//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Northern Skies // Story: Under the Northern Skies // by Prolet //------------------------------// At noon, we were taking yet another break. It was unfortunate that we didn’t have the time to enjoy the amazing views from up here; being this high up, a smidgen of the Bottomless Lake could be seen glittering in the east. Rarity and I had made a decision to keep going with the same pace despite all the hardships – if everything was to go well, we would arrive at the excavation site by tomorrow morning. Thus, we’d have time to examine the artifact without having to sleep close to it. Considering what happened previously, that was the last thing we wanted. We’d do our job, document our findings, scout the immediate vicinity for clues, and then head back the way we came.   “Rarity, I’ve been thinking about our initial arrival,” I told my friend, who was greedily drinking from her canteen. “We should make some kind of plan – if Grey was telling the truth, there might be crazed cultists running amok.”   “That’s true,” replied Rarity. “Great care must be taken. Have you come up with anything, Twi?”   I had been pondering the possibilities, and there were many different choices. “First of all, we need to take a good look at the area before we’re actually there. I think I can do that from a mile or two away, with the help of the picture Celestia had sent me with the letter for focus. Secondly, we need to stick together at all times. We can’t afford to get separated in case something happens.”   “Wow, Twilight, that sounded like a lecture.” Rarity gave me a sly smile. “You should consider a career as a teacher.   I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure, but my lecture isn’t over yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cultists, assuming that they’re behind this, already knew we were coming. The lightshow I set up last night… that could surely be seen from the excavation site.”   “You do have good point there, darling. And the lightshows someone else arranged a few days back support it. It’s not like there’s much to hinder anypony’s vision up here.” Rarity coughed. “So, what do you propose we do, Twilight?”   “We should approach the site until we’re about a mile away. Then, I’ll use my magic to take a look at it before we get any closer. When we finally arrive, we take a very good look at the surroundings before examining the artifact.   “This might very well take over a day. If the sun is going down while we’re still at work, we’ll have to hike back and sleep on some landing. I don’t know about you, Rares, but I have no wish to close my eyes anywhere near the place, even for a second. What do you think?”   Rarity nodded. “Sounds good.”   Despite the cloudless sky, the day wasn’t very hot. Gusts of wind, sometimes quite strong, blasted us every now and then. I kept warily glancing around; what happened last night had made me jumpy. A couple of times I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye, but when I turned my gaze, nothing was there. Still, the dull gray rocks seemed to have an effect on my mind. Every step was harder and harder, my mind getting clouded by the colorless terrain and the monotonous hiking, my body aching for rest every few minutes. The only thing keeping my awareness even somewhat up was talking with Rarity. I had to give credit to her: she was supposedly in worse shape than me, but kept pushing towards her limits.   The sun slowly made its way through the sky. No surprising events occurred during the day, which made me send silent thanks to Celestia.   “Twilight…” spoke Rarity with a low tone. “It’s only an hour to sunset. Is there anything we can do to prevent you from having those nightmares?”   “Not really,” I sighed. “I’ll just have to keep my calm. Freaking out like that again could prove very dangerous, now that the mountain is getting even steeper.”   Rarity put a hoof on my shoulder. “If you have some idea what’s causing them – if there’s anything you would like to share, Twi – you can trust me.”   Is there something else behind my dreams than the thing following us? “I’d trust you with my life. And I mean it. But there’s nothing more complicated behind this, Rares. The thing that’s been following us is appearing in my dreams, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”   “If you say so. Do you think the rune had something to do with what you experienced last night?”   “Perhaps,” I answered, thinking about the possibilities. If the cultists have been here, they might have used that cave for something and carved the rune onto the ground. “I think it’s become clear that Grey’s judgement was sound. If that rune wasn’t put there by the cultists, I have no idea who’s to blame. And now, thinking about it, I believe it affected my mind in some way. But I doubt that was its original purpose.”   “Oh, my.” Rarity shook her head. “This will be dangerous, no matter what.”   “Don’t worry, Rares. We can do it.”   Rarity scowled. “Sure, we can. But I have started to wonder what the hay Celestia was thinking when she sent us on this mission. There’s a whole lot what she didn’t tell us. Then, on top of that, the guide she had arranged went and bailed on us!”   “I’ve been wondering that myself, too. She did say this was some sort of test for me. I know that isn’t the entire truth, but it’s certain that she wouldn’t put us in harm’s way for nothing. No…” I sighed, gazing at the excavation site, the huge boulders close to it already visible, albeit still quite small.   “I sincerely hope that’s the case, darling. She’s up to something.”   I nodded. “Wouldn’t be the first time, either. You know why she sent me to Ponyville? To make friends. It turned out to be a gambit of hers – and it worked. The Elements of Harmony were invoked. So whatever happens, I have complete trust in her.”   I took a look around. There were numerous large rocks we could spend our night on, but any kind of restless sleep would put us in danger. Tripping or sleepwalking here could cause a disaster. However, when the choice was just trying our luck finding another, this time untouched, cave, there was no dispute.   We pressed onwards until we found a relatively flat spot of land in the shadow of some boulders. Grass was growing on the ground, flourishing in the small patch of fertile soil – a number of flowers, mostly bluebells, had also made this place their home. The pristine grace of nature made me smile.   “Quite a place to set up, darling,” commented Rarity enthusiastically as we unpacked our bedrolls once again. “Inspiration is already flooding me! Those flowers… if I just had the means to make a dress here…”   “This place sure is beautiful.” Just like you, Rarity. “But not very practical. The strangled birches aren’t exactly the best firewood. How many dry rations do we have left?”   “Two for both of us. We’ll run out next morning,” said Rarity, frowning. “I’d rather not eat the ones meant to be boiled as raw – but it seems that we’ll have to do just that.”   “I suppose I could try heating the kettle with my magic. That might not work, though.”   Rarity’s lips turned upwards right away. “Well, Twi, it never hurts to try, does it?”   Heating up the kettle was a painful experience. A tiny nearby stream provided the water. It was already getting dark when I finally succeeded, and even then, I was on the verge of collapsing from the incredible loss of energy. My horn throbbed – maintaining the temperature above the boiling point took a lot, but was, luckily, easier than the initial heating. For the five minutes it took for our rations to get ready, I was pushing myself quite a bit.   “Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I will not do that again.” I rubbed my horn. “My horn could’ve burned out from that. I haven’t fully recovered yet.”   “Let’s hope that we stumble across some wood, then.” Rarity happily poured soup from the kettle into her wooden bowl.   The food tasted decent, making the evening swiftly pass by. Darkness was now shrouding the world; only the stars cast a little light upon the Crystal Mountains. Even though I was getting a bit drowsy, the dreams of last night and the marvelous constellations twinkling above us prevented me from going to sleep. Rarity was also still awake, sitting next to me on the soft grass. The wind had died out, and the world was silent.   “Amazing,” I managed to mutter out, taken aback by the astounding night sky.   Rarity leaned on me. “It is.”   Memories from my childhood started to resurface. In the long years in Celestia’s tutorship, I had made a habit of stargazing on the balcony of Canterlot Castle. Under the northern skies, I felt happy and secure. Nothing could hurt me right now.   “It’s been a long week, Twi,” said Rarity with a quiet voice.   “Yes, Rares, it has. But it’s been worth it. Without you, I’d probably have gone mad ages ago. Spending time with you here, without anyone to interrupt…” I sighed, warmness engulfing me as Rarity’s coat brushed against mine. “Let’s just say that I could’ve spent my time worse.”   “Oh, really,” giggled Rarity. “The worst is still ahead.”   “Like I said, we’ll get through anything with the help of each other. Why worry of what tomorrow brings us?”   Instead of saying anything, Rarity rested her head on my shoulder. I could smell her mane – even after days of hiking, it was still like putting my head into a bed of roses. My cheeks felt hot, but luckily, there was no way Rarity could see that in the dim light.   “Do you ever wonder, Rares? Wonder how all of that, the stars, the moon, and darkness, came into being?” Turning my gaze upwards, I noticed several constellations by heart. “In all honesty, I must admit that I like Luna’s night more than Celestia’s day.”   “Of course I do, Twi,” spoke Rarity with a soft voice. “Don’t we all? It’s mind-numbing that there aren’t many creation myths around. I like to think that something before even Celestia and Luna created this world from nowhere. Oh, the stories that have been lost!”   I sighed. “Celestia seems to have a habit of keeping important things hidden.”   “You don’t say, darling.”   “Take Nightmare Moon, for example. Celestia certainly knew of her return, but led me to believe that it was all just in my head. Yet, we defeated the Mare in the Moon. Celestia’s precognition ought to be very accurate.”   “Nightmare Moon,” ushered Rarity out. “Luna. She’s so much more straight-forward and likable than her sister.”   “Come on.” I rolled my eyes. “Celestia endured without her for a thousand years. It must have changed her.”   “No doubt.” Rarity caressed my mane, taking me by surprise. “But there’s no denying that Luna’s night is more inspiring than the day. When we return, I will make a dress just for you – one with the beauty of this night. And yours.”   Did she just say that? –Yes, yes she did. Probably. Hopefully. Yes, she did say it.   I was at a loss for words. My heart was pounding, my hooves beginning to sweat. Is now the time? –No, not yet, not yet at all. Don’t risk the mission.   “Uhm… thanks,” was all I managed to mutter out.   “No problem.” There was a hint of sadness in Rarity’s voice; I couldn’t figure out why. “Just..”   “Yes, Rares?”   Rarity turned to face me. Our gazes were locked at each other. It felt like I could see her soul from behind the deep azure of her eyes. For a moment, the world seemed to pause – lost in Rarity’s eyes, I was paralyzed. Think before doing anything, Twilight. Think. Don’t do anything you would regret. Rarity’s stare seemed to demand me to take action.   Leaning forward the tiniest bit, Rarity opened her mouth slightly. Are you ready?   I turned my head away. No. I breathed out. Turning my head back again, I saw that Rarity’s eyes were again locked at the sky. Not able to bring myself to say anything, I just sat there, my stomach turning. You were just seeing things. Stop living in a fantasy world. Get a grip of yourself. Tomorrow will be an important day; don’t get distracted.   Rarity soon crawled inside her bedroll, leaving me to stargaze alone. Despite being tired, I was afraid of falling asleep. But then, suddenly, I saw a light in my peripheral vision. When I turned my head, it was still there – some way up the mountain, at the excavation site. What I couldn’t notice previously was now visible. The lights were huge flames, flaring up and down in different colors. They rose much higher than even the largest boulders up there. Spells. And powerful ones. No regular unicorn can raise flames that big.   I was about to nudge Rarity, but stopped to hesitate. She was seemingly asleep already, what was no wonder. The day had strained much of our strength. For some reason, my stomach turned as I watched her peaceful form.   The flames died out after a while. I was getting weary; all the hiking was catching up on me. Yawning, I warded the area.   Sleep didn’t come right away. Images of Rarity and the mysterious rune kept haunting me. As my mind finally started to drift away, those images followed me into my dreams. The night was restless – I was plagued by dreams of weird landscapes, giant cities, and vast armies of ponies.   --   Rarity was sitting on a rock, one just like any of those that littered the mountainside. She was facing away from me, casting a tall shadow over the ground. The sky was cloudless.   “Rares? What are you doing?!” I shouted. “There’s no time to rest. We must move out!”   A wave of uncertainty washed over me as Rarity turned around. She had a very sad expression on her face. “I’m doing the necessary. Don’t worry.”   “Excuse me?”   My friend shook her head. “The necessary. We’re not in a hurry.”   I furiously stomped the ground. “Yes, we are! What’s gotten into you?”   “Trust me, Twi,” said Rarity with a stoic voice. “I’m doing the necessary.”   The world warped – I was now at the shore of a lake, flanked by mountains. I recognized it from one of my previous dreams, making me wonder whether they really could tell the future. Rarity was still with me, now knee-deep in the water. She was staring at the endless mass of quiet water – the lake continued for at least a hundred miles ahead, until it was cut off by a cloud of grey fog.   “Twilight,” started Rarity again. “Whatever happens, don’t be afraid. She means no harm. But it just happens to be that-“   “No,” I interrupted. “Whether you’re talking about yourself, or the one stalking us – it doesn’t matter. Just let me go. I don’t want to be here.”   Rarity swayed her hoof, creating tiny ripples into the mirror-like surface of the lake. “But you have to. That’s why you were sent here.”   “You’re blaming Celestia for us being stuck here?” I spat out. “Seriously, Rares? Is there even a smidgen of honor left in you? We have to go, for our Princess’ sake, if nothing else.”   “Fine.” Rarity shrugged. “We’ll go.”   Rays of light shot out from Rarity’s eyes in seemingly random directions, her body starting to glow. I tried to crouch for cover, but was unable to move a muscle.   “Twi!” groaned a voice from somewhere close-by.   --   “Twilight!” I was wildly shaken by a pair of hooves. “Get up! Right now!”   I jerked up, immediately regretting it as blood rushed into my head, making me feel dizzy. “What’s going on?”   Rarity glanced around, fear in her eyes. “Somepony’s on our trail.  Just a second ago, I saw a brown stallion climbing towards us.”   “And where was this earth pony, exactly?”   “I don’t know…” answered Rarity with a nervous voice. “Half a mile behind, perhaps?”   Sighing in relief, I levitated my bag up and strapped it on me. “If that’s the case, we have some time. We’ll need to act quickly. It’s possible that he hasn’t seen us yet.”   “He returned my stare when I first saw him.” Rarity’s voice was shaky. “Let’s go, Twi.”   With that, we were again making our way towards the excavation site. Unless my estimate was completely off, we’d arrive in three or four hours. We kept taking looks down the mountainside, but didn’t catch a glimpse of the stallion. It was like he’d vanished into thin air. Or Rarity was just seeing things. –No, that’s not true at all. She’s a perfectly healthy mare.    As we climbed the mountain with a fast pace, I got lost in my thoughts, pondering the meaning of the dream I’d just seen. It was a tough task – the details were already fading from my memory.   After a while, we took a short break to assess the situation. For about the hundredth time, I studied the map intensely. According to it, we were now only two miles away from our destination. The huge boulders up the mountain, not very far away, confirmed the assessment. Rarity and I agreed that we could only afford one break from here to there; it was entirely possible that the stallion on our trail was picking his pace up too.   We were only an hour from the site when strange events began to occur. First, a light mist started to rise up from the forests below, swiftly enshrouding the mountain. Only minutes after forming, it had already caught up with us. The visibility was now reduced to a dozen yards – everything beyond that was just a grey mass. Then, the temperature dropped rapidly. We were forced to stop, for in such weather, climbing a mountain would’ve been perilous.   “Where could this have come from?” asked Rarity, shivering profusely. “I haven’t seen anything like this before.”   I mentally went through the contents of several books, but the inevitable conclusion filled me with fear. “The weather can get unpredictable this high, but…” Shaking my head, I levitated my bedroll out. “This can’t be a natural occurrence. Fog just doesn’t move at that speed. No, this cloud was cast by someone – or something.”   “Can’t you just dispel it, then?”   “No,” I stated, frowning. “Like I said, it’ll take weeks for my horn to fully recover. Right now, I can only cast the simplest spells. Removing a cloud of fog this large is out of question. But I do have something positive to tell, too.”   Rarity cocked her head. “Well, Twi?”   “Keeping a cloud like this intact drains huge amounts of energy. I doubt that even Celestia could shroud a mountain for more than a day.”   “We’ll wait it out?”   “Yes.” I unfurled the bedroll. Crawling inside it would provide some warmth. If it got wet, I’d just dry it up later with magic.   And so we waited. Despite using the bedrolls for protection, we were left shivering and clenching our teeth in the coldness. The fog kept getting thicker and thicker. Eventually, I could only see a few feet away. For some reason, Rarity declined to curl up next to me for warmth.   Keeping track of the passage of time was nigh impossible. What felt like an eternity was probably a few hours, although it could’ve been much less. Desperation was building up in my mind, but I managed to keep my calm by going through the possible outcomes. There was no doubt that whoever was chasing us, he’d have no chance to move in this weather either. However, when the fog dispersed, we’d have to get back on track fast.   Even though I tried to keep conversation up with Rarity, she seemed awfully quiet, only occasionally mumbling something for a response. I could sense that she was on the verge of panic, and thus, tried to soothe her with soft words. Apparently, it worked; she didn’t do anything stupid.   Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the fog dispersed. Our target was again visible. We couldn’t, however, continue right away: it took a while for us to recover from the effects of the sudden variations in temperature. Both of us were still struck by waves of shivers as we continued onwards.   The shivers were soon replaced by sweat. Not a single cloud was keeping company to the sun, which had already rolled past its apex. The final destination was now only ten minutes away, and we slowed down to approach the site safely. It was almost certain that someone had noticed us, but that someone was hopefully unaware that we were so close.