.
Once Zarya and Shine reached the entrance and called Harvey up to them, the trio made their way inside, slowly, quietly, and cautiously. Zarya kept her blade tight in her tail’s grip, but did not ignite it just yet; Shine did not wield his weapon either—sword nor stake—so as not to generate light from his horn. Harvey followed just behind, carefully guiding them as best he could, for his enchanted glasses allowed him to see through the darkness of the cavern well enough.
The walls and ceiling of the cavern were coated with a thick layer of ice, the floor not so much, which was fortunate as what ice there was was already rather slippery. The cavern wasn’t very deep, either, so it did not take them long before they reached the actual den of the cynolycus.
The den was laden with dozens of bones strewn about, some small, some large, but all of them clearly from fairly recent kills as they were still white and had bits of meat stuck to them. Zarya could tell that some of them belonged to animals as she recognized a frostwolf skull against a far wall, as well as some other polar animals like foxes, hares, and even a bear.
But other bones definitely did not belong to simple animals. They were the bones of zebras. Zarya could tell this fairly quickly from the bones’ size and shape alone, but she could also see the remains of cloaks and tools. No pony remains, as far as she could tell, but then this beast would have needed to venture quite far north to hunt any ponies.
At any rate, the sheer number of bones and the decent quality they were in was enough indication that the beast had been feeding quite well, and had been doing so for months at this point. How nozebra had spotted the creature and brought news of it until now was perplexing. She recalled the Lord-Commander mentioning that a few smaller mining and foraging parties had gone missing in recent months, but those had been attributed to the weather, not some monster.
If not for Harvey’s marker getting ruined, this creature would likely still be preying on zebras right now with everyzebra completely unaware of the cause.
At the moment, the creature was not present in its lair, but it had clearly been here very recently. The body of its most recent kill wasn’t here either, which was bothersome to say the least.
“Where the hell is it?” Shine whispered to Zarya. “This is definitely its lair, right?”
“Keepeth thy guard up, m’lord,” Zarya whispered back, igniting her blade. “The beast is smarter than we hath believed. We were hunting it, now it hunteth us.”
Shine drew his sword and the stake together and held them aloft in his magic. “Well, I’m used to being hunted by now, I guess.”
Harvey gulped and backed up against Shine. “Oh dear. Where could it be? I don’t like this, not one bit.”
“Nor do I,” Zarya muttered, lifting her sword up to light the chamber. “It cannot hath gone—”
Her eyes widened as the light of her sword caught the gleam of the monster’s eyes. It was directly above them, hiding in a small alcove on the ceiling.
Clearly realizing it had been spotted, the beast leapt down from the ceiling with a roar, lunging straight at Harvey—the unarmed and vulnerable one—first.
Shine, who was closest to Harvey, shoved the hippogriff out of the creature’s way, and the beast’s paw landed directly between them. Unfortunately, the wooden stake was caught in its path and was crushed against the rocky floor.
Zarya blasted the creature in the face with a gout of fire, driving it back a few feet. “Harvey! Run!”
Harvey ran the only direction he could, as the monster was blocking the exit, which meant he had to flee further into the den. “Oh! Um! It would seem we’re trapped! Oh dear.”
Zarya grunted and kept her torrent of flame up in the beast’s face, driving it back further. “The stake, Lord Shine! Quickly!”
Shine lifted up what was left of the stake, which had just been crushed. Some shards of wood had blood on them, but the stake was useless now. “That’s not good.”
Zara glanced over and saw the damaged weapon, and her eyes widened. “Damn.”
The cynolycus pushed back against Zarya’s efforts, using its uninjured paw to shield its eyes and nose from the flame. Zarya intensified the heat as much as she could, but all it seemed to do was cause the beast minor discomfort.
Shine gripped his sword and drove it at the beast’s other paw, where a few splinters of wood were still caught in the pad. As immune as its skin was to metal, once its skin had been pierced, what was beneath was apparently not quite so immune.
The beast gave a pained yowl as Shine’s blade dug into its paw and, seeing the source of its pain so close, it moved away from Zarya to pursue him instead.
Shine was nimble though, despite his armor, and moved quicker and with more grace than Zarya had ever seen a unicorn move before, deftly ducking beneath the beasts good paw, sliding through its hindlegs, and swiping at the open wound on its injured paw as he went, all in one swift motion.
Unfortunately, the beast was angry now, and was a lot faster than they’d given it credit for, a benefit of its bipedal stance. It reached back with its good paw and grabbed Shine by the tail just before he got out of range.
Zarya reacted quickly, noticing the still-healing wound on its shoulder where she’d impaled it with ice. The beast was too tall for her to strike it directly, but another gout of flame to the wound certainly did the trick.
Too well in fact, as in its sudden, searing pain, it flung Shine against a nearby wall, hard. Shine’s armor luckily seemed hefty enough to absorb the majority of the impact. And now, Zarya had the beast’s attention back on herself.
She saw Harvey rush over to Shine briefly while she drew the monster away from them, which was easy to do. She must have really hurt it this time.
Unfortunately, the cynolycus quickly seemed to adapt to the pain of the fire, or perhaps she’d cauterized the wound, because after only a moment it was moving after her with such anger and ferocity that she was having a great deal of difficulty keeping out of reach. Her only benefit was that while the beast’s hide was immune to her sword, the blade was strong enough to deflect its paws without breaking.
And then, the creature proved just how crafty and intelligent it was, when Zarya attempted to feint left then move right to get herself some breathing room. It didn’t fall for the feint one bit, and in fact cheated by blocking both routes with its paws, using its imposing stature to its advantage.
Zarya was caught.
The beast brought her to its great maw, let out a roar, then made to bite.
But it roared in pain instead, as Shine had just impaled is hindleg with a sharp bone from a bear’s ribcage. If ice worked and wood worked, so too did bone.
“Over here, ugly!” Shine shouted.
The creature stumbled, dropping Zarya in the process, leaving her to get a fair distance away. It pulled the bone from its leg and glared in Shine’s direction, but he was halfway across the room, several more bones held aloft in his magical field.
Shine flung bone after bone at the beast as it hunched down on all fours and ran towards him, using its good paw to protect its face. Some impacted the paw; some struck its other foreleg; some struck its shoulders.
Despite this, the beast still seemed resilient, and though Shine was able to dodge out of the way of its charge as it reached him, the beast swung its antlers towards him mid-leap, knocking him off balance enough knock him to the ground.
The beast then snarled and pounced towards Shine, maw wide open, tusks at the ready.
Zarya was quicker. She leapt in between the beast and Shine, her blade held firmly in her tail, and thrust upward with all the strength she could. The blade went straight up into its skull; again, its insides were not quite as immune to steel as its hide was. As the beast landed, it pinned Zarya under itself, in turn pinning her on top of Shine.
But the beast wasn’t moving.
Just to be sure, though, Zarya channeled a gout of flame through her blade, cooking the monster from the inside out.
A moment later, Zarya grunted as she pushed herself up and off of Shine, using all of her strength to roll out from under the beast’s carcass. “At last, the beast hath fallen.”
Shine let out a breath of relief. “That was quite the maneuver, Dame Zarya. Thanks.”
Zarya gave him a nod. “And thank thee as well, m’lord, for thine earlier rescue. Art thou injured?”
Shine grunted and rose to his hooves, shaking his head. “No, I’m alright. I’ve been hit harder than that before, believe me. You?”
“I am uninjured.” Zarya turned to Harvey, who was huddled against the opposite wall at the moment. “Harvey? Art thou alright?”
Harvey swooped over and let out a relieved breath of his own. “Oh yes, I am quite alright, yes indeed, though that would just be my physical condition. Emotionally, however, I am still reeling in panic, oh yes, and perhaps my elevated heartbeat would constitute a physical anomaly worth noting, hmm?”
Zarya smiled and nodded. “'Tis good then.” She glanced at the hulking carcass of the cynolycus and sighed. “Such a fearsome beast. Thank Wylundr that it hath been vanquished.” She then nodded at Shine. “I thank thee once more for thy help, m’lord. Thou hast been instrumental in this hunt.”
Shine smirked. “Oh, I’m aware. I believe I made it perfectly clear that you needed me here to succeed, so I’m glad that I’ve proven that much to you.” He then sheathed his sword. “So, now that your little cynolycus problem has been dealt with, I must make haste to Zeb’ra’den. I don’t suppose you’re heading back in that direction?”
Zarya tilted her head. “Naturally, m’lord, as we must report our encounter—”
“Yes yes, I figured as much. In which case I would greatly appreciate an escort, for as I said earlier, I do not know the way there so well myself. Considering the assistance I have lent you in your endeavors thus far, I feel it’s only fair.”
“Indeed, 'tis a fair proposal, m’lord. We can begin our journey as soon as we collect evidence of our kill.”
“‘Evidence’?”
“Oh yes,” Harvey interjected, adjusting his glasses. “You see, if we walk into Blackfire Keep claiming that we slew a cynolycus, why, none would believe our tale! We require proof that the beast exists, and that it is now dead by our claws… hooves… whatever. So, we must take some evidence from the creature with us.”
“How do you propose we even bring evidence? This beast is far too large to carry, even with the three of us.”
Zarya grabbed a sharpened hunk of bone. “A bone knife shalt cut through its hide, yes?”
“Ah, yes, that would do the trick.” Shine stared at the carcass, then tilted his head. “What sort of evidence do you think would suffice?”
*****
Zarya hoisted her saddlebag onto Lord-Commander Zaffir’s desk back at Blackfire Keep revealing the head of the cynolycus that she’d carried all this way—over multiple days and about a hundred miles—with the help of Shine and Harvey. The Lord-Commander eyed the beast’s head with disdain and disgust, then turned his attention fully to Zarya.
“Dame Zarya what is this thing thou hast brought?”
“'Tis the cynolycus we fought,” Zarya replied, finishing his rhyme in her meter, as was their custom.
Zaffir raised an eyebrow and turned to Harvey, clearly expecting him to have more information. “A cynolycus? Such a beast hath not plagued these snows since the most ancient of times. Art thou certain that this creature is what thou thinkest it is?”
Harvey adjusted his glasses. “Yes indeed, Lord-Commander, and as you can plainly see, this one was quite active out in the eastern tundras. It destroyed one of my weather markers and was hunting a party of zebra miners. We saw evidence that suggests that some of the missing parties over the past few months also fell prey to the beast.”
Zaffir nodded sadly. “Ah, 'tis a pity. 'Twas my belief that the weather claimed them.” He then paused in thought. “Hmm… some miners returned to Zeb’ra’den a few days ago and made claims to hath seen a horrible creature out in the tundra, and that a mysterious knight came to their aid. 'Twas this cynolycus that they saw, and 'twas Dame Zarya that aided their escape?”
“Yes, sir, yes indeed! She fought bravely, even though the beast’s hide resisted her blade and even though the beast stood five times her height.” Harvey gave Zarya a little smile and a nod. “I am glad I had her with me out there. I don’t know if any other knight could’ve done what she did.”
Zaffir nodded and turned back to Zarya. “Thou hast proven thyself in battle, then. Good. None shalt doubt thy skills ever again.”
Zarya gave a short bow of appreciation, but it was mostly to hide the smile on her face. “Lord-Commander, thy words are kind.”
“And with that, thou hast earned time to unwind.” Zaffir then turned his attention to Shine, who’d remained quiet thus far. “And who art thou, good sir?”
Shine gave a brief nod. “Lord Silver Shine of House Silver, Lord-Commander.”
“M’lord, welcome to Zeb’ra’den,” Zaffir said, giving a short bow of respect. “To what doth our fair city owe the honor of thy visit?”
“It is a complicated matter, one I wish to speak directly with King Zaratite about. It is imperative that I speak with him as soon as possible for the matter is most urgent and is of a personal nature.”
“And why art thou alongside our Dame Zarya, might I inquire?”
“He assisted us in killing the cynolycus,” Harvey interjected. “It attacked him and some other ponies traveling through the tundra, so he naturally was very eager to defend himself, yes?”
Shine cleared his throat. “That’s correct, the beast attacked me, and I couldn’t just stand by as Dame Zarya tried to fight off the creature all by herself. Since it attacked me first, I figured it was my fight as well as hers.”
Zaffir grunted and nodded. “'Tis a fine effort, then. I thanketh thee for thine assistance in this matter, for it may prevent the loss of further zebra lives. As for thy request, an audience can be arranged. Dame Zarya shall escorteth thee to the royal palace at once, whilst I compose a message for His Majesty. Dost thou find this arrangement agreeable?”
Shine smiled and nodded. “That will do nicely, Lord-Commander, thank you.” He then turned to Zarya and smirked. “Come along then, Dame Zarya, I believe you’ve been given an order.”
Zarya snorted—Silver Shine was a bit too pushy and cocky for her tastes—but nodded in agreement anyway. “At once, m’lord. Thou shalt follow me.” She then gave a brief nod to Zaffir before leaving the chamber, Shine following right behind her.
Harvey followed along as well. “Oh my, this is quite exciting, isn’t it?” he said with a big smile. “I haven’t had an opportunity to meet with His Majesty in quite a long while. This should prove a most interesting opportunity to witness him interacting with a foreign dignitary. What a privilege!”
Shine raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t been granted an audience, Harvey. This is my meeting, not yours.”
“Ah, but I beg to differ! I know Lord-Commander Zaffir quite well I think, and I’m certain that he’ll be including your escapades against the cynolycus in his message. His Majesty would likely want to ask me and Zarya for confirmation of these claims, so I can guarantee you that we’ll be present for the proceedings.”
“Hmm… very well, you seem to know more about zebra culture than I do, so again I will defer to your judgement.” Shine looked to Zarya. “What was all that back there about ‘none shalt doubt thy skills’, if I might ask? It seemed rather out of place to say something like that.”
Zarya grunted. “'Tis not thy business, m’lord, if I might be so bold as to refuse thy question.”
Shine smirked. “Ah, okay, I see how it is. You may keep your secrets, Dame Zarya… for now.”
*****
The walls of Zeb’ra’den’s throne room were decorated with well-crafted weapons made of various precious materials: swords with jewel-encrusted hilts, axes with silver-coated blades, a lance with a spearhead of emerald, and so on. Under each was the name of the former king who had carried that particular weapon, crafted onto a plaque made of the same materials.
King Zaratite himself sat on a throne decorated with furs and antlers and a gold-studded longbow. He was a strongly built zebra that filled out his robed armor fairly well, clean-shaven with a long, neatly styled mane and tail. His age did not show quite so clearly, so he looked a good ten years younger than he was with nary a wrinkle or gray hair in sight.
Typically, Zarya knew there would be a bit more of a crowd here—guards and clerics, for example—but as this was a rather impromptu meeting and because there was no ceremony necessary for it, the only zebra present besides herself and her king was the king’s military and political advisor, Warlord Ziggurat, who was easily the largest zebra in the room without question and carried a warhammer as big as he was.
Zarya, Harvey, and Shine had all bowed once they presented themselves before the king, the former two much lower than the latter.
“Lord Silver Shine of House Silver, thou standest before His Majesty King Zaratite,” announced Ziggurat, pounding his hammer on the floor like a gavel. “Thou hast requested His Majesty’s presence. Present thy intentions here, if thou wouldst.”
Shine rose from his bow. “Your Majesty, forgive me from bothering you in this late hour and without sending word ahead, but circumstances were rather extreme. I will not mince words here. My mother, Lady Silverluck, is requesting aid from the neutral Houses of the pony lands. She wishes to issue a petition to the Harmony Guard in order to present her case and that of House Silver in the matter of our House’s loyalty to Harmonia.”
Zaratite stared at Shine for a long moment, clearly curious, then gently shifted in his seat. “Explaineth the intention of this petition to me, Lord Shine. What dost thou mean by ‘loyalty to Harmonia’? Hast this loyalty been called into question?”
“Well, due to the actions of Lord Silvertongue in ages long past, some of the other Houses have declared the entirety of House Silver as traitors and evildoers.” Shine shook his head. “My mother’s wish is to petition the Harmony Guard for a fair trial, to prove her House’s loyalty to Harmonia and her ideals. Zeb’ra’den’s aid in getting that petition arranged would be of great benefit.”
“Then why dost thy mother not come to request our aid herself?”
“She busies herself with the other neutral Houses at the moment: Snow, Night, Flower, Sky, and Wind. She doesn’t want to involve the zebras if she doesn’t have to, but I think it’s inevitable at this rate.”
Zaratite raised an eyebrow. “What of the other Houses?”
“Houses Golden and Light have declared war against House Silver directly and openly. Houses Green and Waters, as allies of House Golden, have joined the war effort alongside them.”
“And what of House Dawn?”
Shine let out a breath. “House Dawn has been nearly wiped out. It’s only remaining member is Lady Gleaming Dawn. After escaping to House Silver’s estate, she and her husband fled further north to Newhaven, but that’s the last I’ve heard of the matter.”
Zaratite frowned. “Her husband? Who hath married into House Dawn at such an unfortunate time as this?”
“Prince Fireglow of Hope’s Point, Your Majesty. If I am not mistaken, you are allies with Hope’s Point?”
“'Tis true, but I cannot offer Queen Blackburn mine aid so readily in this matter,” Zaratite said with a sigh. “If she were to asketh me directly, I might consider.” He leaned back in his throne and mulled this over. “House Dawn was a peaceful House. Why would they hath been targeted in such a way? Which House is responsible for this?”
“House Dawn tried to put an end to the war when House Light first declared it. They called a neutral meeting at their own estate between the heads of Houses Silver, Golden, and Light. House Golden then revealed themselves as enemies of House Silver.”
“How so?”
“Lord Golden Shield betrayed the trust of generations of my family when he murdered my grandparents at the negotiating table. When he murdered House Dawn. His son—my father—is the only pony in that entire House with any decency left and remains by my mother’s side even now.”
Zarya’s eyes widened. “Ah, then that is why those troops pursued thee?”
Shine nodded. “Correct.”
Zaratite tilted his head. “What doth my grandniece speak of, Lord Shine?”
Shine took another breath. “My mother, father, and I were understandably outraged by this betrayal. My mother set about her work in organizing this petition while I took to the field. I rallied House Silver’s army to strike against House Golden, to earn justice for my grandfather and grandmother,and for Lady Dawnchaser and Lord Sunlight.
“But, my forces were defeated in battle, and I fled south pursued by House Golden soldiers,” Shine said, hanging his head. “I came seeking your aid, Your Majesty. My foolhardy attempt to bring war to House Golden has merely placed an undue burden upon my mother. I had hoped that you would help her with her petition to the Harmony Guard.”
Zaratite leaned forward in his throne, giving Shine a hard look. “Lord Shine, thy words trouble me greatly. Thou meanest to tell me that the pony Houses hath truly declared war on one another? Murdered one another under sacred hospitality?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, that is what I’m telling you.”
“'Tis the first war in southern lands in over one thousand years,” Zaratite muttered, rubbing his chin. “'Tis most troubling news. This doth not bode well for the continent, especially should Prince Fireglow be injured or killed. Queen Blackburn’s vengeance upon those responsible would be brutal and swift.” He sighed. “You say that House Snow remaineth neutral?”
Shine tilted his head. “Yes, Your Majesty, they still remain neutral in all of this. I did not dare bring my pursuers to their gates and risk dragging them into the conflict.”
Zaratite scoffed. “But thou hast brought them here instead?”
“That was not my intention,” Shine quickly replied. “I had hoped to thin their ranks and deal with them of my own accord before I entered zebra territory. I assure you, I did not harm any of them.” He then gestured towards Zarya. “Your grandniece stepped in to prevent them from trying to do the same to me.”
Zaratite sharply turned to Zarya. “Zarya, is this true? With pony troops hast thou fought?”
Zarya shook her head. “No, Your Majesty, I hath not. I warned them of the fearsome beast, that would upon them like to feast.”
Harvey nodded and adjusted his glasses. “The cynolycus, Your Majesty. I am sure Lord-Commander Zaffir mentioned it when presenting Lord Shine’s request for this audience, yes?”
Zaratite paused, then nodded. “Yes, the cynolycus, a beast which hath not been seen since times most ancient, from before Zeb’ra’den itself stood tall and firm. And thy claim is that Zarya and thyself hunted this beast, Sir Harvey? That thou madeth an attempt to warn these troops of House Golden and Lord Silver Shine of its presence?”
“That they did, Your Majesty,” Shine said with a nod. “I heeded their warnings as best I could and would have been happy to take my quarrel with House Golden elsewhere, but the House Golden sergeant was a buffoon. He not only ignored Dame Zarya’s warnings, but threatened her and insulted her as well.”
Zaratite looked to Zarya again. “These House Golden soldiers, they hath insulted thee?”
Zarya nodded. “Indeed they did, Your Majesty.”
“Not just her, they insulted the zebras in general,” Shine added. “It is no secret that Lord Silvertongue murdered Warden Mémoire in the Beacon courtyard of this very palace.”
Zaratite sneered. “That he did, through the trickery of his former reputation. My nephew, Sir Zircon, still regrets his role in allowing it to happen. He hesitated, and so he doth blame himself for Mémoire’s death.” He shook his head. “So, Lord Shine, they request is for Zeb’ra’den—for me—to sign thy mother’s petition?”
“That’s the only thing I can really ask, Your Majesty, yes. My mother believes that if she can convince the Harmony Guard that House Silver does not share a philosophy with the traitor Lord Silvertongue, then perhaps the other Houses will fall in line. They’ll still listen to Harmonia’s most loyal followers, right?”
Zaratite pondered this for a long moment, then shook his head and sighed. “I cannot grant thy request so easily, Lord Shine.”
Shine raised an eyebrow. “What? Why not?”
“As thou hast said, my kingdom shareth its own blame for Lord Silvertongue’s actions and benefited much from his former reputation. He came to mine ancestors as a friend and they built his great Beacon for him. Many zebra soldiers joined his cause in the war in the north. Princess Zarya, who my grandniece was named for, was at his side when he killed Warden Blood Beryl. She commissioned the statue that stood in the Beacon courtyard for hundreds of years.
“So, Lord Shine, were Zeb’ra’den to show support for House Silver, 'twould reflect poorly upon our reputation with the rest of south. Our only allies now art the ponies of House Snow, who hold true to our ancient allegiance despite all that hath happened. Even they might question us if we aid thee without due cause.”
Shine shook his head. “You can’t be serious. This is preposterous!” He sputtered. “You would let my House die in anguish to protect your reputation? What manner of justice is this? My House has been nothing but a paragon of good and peace for centuries—”
“And yet in all of that time, thine ancestors never once extended a proper olive branch to mine,” Zaratite retorted. “'Tis easy to beg for aid and claim kinship when one is desperate, Lord Shine. I know of thy House’s reputation in the south, 'tis true, but I will not maketh the mistake of assuming one trustworthy based upon their reputation.”
Silver paused, then sighed. “Especially not from my House…”
“'Tis not a matter of not trusting thee, Lord Shine,” Zaratite assured him. “'Tis a matter of not knowing if thy reputation is deserved. If thou wishest mine aid, then thou shalt earn it.”
Zarya stepped forward. “What of the beast, Your Majesty? In its death, Lord Shine’s help was key.”
Harvey stepped forward as well. “Yes indeed, Your Majesty, we could not have slain that horrible cynolycus without his aid. Why, if not for him, that creature could have very well killed Zarya and myself and would still be rampaging out in the northeastern tundras, or further! We have no idea what it considered its hunting grounds.”
Zaratite shifted slightly in his throne. “Hmm… 'tis true.” He then nodded briefly. “In such a case, I shalt consider thy request, Lord Shine.”
“You will?” Shine said, blinking.
“However, I hath not yet agreed to grant thee the aid thou seekest, not yet. Thy aid in slaying the beast was partially motivated by protecting thyself, after all. If thou wisheth to earn my trust fully, then thou must doeth something else for me—for Zeb’ra’den—in turn.”
Shine nodded quickly. “Very well, that sounds fair, Your Majesty. What would you have me do?”
Zaratite gestured to Zarya and Harvey briefly. “My grandniece and Sir Harvey hath defended thee in these proceedings. They shalt be mine eyes and ears.”
Harvey tilted his head. “I’m not sure I understand, Your Majesty. Are you asking us to help in some fashion?”
“Yes, Sir Harvey. When next thee and my grandniece embark on some task, bringeth Lord Shine with thee. He shalt proveth himself before thee, and as such, will proveth himself before me in turn.”
“Ah, I see, I see. Since Zarya is a Knight of the Black Flame, she is likely to be called upon to handle some task to protect the citizens of Zeb’ra’den in some fashion,” Harvey said with a nod. “If Lord Shine assists us, then he’s helping Zeb’ra’den too, and that’ll be good enough for you, I suppose?”
“If that’s all that you wish of me, Your Majesty, then I shall do it,” Shine said with a short bow. He looked briefly to Zarya next. “Your grandniece was perfectly capable of handling herself, but I suppose I can lend her a hoof if you want. And Harvey,” he continued, turning to Harvey. He paused. “Ah… and Harvey is… going to be there as well, yes.”
Harvey smiled and nodded. “Oh, indeed I will! Why, this most recent excursion was quite simply the most exciting thing I’ve ever partaken in since moving here to Zeb’ra’den. There’s nothing quite so exhilarating as having your life on the line as you’re hunted by a vicious monster, eh?”
“I suppose not?”
Zaratite nodded. “Then I hath spoken. Thou art dismissed.”
Zarya smiled and bowed briefly to Shine. “'Tis an honor to have thee alongside us, Lord Shine.”
Shine nodded back. “And it is an honor to work alongside such a capable knight, Dame Zarya.”
Harvey scooped the two up into a hug. “Oh my, I must say this is quite an exciting development. Why, I predict that the three of us are simply going to be the best of friends!”