The Keep
Basil walked alongside Starswirl, they were leading their group through the forest carrying extra saddlebags which held their disguises. The snow under Basil’s hooves felt especially colder this morning after spending the night in a warm castle. Even worse is the plan they concocted to infiltrate the unicorn’s keep. Orion increased his pace to walk with Basil and Starswirl, while Regina and Sombra followed in back.
“Basil, something didn’t seem quite right back at the castle,” Orion said as they walked.
“You mean how luxurious the interior of the castle was compared to the state of the surrounding village?” Basil asked.
“Exactly,” Orion replied.
“I took notice as well, the doctor that treated me was a guild member and waived the fee. The shamble structure of his shop was just a façade for the inside was almost as luxurious as the castle,” Starswirl added.
“These guild members are strange ponies. Orion and I have been hunters for years and never come across a hoard like theirs in all that time. You can’t just get everything from nothing, this guild has secrets,” Basil said as they approached the mountains.
“There weren’t any farms near the village, and the earth ponies never traded food with any guild for services; there’s definitely secrets behind these ponies with strange names,” Orion said.
“Secrets worth protecting, I think it’s best when we return to be cautious of the questions we ask,” Starswirl said.
“Agreed,” Basil replied.
“Not to interrupt your little chat up front, but where do we go from here?” Regina asked from the back.
“Into the mountains of course, that’s where the keep is. There are many paths leading to it, it won’t be too hard to find,” Starswirl said as he took point and lead the group up the slope of the mountains.
“Do the unicorns here have trouble with the diamond dogs?” Sombra asked.
“No, not since I was last at the keep, the dogs never ventured into the mountains,” Starswirl replied.
The trek through the mountains had taken the group some time to reach the keep by the afternoon. They hid behind a ridge overlooking the keep. There were guards at the front gates checking in the guests and patrols returning for the party this evening.
“I’m not seeing a village Starswirl, only an entrance!” Orion said with concern.
“The village is mostly built within the mountain. It was carved from stone to utilize the magical properties of rare crystals found inside,” Starswirl explained.
“What kind of magical properties?” Sombra asked.
“So far, their best use is artificial light,” Starswirl replied.
Orion rested away from the ridge before saying, “So what you’re telling us is that Regina can’t bail us out when things go sour.”
“Sorry Regina, you’ll have to sit this out,” Starswirl said.
“You’re kidding right?” Regina asked.
“You’re making this real difficult Starswirl, how are we getting in anyways if their guards greet everyone that goes in?” Basil questioned.
“Unicorn horns I talked Erik into letting us use for this mission,” Starswirl said as he pulled two replica horns from the saddlebags they carried and handed them to the earth ponies.
“Are these real?” Orion asked.
“I don’t know,” Starswirl said with chilling uncertainty.
“They’ll stick to your heads so long as you hook the attached wires behind your ears. You may want to keep your hoods up. I believe we won’t need the party disguises, I can pose you as part of my returning research patrol,” Starswirl explained as he helped them set the horns properly.
“Are you sure they won’t realize we’re not from here?” Sombra asked.
“The guards at the gate can’t recognize every face in the village. We should get moving now while they’re busy so they rush us through,” Starswirl said before leading the ponies down from the ridge.
“I’ll just wait here then. They better be back before it gets too dark or I’ll eat ‘em,” Regina said out loud as the group left.
Starswirl lead the two earth ponies in disguise and Sombra as group down from the ridge. When they reached the main path they mingled between another returning patrol and a group of villagers. They reached the two great wooden main gates to the keep where they were greeted by a pair of unicorn guards.
“Starswirl, is this all that made it back, where is the rest of your research team?” One of the guards asked.
“They’re still out, it was too dangerous for the entire patrol to make it back in time,” Starswirl said sadly.
“I hope you’ve found something Starswirl. You pushed the king to utilize our resources for this expedition of yours. You face banishment if the king finds your efforts a waste,” the other guard said with disdain.
“As if it wasn’t a waste to start, head in Starswirl, your entourage is holding up the line,” the first guard added, referring to the three other ponies in Starswirl’s patrol.
Starswirl lead his group into the keep. Through the big wooden doors was a fairly large hall that was plainly decorated with tall windows on either side of the room. It seems this is where many of the travelers would rest before proceeding into the mountain. Basil, Orion, and Sombra followed Starswirl down a wide, arched hallway. Every so many feet were glowing crystals carved into different shapes that emitted a calming light that appeared blue against the stone walls.
The group eventually reached the end of the hall which opened into a massive cavern-like room. Here in the walls going in a circle, stretching all the way to the high ceiling were paths and homes carved through the surrounding rock walls. The magical crystals were placed everywhere from within the walls themselves to setting atop pillars along the paths as lamp posts. Even greater there was a massive chandelier made of stone and crystal, just floating in the center, which lit the greater part of the chamber.
“I can’t believe this! How did we get here,” Orion wondered out loud.
“Curiosity,” Basil replied in amazement as he watched the ponies walk up the spiral paths going up along the walls.
“If I recall right, it was curiosity that nearly killed us the first time,” Orion said smartly.
“It got us this far,” Basil simply replied.
“Try not to look so surprised, you live here after all,” Starswirl said, gathering their attention and reminding them of their agenda.
“Right, where do we go from here?” Basil asked.
“Sombra and Basil can go to a cutter’s shop just up a path to the left here. Sombra has more than enough gems to trade for the power crystal we need. Orion can come with me to my home to help gather my research,” Starswirl said.
“Alright, we can all meet in the hall back where we entered the keep,” Sombra agreed.
Basil and Sombra followed where Starswirl had directed, and Orion followed Starswirl up one of the curved paths to a humble home carved into the wall. Starswirl used magic with ease to open the door to his home. Orion quickly realized that he’ll have to walk through only opened doors; because here it is actually considered unusual to use your hooves just to open a door. Starswirls home was nothing to brag about, as a matter of fact it was a mess of jumbled scrolls and strange trinkets. Orion thought it best not to ask about why this place is more like an office than a home.
“Alright, just get what you can and stuff it into a saddlebag, I’ll get what’s most important,” Starswirl said before folding specific parchments into a saddlebag in the next room.
Orion sifted through the piles of papers feeling more like he was robbing the place rather than packing. If it looked important he would fold it into his saddlebag. Though he couldn’t tell what was important, nothing on these scrolls or books made any sense to him. This unicorn has got to be nuts to call this research. As Orion was randomly selecting books from a shelf, he felt a tug on the sleeve of his cloak. He looked down to see a little, purple filly staring back at him.
“Are you with the patrol?” the filly asked.
“What?” Orion asked, somewhat surprised and confused.
“You’re with Starswirl’s research patrol aren’t you?” the filly asked.
“Clover!” a white mare with pink mane and purple eyes shouted as she entered the home.
“Sorry Dawn, I saw Starswirl come back and wanted to say hi,” the filly named Clover said as she went over to the mare named Dawn.
“She was always a clever one,” Starswirl said with a smile.
“Starswirl!” Clover shouted happily, running over to greet him.
“Hello Clover, would you like to help me sort this mess like we use to?” Starswirl asked.
“Yeah!” Clover said with enthusiasm, following Starswirl into the next room.
“I’m Dawn by the way; I’m Clover’s foal sitter. I used to bring Clover here often, she loves to learn the different things Starswirl studies,” Dawn said, trying to be friendly to Orion, who seemingly tried to hide from her by looking back at the shelf.
“That’s nice of him,” Orion said as he continued to pack.
“Is something wrong?” Dawn asked, somewhat upset.
“No, I’m sorry. I just don’t see too many cute mares while on patrol,” Orion said, turning to face Dawn.
“Oh, well that’s ok, and thank you. It takes a lot of courage to go on the research patrol,” Dawn said.
“What do you mean?” Orion inquired.
“Your group stood beside Starswirl when he presented the idea of the research expedition to the king. It was good to see someone standing up for what needs to be done. I’m tired of all the fighting, there has to be a solution. That’s why I like ponies like you,” Dawn said, believing that Orion was part of the patrol.
“Oh! Well, you wouldn’t like me all that much. Believe me,” Orion said in response.
“You’re wrong, thanks for doing what’s right,” Dawn said as she pushed Orion’s hood back and kissed him on the cheek.
When Dawn stepped back she saw that his hood pulled his horn off the top of his head.
“You’re an earth pony!” Dawn said, shocked by his disguise, she was ready to bolt out the door.
“Wait!” Orion said, quickly standing between Dawn and the door.
“Why are you here; to rob us, to assassinate the king?!” Dawn demanded to know.
“None of those things,” Orion said.
“Lies,” Dawn said, refusing to believe him after he had fooled her.
“You said you wanted a solution, so the fighting would end right? That’s what we’re here to do. We’re gathering his research because he has nothing to present to the king, and he’ll be banished for it. I’m helping him to find the solution so this winter, and the fighting can come to an end,” Orion explained.
“What happened to the rest of the patrol?” Dawn asked angrily.
“You really want the truth?” Orion asked.
“Yes,” Dawn replied.
“There was an avalanche, that buried them alive in a ravine. I risked my life to save Starswirl from the same fate,” Orion said sadly.
“They were killed by accident?” Dawn asked.
“It was no accident, something unnatural caused it. Whatever it is, it’s same thing causing these winters, and we’re out to stop it. Please believe me,” Orion pleaded.
Dawn sighed before she reached up to fix the horn on top of Orion’s head. She then pulled his hood back over it to hide the wires. She looked him in the eyes not quite believing what she’s doing.
“Don’t ever make me regret this,” she said.
“I won’t, you have my word,” Orion said.
“Orion, is something the matter?” Starswirl asked as he entered the room with Clover.
“There’s nothing wrong Starswirl, but Clover and I should be going now. The party will begin soon,” Dawn said before leading Clover out of the house.
After they were gone Orion looked at Starswirl and said, “We need to go.”
“Right,” Starswirl agreed.
Orion and Starswirl made their way through the crowds of unicorns that gathered in the main chamber. They followed the hallway down to the gates where they met up with Basil and Sombra. Basil carried the saddlebag packed with the large crystal they needed, and Sombra carried his with now much lighter pockets. The group made their way out of the keep and back up to the ridge to meet with Regina, who was patiently waiting in the snow the entire time.
“By the way Starswirl, what were the unicorns gathering to celebrate?” Basil asked.
“The first day of summer,” Starswirl replied.