Chapter 1
Rusty Bones, pulled her thick woolen coat closer around herself as she stepped off the last train in Ice Floe. It was summer in the rest of Equestria, but this place, as far north as it was possible to go without visiting the Crystal Empire, was a landscape of eternal winter. She glanced up beyond the town, where the tall peaks of nameless mountains thrust defiantly into the sky. Somewhere up there was the hidden village of the Yaks. She would have to visit that someday.
This time, however, her business lay in a slightly different direction. The long-legged, grass green earth pony turned toward the town proper and its strings of welcoming, orange lights. Ice Floe was a two-horse town on the very edge of Equestria, sitting squat in the middle of Luna Bay nestled between the snow-covered foothills before the vast mountain ranges of the Frozen North. Rusty wondered if any creature had crossed those inhospitable peaks. Maybe back when Equestria had been young and wild, some unsung heroes had attempted such a journey, but despite her recent research into the area, Rusty Bones, Adventurer Extraordinaire, hadn't found even a rumour of a legend. A dragon could probably fly over those mountains, she thought, but it would have to be a big one to brave the almost incessant snow storms. Perhaps she would visit the Dragon Lands in a future expedition and try to solicit some help. That way her name would go down in history for sure!
The mare shook her head and hurried her hoofsteps in an effort to get out of the cold. The day had long since turned and twilight was fast approaching, bringing with it a promise of an exceptionally cold night and fresh snow. Rusty tightened the scarf around her neck, lowered her head into the biting wind and hurried along. She hadn't really expected anypony to come meet her at the station, though it would have been a nice thing to do. It wasn't necessary anyway. The well-travelled pony could find the sole inn in a town this small blindfolded, just following her sense of smell. Why was it that those places all seemed to favor baked potatoes? Her nose wiggled as she orientated herself and soon Rusty spotted the sign hanging above the door on one of the few two-storey buildings in the place. All the windows on the ground floor were lit and a few of the locals were headed that way. Bingo. Snatches of piano music could be heard each time the door swung open, and sounds of merriment. It seemed as if everypony wanted to forget their burdens and the dismal landscape for a few hours. Rusty quickened her pace and soon pushed into the warm common room, where her appearance caused a momentary lull in the conversation. Strangers were apparently not a common sight in the village, but the locals soon assured themselves she was just a pony and went back to their food, drink and company.
When she shook of her hood, her mane drew a few more odd glances, but nopony commented. She knew it was unusual, charcoal gray with a black stripe down the middle. The adventurer looked around the tables and spotted a likely group in one of the booths against the wall. Two unicorns were quite unmistakable in a town full of earth ponies and an occasional pegasus. If that weren't enough, their fancy clothes made them stand out like a bugbear sting on a light-colored rump. Rusty walked slowly, giving herself a few moments to study her soon-to-be partners on this, her latest and greatest expedition. The older stallion was undoubtedly the Professor, especially if she considered his sense of importance and a scruffy attempt at a beard. He wanted to look older than he was, Rusty assumed, hoping the increased gravitas would earn him more esteem at the Canterlot University. He was a lean pony, his coat gray, bordering on black, with a vivid orange mane which made him look like a small flame burning out of a bit of charcoal. She couldn't see his rump, but the description in the letter named his cutie mark as an old-fashioned bronze bell.
Their gazes met and the stallion's ears twitched down as he hurriedly looked away. He hadn't recognized her and thought she was just another local mare. He was uneasy away from his University and he fiddled with his mug as he kept scanning the room. Beside the professor were two of his hoof-picked students. Rusty would have preferred not to take youngsters on what could potentially be a dangerous expedition, but Professor Curio Trinket had insisted. Apparently it would be a part of their final thesis, or something. The mare, another unicorn, had a coat very nearly the same color as the Professor. Rusty wondered if that showed a strange bit of nepotism there. The student's name was Winter Shine and she was focusing on her plate of baked potatoes almost to the exclusion of everything else. Here and there she glanced at her Professor with what Rusty identified as admiration and excitement. The third pony at their table was a pegasus, which was quite unusual for Canterlot University. His name escaped Rusty at the moment, but she remembered the endorsement the Professor had given the pony, calling him his best student in all his years of teaching. Perhaps he belonged, she thought, eyeing the stallion's immaculately styled mane and his expensive-looking hooficure. Maybe he was a unicorn born in a pegasus' body. Rusty glanced around the room one more time, looking for the fifth member of their party, but didn't spot him. Gustaf would be easy to notice, since he would be the only griffin in a room full of ponies. There was no reason for concern, the bird lived further away from this place than any of them so he would probably arrive on the morning train. First impressions were good, the adventurer thought to herself. The Professor looked a bit flighty, the unicorn mare was a bit on the heavy side, but his pegasus student and their griffin guard would pick up the slack in the more strenuous parts of their journey.
She put on a welcoming smile and walked up to the table. The younger stallion noticed her first and his eyes widened when he realized she was going to join them. A moment later he smiled in recognition. "Ah, you must be our esteemed guide!"
Rusty Bones held up her hoof as the other two looked over in sudden surprise. "No, not guide. This expedition is my idea. You can call me 'boss', although 'Miss Bones' will do."
After a second the Professor remembered his manners and jumped to his hooves so he could shake her offered foreleg. "Of course, of course! I must say, Miss. Bones, that map you sent me was quite a find!" He sat back down in his previous spot, so Rusty slid into the opposite bench and bumped the pegasus' rump to make him shift over. "I guess introductions are in order," Curio continued. "Students, this is Miss. Rusty Bones, an adventuring archaeologist. You have likely seen some of her finds in the Canterlot Museum of Pony History."
Rusty nodded her head and splayed her ears for a moment in lieu of saying hello.
Then the Professor pointed out the other two. "This here is Winter Shine, a very promising student of mine, and sitting beside you is Ember Clover. They will help me take notes and catalogue whatever we find as part of their doctoral thesis on early pre-Equestrian civilizations."
"Howdy. Nice to meet both of you. Professor, tell me you remembered to bring the map with you?" Rusty had made a copy before she had sent it to Canterlot University, but there was always the risk she had missed some small detail. The original would be preferable.
"Of course, of course," the stallion assured her and levitated his saddleback up into his lap. A quick rummage found a scroll case and his students moved the dishes on the table off to one side to give him room, even without being prompted. Curio unscrewed the tube and took out a yellowed piece of parchment, which he unrolled before them. All four of them bent over to study the map. It was full of straight lines and right angles, many of them criss-crossing. There were markings on it with a legend hastily written down in a corner.
As before, Rusty spotted a curious thing about the symbols and she looked up at the other ponies to see if they would mention it.
"The interesting thing, Miss. Bones, is that this map is not old enough for what it portrays," Curio explained. "We were able to magically date it to early Celestial period, certainly before the banishment of Princess Luna, but definitely after Equestria was established as a country."
"Okay, so that means..." Rusty prompted.
"Winter Shine?" he deferred and Rusty got a feeling this was a small test for the unicorn mare.
She glanced over the paper as if looking for clues, then gave a nod. "It means," she said at last, "that whoever made this map discovered the labyrinth, but did not build it." The mare took a breath and continued: "These, here and here," she pointed with a magically levitated fork, picking out a few hoof-drawn diagrams showing what looked like ornate doors, "are clearly pre-Equestrian. Therefore we can assume that the ponies who made this map had found the ruins and explored them, and this was their reference."
"Very good!" Curio Trinket praised, beaming proudly at his student. "Anything to add, Ember?"
The stallion studied the map some more, then shrugged a little to himself. "The markings show interesting places or rooms, perhaps where the explorers found treasure, or traps. We'll have to translate the legend, obviously, to know which is which."
"Good, good," the Professor said and looked up at Rusty to gauge how impressed she was with his favourite pupils.
"That's not all."
"Oh?" Three of them looked at her in surprise, then bent over the map once more to study it again.
Rusty settled in to wait and waved to a serving mare who was just taking empty mugs past their table. "Can you fetch me some of these fine-looking potatoes? Do you have anything else to go with them?"
The waitress smiled politely back and shifted her hooves deftly to keep the tray on her back without spilling it. "There is some lovely pea soup left, and I can get you fresh-baked bread to go along, miss."
"That sounds lovely!"
"Would you also like a mug of our famous ale, or maybe some tea?"
Tea or coffee would be her preferred choice, but Rusty wanted to try and sleep soon so she would be up fresh and rested early the next day. "Ale, please."
The waitress thanked her for her order and wandered off to see to it, while Rusty Bones looked back at her companions. Their ears were decidedly lower than before and the Professor especially seemed a bit peeved that she knew something about the map he didn't. A short while later he sighed and looked up. "I give up. It must have something to do with how you found the map, something you didn't mention in the letter."
"No, not really."
His mouth tightened and Rusty smiled more widely. Curio Trinket was at the top of his field, but he couldn't think like an adventurer. That was why a pony like herself was a good one to have on such an excursion.
"Well?" Curio asked a bit impatiently and his two students looked up with small shrugs. They too had given up.
Rusty stood up so she could reach the map with her hoof and carefully tapped a few places. "I was wondering why the markings here," she tapped a place, "are much denser than over here. If you look this way, there are hardly any notes on this side of the map. I wonder why that is."
The three scholars bent down again, all traces of annoyance forgotten in fresh excitement. "By Celestia, she is right," Curio exclaimed. "It is almost as if the notations get sparser and sparser as you go West!"
"I wonder what it means?" Winter Shine asked, looking at her professor in question.
Curio shrugged to himself and glanced back up at Rusty.
"I'm not sure yet, but I find it very strange that the entrance comes in from the East. That is surly not a coincidence."
They looked at the map once more and it was Ember Clover who made a guess: "Perhaps they explored the bits near the entrance more thoroughly. Maybe they got all the treasure they could carry before they reached the middle and then they just hastily finished the map and left?"
"Yeah, maybe," Rusty said. The same theory had occurred to her as well, but it didn't sound right. That simple fact that the map was much more detailed near the entrance made her slightly uneasy. It was a good thing they would have a fierce griffin as a guard, she thought.
A moment later her food arrived and Curio rolled up the map once more. "We'll have plenty of time to study it as we make camp tomorrow afternoon. We can't reach the entrance in one day, so we might as well take it easy."
"Agreed."
The smell of baked potatoes and pea soup went around the table and Winter Shine hastily placed an order for herself as well. She went on to talk with her Professor about unrelated things as Rusty began to eat. Soon Ember joined in the conversation and the three were lost in discussion about their thesis papers, leaving Rusty Bones in peace to finish her dinner. Whatever they found in that place would be significant, she knew it. Perhaps she would get her picture in the papers this time, and her name in the history books. Without wings to do daring aerial stunts, or a horn to perform astounding feats of magic, this was the only way she could see to leave her mark on Equestrian history.
Despite her best efforts Rusty didn't get a whole lot of sleep. She was used to roughing it, but the bed in the inn was too soft and she couldn't find a comfortable position where she didn't feel like she was being bent double. It felt like she had tossed and turned for most of the night before she finally drifted away, and even then she woke up before dawn with a crimp in her neck. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling until it was nearly six, then gave up in disgust. With luck the day wouldn't be too strenuous and she could catch up on her rest that night in the tent, where she would have a hard surface and a sleeping bag.
Rusty Bones got up from her bed and walked over to the window. The night was surprisingly bright, despite the thick clouds which covered every hoof of the sky. Perhaps it was some kind of strange reflection from the snow, or maybe the street lamps of the town were deceptively bright. She looked at the Luna Bay for a while, the shoreline clearly visible between the deep black of the water and the white of snow. The town was sitting right at the edge of the sea and Rusty saw wooden piers jutting out from the shore with a few boats, dark and apparently deserted at this time of night. In a few minutes, after Rusty had stretched a bit, she felt a lot better and all trace of sleep was gone. She turned her back on the window, grabbed her bag of toiletries, and left her room in search of the facilities.
The inn was quiet, but she could hear snoring coming from one of the other rooms. Rusty hoped it was not the Professor or one of his students. There were few things worse in a travelling companion than snoring. The mare made her way to the common bathroom and finished her business. Then she washed and gave her short mane a rudimentary brushing, and shook most of the tangles out of her tail. She stared at her reflection for a few seconds and the face in the mirror looked back at her with visible excitement. Her amber eyes glittered with eager anticipation and she smirked at herself.
"This one could be big. Go get it!" she murmured to herself.
The little ritual served to focus her mind on the goal and Rusty hurried to grab the rest of her things from the room. She could pack up and sit in the common room while she waited for the rest of her little party. There were supplies to be worked out, gear to be checked and maps to be poured over. All of that would be a lot more comfortable on the large table in one of the booths, while she sipped a hot cup of coffee and maybe had a bite of breakfast. She had told Curio and the others to be ready at seven, so she had about an hour to enjoy in quiet and solitude before the adventure began. The mare was ready in minutes. She hadn't unpacked the previous night, other than taking her self-care kit out of her custom-made back-and-saddle-bags and it slotted perfectly back into the correct pocket. She didn't tie the bags since she would be taking things out to check them in a few minutes anyway. Then Rusty made her way down the stairs to the common room, wondering if she would have to wake up the staff to get that cup of coffee. To her pleasant surprise there was already a fire going in the kitchen and a rather round stallion at the bar, stacking plates.
"Mornin'," a voice said from behind the bar. The stallion, probably the proprietor, Rusty thought, gave her a friendly nod. "Care for a touch of breakfast, miss?"
"Coffee first, please. What do you have?"
Even as he answered the innkeeper picked out a mug and poured the life-giving nectar. "Sugar? Cream?"
"Touch of cream, no sugar. Thanks!"
"If you can wait twenty minutes there will be fresh bread. Wife has just put the loaf in the oven. If you want quicker'n that, there's eggs, scrambled or Celestia-style and some bread left over from last night, it's still good. There's also oatmeal. Oh, you can have sausages or bacon, if fancy takes you that way."
The last two were a bit of a surprise and Rusty paused in the process of settling into her booth. "Wait, bacon? Sausages?" She had travelled all over Equestria and beyond, so the adventurer wasn't a stranger to exotic foodstuffs, but she hadn't expected something like that in a small pony town.
The innkeeper slipped deftly around the bar despite his bulk and brought her mug over. "Yup, miss. We get an occasional Griffin through here and, well, a few of my regulars are partial. They say it's an acquired taste, but well worth acquiring."
"Interesting. Anyway, scrambled eggs will be fine. I don't mind yesterday's bread." In truth she had had to eat much worse at times.
"You got it, miss...?"
"Rusty. Rusty Bones."
The proprietor held out a hoof for a quick shake as he introduced himself. "Cinnamon Crescent, although friends call me 'Cinnamon'. The 'Crescent' part hasn't been true in years." The stallion chuckled at his own joke as he patted his belly and Rusty offered a polite grin of her own. "Unusual name, Bones," he went on, apparently opting to keep her company rather than get the bar ready for his patrons.
"My parents were paleontologists," Rusty said with a shrug. "They don't know where the 'Rusty' part came from, though."
"Gotcha. Well, let me get you your breakfast. Had a good night?" Cinnamon asked as he made his way back to the bar.
Rusty opened her mouth to reply, but waited while he spoke through the open kitchen door to place her order. A mare replied back, but her exact words were too muffled to understand. When he looked back she said: "Actually, the bed was too soft for me. It kept me up most of the night."
This was an unexpected complaint and Cinnamon blinked in surprise. "Well, that's a first. I'm sorry to hear that, miss. Of course I'll be happy to refund you some-"
"No need," she interrupted with a raised hoof.
"Well, thank you kindly, Miss Rusty. I'll make a note of it and get a couple of harder mattresses in. Next time just mention it and we'll make sure your room has one of those."
"Thanks. Maybe on our way back then."
The stallion glanced over her large pack and made a guess: "You're heading out into the North?"
"Yup." Rusty didn't say anything more, unwilling to divulge their destination or what they hoped to find there. The ponies in Ice Floe probably wouldn't try to steal her discovery, but she had learned to be careful about these things. Instead she picked her booth and pushed her bags in the seat before joining them herself.
"An explorer, then?" the bartender kept talking across the room.
"Something like that."
Cinnamon didn't look like a pony who liked to travel, let alone venture into uninhabited places He shrugged a little to himself. "Well, it takes all kinds, I guess. Myself, now-"
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted as the outside door opened and a figure walked in. Her guard, Rusty guessed immediately, unless there happened to be two griffins passing through that small town in the same day. The half-bird, half-lion creature walked into the common room with a strong, determined stride, before stopping in the middle to look around.
He hadn't sent a picture or a description, so Rusty just went out on a limb. "Gustaf?"
The feathered head snapped around and those large, forward-facing eyes focused on the mare. Those were a predator's eyes, she couldn't help thinking. There was a scar, or a scratch down the griffin's beak and it continued across his face, under his left eye. Rusty could see where the feathers hadn't grown back evenly. He walked over to her booth and inspected the pony before him. "Bones?" he asked.
"That's right. Please, sit. We have some time before the others are ready. Do you want breakfast?"
The griffin, Gustaf, shook his head, but he did take the seat. "Pony food doesn't sit well with me. I have my own supplies and I'll eat on the move."
She couldn't help but grin in delight at her news. "Actually, they serve bacon and sausages here."
This was a surprise and Gustaf looked around the place with fresh appreciation. His eyes landed on the innkeeper, who was already smiling at the new guest. "Indeed we do, master griffin. We also have coffee or tea."
"Coffee. Black," the bird ordered. "Then a couple of sausages. You don't usually see those in pony lands, so I guess I have to try them." As Cinnamon scurried into the kitchen to help his wife make the meal, Gustaf looked back at Rusty. He glanced over her pack again and seemed to like what he saw. "You obviously know what you're doing, so that's good. What about the others?"
She glanced at the stairs to make sure the Professor and his pupils wouldn't overhear, then shook her head slightly. "Academics. We'll have to keep an eye on them."
Gustaf shrugged a little to himself. "So, what's the job? Your letter was a little vague."
Rusty nodded to show him she would tell, but leaned closer and lowered her voice to keep at least a modicum of secrecy. She had spoken openly about their destination with the others the previous night, but a common room full of eating and drinking ponies was a special kind of privacy, one not afforded them in the stillness of the morning.
"Ancient ruin, judging by the drawings I found it's pre-Equestrian. Emphasis on 'pre'. Pre-Grogar, certainly."
"Okay? What's a Grogar?"
Rusty realized she had gotten too used to the her more educated companions from last night. Gustaf was hired muscle, he probably didn't know ancient pony history. "Okay, let's just say these are old."
The griffin knew his limitations and didn't mind skipping the history lecture. He gave Rusty a nod, but held his beak while Cinnamon brought over her scrambled eggs and his coffee.
"The rest will be out in a few minutes," he assured his new guest, then hurried off to see to it.
"Okay, I got ancient ruin. Why do you need me?"
"It's up in the north. On the one hoof, I'm dealing with three academics so I wouldn't mind some more muscle," she explained. Her gaze slipped from Gustaf's scarred face to take in his powerful forelegs and the toned flanks. She had no doubt he could match an earth pony for sheer strength. "On the other hoof, the Frozen North isn't well explored. We might run into unexpected fauna, so somepo- some creature who knows how to fight would be a useful thing to have."
Gustaf gave her a grim smile and flexed his claws. "Excellent. I wouldn't mind a good fight."
"I'm hoping we won't need to."
"Eh," Gustaf shrugged, "I get paid either way. Okay, to summarize: escort some ponies into the Frozen North, wait while they dig around in some ruin, and bring them all back alive. Sounds simple enough."
"Yep, that about covers it. Except it's not the normal type of ruins."
"Oh?"
Rusty Bones couldn't keep a grin off her muzzle as she shook her head. "It's tunnels. Judging from the map, this place is like a whole city, underground. A pony city, dug into a mountain, can you imagine?"
The bird obviously couldn't and he leaned his head to one side in confusion. "I thought ponies loved the sun."
"Exactly! This was a group of ponies who lived underground. Maybe a whole civilization! It's the discovery of a lifetime!"
"Fascinating." Gustaf didn't seem particularly impressed, but that was because he was a fighter, not a scholar. Rusty Bones, on the other hoof, was an explorer who knew her academia.
"Anyway, that's the job. I assume you're still in?"
"Certainly. I'll see you all safely back, you can count on that!"
Once again their conversation was interrupted as Cinnamon brought a plate for the griffin. It was indeed piled high with sausages and there was a thick chunk of bread laid on the side. A large wallop of mustard completed the set.
"Well, I'll be," Gustaf exclaimed in pleasant surprise. He thanked their host and didn't waste any more time before digging in. His appetite reminded Rusty that she was hungry too.
As she ate, the mare returned her focus to the list she had made some days prior. It was the equipment they would need to survive the Frozen North and she wanted to go through it with Gustaf. If there was anything she had forgotten, he would undoubtedly catch it. If they lacked any crucial gear they could buy it in the town before they left. After that, they would be completely on their own. Rusty glanced at the big clock on the wall behind the bar. Fifteen minutes until seven. The others should be arriving shortly and then they would make plans.