“We have to go and get clouds from there?”
The two pegasi hovered, the only sound the slow flapping of their wings and the soft sigh of the air around them. The speaker, a small pegasi with a blue colored coat, twitched his ears. “It’s so quiet down there. And so dark.”
“It’s just the way the mountains are formed,” his companion said. Emeryl blew a stray lock of blond hair out of her eyes. “The sun ends up only hitting the place for a few minutes a day. But it makes the cloud fluff great, and the settlement needs the rain.”
“Yeah, but…”
“What? Are you frightened of a little darkness? You, the one who wanted to join the settlement?” she darted in midair to elbow him in the ribs before gaining altitude. “C’mon. I’ll race you down there. You take the center, I’ll take the sides. The pony who brings back the biggest cumulus wins!”
“Hey!” The mare sped off in a dash of yellow and green before the stallion could finish his sentence.
“For the love of…Wait!” he called, pumping his wings. He wasn’t about to let her show him up!
The two pegasi spiraled down toward the valley. Harsh crosswinds pulled at his wings as he passed the lip of a cliff, and the light and warmth of the sun gave way to the chilled, damp air of the valley.
He spread his wings wide, slowing his descent and moving into a glide. His heart pounded as he circled.
The grass below was brown and brittle—no wonder the earth ponies in the settlement hadn’t wanted to come this far. No trees grew save for one, which was black and twisted and most likely only upright out of sheer luck.
“C’mon, Twister! You’re getting clouds, not sightseeing!”
Twister swallowed. As if there was anything to see. “I’ll get the most!” he called. “You just focus on yours!” He peeled away, heading toward the center of the valley.
Emeryl hadn’t lied about the clouds. They gathered more easily than most, much like the clouds after a heavy rain, moist and easy to condense. He supposed the lack of sunlight here was good for something.
The clouds thickened in the center of the valley, where the light was faintest. Squinting, Twister swirled in a circle, pressing the cloud into the largest cumulus he could, relishing his ability as he kicked the soft watery fluff into shape. This cloud would water the earth pony’s fields for days. No way would Emeryl beat him.
Get out.
Twister stopped dead, his wings beating frantically to halt his momentum. He hovered once again, peering into the darkness. “Emeryl?”
Get out.
“Emeryl, this isn’t funny.” Twister darted from one side of the cloud to the other. His companion was nowhere to be found, probably far away somewhere on the edge of the valley.
Heart pounding, Twister flapped his wings and moved behind the cloud, preparing to push it away toward the light. Then he stopped.
A rock jutted from the ground, a spire like…he had to think for a moment to get the word. The earth ponies called them stalagmites, but this one was enormous. The clouds have covered it, and now that they were collected to the side he could see all the way to the base, where something glinted.
He paused for a moment, but the strange voice didn’t return. It had to be the wind, or just nerves. This was a valley. There was nothing to be worried about.
Twister spiraled down toward the base of the jutting stone. Grass crunched under his hooves when he landed, and dust made his eyes water.
More rock jutted from the ground, curving boulders and tumbled stone littering the ground in pieces everywhere he looked. It made his skin crawl, and he couldn’t figure out why. He was no rock expert, but it didn’t look right.
Wind whistled around him, a strong breeze flattening his mane and tail against his body and sending dust stinging against his pelt.
“Emeryl, cut it out!” he shouted when the wind died. He looked up, but instead of seeing his friend he saw another formation of stone. A perfect circle was hewn into the top of another stalagmite.
Everything came together at once. This wasn’t just random stone. This wasn’t a random valley.
That circle was pony-made. Somepony had lived here. Ages and ages ago.
I told you to get out!
The wind screamed, and this time the dust sent trails of blood running down his flanks and forehead into his eyes. Twister whinnied in fear and leaped from the ground, spiraling into the sky. When he force his eyes open his cloud exploded into mist and cold rain, and a silent dark shape hovered above it, their wings a blur. He blinked through a haze of pain.
“Em-Emeryl?”
The shape shimmered, and then the wind howled again. His wings tore at his sides, the bones creaking, and he fell.