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// Low notes... 
// Story: The Mare On The Mount 
// by Casketbase77 
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Sunny Starscout dug her strapped on spurs into the snow and forced herself forwards. 

"Another adventure? Your house isn't even rebuilt yet."

Hitch's parting words rung in her ears, almost as loud as the wind on the clifftop.

"Hey, no need to get all defensive, Sun. I'm past trying to stop you from chasing tall tales. But for real, my responsibility is here in town. I'm not coming after you this time, so promise you'll be careful out there."

Sunny sighed from behind her painfully ineffective scarf. The one Izzy had given her as a good luck charm.

"Sunny! Always great to have you pop in! You caught me making another batch of horn suppressor rings for some friends down the road. Like the sequins on the one I'm wearing? Not very comfortable, but as anyone still getting used to magic can tell you, it’s a lot better than accidentally shooting bolts whenever you get excited. Or sneeze. Or zone out. Or blink wrong. Am I rambling? Sorry, have a seat. Somewhere that isn't scorched, if you can find a spot like that. We can talk while I'm workin... whaddya look so blue for? Oh jeez, Mount Everhoof? Look, I'm pretty tied up right now, but if you just give me a couple of days to... nah, you've got that look in your eye. No waiting, I get it. But lemme at least send you off with something to keep you warm."

Sunny reared onto her hinds. Not for very long, only to glance around for something that wasn't desolate mountainside. Another pony, perhaps? The one the sightings all talked about?

A freshly freezing gust knocked Sunny onto her rump. She yelped and scrambled up, partially from her bare butt being cold and wet, but moreso out fear she landed on her new cell phone. It took some frantic rooting around in her saddlebag to remind her she'd left her phone back home in a huff. Wincing with discouragement, she recalled why.

Beep! "Hiya, you've reached the one and only Princess Pipp. Or my personal voicemail anyway. If this is about a merch deal, press one. If this is about a tour date, pres-" Click.

Beep! "THE NUMBER YOU HAVE DIALED 'huh..? Oh, uh Zipp Storm' HAS NOT SET UP THEIR INBOX YET. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER. GOODBYE."

Shaking as much snow as possible from the seams, Sunny shut her saddlebag. The only things inside were her ever present notes on Equestrian history. Among them was a printout: half a dozen reports about Mount Everhoof from the past couple weeks. She didn't need the notes right now, because what she was looking for didn't adhere to any map. And she'd already memorized each report because they all said the same thing.

Movement and sound on Mount Everhoof's summit at night. Or former summit, to be more accurate. Most ponies agreed the mountain used to be much taller, but something happened to it long ago that- oh never mind. Bottom line: there were many sightings of a pony-shaped silhouette that vanished when stared at. And with it a strong sense of magical unease that the biting winds carried down to the surrounding towns.

Sunny recognized those signs, which was why this excursion couldn't wait one more day. It was already getting dark when she was trudging out of Maretime Bay with her supplies. Sprout had been the last pony she passed, idly throwing rocks at seagulls to entertain himself.

"A windigo hunt?! Buck no! I'm not getting anywhere near one of those things!"

Sunny had expected as much. She just really really didn't want to brave this excursion alone.

But alone she was. Sunny Starscout had spent a whole night (and half a follow-up morning) scanning on the slopes of Mount Everhoof for the monster she'd been sure was out here. The trip was leaving her tired, lonely, and worst of all without a wisp of windigo to reward her efforts. She knew she should just go home. Spread out her saddlebag, sled down to the foothills, find a safe thicket in those trees down there where she could rest up for the trot home. Sprout was probably spreading rumors she'd been frozen and eaten by now. Sunny managed a weary smile at that thought.

Realistically, the only thing she'd lost up here was a night of sleep and a bit of self esteem. So what if she wasn't as good at interpreting her father's old notes as she'd thought? Of all the things to be wrong about, the return of Equestria's oldest monsters was most preferrable. Her legs were still tingling, but with relief instead of worry now. The change was nice. Made her feel stronger, as if by magic.

Then something moved in Sunny's periphery.

"Hello?" Sunny voice was thin and reedy from a night of trekking. She peered at the movement she thought she'd seen, but her eyes weren't focusing properly. Was someone there, or was she just tired?"

"Hello?!"

Sunny was a coastal pony, not accustomed to thin mountain air. She was huffing, her breath getting in the way of her line of sight. If one of her friends were here they could tell her for sure whether there really was a shape drifting down to her from what once had been Mount Everhoof's summit. But her friends weren't here. The was only Sunny, the winds that were picking up again, and a sourceless sense of anger.

"Who's there! Tell me who you are!"

Sunny was yelling now. Furious without knowing why. The wind was at a fever pitch now, buffeting her with more than cold. There was ancient, vengeful magic seeping into through her skin now, and the shape was getting proportionately clearer as it approached. Hoofprints were beginning to trail behind it on the ground.

"Who do you think you are?" Sunny roared. "I'm the only one who even bothered to come looking for you! The only one who cared! Answer me! Answer me now!"

The gale force was absolutely deafening and some swirling airborne ice crystals cut the skin on Sunny's exposed legs. She growled through her haze and took a few stumbling steps towards the insolent shape. Then her scarf blew upwards into her face, covering her eyes and nose. She grunted and sucked in a breath.

As she did, Sunny smelled glue, ink, and pencil shavings. She blinked a few times, no longer able to see anything past the knotted crochet weaves protecting her vision. All she saw was how a few of the scarf's weaves were off-center, knit by someone whose hooves were clumsy but diligent. Sunny breathed deep again to let scents of her best friend's cottage steady her balance. Quiet her mind. Wind was still howling all around as Sunny Starscout calmly brushed the scarf from her face.

She kept her eyes shut. If the shape was able to hurt her, it would have done so by now. So Sunny didn't worry about that. She instead focused, gripping her scarf with a forehoof as she hung onto the memory of Izzy. She also thought hard of Hitch, back in Maretime Bay because he trusted she was strong enough to take care of herself.

Patches of warmth protruded from Sunny's shoulder blades and forehead.

She thought of Zipp and Pipp, seeing her missed calls and joking between themselves what hijinx she was getting up to without them. She even thought of Sprout, who'd looked back at her after she'd left. He didn't think she saw him do it, didn't think she'd seen his genuine regret that he didn't have the guts to go with her. To make sure she stayed safe. But she had seen it. And that made all the difference.

The winds were dying down at last. Sunny could feel her phantom horn and pseudo-wings radiating out from her. She also heard breathing. Her own deep slow huffing was almost loud enough to cover somepony else's right by her ear. She lifted her head to see a floating, billowing white unicorn.

Then the snow erupted all around her.