The Foreverfree County was a section of cleared land at the foot of Canterhorn mountain surrounded on all sides by woods, with a bog called Hoof Swallow Bog along the southern edge. In the middle was the palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, and the sisters fought a never ending battle to keep the ever growing forest from swallowing the land. The woods were dangerous, as was most of Equestria, which was covered in thick forests, endless swamps, pony devouring bogs, and it seemed that every crack and canyon was filled with quarray eels. The woods were filled with all manner of dangerous creatures and even the plants were known to gobble hapless travelers, plants like stranglesnatch, which watered itself with fresh blood after grabbing its prey and slowly tearing them apart.
Above it all was Canterlot, the once beautiful city. Canterlot had been the safe city, sitting high above the rest of wild Equestria. Sombra had made a refuge for ponies to come and live in peace. Canterlot had been a marvelous city, a fantastic city, a city with indoor plumbing and lights everywhere that were powered by magic.
Now, Canterlot was no longer bright, safe, or beautiful. The entire mountain was blanketed in a black swirling storm that endlessly raged, the clouds filled with booming thunder and flashing lightning. Sombra had summoned the storm to keep others out and the loss of Canterlot's shining lights in the night sky was tragic.
Three companions moved north and west from the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters. The first was a tall off white earth pony covered in banded mail barding with two large saddlebags. If he was weighted down by his armor or his load, he did not show it, walking with a surprisingly springy step. Walking just behind him was a bright yellow unicorn with much smaller saddlebags. She huffed and puffed and struggled to keep up, her tongue lolling out as the panted from the effort. Bringing up the rear was a pale blue-grey pegasus and she was also armored, wearing the light plate common to the Rangers.
The night was filled with fireflies as the companions made their way through the outer farms and homesteads, working their way towards the base of Canterhorn mountain.
“You must be quite magically gifted to have become Princess Celestia’s personal student,” Fogwalker said as she trotted, trying to strike up some kind of conversation as they traveled.
“Um, about that,” Sunrise replied as she huffed and puffed from exertion.
Ahead, Garlic snorted but said nothing, shaking his head in disgust as he reached his own conclusion about Sunrise Surprise’s impending answer. This whole trip was a bad idea he thought to himself.
“I’m not the most magical of unicorns,” Sunrise admitted as she struggled to keep up with Garlic, whose long legs set an impossible pace to follow.
“Then how did you become Princess Celestia’s student?” Fogwalker inquired, her nostrils flaring in mild annoyance as she continued forward behind her other two companions.
“Funny story about that… Princess Celestia didn’t want a student. Trixie, the Virtue of Humility… she suggested to Princess Celestia that Princess Celestia take a student as part of her reformation. I, uh, got picked because I posed the most challenge and would give Princess Celestia the best test of her patience, her kindness, and her persistence,” Sunrise Surprise said in a low shameful voice.
Already, Garlic was having serious regrets about this trip, the first and foremost thing he regretted sounded an awful lot like “Pwincesth Thwelesthia” and each time it was repeated Garlic nearly ground his teeth in frustration.
“So… wait, you were picked because you are spectacularly bad?” Fogwalker questioned in disbelief. The pegasus mare felt a rising sense of panic, having not learned these vital details until it was far too late.
“I’m getting better,” Sunrise said defensively. “My light spells no longer set random things on fire and I can make water boil… most of the time,” she explained in a panicked voice as she struggled to keep up with Garlic.
“I cannot help but feel that we’ve been duped,” Fogwalker grumbled as they continued, walking along a road surrounded on both sides by squashes and corn.
“I want to get better!” Sunrise snapped, now angry. “I’m aware of the fact that I am a joke thank you very much. How do you think I feel about all of this? Oh here Princess Celestia, take this total failure of a unicorn and it will make you wise and patient!”
Fogwalker couldn’t help but hear the bitterness in Sunrise’s lispy nasal voice and she felt a pang of guilt for what she had said to the unicorn. She took a deep breath and prepared to say something nice, trying to think of something that might make Sunrise feel better, because everypony had suffered through Trixie’s often painful lessons in humility.
“The thing is, I really do want to prove myself somehow,” Sunrise huffed out in a breathless voice before Fogwalker had a chance to speak. “Princess Celestia initially refused, saying it was insulting to me. I convinced her to take me. I talked her into it. It was Trixie who gave me the opportunity, but it was my words that made this possible,” the unicorn said as she laboured to keep up with Garlic’s steady pace.
“We’ll be at the foot of the mountain soon. The woods are ahead. Be wary and on your guard,” Garlic announced as he peered ahead, his sharp eyes looking for danger in the bright moonlight.
Feeling bad, Fogwalker Fetlocks found herself unable to say anything worthwhile or meaningful, so she remained silent, trying to think of something useful to say.
“Sunrise, never let anypony tell you that you can’t do something,” Garlic stated in a deep rumbling voice. “They told me that I’d never become a Guardian or a Ranger. I don’t have wings. I can’t fly to a place that has trouble and get there quickly. There have been earth ponies in both of those orders, but they are rare and you don’t see them often. I don’t have wings, so I have to work twice as hard to impress everyone and earn my place. Nothing I have done has ever been easy or even very fun to accomplish. But I didn’t let it stop me.”
“Thank you Garlic,” Sunrise panted, her chubby body jiggling somewhat as she moved at a brisk trot. “Ugh I can feel everything already hurting,” she moaned.
“Yeah Sunrise… if Garlic the Grump can become a Preserver, you can become a better spellcaster… you’ll just have to work harder for it,” Fogwalker said, feeling relieved that she finally had a chance to say something worthwhile.
“The cave should be somewhere up ahead,” Garlic said as he peered around in the darkness, barely able to see anything around him. The many trees blocked out much of the moonlight and the woods were very dark. Things lurked in the bushes. The smell of woodsmoke was in the air, which meant that there were camps somewhere nearby, camps of things that were probably unpleasant and dangerous, and Garlic didn’t like dangerous things. Dangerous things disrupted Garlic’s need for placid tranquility, and things that interrupted his tranquility had to be made quiet and serene again. Earth ponies didn’t like being spooked.
“There are supposed to be three trees together in a cluster and one of them is marked with a carved triangle,” Fogwalker said as she also kept a wary eye on the darkness all around them. The pegasus struggled to keep her wings from fluttering nervously as she danced around on her hooves, waiting for trouble.
Sunrise stood between her companions and she was almost frozen with fear. She had never been out in the dark and spooky woods like this before. She had never really left the confines of civilisation, solid walls, a dependable roof, and candles to keep the darkness away.
“My mother is a firekeeper,” Sunrise whispered, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. “She travels from farm to farm to make sure the earth ponies fires stay lit and never go out. She also brings candles to the poor farmers that might not be able to light their sod cottages at night. My family has long done battle with the darkness itself and right now… right now I am about to wet myself,” the unicorn confessed in a quavering nasal whine.
“There was a time when I was young that we couldn’t afford candles… the nights were dark and all we had was the fire,” Fogwalker said. “Our firekeeper was not so generous as your mother. He charged a fair bit of coin for candles.”
“If I fail at being a wizard I guess I’ll take up the family trade… but after being in this darkness… I don’t think I’ll be able to charge money for candles, that seems wrong,” Sunrise whispered in a voice that really wanted to become a little screamy.
Garlic moved cautiously forward, leading the way, his plated banded mail clanking a bit as he walked. He had found every other trail sign along the way and he knew he would find the last one if he was diligent and careful.
“What’s that?” Sunrise asked in a low panicked whine.
“What’s what?” Fogwalker replied, looking around.
“That,” Sunrise responded, her voice little more than a breathy whisper.
Looking over where Sunrise was pointing, Fogwalker saw a glint of white in the darkness. She took a few steps closer, moving cautiously, and then when she reached it she prodded it with her hoof, causing it to roll over.
The empty eye sockets of the pony skull looked up Fogwalker, staring eyelessly at the pegasus. Fogwalker stared down at the skull, having never actually seen a pony’s skull before. She noted that there was a large crack in the skull just above the right eye.
“Something brained him. Or her,” Garlic grunted as he stared down at the skull.
“Where is the rest of his body?” Sunrise whispered in a troubled sounding utterance.
“Well, presumably, after braining him, they chopped off the head to do whatever with it and probably dragged off the body to eat it,” Garlic responded, completely oblivious to the fact that his words were terrifying Sunrise Surprise. “Unless of course they carved off what they wanted to eat first and then chopped off the head later.”
“I feel kinda sick,” Sunrise murmured as she closed her eyes.
Saying nothing, Garlic resumed his search for the marker trees and the cave that would allow them access to the inside of the mountain, leaving poor Sunrise in the care of Fogwalker, who had resumed staring off into the darkness all around them.
“At least it wasn’t an ogre,” Fogwalker quipped. “Ogres swallow the heads with the bodies when they devour a pony whole.”
The cave was dark and the sounds of dripping water could be heard inside. A musty smell wafted out to greet the trio, which was not at all inviting. The advance scouts had left behind a cache of useful items at the marker tree. A few candles, a bit more food, a few gourds full of water, and a note from Celestia telling them good luck.
“What if there are ursa majors in there?” Sunrise said fearfully, looking at the black entrance with her ears pinned back against her skull.
“Nope. The cave is too small,” Garlic stated in a matter of fact voice. “Constellation canis creatures might fit though… never seen a canis major or a canis minor up close. I’ve heard they’re full of stars, just like the ursas.”
“Nice work dimwit, now the unicorn is spooked,” Fogwalker said, rolling her eyes at Garlic as Sunrise Surprise stood beside her trembling in fear. “I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that your skull is full of rocks.”
“What’d I do?” Garlic asked, looking around with a confused expression.
“Must have been your stunning use of alliteration,” Fogwalker grumbled, shaking her head at her companion.
“My what?” Garlic asked with a blank expression upon his face.
“Constellation canis creatures…” Sunrise breathed.
“So it was your alliteration… hah!” Fogwalker exclaimed, looking up at Garlic.
“Oh for crying out loud, let’s just go and get this over with. We have a long way to go and we need to find a secure place to get some sleep. Fogwalker, you get to take first watch,” Garlic commanded, punctuating his words with a snort, and feeling annoyed because he didn’t have any idea what was going on.
“So, Sunrise, think you can work up a light spell for us?” Fogwalker inquired, looking at the unicorn hopefully.
“I think so,” Sunrise replied, now more terrified of the dark than ever.
“Good, no more dawdling,” Garlic grunted as he peered into the cave. “Be ready.”